The Magician by Colm Toibin

 

This is Colm Toibin's novelization of the life of Thomas Mann, one of Germany's foremost authors.  He came from a conservative family and his older brother, Heinrich, was the favorite.  Heinrich decided to become an author and the family supported him in this but they had decided that Thomas should be in business and found him a job as a clerk.  He hated this as he knew he wanted to write and while visiting Heinrich, wrote his first successful novel, A Death In Venice.  He never went back to an office to work again.

He met and married the daughter of a wealthy and influential Jewish family.  The couple had six children but his wife understood that Thomas had homosexual desires and would always have crushes on beautiful young men.  She was able to handle this and the couple had a long and successful marriage.

Mann grew up as Hitler was becoming more influential in Germany.  Many authors and artists came out against him early and Mann was encouraged to lead his support to this battle.  But he believed early that Hitler would be ousted by the desires of the German people who would see through him, then later he believed that the military would end Hitler's influence.  It wasn't until he began to see actions against those he loved and admired that he took the dictator seriously.

With the help of those high in the United States government and publishing circles, Mann was able to come to the United States where he took a position at Princeton.  By then, he had written Buddenbrooks and The Magic Mountain and was considered one of the most influential Germans.  He was able to get all his children and most of his family out of Germany although his wife's relatives lost everything and the Mann's family home was destroyed.  Mann and his family would never again live in Germany as Mann believed the German people were complicit in the Nazi regime.

Colm Toibin is a successful Irish writer.  In addition to this novelization of Thomas Mann's life, he also wrote The Master about Henry James.  His novels have been nominated numerous times for the Booker and he has also been a regular on the Dublin Literary Award lists.  Like Mann, Toibin now lives in the United States where he writes and teaches at Columbia.  Readers will feel the slow influence of the Nazis rising and how it eventually affected all German families and then the entire world.  They will also be inside the life of a famous author with all the outside pulls on his attention from those who want his influence.  I was once again inspired to finally read The Magic Mountain and hopefully will do so this year.  This book is recommended for historical and literary fiction readers.  

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

 

Six astronauts are on one of the last space station missions, circling the Earth and studying it.  There are women and men and they come from Italy, America, Japan, Russia and Britain.  The reader rides with them for sixteen sunrises and sunsets as they circle the Earth.  A huge typhoon is occurring on the surface and as they make their revolutions, they can track its progress.

The reader sees the routine of their daily life on board.  They exercise, eat prepackaged food, perform maintenance tasks, sleep.  They form friendships with those aboard and worry about those they have left behind.  They are in awe as they watch the beauty of the universe and view another mission that is traveling further than they are.  They long for home and the end of their mission while also not wanting it to be over.

This novel was the 2024 Booker winner.  I've been on a Samantha Harvey reading journey lately and she is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors.  Her forte is description, taking the reader immediately into the locations she writes about and this novel is no different.  One can imagine the wonder and the fear of being an astronaut and worry about the future of the planet as they do.  She wrote this novel during the Covid shutdown while she was confined to her home as the astronauts are confined to their ship.  This novel is recommended for literary fiction readeres.  

Coyote Hills by Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman

 

Clay Edison has left the coroner's office after years of working there.  As his last years had been full of investigations into suspicious deaths, he decides to become a full time private investigator.  A friend of his, Regina Klein, calls him and suggests a case for him with overtones that his expertise could unravel.  

Adam Valois was the son of a wealthy Hollywood Hills couple, their only child.  He was found drowned and the death was ruled an accident but the parents are sure there is more to it than that.  His girlfriend is also sure that something bad happened to Adam.  Clay reads the coroner's report and finds Adam had drugs in his system and a head injury.  Is that enough to change accident to murder?  

Clay agrees to look into the case and talks with former friends in the coroner's office, police who are less than thrilled that he is questioning the cause of death and Adam's friends.  He and Gina start to be more suspicious and when they discover another death that has all the same markings, it starts to look like there is definitely something wrong.  Can they solve the murder?

I've been reading the Clay Edison series since the start.  The father and son duo writing the series, Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman, seem to work together seamlessly and I love the character of Clay.  He is never quick to agree things are not what they seem and he requires real proof before taking on a case.  I think he will be even more interesting as a private investigator than as an employee in the coroner's office.  This is the sixth novel in the series and I can't wait for the seventh.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

 

The Salt family are the caretakers of Shearwater, a remote island not far from Antarctica.  Dominic Salt is the father, a widower who came to the island when his wife died giving birth to their youngest, Orly.  Raff is the oldest brother, fascinated by whales, Fern is the daughter who loves the sea and the seals and sea lions that inhabit the island.  Along with the thousands of animals, there is a seed depository in case the world ever needs to replant everything and scientists who work on the seeds, the weather and the animals.  But the scientists are gone and the family will be also when the next supply ship comes.  Shearwater Island is slowly being eroded and soon won't exist anymore.

One night during a storm, Fern is down by the shoreline and discovers a woman in the surf.  The woman, Rowan, has been cut severely and is unconscious, but Fern and the rest of the family rescue her.  They have limited medical supplies but patch her up as best they can.  Dominic doesn't expect her to survive but she does and slowly starts to recuperate.  It turns out that she is the wife of one of the last scientists who had sent her a message asking for help.  Although their marriage is struggling, Rowan takes off to do what she can to help her husband, who is the last person she can imagine asking for help.

