Alice Padwe
Alice Padwe has been expressing her opinion on books ever since she selected Salomé from her parents’ library because it had pictures, then reported to her elementary school class that it was silly and she didn’t like it. Her opinion of Oscar Wilde is more favorable now, and she remains grateful to her mother who always encouraged her to read and did not censor her choices. After graduating from Wellesley College (an English major, of course), she worked for various publishing houses in New York. Upon moving to Washington, she landed at the Smithsonian, where she served as a volunteer and staff member, with duties ranging from teaching Evolution to writing and editing. Having completed a decade as coordinator of the Wellesley Literary Circle, she now has more time to read, as a former employer put it, at random.
21 entries by Alice Padwe
London’s Triumph
By Stephen Alford
How a hamlet on the Thames unfurled its wings in the 16th century.
How a hamlet on the Thames unfurled its wings in the 16th century.
The Black Prince of Florence: The Spectacular Life and Treacherous World of Alessandro de’ Medici
By Catherine Fletcher
An absorbing tale of betrayal and deadly political alliances during the Renaissance.
An exploration of the iron lady behind one of New York’s premier publishing houses
Cast of Characters: Wolcott Gibbs, E.B. White, James Thurber, and the Golden Age of the New Yorker
By Thomas Vinciguerra
An affectionate look at the heyday of America's premier magazine.
The White Road: Journey into an Obsession
By Edmund de Waal
The author travels far and wide in his quest to unearth the birthplace of porcelain.
Odysseus: The Oath
By Valerio Massimo Manfredi (translated by Christine Feddersen-Manfredi)
A new fictional take on the famous Greek hero, from his childhood through his invention of the Trojan horse.
From Chaucer to J.K. Rowling, Paul Dickson gives us the skinny on famous and lesser-known writers who have contributed to the English language.
The Dream Maker
Jean-Christophe Rufin, translated by Alison Anderson
The French monarchy and the reign of Charles VII come to life in this novel by a winner of France’s Prix Goncourt award for fiction.
Can you identify a work by its concluding lines? Give it a try! When you’re done, scroll down to see the answers.
Jane Austen’s England: Daily Life in the Georgian and Regency Periods
By Roy and Lesley Adkins
This social history documents a broader picture of life behind the literary curtain of the celebrated author’s novels.
Blood & Beauty: The Borgias; A Novel
Sarah Dunant
A novel takes another look at the Borgias.
House of Earth
Woody Guthrie
In this newly unearthed 1947 novel by folk music icon Woody Guthrie, a husband and wife struggle to build a life in the bleak Texas panhandle.
The City of Devi: A Novel
By Manil Suri
Amidst apocalyptic disaster, two people search for a common lover in a panicked Mumbai.
City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled The Seas
Roger Crowley
A gripping story of how Venice became a sea-based empire with material wealth and luck -- and then lost both.
The Independent discusses Madeline Miller's book The Song of Achilles winner of the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction.
The Song of Achilles: A Novel
By Madeline Miller
It takes a brave author to attempt a foray into the battlefield made famous by Homer and Virgil, but this one acquits herself admirably.
