family saga Archives - The Gilmore Guide to Books

Call Her Freedom

Catherine — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 07:49:23 +0000

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. […]

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Behind the Scenes at the Museum

Catherine — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 08:16:40 +0000

Ruby Lennox has no intention of waiting to be noticed. She is the front and center, the axis in the familial wheel that is Kate Atkinson’s Behind the Scenes at the Museum. The novel begins with her announcing her own conception when her father drunkenly impregnates her mother. From this instant on we journey with […]

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Honey: A Novel by Victor Lodato

Catherine — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 07:05:57 +0000

As the daughter of an infamous New Jersey mobster Honey escaped her family’s violent legacy while still a teen, ultimately moving to L.A. and creating a new persona for herself. Now in her 80s, she goes back home in hopes of reconciling her family’s past, but soon realizes it won’t be easy. More importantly as […]

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Banyan Moon: A Novel

Catherine — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 07:53:33 +0000

The complex and delicate relationships between mothers and daughters is at the center of Thao Thai’s debut novel, Banyan Moon. Towards the end of the Vietnam War, Minh and her daughter, Huong, left Vietnam for America to settle in Florida. Huong’s daughter, Ann, is born there and the three live together in a decrepit mansion […]

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An Unlasting Home

Catherine — Mon, 23 May 2022 04:47:26 +0000

When Sara’s mother was 8 months pregnant, she lied to the airlines and flew from Missouri back to Kuwait, determined that her daughter be born in the country of her ancestors. This is just the first of many miles and countries crossed by the indomitable women in Mai Al-Nakib’s sweeping novel, An Unlasting Home. A […]

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House of Gucci

Catherine — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 04:11:57 +0000

I’ve been having great luck with nonfiction recently. Part of it is due to a slew of well-written books, but I also seem to be getting better at knowing what kind of non-fiction works best for me. While I might like to read meaty history about places and people I know nothing about, let’s be […]

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The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman

Catherine — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 04:26:27 +0000

What you put out into the world came back to you threefold. In The Rules of Magic Jet Owens and her siblings Franny and Vincent were dealing with their family’s curse about falling in love. Decisions were made and prices were paid. Now decades later both Jet and Franny live in the family’s house on Magnolia […]

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Olympus, Texas: A Novel

Catherine — Thu, 13 May 2021 04:18:51 +0000

When the word Texas is in the title there’s an automatic expectation that what lies between the covers is going to be as bold, brash, and over-the-top as the state itself. In this way, Olympus, Texas does not disappoint. The Briscoes are the stars in the novel’s firmament, even if their shine is due to their […]

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The Fortunate Ones: A Novel

Catherine — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 05:08:02 +0000

Things are starting to turn around in Charlie Boykin’s life. The child of a single mother who works as a cocktail waitress, he’s been one of the only white boys at his school and in their Nashville neighborhood. Now, he’s gotten a needs-based scholarship to Yeatman, a prestigious, private high-school. Even better, he’s assigned an […]

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Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

Catherine — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 04:03:34 +0000

A healer, living alone in the woods, discovers a baby girl left in a basket in a snowy meadow near her home. The infant is guarded by a large black raven, letting the woman know this is no average baby. She is the beginning of the Owens women clan and this is Magic Lessons, Alice […]

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