But he's not there the family tells her.  There are secrets being hidden, both by Rowan and by each member of the Salt family.  A strong feeling springs up between Dominic and Rowan and she gets close to each of the three children as well.  Things are getting worse on the island by the day and the buildings start to flood.  Can they hold out until the ship comes to rescue them?

Charlotte McConaghy is an Australian author whose books all have an environmental theme and talk about the relationship between people and animals and between people and the world if it is to survive.  The novel is currently nominated for the Women's Prize In Fiction.  I listened to this novel and all the narrators did an excellent job.  The tension builds and builds to a satisfying climax where all the secrets are revealed and there is hope for the future.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.  

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

 

This is the story of Rosemary Cooke's life.  She grew up with a psychologist father, a mother, a brother Lowell and Fern.  Fern was a chimpanzee but until Rosemary was five, she considered Fern as her sister.  They were raised together since they were three months old as an experiment her father was running for his university.  

But when Rosemary was five, things abruptly changed.  Fern was sent away after several incidents indicated she might be getting violent and difficult to control.  She was sent away while the children were gone, ripped from their lives, leaving them to wonder if love was always conditional and if they would be facing the same fate themselves.  Lowell, who was a teenager, left soon after, unable to reconcile himself to the decision.  Rosemary spent her life chasing after that closeness she had encountered with Fern.

Karen Joy Fowler is an American author whose work is in the fields of literary fiction but also fantasy.  Two of her seven novels have been longlisted for the Booker Prize.  In this novel, she makes the reader think about human relationships with animals and whether the current frenzy of over familiarizing animals is in the best interest of either animals or humans.  She also brings up the subject of animal cruelty such as the lab experiments and the way animals are raised for consumption by humans.  There is much for the reader to think about in the novel about the proper relationship between animals and humans.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.   

 

Hold Tight by Harlan Corben

 

Mike and Tia Baye are horrified when their sixteen-year-old son, Adam, disappears.  They have noticed that he is getting more remote since the death of his good friend but they thought he was doing better.  But he found out that they were tracking his phone and computer and now he doesn't trust them.  In the meantime, their daughter Jill had secrets of her own that she was hiding from her parents and that they never even suspected as she was so young.  She and the next door neighbor's daughter are friends and together they discover secrets that can save or end their lives.

Harlan Coben is known for his mysteries.  There are lots of threads in this one and although they seem unrelated, they all come together in the end.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

Evelyn Hugo was born in poverty in Hells Kitchen, the daughter of  Cuban immigrants.  Her mother died young and her father was an alcoholic.  Evelyn was determined that she would find a way to get out of there and have a better life.  Luckily, she was born stunningly beautiful with a gorgeous figure.  She found a way to get to Hollywood and the rest was history.

Monique is a journalist but she's not able to write the kind of in-depth stories she wants to.  She took the hit for a prematurely released story that turned out to have errors in it and she now works for a startup.  No one is more surprised than her when Evelyn reaches out to the magazine and offers a feature story but only if Monique is the person who writes it.  Why would someone as famous as Evelyn Hugo have heard or her and want her as an author?

But it's way too good a story to pass up and off she goes.  Evelyn is now aging although still beautiful.  When Monique gets to her apartment, Evelyn tells her that she is there under false pretenses and really Evelyn wants Monique to write her life story.  That's the kind of coup that makes a career for life.

Evelyn was hotly pursued from the moment she hit Hollywood.  Producers and actors and directors all wanted to bed her and her best friends are Harry Cameron a director and Celia St. James.  She loves her first husband, Don Adler, but he turns out to be a wife abuser and a cheat.  She goes on to marry other men but most are for publicity or her career.  Her most successful marriage is with Harry and they have a child.  But her longest relationship and her biggest secret is with Celia, as Evelyn is bisexual.  Monique goes home most days with her head reeling.  She knows there is a reason Evelyn picked her but it isn't evident yet.  Will she find out?

Taylor Jenkins Reid is an American author who started out in romance writing.  This was her fifth book and it exploded on the charts, giving her visibility.  Since then, she has had one hit after another and it now one of the most successful women's fiction authors.   I didn't expect to like this one, but I really did.  It was a fascinating story to read about Evelyn's life and her journey through relationships to find her one true love and there was a final twist that I didn't see coming.  This book is recommended for women's fiction readers.  

A Descent Into Hell by Kathryn Casey

 

When Jennifer Cave's family couldn't get in touch with her in Austin, Texas, they started to worry.  Jennifer had had some tough teenage years and battles with drugs but she never lost her caring for others and her sunny nature.  She seemed to be getting on the right track and had just landed a new job that she was excited about.  But no matter how many times or who called, there was no answer and her friends there didn't know where she was.

Colton Pitonyak was the exact opposite.  He had some from a wealthy family and had been the shining boy in high school.  Always at the top of his class and even an alter boy for many years.  But when he and Jennifer met, things went badly.

By that time, Colton had changed quite a bit.  He was heavily dealing and using drugs and barely had a rein on a horrific temper.  He wanted a relationship with Jennifer but she had him firmly in the friend zone.  Did he have something to do with Jennifer's disappearance?

Kathryn Casey is one of the stellar names in the true crime genre.  She always does a ton of research and her ability to relate to those caught up in violence and grief is another strong point.  Everyone told Jennifer not to continue her relationship with Colton but she was too caring to drop a friendship of someone in trouble.  This book is recommended for true crime readers.  

