You Wish You Were Waltzing the Winter Away

Need a reminder to rest or love a historical mystery

Jan 08, 2024

Hi friends,

I hope your 2024 is off to a great start.

I spent a good chunk of the end-of-year break lying on my couch bundled up in the wearable blanket my sister-in-law gave me for Christmas (it’s essentially a giant, oversized sherpa-lined hoodie) reading, listening to podcasts about scammers and watching the Percy Jackson adaptation. (If you’re watching it, please let me know what you think.)

You Wish You Were Waltzing

Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller

Over the years, I’ve heard authors, notably YA author and psychologist Jennifer Lynn Barnes, talk about “writing to the id.” It’s a fancy way of saying to include things people love — and love to talk about — in a book to keep readers hooked.

Diana Biller’s Hotel of Secrets is the definition of writing for the id. Set in the luxurious world of 1870s Vienna, the book features glittering parties and ball gowns, sumptuous pastries, spies, scandal and more. In short, it has everything I want in an escapist novel.

Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller — This cover.

Maria Wallner has a single goal for the 1878 ball season: to restore her family’s hotel as Vienna’s go-to destination for the elite. Her efforts are complicated when Eli Whitaker, a staid and stuffy American, checks into her hotel on a mission to learn who is selling secret American codes across Europe. After Eli saves Maria’s life — twice — he becomes convinced that she’s caught up in a dangerous plot and realizes he might not want to save her solely for professional reasons.

How much do I love this book? I made five friends read it after I devoured it over Thanksgiving (they all loved it — two of them used the word “delight”). I even gave it as a hostess gift. The combination of romance and intrigue — as well as the lushness of the setting — kept me reading late into the night.

You Too are Falling Asleep Early

Wintering by Katherine May

With it getting dark so early (although it’s better than last month!), I often find it hard to fight the impulse to climb into bed before I would normally. Katherine May’s Wintering made me feel like it’s okay — good, even — to embrace this instinct and sleep more in the winter months than I do in the summer.

In her book, a mix of memoir and reporting, May explores how we get through winters, both the literal dark, cold season, and the figurative winters of our lives, difficult times. She argues that instead of pushing through sadness or pretending we’re okay, we should nourish ourselves by retreating a bit and resting, whether that looks like sleeping more, taking long walks or simply admitting we’re in a winter. Seasons, after all, are cyclical.

As podcast host and author Nora McInery said of the book, “Wintering is the book equivalent of a perfectly timed hug you didn't know you needed, a warm blanket on a cold day. So many books about adversity focus on ways to get away from the discomfort, and this book so wonderfully and sincerely says it's okay to be here, even when it hurts.”

You’re a Historical Mystery Fan

Murder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji

There’s something oddly comforting about historical mysteries. I think it’s because they give us the sense of justice and narrative closure all mysteries do while offering sense of removal from the world the characters live in. If you’re looking for a new historical mystery, check out Murder by Degrees, Ritu Mukerji’s debut novel set in 19^th century Philadelphia.

Our heroine is Dr. Lydia Weston, an anatomist and professor at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, who works to get more women doctors in hospitals and staffs a clinic. When one of her favorite patients, young chambermaid Anna Ward, is found dead in the Schuylkill River, Lydia disagrees when the death is ruled a suicide. She sets out to use her knowledge of the body and understanding of her patient to prove Anna’s death was murder — and to find the killer.

Murder by Degrees is a tightly plotted mystery but it’s also a fascinating depiction of women’s rights, urban living and medicine in the decade following the Civil War. Fans of the TV series, “Bones” (or the books it’s based on) might also want to consider this one, as the protagonist is an early Temperance Brenner. I’m hoping it’s the start of a series featuring Dr. Weston.

Thanks for reading! Quick programming note: Next week’s issue will go out on Tuesday because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

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