A Theater for Dreamers by Polly Samson

There are no bigger secrets than our parent's lives, unless it is the secrets kept between lovers.

When Erica's mother dies she discovers she didn't know her mother at all. She had only seen the woman who stayed with an abusive husband and father. How did she secretly stash money away for her daughter's future, and where did that secret car come from, and how was it used?

Erica is nineteen and in love with the older, beautiful, wannabe writer Jimmy. When Erica's previous neighbor, her mother's friend Charmain, sends her newest book and invitation to visit her on the Greek island of Hydra, Erica uses her inheritance to take her and Jimmy to Greece.

Hydra is paradise on earth, nestled between the cliffs and the sea, with marble streets and exotic foods and floral odors competing with the smell of sponges piled on the fishing boats.

Charmain and her husband Gordon are the center of a group of ex-pat young people, artists and writers and poets and their muses. Erica finds a surrogate mother in her, and Charmain tries to guide the teenager to prepare for a fuller life, warning her of the pitfalls of love and men and being bound to a supporting role.

In the early 1960s, these Bohemians are seeking meaning in a world threatened by Atomic destruction, rejecting the conformity of the 1950s. And yet, the men still hold to old fashioned ideas about women and love and sex, and the women comply to keep their men. Charmain imagines another way of living, not merely being a man's muse and caretaker to protect his creative process. 

A natural observer, Erica tries to puzzle out the twisted relationships around her, noting the tension in the marriages of Axle and Marianne Jensen and Charmain and Gordon. When Leonard Cohen arrives on the island, already published at age 25, he is ready to claim Marianne when her husband abandons her and their son for another woman. She is the perfect muse and compliant help-meet for a creative man.

As relationships topple, and alcohol and drugs fuel craziness, Erica is forced to alter her idea of her future.

Hydra is central to the novel, with lush descriptions vividly rendering its beauty and challenges. The Greek traditions are observed, the seasonal changes described. I dreamed of it at night, especially after viewing photographs online of the historical denizens of Hydra during this time. Samson's descriptions of these people, their clothing, is so detailed, arising from these photographs.

I also dreamed of Cohen's music, So Long, Marianne, That's No Way to Say Goodbye, and especially The Stranger Song, from Cohen's 1967 record album that I purchased at age 16. I was surprised to learn that the songs Cohen sang at the group gatherings were folk songs like I Ride an Old Paint. I always loved that folk song, and had a 45 record of it when I was a girl. 

I read this book during a cold spell in spring, immersed in the bright light and sea air of a place I will never see, but feel as if I had. I loved this book for taking me to another place, and for the interesting and deeply flawed characters, and for its insight into women's role in men's lives.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

A Theater for Dreamers
by Polly Samson
Algonquin Books
Pub Date May 11, 2021
ISBN: 9781643751498
hardcover $26.95 (USD)

from the publisher

"Sublime and immersive . . . If you wish you could disappear to a Greek island right now, I highly recommend."

—Jojo Moyes, #1 bestselling author of Me Before You

"This gorgeous, glimmering summer read is itself perfect summer: irresistible and deep, Samson's lyric sentences pulling you into unforgettable sunlight and shadow."

—Amy Bloom, New York Times bestselling author of White Houses

It’s 1960, and the world teeters on the edge of cultural, political, sexual, and artistic revolution. On the Greek island of Hydra, a proto-commune of poets, painters, and musicians revel in dreams at the feet of their unofficial leaders, the writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston, troubled queen and king of bohemia. At the center of this circle of misfit artists are the captivating and inscrutable Axel Jensen, his magnetic wife Marianne Ihlen, and a young Canadian ingenue poet named Leonard Cohen.

When eighteen-year-old Erica stumbles into their world, she’s fresh off the boat from London with nothing but a bundle of blank notebooks and a burning desire to leave home in the wake of her mother’s death. Among these artists, she will find an unraveling utopia where everything is tested—the nature of art, relationships, and her own innocence.

Intoxicating and immersive, A Theater for Dreamers is a spellbinding tour-de-force about the beauty between naïveté and cruelty, chaos and utopia, artist and muse—and about the wars waged between men and women on the battlegrounds of genius. Roiling with the heat of a Grecian summer, A Theater for Dreamers is, according to the Guardian, “a blissful piece of escapism” and “a surefire summer hit.”

Eternal by Lisa Scottoline

Lisa Scottoline first drew my attention with her legal thrillers set in Philadelphia; they became a nostalgic read recollecting our fifteen years in that city. Scottoline expanded into stories inspired by social issues, and now with a new publisher, has written her first historical fiction novel about a time and place that has intrigued her for decades: Italy under the fascist dictatorship of Mussolini. 

She has incorporated events that few remember, and for that, I have to commend her. She obviously did her research and her passion shows.

