Book Log 2011 #46: The Twelfth Enchantment by David Liss


The set-up is straight out of Jane Austen. A young woman, tainted by the scandal of a failed elopement and lacking resources after her father dies nearly penniless, is sent to live with an uncle who doesn't want her there. The lack of connection with the uncle and his housekeeper is compounded when she is betrothed to a mill owner she does not like, never mind love.

The change comes when the woman has a chance to turn her life around - through magic. Yes, it turns out that the woman has a gift with the magic arts, and her task to "gather the leaves" is connected to the greater fight between progress and industrial revolution and the artisans led by Ned Ludd. The woman has to develop her gift while balancing the attentions of a young Lord Byron and the man she eloped with, returned with his own agenda.

What I like best about this book is that the magic isn't treated any different than anything else. Some books would focus only on the magic, while others would get into innumerable details about spells, etc. In this case, we get a solid story about a woman trying to make her way, just with the additional help of magic to get there.

While I'm waiting patiently for the next installment in Liss' series featuring boxer turned investigator Benjamin Weaver, this was a very entertaining diversion. Liss is very comfortable writing about this period, and his ability to balance the magical with the historical with the romantic is very much appreciated. I really enjoyed this book, and am glad that it's the one I'm ending 2011 on.

Book Log 2011 #45: The Third Rail by Michael Harvey

Two women are shot and killed on the El, with the only apparent tie being Chicago PI Michael Kelly, who is on the platform for the first shooting and is contacted by the killer after the second. Kelly winds up on the task force investigating the shootings, but is also approached by the mayor to make sure that the killer, once found, doesn't get to trial. From the start Kelly feels like the case is being handled incorrectly, and as that plays out he finds that he has another, more personal connection to the shootings. 

This is the third book involving Kelly, and it lives up to the standard set by the other two books. I wasn't fully satisfied by the ending, but it worked well enough that I was able to put my misgivings aside. It's not necessarily as noirish as the other two, but there's plenty of Chicago flavor to make up for it. I also like how Kelly continues to be developed as a fully-realized person, and not just someone who spends his time either on cases or drinking (though he spends plenty of time on both). What isn't sitting well is the introduction of FBI and Homeland Security types, as I worry that future books will be less Chicago-centric. But for now, another good book in the series.

Book Log 2011 #44: Reamde by Neal Stephenson


This book marks a return to the technology-based thriller, as a man who has developed an internationally-popular online game sees his favorite niece go missing at the same time a group of Chinese hackers introduce a virus into the game that holds players' hard drives ransom until a payment is made in-game. From there the book widens out to include Russian mobsters, government intelligence agents, international terrorists, and Idahoan survivalists.

This sort of wide-ranging story has proven quite entertaining before - Cryptonomicon tells an entertaining story across multiple continents and times - but this book doesn't reach those heights. This story is almost too broad, with characters disappearing for 100 pages or more and new characters coming in mid-book to take up even more space. There's also a couple of related subplots involving the online game and two writers who created its backstory that go on much longer than necessary.

Speaking of going on too long, the closing 200 pages or so of the book take place in the wilds of British Columbia and Idaho, and it seems like at least half of that is dedicated to descriptions of mountains, backwoods trails and other landforms. It got to the point where I dreaded the start of a new section, as I knew it would involve at least a page or two of this sort of thing.

What this winds up being is a 700 page novel hiding in a 1000 page novel. I won't say I was disappointed, as I did like the book overall, but I did feel like it didn't meet my expectations. Better luck next time.

Book Log 2011 #43: Then Everything Changed by Jeff Greenfield


Political commentator Greenfield takes a stab at three alternative political histories in this book. The first story sees the planned assassination of JFK by Richard Pavlick succeed, leading to an early LBJ presidency. The second has RFK assassination failing, and looks at what would have come after. The final story has Ford winning the 1976 election.

The upshot of all three stories, really, is that JFK and RFK were great. In the first story LBJ faces pretty much the same issues as JFK did, but with less success. In the second story, RFK's presidency has its bobbles, but allows us to avoid Watergate and other problems. Neither really influences the third story, though it does emphasize that Teddy was not cut from the same cloth as his brothers.

The stories are written well enough, though I found myself getting annoyed at some of the cameos and cutesy coincidences. I know they're done in an attempt to make the stories more real, but when Hillary Rodham Clinton shows up as a White House lawyer who catches a sitting President getting orally pleased by an intern, I find that we're crossed the line to gratuitous.

