Timeless Page-Turner Also Is Irritating

About 70 pages into Kingsblood Royal, Sinclair Lewis throws a bombshell into his boring characters’ boring lives—and the rest of the book is a real page-turner.

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House Divided is Good — and Long

House Divided deserves to be dusted off and reread. Ben Ames Williams gives us believable characters, high drama, and superb dialogue, all resting on an extensive base of facts about the War Between the States.

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Don’t Take The Wayward Bus

Despite believable characters, a plausible plot, keen observation, and superb writing by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, The Wayward Bus is a totally unappealing novel.

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The Vixens Deserves Extinction

Frank Yerby had a smash hit with The Foxes of Harrow in 1946. The next year, he published a sequel, which also became a bestseller, even though The Vixens is even more awful than its predecessor.

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Only Returning Vets Could Love Lydia

Lydia Bailey burst onto the post-war literary scene, securing author Kenneth Roberts a niche in popular historical fiction for years. Today the novel serves only as a glimpse into the background of events that occasionally erupt onto the evening news. In 1800, lawyer Albion Hamlin reluctantly leaves his New England farm to represent clients fighting [...]

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Gentleman’s Agreement Victim of Its Own Success

Laura Z. Hobson’s Gentleman’s Agreement shook readers who had just come through World War II and considered themselves unprejudiced. Journalist Phil Green decides to pose as a Jew to get the inside angle on anti-Semitism. Initially, only his mother, his girlfriend, and his editor know his Jewishness is only a pose. Green becomes increasingly sensitized [...]

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The Moneyman Gives Good Value

The Moneyman, Thomas B. Costain’s novel of 15th century French intrigue and counter-intrigue. is a much better novel than the tales of the Christian era for which Costain is famous. “The Moneyman” is Jacques Coeur, semi-official financier for Charles VII. For years, Coeur manipulated French policy through the king’s mistress, Agnes Sorel. When Agnes becomes [...]

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Humor Gives Religious Novel Appeal

The Miracle of the Bells is a standard religious novel to which Russell Janney has added a dollop of humor. The humor increases the novel’s appeal but can’t disguise it’s poor quality. Press agent William “Spats” Dunnigan  had met Olga when she was an innocent waif determined to be a star. He felt sorry for [...]

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