The Deadwood Beetle - Hardcover

Mylène Dressler was born in The Hague, the Netherlands. Her first novel was The Medusa Tree.

Elderly entomologist Tristan Martens finds his Dutch mother's sewing table in a New York antique shop. The discovery triggers painful memories from the Holocaust, as well as a nascent romance with the store's proprietor. David Darlow's reading is undynamic; this is a good thing because you need to concentrate on what Martens is saying in this highly personal story. Other characters--the conscientious and kind graduate student; his Jewish love, Clara; his Nazi-collaborator father--exist as he sees them. Martens himself sounds world-weary and tormented, though every so often he allows himself to hope. "Beetle" bears hearing more than once for its beautiful prose and many levels of meaning. J.B.G. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine