There are lots of
books with protagonists who think they’re smart, but the heroine in The Woman
with Two Shadows is actually smart.
Not just academically (though she is that,
too), and not just quick with the quips, but with the way she approaches her
central problem: The disappearance of her twin sister in a town set up
specifically to develop nuclear weapons during World War II.
The historical
detail is unique, and the self-pity is dialed down to nearly a minimum, which makes
it my kind of book!
For fans of ATOMIC CITY GIRLS and THE SECRETS WE KEPT, a fascinating debut historical novel of one of the most closely held secrets of World War II and a woman caught up in it when she follows her missing sister to the mysterious city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Lillian Kaufman hasn't heard from her twin sister since Eleanor left for a mysterious job at an Army base somewhere in Tennessee. When she learns, on an unexpected phone call, that Eleanor is missing, Lillian takes a train from New York down to Oak Ridge to clear up the matter.
Yes, yes, I know the
novel came out in 1961 and the movie in 1969. But I’d never read it. I finally
got around to it a scant 62 years later.
I was blown away by how modern it
felt, especially in its description of the very particular kind of teacher who
believes they are the center of the universe and it’s their job to teach their
students what to think, not how to think. It’s manipulation bordering on child
abuse… which also happens to be hysterically funny.
The brevity of Muriel Spark's novels is equaled only by their brilliance. These four novels, each a miniature masterpiece, illustrate her development over four decades. Despite the seriousness of their themes, all four are fantastic comedies of manners, bristling with wit. Spark's most celebrated novel, THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, tells the story of a charismatic schoolteacher's catastrophic effect on her pupils. THE GIRLS OF SLENDER MEANS is a beautifully drawn portrait of young women living in a hostel in London in the giddy postwar days of 1945. THE DRIVER'S SEAT follows the final haunted hours of a woman…
As
someone who was born in the USSR, grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and now
works in school admissions consulting, it’s rare that I find a book which
reflects my experience. And by rare, I mean - never. Until The Golden Ticket.
Irina Smith has a wry and realistic view of the process, which is that,
ultimately, what school your child goes to is much, much less important than
the kind of person they are. A great reminder for all frantic parents.
Palo Alto, California, is an epicenter of seismic levels of teen stress and extravagant parental expectations. As a college counselor, Irena Smith works with some of the most high-achieving and tightly wound students in the world. Here, in the shadow of Stanford University, admission to a top college is the greatest expectation and the ultimate prize. Irena's own expectations as a mother, however, are strikingly different: after her oldest son is diagnosed with autism at age two, she and her husband put him through a behavioral intervention program as rigorous as any SAT boot camp in a quest to help…
How can I get my teen to listen to me? Through books!
Every week, we discuss a new post-Soviet title. As well as the latest slang,
deep sighing, borscht, black-and-white childhoods, anarchy, feminism, and why
parents just don’t understand.
