Podcasts

Woman Around Town’s Editor Charlene Giannetti and writers for the website talk with the women and men making news in New York, Washington, D.C., and other cities around the world. Thanks to Ian Herman for his wonderful piano introduction.

Charlene Giannetti

Todd Moss’ Ghosts of Havana – Intrigue Behind the Scene

09/06/2016

On July 20, 2015, diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba were restored. And this past March, President and Michelle Obama visited the island nation. Airlines are scrambling to be approved for flights to Cuba and other companies who profit from tourism are lining up.

What negotiations really happened behind the scenes to bring about normalization of relations? In his new novel, Ghosts of Havana, Todd Moss imagines how it all might have gone down. Names, of course, have been changed, but the plot seems plausible, probably because Moss knows what he’s talking about. Now a senior fellow at a DC think tank, from 2007 to 2008 Moss served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State where he was responsible for diplomatic relations with 16 West African countries. A few weeks before the Obamas landed in Cuba, Moss was there and wrote about his experience in USA Today: “There are constant reminders that Cuba is a totalitarian state,,,[but] I left with the sense that Cuba was on the verge of major transformation.” That’s the Cuba we see in Ghosts of Havana, a country on the brink of change, but still holding onto the ghosts from its past.

This is Moss’s third installment, after Minute Zero and The Golden Hour, starring Judd Ryker, and his wife, Jessica. Formerly a college professor known for “teasing out patterns in data to uncover what was really going on,” Judd was recruited by the State Department to set up a Crisis Reaction Unit. Jessica is a CIA operative good at keeping secrets, even from her husband. The two have just returned from a harrowing assignment in Zimbabwe with a very positive outcome. During that assignment, Jessica apparently came to Judd’s aid and he realized that there was more to his wife than her good looks. (Since I jumped into this series without reading the previous books, more backstory about Judd and Jessica would have helped flesh out the characters.)

Ghosts of HavanaWhat begins as a seemingly innocent fishing trip by four poker buddies turns into an international incident. After their boat, aptly named The Big Pig, leaves U.S. waters, they draw fire from the Cuban army and soon find themselves prisoners being paraded before TV audiences in orange jumpsuits. Two of the men – Alejandro Cabrera and Brinkley Barrymore III – have an agenda that they haven’t shared with their two friends. But when it becomes apparent that those plans have gone awry, their capture places not only their own lives but the future of U.S.- Cuba relations in jeopardy.

Judd’s boss, Langdon Parker, the Secretary of State’s chief of staff, enlists Judd’s help. Yet in this case, as in previous ones, Judd finds himself in over his head. And, once again, he will find himself depending on his wife to get him out of a dangerous situation.

In this husband-wife partnership, Jessica not only has the brains, but also the brawn. She survives being chased and shot at through Florida’s swamps and has no trouble piloting a technically advanced helicopter into enemy territory. All this while taking care of her two young children on a Florida vacation that turns out to be anything but. Talk about multi-tasking!

Judd, meanwhile, should rethink leaving academia. He’s smart but no Jason Bourne or 007. One has to wonder why Parker keeps throwing him into situations where even a skilled operative would have difficulty escaping alive. In the end, that’s part of the appeal of both Judd and Jessica, a couple that turns on its head our thinking about what makes a good spy. Jessica has the grit and experience, but Judd’s naivete and inexperience allow him to gain people’s trust, as he does when he comes face to face with the volatile Oswaldo Guerro, “the Devil of Santiago,” and the power behind Cuba’s president.

There are the requisite shady characters: the CIA head known only as the Director of Operations; tough as nails Congresswoman Brenda Adelman-Zamora; billionaire Ruben Sandoval, with roots in Cuba; and “Ricky,” who is doing more than just renting boats in Marathon, Florida.

Ghosts of Havana is a plot-driven, rather than a character-driven mystery. It’s enough to keep the pages turning – very quickly, in fact – but at the end we feel we hardly know Judd and Jessica or, for that matter, many of the other players in this international drama. Filling in some of those blanks wold elevate what is already a terrific read.

Ghosts of Havana
Todd Moss

Top photo: January 11 2016: Typical scene of one of streets in the center of Santiago de cuba – Colorful architecture people walking around and vintage american cars in the roads. Santiago is the 2nd largest city in Cuba. Bigstock photo.

