Surviving Fairyland

The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker (Pamela Dorman hardcover, 1 August 2013).

The heft of this book made me put off reading it for a few months, but I finally picked it up last week, and I'm so glad I did.

It's the story of Ph.D. candidate Nora Fischer, whose dissertation on John Donne has become bogged down by lack of enthusiasm (on her part).   Her adviser has more or less dumped her, and her boyfriend has completely dumped her. 

In an effort to get her mind off her troubles, Nora goes away for the weekend, to a friend's wedding.  Going for a solitary morning hike, she stumbles upon a huge estate, owned by a beautiful woman named Ilissa, who invites her to a party that evening.  Ilissa gives her a "makeover" and Nora finds herself transformed from a boring doctoral student into a beautiful socialite who charms everyone she meets.

But the glamorous life eventually turns into the pit of despair, Nora realizes that she must escape in order to survive, and discovers that it will be harder to return to her real life than she ever imagined.

This book completely drew me in, and although it's too long to be read in one sitting, I hardly put it down for a couple of days.  She's a pretty realistic 21st Century woman, who's been raised to believe she can "have it all" and discovering how difficult that really is to achieve.

Fans of  Deborah Harkness' All Souls books, and City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte, will love this book!'



FTC Full Disclosure:  Many thanks to The Penguin Group for the Advance Reading Copy.

Just finished reading...

The Square Root of Murder by Ada Madison.*

Math scares a lot of people. Mathematics professor Dr. Sophie Knowles, protagonist of this new mystery series, reminds me of my very first high school math teacher (whose name, sadly, I forget) who made algebra and geometry fun for me. Sophie teaches math at Henley College in the fictional town of Henley, MA, and tries very hard to make it enjoyable.

Her assistant, Rachel Wheeler, who is hoping to get into medical school, is a student who has become a friend. But Rachel needs to pass chemistry first, and the chemistry professor Dr. Keith Appleton is not making it easy for her. Appleton makes life difficult for most people at Henley College, including Sophie, although she does her best to get along with him.

One afternoon while celebrating the promotion of another colleague, Hal Bartholomew, from instructor to assistant professor, Rachel and other members of the department are expressing pleasure that Keith Appleton is not in attendance. Upset by their unprofessional behavior, Sophie chastises them, and in apology, Rachel offers to take some cake to the chemistry professor.

At home later that evening, Sophie receives a phone call from Rachel, who has been at the police station answering questions about the death of Dr. Appleton. Since Rachel was probably the last to see him alive, Sophie is certain that the police will focus on her assistant as the killer. Even more certain that Rachel is innocent, Sophie has to find a way to convince the authorities of it.

Ada Madison is a pseudonym for Camille Minichino, author of The Periodic Table Mysteries, a series of eight books featuring Gloria Lamerino, a retired professor of physics. As a faculty member at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, Dr. Minichino writes about the academic life from experience, and describes the academic life and people accurately (having been a graduate student in more than one department I can affirm this) and with humor.

*FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher, who sent me a copy of the book for review purposes.