Discipline by Larissa Pham

 

Christine always thought she would be an artist.  She went to college to study art and when a professor encouraged her to apply to a master's program, she did that as well.  Her work was getting lots of praise, especially from that older professor who headed up the program.  Christine even won the annual prize for best student work.  But when the professor puts her in a me-too situation, she loses all her confidence, sure now that she doesn't have talent but that the older artist just encouraged her to gain access to her and her body.  She quit the program shortly thereafter.

Instead, Christine became a writer and her debut novel has just come out.  While it has garnered positive reviews, it has also come out at the end of her current relationship.  Both to promote the novel and to flee her memories of her heartbreak, she goes on tour.  While she is on tour, she gets an email from the older artist.  It says only, 'That's not how I remember it."

Reeling from this unexpected communication, Christine realizes that she will never be free to pursue her career goals until she faces the artist and discusses the damage he did to her.  He is now practically a recluse, living on a small island where she goes for the confrontation.  Will he take ownership?

Like Christine, this is Larissa Pham's debut novel.  Also like Christine, Pham studied art in her university career, then later went back and got a master's in writing.  Both women are Asian-American and how that affects their lives is explored in the novel.  But the central theme is the sway that men with influence can have on young women, how they can instill confidence and mentor them, or pick them out of a crowd only to fulfill their own sexual fantasies.  How women should handle this imbalance of power and the long-lasting damage it can do is a trending conversation in the past few years and Pham does an interesting job resolving Christine's issues.  This book is recommended for literary and women's fiction readers.  

Women Of A Promiscuous Nature by Donna Everhart

 

This historical fiction novel is set in Kinston, North Carolina, right before World War II.  During World War I, the leaders of the military found that they were sometimes short of men before a big battle due to the men needing treatment for venereal diseases.  Moreover, they determined that most had become infected at home before they joined or on leaves.  Now, with things heating up towards World War II, those military leaders put pressure on other areas of government to do something.  What they decided to do was create hospitals/prisons for women who were suspected of being promiscuous.

How did you get there?  It was a good place to put prostitutes.  Men with wives they were tired of or who were unruly put them there.  Anyone could call the sheriff and report a woman so there was lots of payback and disappointed suitors.  Girls who got pregnant at an early age, whether from incest or just fooling around with boys, were not only incarcerated but given abortions and often hysterectomies so that they could never have a child.

Ruth had never exchanged more than a kiss with a date.  But one day on her way to work, the local sheriff insisted she accompany him and soon Ruth was at the State Industrial Farm Colony For Women.  Women were first put in isolation in a dank cell with cut rations that were unfit for human consumption.  Then they were given work assignments but could be put back in isolation or physically disciplined if they didn't follow the rules or weren't producing at their jobs.  Stella was there after her father impregnated her and didn't know enough to realize that she would never be pregnant again.  Frances had mental issues.  Some were there due to mean husbands or because they had the gall to run a business independently.  Regardless, they were kept until they 'learned their place.'

Those in charge were a mix but none had the women's best interests at heart.  Some were sadistic and enjoyed their positions of power, handing out demerits and punishments right and left.  Others believed in the mission and couldn't see that the reality was that most of these women had done nothing more than offend someone somewhere.  The woman in charge had come from another institution which had burned down and she and her second in command were in a battle for power and position.  

Donna Everhart is a North Carolina native and she writes women's novels usually located in the South. I live in North Carolina but had never heard of this facility and what took place there.  It was another control mechanism for women in a time when women could be ripped from their homes and families if they offended husbands, bosses, or men who desired them.  What these women went through was horrendous and it happened in many other states as well, another blot on the nation's history.  This book is recommended for readers of women's history and those interested in the mechanisms used to control women.  

Lanny by Max Porter

 

This novel is set in a small village in England.  Most of the inhabitants have lived there forever as have their families for generations but a new family moves there from London.  There are the parents and their son, Lanny.  Lanny is seen as a bit strange.  He roams the village, talking to everyone, and spends a lot of time exploring the forest that surrounds the village.

As in many rural communities, there are whispers of old nightmares and strange creatures.  In this village, it is Dead Papa Toothwart.  He is described as leaf-like but tall and strong and not friendly to humans.  No one claims to really believe in him, but they make sure not to spend too much time in the woods.  Except for Lanny.

One day Lanny goes missing.  HIs parents and the police mount a massive search but he can't be found.  Did Dead Papa get him?  Did Lanny run away although he's pretty young for that.  Was he kidnapped?  The search goes on and on but Lanny isn't found.

Max Porter is an English author whose work has won many awards.  This was his second novel and was longlisted for the Booker Prize.  I listened to this novel and can highly recommend it as an audiobook.  Much of the dialogue is a rush of voices as the villagers talk about Lanny and the search and what they think happened as well as talk about the old man artist Lanny was taking art lessons from.  The interplay and rush of voices added so much to the novel that I can't imagine it would be as effective in print.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

Her Daughter by Fran Hawthorne

 

Alice Wilson hasn't seen her daughter, Esme, for six long years.  She and Dan had had a vicious divorce and Dan remarried and had two more children with his new wife.  Alice and Dan had shared custody but as Esme got into high school, the mother and daughter started to clash about rules and expectations.  Soon Esme was asking for more time with Dan and then after a big blowup, she moved in with him permanently.  Alice didn't see her for her last year of high school or during college and isn't sure where Esme is living now.  She has even hired private investigators but if they find Esme, she moves on as soon as Alice tries to make contact.