I don't think these are the best stories compared to those written by dedicated alt-history authors, but they're not bad for someone riffing on his day job.

Book Log 2011 #42: World Without End by Ken Follett


This sequel to Pillars of the Earth jumps 200 years after the events of the first book, returning to Kingsbridge to follow four characters who, as kids in 1327, witness an altercation whose implications will not become known for decades. Still, it shapes their lives in various ways, as they grow into their roles as builder, healer, peasant and lord.

Many of the themes from the first book continue in the second - secular versus clerical rule, life as a serf versus free man versus lord, etc. - though they're obviously distinct given the 200 years that have passed. The plague plays a major role in the book - as you might expect given the year the book starts in.

This book is every bit as enjoyable as the first, though it took me a while to get going with this one, mostly as I was trying to sort out how the people in this book were related to the folks in the first one. A family tree would be helpful for those characters who are descended from people in the first book. A map would have been nice as well, though the website linked above has one.

You will need to dedicate a fair bit of time to this book - like the first, it clocks in at over 1000 pages - but it reads much quicker than you might expect for something so big.

Book Log 2011 #41: Maphead by Ken Jennings


Ken Jennings and I have at least two things in common. The first is that we're both trivia nerds who have parlayed such nerditry into money (though his total is much, much higher than my one). The second is that we're both into geography, though that's probably not so surprising given the first point of commonality. Jennings dives into this subculture in this book, examining people who create fictional countries, geocaching (which is actually a third thing we have in common, although I've taken a hiatus with the kids being so small), and a variety of other geographic interests.

This book is in the same conversational, self-deprecating style of Brainiac, and it's as comfortable and enjoyable here as it was there. I did find myself comparing the chapter about the National Geographic Bee to the one about the National Spelling Bee in Neil Steinberg's Failure, appreciating the similarities in the participants. I was also very interested in the section talking about the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, a map-based road rally that was advertised in pretty much every issue of Games magazine I've ever read. Thankfully I never sent the money in to participate, as based on Jennings' experience the hair-splitting directions and definitions would have driven me crazy and I would likely have never finished it (or come close).

So if you've ever pondered the map of the world in a high school classroom or wondered who exactly tries to visit all the countries of the world, this book is for you. Even if you've not done this, it's worth a read so you can understand why some of us like this stuff.

Book Log 2011 #40: The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum


We take forensic chemistry for granted nowadays, expecting that any substance used to kill someone will be detected. That was not the case at the start of the 20th century, when coroners were often appointed for political reasons and actual science didn't come into play when the police tried to solve crimes. It took a crusading doctor and a like-minded colleague to change this in New York City, as they modernized methods, testing and procedures in an attempt to catch those people who, previously, could poison with impunity.

There is something for just about everyone here, from true crime to public health to medicine to US urban history. The book is organized by chapters involving one particular poison, showing how each came into vogue, cases where it was used, and ways in which the coroner came up with or improved tests to uncovers killers who would have succeeded under the old regime.

The book is well-written and the subject matter greatly interesting, at least to me. Definitely recommended if you're into this sort of thing.

Book Log 2011 #39: Moneymakers by Ben Tarnoff


Three American counterfieters are profiled here, detailing their work profiting (and in at least one case, displaying patriotism) in making funny money.  While the stories are well told, there's at least as much about the history of American paper money here, with the counterfieters serving as a backdrop for the move from Continental bank notes to the federally-backed notes that became what we use today.

The actual stories about the counterfieters improve as the book moves along - in no small part due to the increase in documentation about their lives and crimes - while the writing about currency in general is even throughout. Worth a read if you're interested in US money, history, or the history of US money.

Book Log 2011 #38: Atlantic by Simon Winchester


In this book, Winchester attempts a biography of the Atlantic Ocean, starting at its formation in the earliest stages of the planet to its future destruction by the same forces that gave it life. In between, he talks about the "Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories" promised by the subtitle.

He frames the discussion using Shakespeare's seven ages of man from As You Like It, which allows him to follow chronology where appropriate but discuss other facets - such as sea battles and Atlantic-inspired art - as specific subjects.

