Tuesday, March 2, 2021

The Girl Explorers: The Untold Story of the Globetrotting Women Who Trekked, Flew, and Fought Their Way Around the World


Do not mistake The Girl Explorers to be a lightweight collection of mini-biographies of colorful females dressed in men's attire as they cheerfully cross the globe. 

These females battled every sort of prejudice mankind could cook up. They faced sexual predation and ridicule. They fought for equality and against racism. They exposed the horror of prisons and stood for gay rights. Their work was attacked, diminished, forgotten.  They were suffragettes and feminists and scientists and intrepid risk-takers.


Their achievements were significant, but how many can you recognize? 

Amelia Earhart, of course. We all know that she disappeared. She also wrote her own wedding vows that did not include "obey" but did allow for her husband's infidelity.



Margaret Mead had to be 'rediscovered,' for in her lifetime, she was accused of presenting fake science.

Jayne Zanglein's history of the Society of Women Geographers is about the women I wished I knew about when I was growing up, back when I was reading about Robert Falcon Scott's doomed expedition with nary a female in sight. 

No, the biographies I found about women were nurses and social workers and nuns and such. Traditional female roles, really, even if they were fierce. 

I did have Jane Goodall and Mary Leakey who I read about in dad's National Geographic magazines, and later in books which I bought. 

But so many of these women I had never heard of. 

Their stories are the story of women's progress in their fight to be accepted as equals to the ruling male scientists and explorers. They were more than men's equals in their intrepid spirit, intelligence, endurance, and persistence.

Their work is beautifully described in memorable stories that I will not soon forget. This is a fantastic history, and a must-read for every young woman who dreams of high adventure and scientific endeavors.

I was given a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

The Girl Explorers: The Untold Story of the Globetrotting Women Who Trekked, Flew, and Fought Their Way Around the World
by Jayne Zanglein
SOURCEBOOKS 
Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 9781728215242
hardcover $25.99 (USD)

from the publisher

Never tell a woman where she doesn't belong.

In 1932, Roy Chapman Andrews, president of the men-only Explorers Club, boldly stated to hundreds of female students at Barnard College that "women are not adapted to exploration," and that women and exploration do not mix. He obviously didn't know a thing about either...

The Girl Explorers is the inspirational and untold story of the founding of the Society of Women Geographers—an organization of adventurous female world explorers—and how key members served as early advocates for human rights and paved the way for today's women scientists by scaling mountains, exploring the high seas, flying across the Atlantic, and recording the world through film, sculpture, and literature.

Follow in the footsteps of these rebellious women as they travel the globe in search of new species, widen the understanding of hidden cultures, and break records in spades. For these women dared to go where no woman—or man—had gone before, achieving the unthinkable and breaking through barriers to allow future generations to carry on their important and inspiring work.

The Girl Explorers is an inspiring examination of forgotten women from history, perfect for fans of bestselling narrative history books like The Radium Girls, The Woman Who Smashed Codes, and Rise of the Rocket Girls.

Saturday, February 27, 2021

Create Landscape Quilts: A Step-By-Ste Guide to Dynamic People & Places by Meri Henriques Vahl

 

Dawn Prayer on the Ganges shown on cover

Meri Henriques Vahl was a trained artist when she saw her first art quilt. It was a revelation, and an inspiration. Painting with fabric, she developed new methods for construction. Create Landscape Quilts shares her journey, her quilts, and her techniques.

When I saw the detailed, gorgeous quilt on the cover I had to know more.

Vahl creates collage quilts, inspired by images from across the world. Her work includes traditional landscapes and scenes populated by the human figure in both outdoor and interior settings.


She uses unfused and fused fabrics held under a layer of tulle then quilted.

We All Speak Peace

Chapters take you through the steps to make a simple landscape collage and her paper doll technique.

Arlington Row in Bilbury Village, Cotswolds, England 
For details and texture, Vahl uses a variety of materials, including yarn, cotton, thread, beads, lace, roving, feathers, paper, and dryer lint. "There are no rules," she states. It's a chance to try new things, allowing your imagination free play.
Grand Tetons
Creating is not about perfection, Vahl warns. Be open to all possibilities.

