Page 31 - Damianos Sotheby's International Realty Magazine Vol. 3

CULTURE TRENDS
By Josh Sims
BOOKS
Tom Tivnan was born in Massachuse s and educated at the University of Massachuse s and the University of Strathclyde. He worked as a bookseller and jour- nalist in Rome, Budapest, Hamburg, Edinburgh and Glasgow before se ling in London in 2007. His first novel, The Esquimaux (Silvertail, June 2017), is partially inspired by the real-life improbable tale of Greenland native John Sackhouse, who stowed aboard a whaling ship bound for Edinburgh in 1816. Here, three historic novels he thinks are destined to be hits.
Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
“Out for the first time in the U.S. in June, this is a book I have been urging friends, family and even random acquaintances to read. It begins in that colonial backwater New York City in 1746 when mysterious Englishman Mr. Smith pitches up on shore. Clever, fast-talking Smith has a £1,000 money order he wants to cash, and as he moves through high and low society, no one knows if he can be trusted. Spufford’s first novel is pacy, ingeniously plo ed and bawdy. Think Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones with elements of Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas.”
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
“Short-story maestro Saunders makes his long-awaited, much-anticipated, long-form debut with this searing, wise and even funny look at grief and loss. It’s 1862, and while the American Civil War rages, Abraham Lincoln is stricken by the death of his young son, Willie. This is genre-busting stuff taking place over the course of a single night in Washington’s Bardo Cemetery, blending his- tory, fiction and the supernatural. If this doesn’t win the lion’s share of literary prizes this year, I’ll eat my stovepipe hat.”
The Wages of Sin by Kaite Welsh
“Sco ish author Welsh’s first novel begins in 1882 when ‘fallen woman’ Sarah leaves London to join the University of Edinburgh Medical School’s first-ever class of female students. Soon, Sa- rah’s past catches up with her and she finds herself ostracized, tending to the city’s downtrodden in a ramshackle hospital. When one of her patients is murdered, Sarah is thrown headlong into a dangerous world of brothels and body snatchers as she hunts for the killer. This is a gri y, pulse- pounding tale with a social conscience in what promises to be a long-running series. Welsh will be a star.”

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