Then Dan calls her out of the blue and tells her that Esme has been arrested with a man, Robert for breaking and entering.  Alice is heartbroken and starts looking for Esme again, knowing that the two will have to stay put until the court case is done.  Alice manages to make contact with Robert, who is Esme's partner and she likes him and thinks he could be good for Esme.  But can he convince Esme to see Alice?

Fran Hawthorne started her author career as a journalist who specialized in nonfiction, winning several awards.  This is her third novel and she writes movingly about the pain of separation from a loved child.  This is a widespread issue with the divorce rate being as high as it is.  Children, especially teenagers, often gravitate towards the household where they think there will be no rules and they can do what they want.  I can relate to this as it is happening in my own family and the agony of losing contact and watching holidays and special occasions occur without contact and just the everyday pain of not being able to see your child and know that they are well and happy is brutal.  Hawthorne is sensitive to the parents' pain and gives hope that one day things may change.  This book is recommended for readers of women's fiction and anyone facing this situation.  

10:04 by Ben Lerner

 

This novel is written as a look into the author's life in New York City in his early thirties.  Is it autobiographical or totally imagined?  The protagonist is also an author whose early work was praised and who has a huge advance to write another novel, something he doesn't know if he is ready to do.  

He has issues.  He has been diagnosed with a weak aorta which could burst at any point.  His best friend, a woman, wants his help to get pregnant and if he does, he can choose if he wants to be involved after the birth.  He is sleeping with another woman and it's unclear if he shares his attempt to get his friend pregnant with IVF with her.  He has to get a tooth extracted and he's not sure if he should go for the drugs that put him out entirely or if he should try to go it with regular numbing.  

This was an interesting take on life in New York as an artist.  Lerner started his work life as a poet and was quite successful in that field.  His move to novels has also been greeted with success.  I found this life of a young professional in the city fascinating.  Everyone seems to have multiple appointments every day, meeting with friends, having an assignation with a lover then taking off to hang out with other people.  There are hints of the big money fueling the city with descriptions of luxurious meals and amazing apartments lived in by other people.  The author in the book is so generous with his friends, planning to pay dental costs for his friend and if she becomes pregnant (by IVF treatments he is paying for) to support her and the child.  But at the same time, he puts off work, he is a hypochondriac and can't seem to make decisions about his own love life.  Lerner has won both a MacArthur and a Guggenheim Fellowship and his books have been nominated for literary prizes such as the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.   

All The Living And The Dead by Hayley Campbell

 

In this nonfiction book, author Kayley Campbell set out to interview individuals in the death industry to better understand death and its place in society.  She did an exhaustive job.  She interviewed those who prepare the body, those who retrieve bodies or parts of them from natural disasters, embalmers, those who perform autopsies, those who dig the graves and those whose work is cremating bodies. She explored the activity of donating one's body and interviewed those who receive such bodies and prepare them to train medical students.   She interviewed those who clean after death leaves a horrid scene as in after murders, suicides or just bodies undiscovered for a while.  A man who is the only person in England making death masks is here.  She also interviews those who work with women who will be delivering stillborn babies and she even interviewed the man who performed most of the executions in Virginia for quite a while, performing that job for over sixty deaths.  

Hayley Campbell is a British author and journalist and she was also the narrator of this book.  I can't remember when I was as entranced with a nonfiction book.  Campbell writes that she, at the end of her work, both understood death better and lost most of the fear associated with it.  She found herself more patient in her everyday life and kinder.  Death in its reality is hidden from those grieving mostly and she feels that most people are stronger then one might think and that seeing their dead helps in the acceptance of it.  I listened to this book and Campbell was an excellent narrator, her English accent somehow adding to the words she was reading.  This book is highly recommended for nonfiction readers and those facing the reality of death.

The Dead Lie Down by Sophie Hannah

 

Ruth Bussey and Aidan See are a new couple, maybe six months into their relationship.  But they are both keeping secrets and those secrets may do them in.  Ruth came to work for Aidan in his frame shop and they are both still there.  She left her first framing job when an artist, Mary Trelease, attacked her and made it impossible for her to remain.

Now Aidan has told her something that is unbelievable.  He says that he killed a woman years ago and that woman was Mary Trelease.  Of course he doesn't know Ruth's history with the woman who she knows is very much alive.  But once she insists to him that he is wrong, Aidan clams up and won't discuss it any more.

What can Ruth do?  She decides that she will go to the police, specifically Charlie Zeiler whose own scandal and reputation killer had been publicized everywhere a year ago.  She meets with Charlie and Aidan also comes to the police separately and talks with Simon Waterhouse.  Now both police are drawn into the mystery of how a man could kill a woman who is very much alive.  Can they solve the mystery?

This is the fourth Zailer/Waterhouse mystery.  The two have finally admitted that they are in love and are actually engaged although no one believes that they will actually get married or if they do, that the marriage will last.  Charlie has transferred out of the major crimes division after her exposure a year ago and now does community policing.  But she is drawn into the mystery and the chance to work with Simon again.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman

 

Jake Bergamont is a good kid.  He is a teenager, attending a private school in New York City where his father works at a university.  He has managed to make friends with a group of guys quickly and his social life depends on what the group decides to do.

One night they go to a party at the home of a younger girl (thirteen to their fifteen) whose parents are out of town.  This girl is from an extremely wealthy family but the parents spend their time traveling and on the social circuit so their daughter is raised by servants and mostly she is unsupervised.  She comes on to Jake at the party but he is not interested.

