Recent Reviews
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
Reading Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard Devotional was a wonderful way to start the new year. The recommendation came from Julie, my kindergarten friend, and I am grateful for the suggestion. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2024, this contemplative novel describes one woman’s effort to come to terms with her life. Much of the story’s strength lies in Wood’s beautiful writing and her remarkable ability to give meaning to all that is unspoken.
The narrator of Stone Yard Devotional is an unnamed woman who find herself amid a personal crisis. This is not the impulsive, reckless midlife crisis often depicted in fiction; rather it is a profound moral reckoning. Having left both her husband and her job in Sydney, she seeks solitude and reflection in an isolated religious community in New South Wales, close to where she grew up. Although she does not consider herself religious, she discovers a sense of peace through the daily rituals and practices of the nuns with whom she now lives. The story is intentionally sparse in its cast of characters and plot developments. Some might say little happens, but in the empty quiet space of her new life, the narrator has time to think. Her thoughtful and incisive reflections form the inner engine that propels the book forward.
Throughout the novel, the narrator contemplates the choices she has made and the ways she’s treated people over the course of her life. The enduring weight of grief and guilt over her parents ‘deaths is a constant presence in her thoughts. Meanwhile the minor events and conflicts within the community take on new meaning. Ultimately the book is a mediation on both living and dying. The slow pace and emotional clarity of Stone Yard Devotional make the novel feel almost like a meditation. A thoughtful and moving read. 4.5/5
Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn
Family of Spies, by Christine Kuehn, is a gripping account of a family secret that lay hidden for generations and reveals a shocking history. It tells the true story of Kuehn’s family, who worked as spies for the Nazis and reported to the Japanese before the attack on Pearl Harbor. None of this was known to the author until she received a letter from a screenwriter asking about the German spies in her family. Kuehn thought it was a joke or some kind of mistake. As a child, Christine Kuehn asked her father about his parents and siblings, but he was always elusive. The idea that her grandparents and Aunt were German spies seemed impossible.
Still, the letter gnawed at her. Christine and her husband went to their local bookstore and reviewed the indexes of every book about Pearl Harbor. To her astonishment, they discovered that her grandparents, Otto and Friedel Kuehn, were indeed spies for America’s enemies, as was her now elderly Aunt Ruth. Eventually, Kuehn’s father admitted the truth about his family. Not wanting to burden his daughter or face his own shame, he had kept his family’s treasonous past secret. He couldn’t, or wouldn’t, recall the gritty details of their involvement. Even though his parents tried to protect him from their activities, he carried the weight of their crimes for his entire life.
Determined to learn more, Kuehn began researching her relatives’ journey from Germany to their internment after Pearl Harbor and eventual return to Germany. Her investigation spanned decades, and each new revelation brought new shock. Her grandparents eagerly joined the Nazi party after WWI and never turned away from its cruelty. Christine’s uncle, Leopold, worked for Joseph Goebbels, a barbaric leader in Hitler’s regime. Her Aunt Ruth even dated him. It was Goebbels who sent the Kuehn family to Hawaii in 1936 and paid them well for the secrets they passed to Germany and Japan. The information her grandparents and Aunt shared helped the Japanese in their attack on Pearl Harbor. Another stunning piece of knowledge Kuehn was forced to absorb.
I wish she had spent more time probing deeper into the Kuehn family’s motivations. Was their betrayal driven solely by ideology? Where did they develop these thoughts? Was it greed alone? Or had they become so deeply tangled in their tasks that they could no longer change course?
Although the story ended tragically for her family, Christine Kuehn courageously confronted the past and was brave enough to share it. She skillfully blends meticulous research with a compelling, fast-paced narrative. The book reads like a spy thriller, weaving together past and present, Her work reminds us of the power of uncovering hidden truths and that personal stories are integral to understanding our history. 4/5
