the sister of the student
who is scandalized by the senior band teacher
and the outcast who befriends the sister.
A drama student becomes involved with the sister
while rehearsing for a play starring the scandal.
The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton provides a unique script. The reader turns player if only to figure out who is being fed their lines, who is improvising, and who is playing whom.
Clare Shipley is assigned a story on a new wonder-drug, penicillin. She falls for the doctor on the case and is resigned to a long-distance romance when he accepts a government job in Washington. She diligently follows up on both the romance and the story. But when her father, a millionaire, buys into a pharmaceutical company, Clare learns how cut-throat the industry can be in guarding lucrative discoveries.
After pinning up my hair in a Victory roll, I’m going to be spending the afternoon rifling through old magazines. Then I might look for some of the reference books Belfer cites in her notes: The Enchanted Ring by John C. Sheehan, The Women Who Wrote the War by Nancy Caldwell Sorel, and No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
In Katarina Mazetti's novel, Benny and Shrimp, the characters alternate telling the rise and fall of their relationship. Desiree is a librarian and recent widow. Benny runs a dairy farm single-handedly after his mother dies. Differing on everything from decor to politics, they find themselves a surprising match in bed.
Humorous, off-putting, and familiar, this book will have you reading far into the night. Pickled herrings are meant to be eaten as a midnight snack, aren't they?
