books

THE TRANSFORMATION OF BARTHOLOMEW FORTUNO

by Ellen Bryson (Henry Holt and Co., 352 pages, $25)

The characters in this amazing debut novel are freaks -- literally -- and they are charming. They are the "curiosities" who performed in P.T. Barnum's American Museum in 1865. Bartholomew, the world's thinnest man, tells the story of his very contented life performing for the guests of the New York museum. He enjoys the company of Matina, the world's fattest woman, and takes pride in what he sees as his gift. "Don't be afraid of what you see," he tells his audience. "This ... is what we're all made of." Life changes for Barthy the day a new act arrives at the museum. He finds himself smitten with Iell Adams, the bearded lady, and is ensnared by the mystery surrounding her. Turns out Barnum is also smitten with Iell, and he takes Barthy into his confidence, sending him on errands to fetch items for the mysterious and alluring Iell. The secrets Barthy uncovers about Iell and Barnum and his sudden recall of events in his own past lead him to a new self-awareness and ultimately a transformation. One thing he learns is to not take himself too seriously. As another performer tells him, "In the end, most things are funny, Fortuno, and thank God for that."

JUDY ROMANOWICH SMITH, NEWS DESIGNER

Three Stations: An Arkady Renko Novel

By Martin Cruz Smith (Simon & Schuster, 243 pages, $25.99)

Tourist maps call it Komsomol Square, but Muscovites call it Three Stations for the major national railroad terminuses, not to mention the two metro stops. By day, the area is swamped with commuters and passengers arriving from all over Russia; by night, it is a neglected ring of Dante's "Inferno" -- a seething caldron of whores, hustlers, drunks, schemers, psychos, grifters, madmen and the ubiquitous homeless. Into this netherworld comes a barely teenage girl, fleeing the provinces and child prostitution, whose infant has been stolen while she slept on an overnight train. Fearful of the corrupt police, and the killers who are tracking her, the girl seeks to find the child by herself, an absurd idea that lands her in a whole new world of hurt. Meanwhile, the redoubtable Chief Inspector Arkady Renko and his alcoholic partner have discovered the body of an elegant young woman dressed (partly, but oddly demurely) as a hooker in the bowels of one of the Three Stations. There isn't a mark on her, no needle tracks, no apparent cause of death. How Martin Cruz Smith, whose previous novels, among them "Gorky Park" and "Stalin's Ghost," wraps these two seemingly divergent stories into a satisfying, convincing whole is just one of the rewards of this immensely entertaining thriller. Here is Moscow, bingeing on capitalism, greed and lust, as we've rarely seen it, and the image is unsettling. The rich and famous rub elbows with the down-and-out and infamous in this superb performance that only Smith, with his pitch-perfect understanding of Russia's seamy underbelly, could pull off. Don't miss it!

MICHAEL J. BONAFIELD, FREELANCE WRITER