Leah Stewart: Cincinnati:: Anne Tyler: Baltimore
Leah Stewart* |
I met Leah Stewart at October’s Books on the Banks celebration and The History of Us matches her modest, intelligent, and humorous attitude. She teaches at the University of Cincinnati and she focuses on Cincinnati in a manner similar to Anne Tyler with Baltimore. The History of Us starts compellingly in 1993 with a newly hired
tenure track Harvard History faculty member learning of the deaths of her sister and brother-in-law and the need for her to return to Cincinnati and care for their three small children.
Dexter and Friend Watch the Family Home |
It’s the type of writing that will have many readers thinking ‘I’ve done or felt that way’ and rooting for the characters (as stand-ins for themselves, perhaps) to find the courage to pursue what they want. It’s a smart and sensitive crowd-pleaser that doesn’t try anything stylistically inventive. I wish the copy editor had caught a couple of typos in the paperback edition. Bravo to Leah Stewart and here’s hoping she keeps featuring Porkopolis.
*Photo by Jesse Fax for CityBeat.
*Photo by Jesse Fax for CityBeat.
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