After you choose your image, quilt backing, and adding batting, Vahl leads you through the process of composing your quilt. She includes basic design laws,and  demonstrates how stitching can enhance your images.
Flower Market at Chichicastenango, Guatemala

In the past I have used tulle overlays. Her 'paper doll' method is somewhat close to what I used on my unfinished quilt for Emily Dickinson. I do so appreciate Vahl's well presented information on her techniques, which will greatly help me going forward.

I am also in awe of the subjects of Vahl's art, her celebration of people from all cultures and landscapes from across the world.

This is a highly recommended book for art quilters of all experience levels.

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

Create Landscape Quilts: A Step-by-Step Guide to Dynamic People & Places
by Meri Henriques Vahl
C&T Publishing
Pubication February 25, 2021
Book ( $29.95 ) eBook ( $23.99 ) 
ISBN: 978-1644030127
UPC: 734817-114130
eISBN: 978-1644030134

from the publisher
Quilt realistic people and places with artistic flair

Create unique art quilts of your favorite places—and the places you want to go! Meri Vahl shares her simple yet unique method for quilting realistic nature scenes and villages from fabric. Using photographs from her travels, the author explains how to achieve stunning scenery with lifelike details. With techniques like fabric collage and tulle overlay, even beginners will learn to quilt majestic mountainscapes, charming buildings, and realistic people. A stunning gallery of quilts—some named best in the world—will inspire you to bring your own travel photos and art quilt ideas to life.

From photo to art quilt! Recreate landscapes, people, and buildings with ease,  World-renowned art quilter Meri Vahl teaches you her award-winning process. Immortalize your journeys as you paint scenes with fabric, one step at a time

Covid-19 Life: Books, Quilts & Vaccinations

On Friday, my husband received his first Covid-19 vaccination. And next Thursday I will get my first vaccination. It is a great feeling, nearly euphoric, after a year in retreat, to know this is the beginning of the end of a very scary time.

I understand that I will be wearing masks and still being careful, but we can schedule our missed eye exams and dental checks without feeling so vulnerable.

My spring reading list has gotten grown to massive proportions! 

I have Finding Freedom by Erin French from BookishFirst. It arrived on bread making day.

I have had numerous books offered to me by publishers and my NetGalley shelf is overfull!

New on my NetGalley shelf:

  • The Man He Became: Roosevelt's Rise from Polio to the Presidency, James Tobin's The Man He Became written for middle school readers. (Tobin is married to the daughter of a couple we knew some years ago. We were given autographed copies of his previous books, Ernie Pyle's War and To Conquer the Air.)
  • The Coffin Ship: Life and Death at Sea during the Great Irish Famine by Clan McMahon
  • Highway Blue by Alisa McFarlane, a novel about 'being lost and found'
  • That Summer by Jennifer Weiner, whose Big Summer I read last year
  • Lincoln in Private: What His Most Personal Reflections Tell Us About Our Greatest President by Ronald C. White
  • The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live by Danielle Drelinger
  • Thief of Souls by Brian Klingborg, a mystery
  • The Remnants of Summer by Dawn Newton, a coming of age novel set in Michigan

These books join the others already on my shelves. Which, to remind you, include

  • The Bookseller of Florence by Ross King
  • Astrid Sees All by Natalie Standford
  • The Sound Between the Notes by Barbara Linn Probst
  • Eleanor in the Village: Eleanor Roosevelt's Search for Freedom and Identity in New York's Greenwich Village by Jan Jarboe Russell 
  • Light Perpetual by Frances Spufford
  • The Ride of her Life by Elizabeth Letts
  • Republic of Detours: How the New Deal Paid Broke Writers to Rediscover America by Scott Borchert
  • The Reason for the Darkness: Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science by John Tresch
  • Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
  • Blind Spots: Why Students Fail and the Science that Can Save Them by Kimberly Nix Berens
This is daunting!

Still, I sew on.

I finished the Nancy apron.

And I machine quilted the mushroom embroidery and vintage fabric quilt.

I have the backing for the Water Lily quilt and the Rebel Girl quilt! I am going to be a machine quilting machine.

We grew basil by seed and they are finally looking like they will survive! They are in a metal box that I painted some years ago.


This week I Zoomed to hear Diane Rehm talk about her new book through the National Writer Series. Next month I will join them again to see Imbolo Mbue, whose Behold the Dreamers and  How Beautiful We Were  I have read.

