The Stockholm Octavo – Karen Engelmann (M)
Reading the cover, however, I realized that this novel – Karen Engelmann’s first – would combine a unique and fascinating story with an interesting historical setting.
In spite of the rumblings of revolution that were spreading out of France at the end of the 18th century, Stockholm remained a bright cultural center, the aristocracy continuing to live extravagantly under King Gustav III. Emil Larsson has the good fortune one night to gain an invitation to an exclusive card house owned by the clever and mysterious Mrs. Sparrow.
Brimming with interesting characters and elements of magic, Engelmann’s writing is charmingly complex and fills the reader with a sense of intrigue.
Three other books that share Engelmann’s mixture of occultism and literary style are:
Foucault’s Pendulum – Umberto Eco (M)
The Tree People – Naomi Stokes (M)
“When a sacred cedar tree is cut down on the Quinault reservation, the evil spirit of an ancient shaman, Xulk, is released. Thus begins a sequence of macabre events orchestrated by Aminte, a red-haired witch. Losing her husband in a mysterious accident, Hannah McTavish struggles to maintain the logging business while dealing with the environmental issues that threaten her livelihood. Jordan Tidewater, reservation sheriff, assumes her inherited role as shaman and undergoes Native American rituals that allow her passage into the spirit world.” – Publisher
The Historian – Elizabeth Kostova (M)