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Our cheerful staff of dedicated booksellers are knowledgable
professionals, eager to pleasantly provide superior personal attention
to each customer.
We are legendary for our recommendations, reviews, and our ability to
search out your title with whatever information you have. If we do not
have a book in-stock we will do our best to obtain it quickly. All
staff members are enthusiastic readers, and can offer recommendations
and reviews based on personal experience. Here are a few top picks from
our Edgartown Books staff...
Marcia Fenn
Susan Catling
Gretta Hehre
Taylor LaRese
Diane Martin
Michelle Lemay
Ann LeBreton
David LeBreton
Marcia Fenn Reviews:
I Remember Nothing
Nora Ephron
A delightful little book of essays about growing older and forgetting oh so much. Ephron is a 60-something journalist, screenwriter, playwright and author and her musings about the aging process are spot-on! I loved her previous book, I Feel Bad About My Neck, and this one too did not disappoint.
Mudbound
Hillary Jordan
This post World War II story that takes place in the Mississippi Delta will appeal to anyone who enjoyed The Help. It is a racially charged saga of one white landowner's family and the black tenant farmers and sharecroppers who work the land. The story is told from the voices of six of the main characters in alternating chapters. The story is fast-paced and gripping. I could not put it down!
Let's Take the Long Way Home
Gail Caldwell
A story of two women, both writers, who meet and bond walking their dogs in a park in Cambridge, MA. The beauty and depth of their friendship was told with such tenderness that I was moved to tears. It was a bond most people dream about. Caroline Knapp, who wrote memoirs about her eating disorder and alcoholism, died of lung cancer in 2002. The profound friendship between these two lives on in this book.
Beatrice and Virgil
Yann Martel
If you read and enjoyed Yann Martel's award winning 2002 novel, The Life of Pi, I know you will be equally mesmerized by his newest book, Beatrice and Virgil. This enchanting tale revolves around a play written by an aging taxidermist about a howler monkey and a donkey. Martel takes the reader on the most amazing ride to a world that is both fanciful and haunting. The eight-page description of a pear alone is worth the price of the book.
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak
This book is up there in the category of one of my all-time favorites. It is an historical novel, taking place during the late 30's and early 40's in Nazi Germany, and the narrator is Death. The book follows Liesel, a young girl, who is sent to live with a foster family and they are secretly hiding a Jewish man in their basement. With Death telling the story, the format is quite unusual and it takes a little time to get into the rhythm of the book, but it is oh so worth the effort!
American Wife
Curtis Sittenfeld
This novel, based loosely on the life of Laura Bush, is great read. I realize that the subject matter may not excite the masses, but it is a wonderfully written fictionalized account of this enigmatic woman. I could not put it down.
Susan Catling Reviews:
The Man in the Rockefeller Suit
Mark Seal
It's an amazing chronicle of a con man who duped intelligent people all over the country for years by turning up with a new name and a preppier and preppier past as he went along. The enormous ego of the man most recently known as Clark Rockefeller finally caught up with him, landing him in prison for kidnapping his daughter; now he's been charged with murder and is being extradicted to California.
This book reads like a novel but is all the more surprising for being true. Mark Seal's outstanding research into a man who covered his tracks so well shows incredible determination. Too bad nobody else – including employers, friends, and wives – bothered to look at all.
The Other Wes Moore
Wes Moore
Two boys with the same name who have never met grow up on the mean streets of Baltimore in the 1980s; by 2000, one is a Rhodes scholar and one is arrested for murder. The author explores how two lives on a parallel track for trouble produced different outcomes.
Gretta Hehre Reviews:
The Girl Who Played with Fire
Stieg Larsson
Stieg Larsson's first novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, has been on countless bestseller lists for good reason and the sequel does not disappoint. Larsson's intriguing way of introducing the plot and its characters leaves the reader itching for more. I cannot wait to read the final book in the Millennium series - it's definitely on my list!
The Shadow of the Wind
Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Carlos Ruiz Zafón is a fantastic storyteller who combines the magic of books and gothic romance to create a modern classic. Set in Barcelona, 1945, the story is centered on young Daniel Sempere, who finds a book called The Shadow of the Wind that changes his life forever. When he tries to find more of the author’s works he discovers that the authors’ books are being systematically burned. As Daniel uncovers more information about the book, he gets more than what he bargained for. Skillfully written and beautifully translated, The Shadow of the Wind is a compelling story. I could not put it down because the end of every chapter left me wanting more. I absolutely loved it and consider it to be among the best books I have ever read.