When he gets home, he finds a text on his phone from the girl.  She has made a nude video of herself performing sexual acts in her bedroom.  Jake is shocked and not sure what to do, while of course, being a teenage boy, somewhat excited.  His own father works long hours and isn't there much to guide Jake and he can't imagine discussing this with his mother  He sends the video to his best friend to ask what to do.

But by the time Jake goes to school Monday, the video has gone viral.  One friend sent to another, then another, then a group, then a website.  Now the girl is known throughout the school and her parents are threatening to sue.  Jake and his best friend are suspended from school, although all these acts happened outside school hours and territory.  Now his family has to decide what their next steps will be.

Helen Schulman is an American author and lives and works in New York.  This book received mention as a Notable Book by the New York Review in 2011.  It does seem a bit dated now as teenagers and even those younger know more about how photographs and movies can go viral and that they need to be careful what they post and send people they consider friends.  The family dynamic is first that Jake needs consequences but as time goes by and the parents start to realize the far-reaching implications and all the effects Jake may suffer, they start to stand behind him by hiring a lawyer and protecting their own child at the expense of the girl.  Parents will emphasize as they have probably been fighting the battle of the Web with their own children and will question how far they would go to protect their own child.  This book is recommended for readers of women's and literary fiction.

The Last Karankawas by Kimberly Garza

 

Galveston, Texas, is an island and port city of around fifty thousand.  While many of those there are tourists, the residents tend to be Filipino and Mexican.  There is a community where these residents tend to live called Fish Village.  Many of the residents work fishing or nursing or service jobs.  Some believe they are descended from the Karankawas, the Native American tribe that settled the area and lived there.

This novel is a set of interlaced stories about the residents of Fish Village at the time that Hurricane Ike was approaching.  Set on the Gulf Coast, Galveston is a prime target.  Each resident has to decide if they will stay and try to ride out the storm or evacuate. 

Not all the residents are Filipino or Mexican.  One character is a man who came there after he returns from an overseas tour in the military.  He is not ready to take up his life before war again and finds work on the fishing boats.  Carly is perhaps the main character, a girl in her teens who wants to get out of Galveston but also feels the pull of the only home she knows.  Her grandmother insists that they are descended from the Karankawa tribe.  Carly's boyfriend is Jess, who is a star shortstop and may get a college scholarship to play at that level but in the meantime he fishes.  There are two Filipino cousins who are both nurses.  One gets a work visa and comes to Galveston.  When he disappears, his Filipino cousin comes undocumented to search for him. 

Kimberly Garza is a native Texan who was born and raised in Galveston and her familiarity with the locale is evident.  This is her debut novel and I really enjoyed reading about the region and thought her method of mixing the stories of various residents of Fish Village was an effective one.  I listened to this novel and the narrator did an excellent job.  The Karankawa Native Americans were a tribe that was new to me and I enjoyed the bits of their history that were given in the novel.  Carly was probably my favorite character as I can relate to the thought of growing up somewhere you want to leave for the bigger world yet the ties to that place want to keep you there.  This book is recommended for multicultural and literary fiction readers. 

Savage Lands by Clare Clark

 

In 1704, Elisabeth Savaret is one of the original twenty-three French girls sent to the Louisiana colony to provide wives for the around two hundred settlers there, the large majority of them men.  These women were known as casket girls for the one small trunk of belongings each woman was allowed to bring.  Elisabeth was the luckiest for she met and married a man, Jean-Claude, who she fell madly in love with.

But Jean-Claude who was a soldier was often away.  He was known for his ability to negotiate with the various Native American tribes surrounding the Louisiana settlement where the colonists huddled and could spend an entire winter with a tribe.  There he encountered a young French boy named Auguste  Auguste had been a cabin boy but was deserted with a tribe as a young boy so that he could learn the language and culture and report back any information he picks up about potential uprisings.

These three individuals formed a tight friendship with both Elisabeth and Auguste idolizing Jean-Claude.  But Jean-Claude is mainly interested in making money and gaining influence which often puts him in danger.  

Clare Clark is an English author who writes in the historical fiction genre.  Both this novel and her novel about London in Victorian times named The Great Stink, were nominated for the Orange Prize, now named The Woman's Prize in Fiction.  Readers will learn about the beginnings of the state of Louisiana, the indigo plantations created there, the early relations in Louisiana with the Native American tribes and about how families were created by the casket girls.  There is tension and love in this novel and one will admire the strength of Elisabeth.  This book is recommended for historical fiction readers.  

What Happened That Night by Nicci French

 

It's the dinner party that no one wants to come to but all accepted the invitation.  The last time this group was together was at the end of university when their group all went to a house party.  At the end of that party, Leo, the group bully, was dead and Tyler Green, the group leader, was led away in the back of a police car.  He has been in prison for that murder for thirty years although he denied doing it.  Now he is out and he wants to get the group back together.

Beatrice hosts.  She is married to a man high up in the government and she is a barrister.  They have a large house and tons of money.  Rudi had been her secret lover back then and tonight will be the first time they have seen each other since.  Will was Tyler's best friend and everyone's buddy but that didn't stop him from marrying Ali, who had been madly in love with Tyler.  Marco had been the musician.  His career never took off and he comes dressed scruffily and bringing an uninvited guest, his girlfriend who is decades younger.  Clara and Jay were a couple but soon afterwards Clara came out as gay and Jay had a breakdown.  They are both there.  Finally, Ellen was a lovely blonde earth mother who slept with all the men.  She is married now with five children and a couples counselor.  

