Wild And Wicked Things by Francesca May

 

Annie has come to Crow Island after the death of her father to settle his estate.  She rents a cottage until she can get her father's house cleared out.  It is on the water and next to a large estate where marvelous parties take place.  She goes to one and it is full of people in fantastic dresses and tuxedos with drink and music flowing.  She also sees her former best friend, Bea.  Bea left their home town a while back saying she needs to get out and see the world.  She is now married to a handsome, rich man but doesn't seem as excited to see Annie as Annie is to see her.

As Annie works on the house, she finds the secret room and things her father hid from others.  It contained a massive book of magic as both he and Annie had magic in them although they tried to hide it from others.  It turns out that Crow Island is known as a home for witches and the coven leader is the owner of the mansion next door to Annie where the parties are held.  Her name is Emily and she has several other witches who live with her, all of whom grew up together.  Annie is immediately attracted to Emily and soon realizes that her attraction to women was the reason she was never that excited about dating men.  But Emily is under a spell herself and is slowly dying.  Is there anything the coven and Annie can do to help?

Francesca May is an English writer who specializes in fantasy.  The writing in the book is lush and sensual as it describes the attraction between Emily and Annie.  There is suspense and magic, good and bad, deaths and new lives.  I listened to this one and there were both male and female narrators.  Both did a good job, racketing up the suspense to a dramatic conclusion.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.  

The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso

 

Hortensia and Marion live next door to each other in South Africa.  Hortensia is black, Marion white.  They live in a wealthy enclave as both were successful professional women.  Hortensia is a designer, Marion was an architect before her four children came along and she decided to stay home with them.  In fact, Marion designed the house Hortensia lives in and considers it her best work.

The two women dislike each other and make no bones about it.  They fight at community meetings.  Hortensia thinks Marion is a racist; Marion thinks Hortensia is the most unpleasant woman she's ever met.  But both are facing issues.  Hortensia's husband has recently died.  He has left his money to the daughter he had with a long time affair and his will insists the Hortensia contact her and tell her.  Marion's husband had business reverses before he died and Marion is now broke and may need to sell her house.  Both are involved in a government push to reimburse those native people who were cheated of their land; land on which the houses the women live in are located.

Then disaster strikes.  Hortensia decides to renovate her house but on the first day of construction, a crane goes out of control and plows into Marion's house causing extensive damage.  Hortensia is injured, her leg broken.  Now Hortensia needs nursing care and Marion needs somewhere to live.  Begrudgingly Hortensia offers Marion room in her house and Marion accepts and agrees to help Hortensia in her recuperation.  Will this bring the two women together?

Yewande Omotoso grew up in Nigeria but now lives in South Africa.  Her work has been nominated for various prizes such as the Dublin Literary Award and the Women's Prize in Fiction.  In this tale of battling widows, she delves into the basis of racism and how many are racist without realizing it, often congratulating themselves in their tolerance while continuing to consider others lesser.  Hortensia is not about to be condescended to by anyone and has no qualms about telling her opinions whenever and wherever.  As these two women find a way to live together, it gives hope that the world will do the same.  This book is recommended to multicultural literary fiction readers.   

The Seven Moons Of Maali Almeida by Shehan

 Maali Almeida is dead.  At first he doesn't want to believe it but he has to face reality.  Maali is a photographer in Sri Lanka.  He doesn't take pretty pictures; instead he documents the civil war, the government forces and the rebels, the pain, the torture, the war crimes.  He is freelance and works with various overseas news organizations.  In his personal life, Maali is not anyone's poster boy for morality.  He is a gambler and a bad one at that.  He is gay and loves DD but cheats on him constantly.  

Maali learns that he has seven days to decide if he will go into the light or remain in the nebulous territory of his former life as a ghost.  He has one thing he wants to do before he decides.  He wants his hidden trove of negatives to be printed and displayed to bring down those involved in tearing the country apart.  He also wants to insure that DD and his cousin Jaki, the two people in the world he loves, are as safe as they can be in such a tumultuous environment.  Which way will Maali choose?

This novel won the Booker Prize in 2022.  I listened to this novel and the narrator's accent grounded me in this part of the world.  It is a searing indictment of war and those in power who use their power to grind down those around them, willing to do anything to anyone in order to remain on top.  Shehan Karunatilaka is a Sri Lakan author who is considered one of the top authors of his country.  In addition to the Booker, his work has also won the Commonwealth Prize.  He also writes children's stories and rock songs but this novel is his masterpiece, showing war for the evil it is.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.  

Women And Children First by Alina Grabowski

 

You probably never heard of Nashquitten, Massachusetts.  It's a small coastal town and now that the fishing isn't there, getting smaller every year.  It's the kind of place most kids can't wait to get out of.  But Lucy Anderson won't get that chance.  Bright and talented at art, she went to a drinking party and died there.  There are rumors all over town about what happened but only a few know the truth.

We hear about Lucy's death and the rumors about that and the teenagers in general through the words of different girls and women.  There is Lucy's best friend, the high school guidance counselor, the woman who was having an affair with Lucy's father.  Her mother, the head of the PTA, the principal.  There is the girl who stayed and tried to help Lucy and the ones that ran away.  Each has another piece of the puzzle.

This is a debut novel although it's difficult to accept that such an accomplished work could be a debut.  I loved the structure and the way that each woman's or girl's story had a hook that led easily into the next person's story.  The death is the framework around which the story is built but there are lots of other stories as well.  It's a story of disappointed lives and alienation both from the teenagers and the women who are adults and whose lives didn't turn out as they wanted.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers,