The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny

Once again Chief Inspector Gamache takes a walk on the dark side. A series of seemingly unrelated crimes all point to the possibility of a catastrophic event. There are quite a few references to the crises from earlier novels but all are well explained. The title of this book and one of the major themes of the story references a Native American legend. It seems that inside each of us lives the spirit of two wolves. The grey wolf is kind, generous, caring. The black wolf is vengeful, greedy, angry. As the story goes, the wolf who wins is the one we feed. Once again Gamache finds himself often unable to rely on who is actually friend and who might be foe and must wonder if this is one of the times when he must admit that he was/is wrong. My only complaint with this book is that so little of it happens in Three Pines. When the companion book, the Black Wolf comes out in 2025, I will look forward to spending more time with the rest of my Three Pine friends.

Miss Morgan's Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles

 The Morgan in the title is Anne Morgan, daughter of J.P. Morgan. Towards the end of WWI, Anne helped organize and volunteered with CARD the French acronym for The American Committee for Devastated France.  In that role she hired young Jessie "Kit" Carson from the NYPL to organize a library in the devastated city of Blérancourt.  Jesse's efforts not only resulted in the first free children's libraries in France but also led to the first female librarians in that country.  Her work and the work of other CARD volunteers may have been forgotten except for the interest of NYC librarian Wendy Peterson whose work in the archives of the NYPL in 1987 sends her down a path of personal and historical discovery. An interesting piece of history that puts a slightly  different face on the Anne Morgan we met in The Personal Librarian.

The Insrumentalist by Harriet Constable

 Anna Maria della Pieta was born in 1696 to a 17 year old prostitute in Venice.  She was placed in a hole in the wall of the orphanage Ospedale della Pieta. Gathered from that hole by nuns on the other side of the wall, she would live her entire life there. But what a life. The orphanage believed in the education of the young women including music. It became famous for its figlie de coro - "daughters of the choir" - an all female orchestra. From the age of 8, Anna Maria was recognized as a musical prodigy on the violin. Experiencing what we would today term synesthesia, the colors of musical notes danced before and within her.  She was championed by the music instructor at the orphanage - Antonio Vivaldi - the Vivaldi of the Four Seasons. It is their relationship that is most explored in this story. Was he a powerful mentor or a musical thief?  It seems that there have been a lot of books written lately about women who, against all odds, have accomplished much and yet received little recognition. This is one of them. A bit overwritten but I'll take a little unknown history any time I can get it.

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

 I have been intrigued with life in the boardinghouses of the 19th and early 20th century even since I read Clara and Mr. Tiffany. Briar House is in Washington DC. The time is the 1950's McCarthy Era. It is an adequate but morbid residence until Grace Marsh rents the tiny attic room and begins creating lean but enticing meals on her hotplate every Thursday evening. Drawn out of their previously solitary rooms,  the Briar Club is formed. The book is organized around each resident's story - all drawn from real people, all with secrets. It is both historical fiction and a murder mystery but it is mostly a story of female friendship seasoned with the morality of hard times and bad luck. It is an ending that you both anticipate and probably guess wrong. And Quinn is right - don't read the suthor's notes first. 

The art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker

When Tin Win, a successful NYC lawyer, suddenly disappears, his daughter, Julia, believes there must be a good reason. She knows that her parents weren't a warm, fuzzy couple but Julia and her father have always been close. Then they discover a letter from a woman in his native Burma. Julia believes she will find an answer to her questions there. Off she goes to the small village of Kalaw which is now in a country known as Myanmar in search of her father's real story. Here she meets the enigmatic U Ba and the tale begins. It reads like a fable of love, obligation, tragedy, and determination.  Perhaps it is the unexpected setting or the archetypal characters (right down to the evil uncle) that makes this seem like something out of the Brothers Grimm rather than a Hallmark moment. It is nonetheless a lovely read with an ending that will maybe surprise you but at the very least will make you say ahhhh.

Babel by R.F. Kuang

The subtitle of this book is An Arcane History and mysterious it is. Part fantasy. Part dystopian history. Part political discourse. All ideas you just wish you could discuss in a book group that was willing to read all 545 pages. This hefty tome can't be sold as a quick read because on almost every page is something you really want to spend time dissecting. One of the most thought provoking books EVER!
Robin Swift, orphan from China is taken to England by the Englishman he will learn is his father.  There he joins the new cohort of students at the Royal Institute of Translation at Oxford University in the 1830's.  He is joined by Letty, a typical blond haired English rose, Rany, a privileged but bitter young man from India, and Victoire, a young woman from Haiti tired of feeling like an outsider. All brilliant. All hand picked. All so excited to be at Oxford - and yet.... 
 The Institute is housed in a secured round tower on the Oxford campus referred to as Babel. In this dystopian society, there is power in the fact that very few ideas can be exactly translated from one language to another. This "lost in translation" power is stored in silver bars which run the industrial, colonial power that is England.  All four students eventually come under the influence of the Hermes society. Led by a former disillusioned R.I.T. student, the society is looking to change the existing balance of power - a power that begins with the students in Babel. Can this be done without violence is the question? In fact in some countries (this book has been translated into many languages - haha) the title translates back to English as Babel(or the Necessity of Violence):An arcane history of the Oxford Translators Revolution - which says perhaps more than necessary in a title.  But then, it's all in the translation.

Still Life by Saran Winman

 Art, life, war, luck and a sentient parrot - what more could you ask for?  I would pay to have the kind of conversations Ulysses and Evelyn have. The story begins at the close of WWII.  Ulysses is a young British soldier more likely to see good than bad even in a war. Evelyn is a much older art conservator trying to get into Florence to assess and rescue art lost and damaged by war.  Their meeting is an unlikely random chance but it is a meeting of two minds destined to connect. Ulysses returns to a messy life in a small town outside of London filled with unforgettable characters including Claude the parrot and a daughter for whom biology is an unnecessary requirement.  A most incredible set of circumstances finds him back in Florence with another group of people you just hope really exist somewhere.  It's a book that will take you to your happy place or at least Florence, Italy. And so many wonderful conversations!