At the end of the night, another body lies still, stabbed and killed in the same way Leo was.  Who did it? DI Maud O'Connor and her assistant Carrie Kessler are a great team and they are under additional pressure due to the notoriety of the first crime and the positions in society of the old friends.  

Nicci French is the pen name of a wildly successful husband and wife writing team.  I've read many of their novels and every one is good but this one was even better than I had anticipated.  The tension slowly mounts as the dinner progresses.  It becomes clear that Tyler has a reason to blame everyone there for his false imprisonment while everyone else went on with their lives.  This is the third Maud O'Connor mystery and my favorite so far.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

Prima Facie by Suzi Miller

 

Tessa Ensler never thought while growing up that she would be where she is today.  Brought up in council housing outside London with her single mother who is a cleaner and her brother who has served time, Tessa managed to use the advantage of a superior brain to win a scholarship and get out.  These days she is a defense barrister in a prestigious firm and is considered one of the best of the up and coming class.  Tessa has fought hard for her position but she can't help but still feel sometimes that she doesn't belong with the mostly rich, upper class men and women she spends her days with.

When one of the other men in her firm asks her out, Tessa isn't sure.  It would not be good for her reputation if others found out and she has been careful who she dated.  But there is attraction and she does go out with the man and takes him back to her apartment after dinner.   There she becomes part of the one in three women who is raped in her lifetime.

What should she do?  If she reports the man, can she stay in her beloved job?  He is from a family of barristers and high prestige men with lots of influence.  Who will be believed?  If she doesn't report him, will he do the same to someone else?

Suzi Miller is an Australian author who started as a lawyer but since has written over forty plays.  Her most successful was Prima Facie which won the Olivier Award for Best New Play and a Tony Award for Jodie Comer who starred in it for Best Actress In A Play.  Comer is also the narrator of the book which adds quite a lot with her English accent and cool narration which matches the character of Tessa who I also imagined as cool and reserved.  The focus on the legal aspects of reporting a rape is always relevant and especially in the 'Me-Too' environment currently in place.  Readers will learn more about the English justice service and about the statistics and outcomes of rapes.  This book is recommended for readers interested in justice and how close every woman is to uninvited attack.  

HHhH by Laurent Binet

 

Reinhard Heydrich was one of the top men in the Nazi organization.  The HHhH stood for 'Himmlers Hirn heisst Heydrich' which means 'Himmlers brain is called Heydrich'.  He was high up in the SS organization and one of the main architects of the Final Solution.  He ruled occupied Czechoslovakia and sent out Death Squads.  

This is the story of how two men, Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubis as they escape Czechoslavakia to England where they were trained as assassins.  They parachuted into the country and eventually attacked Heydrich as he was riding to work one day.  He survived the attack but died later in the hospital.  It also covers what happened after the assassination and the brutal standoff that ended in both men's deaths.

Laurent Binet is a French author and this was his debut novel.  His work focuses on history, mostly current and political.  This novel alternates between the facts of the event and the process of Binet writing it.  It was a New York Times Book Review Editors Choice as well as a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.  I was not familiar with Heydrich's role but this book was written in such a way, alternating between the evil he was committing and the preparations for his death, that I'll never forget him and the courage of men who volunteered for a mission they knew would result in their own deaths.  This book is recommended for historical fiction readers.  

The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis

 

Rose Lewin is a journalist, her joy researching and writing long articles.  She was pushed out of a network job and has landed at a startup online magazine.  Rose is living in the Barbizon Hotel, a New York landmark where seventy years ago models and secretaries lived while working and looking for Mr. Right. Rose's latest project is telling the story of those women, some of whom are still living at the Barbizon in rent-controlled apartments while the rest of the building has gone to high priced condos.

There was a scandal with these women back in 1952.  Something happened on the rooftop and at the end of the incident, one woman had fallen to her death while the other, Darby, has lived in seclusion ever since, her face veiled whenever she has to go out.  Rose wants to tell Darby's story but Darby isn't interested in talking.  When Darby leaves on a trip, Rose and a photographer at the startup start to research the story.  They learn that the woman who fell was a Puerto Rican maid at the Barbizon named Esme.  But as they research they learn that the two women were friends and that Esme was also a singer and perhaps mixed up with gangsters.  What's the real story of that night?

Fiona Davis is an American author who specializes in historical fiction.  This novel was her debut and it transports the reader back to the 1950's New York City.  Readers will learn about expectations of women, cooking with spices, gangs running heroin and jazz clubs.  Darby had a love story to be discovered and Rose also has one that adds interest.  This book is recommended for readers of historical fiction.  

Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland

 

This is the story of the Jewish Adler family living in Atlantic City in the 1930's.  Esther and Joseph rent out their house every summer to tourists and move into the small apartment above their bakery.  This summer, the apartment is full.  Their daughter Fannie is pregnant with a high-risk baby and has been hospitalized for the end of her term.  Gussie, the Adler granddaughter is living with her parents so her father Issac can work in the plant and rest at night.  Florence, who is college aged, is home for the summer and plans to spend it training to swim the English Channel, coached by her boyfriend Stuart.  Then there is Anna, who has managed to escape Hitler's Germany to attend school in the United States.  She and Joseph, who knew the parents before he immigrated, are trying to get visas to bring Anna's parents over as well.