Our March library book is Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney--who will join us on Zoom!
Gus the cat got very curious when our son racked the snow off the roof.
But Sunny was chill.
I have to also have a pic of Ellie. This is from last winter when she was obsessed with squirrels.
That's all the news from The Literate Quilter.

Stay safe. Find your bliss. Spring will come and so will the end of the pandemic.

Thursday, February 25, 2021

The Genome Odyssey: Medical Mysteries and the Incredible Quest to Solve Them by Euan Angus Ashley

 

I have been interested in genome research since I first heard about it. As a genealogy researcher, I am curious about what we inherit from our ancestors. I seek out family resemblances and inherited traits, finding my eyes in one relative, my body type in another. 

I wonder what health issues I inherited, or did not inherit. My mother had autoimmune diseases, and so do I. My grandfather had horrible ragweed allergies, and so does our son. My father had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and so does my cousin. My aunt and her two children struggled with alcoholism. Two grandfathers (aged 52 and 68) and an uncle (age 34) died of heart attacks. 

For some people, their genes are secret time bombs. A healthy athlete suffers a sudden heart attack and dies. A baby's normal progress stops, and even regresses. 

What if there was a test that could warn us of impending or likely health issues so doctors could be prepared to remedy or even cure them? What if it was affordable for everyone? What if if was part of our normal preventative health care insurance?

This could be reality.

The Genome Odyssey is a fascinating narrative of Dr. Ashley's research in genome sequencing and how it was applied to solve medical mysteries. 

The science is very accessible in presentation, so that even non-medical folk like myself can understand how genes and sequencing works. The personal stories of those whose lives were changed through genome sequencing  and genetic therapy are affecting. For some, simple OTC supplements changed their life.

The author addresses the current Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, telling how the scientific community swung into action even as governments floundered, and explaining how vaccines was developed and how the different kinds work on the virus. 

"Could even more widespread use of genomics have gotten us further ahead of this pandemic to begin with?", he asks. He notes that wastewater can predict which community will have the next rise in infections. If we systematically tested wastewater the way we test drinking water, we could be prepared to prevent disease flareups.

In a capitalist, profit-driven health system, the question is who will pay. Will the rich only benefit, or those victims of rare diseases who are covered by research grants? Another issue to be addressed is the privacy of genome information and its use. Ashley adds, "Just because we can, doesn't mean we should. Nor does it mean that we can afford it."

Yet the possibilities of what doctors will be able to do in the future are endless.

I received an ARC from the publisher through Bookish First. My review is fair and unbiased.

The Genome Odyssey: Medical Mysteries and the Incredible Quest to Solve Them 
by Euan Angus Ashley, MD, PhD
Celadon Books
Publication Date: February 23, 2021
hardcover $26.99; ebook $14.99
ISBN 9781250234995

from the publisher

“This wonderful page-turner captures the excitement, peril, wonder and anticipation of the so-called “genomics” era — the era that has begun us to allow us to sequence the entirety of DNA carried within our bodies, and to understand the functions of parts of this genome. Dr Ashley, one of the pioneers of gene sequencing technologies, writes with authority, elegance and simplicity to enable an in-depth understanding of the most exciting scientific developments of our times. Every curious reader must read this book.” —Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor of Maladies and The Gene

In The Genome Odyssey, Dr. Euan Ashley, Stanford professor of medicine and genetics, brings the breakthroughs of precision medicine to vivid life through the real diagnostic journeys of his patients and the tireless efforts of his fellow doctors and scientists as they hunt to prevent, predict, and beat disease.

Since the Human Genome Project was completed in 2003, the price of genome sequencing has dropped at a staggering rate. It’s as if the price of a Ferrari went from $350,000 to a mere forty cents. Through breakthroughs made by Dr. Ashley’s team at Stanford and other dedicated groups around the world, analyzing the human genome has decreased from a heroic multibillion dollar effort to a single clinical test costing less than $1,000.

For the first time we have within our grasp the ability to predict our genetic future, to diagnose and prevent disease before it begins, and to decode what it really means to be human.

