historical fiction

The Masks We Wear: Six Days in Bombay review

by Stefani

Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi

Published: April 15, 2025 by MIRA

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

When renouned painter Mira Novak arrives at Wadia hospital in Bombay after a miscarriage, she’s expected to make a quick recovery, and Sona is excited to spend time with the worldly woman who shares her half-Indian identity, even if that’s where their similarities end. Sona is enraptured by Mira’s stories of her travels, and shocked by accounts of the many lovers she’s left scattered through Europe. Over the course of a week, Mira befriends Sona, seeing in her something bigger than the small life she’s living with her mother. Mira is released from the hospital just in time to attend a lavish engagement party with all of Bombay society. But the next day, Mira is readmitted to the hospital in worse condition than before, and when she dies under mysterious circumstances, Sona immediately falls under suspicion.

Before leaving the hospital in disgrace, Sona is given a note Mira left for her, along with her four favorite paintings. But how could she have known to leave a note if she didn’t know she was going to die? The note sends Sona on a mission to deliver three of the paintings—the first to Petra, Mira’s childhood friend and first love in Prague; the second to her art dealer Josephine in Paris; the third to her first painting tutor, Paolo, with whom both Mira and her mother had affairs. As Sona uncovers Mira’s history, she learns that the charming facade she’d come to know was only one part of a complicated and sometimes cruel woman. But can she discover what really happened to Mira and exonerate herself?

Along the way, Sona also comes to terms with her own complex history and the English father who deserted her and her mother in India so many years ago. In the end, she’ll discover that we are all made up of pieces, and only by seeing the world do we learn to see ourselves.

Rating:

Review:

This book was just extraordinary! Truly I find myself at a loss for words to describe it. Historical fiction is sometimes a hit or miss for me, but this one knocked it out of the park. The first third of the book is spent on building the character of Sona and her relationship with Mira. But also giving us a very good background in what it was like to be half-Indian, half-English in 1937 India. A time when India is having a reckoning of the colonialism that they want to be free from and are starting to take back the power to cast out the English. But where does that leave people who have spent their entire lives in India, are half Indian and love India with all their hearts. This was absolutely fascinating and frankly I would have read an entire book about that topic alone.

After that primer on this time period in India, we are launched across the world with Sona. On a mission to deliver paintings and letters on behalf of her dear friend Mira. And along the way she realized that she didn’t know as much about Mira as she thought she had. Sona discovers that Mira was a different person to everyone she met. Everyone had a different memory of her and experience with her. Along the way Sona also learns a lot about herself and the English father who had abandoned her and her mother.

This book is exactly the kind of historical fiction that I love. This one will likely be on my short list for best book of the year.

Rant review: Clear by Carys Davies

by Stefani

Clear by Carys Davies

Published: April 2, 2024 by Scribner

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

1843. On a remote Scottish island, Ivar, the sole occupant, leads a life of quiet isolation until the day he finds a man unconscious on the beach below the cliffs. The newcomer is John Ferguson, an impoverished church minister sent to evict Ivar and turn the island into grazing land for sheep. Unaware of the stranger’s intentions, Ivar takes him into his home, and in spite of the two men having no common language, a fragile bond begins to form between them. Meanwhile on the mainland, John’s wife Mary anxiously awaits news of his mission.

Rating:

Review:

This has to be the most astoundingly confusing book that I have ever listened to or read. Which is saying a lot because I have read a lot of very strange books. Warning! This review might get a bit ranty. And when I get ranty I tend to post spoilers, so consider yourself warned. But in reality, don’t read this book, it’s not worth your time.

This book is only 196 pages and the audiobook runs barely three hours. I would consider it barely a novella, but it sounded very interesting. The Highland Clearance period hasn’t been written about much and I found myself doing some research on this time in history once I was finished with the book. And wow, this book did a huge disservice to history here.