Three best friends in Rome are challenged when the two boys, Marco and the Jewish Sandro, fall in love with the girl, Elisabetta. The early part of the novel reads like a young adult romance, teenagers learning to deal with their new feelings and the problems entailed. All three families are ardent supporters of the Fascist government, and all three families have deep roots in Rome. But there are family secrets to be revealed.

The plot becomes more intense when Mussolini aligns with Hitler and brings anti-Semite laws to Italy; the families begin to doubt the government. Marco's family is torn apart, Sandro's faces the loss of everything they have built, and Elisabetta finds herself alone and fending for herself, torn between her two best friends vying for her love.

It is interesting to see how each individual must decide between loyalty to country and leader and their moral conscience and religious beliefs. Mussolini proclaimed that he was always right, and extolled duty and loyalty to him.

My Goodreads friends have rated the novel highly, drawn in by the plot line and the love story. You will see glowing reviews across media. The finale is heart-rending.

I love Scottoline. She is a great person and has given me hours of entertainment. But...I am sorry to say, I do not love this book. I did not love the writing. I felt the characters were flat and their growth without meaningful development. The dialogue was sadly cliched. 

Because the violence  and sexual content is handled delicately, I could recommend the book to young adult readers as well as to the general reader of historical or women's fiction. And again, I commend the author for bringing to readers a time period that can give insight into our contemporary political issues. 

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Click on the titles to see the previous books I reviewed by Scottoline:

• Corrupted
• Damaged
• After Anna
• Feared
• Exposed

Eternal
by Lisa Scottoline
G.P. Putnam's Sons
Pub Date March 23, 2021 
ISBN: 9780525539766
hardcover $28.00 (USD)

from then publisher

#1 bestselling author Lisa Scottoline offers a sweeping and shattering epic of historical fiction fueled by shocking true events, the tale of a love triangle that unfolds in the heart of Rome...in the creeping shadow of fascism.

What war destroys, only love can heal.

Elisabetta, Marco, and Sandro grow up as the best of friends despite their differences. Elisabetta is a feisty beauty who dreams of becoming a novelist; Marco the brash and athletic son in a family of professional cyclists; and Sandro a Jewish mathematics prodigy, kind-hearted and thoughtful, the son of a lawyer and a doctor. Their friendship blossoms to love, with both Sandro and Marco hoping to win Elisabetta's heart. But in the autumn of 1937, all of that begins to change as Mussolini asserts his power, aligning Italy's Fascists with Hitler's Nazis and altering the very laws that govern Rome. In time, everything that the three hold dear--their families, their homes, and their connection to one another--is tested in ways they never could have imagined.

As anti-Semitism takes legal root and World War II erupts, the threesome realizes that Mussolini was only the beginning. The Nazis invade Rome, and with their occupation come new atrocities against the city's Jews, culminating in a final, horrific betrayal. Against this backdrop, the intertwined fates of Elisabetta, Marco, Sandro, and their families will be decided, in a heartbreaking story of both the best and the worst that the world has to offer.

Unfolding over decades, Eternal is a tale of loyalty and loss, family and food, love and war--all set in one of the world's most beautiful cities at its darkest moment. This moving novel will be forever etched in the hearts and minds of readers.

Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

I came to the Owens family story through Rules of Magic, published years after the first Owens family novel, the immensely popular Practical Magic. I had liked the characters in Rules and realized their story was rooted in the very real struggles of young adulthood. Afterward, I finally read Practical. 

The prequel to Practical Magic, Magic Lessons, begins in 1664 in Essex, England. It is the story of the first Owens witch who cursed all the Owens women's loves.

The teenage witch Maria tragically loses her mentor and adopted mother. Her biological parents send her to the New World as an indentured servant. On St. Kitts, she honed her craft as a healer. Maria falls in love with the New England merchant John Hathorne, who abandons her without knowing she is pregnant. Maria travels to New England to find John.

She finds passage in exchange for nursing and healing the pirate Samuel Dias, whose Jewish family had fled Portugal. He falls in love with Maria.

Her troubles increase when she does find John. Her very life is threatened by the witch hunters of Salem, her daughter stolen from her.

John Hathorne in the novel is based on the actual magistrate who condemned women accused of being witches to death. (Nathaniel Hawthorne, our great early novelist, added that 'w' to his name to disassociate himself with his ancestor.)

Oh! the ways women have been controlled and punished for overstepping the narrow lives men ordained for them. If a woman reads, she must be a witch. If a woman stands up for herself, she must be punished. If a man is attracted to a woman, she has bewitched him and is evil. Bind them in iron and drown them! Nail their feet to the ground and burn them!

And women are still fighting this battle.

Maria understood that a woman with her own beliefs who refuses to bow to those she believes to be wrong can be considered dangerous.~from Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

The heart of the novel is, of course, love. How women love the wrong men and suffer for it. "Love someone who will love you back," Hannah advises. But how do we know love when we find it? Young people confuse lust with love, always have. We ignore the signs that later seem obvious. Maria rejects her true love, first because of her passion for John, and later because she vows never to love again.

