The Secret of Clouds: A Novel by Alyson Richman

The Secret of Clouds: A Novel. Alyson Richman. Penguin Publishing Group.  February 2019. $16.99; pb, 384 pp.; ISBN: 9780451490773.

Katya is an aspiring ballerina and Sasha a student scientist when they first meet.  They marry after living a tumultuous life in Kiev and emigrate to the United States.  Sasha suffered a major injury which curtailed her ballet career, but the birth of Yuri transformed their lives in so many ways. Years before their meeting, there was a nuclear disaster at Chernobyl which authorities claimed was no big deal.  However, it turned out that the winds carried that radiation throughout all of Europe.  Many Russians enjoyed the outdoor air at that time which was abnormally warm for mid-April.  Katya was one of them and years later was distraught that that air she had absorbed was responsible for Yuri’s birth defect, a leaky tricuspid valve and abnormally-sized heart.  Yuri was both a timid and sickly child for years and had to be monitored constantly.  Katya incessantly worried over Yuri but Sasha had a more scientific and positive viewpoint about his son’s health issues.

This then is the story of Maggie, a young teacher who is very connected to her students and loves to be creative about language arts writing.  She agrees to tutor Yuri at his home since he is too ill to come to school.  At first the chemistry is zero but gradually sharing his passion for baseball becomes the centerfold of their growing relationship. The creation of a journal/storybook provides pages and pages of Yuri’s expression of what is important to him.  No spoilers here but suffice to say that Yuri’s reflections on Maggie’s assignments become the highlight of his life, with no room left for false games or lies.

Yuri’s openness and honesty changes Maggie’s personal life as well as she finally chooses to move from one stagnant relationship to a life-giving and creative connection.  Yuri then finds a peer who also loves baseball and becomes a best friend. Katya and Sasha also learn to relax and cherish their son’s growth and happiness.

The finale to this heartwarming story is tender, heart-wrenching and full of life-giving hope.  This is a novel with innumerably endearing scenes that will remain in your thoughts and heart forever!

The Velvet Hours: A Novel by Alyson Richman

The Velvet Hours: A Novel. Alyson Richman. Penguin Publishing Group. September 2016. 384 pp. ISBN#: 9780425266267.  

Solange Beaugiron discovers that her father was adopted and finally gets to meet her grandmother, Marthe de Florian, who has literally reinvented herself.  Everyone who has grown up very poor has a different reaction to it and very few would repeat those years of struggle and adversity. Some will do anything to escape its death-like grip!

Just when Marthe meets Charles, a rich married man who adores Marthe and keeps her in luxury for the rest of her life, Europe is about to experience its own hell spawned by Adolf Hitler.  Little, however, touches Marthe, even in times of crushing starvation for the rest of France.  This then is the story that Marthe shares with her granddaughter as they struggle to share their lives, a relationship that grows from storyteller to author to a deep abiding love between grandmother and granddaughter.

It would seem a simple story initially, one that’s actually been told by others in many and different ways.  But the magic of The Velvet Hours lies in the appreciation and celebration of beauty, whether that be in Marthe’s collection of Far Eastern cups, pottery and other items or in the lovely and priceless pearls Charles gives to Marthe for her financial security “forever.”  Then there is the magnificent portrait of Marthe commissioned by Charles from the famous painter, Giovanni Baldini, with its vibrant colors but most of all its living essence that has captured the spark of life constantly emanated by Marthe.

Add to this Belle Époque tale a lovely romance experienced by Solange as she learns about a Jewish text she has inherited that was hand-created with beautiful illustrations.  As Hitler approaches, momentous decisions must be made whether to stay or leave Paris. 

No spoilers here – as there is so much more about Marthe and Solange that makes for engaging attention and an unrelenting desire to know what will happen next.

Alyson Richman has created a story replete with the most beautiful descriptions of art, food, ancient books and more and interspersed with the nerve-wracking tensions brought on by WWII.  Readers will love this superb story and will be recommending it to everyone they know.  Highly recommended historical fiction!

The Garden of Letters: A Novel by Alyson Richman

The Garden of Letters: A Novel.  Alyson Richman. Penguin Group (USA). September 2014. 384 pp.  ISBN#: 9780425266250.

Elodie is a cello prodigy living in Verona, Italy during WWII.  Her childhood is free of worry and stress as she is concerned only with music. She has a photographic memory and so remembers every score after she has played it only one time.  Add to that the heightened sensitivity she exhibits as she melds into her cello and infuses emotion into every piece she plays, no matter how different or complex! She’s a wonder and her parents appreciate and nurture her very special gift, so wonderfully told that the reader can feel the music and ambiance it creates through each description!

One day her father, a music instructor, arrives home after being brutally beat up by some German thug soldiers.  He never really recovers but that event changes everything for Elodie and her mother.  Elodie changes her name to Anna as she evolves into a trusted and respected member of the Resistance movement working to thwart the coming invasion by Germans.  Her service is heightened by the tender but passionate love affair that develops between Anna and the bookseller/Resistance leader, Luca.

In between these scenes is another story of a love memorialized in an exquisite arrangement of love letters from Angelo serving in the war and Dalia.  It’s a “Love Story” of beauty and heart-rending sadness that lives on forever.

After much suffering and loss, Anna is taken home by Angelo with only the purest of intentions.  For those who have lost much know that they have much to give to fellow travelers of devastation.  This leads to a new story that is heightened by Anna’s fierce loyalty and dangerous field activities that have led her to this quiet, healing place in Portofino, Italy! 

The Garden of Letters is lyrical, poetic, literate historical fiction of the highest order!  Alyson Richman is one hugely talented writer whose writing displays the beauty and sensitivity she has infused into her characters, without sacrificing the starkness and terror of WWII along with the nobility and courage of Resistance fighters.  Gorgeous, extraordinary historical fiction this reviewer insists is must reading!