Let’s start with the good stuff. This will be brief. The writing was lovely. Emotionally evocative, lyrical, perfectly set the scene to a misty Scottish morning on a remote island with nothing but sheep for company. It was delightful. I didn’t even mind that 90% of what we were writing was about the wildlife and weather, I was captivating by the descriptions and the writing. I was really invested in what was going to happen. John had gained Ivar’s trust and had become his friend, how would he handle the job he’d been hired to do. Would he actually evict Ivar from the island? Would he refuse and someone else come to finish the job?

About 20 minutes from the end this book fell apart. Completely. Entirely. Rather than actually address any of the deep, heavy issues that the book had set up the author decided to side step all of them. John decided to engage in a sexual relationship with Ivar. Which is an odd choice for an 1840s pastor who is deeply devoted to his faith and his wife. Even more inexplicably John’s wife jumps right on board with their new relationship and decides that the three of them should leave the island together and all live together. And 1840s throuple everyone! And so Ivar sails off into the sunset with his new lover and his wife. Wow. I legitimately had no words for that ending. It makes no sense in the context of the time period. It makes no sense in the context of the characters the author created. And it, somehow, managed to try and sidestep any of the real issues within the narrative with a happily ever after ending. Rather than making some kind of point about the brutality of the Highland Clearances, we just ride off into the sunset together. Isn’t that so wonderful? It doesn’t matter that John was supposed to kick him off the island, strip him of everything he’d ever known because the landlord wanted to stick a bunch of sheep there instead. Ivar fell in love and wanted to leave! Problem averted.

Daughters of Shandong: A Tale of Resilience and Liberation

by Stefani

Daughters of Shandong by Eve J Chung

Published: May 7, 2024 by Berkley

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

Daughters are the Ang family’s curse.

In 1948, civil war ravages the Chinese countryside, but in rural Shandong, the wealthy, landowning Angs are more concerned with their lack of an heir. Hai is the eldest of four girls and spends her days looking after her sisters. Headstrong Di, who is just a year younger, learns to hide in plain sight, and their mother—abused by the family for failing to birth a boy—finds her own small acts of rebellion in the kitchen. As the Communist army closes in on their town, the rest of the prosperous household flees, leaving behind the girls and their mother because they view them as useless mouths to feed.

Without an Ang male to punish, the land-seizing cadres choose Hai, as the eldest child, to stand trial for her family’s crimes. She barely survives their brutality. Realizing the worst is yet to come, the women plan their escape. Starving and penniless but resourceful, they forge travel permits and embark on a thousand-mile journey to confront the family that abandoned them.

From the countryside to the bustling city of Qingdao, and onward to British Hong Kong and eventually Taiwan, they witness the changing tide of a nation and the plight of multitudes caught in the wake of revolution. But with the loss of their home and the life they’ve known also comes new freedom—to take hold of their fate, to shake free of the bonds of their gender, and to claim their own story.

Told in assured, evocative prose, with impeccably drawn characters, Daughters of Shandong is a hopeful, powerful story about the resilience of women in war; the enduring love between mothers, daughters, and sisters; and the sacrifices made to lift up future generations.

Rating:

Review:

I have been on something of an audiobook spree the past month or two because it is such an easy way to listen to some great books when relax my brain. My life has been insanely busy and stressful so it’s a good way to get in more reading time while I am busy cleaning the bathrooms, making dinner or running a bath for a tiny human. I picked this one up based on the synopsis alone and it was worth the listen.

This book is the fictionalized story of the author’s grandmother. The family had always talked in hushed tones about her grandmother’s flight from the Communist Revolution in China but everyone refused to talk about it further. So the author went on a quest to further understand what her grandmother had gone through and started researching. Once she discovered as much as she could she wrote this book and filled in some of the missing details with fiction.

It was a beautifully written story. The prose carries you along like a gentle river before suddenly plunging you down a steep waterfall when something shockingly evil happens. The trauma of this entire family of women is laid out in horrifying but hopeful detail. In the story the mother never gives up hope. She never stops trying to better the lives of her children. She never stops sacrificing for her children’s benefit, even when they hated her for it. A true mother is displayed on these pages. The kind of mother that will endure anything without complaint if it saves her children an ounce of pain. This book brought me to tears quite a few times.