In The Genome Odyssey, Dr. Ashley details the medicine behind genome sequencing with clarity and accessibility. More than that, with passion for his subject and compassion for his patients, he introduces readers to the dynamic group of researchers and doctor detectives who hunt for answers, and to the pioneering patients who open up their lives to the medical community during their search for diagnoses and cures.

He describes how he led the team that was the first to analyze and interpret a complete human genome, how they broke genome speed records to diagnose and treat a newborn baby girl whose heart stopped five times on the first day of her life, and how they found a boy with tumors growing inside his heart and traced the cause to a missing piece of his genome.

These patients inspire Dr. Ashley and his team as they work to expand the boundaries of our medical capabilities and to envision a future where genome sequencing is available for all, where medicine can be tailored to treat specific diseases and to decode pathogens like viruses at the genomic level, and where our medical system as we know it has been completely revolutionized.


Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Brooklyn On My Mind: Black Visual Artists from the WPA to the Present by Myrah Brown Green

Brooklyn On My Mind: Black Visual Artists From the WPA to the Present by Myrah Brown Green brings together 139 inspirational artists with connections to Brooklyn. The book is beautifully presented, each artist given a two-page spread to showcase their work, and accompanied with a brief artist's statement or biography sketch. It is a book full of powerful images depicting the black experience. 
Ellsworth Ausby (1942-2011) Space Odyssey and an untitled work

Turning pages is like a visit to a gallery, each work an exciting encounter.
Kehinde Wiley portraits

There are well known names such as Kehinde Wiley who was commissioned for the portraits of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. 

Chapter Title Page, Games, 1979, by Jacob Lawrence 

Jacob Lawrence is one of the WPA artists included. I was lucky to have seen an exhibit of his Legend of John Brown paintings at the Flint Institute of Arts in 2016.

Dread Scott writes that he creates "revolutionary art to propel history forward."

I was drawn to the beautiful portraits of children.

Ernest Crichlow (1914-2005) Her Stand, 1987

Ernest Crichlow was part of the Harlem Renaissance and a mural painter and art teacher for the WPA.  Her Stand is a beautiful portrait, but he said that his early controversial work, such as a painting of a Klansman raping a  black woman, "best represented him."
Violet Hewitt Chandler, Boy in Cap and Sweater (2015)
Violet Hewitt Chandler used her children in many of her portraits. 
Fishing, 2012, by Carlton Murrell
Carlton Murrell wrote that his art captures his nostalgia of childhood in the Caribbean which he hopes will spur peace, calm and optimism. 



James Brown's Sorrows, 1992, strikes the viewer with its emotional impact, the strong lighting and shadows. The woman hiding her face is especially haunting.

Sorrows, 1992, by James Brown

I loved the use of fabrics  and found objects in Study War No More, 2015, by Deborah Singletary.
detail Study War No More, 2015, by Deborah Singletary



The gold shimmer in Myra Kooy's Light Streams, 2017, is just extraordinary. She writes that she desires to "offer the viewer, through my art, an equally peaceful place upon which they can relax their eyes."

detail Light Streams, 2017, by Myra Kooy

The book is divided into seven thematic chapters:
  • The WPA Experience, President Franklin Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration which gave jobs to artists and writers during the Depression
  • Passing it Forward, the standard-making artists
  • Songs of Our Mothers and Fathers, artists representing the African American heritage
  • In the Spirit, artists whose work channels the spiritual
  • Global Inspirations, art that represents places beyond Brooklyn
  • Contemporaneous Connections features art that incorporates 21st c issues and technology and ideas
  • New Thought, the artists who "keep the create arts flame burning in Brooklyn."
I hope this glimpse into the book intrigues you! Every page is enthralling.

I received a free book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Brooklyn On My Mind: Black Visual Artists from the WPA to the Present
Myrah Brown Green , Foreword by Chirlane McCray
Schiffer Publications
hard cover $60.00
Size: 9″ x 12″ | 395 color images | 288 pp
ISBN 13: 9780764356520 



about the author

Dr. Myrah Brown Green is an art historian, author, arts consultant, lecturer, and independent curator. Raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, her love for arts began in childhood while spending countless hours creating at the Community Art Center in the housing complex where she lived and included frequent excursions to culturally rich art institutions. She moved to Brooklyn to attend Pratt Institute. Dr. Myrah is also a professional quilt maker who has been quilting and teaching textile arts for more than thirty years. Her quilts are in a number of prestigious collections including the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Museum in Washington, DC, and Michigan State University. For the past decade Dr. Myrah has devoted her time to assisting the Black New York artist community to document and archive their art.