But tragedy awaits.  Early in the summer, Florence goes swimming alone in the ocean and drowns.  The family is devastated but also fearful that if Fanny hears about it, she will go into premature labor and lose another baby.  They get everyone including the press to not report the name of the woman who drowned and swears Gussie to silence.  In the meantime, Issac is getting more remote from his family while Anna is becoming attracted to Stuart.  What will the summer bring?

Rachel Beanland is an American author who grew up in Connecticut but has lived in the South as an adult.  This is her debut novel and I really enjoyed it.  I enjoyed learning about the history of Atlantic City and about the foreshadowing of World War II and the influence Hitler had before the war started  The glimpse into a Jewish family's traditions and family life was interesting.  Gussie is a delightful ten year old, not always sure what is going on and just wanting someone to love her as her mother does.  This book is recommended for historical fiction readers.  

What's The Matter With Kansas? by Thomas Frank

 

Covering the early 2000's, this book purports to explain how Kansas and the majority of the Midwest, went from voting liberal to becoming a conservative haven.   His premise is that there is what he calls a thirty-year backlash against the ruling liberal class, which never existed.  He follows this premise into topics such as religion, social mores, farming, the loss of factory jobs, etc.  He believes that these converted voters are voting against their own best interest.

Thomas Frank is a political analyst and columnist.  He is a liberal and writes from that perspective.  I had interest in this topic but found the book more like a screed than fact-based.  Rather than statistics and analysis, the mantra seemed to be, 'Conservative bad, liberal good'.  There is nothing the liberals have wrong which makes one wonder why they lost followers.  There is nothing the conservatives have right from his perspective.  I ended up disappointed in this book.  I listened to it and the author was the narrator.  He did do a good job with the narration which is often not the case with authors reading their own works.  This book is recommended for die-hard liberals.

When You Are Mine by Michael Robotham

 

Philomena McCarthy is a female police in London but she has baggage.  Besides the normal fight against her peers' misogyny, Phil comes from one of the biggest crime families in the city.  The McCarthy brothers are known for their organization, although these days they are into more stable and legal businesses.  Phil hasn't spoken with her family in years, not since her father walked out on her mother when Philomena was a teenager.  These days she lives with her boyfriend Henry, who is a fireman and weekends with his son.  

One night Phil and her partner get a domestic violence call.  They rescue a woman named Tempe but her boyfriend tries to intimidate them and ends up in a physical encounter with Phil.  She arrests him although he tells her that he is a DI in the police.  When they get to the station, he wins the encounter and Phil is sent home on suspension

But Tempe is still around.  Phil helps her find a safe place to stay and soon Tempe has wormed herself into Philomena's life.  She helps plan Phil and Henry's wedding, shows up on Phil's girls night out and meets her friends, does household chores.  Phil is uneasy at how dependent Tempe seems to be and the stories she tells about her background don't seem true.  

Phil finally reconciles with her family at her father's sixtieth birthday.  The timing is good as the DI she has issues with is found murdered and Philomena is the main suspect.  She will need all her wits and the help of her unique family to solve the murder and get out of trouble.  

Michael Robotham is an Australian author who spends time there and in London.  He was a ghostwriter for years with twelve of those books ending up on the bestseller lists.  I'm glad he moved on to mysteries and suspense as he is one of my favorites and the reader always knows they will be entertained with a riveting story when they open one of his books.  I'd love it if he created an entire series about Philomena and the McCarthy family.  There is a second one but I could read about her for an entire series.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi

 

They were the outcast group, the ones with issues and poverty-stricken houses.  Jamie and Dennis were brothers but Dennis has mental issues.  Clay is a black guy with vitiligo, the disease where his skin had huge white splotches.  Mia is a goth girl who won't change for anything and could care less what anyone thinks. They  all can't wait until they can grow up and leave Black Mouth, a dying town that offers nothing good.   One summer when they are about thirteen, they meet The Magician.

He seems to be homeless and living near the old mine shafts.  Middle-aged, he wears an eye patch to cover the eye he lost somehow.  He is scary looking, but seems to have plenty of time for the four and is willing to teach them magic tricks.  Soon, they are spending all their spare time with him.  They don't realize when things start to change and he asks them to do more dangerous things.  Then finally, when The Magician thinks he has them under control, he tries to make them kill Dennis.  But he is wrong and as the teens run from him, they set off a disaster that ends in tragedy regardless.

Now grown, Jamie has never been back.  His life has been guilt and alcoholism and attempts to forget that summer.  He lives from job to job.  But when he gets the call, he has to go.  His mother has died after all these years and arrangements have to be made for Dennis who has stayed in Black Mouth.  He thinks he will be there only a week, but when he arrives, he hears the news about a young girl who has stabbed her best friend to death and who says a man living in the woods made her do it.  Mia coincidentally is also there and calls Clay who is now a social worker.  They believe that The Magician is back and they must band together one more time in order to defeat him.

Ronald Malfi always delivers a great horror novel but this one may be my favorite.  The mystery and the contrast between that summer when they are teenagers and now that this one when they are adults and supposedly more able to fight evil.  The affection between these four who found affection in short supply growing up is admirable and a great offset to all that is happening.  Dennis is a loveable character who shows unimagined knowledge and strength in the battle.  Jamie's love for him is touching and the interplay between the characters who meet up again for the first time since that summer is great.  I listened to this novel and the narrator did a marvelous job.  This book is recommended for horror readers.  