The only detractor from this book was that the plot lags for a little while in the middle. While the family may have been in a transition period, I didn’t want to feel like I was also in a transition period too. My attention started to wander and I hoped the pacing would eventually recover. It did recover and the ending was logical and…well, it wasn’t exactly satisfying but it was sweet on many levels. But given the entirety of the story I don’t think it was supposed to be a satisfying ending. There isn’t a happily ever after when you’ve lived through such horror. Sometimes the happily ever after is being safe with your children, and trying to make it a better life again tomorrow.

The author’s note at the end put a very touching end to this story. It tells another tale of love and devotion. One of hers to her family and to telling the story of their generational trauma so that no one forgets what it took for her family to thrive. It put an extra poignant touch to the story.

The Berry Pickers Review: A Heartbreaking Tale

by Stefani

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

Published: October 31, 2023 by Catapult

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a community, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years.

July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.

In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.

Rating:

Review:

I was interested in this one because it got a lot of buzz last year. I saw it win a bunch of awards and was talked about all over the book stratosphere. So I picked it up as my audiobook of the week. Though, truth be told, I have been so busy with work and children that audiobooks are about the only thing I have had time to read lately. Anyway, on to the book.

This book was so wonderfully written. It was striking and beautiful. The plot immediately introduces us to Ruthie and her family. They are an Indigenous family from Nova Scotia who travel to Maine every year to assist with harvesting blueberries. Except this year, Ruthie disappeared. They saw her sitting on a rock near the edge of the field and then she was gone. One second she was there and the next second she wasn’t. The police are called and searches commence but it doesn’t last long. They’re migrant workers, Indigenous, no one really cares. The police tells them that maybe their daughter just wandered off, they’ll likely never find her and she’s gone. The property owner sympathizes with their desperation to find her but reminds them that he has work to be done, he can’t afford for them to be searching the woods for Ruthie anymore. It’s heartbreaking and also very realistic, particularly for the timeframe. She is a girl who is easily forgotten.

We are also introduced to Norma. She grew up with a very exacting and manipulative mother. Her mother was a bit paranoid. Norma was rarely allowed to leave the house and definitely not to talk to other people. Honestly, it wasn’t hard to connect the pieces of the story here. I am not entirely sure it was supposed to be a mystery. The real story is how the truth comes to light.

I absolutely loved this book. It might make the short list of one of my favorite books ever. My only complaint was that it got a little too wordy in the middle. I started to lose interest because Norma just wasn’t really that interesting until later in the story. But despite the laggy middle it recovered quickly into a heartbreaking ending. I was left in tears for hours. I still feel a little weepy thinking about the ending of the book again. This is a wonderful book, I highly recommend it.

“Over the decades, the walls of this house have been torn down and built again in different places and painted in different colors, but a closet still holds a very old pair of girl’s boots with the head of a doll sticking out of one of them on the top shelf,” – The Berry Pickers

Babylonia: Exploring the Legacy of a Warrior Queen

by Stefani

Babylonia by Costanza Casati

Published: January 14, 2025 by Sourcebooks Landmark

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

When kings fall, queens rise.

Nothing about Semiramis’s upbringing could have foretold her legacy or the power she would come to wield. A female ruler, once an orphan raised on the outskirts of an empire – certainly no one in Ancient Assyria would bend to her command willingly. Semiramis was a woman who knew if she wanted power, she would have to claim it.

There are whispers of her fame in Mesopotamian myth- Semiramis was a queen, an ambitious warrior, a commander whose reputation reaches the majestic proportions of Alexander the Great. Historical record, on the other hand, falls eerily quiet.

In her second novel, Costanza Casati brilliantly weaves myth and ancient history together to give Semiramis a voice, charting her captivating ascent to a throne no one promised her. The world Casati expertly builds is rich with dazzling detail and will transport her readers to the heat of the Assyrian Empire and a world long gone.

Rating:

Review:

I picked this book up as an audiobook from the library on a whim. The cover was interesting and I like historical fiction in general. I have had good luck recently with retellings of ancient myths and legends, so jumped right into this Assyrian myth. Before I listened to it, I looked up the myth just so I had a good footing for the basis of the story. The source material is just as interesting as this book was.