Taylor LaRese Reviews:
Kafka on the Shore
Haruki Murakami
Murakami, a brilliant storyteller, weaves elements from his uninhibited imagination into the cultural backdrop of Japan to produce a unique and wonderful read. Kafka on the Shore can be summarized as a combination of a novel and a contemporary fairy tale, which cloaks deeper metaphorical meaning.
Diane Martin Reviews:
The Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
John Barry
This is the intriguing telling of the story of a legendary river and the scope of government in the 1920's. By the end of the book, 30 feet of water had covered land inhabited by 1% of the country's population, thriving cities were destroyed (and never recovered), and a president was elected on the promises of the power of experts, civil engineering and government intervention. Rising Tide is about a natural disaster (the rain began in the upper Midwest in the summer of 1926, filled the upper Mississippi and continued almost unabated through the spring of 1927) but it is really a revealing look at political power and race relations early in the 20th century, and a fascinating primer on the Mississippi's science and infrastructure.
Compelling characters abound: two competing egoists (self-taught James B. Eads vs elite academy trained Andrew Humphries) and their quarrel over the science and control of the Mississsippi, the legendary Percy family and the Mississippi delta itself, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover. The portrayal of political and business dynamics in the Delta and New Orleans is sharp and incisive. The story is both captivating and cautionary. Tighter editing toward the end would have helped, but the story, the history and the analysis well make up for it.
The Forgotten Man
Amity Shlaes
The forgotten man is "C", the taxpayer, who is dragged into the fray (however reluctantly) when "A" and "B" attempt to come to the aid of "X". He is forgotten, because he's always on the hook to pay for "A" and "B"'s impulses. Amity Shlaes's book follows a cast of characters from 1927 (when Herbert Hoover took command of the great Flood on the Mississippi) to 1940 (when FDR won reelection to a third term). The Forgotten Man is an anecdotal history of the Great Depression in which the players include government planners (Rex Tugwell and Harold Ickes), capitalists (Andrew Mellon, Wendell Wilkie and Alfred Loomis), economists (Irving Fisher, John Keynes), jurists ("the Four Horsemen", Felix Frankfurter and Robert Jackson), small businessmen (the Schechter brothers), labor leaders (John L. Lewis), social activists (Father Divine), and politicians (Herbert Hoover, FDR, and Wendell Wilkie).
The characters predominate over data and the narrative focuses on FDR's highly personal style of policy making - in this case the class conflict he pitched against entrepeneurs, stockholders and corporate executives as well as his own wealthy peer group of investors and businessmen. She argues that the Depression was deeper and longer lasting because the government meddled too much by raising taxes, fixing prices and wages and creating government competition to private enterprise. She also offers a compelling introduction to the growth of the Stalin cult in the 1930's and the selling to the American people of the Soviet worker's paradise story and its subtle later influence on FDR.
The subject is economics and politics, so the writing is serious and dense at times. However, The Forgotten Man is not just for academicians and offers insight on a complex period.
America America
Ethan Canin
American, America is a lovely story, carefully written, about characters developed with care. The story is about loyalty and the demands it makes, about work and ambition, parents, their children and generations and the tensions of entertwined lives and ambitions. It is set in a small western New York town and combines two primary threads: the story of Henry Bonwiller, a liberal senator from New York pursuing the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972 who is supported by Liam Metarey, heir to an industrial empire and a legacy of responsibility for the people who work for him; and, the coming of age of Corey Sifter, the narrator and a local teenager who views the 1972 campaign from the perspective of a young man invited into the world of wealth and power through his work for the Metarey family.
The action of the campaign involves an affair, a car accident, a dead mistress. There is a cover-up, or a misdirection or omission. Or just a lot of unknowns. But the truth of what happened is hidden from the reader as it was from Corey. The "truth" unfolds as Corey speaks as a mature journalist to a young protegee about the mysteries of the campaign he was so close to, his parents and the people he loved. The facts emerge in a graceful way and the reader learns the lessons of Corey's youth as he does. This is a rich story, thoroughly satisfying.
Michelle Lemay Reviews:
The Little Stranger
Sarah Waters
Sarah Waters (Fingersmith and The Night Watch) has built a reputation for writing literary gothic stories reminiscent of Henry James and Shirley Jackson. Her talents for creating realistic historical settings and unique characters come to fruition in her newest novel, The Little Stranger.
Post WW2, the Ayres family struggles to hold onto Hundreds Hall, a crumbling English great house that still retains a fading remnant of its glory. Mrs. Ayres clings to her past in an attempt to imagine that the aristocracy still holds power, even as massive social changes sweep postwar England. Her son, Roderick, terribly wounded and scarred from battle, exhausts himself working on the land to try to keep Hundreds solvent. Spinster daughter, Caroline, who is bright and bitter, tries to keep up some semblance of family. Into their Grey Gardens style lives appears Dr. Faraday, who as a young boy visited the great house during a village fête, and became enamored of Hundreds. The Ayres alternately welcome the distraction of the outsider Faraday and then remind him of his humble origins.