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

 

This is the story of the Barnes family.  Dickie grew up in the shadow of his younger brother, Frank, whom everyone loved and admired for his outgoing personality and athletic prowess.  The family business is selling cars and the family has two dealerships.  Dickie was always slated to take over once his father decided to retire although he has little interest in it while Frank would love to have the business.  

Dickie married Imelda who was Frank's girlfriend first.  They had two children.  Cass is about to go off to university while PJ just wants to get along with everyone.  

Things aren't going well.  The dealerships are failing and Dickie just can't bring himself to care.  He spends his days in the woods behind their house, building a survivalist refuge with PJ and a scurry handyman who Imelda despises.  Imelda spends her days worrying about where the money will come from if the business fails and wondering how she ended up in a loveless marriage.  She is still beautiful and men are still attracted to her.  Should she find love elsewhere?

Things come to a head when the accountant finds a large sum of money missing from the business accounts.  Dickie knows where it went but he's not talking.  Now he needs to find more money for the same reason.  

Paul Murray is an Irish author who often writes about family relationships.  This novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and it was Murray's second nomination for that award.  What I noticed most in this book was the pacing.  It starts out with long, luxurious sections about each main character so that the reader gets to know each of them.  Then the chapters start to be shorter as the ending approaches and the pace becomes faster and faster building suspense.  I really liked this novel and can't wait to read more of Murray's work.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.  

Wolves Of The Calla by Stephen King

 

In this fifth book in the Dark Tower series, Roland, Eddie, Jake and Susannah come upon the town of Calla Bryn Sturgis.  It seems prosperous compared to many places they have encountered; food seems plentiful, there is a store and the outlying farms and ranches seem to be doing well.  One thing seems strange though.  There are children everywhere.  Most are twins.

Then they find out the horror that periodically visits the town.  About once a generation, the Wolves come on gray horses.  They take one of each pair of twins from about four to fifteen.  When those taken are returned after a few months, they come back Roont as the town calls them.  They have been taken back to the brain level of a two year old and they grow into giants.  They also die much earlier than one might expect  The worst is about to occur.  Andy, the robot who travels the roads and picks up news, tells the townspeople that the Wolves will be coming in about a month.

The Tet discusses it and decides to stay and help.  They meet Father Callahan, an alcoholic priest who understands the travel between worlds as he used to be the priest of Salem's Lot.  He has the most powerful ball which can take someone wherever they want to go.  Eddie makes several trips back to New York where there is a fight about who will own the lot where the rose that makes beauty and peace is harbored.  But all is not good.  Susannah is pregnant, but not with Eddie's baby.  She has also developed another personality named Mia who has no interest in being part of the Tet.

This series just keeps getting better and better as it progresses.  This is truly King's masterwork and has depth and interest for readers.  I have to take a break between volumes as the tale gets ever more intense leading up to the final battle that is coming.  This book is recommended for fantasy and horror readers.  

The Executor by Jesse Kellerman

 

Joseph Geist is at loose ends when he sees the ad.  He has been kicked out of his graduate program after years of not producing his dissertation.  His girlfriend has broken up with him and since they live in her apartment, he no longer has anywhere to stay.  The ad asks for someone who can provide discussion on various topics on a regular basis.  Desperate, he answers the ad and meets Alma Spielman.  Alma is an elderly woman who is wealthy.  She is lonely and wants someone intelligent to talk to a couple of days a week.  After meeting Joseph, she hires him.  After a few afternoons of conversation, Joseph ends up moving in and starts taking care of Alma, at least as much as she will allow.

But there's always a fly in the ointment.  With Alma, it's her nephew, Eric.  Eric was raised by Alma and he is a drifter, a con man, someone who lives waiting for his rich relative to die and leave him the money he thinks he is due.  Eric strikes up a relationship with Joseph and soon is suggesting that if they killed Alma, he would get his money and would give Joseph the house.  Joseph is appalled and tries to warn Alma but she brushes him off.  Where will it end?

Jesse Kellerman started as a playwright.  He is the son of Jonathan and Faye Kellerman and has written several books with his father.  In this book, the tension mounts slowly.  Joseph knows what is about to happen but can't find anyone to take him seriously.  He starts to unwind himself as he tries to save Alma yet lured by the thought of riches for himself.  This book is recommended for suspense readers. 

The Suitcase Clone by Robin Sloan

 

James Bascule has always lived in Northern California except for one trip to Europe where he fell in love and got his heart broken.  Now he is adrift.  It's time for college but he's not sure that's what he wants to do.  He knows the military isn't for him but what is?

Then James meets a man who would love to hire him.  The man is starting a vineyard and wants to hire a suitcase clone.  That's someone who goes to a famous vineyard, snips a vine from there and brings it home to be propagated elsewhere.  James doesn't have any other plans so he says yes.

But can he pull it off?  There is a partner, a woman who plays techno music and he can go into the vineyard as her technician.  He has the suitcase and a place to hide the cutting.  Now the only thing that's left is to find a way to steal a cutting and get home without being detected.  Is he up to the task?

Robin Sloan is an American author and his interests lie in the fields of technology and AI.  He also is part owner of a company that makes olive oil and lives in Northern California.  This novella fits between two of his other books, Mr. Penumbra's Twenty-Four Hour Bookstore and Sourdough.  James is a loveable villain who the reader is sure will eventually be caught but probably get by with not much punishment.  It is comedic without being overwhelming, just enough to make reading about James enjoyable.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.