REVIEWS BY JULIE HALE

Mr. Timothy: A Novel
In this charming historical mystery, Bayard puts a fresh spin on the classic tale A Christmas Carol by portraying Tiny Tim as a grown man living in London. Charles Dickens' delicate boy-hero has, in the hands of Bayard, matured into Timothy Cratchit, a robust 23-year-old whose home is a whorehouse and whose job it is to teach the establishment's madam to read. During the Christmas season of 1860, Timothy, tormented by the memory of his dead father and fighting to overcome his reliance on the financial bounty of Ebenezer Scrooge, becomes embroiled in a murder mystery. When the bodies of two 10-year-old girls are discovered—one in an alley, the other in the Thames River—a ripple passes through the lower levels of London society. The girls have been cruelly branded with the letter "G," adding a gruesome twist to the crime. Struggling to protect a young urchin named Philomela from a similar fate, Timothy finds himself up against a devious killer. After Philomela is abducted, Timothy, with the aid of a street-smart young singer named Colin the Melodious, attempts to rescue her, discovering along the way that there are more dark crimes afoot in the city than he ever imagined. Building upon elements of Dickens' traditional story, Bayard has constructed a classic—a vivid, colorful portrait of Victorian London. A reading group guide is available online at www.harpercollins.com.

Mr. Timothy: A Novel
By Louis Bayard
Perennial, $13.95
416 Pages, ISBN 0060534222



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Reunion
Lightman's best-selling book The Diagnosis was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2000. With his fourth novel, he explores the nature of memory and the complexities of midlife through the character of a divorced literature professor named Charles. A former poet who teaches at a small liberal arts college, Charles leads the quiet life of an intellectual, relishing his time alone. But he loses his equilibrium when he attends his 30-year college reunion, an experience that draws him back into the past. Much of the novel consists of Charles' recollections of his younger days, which take place against the turbulent backdrop of the 1960s. He recalls an intense affair he had as a 22-year-old with a New York City dancer named Juliana. Beautiful and elusive, Juliana was a tortured artist, a woman obsessed with her work who wound up betraying him. Sifting through memories of the love of his life, recalling decisions and mistakes 30 years after the fact, Charles experiences universal feelings of regret and remorse as he struggles to let go of the past. Marked by finely honed prose, Reunion takes a compassionate look at the human condition. The book has its melancholy moments, but Lightman leavens the narrative with his trademark wit and insight. A reading group guide is available online at www.readinggroupcenter.com.

Reunion
By Alan Lightman
Vintage, $13
240 Pages, ISBN 0375713441



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The Forest Lover
As in her previous books Girl in Hyacinth Blue and The Passion of Artemesia, Vreeland takes as her focus the subject of painters and painting. Here, she fictionalizes the life of Canadian artist Emily Carr (1871-1945). Carr's quest to capture Native American culture in the late 1800s led her into the wilds of British Columbia, where she painted totem poles and other artifacts of the Pacific Northwest Indian tribes. Such work was unheard for a woman at the time, and Carr was frowned upon by her family and by polite society. Yet, despite the scandal, she thrived as an artist. When the novel opens, she is a defiant, ambitious young woman of 30. Vreeland traces her life over the course of two decades, chronicling a year she spent studying with famous painters in Paris, recounting her friendship with a Squamish basket weaver named Sophie Frank, and fabricating a love interest for her in the character of a French fur trader. Using Carr's personal journals as a primary source, Vreeland, writing with an eye for authentic detail and an ear for convincing dialogue, mixes fact and fiction to create a remarkable narrative about a woman brave enough to forge her own destiny and to help preserve a dying heritage. A reading group guide is available online at www.penguin.com.

The Forest Lover
By Susan Vreeland
Penguin, $14
432 Pages, ISBN 0143034308



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