Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com. – Barbara Ellis
“The Wayfarer,” by Adam Johnson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2025)
"The Wayfinder" by Adam Johnson. (MCD Books)Johnson, who won the National Book Award (for “Fortune Smiles”) and the Pulitzer Prize (for “The Orphan Master’s Son”), returns with an epic tale set in ancient Pacific Island nations. Two stories, one from the “before time” and the other set in the long-ago present, slowly yet inevitably converge. Two radically different societies collide, prompting the reader to contemplate the merits of war-mongering versus nonviolence, unfettered power versus communal consensus, and depleted natural resources versus privileged excess. Johnson depicts the pre-modern characters with human traits that we can recognize today: deception, treachery, connivance and even romance. A tour de force. — 3 1/2 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
“Finding Grace,” by Loretta Rothschild (St. Martin’s Press, 2025)
An impressive debut novel, given the author’s decision to create a most unusual protagonist/narrator. A young couple’s life is upended after a shocking event that changes everything. From the book jacket: “Years later, Tom makes a decision that ripples through their lives in ways he could never have foreseen.” One decision to be less than truthful, to not disclose everything, shakes the foundation of a relationship to the point where it might not be able to be mended. A great page-turner of a book. — 4 stars (out of 4); Jo Calhoun, Denver
“The Ferryman and His Wife,” by Frode Grytten, translated by Alison McCullough (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2025)
Nils Vik has chosen to spend his life like his father, ferrying people up and down and across a fjord in Norway. He will spend his last day on earth doing the same, but this time he will gather the souls who have mattered to him and ferry them all to the sea. How many ways are there to tell a story? Surely this author has discovered an entirely new route. His main character is a man who seems to know instinctively what is important and what is not, and watching him take stock of his own life and of the other lives he has touched invites the reader to do the same. Assessing the value of a life is not unlike assessing the value of a book. I will be haunted by this novel for a long while. (Awarded the Brage Prize in Norway.) — 3 ½ stars (out of 4); Michelle Nelson, Littleton
“The Secret War of Julia Child,” by Diana L. Chambers (Sourcebooks, 2024)
"The Secret War of Julia Child" is labeled fiction, but there'a lot of truth in this book. Publisger-provided image.We know Julia McWilliams worked for the OSS (precursor of the CIA) in Washington, India, Ceylon, Burma and China. She always maintained she was “only a file clerk.” But was she? This fictive story, deeply researched, theorizes Julia had noted success in several dangerous espionage missions, and along the way met and fell in love with Paul Child. Historic fiction about World War II generally focuses on the war in Europe: it’s a welcome change to read about the Forgotten War in Asia, and British and American machinations supporting Chiang Kai-shek’s struggles against Mao Tse-Tung as China fights Japan. I learned quite a lot, and enjoyed seeing Julia McWilliams become Julia Child. — 3 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, Parker
“Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future,” by Dan Wang (W.W. Norton & Company, 2025)
Wang immigrated with his family from China to the United States as a young child. He later spent several years working in and reporting from China. His thought-provoking thesis is that China is a society focused on making things, while the United States is a society focused on process. Engineers make things; lawyers create process. He may have a point. To cite one example: China’s politburo is made up of trained engineers; in contrast, the U.S. Congress is largely made up of lawyers. Wang provides many other examples to bolster his case. He offers both praise and criticism for each country’s contrasting focal points, successes and failures. Then, he suggests that the better way might be some middle way. — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox.
Hence then, the article about the book club a former pulitzer winner returns with an epic tale set in ancient pacific island nations was published today ( ) and is available on The Denver Post ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The Book Club: A former Pulitzer winner returns with an epic tale set in ancient Pacific Island nations )
Also on site :
- 30–35 terrorists on radar: Army steps up counterterror ops in J&K; intense vigil amid 'Chillai Kalan'
- Nine Years After Carrie Fisher Died, Billie Lourd Says Mom “Lives on Through Joy” With Kids, Dad Bryan Lourd
- No. 20 Virginia notches first 11-win season by beating 25th-ranked Missouri in the Gator Bowl