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    		•  April paperback releases offer good choices for reading groups

    REVIEWS BY JULIE HALE

    Cover A Death in Belmont
    The intrepid author returns with his first book since the best-selling Fire (2001). Junger tells the story of a sex crime that rocked the small suburb of Belmont, Massachusetts, in 1963 and the awful repercussions it had for the inhabitants of the town, including his own family. The victim of the crime, Bessie Goldberg, hires a handyman named Roy Smith to help with chores in her home. Smith is a black man—unusual in the predominantly white town of Belmont—and when Bessie's neighbors see him leave her house, they take note. After Bessie is murdered, Smith gets blamed for the crime and sent to jail. The author connects Smith's story with that of carpenter Albert DeSalvo, who was working at the Junger home on the day of the murder. DeSalvo later claims that he is the Boston Strangler, the notorious murderer who'd been tormenting Boston and neighboring communities, including Belmont. DeSalvo goes to jail, where he is later killed by an inmate. Although DeSalvo never confessed to the killing of Bessie Goldberg, Junger ponders the possibility that he might have been her murderer. He also explores the possibility that Smith might have been convicted of the crime simply because he was black. Fans of The Perfect Storm will welcome this book as another spine-tingling tale, elegantly told, from a master of nonfiction. A reading group guide is available online at www.harperperennial.com.

    Cover Suite Française
    A best-selling author in France prior to World War II, Némirovsky, a Russian-born Jew, was deported to Auschwitz in 1942, cutting short her plans to write a quintet of novels about life in France under the Nazis. The two novellas she managed to complete are featured in Suite Française, a book that has been hailed as a masterpiece and a milestone of World War II literature. The first narrative in the book, "Storm in June," recounts the evacuation of Paris during the German invasion of 1940. Némirovsky follows various Parisians as they try to make their escape, delivering portraits of numerous families and the people they meet as the net of the Nazis closes around them. The second novella, "Dolce," looks at life in a rural village under German occupation, as the natives—shop owners, wealthy aristocrats and farm laborers alike—are forced to open their homes to the soldiers. Some of the villagers acquiesce to the demands of the Germans, while others resist. Némirovsky uses the varied reactions of her characters to explore the nature of humanity itself, and the results are chilling. In both parts, she looks at issues of class and race, writing from a perspective that modern readers will find invaluable. Némirovsky entrusted the manuscripts to her daughters upon her arrest, and 64 years after the fact, they shed haunting light on one of the darkest periods in world history.

    Cover The Accidental
    Smith, one of England's most popular authors, won the Whitbread Award for this remarkable novel. When a pretty young woman named Amber arrives at the Norfolk summer home of the Smart family in need of a place to stay, they take her in. Eve and Michael Smart are vacationing with Eve's children—Astrid, 12, and Magnus, 17. Amber quickly befriends the rebellious Astrid, who likes to film everything in sight with her digital video camera, and easily charms geeky Magnus, a math expert. She even wins over their self-satisfied stepfather, Michael, an English professor who likes to seduce his students. Eve, a writer of cheap novels, has become accustomed to Michael's adulterous ways and is indifferent to his growing affection for Amber. Indeed, Michael falls in love with the mysterious young woman—so deeply that he considers giving everything up for her. Told from the perspectives of all four family members, as well as that of Amber, The Accidental is a small tour-de-force, powerful and unrelenting in its look at a family forever altered by the unexpected arrival of a stranger. Smith, author of the acclaimed Hotel World (2001), has a growing reputation, and it's easy to see why. A reading group guide is available in print and online at www.readinggroupcenter.com.


    Has your club recently read an excellent book that sparked good group discussion? If so, BookPage would like to hear about it. Contact us at reading@bookpage.com with a description of the book and the reasons for your recommendation. We'll pass the top choices along to our readers.

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