from the publisher 

This new resource assembles 129 Black artists and their magnificent works, highlighting their important contributions to art worldwide. Beginning with the Brooklyn-based artists active during the Works Progress Administration years and continuing with artists approaching their prime today, the collection spans 80 years of art. From highly publicized artists to rising talent, each is tied to Brooklyn in their own way. Artists include Jacob Lawrence, Otto Neals, Onnie Millar, Kehinde Wiley, Dindga McCannon, Melvin Edwards, Dread Scott, Xenobia Bailey, Vivian Schuyler Key, Kay Brown, Russell Frederick, and many more. Seven chapters highlight overarching themes that connect the artists, besides their Brooklyn connections. A foreword by New York City’s “first lady,” Chirlane McCray, marks the importance of Brooklyn’s Black creators within the city’s art community.



Tuesday, February 23, 2021

The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness by Emily Anthes

 

I so enjoyed reading The Great Indoors. Every chapter was enlightening and interesting, the science made accessible and relevant. Emily Anthes wisely introduces readers to cutting-edge insights and ideas through a series of first person experiences of applied science.

I have been isolating in place since March 11, 2020. With very few trips into the world other than neighborhood walks; my life has been spent indoors. Our son, like millions of people, has worked from home. School closings meant our neighbor's children were educated from home. 

Anthes begins her journey at home, the "indoor jungle" of microbial and insect species that we share our space with. Of course, many of these originate in our own bodies! Our personal bacteria, and those of our pets (who introduce outdoor microbes) create a personal, unique biome that we recreate wherever we take domicile.

Next, Anthes stops at the hospital. Those bacteria we share in our home get shared in the hospital rooms, persisting even after cleaning. Sure, we have come a long way; what more can be done? Anyone who has been overnight in a hospital knows the issues: sounds and lights that prevent sleep and raise stress; the awful views of roofs or walls from the windows. Studies prove that patients recuperate quicker and better when they have private rooms with a view.

Buildings themselves lead to the health issues that send us to hospital care in the first place. Giving people ways to exercise, encouraging the use of walking and stairs can help. Starting in elementary schools. Anthes visited a school built to encourage movement and good eating choices.

Finding the balance between privacy and communal interaction is a continuing workplace challenge. Cubicles are being replaced by unassigned workstations. I remember wearing a sweater in summertime air conditioning, and short sleeves in overheated winter offices. What is the best option--working in a crowded room or isolated in a private office?

The chapter on building to accommodate all people, including the disabled and handicapped, has broadened to include people on the Autism Spectrum Disorder. Since every Autistic person has different needs, no one plant fits every need. We meet people seeking a space that allows independent living.

The history of prisons is a dark one, for even the 'improvements' were harsh. Quakers believed in reformation through isolation that allowed contemplation and repentance. The Philadelphia penitentiary  built to enforce this isolation morphed into today's solitary confinement, which has proved to exacerbate mental health issues. Anthes visits a prison that feel home-like, with direct supervision and interaction between staff and inmates, have proven successful. Of course, the real solution to mass incarceration is investing in communities and addressing the root causes of crime.

Smart devices are all the rage. Some of us already are living a Jetsons life with high-tech homes. Robot vacuums and programmable appliances are fast becoming old technology. There are mirrors that can detect cardiovascular issues based on skin color. Senior residential floors that alert staff to falls. The implications are both comforting and disconcerting!

Soon after we moved into our retirement home, our community suffered a rare flood that destroyed thousands of home basements. It took years for most to haul out the damage and make repairs, with local contractors overwhelmed with work. We were lucky; situated on a hill, and having addressed basement cracks, we stayed dry. But for millions, flooding and rising water levels is a continual threat. It is amazing to read about floating homes and how houses can be retrofitted on a budget.

Last year I read about a woman's experience of live on Mars....Well, at least life in a biodome that recreated what it would be like to live in community on Mars. Scientists are studying what kind of buildings would be needed to live on the moon or on another planet. Even IKEA has been involved.

Every part of your life is addressed in The Great Indoors. Home, health, learning, independence, and the future. 

