What is the author's style in A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell?

Mary Doria Rusell's prose, although flowing, can be complicated. She often jumps into a situation that we, as readers, are not allowed to understand until she describes it later. She does a wonderful job of translating Italian and German expressions, and it is not until the Coda that we are reminded that Claudia spoke no English at all. Her writing tends to be succinct, brief sentences with a tremendous amount of dialogue that allows us to know her characters without her having to specifically describe them.