The titular protagonist of K. Ancrum's young adult novel Icarus lives a double life that mixes the mundane and inexplicable. By day, he is like any other high school senior, managing his classes, navigating student cliques, and preparing for the frightening and exhilarating independence lurking just...
Read ReviewIcarus and Helios in Greek Mythology
The titular protagonist of K. Ancrum's young adult novel Icarus denies that his name is an allusion to the famous character from Greek mythology and reveals that his mother christened him after the scientific name of a beloved fern, Icarus filiformis. Nonetheless, Icarus's denial of this ...
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The poignant, accessible poems in Palestinian American author Hala Alyan's fifth collection, The Moon That Turns You Back, emerge from a family history of Arab diaspora. Simultaneously tied to and cast out from various war-torn nations of the Middle East, generations of her family have been exiles. ...
Read ReviewA Reading List of Palestinian American Literature
Hala Alyan, author of the poetry collection The Moon That Turns You Back, has also published two novels: Salt Houses, winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Arab American Book Award; and The Arsonists' City. Her work is part of a flourishing Palestinian American literary scene. For a ...
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We so often think of plants as stationary creatures—they are rooted in place, so to speak—that it can be easy to overlook the biological ingenuity that allows them to thrive in many locations at once. Plants are in fact anything but sedentary. Throughout human history we've moved them ...
Read ReviewFew plants have impacted world history as profoundly as Camellia sinensis, the tea plant. Jessica J. Lee, in her book Dispersals: On Plants, Borders, and Belonging, describes how tea is integral to both seemingly disparate halves of her family tree—her Welsh paternal grandparents and her ...
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In Rachel Lyon's Fruit of the Dead, Cory Ansel, a directionless high school graduate, has had all her college applications rejected. After spending the summer working as a camp counselor, she is loath to return to the New York City home she shares with her mother Emer, an ambitious career-oriented ...
Read ReviewRachel Lyon's novel Fruit of the Dead is based on the story of Demeter and Persephone from Greek mythology. In the original story, Demeter, goddess of the harvest, is devastated when her daughter Persephone is kidnapped by Hades, god of the underworld, who intends to make her his wife. Demeter's ...
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By 1775, 48-year-old Captain James Cook had completed two highly successful voyages of discovery and had earned a comfortable retirement. The Admiralty gave him a plum position: an honorary post at Greenwich Hospital near London, where his only responsibility was to "keep a paternal eye on the ...
Read ReviewHampton Sides' book The Wide Wide Sea records the third and final voyage of Captain James Cook and relays some of the exploits of his crew aboard the HMS Resolution. One of Cook's key decisions concerned an alcoholic drink known as "grog." During the Age of Exploration—the...
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Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), known variously as the "Lady with the Lamp" or the "Ministering Angel" of the Crimean War (1853–1856), elevated the role of nursing into a profession—especially for women—in an era that had previously regarded female ...
Read ReviewThe Crimean War of 1853–1856 pitted the Russian Empire against an alliance of British, French, Turkish and Sardinian troops on the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea. Britain entered the war in March 1854 to protect its trading interests with Turkey, while France saw an opportunity for revenge...
Read ArticleMay 01, 2024
This issue of The BookBrowse Review contains reviews and "beyond the book" articles for 14 titles, including Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez, The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson and Icarus by K. Ancrum. We also bring you previews of upcoming books, First Impressions reads, recommendations for your book club and more.
A comedy writer's stance on love shifts when a pop star challenges her assumptions in this witty and touching novel.
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