Library Corner
Art and Adventure in a Time of War
March 10, 2025
By Robin Jacobson. Perched majestically on a rocky hilltop, the Abbey of Montecassino has kept vigil over Italy’s Liri Valley for nearly two thousand years. During the Second World War, …
Secrets and Lies
March 3, 2025
By Robin Jacobson. After Sasha Vasilyuk’s grandfather died in Donetsk, Ukraine, in 2007, her grandmother made a shocking discovery. In an old briefcase stashed under a bed, she found a …
Portrait of an Artist and his Jewish Patrons: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers
January 21, 2025
By Robin Jacobson. As a celebrated portrait artist, John Singer Sargent had his choice of commissions at the turn of the twentieth century. The most aristocratic, glamorous, “high society” figures …
Cracking Codes and other Capers
December 18, 2024
By Robin Jacobson. At a book event in 2019, a librarian posed a fateful question. She asked the assembled authors whether they might like to collaborate with another writer one …
The Shadow of the Past
November 13, 2024
By Robin Jacobson. The shadow of the past hovers over the present in the remarkable debut novel, The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden. Shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize, the novel …