Tag: World Literature

Mystery, World Literature

Pentimento Mori by Valeria Corciolani

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

Renowned art historian Dr. Edna Silvera is not your typical detective. In fact, she’s not a detective at all. But when she stumbles across an apparently impossible medieval painting in the suddenly-deceased Nando Folli’s junk shop, her curiosity lands her in trouble with the police and on the trail of a shadowy world no one wants to admit exists.

Valeria Corciolani, author of Pentimento Mori, is an Italian publishing phenomenon. Her books have over 62,000 reviews on Amazon.it and have been made into award winning films. Pentimento Mori (originally published as Con l’arte e con l’inganno) is the first of her works to be translated into English. Combining scrupulously correct art history with international intrigue, murder, and a solid dose of humor, this is Corciolani’s most ambitious work yet.

My Thoughts

If ever a translated work has made me want to learn the language of origin, it’s this one! I’ve been in a weird sort of reading slump since I retired from the library. I’m trying to catch up on my old Goodreads “Want To Read” list and trying to finish a few reviews, including this one. I’ve been a little off mysteries lately, finding them formulaic and not terribly inventive, but then I got to Pentimento Mori.

What an absolute TREAT to read a literate, clever, and humorous mystery featuring a “detective” I would really like to share a coffee with and hear about Hieronymos Bosch.

This is storytelling at its best. Colorful and unexpected characters, witty dialog, and beautifully descriptive narrative that transports you to Italy – all of this whirls together in a story that you will remember for a long time.

I am hopeful that more of this author’s work will be translated. If it’s not, I really will need to learn to read Italian.

Recommended.

Publication Date: July 16, 2024
Published By: Kazabo Publishing
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy

Family, Food & Drink, Magical, New Releases, World Literature

Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

We all hold lost recipes in our hearts. A very special restaurant in Kyoto helps find them . . .

Tucked away down a Kyoto backstreet lies the extraordinary Kamogawa Diner, run by Chef Nagare and his daughter, Koishi. The father-daughter duo have reinvented themselves as “food detectives,” offering a service that goes beyond cooking mouth-watering meals. Through their culinary sleuthing, they revive lost recipes and rekindle forgotten memories.

From the Olympic swimmer who misses his estranged father’s bento lunchbox to the one-hit-wonder pop star who remembers the tempura she ate to celebrate her only successful record, each customer leaves the diner forever changed—though not always in the ways they expect . . .

The Kamogawa Diner doesn’t just serve meals—it’s a door to the past through the miracle of delicious food. A beloved bestseller in Japan, The Restaurant of Lost Recipes is a tender and healing novel for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

My Thoughts

What an absolute gem of a book! The concept is fascinating – a restaurant and chef that recreate recipes from your past. We all have some dish that evokes special and strong memories – maybe a memorable meal you had with a loved one, or, like the first dish in this story, a simple (or not-so-simple) lunch made for you by your parent every day for years.

The power of food and taste is explored in delicate and colorful prose, offering up poignant and heart-warming vignettes for the people who are lucky enough to find the Kamagawa Diner. This would make a wonderful TV series. I hope Netflix picks it up.

What is YOUR “lost recipe?”

Publication Date: October 8, 2024
Published By: Penguin Group Putnam
Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy

Family, Historical, Mystery, Suspense, World Literature

The Heron Legacy by Leona Francombe

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

Charles Fontaine returns to Europe to sell his family’s ancestral domain and finds that a twelfth-century legend still haunts the property. Clues lead him to a parchment relating the curious tale of a village seeress, whose music enchanted a nobleman with shadowy ties to the present-day Fontaine family. With the help of a famous medievalist and enigmatic woman from his youth, Charles draws ever closer to the truth of this tale and its stunning historical revelation…and to his own buried past. “”The Heron Legacy”” is a novel of modern suspense in which history roams freely, its breath still warm.

My Thoughts

This lovely, gentle book contains a deceptively gripping plot and a wonderful set of characters who will stay with me for a long time. The concept of chivalry runs strong and true through the narrative as the reader follows Charles de la Fontaine (or Charles d’Outre-mer) as he grows from a thoughtful boy obsessed with history to a man grown in the image of his father (or is he?)

The chapters describing Charles’ relationship with his beloved Uncle Theo are some of the most interesting and touching in the story and truly drive the narrative forward. Charles’ fascination with the chivalrous knights of the Crusades and the cognitive dissonance of their actions (killing for God) help create an exciting and deeply moving story.

The author is exceptionally skilled at storytelling – keeping a consistent pace, introducing new characters and bombshell information at just the right time, and crafting an ending that wraps up all the loose ends. I’ll be recommending this for sure.

Publication Date: June 25, 2024
Published By: BooksGoSocial
Thanks to Book Sirens for the review copy