I received a free book from the publisher through Goodreads.

The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness
by Emily Anthes
Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published June 23, 2020
ISBN0374166633 (ISBN13: 9780374166632)

from the publisher

Modern humans are an indoor species. We spend 90 percent of our time inside, shuttling between homes and offices, schools and stores, restaurants and gyms. And yet, in many ways, the indoor world remains unexplored territory. For all the time we spend inside buildings, we rarely stop to consider: How do these spaces affect our mental and physical well-being? Our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors? Our productivity, performance, and relationships?

In this wide-ranging, character-driven book, science journalist Emily Anthes takes us on an adventure into the buildings in which we spend our days, exploring the profound, and sometimes unexpected, ways that they shape our lives. Drawing on cutting-edge research, she probes the pain-killing power of a well-placed window and examines how the right office layout can expand our social networks. She investigates how room temperature regulates our cognitive performance, how the microbes hiding in our homes influence our immune systems, and how cafeteria design affects what—and how much—we eat.

Along the way, Anthes takes readers into an operating room designed to minimize medical errors, a school designed to boost students’ physical fitness, and a prison designed to support inmates’ psychological needs. And she previews the homes of the future, from the high-tech houses that could monitor our health to the 3D-printed structures that might allow us to live on the Moon.

The Great Indoors provides a fresh perspective on our most familiar surroundings and a new understanding of the power of architecture and design. It's an argument for thoughtful interventions into the built environment and a story about how to build a better world—one room at a time.

Sunday, February 21, 2021

Lost Son by M. Allen Cunningham

In my late 20s I was browsing in a downtown Philadelphia book store and happened upon a slender volume, Letters to a Young Poet. It changed my life. A few years later, I took the Duino Elegies on vacation to Maine, and sitting on pink granite cliffs overlooking the Atlantic ocean, I opened it and read the words, "If I cried out/who would hear me up there among the angelic orders?" It gave me chills.

Forty years later, I still read Rainer Maria Rilke and still struggle with understanding the words that thrill me. 

When I heard of a novel about Rilke I ordered a copy and it languished on my TBR shelf until I found myself the recipient of an egalley of previously uncollected Rilke poetry. I had to revisit Rilke to understand where the poetry came from. I hoped that M. Allen Cunningham's novel could be help.

Lost Son  follows Rilke's life from 1875 to 1915, incorporating the poet's letters into his text. 

Rilke's parents had lost a daughter; his mother turned her son into that lost daughter, naming him Rene Maria and putting him in dresses until his father took a stand. Rene was sent to military school, where he endured much suffering. 

His family had determined his sex, his education, his career, all unsuitable to his disposition and sensitive soul. He knew he was to be a poet.

At the center of his story is Lou, an older, intellectual, beautiful woman who eventually becomes his lover. Although married, she had remained a virgin. She listened to him, counseled him, consoled him, traveled abroad with him.

And then, held him at a distance. She studied with Freud, remained with her husband. Rilke met a young artist Clara. A pregnancy brought them to marry. Clara had studied with the master sculptor Rodin, and she encouraged her husband to write a monograph about Rodin.

Rilke took Rodin as his mentor, taking to heart the advice Rodin did not even follow: that work must displace everything else for the artist. Solitude was necessary for the artist to work.

And so he befriended women, felt eros, and fled.

Rilke struggled with his art in isolation, separated from his family, wandering from place to place, finding succor and temporary lodging, writing endless letters to Lou and Clara and everyone else he met along the way, pouring out his anguish and thoughts and communing from afar.

Rilke was out of France when the Germans took over; in effect, he was exiled from his home, his apartment, his possessions, his everything in this world.

"Even your papers are gone. Your manuscripts Your hundreds upon hundreds of letters and copies of letters...Uncle Jaroslav's old Rilke family crest. The small silver-framed photograph of your young Papa..." Cunningham writes, the chapter concluding with Rilke's letter to Princess Marie that ends,"Once again, my heart has fallen out."

Perhaps this is not a novel for 'everyone,' as Rilke's writing is not for 'everyone'. But for those who love the poet, it does feel right, a slant of light illuminating a difficult life. Cunningham immersed himself in Rilke's writings, especially those letters, and recreates Rilke's life in poetic prose.