A Fortune of Sand

 A Fortune of Sand by Ruta Sepetys, 320 pages.

Detroit in 1927 is a city of astounding wealth, but also more than its fair share of the crime and corruption that comes along with it. Marjorie Lennox is the youngest daughter of a family who made their fortune in the glass business, but they also have more than their fair share of secrets and corruption. Marjorie is something of an innocent, and she dreams of fashion design. So when she has the opportunity for an artist's residency for women, she jumps on it. And so what if something seems a little off about it, with the buildings strict rules and obsession with security? But although Marjorie has left home, she can't get away from her family's secrets nearly so easily. 

Ruta Sepetys is the master of exquisitely researched historical fiction, and this detail rich book is no exception. Prohibition-era Detroit is an interesting setting, and Sepetys uses a wealth of primary sources to make it fully textured. Unfortunately, I don't know that the story quite holds up to her usual standards. The many, many threads of this book never quite come together to a satisfying conclusion, and instead it feels like it peters out to an anticlimax. I also found that although this is Sepetys' adult debut, it does in many ways still read like a YA novel. That being said, I really loved Marjorie as a character, and found the prose very solid, so I still really enjoyed most of my experience reading this book. I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the setting, but I'm not sure I would recommend it purely on it's own merits. 

This book is scheduled to be released on May 26th, 2026. 

A selection of November graphic novels

Briar Vol. 1: Sleep No More by Christopher Cantwell with art by German Garcia (2023) 128 pages

Reading for #hooplachallenge "Beyond the Storybook" theme this month. Clearly leads right into volume 2, but I didn't love it enough to continue. Maybe later. Chapter one "Nothing Sharp in Sight" has the lovely transition from soft storybook telling of Sleeping Beauty leading to dystopian fantasy future. We even get a rodent of unusual size! The beginning of Briar Rose's journey is handled well. Bloody and scatological, Cantwell's use of language is stilted. Chapter two "The Witch Which Witches Not" reveals the evil that pursues Briar Rose and her growing band of misfits. Chapter three "Of Villainous, Cruel Gnomes" starts with a flashback for a new character and continues with the same sort of dark adventure. Chapter four "Adra Adrata Adracta" brings the threads together pretty well and reveals a surprise that makes sense going back to the beginning. I like the band of misfits and visually I like the series. I do want to find out what happens next, so I probably will pick up volume 2 at some point.

Ruins by Peter Kuper (2015) 328 pages

"Samantha and George are a couple heading towards a sabbatical year in the quaint Mexican town of Oaxaca. For Samantha, it is the opportunity to revisit her past. For George, it is an unsettling step into the unknown." I loved seeing the butterfly's journey. I loved getting to know the city of Oaxaca (wah-ha-ka) and surrounding areas of Mexico. Many layers to the relationship story, but a troubled one.

Lackadaisy: Volume 1 by Tracy J. Butler (2009) 96 pages

Tracy J. Butler is a local St. Louis artist. This is set in St. Louis in 1927. Prohibition has sparked the engine of organized crime. The story is full of 1920s slang and references. Good sense of humor. Good character development of anthropomorphized cats in spiffy outfits.

Once Upon a Time Machine edited by Andrew Carl, written and illustrated by many artists (2012) 431 pages

Anthology of many international comic artists adapting fairy tales from around the world into futuristic tales. There seems to be a large number of artists from Philadelphia invited to contribute. It is a mix of more or less successful adaptations. Some artists have provided just a single page illustration, but it is the other short adaptations that make it worth your while. I'll highlight a few that I thought were clever and unique, but you may be more strongly drawn to others. I thought "Pinocchio or The Stars Are Not Wanted Now" had a nice twist on the lesson of telling the truth or telling lies. "The Puppet-Show Man or No Strings" is based on a story I'm not familiar with, but it drew me in with its grungy art and 'be careful what you wish' lesson. "The Shepherd and the Weaver Girl" feels epic and mythical. This adaptation of the Chinese myth has a clever way of drawing on the old and imagining it in the future. I also liked the nanotechnology dreamed up in the adaptation of "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." The adaptation of "The Ugly Duckling or The Ugly Part" changes the ingredients of the story quite a bit, but achieves a better moral in the end. I really enjoyed "Vasilissa the Beautiful" based on a Slavic Baba Yaga tale. And "The Gold Piece or A Destiny Earned" was sweet and meaningful.

