Friday, May 26, 2017

BOOK REVIEW: Frozen Voices by Lynne Heinzmann - BONUS RECIPE: Pan Seared Scallops with Wild Mushrooms

This is a crisp and readable novelization of the steamship Larchmont disaster, which claimed the lives of 137 people off the Rhode Island coast in February 1907.

The best historical fiction often simultaneously relates little-known or forgotten events while breathing life into the people affected by them. Frozen Voices is in this category, despite its occasional lack of dimensionality. Heinzmann’s cast of historical characters, while small in number, all speak in a closely similar inner narrative voice. Her rendition of spoken dialog is better, if a little stereotypical in spots, and conveys the Yiddishisms of young seamstress Sadie Golub alongside the Swedish smatterings of Anna Jenson, an older and more well-to-do immigrant to the U.S.

Locksmith’s apprentice and aspiring magician Millard Franklin is among the livelier personae, despite a certain “gee whiz” enthusiasm which may appeal more to a YA reading audience. Perhaps her most fascinating character, the magician Harry Houdini plays a relatively minor but pivotal plot role as Millard’s prospective employer.

Realism asserts itself, however, in the tragic and dismal climax, and the starry-eyed quality of the story’s beginnings serves as a stark contrast to this poorly understood event. Contrast is the book’s strongest suit. Well worth reading.

Review first published in The Historical Novel Review


BONUS RECIPE

Pan Seared Scallops with Wild Mushrooms

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. sea scallops
2 cups raw assorted mushrooms (cremini, straw, shitaki - mix it up as you like)
2 cups butternut squash puree, (peel, cube and steam squash till soft and process with salt and white pepper to taste)
1/4 cup toasted pepitos
Dash balsamic vinegar
Dash extra virgin olive oil

Sear scallops over high heat with a dash of olive oil until brown and  just cooked through.
Remove from pan and add another dash of oil and the mushrooms. Lower heat to medium and cook mushrooms until almost dry (about 15 mins). Deglaze with vinegar. Plate scallops over pureed squash, top with mushrooms and garnish with pepitos.  Serve immediately.