This works, for the most part, but the problem with such a broad topic is that choices have to be made for what gets mentioned and what doesn't, and those choices aren't always the ones I'd make. For example, the art chapter spends a great deal of time talking about coastal architecture without mentioning Manueline  architecture, a style influenced greatly by Portugal's exploration of the Atlantic and the oceans beyond. Similar examples can be found in each chapter.

I'm also not a fan of Winchester's pessimism towards the survival of mankind. He seems to think we'll exit the stage well before the Atlantic is crushed between land masses, and while I do think we'll have moved on by then, I tend to think we'll last longer on Earth and have found somewhere else to go by this time. Winchester seems to think we'll go the way of the dodo, or at least that was my read.

But in the main, it's usually engaging and worth a read, though some sections could be bypassed if not of interest, as the seven ages of man set-up allows for some compartmentalization.

Book Log 2011 #37: Popular Crime by Bill James


Besides being one of baseball's leading quantitative minds, Bill James has a serious interest in popular crime stories. This book allows him to explore this passion, covering over two millennia of headline crimes, though he mostly focuses on events from 1800 onward.

The results of this examination are somewhat uneven. Some cases get great coverage, while other times get a laundry list of crimes that tend to drag. He creates a taxonomy for cases based on their elements, a digression that may help him but is dry reading at best.

The best parts of the book are where James is actually making an argument for or against something rather than just relating cases to fill the timeline. Towards the end of the book he starts to put together a plan for creating a more effective prison system (basically creating small neighborhood facilities, a neat idea that will never happen) and discusses the justice system generally, which goes on a bit too long.

James also makes a basic argument in the book for the importance of following and understanding these cases, both for their insights into criminal behavior and their reflection of the wider culture. I tend to agree with him here, and think that marginalizing such cases costs us an opportunity to reflect. Worse still is that we allow the cases to become public theater (think Casey Anthony), which only makes the general public more liable to marginalize these cases.

I do think the book is interesting, and worth a read if you're interested in true crime. I also think it could have been sharper in places, so don't expect this to stack up to James's best baseball work.

I can't imagine there are many people who read this who aren't friends on Facebook, but in case you're not, I can announce that the family unit has increased by one with the birth of our second son. And while there is still plenty of novelty stemming from the new baby's personality, I can see now why kids born later get the short shrift. We've taken many fewer pictures of the baby number two than of the first one, and we spent a significantly smaller amount of time planning and prepping for the new baby. A couple of brief refreshers, put the crib back together, get clothes back from the people we lent to when they had babies, and that's it. I swear we will not half-ass his rearing the same way we've loafed through the previous nine months.

(Note: the one area we did not skimp on at all was pre-natal care. Doesn't matter how many kids you have, see your doctor regularly, take your vitamins, etc.)

The re-introduction to things like feedings every two hours or so and the joy that is meconium (look it up if you don't know what that is - just avoid sites with pictures) has gone pretty smoothly (the actual birthing and post-birthing could have gone better, but the wife has rebounded nicely). Hopefully we'll be out of here on Thursday so we can finally see how the older child reacts to having a baby in the house full time. He's been marginally interested up to now - hospital visits are mostly spent trying to flip any switch left unmanned - but has at least acknowledged the baby's presence. He's also regularly spent time with his 11 month-old cousin since that child was born, even having a couple of long weekends where they stayed together. So hopefully the idea of having a baby around all the time isn't a problem.

What might be a problem, though, is that the older son enjoys to get into the crib and tub that we used on him and have brought out/reassembled for the new baby. Need to make sure that stops when child number two is actually using them.

So far so good, though. Keep your fingers crossed.

Dear U.S. Treasury Department:

With word that the Presidential dollar coin program has been shuttered, I'd like to think that the third time is the charm when it comes to realizing that a dollar coin, given the current state of our currency, is not going to work. I assume at some point you'll try this again (or be compelled to try it again), so with that in mind here is my plan for Making it Better: the Dollar Coin.

1. Get rid of the $1 bill.  It should be obvious that this has to happen before anything else. People are conditioned to use bills, and given a choice between a bill and a coin they'll revert to the bill. Cash registers are set up to take $1 bills, as are most vending machines (though many can take dollar coins as well). Both Canada and the UK stopped printing one dollar/pound notes to phase in the coin replacement, which took root as the bills left circulation. You don't do this, the $1 coin will never work.

2. Make it thick. The one pound coin in the UK is easy to pick out of a pocketful of change, as it's noticeably thicker than other coins. With all the focus on trying to find a unique diameter for the $1 coin, you've rejected the obvious dimension for differentiating it from other coins.

