Cassandra Reilly, free-lance translator, perpetual vagabond, and amateur sleuth, is back!
Her friend Nicola desperately needs Cass's help to find a missing 18th century bassoon, but soon
it is Nicola who is missing. And, as if the incompetent oboeist, the disappearing instrument, and
a murder weren't enough for Cass to cope with, she discovers that middle age is dogging her
footsteps. There may be one too many coincidences for mystery purists, but otherwise it's
well-plotted and intriguing. Wilson weaves the fascinating history of the musical orphans of
Venice's "oespidali" into the story, and describes the exoctic city beautifully. This book is
too much fun to be missing from your shelf.
We all know that we should know about our bodies. But we don't always need or want the
the depth and detail offered by such wonderful authors as Natalie Angier, Susan Love and
Christiane Northrup. Cortney Davis fills the gap with this loving description of her
work as a nurse practitioner in a women's clinic. She follows five women through the course
of a year--four composite characters drawn from the many patients she has known, and herself.
The four "patients" typify the range of ages and health problems presented at the clinic, but
are not stereotypes. The device allows Davis to discuss biology in the context of
personalities, using their stories to heighten the drama in the birth of a baby, or the discovery
of a lump. It's the spoonful of sugar that helps the science go down.
Davis' descriptions of her own experiences, both as a patient herself and as a caregiver, are an
important part of the book. She is not the aloof expert holding other women's lives up to instruct
the uneducated. She is one of them, and awed by them. She is saying, "Listen to some of the amazing
thing I've been privileged to see." We can vicariously visit the gynecologist's office from the
practitioner's side of the speculum, a practitioner who offers a model of care and respect for her
patients.
Don't let the title keep you away if you're not one of us 'old girls.' Garrison gives a good introduction to spell work and includes appropriate cautions along with the instructions for each one. While the menopausal crowd might be most interested in a little practical magic for finding the car keys, who doesn't need to focus more energy on love, healing, money or protection?