Kate Mara in Ridley Scott’s Morgan

09/02/2016

Morgan is not like other five year-olds. She has the appearance of a young adult, yet she was created and raised in a lab by a group of scientists who have become her de facto caretakers and parents. Morgan, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, also is super strong and when she’s upset or challenged apt to lash out with horrific results. After she kills a deer, she’s confined to quarters, a glass enclosed facility where she is constantly monitored. Not being able to roam free angers Morgan and her violence escalates, stabbing Dr. Kathy Grieff (Jennifer Jason Leigh) in the eye.

MORGAN

Enter Lee Weathers (Kate Mara), sent by “corporate” to assess the situation. Are Morgan’s recent outbursts the result of a technical quirk that can be fixed? Or should she be terminated? Lee quickly realizes that those close to Morgan have lost all sense of objectivity. Rather than being able to evaluate what is happening from a scientific point of view, their emotional attachment to Morgan clouds their opinions. Dr. Alan Shapiro (Paul Giamatti) arrives to conduct a psychological evaluation and refuses to do so with the glass wall between them. Morgan is provoked and Shapiro suffers the consequences. There’s now enough evidence that Morgan should be terminated. When the scientists balk at the order, Morgan escapes and all hell breaks lose. It’s up to Lee to track down and kill Morgan.

Mara, who also starred in Scott’s Oscar-nominated The Martian, adds to her impressive resume with this film. (Mara’s standout performance in Netflix’s House of Cards has won her many fans.) As the top billed actor in the film, she’s essentially opening it, a huge responsibility producers do not consider lightly because it directly impacts the bottom line. The trifecta of Mara, Scott, and Sci-Fi should ensure Morgan a strong box office at a time when summer films are fading.

MORGAN

With a running time around 90 minutes, Morgan is a thrill ride. Scott keeps the suspense growing. In the early scenes, Morgan seems harmless enough, particularly when she’s enjoying walks in the forest with Dr. Amy Menser (Rose Leslie, Gwen from Downton Abbey and Ygritte in Game of Thrones). But the possibility of violence percolates under the surface. Taylor-Joy is chilling as the machine-like Morgan, never smiling and her ashen face a cross between a robot and a corpse, neither of which is reassuring. The two actresses are evenly matched in expertly staged fight scenes where the outcome is never certain.

Morgan opens nationwide September 2, 2016.

Photo Credit: Aidan Monaghan – TM & © 2016 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.

Linda Greenlaw’s Perfect Storm

08/28/2016

“The Hannah boat is skippered by a Colby College grad named Linda Greenlaw. Not only is Greenlaw one of the only women in the business, she’s one of the best captains period on the entire East Coast; year after year, trip after trip, she makes more money than anyone. When the Hannah Boden unloads her catch in Gloucester, swordfish prices plummet halfway around the world.” The Perfect Storm, Sebastian Junger

Linda Greenlaw is fond of saying that she worked as a commercial swordfish fisherman to pay her way through college. “Fishing for tuition,” she says with a laugh. After graduating from college with a major in English, Linda surprised her parents by announcing that she was going back to commercial fishing.

“My parents were not happy,” she says. “I heard `fishing is no place for an educated young person; you’re wasting your education.’”

Linda, however, fell in love with commercial swordfish fishing when she was a child and knew by age 19 that she would spend her life on boats. Yet, along the way, Linda’s life on the sea led her in some unexpected directions. She has now penned nine books, many of them landing on the New York Times bestsellers list, and appeared in a TV show on the Discovery Channel, Swords: Life on the Line. On August 21, a luncheon was held at The Hamilton, part of the Clyde’s group of restaurants, to showcase Linda Greenlaw’s branded swordfish being marketed in partnership with Great Oceans and now a permanent menu offering at Clyde’s restaurants. (The version presented at the luncheon, prepared by Clyde’s chefs, was served on a bed of spicy succotash and did Linda’s swordfish proud.)

“I had come to know it’s impossible to waste your education,” she says. “I like to think that I use my education every single day, fishing or writing, book touring, or just sitting around with my friends.” Certainly good news to all those recent graduates paying back loans and wondering if they made a bad investment.

Linda’s rise to fame was a combination of skill and luck. In 1991 she was captain of the Hannah Boden and the last person to speak with the captain of a companion boat, the Andrea Gail, whose tragic loss was the centerpiece of Sebastian Junger’s bestseller and a subsequent film starting George Clooney as the Andrea Gail’s captain, Billy Tyne Jr. Not only was Linda praised for her expertise in Junger’s book, she was portrayed in the film by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (above).

