“Fagin the Thief,” by Allison Epstein (Doubleday, 2025)
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
“Fagin the Thief,” by Allison Epstein (Doubleday, 2025)
Character reimagining has given us Elphaba from “Wicked” (“The Wizard of Oz”) and “James” (“Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”). Epstein presents the backstory of Jacob Fagin, Dickens’ much-loathed villain in “Oliver Twist.” Alternating between 1793 and 1838 in Victorian London, this story humanizes Fagin and shows him to be a somewhat sympathetic character, although still a manipulative mentor to young thieves.
The original story was branded as antisemitic due to Dickens’ descriptions of the prejudicial norms of society in those times. This story of Fagin highlights the cruelty of discrimination, the plight of the poor and the importance of role models. Readers are left with the questions “Is it acceptable to feel sympathy for an evil man?” and “Is morality only for the rich?” It is not necessary to have read “Oliver Twist” to enjoy this book. It stands on its own as a historical novel with excellent descriptions of 19th-century London and brings the characters of “Oliver Twist to life.” — 4 stars (out of 4); Terry Romer, Denver
“Bug Hollow,” by Michelle Huneven (Penguin, 2025)
“Bug Hollow,” by Michelle Huneven (Penguin, 2025)
Family dynamics propel this fast-paced novel. The Samuelson family in Altadena, Calif., endures an unwieldy casserole of experiences and emotions from the 1960s to the 2010s. Don’t let the humor lull you: The pivotal event is the accidental death of a son at 18, who is a continuing presence in the family. In a fairly brief novel, Huneven garnishes the story with surprises, detailing her characters with precision and a sure hand. My favorite is Phil, the dad, but the entire family is memorable, primarily due to their foibles. Huneven is an author I’ll read again. — 3 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, Parker
“Perfection,” by Vincenzo Latronico, translated by Sophie Hughes (New York Review of Books, 2025)
A young Italian couple, digital nomads, seek adventure and the beautiful life within the expat community in edgy, experimental Berlin in the early 21st century. The author explores the impacts of a life spent largely on social media, isolated from one’s physical environment – the dissonance, for example, between a perfectly curated apartment and the messiness of lived reality, the transitory nature of friendship within this youthful, mobile tribe, and even how the intangible, cool vibe of one moment can prove fleeting and nonreplicable. A gem, beautifully translated. — 3 1/2 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
“When the Cranes Fly South,” by Lisa Ridzen, translated by Alice Menzies (Vintage Books, 2025)
Six months ago, Bo was forced to move his ailing wife into a nursing home because he could no longer care for her. Now, his 57-year-old son claims that Bo’s beloved elkhound must go for the same reason. Bo’s response? “I fantasize about cutting him out of my will, making sure he doesn’t get a penny.” This situation might not sound like much of an “upper,” but Bo’s sensitive, humorous, and unflinching determination to keep his dog makes for a page-turner. When stripped of almost everything, what’s left? Plenty, Bo would tell us. There’s not a false note in this book. (This debut novel by a Ph.D. student researching masculinity norms won the Swedish Book of the Year Award.) — 4 stars (out of 4); Michelle Nelson, Littleton
“King of Ashes,” by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books, 2025)
Years ago, our hero left behind his broken, blue-collar family in Richmond, Va., to join the Black bourgeoisie in Atlanta and a heady career as a wildly successful financial adviser. A family emergency brings him back home, where he assures everyone that he will “fix everything.” He is soon pulled into an underworld of drugs, violence, escalating dangers and missing bodies. Can he face his family’s secrets? Can he, indeed, fix everything? Cosby doesn’t shy away from gritty details or warts-and-all characters in this noirish novel. No easy fixes and no tidy endings here. — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver