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Home of the American Circus

August 21, 2025

american circus

Home of the American Circus begins with Freya’s rent being overdue and her appendix bursting. These two events give her no choice but to leave Maine where she lives and head back to her hometown in New York. And not just the town, but her childhood home which was left to her by her parents. Once there she reunites with her best friend, a troubled musician who is also living ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, childhood, family, literary

Culpability by Bruce Holsinger

July 15, 2025

culpability

When Culpability begins the Cassidy-Shaws are heading to one of their children’s sports tournaments when their minivan is hit by another car veering into their lane, resulting in two fatalities. The car is self-driving with the son, Charlie, at the wheel. His father, Noah, an attorney, is next to him while his mother, Lorelei, and two younger sisters are in the backseats. There ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, family, technology, vacation reading

The Bright Years

April 29, 2025

bright years

Four generations of one Texas family unfold on the pages of Sarah Damoff’s intimate debut, The Bright Years. What begins with the simple act of falling in love turns into something deeper and more profound as secrets and addiction pull apart the loving trio of father Ryan, mother Lillian, and daughter Georgette (Jet), leaving each to manage the fallout. The novel is told in ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, family, literary

Penitence: A Novel

February 3, 2025

penitence

When Penitence begins 13-year-old Nora is alone in a jail cell after turning herself in for killing her 14-year-old brother. An opening like this has the heft to carry a traditional thriller/mystery whether as a police procedural (solving the crime) or a courtroom drama (Nora on trial). Instead, debut author Kristin Koval forges a completely different path in what becomes a ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, family, literary, mystery

This Motherless Land

January 27, 2025

motherless

A loving, happy, Nigerian family is torn apart when a daughter survives a horrific car crash that leaves her mother and brother dead and her father’s grief makes him hate her for surviving. This is This Motherless Land and Funke is the daughter, who at eight finds herself on a plane to England to live with her mother’s white family, people she’s never met and knows almost ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, childhood, cultural, family

Instructions for a Heatwave

January 16, 2025

instructions

In 1976 England was in the midst of a terrible drought and heat wave. It’s an inauspicious and unexpected time for a happily married, retired man to go missing, but Robert does, taking only his keys and his passport. His wife Gretta is left in a frazzled state and his adult children have all been called to come home and look for him in Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, Instructions for ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, England, family, historical, literary

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