The Two Hotel Francforts by David Leavitt

A page-turner, for sure, and an interesting one, too. I am lazy today, so will copy and paste from the Westchester Library System's synopsis of this book. It says it better than I can with all on my plate today!

It is the summer of 1940, and Lisbon, Portugal, is the only neutral port left in Europe--a city filled with spies, crowned heads, and refugees of every nationality, tipping back absinthe to while away the time until their escape. Awaiting safe passage to New York on the SS Manhattan, two couples meet: Pete and Julia Winters, expatriate Americans fleeing their sedate life in Paris; and Edward and Iris Freleng, sophisticated, independently wealthy, bohemian, and beset by the social and sexual anxieties of their class. As Portugal's neutrality, and the world's future, hang in the balance, the hidden threads in the lives of these four characters--Julia's status as a Jew, Pete and Edward's improbable affair, Iris's increasingly desperate efforts to save her tenuous marriage--begin to come loose. This journey will change their lives irrevocably, as Europe sinks into war.Gorgeously written, sexually and politically charged, David Leavitt's long-awaited new novel is an extraordinary work.

I agree! An extraordinary book. I plan to try Leavitt's others, too.

Kinder Than Solitude by Yiyun Li

This is brilliant writing by an intellectually and emotionally brilliant author. I think this is one the most finely crafted novels that I have read in a long time. And it's complex, deep and thought-provoking, while telling a story of four childhood friends who have grown up in  Beijing during the 1990s. One of them is poisoned — possibly by someone in the circle — and the group drifts apart, numbed by the experience.

"For Shaoai, the damage is physiological, shutting down her body’s faculties one by one until she is trapped in bloated flesh, where she will languish for 21 years before her murder is finally consummated. For the others, the poisons will be more subtle. Each will erect an emotional wall, a hermetic husk, and, in the end, each will be as unrecognizable as the victim."

Take time reading this novel; it's worth savoring every passage.

Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead

I loved Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead, so when I found this  new book by her, I snatched it off the shelf.  It is a well-written and compelling glimpse into the passionate, political world of professional ballet and its magnetic hold over two generations. Astonish Me tells the story of Joan, a ballerina whose life has been shaped by her relationship with a world-famous dancer Arslan Ruskov, whom she helps defect from the Soviet Union to the U.S. While Arslan's career takes off in New York, Joan's slowly declines, ending when she becomes pregnant and decides to marry her longtime admirer, a PhD student named Jacob. As the years pass, Joan settles into her new life in California, teaching dance and watching her son, Harry, become a ballet prodigy himself. But when Harry's success brings him into close contact with Arslan, secrets are revealed that shatter the delicate balance Joan has struck between her past and present.
This book is certainly for ballet lovers, but anyone can enjoy the great story, too!