EXILES IN THE GARDEN is a mesmerizing character study. At the center is Alec Malone, a professional photographer, son of a senator from Illinois, married to a Swiss beauty, Lucia. Because of the choices they have made, like their foreign expat Georgetown neighbors, Alec and Lucia are both 'exiles.' This is a novel of family, marital infidelity, and political and personal intrigue. The story stretches from the Vietnam era to the present day, with multiple flashbacks, as Alec, at seventy, waits for his ailing father to die and ponders his life, his marriage and his checkered career. We also meet Lucia's long-lost father, Andre, a resistance fighter during the war, who spent time afterward in both German camps and a Russian gulag.

Just knows Washington, and he also knows how to create some of the most believable characters in modern fiction. If this 2009 novel has any faults, it's that there is very little action or forward momentum. The story moves back and forth in time, but in the end it must live and die by its characters. Mostly it lives, although it moves rather slowly at times. No fear, though, Mr. Just. I'm still a devoted fan. I've read several of Just's books now, and this one is a keeper. Highly recommended. (four and a half stars)

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER ( )

I don't like to read reviews that give away too much about the story or anything else about a book before I'm able to read it once for myself. Then, after I ponder it while, I like to read critics and get their insights about all the details. The reviews I'm inclined to write are the ones that say that I like it or don't without giving too much away-- a teaser rather than any real analysis. It will be hard, however, to even do that with this novel without revealing something.

I read Exiles in just a couple of sittings. It isn't long and, being a long-time Washingtonian, I was veryengrossed in his descriptions of DC lifestyles in the years before I arrived. The main character, Alec, is a fairly well-known photojournalist and son of a very well known imaginary senator. There are real characters interspersed throughout the story -- real characters with their real names and then real characters that are perhaps composites with fake names but still identifiable. It takes place over about 50 years but skips ahead in several spots. The other characters, Alec's wife, Lucia' and his Georgetown neighbors are "exiles" from Europe. Having moved to the U.S. after WWII, they remain a tight circle. The early part of this story is vivid and luminous with youthfulness and hope. The second half of the book is more a reflection on those times the ones that immediately follow but 30 years in the future. This part is more melancholy. A reflection on life choices, on family -- all beautifully written and thought-provoking. The aging parent, the grown child, all are revisiting the joys and disappointments - some at the end of life and considering what comprises a life well-lived.

I would have liked for this story to have been longer. Skipping ahead all of those years was disappointing as I was enjoying the story. This may be, however, what made it so thought provoking and haunting in the end. A sense of something missed. In short, I do recommend this book and hope that more people read Ward Just. He was a correspondent for The Washington Post in the 60s and so writes a great deal about DC but not exclusively. I read An Unfinished Season not too long ago, which takes place in Chicago -- this I also highly recommend. He is a great writer that, surprisingly, is still just being discovered. ( )

Well written study of people marked or haunted by their past. I did think the ending was appropriate but the details were confusing. ( )

Elegant description over many years of individuals caught up in the political Washington ( )