Matthew Pearl

Edgar A. Poe has died and the papers are full of salacious stories about his drunken stupor for days and subsequent drink-induced death. Lawyer, Quentin Clark, a correspondent of Poe is certain this is not the truth and has found Poe's creation C. Auguste Dupin is based on a true figure he sets out to find him and clear Poe's name.

It is an extremely interesting possibility of what happened to Poe during those missing days and what led to his death. This is one of literature's great mysteries and Pearl weaves a detailed account involving secrets and spies. The characters are genuinely likeable and eccentric. It is a slow-paced but complicated story full of intrigue and realistic to the era. The second book by Pearl I've read won't be my last.… (more)

The Taking of Jemima Boone is the type of nonfiction that is easy to devour and pulls you into the story. Despite hearing about the name of the Boone family since I was a kid, I was completely ignorant about their history. Set at the beginning of the revolutionary war, Pearl tells the story of the Boonesboro settlement in Kentucky and the politics on the frontier. When Jemima and two other girls are captured by Indians they must do what they can to stay alive and slow the group down so that the townsmen, led by Daniel Boone, can catch up to them.

The capture and rescue of Jemima is covered in the first third of the book while the rest of it focuses on the fallout from those event and what comes after. Although Jemima is the focus of the summary and the title, she isn’t as central in the book since Pearl is focusing on what is happening around her more than on her. That being said, Pearl wrote that although Jemima’s story was popular, she was often cut out of it. Pearl made an effort to keep track of where Jemima was and what she was doing throughout the events. I appreciate Pearl’s endeavor to put Jemima back in the narrative.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.… (more)

This may be a good audiobook for someone else, but it's not for me. Although I haven't read Dante's Inferno, I am familiar with and I like historical fiction and mysteries so it sounded interesting. However, I'm not familiar with the poets who belong to "The Dante Club" at the center of this novel and it felt like I was missing a lot of context. In addition, many similar characters are introduced to the reader at the same time so audiobook is a poor format because it's hard to flip back a few pages to figure out who is who.… (more)