Riley is a 25-year-old school counselor in Durham, North Carolina and she is going through a particularly rough patch. Her father has died and it falls on her to take care of his estate, sifting through all his possessions and obsessions (he was a collector of all manner of ephemera), selling his house and RV Park. Her older brother Danny, an Iraq vet, is simply not up to the task and as she has recently broken up with her boyfriend, she feels adrift and alone. […]
Be open and supple; the brittle break
Sir Thomas Lemuel Hawke feels certain that he will die in battle, so he sets about writing a letter to his beloved children, outlining some rules for living. Chapter by chapter, he tells stories of his life, from childhood to manhood, imparting his own wisdom as it was passed down from his grandfather. These parables are a melding of Eastern and Western philosophies, and cover such topics as gratitude, grace, courage and discipline. It is a charming and though-provoking little book, handsomely bound and illustrated. […]
Brain Twinkies Part the Third
“And that’s when it all went wrong.” I hit a snag here in the third installment of the Clifton Chronicles. It started out with Giles Barrington getting the title and Harry and Emma finally being free to marry. They did decide, though, that since there might be an outside chance that Hugo Barrington was Harry’s father (and yes, ew) that they would have no more children. Thus setting the stage for them to track down and adopt the little baby left in the basket by […]
Brain Twinkies Part Deux
Since Mr. Archer has a penchant for high drama and cliffhangers, the first book in the Clifton Chronicles ended with Harry assuming the identity of a dead American and landing in New York City only to be charged with murder. Back home, everyone thinks he is dead, having been killed when the ship he had signed on to was sunk by a German U-Boat. His mother Maisie and paramour Emma grieve in their own way, with Emma finally taking matters into her own hands. After […]