An Amazon Best Book of the Month, June 2014: If I tell you that Euphoria is a novel loosely based on the life of the anthropologist Margaret Mead, your eyes will start to glaze over. Well, they shouldnâ??t--not when the novel is as wonderful as this one. Its both romantic and intelligent, a combination you donâ??t need to be a scientist to know doesnâ??t appear often in nature. Mead, a controversial character in real life, is here transmuted into the equally complex (and somewhat sickly) Nell Stone, who has made a reputation for herself by studying native tribes in New Guinea. Her husband, also an anthropologist, is more jealous than dutiful, although he does manage to make her feel inadequate for failing to produce a baby. Enter a charming-but-tortured third anthropologist, who at times seems to be unsure to which of his new friends heâ??s more attracted. Sparks of the emotional and sexual kind fly, but whatâ??s even more interesting is the portrait of a growing friendship based at least partly on philosophy and attitudes toward â??primitiveâ?? cultures. You know from the beginning that some bad things are going to happen, but it is to Kingâ??s great credit (and the fact that she changes some of the events in Meadâ??s life) that you canâ??t really guess what they are. This is the best kind of historical novel--the kind that sent me running to read more about its real-life inspiration. --Sara Nelson

Suggested by Members

Recommended to book clubs by 7 of 7 members.