With Junger’s book dominating the bestseller lists, Linda began to receive calls from publishers asking her to write her own book. “To have this opportunity land in my lap, I was very fortunate,” she says. “I wrote my first book, The Hungry Ocean, thinking that it would be a one shot deal. No one was more surprised than I was when that book ended up on the New York Times bestsellers list. I’m still pinching myself because I never expected to write anything. My life has taken some strange turns.”

One book led to another and Linda has just returned from a nationwide tour to promote her latest book, Lifesaving Lessons: Notes from an Accidental Mother. Unlike her previous books that dealt with fishing, Linda’s new book is about her becoming the legal guardian of a troubled 15 year-old girl. “It’s a horror story with a happy ending,” she says. Isle au Haut, a small island off the coast of Maine where Linda lives, has 50 year round residents. “This is an abused kid who had been on the island since the age of ten with someone that we thought was her uncle,” Linda explains. “Unbeknownst to us, everything is not fine. Her former guardian is currently in federal prison which is a good place for him.”

Not only has Linda become a parent later in life, last September she got married. “I used to say that my lifestyle, being away for 30 days, being on a boat is not conducive to finding a guy—thanks for dinner see you in 30 days,” she says with a laugh. “I delivered a boat to his boatyard to have some work done. I put the boat on a mooring and he road me to shore. I can’t say it was love at first sight but it was definitely infatuation at first sight and we started to see a lot of each other. It happened very quickly. When I told my family that I was getting married, they said, isn’t this kind of sudden? And I’m like, I’m 51! How long do you want me to wait?”

While Linda’s life these days seems charmed, she has certainly paid her dues. “I worked very hard, I got very good at it, and, as luck would have it, I’ve been acknowledged,” she says.

Linda worked as a consultant during the filming of The Perfect Storm. “I was thrilled because I thought they are really trying to get it right,” she says. “I had the opportunity to read a draft of the script and make comments with a letter that went through my literary agent to Warner Brothers, Wolfgang Petersen (the film’s director) actually.” Although the film was a commercial and critical success, the disclaimer that it was “based on a true story” did little to answer critics who seized on factual errors. Linda herself admits that the romance between Clooney’s and Mastrantonio’s characters shown in the film, never happened in real life. Still, the film managed to capture the thrills and hazards of commercial fishing.

Linda knows those dangers well. “It’s 1,000 miles to the fishing grounds and so we take trips and we unload in Newfoundland,” she says. Being such a long distance from shore means that when bad weather happens, help is rarely on the way quickly.

How bad was the perfect storm, also known as the Halloween Nor’easter of 1991? “It was not the worst weather I’ve seen in my life; people are usually a little disappointed with my answer,” says Linda. “While the film shows George Clooney and [Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio] yelling back and forth, screaming over the radio, that never happened. No one was aware that the Andrea Gail was in any kind of trouble until we couldn’t get them on the radio.”

Linda says she did have the last conversation with Tyne when he asked her about the weather, but there was no indication that the Andrea Gail was in trouble. The following day, conversations about bad weather dominated the radio waves. “These are guys I have fished around all my life who are really accustomed to riding out storms,” she says. “They didn’t say they were scared, but I could tell from their voices, from the things they were saying, that they were frightened.”

After the storm passed, no one had spoken to the Andrea Gail. “That was more scary than the storm,” she says. Without a mayday call, Linda says, the U.S. Coast Guard doesn’t start searching for a boat until it’s five days overdue. “If these guys are really in trouble, what are the chances that they could last eight days?” During the storm, 100-foot seas were recorded. “With a 70-foot boat, whatever happened to the Andrea Gail happened very quickly,” she says. “They went down without a trace.”

Junger’s book and Petersen’s film launched what would become a widespread fascination with commercial fishing and the seas. For three years, Linda appeared on the Discovery Channel’s Swords: Life on the Line. “It’s nice that people are taking an interest in commercial fishing that for years nobody cared about,” she says, singling out the popularity of another Discovery Channel show, The Deadliest Catch. “The Perfect Storm started all that. It snowballed.” And the term, “the perfect storm,” has entered our vocabulary as a way of describing the coming together of circumstances to produce an unexpected result.

