AND EVEN MORE FEBRUARY FRENZY (02/07/2014)

My TBR (To Be Read) list is expanding each day...So many new books debuting right now. Below you'll find three reviews focusing on books that you may not have heard about, yet. There's something for everyone, from mystery, fiction and historical fiction....Get ready to download or shop.....

ALENA

By Rachel Pastan

In this well-crafted retelling of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, the unnamed narrator is an assistant at a small Midwestern museum when a wealthy man offers her a tempting opportunity: a position as chief curator of his well-regarded art museum on Cape Cod.


Like the narrator of du Maurier's classic, the young woman soon finds that her new role is a nightmare—she can't fill the shoes of her predecessor and the museum's business manager is determined to undermine her.


Fans of Rebecca will delight in Pastan's many nods to the original, and the author's knowledge of the contemporary art scene adds an extra layer of intrigue to this compelling tale.
(www.bookpage.com)

THE VISIONIST

By Rachel Urquhart

An enthralling debut novel about a teenage girl who finds refuge--but perhaps not--in an 1840s Shaker community.
 

In this exquisite, transporting debut, 15-year-old Polly Kimball sets fire to the family farm, killing her abusive father. She and her young brother find shelter in a Massachusetts Shaker community called The City of Hope. It is the Era of Manifestations, when young girls in Shaker enclaves all across the Northeast are experiencing extraordinary mystical visions, earning them the honorific of "Visionist" and bringing renown to their settlements.

The City of Hope has not yet been blessed with a Visionist, but that changes when Polly arrives and is unexpectedly exalted. As she struggles to keep her dark secrets concealed in the face of increasing scrutiny, Polly finds herself in a life-changing friendship with a young Shaker sister named Charity, a girl who will stake everything--including her faith--on Polly's honesty and purity....(www.bookpage.com)

AN OFFICER AND A SPY

By Robert Harris

Alfred Dreyfus, a young Jewish officer, has just been convicted of treason and stripped of his rank in front of a crowd of 20,000. Among the witnesses to his humiliation is Georges Picquart, the recently promoted head of the counterespionage agency that "proved" Dreyfus had passed secrets to the Germans.

However, it isn't long before Picquart is compelled to question not only the case against Dreyfus but also his most deeply held beliefs about his country --- and himself. (Bookreporter.com)




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