This book was beautiful. The writing, the atmosphere, the settings, the characters, all of it. They are pieced together with such care and eloquence that it is really exquisite. I was instantly pulled into this story with the story of Semiramis’ birth and the death of her mother. It was such a tragic start to life for this little girl. And meanwhile you know that she is on a journey to becoming the Queen of Assyria, but how does she get there? From an adopted orphan to Queen and ruler of one of the biggest empires in world history.

I loved the love story of Semiramis and Onnes. He didn’t want to get married, but knew that he needed to get married. She wanted to be given a chance to escape the life she knew in her village and make a future for herself. It is mostly a marriage of convenience though they are attracted to one another and attracted to each other’s intelligence. Along the way they become desperately devoted to each other and love each other fiercely. They bond together after a war and the horrific things they both saw and experienced. Unfortunately this is also the moment that led to Onnes’ downfall. That made me very sad. I knew it was going to happen but I didn’t want it to. This was also one of the bigger pitfalls of the story. I think Costanza really wanted Ninus to be a good guy here, he can’t help it that he fell in love with his brother’s wife! But in reality, Ninus is the bad guy here. He starts an affair with his brother’s wife and then tries to convinve him to give her up in exchange for being allowed to marry Ninus’ daughter. Gross. I was actually quite pleased that the marriage of Ninus and Semiramis wasn’t sunshine and puppy dogs, they didn’t deserve it after what they did to Onnes.

The only other pitfall of this book is that it started to drag after Ninus and Semiramis got married. She’s the queen now, we know that she will become the ruler at some point. But it dragged a bit to get there. Overall though this book was incredibly enjoyable. I have heard that her first book is even better so I will have to check it out.

A Song to Drown Rivers: Unveiling Xishi’s Epic Journey

by Stefani

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang

Published: October 1, 2024 by St. Martin’s Press

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

Inspired by the legend of Xishi, one of the famous Four Beauties of Ancient China, A Song to Drown Rivers is an epic historical fantasy about womanhood, war, sacrifice, and love against all odds.
Her beauty hides a deadly purpose.

Xishi’s beauty is seen as a blessing to the villagers of Yue—convinced that the best fate for a girl is to marry well and support her family. When Xishi draws the attention of the famous young military advisor, Fanli, he presents her with a rare opportunity: to use her beauty as a weapon. One that could topple the rival neighboring kingdom of Wu, improve the lives of her people, and avenge her sister’s murder. All she has to do is infiltrate the enemy palace as a spy, seduce their immoral king, and weaken them from within.

Trained by Fanli in everything from classical instruments to concealing emotion, Xishi hones her beauty into the perfect blade. But she knows Fanli can see through every deception she masters, the attraction between them burning away any falsehoods.

Once inside the enemy palace, Xishi finds herself under the hungry gaze of the king’s advisors while the king himself shows her great affection. Despite his gentleness, a brutality lurks and Xishi knows she can never let her guard down. But the higher Xishi climbs in the Wu court, the farther she and Fanli have to fall—and if she is unmasked as a traitor, she will bring both kingdoms down.

Rating:

Review:

Whew, it’s been a minute since I posted on here. Sorry about that. I rather had a tsunami upend my life for the past month and I did not have the brain power for writing or reading. From some very complicated and emotional things going on in my relationship, and difficult decisions to be made. Then my children kindly shared a stomach bug with me and so collectively there was someone in my house vomiting for about 4 weeks. Then obviously Thanksgiving. My oldest won her class Spelling Bee so we’ve been practicing for the school-wide Spelling Bee. She also had a percussion concern and a choir concert. I don’t know how such introverted parents ended up with such a social butterfly. Anyway, that’s enough about me, on to the book…as lackluster as this one may have been.

I will not claim to be an expert on this Chinese legend, but I was familiar with it before reading the book and read about it further since reading the book. And I have to say, this book could have been amazing. It could have been epic. But instead it was just alright. While the synopsis describes this as an “epic historical fantasy” there is zero fantasy in here. None at all. It’s just a retelling of a legend, written as historical fiction.