Washington's Gay General: The Legends and Loves of Baron von Steuben by Josh Trujillo with art by Levi Hastings (2023) 192 pages

"A graphic novel biography of Baron von Steuben, the soldier, immigrant, and flamboyant homosexual who influenced the course of US history during the Revolutionary War despite being omitted from our textbooks." I love learning about history and a person's life in this way. Well illustrated and moves along fairly quickly. Some memoir scenes and other brief introductions of queer people in history are sprinkled in too. 

Ash's Cabin by Jen Wang (2024) 320 pages

I grew up enjoying Illustrated Classics versions of Swiss Family Robinson and Robinson Crusoe. I also loved imagining the survival stories in Island of the Blue Dolphins and Incident at Hawk's Hill. I loved this story of nonbinary Ash challenging themselves to find their grandpa's hidden cabin in a National Forest in California. It feels very real as Ash studies and prepares. This is not a spur of the moment decision. Learning to survive with their dog, Chase, is an experience in which they learn from their mistakes and find what is most important in their life. Great art and structured like a journal.

The Stoneshore Register by G. Willow Wilson with art by M.K. Perker (2025) 128 pages

I like the lead character, Fadumo, a refugee and stranger to this Pacific Northwest town. The townspeople are fairly well drawn too, but we don't get to know them very deeply. I like the exploration of the uncanny and weird. I didn't enjoy chapter 4 as much. Chapter 5 nails the real message of the graphic novel when the immigration agents come looking for Fadumo. G. Willow Wilson's writing continues to be enjoyable.

Aristotle: A Graphic Biography by Tassos Apostolidis with art by Alecos Papadatos (2024) 216 pages

Nice framing device with a colleague of Aristotle teaching his students about Aristotle's life and thoughts. I like the basic color scheme. Some lengthy text for historical exposition is mixed with occasional humor and fairly detailed summaries of Aristotle's major philosophical concepts. I like the peek into daily life around Greece of the time and how Aristotle's relationships with family and friends is portrayed. The book does a good job of making him more than just the figure behind these abstract ethical/scientific concepts. He was real and enjoyed life.

The Ghosts of Eden Park

The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women who Pursued Him, and the Murder that Shocked Jazz-Age America by Karen Abbott  405 pp.

The lengthy title lays out the story in this book. After the passage of Prohibition, lawyer George Remus stops practicing law to begin distributing liquor. In two short years he became a multi-millionaire with an elaborate mansion in Cincinnati, a beautiful wife he spoils with the fruits of his illegally gotten gains, and a Federal Prosecutor who is determined to bring him down. The prosecutor, a rare woman in that position, enlists one of the Prohibition Agents to assist her. However, the agent has an affair with Isobel Remus which leads to her death by the hand of her husband. This account of Remus's shady dealings, arrests, trials, and ultimate downfall. Usually when you think of bootleggers Al Capone, Bugs Moran, and their ilk come to mind. Remus was a different sort, unconnected to big organized crime. It's an interesting story and one that is not as well known as the crimes of the big boys. 

Scandal in Babylon

Scandal in Babylon by Barbara Hambly, 233 pages

After six months serving as an assistant to movie star Kitty Flint, Oxford-educated Emma Blackstone is yearning for a return to the classic education she loves. However, when Kitty's long-estranged husband turns up dead in her dressing room, Emma is instead thrown into an investigation to clear her kind employer's name and see who in this glamorous world could want to frame Kitty.

This book is certainly chock full of 1920s Hollywood, from the ghastly makeup and the even-more-ghastly attempts at "historical accuracy" to bootleggers and the corrupt studio system. It's an OK mystery, and Emma's obsession with Latin gets a bit tedious at times, but if you're a fan of Hollywood before the talkies, this is the mystery for you.

