Long-time round table member and board member Carol Manchester has discovered a real “find.” It is a new work of historical fiction, centered on the Booth family. (Booth, by Karen Joy Fowler. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 2022.) Carol is a Civil War explorer and author who enjoys a great read and the theater, so she knows of what she speaks. Her impression is that this novel (as with any good historical fiction) is steeped in research, including diaries, newspaper accounts, playbills, letters, other documents, dates, and actual historical events. Its imagined descriptive details create a true sense of reader intimacy. She thoroughly enjoyed Fowler’s portrayals of the many complicated and peculiar aspects of the Booth family, which were only complicated by financial and mental instability and family guilt. The novel has several surprises for family members, and ultimately for the reader. She really enjoyed this book . . . immensely.

02/27/2023