3. Throw in another obvious tactile difference. Just in case thickness doesn't seem like enough of a difference, you could make the coin non-round (check out the UK's 50p coin for an example) or go with a bi-metallic design such as the UK 2 pound or Canadian $2 coins. You could also do something with the edge of the coin, such as leave the edges smooth or use something other than the traditional milled edges. If you can get Braille on the Alabama state quarter, you can get some sort of raised design on a dollar coin.

4. Keep Washington on the dollar. I'm not particularly wedded to this - he is on the quarter, after all - but I figure this would be a sop to the traditionalists. You could also transfer future versions of the 50 State Quarters program to the dollar coin, which I figure would boost circulation, even if artificially.

5. Move the lettered Federal Reserve Seal to the $5. There is a subset of people who like knowing where their $1 bills came from - be they Where's George? enthusiasts or not - and moving the seal that uses the Federal Reserve Bank letter to the $5 will soften the blow of losing the one dollar bill.

I hope this helps, and look forward to seeing these suggestions implemented when you try dollar coins again sometime around 2023.

Book Log 2011 #36: The Jefferson Key by Steve Berry


This latest installment in the Cotton Malone series brings the action to America, where he has to stop a group of modern-day pirates who claim to operate under the auspices of the Constitution's provision for privateers. The pirates have had their status challenged by a small number of Presidents - Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Kennedy - and they've responded in the same way each time. An attempt on the life of the current President sparks the hunt for the documents that would prove the pirate's legal status, a hunt that brings the usual mayhem that seems to follow Malone.

I was curious to see how this would play out, as US-based thrillers of this ilk tend to focus on Freemasons or the Illuminati or such groups. It's refreshing to see a new twist, even though it's not quite believable that the person who originally took the documents in question - Andrew Jackson - wouldn't just burn them. I suppose he wanted to keep the pirates in limbo in case he needed them, but there's still a weakness to the premise. It's not The Paris Vendetta weak, but it's not great.

Even so, if you've read the series it's a decent continuation. I see that Berry's next book is a stand-alone work, which will hopefully give him some time to get this series back to the more solid footing of its earlier entries.

Book Log 2011 #35: Procession of the Dead by Darren Shan


A young man named Capac Raimi arrives in the City - that's all we're told of it, no idea of where or when this city is located - to start work with his uncle's minor criminal enterprise. He finds the City disagreeable, between the noise, the occasional green fog, and the micro-rainfalls that attract blind people. But he goes on his first job for his uncle, only to have everyone killed but him, so he can be taken to the Cardinal, the crime lord who essentially runs the city. The Cardinal wants to talk to him because Raimi is slated to take the Cardinal's place - someday.  From this point, Raimi enjoys a meteoric rise in the City's hierarchy, but questions linger. Who is the Cardinal? Why did he pick Raimi to be his successor? What's the deal with the green fog, the rain, and the blind guys?

All of this is answered, to varying degrees of satisfaction. There's an intent to make this some sort of fantasy noir, and I can't say that it fully succeeds in either case. The fantasy aspects of the book is more solid than the noir aspect - not surprisingly, as Shan made his name in young adult fantasy.  The fantasy aspects of the book also feel a little rough, which I suppose is also not surprising, as Shan wrote the book early in his career and saw it re-released when he became better established.

It's not a bad book, but there's an ambiguity in the story line that can make things confusing and, at times, a little ponderous. It's the first book of a trilogy, which makes me wonder if there was a focus on establishing things that took away from the book. Anyway, read with caution.

Book Log 2011 #34: The Complaints by Ian Rankin

With Inspector Rebus now retired after 17 novels, Rankin has moved on to Malcolm Fox, an officer in the Complaints and Conduct department - "the Complaints" - a Scottish version of what we'd know as Internal Affairs. After finishing a case involving a cop with a history of breaking rules, Fox is put on an investigation of a young officer suspected of involvement with child pornography. As this investigation unfolds, Fox also becomes involved in the murder of his sister's boyfriend and the suicide of a local property developer. When it becomes clear that all of these cases are related, Fox has to walk a tightrope to solve them without getting himself killed - or get caught by his own department for his own lapses during the investigation.