The first thing that let me down in this story was the romance. Xishi and Fanli spent a grand total of 13 weeks together, they apparently fall in love during that time. We see hardly any of what happens in that 13 weeks. We rush through it in about 40 pages. Mostly we get a recap from Xishi about all the things they learned. We see the two of them interact only two or three times before they profess their love. And then five minutes later, Xishi is gone. And she’s gone for YEARS. Literal years. And yet she’s still so deeply in love with guy that she almost ruins a plan that was years in the making. What? I just didn’t buy into their epic romance.

The entire beginning of the book felt rushed. Initially I thought that the reason we were rushing was so that we could get to the main portion of the plot. The part where Xishi has to woo the Wu king and set him up to be conquered from within. Once we got there though, nothing happened. We spent so many pages on Xishi smiling demurely and asking the king curious questions that it felt like we were doing nothing. Also, for a book about a concubine this book was very chaste. All sex scenes happen “off screen”, so it felt like they did a lot of laying together chastely in bed and that was about it. Maybe this was because the author typically writes Young Adult, but it felt odd in an adult book about such an adult topic. Ultimately we spent most of our time watching Xishi seduce a drunken idiot, who didn’t seem to be as terrible of a human as the book wanted me to believe.

The ending of this book was really its saving grace. Even though I did not care about the conclusion of Xishi and Fanli’s romance, the ending did have some other excellent moments. The lessons about politics and war were great. I found myself nodding in agreement with every single one of Xishi’s revelations. This was the moment I wanted through the rest of the book. This was the action that I was missing! And the conclusion was as tragic as expected. If the ending hadn’t nailed it then this might have been a 2-star book for me.

Audiobook review: There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

by Stefani

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

Narrated by: Olivia Vinall and Elif Shafak

Published: August 20, 2024 by Knopf

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River Tigris, King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia, erudite but ruthless, built a great library that would crumble with the end of his reign. From its ruins, however, emerged a poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, that would infuse the existence of two rivers and bind together three lives.

In 1840 London, Arthur is born beside the stinking, sewage-filled River Thames. With an abusive, alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother, Arthur’s only chance of escaping destitution is his brilliant memory. When his gift earns him a spot as an apprentice at a leading publisher, Arthur’s world opens up far beyond the slums, and one book in particular catches his interest: Nineveh and Its Remains.

In 2014 Turkey, Narin, a ten-year-old Yazidi girl, is diagnosed with a rare disorder that will soon cause her to go deaf. Before that happens, her grandmother is determined to baptize her in a sacred Iraqi temple. But with the rising presence of ISIS and the destruction of the family’s ancestral lands along the Tigris, Narin is running out of time.

In 2018 London, the newly divorced Zaleekah, a hydrologist, moves into a houseboat on the Thames to escape her husband. Orphaned and raised by her wealthy uncle, Zaleekah had made the decision to take her own life in one month, until a curious book about her homeland changes everything.

A dazzling feat of storytelling, There Are Rivers in the Sky entwines these outsiders with a single drop of water, a drop which remanifests across the centuries. Both a source of life and harbinger of death, rivers—the Tigris and the Thames—transcend history, transcend fate: “Water remembers. It is humans who forget.”

Rating:

Review:

This book was written beautifully. I was interested by the idea of all of these stories being intertwined by water. Water that affects the lives of these people across centuries as it goes through its cycle over and over again. It’s such a beautiful idea and an ingenuous storytelling device if you can pull it off. The author definitely pulled it off. These stories intertwined in ways I didn’t see coming and I loved it. The narrator did a wonderful job of telling these stories, her voice was so soothing that I almost fell asleep a few times. She was the perfect choice for this book.

I have to say that my favorite of these four stories was Arthur. I felt like he had the most depth and that we explored his world more deeply than the others. We explore his entire world and as he became more intrigued by the cuneiform tablets and the ancient city. I was so wrapped up with him that I got a little disappointed when we switched to another narrative. This was another piece that the author got right. We didn’t switch POV often. We spent considerable time with each of these people before switching, so it was easier to empathize and connect with them.