Each character is trapped by circumstance and by the house that holds deep secrets. Their lives are bound by a darkness they have yet to comprehend, and the unraveling of their pride, fears, and longings brews up a chilling storm of consequences.
The Little Stranger makes for compelling reading; in addition to featuring nuanced characters and psychological insight, it has a surprise ending that will change your interpretation of all the preceding events.
Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth
Xiaolu Guo
Xiaolu Guo's impressive first novel has a narrator who leaps off the page and strides into our world commanding attention with her paradoxical fragility and virulence. Seventeen year old Fenfang leaves behind her family and their provincial way of life as sweet potato farmers for the seething city of Beijing in search of something more than a monotonous existence.
The story is told in twenty brief chapters brimming with deadpan humor and shining with Fenfeng's resiliency amidst squalor and failed relationships. On the streets of Beijing, she tries to satisfy her insatiable hunger with instant noodles, Western literature, hot coffee, and movies. Her resigned acceptance and blank face imperfectly cover her longing and vulnerability. But after four lost years, Fenfeng feels her life has finally begun. She's twenty-one, has found work as a movie extra, and believes this will be the catalyst for great changes in her life.
Xiaolu Guo writes short, sharp prose that captures the hard edge of youthful angst. Her infectious novel is written with an authentic and idiosyncratic voice that brings to mind the way Holden Caulfield spoke to disaffected youth. With a fierce honesty, Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth will transfix and transport you as Fenfeng comes of age and finds herself.
The Good Thief
Hannah Tinti
The Good Thief is a rare find, a feat of imagination that thrills and captivates the reader from the first chapter. Set in Colonial New England, the unsettled and unlikely cast of heroes faces squalor and hard luck with a curious mix of deadpan humor and hope. Tinti tells a gripping tale about a one-handed orphan boy named Ren and his search to unravel the mystery of his past. The answer might lie with the charismatic and enigmatic con man, Benjamin Nab, who adopts twelve-year-old Ren from St. Anthony's orphanage. Nab introduces Ren to a shadowy world of thieves, grave robbers, and mercenaries.
It's not just the wonderful characters and plot that make The Good Thief a novel to treasure, it's the talent and insight that Tinti exhibits with her assured writing style. From the very first paragraph, the reader is a willing accomplice to the story.
The irrepressible Ren lodges in your heart with his mix of world weary acceptance and yearning hopefulness. His search for his place in the world reveals the most basic of human needs: the desire to love and be loved.
Anne LeBreton Reviews:
Seen The Glory
John Hough, Jr
Seen The Glory is a remarkable story of two young brothers who leave their home on Martha's Vineyard to join the army during the Civil War. Although their abolitionist views are not always accepted, they and their comrades manage the hardships of the long march from Chancellorsville to Gettysburg. It is here that the brothers have a falling out - on the eve of the battle that would change the course of the war. This wonderful novel captures the brutality of war while simultaneously rendering a heartbreaking story of two brothers.
The Help
Kathryn Stockett
The Help is a wonderfully written novel that takes place in Jackson, Mississippi during the 60's. The main character, a recent grad of Ole Miss, accepts a book contract to write about the lives of the African American women working for her family and family friends. Three women join forces to complete this project, because they can no longer tolerate the racial boundaries that define their town and their lives. Kathryn Stockett does a wonderful job of bringing every character in the book to life!
David LeBreton Reviews:
Stone's Fall
Iain Pears
A wonderful historical mystery by a master. Reporter Matthew Braddock has been hired in 1909 by a beautiful widow to investigate the life and legacy of her late husband William John Stone, financier, profiteer and possible philanderer. Stone has died in unusual circumstances and left an enigmatic will. The narrative travels back in time from London to France to Venice, tracing the history of a single almost incomprehensibly powerful man. Don't be cowed by the length of this book; give it the time it merits.
The Tourist
Olen Steinhauer
This outstanding contemporary spy thriller brings to mind early LeCarre. Milo Weaver is a former "tourist", a CIA black ops agent, now a devoted family man with an agency deskjob. Accused of murdering a colleague, he is forced to go on the run to clear his name. As Weaver's own mysterious past comes into play, what emerges as the real story is the soul-crushing toll the job inflicts on a person who can't trust anyone, whose life is a lie fueled by paranoia.
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