Linda keeps a busy speaking schedule talking to young children, high school and college students, as well as adults. “Little kids always want to know what’s the biggest fish I’ve ever caught,” says Linda. For the record: a 635 lb. swordfish. “They want to know about sharks and about storms. They want the drama.” While men inquire about the technical side of fishing, women often ask about being a female working in a male dominated environment. “Gender has not been an issue in my life; I haven’t made it one,” she says.

She often fields questions about the sustainability of swordfish and other species. “Customers want to know where the fish comes from; they want to feel good about what they’re eating,” she says. Circle hooks, used by nearly all the boats Linda’s group is sourcing fish from, have been a valuable tool for keeping fisheries healthy. Circle hooks are rarely swallowed, decreasing the mortality rate. Fish are more likely to ingest a J-hook and come up on the line dead. “There’s nothing you can do with a small fish that’s dead,” Linda explains. “You’re not allowed to have it on the boat. You throw it back and it does nothing for sustainability.”

Being at sea is like “balancing on a giant medicine ball for 30 days,” she says. “I’d be sitting at my mother’s kitchen table for dinner and I’d hold my drink and I would cradle my plate in my arm and shovel the food in,” she says with a laugh. “My mother would say, `let go of the plate; it’s not going to land on the deck. You can have more than five seconds to eat this meal.’” While Linda says she’s not a chef, she enjoys food and cooking. She and her mother, Martha Greenlaw, have collaborated on two cookbooks, most recently, The Maine Summers Cookbook: Recipes for Delicious Sun-Filled Days.

Another habit that sticks with Linda when she hits dry land? Walking down the street, she expects people to pass her on the left. “The rule of the road at sea is that you pass port to port. It really bothers me when people want to pass me on my right side. I will go out in the middle of the street to try to force someone to my port side. It’s habit.”

Photos courtesy of Linda Greenlaw

Click to buy any of the following on Amazon:

Books by Linda Greenlaw
The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain’s Journey, 1999
The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island, 2002
All Fishermen Are Liars: True Tales from the Dry Dock Bar, 2004
Seaworthy: A Swordboat Captain Returns to the Sea, 2010
Lifesaving Lessons: Notes from an Accidental Mother, 2013

Cookbooks with Martha Greenlaw
Recipes from a Very Small Island, 2005
The Maine Summers Cookbook: Recipes for Delicious Sun-Filled Days, 2011

Fiction featuring Detective Jane Bunker
Slipknot, 2007
Fisherman’s Bend, 2008

The Perfect Storm
Sebastian Junger

The Perfect Storm, the film

Hank’s Pasta Bar – Great Italian Food in Old Town 

08/22/2016

Old Town Alexandria is a popular tourist destination. There are peak times – summer and the holidays. But since the Civil War drama Mercy Street has been playing on PBS, the crowds seem even bigger. Residents are often stopped and asked for restaurant recommendations. And while we have many we enjoy, lately we find ourselves telling visitors about Hank’s Pasta Bar.

Old Town already boasts Hank’s Oyster Bar on King Street, as well as three other restaurants in D.C. – Hank’s Dupont, Hank’s on the Hill, and The Twisted Horn. We are longtime fans of Hank’s Oyster Bar which serves some of the best seafood in the area. And now an Italian restaurant with the unlikely name of “Hank’s” has become our go-to place on weekends.

New restaurants often enjoy a honeymoon period after opening, with the crowds either increasing or thinning out soon after. Hank’s Pasta Bar is in the first category. The restaurant has become a neighborhood favorite and is fast becoming a destination. Since neither of Hank’s restaurants in Old Town take reservations, on our first visit we found the wait time would be more than 30 minutes. While there is ample seating in the restaurant, as well as tables in the bar area and the outdoor patio, Hank’s popularity requires some patience from diners. Not wanting to wait, we grabbed a seat at the bar and now we wouldn’t sit anywhere else. The mixologists are expert and efficient, yet always have time to discuss what goes into one of their signature cocktails, recommend an excellent wine, or discuss the menu.

