John Boyne’s novel, Mutiny on the Bounty, immerses the reader in this legendary story of strife and rebellion on the high seas. In 1789, a 14-year-old pickpocket named John Jacob Turnstile is pressed into service as a cabin boy to Captain William Bligh, on the eve of the ship’s journey to the South Seas. Young Turnstile is a marvelous narrator, capturing the spirit and personalities of many crewmembers, most notably Captain Bligh and his foppish (and eventually mutinous) lieutenant Fletcher Christian. The reader is catapulted into the epic journey, complete with stormy weather, roiling waves, and all the perils and indignities that came with 18th-century oceanic ventures.
After a happy sojourn in Tahiti, many sailors decide a return to life at sea is untenable and, rising in mutiny, take over the Bounty. Captain Bligh, as well as our beleaguered narrator, are banished to almost certain death on the open sea. Mutiny on the Bounty is impeccably written, superbly paced, and as close to a “ripping yarn” as any reader could want.
In the second paragraph of the opening page of The Shooting Party, Isabel Colegate writes: "It was an error of judgement which resulted in a death. It took place in the autumn before the outbreak of what used to be known as the Great War." Any reader of historical fiction may find this an irresistible entry into the author's most heralded novel, later made into a film with James Mason, and its witty, probing look at aristocratic life in Edwardian England.
On the estate of Sir Randolph Nettleby, a disparate array of guests come together for the highlight of the pheasant hunting season. Over a tumultuous weekend, rivalries explode, secrets come undone, and no one emerges unscathed from the experience. Colegate is a wonderful writer, deeply attuned to her subject matter, and The Shooting Party is an unvarnished joy to read.
Charles Portis is revered by an ever-increasing number of readers as a comic genius, best known for his novel True Grit. In Gringos, a cranky American expat named Jimmy Burns occasionally traffics in purloined pre-Columbian artifacts he finds in and around the Yucatán Peninsula. Since this is Charles Portis writing, the story of Jimmy Burn’s Mexican adventures is interrupted by numerous digressions, a slow-moving but always entertaining storyline, and an introduction to characters no less quirky than the man himself.
Any recommendation of Portis's novels can't quite describe the low-key lunacy and understated humor of his work. "Deadpan" might be the best description of the book's tone. On the novel’s opening page, Jimmy notes it's Christmas once again in Yucatán, but so far "there had been no scramble among the hostesses of Merida to see who could get me for Christmas dinner." Readers, prepare yourself for a picaresque novel that will likely have you laughing out loud before turning the last page.
The Confessions of Gabriel Ash, a literary Cold War thriller with echoes of John Le Carré and A Gentleman in Moscow, alternates between the glittery backdrop of 1980s Manhattan and the sinister grottoes of Eastern Europe.
When disgraced UN diplomat Gabriel Ash is recalled to his adopted homeland deep behind the Iron Curtain, he uncovers a shocking truth from his past and confronts new life-and-death consequences growing out of a career of deception and lies. The story UN Ambassador Gabriel Ash must tell—in a voice that’s sardonic, self-delusional, and uniquely his own—will result either in his release from captivity or the loss of his life.