I've only read one of the Rebus novels, so it's hard for me to compare the two men. Publisher's Weekly did and found Fox- and this book - wanting, but like many reviewers I disagree. I found Fox an interesting character, someone who willingly takes on a job that leads most of his colleagues to hate him but who also crosses the lines he typically defends. I did think the plot was a bit too convoluted, though I did appreciate the way it allowed Rankin to show off various bits of Scotland, which is one of his strengths.

Perhaps it will take a couple of novels to fully flesh Fox out - the second one came out this year - and I'd say it's worth the effort to find out.

Book Log 2011 #33: The Holy Thief by William Ryan


A Stalin-era cop gets a case where a woman is found murdered on an altar in a church that's now a youth center. As he gets into the case, it becomes obvious that the case involves high-ranking members of various military and intelligence services. Warned off the case, he continues anyway, getting help from the local crime syndicate and writer Isaac Babel.

This isn't the most surprising premise for a historical mystery - it sometimes seems like there wasn't a killing before World War II that didn't involve a far-reaching conspiracy - but it's a pretty decent example of the type. Not the greatest, and apparently involving some glaring errors where this era of Soviet history is involved (this from a review written by a Russian expert in the New York Times), but it's not bad. I'd certainly keep up with things if it becomes a series.

Book Log 2011 #32: Eat My Globe by Simon Majumdar


When Majumdar hit 40, he rediscovered a list of life goals that included going everywhere and eating everything. Bored with his job, he set out on a year-long trip around the globe to do just that, hitting over 30 countries to eat what the locals eat. Consider it a male version of Eat, Pray, Love, just without the praying or the loving.

There's great fun in seeing Majumdar wade right into the cultures and foods of all his stops, though the entries for some stops were too short for my taste (although necessary, as the book would be about 800 pages if all of the stops got a full treatment). He also reflects on his family, most notably his brother and mother, and how food was a central focus for them.  While he ascribes this to the Indian side of the family, I wonder if there's an English aspect to this, as my English relatives have a similar focus on food (for examples, recollections of past vacations tend to be defined by meals or visits to markets).

Anyway, liked this one quite a bit, even if it did make me jealous.

Book Log 2011 #31: The Third Miracle by Bill Briggs

In 2001, the caretaker of an Indiana convent stopped into a chapel and asked God to help heal his eye, which was responding poorly to a previous surgery.  He wasn't a Catholic - not even really religious - but he figured it couldn't hurt to ask. The next morning he woke up and found his eye had improved greatly, without any medical intervention. While you or I might call that a miracle, the nuns at the convent used that term much more seriously, as they thought that this would be the thing that would finally get their founder's case for sainthood approved.

This book tells the story of the founder, Mother Theodore, and the process by which the Catholic church names saints. Both are interesting tales in their own right; Mother Theodore established her convent in Indiana at a time where people in general were thin on the ground, never mind Catholics, while the process of naming a saint is replete with the political and legal hurdles one might expect and the personal struggles - within the mind of the handyman, the nuns of the convent, and so on up the line - one might not expect.

As much as the average person tends to think that the church and science are always at odds, this book does suggest that the role of science, at least in the case of investigating potential saints, is pretty large. Much of the investigation into the miracle involves talking with doctors and reviewing the case files to see just how likely it is that the healing resulted from medicine. 

If this sort of thing interests you, this is a book you'll want to read. The story is engaging, well-written and balanced. Briggs doesn't normally write about religion, and I think that helps him avoid forcing the story into a pro- or anti-sainthood slant. He just reports the story, gives us the facts and the feelings of those involved, and allows us to make a decision on sainthood in the modern age. 

Book Log 2011 #30: The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst


Liking The Spies of the Balkans, I picked up this previous book set in Poland in 1937. The French military attache finds himself stuck in the middle of events, paying lip service to his country's commitment to Poland while acknowledging that in the case of a German invasion, Poland will need to stand on its own. The attache does work to help the Poles (and the French) understand German capabilities and Polish defenses, all in the face of the onslaught that everyone knows is coming.

As with the other book, the man in the middle also gets into a personal entanglement, as he develops a relationship with a Polish attorney who is herself mixed up with a Soviet reporter who may or may not be in trouble with the folks at home.

And, as with the other book, Furst creates a great story that balances the plot lines skillfully and uses period detail to great effect. While I am concerned that all of his books use the same template and thus will become less interesting the more of them I read, it's a chance worth taking.

