They broke the mold after Dumas wrote “The Count of Monte Cristo.” There will never be a revenge plot as ambitious, as smooth, as Rube Goldbergian, as violent, as tense, or as passionate as this. This is the Ur Revenge Plot. I devoured this book. Inhaled it. And it’s partly because my brain melted a bit after the election, and then I was doggedly rebuilding my spirits with Solnit’s “Hope in the Dark” (TBR) (GET OFF MY BACK), and then it was Thanksgiving, and I […]
Pygmalion meets Jane the Ripper — a fascinating bit of fictionalized history
This is a lengthy, historically detailed and excitingly written mash-up of Pygmalion meets Jane the Ripper, with a high density of fascinating issues woven into the fabric of the story. Savage Girl takes place in 1875, and begins in Virginia City, Nevada, where a supremely wealthy New York family is visiting by private train. The father, Freddy Delegate, is a collector of human oddities and is intrigued by a supposedly genuine “feral child,” a young woman who is the star of a freak show and […]