Book Review: Theft

By Sandy Amazeen Feb 25, 2008, 21:11 GMT

Following The Blue Taxi, Koenings offers five novellas that explore personal growth, the depths of love, loss and relationships beginning with the rather slow “Pearls to Swine” that finds a well-to-do woman entertaining visions of opening her gracious home to a couple of wayward young ladies. She sees herself has being a mentor and confidant but the reality turns out very different yet even this fails to shake her self image. “Wondrous Strange” set in 1992 delights readers with an unusual séance the channels a set of instructions to a woman caring for her ailing husband from a helpful Djinn, an African spirit. As a result of that séance and the ceremony it spelled out, three women discover much about themselves. The lives of Lucy, an incredibly naïve African tourist from Philadelphia and Ezra, a savvy ticket boy become entwined in “Theft” when the bus they share is hijacked. Even suspecting how the stories end, Koenings’s sensitive writing style and unusual settings will enthrall readers as they watch these finely developed characters cope with life’s challenges.