family saga

International historical fiction is not my typical genre, but Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko swept me off my feet. This epic Korean family story starts in the late 1800’s and spans all the way to the late 1980’s. The unifying thread of the tale is Sunja, a resourceful and headstrong woman who has to repeatedly prove her convictions and loyalties through life’s many tests.

Born to a disabled father in Korea, society held low expectations for Sunja. As a teenager, she finds herself falling for the genuine affection of an older, well-off Japanese businessman who she thinks intends to marry her. When she

The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig is a gem I stumbled upon because the cover art created nostalgia within me (that one-room schoolhouse). I happily discovered that Doig is a master developer of characters, plot, time and place, but most especially language.

Ivan Doig writes about the American West of the early 1900’s. The Whistling Season is set in 1910 Montana, birth state of the author. The landscape of rural Montana plays a prominent role in this novel. Equally important are the quirky characters who populate the community of Marias Coulee.

The Whistling Season is narrated by Paul

Recently, I realized how much pleasure I derive from reading international fiction with an Irish flair; must be that Irish blood coursing through my veins or a previous lifetime spent roaming locales like Donaghadee, Ballyskeagh or Glengormley. I've escaped to settings like these in the Irish Country Doctor series by Patrick Taylor and Heather Barbieri's The Lace Makers of Glenmara.

The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey is international, historical fiction which takes readers to Northern Ireland during the early 1900's (the beginning of Northern Ireland's fight for independence from Great