Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com. – Barbara Ellis
‘Go Gentle,’ by Maria Semple (GP Putnam’s Sons, 2026)
Adora Hazzard, former comedy writer, is now the founder of a condo coven and philosopher-nanny to an obscenely rich New York family. If that description sounds unhinged, wait until you read this book. Adora, in her 50s, is divorced with a teenage daughter, and feels no need for romance — so of course love lassos her. So does an international mystery with terrorist connections. Luckily, she can rely on her stoic role models to provide ballast for this rocky adventure. Quick-paced, amusing, touching, this novel is entirely entertaining, as was Semple’s “Where’d You Go, Bernadette?” in 2012. (An Oprah Book Club pick.) — 3 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, Parker
‘Safe Passage: The Untold Story of Diplomatic Intrigue, Betrayal, and the Exchange of American and Japanese Civilians by Sea During World War II,’ by Evelyn Iritani (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2026)
Most World War II books feature heroes and villains. In contrast, Iritani focuses here on two unique groups of victims: Japanese-Americans in the U.S. and American citizens in Japanese-controlled areas in Asia during the war. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, both groups were considered security threats, stripped of their property and incarcerated. Even worse, they were treated as pawns when the U.S. and Japan negotiated to exchange non-military human assets — such repatriations sometimes occurring against the assets’ wishes. Iritani follows the fates of a few individuals and families in these exchanges and highlights a handful of diplomats, following them from pre-1941 to decades later. This history evokes parallels to current events involving immigrant civil rights, incarceration and forced repatriation. If only we could ever learn from history. — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
‘The Director,’ by Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Ross Benjamin (Summit Books, 2026)
“The Director,” by Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Ross Benjamin (Simon & Schuster/Summit Books, 2025)
This latest historical novel by Daniel Kehlmann, prize-winning German novelist and playwright, tells the story of German filmmaker G.W. Pabst, who made movies for the Nazis. Persuaded to return to Germany after a brief respite in Hollywood, Pabst finds his country taken over by people who were previously ignored or laughed at, people in high places with no qualifications, doing as they please. I was not surprised to learn that Kehlmann was influenced by American filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, as this novel displays a macabre humor in which realism can turn into little orchestrated vignettes of surrealistic nightmare. What makes this use of surrealism so powerful is the fact that Hitler’s coming to power (and what he did with that power) was surreal enough in itself. The novel includes cameo appearances by Greta Garbo, Louise Brooks, Leni Riefenstahl and Josef Goebbels. (Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, Washington Post Notable Books, and New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2025.) — 3½ stars (out of 4); Michelle Nelson, Littleton
‘Salvation,’ by C. William Langfeld (Counterpoint, 2026)
Set in an unnamed Colorado mountain area, this novel shows how intergenerational violence often leads to just more violence, killing more than friendship and family ties. Hope becomes a lost cause for many of the characters. Much of the dialogue is in the realistically gruff, sparse cadence of rugged individuals, punctuated by shrugs and jarringly interspersed with unexpected discussions on the afterlife or the value of forgiveness, lending a surprising depth to these often inarticulate characters. While one character demands in vain for his right to salvation, true salvation is surprisingly delivered to the most unassuming character of all. — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
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