BoardSitting at the bar invites sharing. For starters, the antipasti boards are a good choice. Hank’s offers a nice variety of cured meats including prosciutto di Parma, mortadella, speck, and capicola. For small plates, we’ve enjoyed the grilled baby octopus, marinated white anchovies, and beet salad with red wine vinaigrette and goat cheese.

clamsPasta is the big draw and Hank’s prepares these dishes very, very well. In fact, we believe the chef’s linguini with clams to be among the best we’ve had. (And that takes in some very impressive places in New York and Italy.)

lasagnaBucatini ala carbonara, a dish that often disappoints, never does at Hank’s. We also enjoyed a special pasta one evening, tubular pasta served with vegetables. The lasagna, served in a ramakin, is stick-to-the ribs rich.

pasta tubesAnd that brings up a good point about pasta at Hank’s. The portions are very generous and while it’s tempting, and totally understandable, to devour the entire thing in one sitting, a better strategy is to share the pasta with your partner and then share a main course.

While the pastas get main billing, Hank’s main courses are wonderful. Seafood is always fresh and well prepared. No surprise given the link with Hank’s Oyster Bar. Grilled shellfish is often featured as a special and is not to be passed over. One evening the star was grilled prawns. On another occasion, a mixed seafood grill. And there’s always the fresh catch of the day.

VealOur favorite for meats is the braised veal breast, a dish not often found on menus. Hank’s version is tender and juicy and served with sauteed greens. Side dishes can be enjoyed either with a main course or as an appetizer. Chilled white beans with cheery tomatoes, celery, and shallots are best with some of Hank’s crusty bread.

cheeseFor dessert, Hank’s key lime pie is a winner. (It’s also served at Hank’s Oyster Bar.) For a chocolate fix, try the chocolate budino, layered  with dark chocolate and heavy cream. Rather than sweets, Hank’s also offers a nice selection of cheeses.

If you want to linger, the mixologist will happily run down after dinner drinks, including a limoncello liqueur which can be seen fermenting in bottles on shelves high up on the bar.

Hank’s will take reservations for parties of 6 to 12 people. So gather your friends and plan a visit. You’ll want to return.

Hank’s Pasta Bar
600 Montgomery Street
Alexandria, VA
571-312-4117

Rio Olympics 2016 – Girls Rule!

08/21/2016

Closing ceremonies for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio will be held this evening. Team USA has collected more than 100 medals. While that’s amazing, there’s another statistic we couldn’t help but notice. At the 2012 games in London, American women won 29 gold medals compared to 17 for American men. And, the women are on track to repeat that feat in Rio. On Team USA – girls rule!

We are proud of the athletic dominance exhibited by so many American women, but we are even more impressed by the way they managed other aspects of their Olympic journeys. All that pressure, so many interviews, and, every now and then, encountering situations that might have derailed a more seasoned politician or Hollywood star. Time and again, they said and did the right thing.

Let’s start with Katie Ledecky. The teenage swimming phenom from Bethesda, Maryland, collected five medals – four gold, one silver. She was inspirational. Each time she stressed the importance of working hard and setting goals. At a press conference she said: “I just work hard and try my best every time I step up on those blocks. I’m very goal-oriented. I’ve always set high goals for myself. When I was little I never dreamed of going to the Olympics, but once I did I wanted to do my very best at that level.”

Lily King

Lilly King celebrates winning gold in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke Final  

Teammate Lilly King will go home with two golds, but she also made headlines with her criticism of Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova who was permitted to swim in the Olympics despite two suspensions for doping. While some have come to Efimova’s defense, King shone a light on a controversy that continues to dog the Olympics and other sports. Athletes are right in demanding a level playing field, and King made that clear in her comments.

Madeline Dirado stunned herself by winning four medals in swimming events, including an individual gold for the 200 meter backstroke, while Simone Manuel became the first African-American woman to win an individual gold medal in swimming for the 100 meter freestyle. Other medal winners in the pool included Dana Vollmer and Allison Schmitt.

In track and field, Allyson Felix exhibited grace under pressure. After being denied the gold medal in the 400m when Shaunae Miller from the Bahamas dove across the finish line, Felix refrained from blaming her rival. Miller was within Olympic rules, but the Internet lit up with criticism for how she finished first. For her part, Felix, who still won the silver, took responsibility for the loss. “It wasn’t my best race,” she told reporters. “I felt like it got a little bit away from me.”

Felix chose her moment to fight back in the 4 x 100 relay when she failed to pass the baton to English Gardner after being bumped by a Brazilian runner. After an appeal, the U.S. relay team was allowed to run the heat alone on the track, resulting in the team qualifying for the finals. The Brazilian team was disqualified. And the U.S. went on to win the gold not only in that event, but also in the 4 x 400 relay. Yes!

