Somehow, in the past two weeks I stumbled into two novels that were antithetical to my usual, lighter summer reading. Both are standouts, but require the right head space. Monday was The Paper Palace and today it’s We Begin at the End—the story of Walk, a small-town chief of police, and Duchess, a teenage girl who’s developed a tough persona to deal with the bad hand that is ... Read More...
Nowhere Girl: A Memoir
I’m seldom at a loss for words, but I recently finished a memoir that left me…???...!!! Nowhere Girl by Cheryl Diamond follows Diamond from when she is a small child to when she is 30. In that time, she lives in an astonishing number of places, whether it’s countries or cities within states. Her name and identity changes each time. Chapters marking her age and location evoking ... Read More...
The First Day of Spring
“I am here. I am here. I am here. You will not forget me.” These are the words painted on a wall by 8-year-old Chrissie, a girl so desperate for attention in a world that gives her none that she commits a reprehensible act. She lives alone with her mother and everything, including love, is in short supply. She is starving for the things a child needs to thrive, powerless to ... Read More...
The Mysteries by Marisa Silver
Set in the early 1970s The Mysteries by Marisa Silver is about Margaret Ann (Miggy), the only child of Julian and Jean Brenneman. They married in their early 20s so he could avoid the Vietnam War draft and Miggy was born when Jean ran out of birth control pills. Not necessarily an auspicious beginning for a marriage or having children, but they’ve settled into their own version ... Read More...
Mirrorland: A Novel
Cat and El are identical twins raised by their mother in their grandfather’s old, sprawling mess of a house. Their only friend was the boy next door. Both couldn’t wait to grow up and get away which is why when Mirrorland begins Cat lives in L.A. She hasn’t seen or spoken to El since they had a falling out over a decade ago. El, however, never left and Ross, the boy, is now her ... Read More...
Betty: A Novel by Tiffany McDaniel
A biracial little girl is the main character and the namesake in Tiffany McDaniel’s shattering novel, Betty. Born in 1954 and raised in Appalachian Ohio, the novel follows her and her five siblings, a Cherokee father, and White mother as their lives are acid-etched with racism from the outside and tragedy from within. The South of the 1950s and 1960s was not known for its ... Read More...
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