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Memphis: A Novel by Tara Stringfellow

April 11, 2022

memphis

Memphis is both the title and location of Tara Stringfellow’s stirring debut novel. Three generations of women pass through the family’s home and tumultuous times in a city where racism and violence flourish. Hazel, August, Miriam, and Joan share lives that spill over with trauma, love, and resilience in this novel about the abiding strength in love and family. It's 1995 and ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, debut, Southern life

Four Treasures of the Sky

April 6, 2022

four

From the near-future in The Candy House I read my way through the distant past in Jenny Zhang’s Four Treasures of the Sky. The novel is the story of Daiyu, a young girl in China, kidnapped and smuggled to America in the early 1880s. A government law banning all Chinese from entering America had no impact on the market for beautiful young girls, a world Daiyu is forced into. Not ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, debut, historical fiction, literary

No Land to Light On

January 17, 2022

land

Despite being five months pregnant Sama goes to the airport to surprise her husband, Hadi, on his return from his father’s funeral. Only to be met by a large crowd of angry people, with signs, yelling. She can’t enter the building so tries calling him. Amidst the noise, they only speak long enough for Hadi to tell her they won’t let him out, that his passport has been taken ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, debut, literary

The Island of Missing Trees

November 30, 2021

island

Cyprus is a country literally divided, right down to its capital. In 1960 when the British finally left they repeated their practice of leaving a political vacuum by not resolving issues between existing groups to ensure a peaceful transition. As a result, the island’s population, mixed between a Greek majority and a Turkish minority, lived with simmering resentments until the ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, historical fiction, literary

Firekeeper’s Daughter: A Novel

November 12, 2021

firekeeper

As a biracial member of the Ojibwe tribe Daunis Fontaine lives in the uncomfortable in-between space of not belonging to any one community. What bought her acceptance from everyone were her  incredible skills as a hockey player. After graduating high school she was looking forward to a bright future as a player at the University of Michigan until family events caused her to ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: cultural, debut, mystery, Native Americans, young adult

Songbirds: A Novel by Christy Lefteri

August 26, 2021

songbirds

Sorry to start a review with a longwinded explanation, but…Songbirds was a new experience for me. I don’t remember ever starting a book and being so put off by the opening scene. Yiannis is a main character, living in Cyprus, a country that is in the direct migration path of millions of small, exotic birds. He’s a poacher, trapping them by the hundred in nets and then killing ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, literary

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