Kerri Walsh Jennings was class personified, coming back with her teammate April Ross to win the bronze medal in beach volleyball, after the team fell to a dominant Brazilian team to lose the gold. Anyone watching Jennings celebrate the bronze would have thought she had indeed managed a three-peat in gold. Well done!

The trio of Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali, and Kristi Castlin swept the women’s 100m hurdles, the first 1-2-3 win for American women in track and field. And the win marked the first time a country had swept the top three spots in the 100 hurdles. That’s teamwork!

bigstock--143091548

Ibtihaj Muhammad  competes in the women’s individual sabre

Ibtihaj Muhammad became the first American athlete to compete in the Olympics wearing a hijab. She and her three teammates took home the bronze medal for saber fencing. She told CNN: “What I love about my experience here as a minority member of Team USA is that I’m able to encourage other youth to pursue their dreams, to not let other people dictate their journey for them.”

Moms everywhere were thrilled with Kristin Armstrong’s comments after she won gold in cycling. The 43 year-old told a press conference: “I think for so long we’ve been told that we should be finished at a certain age, and I think there are a lot of athletes out there that are showing that that’s actually not true.” Armstrong, who hugged her five year-old following the race, added: “For all the moms out there, I hope this was a very inspiring day.”

And the medals just kept coming. Tianna Bartoletta and Brittney Reese won gold and silver respectively in the women’s long jump. Michelle Carter won gold in the shot put. Helen Maroulis won the first wrestling gold for the U.S. Daliah Muhammad became the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic in the 400m hurdles. Ashley Spencer won the bronze. Gwen Jorgensen won the first American triathlete to won the gold medal. The Women’s Basketball Team obliterated Spain 101-72 to win their sixth gold medal in a row. And the Women’s Water Polo team swam to victory.

A very special mention to Abbey D’Agostino who helped one of her competitors during a collision during the 500m race. With neither of them able to medal, Abbey pulled her runner up and the two of them finished the race together. Sportsmanship worth more than gold.

Biles and Raisman

 Aliya Mustafina of Russia (L), Simone Biles of USA and Aly Raisman of USA during medal ceremony

Then, of course, we have the women’s gymnastic team consisting of Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Laurie Hernandez, Gabby Douglas, and Madison Kocian. The Final Five, as they dubbed themselves in a tribute to their longtime coach Márta Károlyi who is retiring after the Rio games, took home a total of nine medals, the first team to have that many from one Olympics since the USSR in 1972. They won the team gold besting China by a jaw-dropping 8.209 points. Biles collected four gold and one silver, while Rasiman now has a total of six Olympic medals. The women produced so many fantastic moments that TV commentators ran out of superlatives. Biles, especially, seems to defy gravity, particularly when she is airborne in her signature spin, The Biles.

Patriotic fever bubbles up during the Olympics. It’s easy to get misty-eyed listening to the Star-Spangled Banner played as our flag rises and the athletes on the podium try to control their emotions. This time around, many of us watching, at home, in stadiums, in bars, were not only proud to be Americans. We were proud to be women.

Top Photo: Simone Biles of United States competing on the balance beam. 

All photos from Bigstock

Liane Moriarty’s Truly, Madly, Guilty

08/17/2016

“This is a story that begins with a barbecue….An ordinary neighborhood barbecue in an ordinary backyard.”

What happened at that barbecue frames the plot for Liane Moriarty’s bestselling page turner, Truly, Madly, Guilty. With an expert hand, she teases out what actually transpired at the cookout, along the way filling us in on the lives of those who attended with their overlapping and complicated relationships.

Clementine and Erika grew up together, the friendship orchestrated by Clementine’s mother, Pamela. Erika’s father left when she was a child and her mother, Sylvia, fell apart, her penchant for collecting exploding into full blown hoarding. Clementine didn’t always welcome Erika’s presence, resentful that Pamela at times seemed to favor Erika over her own daughter. Truth be told, Pamela related more to Erika’s career as an accountant with regular hours and a steady paycheck, than to Clementine’s as a cellist, with an erratic schedule and constant auditions.

Clementine and Sam have two young daughters, Holly and Ruby, while Erika and her husband, Oliver, are childless. Neither couple boasts a happy marriage. Clementine, preparing for an important audition, feels guilty whenever she takes time to practice. While Sam makes a show of being cooperative, he’s going through his own career crisis and has little sympathy for his wife.

