Touch of Magic

If you liked The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane for its touch of magic, you may like these:

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County : a novel by Tiffany Baker
Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman
Of Bees and Mist : a novel by Erick Setiawan

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson

Before Stieg Larsson died in 2004, he was the editor of Expo, the journal of the Swedish Expo Foundation, an organization dedicated to tracking the activities of racist organizations. He was also an expert on Nazi and other extreme right-wing organizations. Not surprisingly, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has within it the most unsavory of evils, loosely linked to Nazis of the past and present.

The novel’s narrative focus is captured in its original Swedish title, Men Who Hate Women, and flows from two major plots: a failed investigation of a corrupt businessman, and a crime case of a murder long ago committed and recently resurrected. Linking both stories are the characters of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist is a journalist found guilty of libel for his investigative work on industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström. He’s lost his job and his integrity, and he’s about to lose his freedom when he begins his jail sentence for his crime. Millionaire industrialist Henrik Vanger, however, intercedes and asks him to investigate the cold case of Vanger’s long-dead niece, Harriet, who decades before was probably murdered. No body was ever found, but the suspect must be one of Vanger’s unsavory family members. Blomkvist is to conduct the case privately, under the guise of his work on a Vanger family chronicle. If Blomkvist agrees to investigate the old crime, Vanger will give him much-needed information on Wennerström.

Running parallel to this is the narrative of Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo, as well as other tattoos and various body piercings. She is small and anorexic-looking, disagreeable, mistrusting of people, probably mentally ill, and a computer genius. She works for a private security firm and collides with Blomkvist in an uncomfortable way – she’s been investigating him for Vanger. That aside, Blomkvist takes her on as a partner in the search for information on the missing Harriet and subsequently the continuing investigation of Wennerström.

The intricate interwoven plots lead readers to a cast of hideous characters, who are as appalling in their portrayal as in their crimes. Neither Salander nor Blomkvist escapes the evil that swirls around them, in a heart-stopping climax where good and evil clash.

The last section of the book may, ironically, seem to slow to a crawl, but after the grisly events of the previous pages, the reader might instead breathe a sigh of relief in this complex follow-up to a corrupt industrialist’s crime investigation.

D. L. S.

International Women's Fiction Festival to Recognize American Author

Brunonia Barry, author of The Lace Reader (Find this book in our catalog), has won the 2009 Baccante literary prize and will receive it September 26 during the sixth annual International Women's Fiction Festival, located in Matera, Italy. Each year, the Women's Fiction Festival awards its literary prize, the Baccante award, to someone who has made major contributions to women's fiction. Read more...

The prize judges called the book "an amazing journey through the world of publishing, a debut that turned a self-published story into a massive global success. . . . It's the story of a wounded woman, a symbol of women readers everywhere, who seeks to understand and interpret the world around her by delving deep inside herself. . . . The Lace Reader is a richly evocative book guaranteed to sweep the reader along in a headlong rush of events, against the brilliantly-described backdrop of modern-day Salem, Massachussetts and with a fascinating cast of characters, guaranteed to keep readers captivated all the way to the shocking ending."

If you like The Lace Reader, you may also like:
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane : a novel by Katherine Howe (Find this book in our catalog)
"While cleaning out her grandmother's house near Salem in the summer of 1991, Connie discovers an old key along with a fragment of paper bearing only the words Deliverance Dane. At the urging of her adviser, Connie embarks upon a frenzy of research in local archives. Evidence mounts that Deliverance was a local herbalist and wise woman who became a victim of the witch trials. Finding Deliverance's "physick book" of recipes becomes a priority for Connie, particularly when she realizes that it may hold the key to curing her new boyfriend of his mysterious ailment" (catalog notes)
The Heretic's Daughter : a novel by Kathleen Kent (Find this book in our catalog)
"Martha Carrier was one of the first women to be accused, tried and hanged as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts. Like her mother, young Sarah Carrier is bright and willful, openly challenging the small, brutal world in which they live. Often at odds with one another, mother and daughter are forced to stand together against the escalating hysteria of the trials and the superstitious tyranny that led to the torture and imprisonment of more than 200 people accused of witchcraft..." (cataolg notes)

The Lace Reader: a Novel by Brunonia Barry

This morning I am going to be yet another person blogging about this extaordinary book. For a while this was something of an underground success, catching on by word of mouth and hand-selling by booksellers. Actually, Brunonia Barry first published The Lace Reader herself just in the Salem area where she lives. Now, having been published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, it has been lionized in the mainstream media.

I read this book in almost one sitting. The Lace Reader is extraordinarily original: Ms. Barry actually invented a method of fortune-telling by reading pillow lace. First heard of in this book, it is a method that has apparently been adopted already by modern-day witches in Salem, Massachusetts. The story just draws you in. The atmosphere of Salem where the book is set is unforgettable - I'm sure tourism to the area will increase after people have read this book.

The Lace Reader is the story of a youngish woman, Towner Whitney who returns to Salem where we assume she grew up. She spent at least part of the time living with her grandfather's second wife, named Eva. Much of the details are hazy - we learn that Towner has had to reconstruct many of her memories after a spell in a mental hospital. Towner had left Salem for California after the death of her twin sister Lyndley. We don't know why, but she says it was the only way she could feel safe. She has only returned because Eva has disappeared. She returns and lets herself into the empty, rambling, and crumbling former sea-captain's house that belongs to Eva and to her family. The descriptions of the house are so evocative, I felt I was walking through the rooms with Towner. The house and the town and the sea around the rocky shore are as much part of the story as the characters and I loved it!

When Eva's body is found in the water, for some reason that is not exactly clear in the beginning, Towner is convinced the death has something to do with Cal, a bogus evangeligal preacher and his cult members. We slowly learn more details of Cal's connection with Towner's family, including her aunt and her reclusive mother, May, who live on a rocky island in Salem harbor, which is inhabited by wild dogs and accessible only by small boat. There are great descriptions of children's games and boating there in the summers. Towner is helped in finding out what happened to Eva by Rafferty, a policeman recently arrived in Salem looking for the simple life.

Nothing, however, is simple in this story! Getting to know Rafferty and trying to solve the mystery of Eva's death provokes Towner into recalling more and more of her past. Among the many layers of the story we learn that the women in Towner's family can all see into the future by reading patterns in pieces of lace. One of the beauties of the book is the lace-making lore that the reader learns. Towner also has the psychic gift but refuses to acknowledge it. Eventually the patterns in the lace will play an important part in Towner's search for answers.

It is hard for Towner and the reader to sort reality from dreams, but clearly at some time in the past she suffered severe emotional trauma. Just what that trauma was, and just what the mystery is in her family, you will have to read the book to find out. There are lots of hints along the way. Have fun seeing if your conclusions are right!