FRONTReviews > Readers and patrons of the business journal are invited to submit reviews (along with an optional photo) to news@vbFRONT.com. We’ve expanded our reviews to include books, music, art, performances, culinary—with a preference for local productions. Reviews must be original, include the author’s name and location, and should be brief, under 350 words.
Climb every mountain I’ve always had a thing for memoirs about summiting Mount Everest and the world’s highest peaks. I used to read them regularly before I would go back to Colorado (my home for eight years) to tackle another “14er” (14,000 feet high-plus) with a friend. Several were about the ill-fated 1996 Everest expeditions that left a number of people dead (Hollins University alumna Charlotte Fox lived to tell and write about that disaster.) It's dangerous even under the best of conditions. This new one, To The Greatest Heights: Facing Danger, Finding Humility and Climbing a Mountain of Truth (Emily Bestler Books/Simon & Schuster, 2021) by American-British mountaineer Vanessa O’Brien, goes a step further. An apparently very successful career in the finance world left her with a pile of money it seems when things went sideways in 2008, and she set her sights on another goal: climbing the 7 Summits, the highest peak on each continent. O’Brien actually “warmed up” on Everest before scaling the more dangerous K2, in 2017 becoming the first American/British woman to do so, and in a record span of time she summited all 7 peaks. For good measure she went to both the South and North Poles to complete the “Explorers Grand Slam.” O’Brien also went to the lowest point on Earth underwater reached by humans, landing her in the Guinness Book of World Records for a high-low elevation record. Undaunted by setbacks, dedicated to physical training – and salty to boot – O’Brien also ends many chapters of To The Greatest Heights with a revelation
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about how those challenges related to everyday life – and dynamics in the business world. A brisk, pulse-pounding read (did I mention salty?) well worth the time if true tales of adventuring is in your wheelhouse. —Gene Marrano
Lures you in Joshilyn Jackson’s Mother May I (William Morrow, 2021) grabs you from the beginning and doesn’t let go. The book opens as Bree Cabbat thinks she sees a “witch” outside her bedroom window. Bree is a Georgia socialite who grew up poor and married into money. She and her lawyer husband, Trey, have three children: two teenage girls and a surprise baby boy. While at a private school function, Bree turns her back for a moment and baby Robert is kidnapped by the “witch,” that then makes demands of Bree in order for her to get Robert back. When there are unexpected results, Bree finds herself in a legal mess, still without her baby, and doubting everything she thinks she knows about Trey. Will Robert be found safely? What is the connection between Trey and the witch? Twists keep the reader turning the pages as the tension rarely wanes. There are even two climactic moments in the book. Jackson segues seamlessly between past and present narratives to flesh out the story of how one bad decision can have haunting, far-reaching consequences. There are multiple layers in this novel, including issues of #MeToo, social class, and revenge. The fact that Bree identifies