Erika’s complicated relationship with her mother drains her energy, both emotionally and physically. With Sylvia’s “collecting” spilling over onto the front lawn, complaints by neighbors require Erika to visit occasionally to clean up. Oliver is supportive, but often wonders if his wife will follow in the footsteps of her mother.

Vid and Tiffany, who live next door to Erika and Sam, round out the trio of couples. Tiffany is Vid’s second wife and they have a daughter, Dakota, whose nose is constantly buried in a book. While Tiffany now makes money in real estate, she was once a pole dancer and still has the look.

The barbecue was a spur of the moment invitation from Vid. Erika and Oliver had already invited Clementine and Sam over for dinner and Vid eagerly expanded the invitation to include both couples as well as Holly and Ruby. It’s an invitation they will all come to regret.

As she did in one of her previous bestsellers, Big Little Lies, Moriarty alternates between the past and present. In Big Little Lies, the big event was a Trivia Night at a posh school for children. In Truly, Madly, Guilty, it’s the barbecue. With both books, I had the urge to flip forward to discover what crisis impacted the lives of the characters. But Moriarty manages to make the present equally compelling as she carefully adds to each character’s resume.

Moriarty, one of Australia’s most popular writers – her sisters, Jaclyn and Nicola are also novelists – is now an international favorite. Her reputation will continue to grow in 2017 with the release of the HBO miniseries based on Big Little Lies starring Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, and Alexander Skarsgard. Can one on Truly, Madly, Guilty be far behind?

Truly Madly, Guilty
Liane Moriarty

Photo from Bigstock

Daniel Silva’s The Black Widow – Using Fiction for Political Change

07/29/2016

Daniel Silva’s new Gabriel Allon mystery, The Black Widow, is not for the faint of heart. Think we’re safe? Think again. Silva pulls no punches and by the time you’ve read the last page, you may want to rethink those vacation plans or even that restaurant reservation. And if you live in Washington, D.C., the plot will hit (quite literally) very close to home.

Silva has been writing the Gabriel Allon series since 2000 when he first introduced us to the art restorer/secret agent/assassin. Allon’s first wife, Leah, was injured and their son, Daniel, killed in a car bombing. Leah now suffers from severe PTSD and memory loss and Allon visits her often in the care facility where she lives, not far from the Jerusalem limestone apartment building where Allon and his second wife, Chiara, reside with their infant twins, Raphael and Irene.

The Black Widow is Allon’s 16th outing and there are hints that supporting characters will take center stage as Silva moves forward. Allon, tapped to become chief of Israel’s intelligence service, will now be spending more time directing the action rather than being in the middle of it. While Allon fans may be disappointed, those poised to take over – Mikhail Abramov and Dina Sarid, two reliable members of Allon’s team, and Dr. Natalie Mizrahi, a French-born Jew who is also a doctor – are compelling enough that the series will probably not miss a beat.

Before Silva was a novelist, he was a journalist, at one point serving as UPI’s Middle East correspondent, reporting from Cairo. His experience covering that volatile area of the world informs his novels. Silva was born a Catholic but converted to Judaism when he was an adult. Through Allon Silva conveys his affection for the Israeli people and his admiration for the Israeli secret service. Intelligence officers from France, Britain, and the United States, are portrayed as naive, ill-informed, and ill-prepared to face the new world order. In The Black Widow, the West, particularly the U.S., pays dearly for underestimating the enemy.

The Black Widow opens with a vicious attack in Paris that claims the life of one of Allon’s friends, Hannah Weinberg, leader of the Isaac Weinberg Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism in France. The bombing was carried out by Safia Bourihane, an Algerian who was living in Aulnay-sous-Bois, a banlieue north of Paris. After her Tunisian-born boyfriend was killed in a coalition air strike, Bourihane was dubbed the “black widow.” Although she had been under French surveillance as a “ticking time bomb,” the authorities felt she was no longer a threat after she stopped associating with known radicals and even ceased wearing the hijab. “Which is exactly what she was told to do by the man who masterminded the attack,” observed one of the French security officials. That mastermind, known only as Saladin, becomes Allon’s next target.

The real Saladin was a Kurd, born in 1138, who beat back the Christians, slaughtering many of them, to reclaim Jerusalem for the Muslims. The ISIS terrorist who goes by the name of Saladin was born in Iraq and was part of Saddam Hussein’s security force. His mission is now worldwide, striking targets in the West using suicide bombers and armed assassins.