Book Log 2011 #29: Endgame by Frank Brady


Most people know two things about chess prodigy Bobby Fischer: he was world chess champion at some point and, in his later years, he was an American Jew who very publicly hated America and Jews. His genius - and his madness - were fodder for all types, and in this biography Frank Brady does his best - as both a writer about chess and as someone who knew Fischer for most of his life - to untangle the threads of Fischer's life as best he can.

That's kind of a thankless task. While there are clear markers for some changes - such as when Fischer stopped being the young, carefree wunderkind and started to wear suits and speak more critically of pretty much everything - there are other changes, from Fischer's reclusive period in the 1980s and '90s to his turn as an international pariah - that are harder to explain. And to Brady's credit, he doesn't try to pull the pop psychology nonsense that other writers would. Instead, he relies on his own life in chess and his personal contact with Fischer and others who were close to Fischer to fashion best guesses where he can.

The book is written so that someone with almost no chess knowledge can follow, and is engaging enough that the lack of technical information is not missed. Brady's portrait of Fischer illustrates the complexities of the man without being too sentimental or critical, and his refusal to play what-if keeps the book on a solid factual footing. A great read for anyone who is interested in Fischer or who want to get some insight as to what can turn a genius into a madman.

Book Log 2011 #28: Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst


In the early days of World War II, Greece remains stubbornly independent, waiting for the inevitable German invasion. A police detective in Salonika finds himself made the department's fixer, answering the call for the difficult cases that require more tact than procedure. He's good at it, and it helps keep the war at bay.

His skills are noted by his British girlfriend, nominally a ballet teacher whose return to the UK is followed by the appearance of a man who is nominally a travel writer, who approaches the detective to help set up a way to get persons threatened by the Nazi policy towards Jews to a safer residence in Turkey. This requires all of the detective's skill and nerve, as it becomes increasingly more difficult to move between countries and make the arrangements to keep this underground railroad going.

On top of this, the detective has to keep an eye on him family so he can get them out of the city before the Germans arrive. And for good measure he enters into a relationship with the wife of the city's largest shipping magnate, a man of some power. The marriage is loveless, and the detective vows to save her - from both the Germans and her husband.

Few novels about World War II take place in the Balkans, so it's refreshing to have one set there. The espionage plot line is the better of the two, both in the way the refugee pipeline is run and in how Greeks were preparing for war. The romantic subplot is not as interesting, and from what I've read it's more awkward here than in other novels by Furst, who typically weaves a romantic subplot into his books.

I don't know how this one compares to those other books. but it's worth a read. It's on the short side, flows well, and has a well-drawn main character, so even when it's not at its best it's pretty good.

Book Log 2011 #27: Limitations by Scott Turow


A criminal defense attorney turned judge, George Mason is already juggling his wife's cancer battle and the appearance of threatening emails when a notable rape case lands on his docket. This leads him to reconsider his life, most specifically his role as a judge and lawyer, as current events and past experiences come too close for comfort.

Originally a story written for the New York Times Magazine, this is an expanded version of the story, albeit one that is more of a long novella than a full-fledged novel. This is only a problem in that we get less of Turow's great writing and less time with George Mason, an ancillary character in previous novels whose personal life (and turmoil) is barely hinted at, if even that, before now.

I would say that this is Turow's most introspective novel, as while there is an external thrillerish plot line with the emails, it's really about Mason's inner struggle to find his place in his profession (with wider considerations about the law and lawyering in general).  It's easily as good as Turow's other legal writings, and well worth reading.

Book Log 2011 #26: Resistance by Owen Sheers


A successful German invasion of Britain during World War II leads the men of a remove Welsh valley to leave their homes under the cover of night to become guerilla fighters. This leaves the women of the valley, not told of their menfolk's plans, to do the best they can to keep their farms and herds going. On top of that, a unit of Germans has taken up residence in the valley to keep an eye on things. They're led by an officer with his own agenda, searching for an ancient map.

While the set-up suggests alt-history, the story is really about the people in the valley and the various levels of resistance they try to put up. There are the women, who resist telling the Germans the truth about their men. Then there are the Germans, who are trying to resist re-entering the war by keeping a low profile. The main characters, a young wife and the leader of the Germans, also work to resist each other. As they grow closer they share their resistance, trying to find a way out of their predicaments.

I was expecting more of an alt-history, but once I shifted focus I enjoyed this book quite a bit.