The Poet Empress is a debut by Shen Tao, set in 650AD China in the kingdom of Tensha. The current emperor is dying and two of his sons are vying for the throne. One of them, Terren, needs a bride and concubines, so a nationwide search is begun. During the approval process he randomly chooses the daughter of a rice farmer, a nobody from a poor famine-stricken village. Even more ... Read More...
The Names by Florence Knapp
It feels odd to say that a book that left me so saddened and troubled was a favorite, but it’s the case with author Florence Knapp’s debut, The Names. This is an alternate realities story about an infant boy whose mother, Cora, in three scenarios, chooses a different name for him. The story follows the boy, his mother, and his older sister through the three lives they would ... Read More...
Serial Killers: Mini-Reviews
Happy Halloween Eve! I thought I’d pre-game tomorrow night’s creepy mood by sharing two reviews of novels about serial killers. You know, the kind of books you want to read with the lights on. In the middle of the day. And not alone. Marie Tierney’s Deadly Animals is set in a small town near Birmingham, England. Ava is a teenage girl with a troubled family, ... Read More...
The Correspondent
When Sybil Van Antwerp came of age there was no such thing as digital. Given that, she sees no reason to abandon her lifelong habit of communicating via letter. She’ll even use email when it is the only option, but that is as much as she’ll concede. This means Virginia Evans’ debut The Correspondent is an epistolary novel comprised only of Sybil‘s communications with the ... Read More...
Call Her Freedom
A small village in the Himalayan foothills is the setting for Tara Dorabji’s debut novel, Call Her Freedom. Aisha’s mother is a midwife and teaches Aisha all about childbirth and herbal remedies when Aisha is not in school. An outstanding student it’s been her mother’s dream to see her go to university in the city. But when her mother falls ill the only way to save their ... Read More...
Careless People: A Memoir
Careless People is the memoir from Sarah Wynn-Williams who worked at Facebook from 2011-2017 as the global public policy director. A former diplomat and lawyer she joined believing they needed someone with an understanding of foreign diplomacy. She was hired, but for a time, no one knew what to do with her, as Mark Zuckerberg was still plucking the American low-lying fruit of ... Read More...
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