To bring down Saladin, Allon plans to find and train a black widow of his own. Like so many Jews living in France, Natalie and her parents relocated to Israel, fearful of the violence being directed at their community. She needs some convincing to join the “Office,” the nickname given to Allon’s operation, but once she signs on, she convincingly transforms herself into a Palestinian, Leila, who mourns the loss of her husband and seems bent on seeking revenge by killing infidels. Natalie/Leila succeeds in her assignment, infiltrating Saladin’s network. But will her efforts be enough to stop the devastating attack that Allon believes is coming?

Silva’s characters are expertly drawn. Over the course of the series, Allon has suffered huge losses yet remains true to his cause. And while the male figures, even the evil Saladin, are very convincing, it’s the female characters that draw us into the story. We follow Natalie on every step of her dangerous journey, amazed at her courage and fearful for her survival. Allon’s wife, Chiara, is loyal to a fault, understanding her husband better than anyone else.

In Author’s Notes at the end of the book, Silva lays out a compelling case for constant vigilance and a concerted effort to defeat the terrorist group, ISIS. He blames both Republicans and Democrats for the quagmire that has developed in the Middle East – President Bush for invading Iraq and President Obama for failing to leave enough troops in the region. And while he reviews some of the recent attacks in Europe, he ends on a sobering note: “The American homeland, however, is ISIS’s ultimate target.”

The Black Widow
Daniel Silva

Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre  – Laughs When We Desperately Need Them

07/19/2016

Something special and downright hilarious is happening this month at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre. The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre – whose famous alumni include Amy Poehler, Kate McKinnon, Bobby Moynihan, Horatio Sanz, and many more – are taking over the stage through July 31, bringing the group’s special brand of long form improvisation. Each night four incredibly talented performers make it up as they go along, no pre-planning or rehearsal, so each show is entirely unique.

015_press_UCB_How You Die-(ZF-3528-99080-1-029)

Brandon Scott Jones and Connor Ratliff

If your idea of improv is Whose Line is it Anyway?, what UCB does is very different. Rather than short skits, long form improv, pioneered by Del Close in Chicago in the 1980s, has the performers create an entire show. Not only is length a challenge – UCB’s production at Woolly Mammoth runs more than one hour and 30 minutes – but keeping the characters and scenes connected and the laughs coming places huge demands on these comedians. Fortunately, the four now appearing in We Know How You Die!, are up to the challenge.

Improv is a crowd pleaser because the audience has a chance to participate in the fun. The Saturday evening we attended, dozens of hands went up when UCB member – the absolutely amazing Shannon O’Neill – asked, “Who wants to know how they die?” Among those who volunteered, O’Neill asked another question, “Tell us something unique about yourself.” One woman said she had a piece of metal in her pinky finger, the result of an accident. A college student admitted that she met her nursery school teacher at a party and the woman offered to roll her a joint. Still another woman (where were the men that night?!) talked about treating her husband as a “boy toy.”

After conferring with her colleagues, O’Neill invited the woman with the metal in her finger to join them on the stage. The young woman, who explained that she ran a service helping people present themselves better on dating sites, was a virtual treasure trove of information that the performers used well in the improv that followed.

014_press_UCB_How You Die-(ZF-3528-99080-1-028)

Molly Thomas and Connor Ratlif

Besides O’Neill, Connor Ratliff, Brandon Scott Jones, and Molly Thomas, helped to tell the young woman’s story. The four obviously are comfortable working together, and moved in and out of scenes with nary a pause in the action or laughs. Improv not only tests the actors with their mental and verbal skills, but requires a great deal of physical movement. Thomas was brilliant, at one point impersonating the actual dating app being shaken up by O’Neill’s character. And Jones transformed himself into the woman’s dog, named Scruffy. Ratliff stood out for his ability to morph seamlessly from one character into another, many times keeping a straight face despite the absurdity of the situation.

My guess is that true fans will be attending this show more than once while UCB is in residence. Each night is another adventure and another opportunity to laugh out loud. Don’t miss the fun.

Photos courtesy of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Top photo: Shannon O’Neill, Brandon Scott Jones, Connor Ratliff, and Molly Thomas

We Know How You Die!
United Citizens Brigade
Woolly Mammoth Theatre
641 D Street NW
(202) 393-3939

1 12 13 14 15 16 17