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Girl at War: A Novel

June 24, 2015

girl

Ana is from Croatia but now lives in America and attends college in New York. Despite having been in the U.S for a decade she suddenly finds herself overcome by memories of her life in Croatia in 1991—the beginning of the Yugoslavian civil war. These memories increase in intensity until she can no longer sleep at night. In desperation, she decides to go back to Croatia to try ... Read More...

7 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: cultural, debut, Eastern Europe, historical fiction, war

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

June 10, 2015

miniaturist

Set in 1686 The Miniaturist by debut author Jessie Burton is the spellbinding story of an eighteen-year-old girl married off to an older merchant who lives in Amsterdam. She arrives on his doorstep with no idea of what marriage entails or the fact that she has been procured to enhance his reputation, for her family is poor but with a pedigree. Little does she know that her ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, ecco, historical fiction

The Martian: A Novel

May 29, 2015

martian

If you’re an astronaut there is only one goal in life: make it onto a space mission. There is also one greatest fear: get left behind on a space mission. For Mark Watney, this fear has just come true on the planet Mars in Andy Weir’s debut novel, The Martian. When a dust storm arises while the crew is on the surface it means the mission has to be aborted. While trying to get ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, Random House, science fiction, suspense

The Given World

April 27, 2015

given

When Riley is thirteen her brother Mick is declared missing in Vietnam. This news kills what little desire she has to stay in their small town and by the time she is eighteen she is gone, making her way from Montana to San Francisco to see the ocean and to escape every facet of life that might remind her of her brother. She leaves behind her parents, a boyfriend and her newborn ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, literary, Vietnam, Vietnam War

The Sympathizer: A Novel

April 20, 2015

sympathizer

So it was that we soaped ourselves in sadness and we rinsed ourselves with hope, and for all that we believed almost every rumor we heard, almost all of us refused to believe that our nation was dead. It is only fitting that the narrator in The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s debut novel, is never named. He is a Communist spy, a man who has spent his entire life turned inside ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, debut, Grove Press, historical fiction, literary, Southeast Asia, Vietnam War

Our Endless Numbered Days

March 18, 2015

endless

There are few things more important to little girls than their fathers and Peggy is no exception. Her German mother is a famous concert pianist but she is often brusque and busy while her father has friends who come over and hang out, smoking and talking about exciting things she doesn’t fully understand. He plays, calls her Rapunzel and has projects that involve her. He is at ... Read More...

13 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, literary, mystery, Tin House

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