The Fate of a Flapper

The Fate of a Flapper by Susanna Calkins, 311 pages

Gina's a cigarette girl at the Third Door, a well-known speakeasy hidden under a Chicago pharmacy. One night in fall of 1929, a couple high-on-the-hog stockbrokers come in, flashing money and getting the attention of a pair of flirty young flappers. After getting thoroughly soused, the quartet leaves together — but the next day finds both a stockbroker and a flapper dead. Is it a case of bad liquor or something more sinister that killed the pair? Gina and her police officer cousin, Nancy, are on the case to find out.

The atmosphere of the Third Door and the classic cocktails provided therein were spot-on in this story. I loved Gina and Nancy as characters, and would have happily followed them around rough and tumble 1920s Chicago. Perhaps I was a bit *too* taken with the atmosphere though, as I found the plot a bit lacking, with few clues leading to the eventual solution. Ah well, it was bubbly, fizzy fun!

The Woman Who Smashed Codes

The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine who Outwitted America's Enemies by Jason Fagone  444 pp.

Elizebeth Smith Friedman had no intention of becoming a master code breaker when she finished college and took a job working for an eccentric tycoon at his compound near Chicago. There she met William Friedman, the man who would be her husband. She also got her first taste of working on codes when the tycoon made a deal with the government to provide help during World War I. After the war ended Elizebeth worked for the Treasury Department and Coast Guard breaking coded messages of smugglers transporting illegal alcohol during prohibition. When the Second World War began, Elizebeth worked on cracking codes used by Hitler's Reich while William worked on the "Purple" code of the Japanese. Because of her sex, she was not given the credit for much of what she accomplished and had to watch while J. Edgar Hoover claimed it was the F.B.I. that had broken the codes that allowed them to catch spies. While dedicating herself to her work, Elizebeth raised two children and cared for her husband who, because of the stress of the work, was frequently hospitalized for depression. Much has been made public about Bletchley Park but little about its American equivalent which was run by Elizebeth Friedman. This is an interesting and little known piece of history.

The Lost Plot

The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman, 367 pages

In this fourth Invisible Library book, we find Librarian extraordinaire Irene getting reluctantly pulled into dragon politics, via a world that's permanently stuck in Jazz Age America. If that sentence made no sense, that's sad, because it means you haven't read the first three books in this awesome series where Librarians (yes, capitalized) are secret agents that travel between worlds, acquiring books that help keep the universe together. There are the high chaos worlds ruled by the Fae and strictly ordered worlds ruled by dragons, but Irene and her fellow Librarians maintain a strict neutrality between the warring factions and generally stay in those worlds that are somewhere in the middle. OK, it still probably doesn't make much sense, but that's OK — Cogman makes it work, and does it with grace, humor, and a healthy dose of adventure. I can't wait for the next book in this series.

Last Call: the Rise and Fall of Prohibition

Last Call: the Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent, 468 pages.
I read this for a book group discussion and while it was a little dry (ha!) I learned a lot, especially about the people who brought about prohibition, the extraordinary power the wielded and about the enormous popularity of the prohibition movement. Incredible that something could be popular enough to have the amendment adopted, and then have it all come crashing down such a short time later.

The Poisoner's Handbook / Deborah Blum

The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum. 311 pp.

My history teachers were always obsessed with the Civil War and Reconstruction, so we'd get to the last week of class and still have the entire 20th century left to cover. So I don't know a lot about the time period this book discusses, from just before Prohibition to when it ends. It focuses on the changeover from New York City having politically appointed coroners to having trained medical examiners; the head chemist's experiments to detect various poisons with scientific precision; and Prohibition's effects, social and legal. (I had no idea, for example, that the U.S. goverment tried to make illegal alcohol more poisonous because Prohibition didn't stop people from drinking.) Several actual murder cases are discussed too. I thought the mix of topics was great and kept the pace of this book moving. I may have to read more about Prohibition now though.