Author: michardillo
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My April 2026 Reads!
RUN, don’t walk…to read The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout! Another Strout masterpiece! How I love her writing! So many emotions, such great pacing, beautiful prose, but not pretentious or showy. See my review here. Also, Saoirse by Charleen Hurtubise is such a great book. If you like Irish scenery, characters who have…
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Book Review-The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder: A Novel by C.L. Miller
To use a term often used in antique appraisals, this debut novel comes with quite a provenance, as it was written by the daughter of the late Judith Miller (1951-2023), a regular specialist on the wildly popular BBC Antiques Roadshow. Antiques Roadshow, both the UK version and the American version, is a favorite of mine.…
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Book Review: Saoirse by Charleen Hurtubise
The title of this book, Saoirse, is an Irish name that means freedom. And, in this powerful novel, a US debut for this American writer living and working in Ireland for the last few decades, the main character longs for just that…freedom from her past, from her trauma, from her fears of her past catching…
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Book Review: The Windsor Affair by Melanie Benjamin
There’s almost constant chatter about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but long before there was a Harry and Meghan, there was a David and Wallis. While the severity of what happened during what will forever be known as the Abdication Crisis does not compare to the “spare” and his wife stepping back from royal…
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The Second Mrs. de Winter, to be or not to be?
If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why? As an avid reader my whole life, I have many “favorite books” and the list of the top ten continues to change and evolve over the decades and years of my reading life. The same 2 or 3 titles…
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Book Review: The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Random House (an imprint of Penguin Random House) for the ARC ebook of Elizabeth Strout’s newest book, The Things We Never Say (May 5, 2026, 224 pages). I lobbied hard for an ARC, and thankfully, the literature gods heard my cry, or at least someone at Random…
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Good Friday at the Shrine of St. Jude Catholic Church, Rockville, Maryland
It’s no secret that our pastor, Fr. Paul Lee, is fond of classical music, and he has commented that his favorite instrument is the cello. Over the years that he has been pastor at the Shrine of St. Jude in Rockville, MD, he has hosted several concerts featuring area musicians. This year as part of…
Michelle Blanchard Ardillo 