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 Stone's Fall
by Iain Pears
Published: May 2009
Pages: 608
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
For a novel that seeks to explain the circumstances of John Stone's death, Stone's Fall spends a lot of time exploring the details of the man's life. The story unfolds in three parts, each narrated by a different character, each set in a different city. That set-up seems straightforward enough, but the narrative grows in complexity as it moves from London in 1909, to Paris in 1890, to Venice in 1867. Details that seem innocent upon first introduction become vitally important later. Minor characters in the early sections step into the spotlight later.
John Stone is a Gilded Age industrialist, who first made his fortune selling self-propelled torpedoes and dreadnoughts. When he dies suddenly, his widow — Elizabeth — hires a young journalist named Matthew Braddock to find a child who may or may not exist. Unraveling that mystery requires Braddock to dig deeply into Stone's business affairs. The more Braddock learns, the less he understands. Was Stone's corporation in deep fiscal trouble? Why is Elizabeth connected to an assassination-minded band of anarchists? And who is Henry Cort — the man who ordered London's papers to withhold details of Stone's death?
Cort, in fact, is the man who picks up the narrative in Paris. As a young spy, he stumbles upon an international conspiracy to sabotage London finance (which eerily reflects our own banking crisis). Cort needs help from Stone and Elizabeth to end the threat, and offers the reader important details about the background of both. The final section is voiced by John Stone himself, dispatching each lingering question with the same efficiency he brings to the arms business. Some answers are easier to predict than others, but the ending is unexpected and well worth the wait.
Stone's Fall is an intricate, layered puzzle, and from an author like Iain Pears, we expect nothing less. But this is also a novel about ideas, which finds beauty in the rhythms of commerce and politics. At 600 pages, it demands some dedication, but offers plenty of rewards for the effort.
- Matt Compton
LA Times review | Guardian review
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 The Food of a Younger Land
by Mark Kurlansky
Published: May 2009
Pages: 416
Publisher: Riverhead
If you were an unemployed writer living in 1940, the government had a job for you. That year, the WPA dispatched thousands of journalists, novelists, poets, and wannabes to document the nation's food, which was about to change forever. WWII came along, and the collected writings were never published in book form. That is, until Mark Kurlansky — an author known for his bestselling books on two commonplace ingredients (salt and cod) — rediscovered them. In his delightful annotated volume, you'll find secret recipes, hallowed traditions, and tales of culinary competition, merriment, and history. No less thrilling is the underlying story of how these materials were originally collected, in a bygone era where a premium was placed on both good cooking and good writing.
Kurlansky's book takes some choice cuts from the Federal Writers Project's archives. Three different authors recount their extremely unique experiences with chowder in the Northeast; a New Yorker submits a five-page list of luncheonette slang (pork chops = "Hebrew enemies"); and a Southwestern writer offers the essay "A Los Angeles Sandwich Called the Taco." And although most of its contributors were unknown, for a famous few, like Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty, and Nelson Algren, the project was just a pit stop.
The shellfish was fresh, the baked beans were piping hot, and the writers had jobs. It seems too good to be true, and as Kurlansky points out, it was. Persimmon pudding and molasses pie aside, he cites racism, lack of unity, and the stigma that some participants felt in working for a welfare check as factors in the project's eventual decline. Nor was it great for its writers. Hurston, despite numerous books, experienced discrimination from the WPA and others, and worked as a cleaning lady until she died. In short, making it as a writer — then or now — is no cakewalk. But, although Depression-era writers may not have had it easy, for a time, they had a mandate, and a fascinating one at that.
- Sabrina Jaszi
The Takeaway interview | Houston Chronicle review
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