Book #102 of 2022: This Rebel Heart by Katherine Locke Author Katherine Locke nails the tense and paranoid atmosphere in this fictionalized account of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (a student-led uprising against Soviet control that ultimately failed, although the novel doesn’t track the conflict all the way to its bitter end). And as ever …
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Book #222 of 2019: It’s a Whole Spiel: Love, Latkes, and Other Jewish Stories edited by Katherine Locke and Laura Silverman This 2019 YA volume presents over a dozen brand-new short stories from Jewish writers about contemporary Jewish teens. The characters vary in their specific denominations and levels of religiosity, with some of the plots …
Book #217 of 2018: The Girl with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke (The Balloonmakers #1) I have a hard time investing in this novel’s central romance, which consists of two frequently blushing and stammering teens who basically fall for one another at first sight. I also sometimes want more from the prose, which doesn’t …
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