Love was risky, for marriage required women to abdicate all self-determination and choice. Maria's magic helps women from men who abuse them.

I had a neighbor who said, "What goes around, comes around." Hoffman's rule of magic is similar: you get back threefold whatever you do. Best to do good! What magic you bring into the world becomes your responsibility.

Hoffman weaves her stories with flawed characters whose struggles we recognize, for even if they have magic at their command, they are very human. It is no wonder these books are so popular with readers. They offer romance, challenges, strong female characters, life lessons, and in this book a heavy dose of history.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Read my review for  Rules of Magic
Read my review for Hoffman's novel Faithful here.
See my review for Hoffman's novel The Marriage of Opposites here.

Magic Lessons: The Prequel to Practical Magic
by Alice Hoffman
Simon & Schuster
Publication Date October 6, 2020
ISBN: 9781982108847
hardcover $27.99 (USD)

from the publisher

In an unforgettable novel that traces a centuries-old curse to its source, beloved author Alice Hoffman unveils the story of Maria Owens, accused of witchcraft in Salem, and matriarch of a line of the amazing Owens women and men featured in Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic.

Where does the story of the Owens bloodline begin? With Maria Owens, in the 1600s, when she’s abandoned in a snowy field in rural England as a baby. Under the care of Hannah Owens, Maria learns about the “Unnamed Arts.” Hannah recognizes that Maria has a gift and she teaches the girl all she knows. It is here that she learns her first important lesson: Always love someone who will love you back.

When Maria is abandoned by the man who has declared his love for her, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts. Here she invokes the curse that will haunt her family. And it’s here that she learns the rules of magic and the lesson that she will carry with her for the rest of her life. Love is the only thing that matters.

Magic Lessons is a celebration of life and love and a showcase of Alice Hoffman’s masterful storytelling.

With Or Without You by Caroline Leavitt

Forty-nine years into my relationship with my husband, I can attest that people change and grow and couples must learn to adapt to the changes. 

Typically, personal growth evolves over time. But imagine waking up to find your partner in a coma, and they recover they a totally different person. Imagine that your connection is broken, your shared loves lost, that you are strangers that quickly.

With or Without You by Caroline Leavitt is the story of Simon, a one-hit-wonder still lusting after fame, and Stella, a practical nurse. They have been in love for decades even though their dreams don't mesh. Early in their relationship Stella gave up following Simon on tour and took up a career. Now in her early forties, she wants permanence and a family.

A new star in music recognizes Simon's band as his inspiration they are invited to open for him in Las Vegas. On the eve of Simon's leaving to reboot his career, Stella isn't sure she wants to give up her life to go on the road again.

Bad decisions leave Stella in a coma. Simon stays at her side while the band replaces him and moves on. Stella's work friend and doctor, Libby, had never liked Simon before, but in their mutual care for Stella, they become friends.

Stella comes out of the coma and recuperates. Foods she loved she now hates. She volunteers at the hospital and no longer enjoys being there. What does engross and calm her is drawing, demonstrating an amazing talent. For her drawings do not only show the outside of a person, they capture their inner being.

Simon, Stella, and Libby work out their ever more complex relationships, all on a journey into healing, personal growth, and an opportunity for full and productive lives.

Each character's childhood has impacted their self-image, and once confronted, they are able to become happy and healthy. This aspect of the story has universal appeal, affirming the possibility for wholeness and self-realization.

I loved the exploration of the quest for artistic success and the lure of fame against the pure love of doing art leading to success.

A thoughtful, deep novel with fully formed characters and a happy ending which I read in 24 hours.

I was given a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

See Leavitt's Virtual Book Tour here

With or Without You
by Caroline Leavitt
Algonquin Books
Pub Date  August 4, 2020 
ISBN: 9781616207793
Hardcover $26.95 (USD)

from the publisher

New York Times bestselling author Caroline Leavitt writes novels that expertly explore the struggles and conflicts that people face in their search for happiness. For the characters in With or Without You, it seems at first that such happiness can come only at someone else’s expense. Stella is a nurse who has long suppressed her own needs and desires to nurture the dreams of her partner, Simon, the bass player for a rock band that has started to lose its edge. But when Stella gets unexpectedly ill and falls into a coma just as Simon is preparing to fly with his band to Los Angeles for a gig that could revive his career, Simon must learn the meaning of sacrifice, while Stella’s best friend, Libby, a doctor who treats Stella, must also make a difficult choice as the coma wears on.

When Stella at last awakes from her two-month sleep, she emerges into a striking new reality where Simon and Libby have formed an intense bond, and where she discovers that she has acquired a startling artistic talent of her own: the ability to draw portraits of people in which she captures their innermost feelings and desires. Stella’s whole identity, but also her role in her relationships, has been scrambled, and she has the chance to form a new life, one she hadn’t even realized she wanted.

A story of love, loyalty, loss, and resilience, With or Without You is a page-turner that asks the question, What do we owe the other people in our lives, and when does the cost become too great?