Narin was a heartbreaking story. From the very beginning of her diagnosis and her grandmother’s desperation to baptize her in their sacred river, despite knowing that they would likely be slaughtered by ISIS if they were caught. Or worse. As her story played out I found myself even more heartbroken. I won’t say too much more or it would give away the plot.

Zaleekah was probably the weakest narrative of the book. I had a hard time connecting with her because the glimpses we get of her life seemed so unimportant. I wasn’t sure what she was there for until the very end. Eventually that story tied together with the others just as seamlessly but overall her story seemed like an afterthought.

My biggest negative of this book was the length. There were a lot of things that happen that didn’t feel necessary. There were long stretches where nothing happens at all. The middle of the book dragged on and on. I honestly considered putting the book down because it was just so dull. But I decided to soldier on, and I’m glad I did because the ending was magnificent. I certainly recommend this book, but just be aware that the middle is not as interesting as the beginning and end.

Progress Update – September 30, 2024

by Stefani

The Bitter Truth by Shanora Williams

Progress: 151 of 320 pages

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

An upstanding political candidate. A determined stalker. A shattering lost weekend. Now, when his worst secret comes calling, how far will one man’s elegant, all-too-devoted wife go to uncover the truth . . . or bury it?

For Jolene “Jo” Baker, the least she can do for her adoring husband, Dominic, is give unwavering support for his North Carolina gubernatorial run. He is not only the love of her life, he’s also helping her prove that she’s far more than just a pampered trophy wife. With huge crowds showing up at Dominic’s speeches and the polls consistently in his favor, she’s never been happier to stand proudly by his side . . .

Until she and Dominic start seeing the same, strangely ominous woman turning up all along the campaign trail. Until their tour starts becoming a nightmare of botched events, crucial missed information, and increasingly dangerous “accidents.” Suddenly Jo can’t get any answers from Dominic—or understand why he is acting so paranoid and terrified . . .

What Jo can do is start digging into his past—one she’s never really questioned beyond his perfect image and dazzling accomplishments. What results is an alarming series of events that leave her Good friends turn into enemies, truths are revealed to be lies, and all clues lead back to one secret, shattering weekend that changes Jo’s entire life. With her world splintering into pieces, can Jo risk trying to set things right? Or will hiding the bitter truth by any means necessary destroy her as well?

How it’s going:

I put this one down for awhile, but not because I didn’t enjoy it. The ARC I received has VERY small print, so even though I was enjoying the story that aspect was a bit offputting and made it difficult to read. But, this is a perfect popcorn thriller. If you wanted to, you could read it in an afternoon. It’s also getting pretty dark. I expected this to be about bad people who do bad things, but these are really bad things. I wasn’t entirely prepared for how bad. I am also getting an idea about who is stalking Dominic, we’ll see if my theory pans out.

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

Audio progress: 4.5 of 16.5 hours

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synosis:

In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River Tigris, King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia, erudite but ruthless, built a great library that would crumble with the end of his reign. From its ruins, however, emerged a poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, that would infuse the existence of two rivers and bind together three lives.

In 1840 London, Arthur is born beside the stinking, sewage-filled River Thames. With an abusive, alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother, Arthur’s only chance of escaping destitution is his brilliant memory. When his gift earns him a spot as an apprentice at a leading publisher, Arthur’s world opens up far beyond the slums, and one book in particular catches his interest: Nineveh and Its Remains.

In 2014 Turkey, Narin, a ten-year-old Yazidi girl, is diagnosed with a rare disorder that will soon cause her to go deaf. Before that happens, her grandmother is determined to baptize her in a sacred Iraqi temple. But with the rising presence of ISIS and the destruction of the family’s ancestral lands along the Tigris, Narin is running out of time.

In 2018 London, the newly divorced Zaleekah, a hydrologist, moves into a houseboat on the Thames to escape her husband. Orphaned and raised by her wealthy uncle, Zaleekah had made the decision to take her own life in one month, until a curious book about her homeland changes everything.

How it’s going:

The writing in this book is absolutely beautiful. The author uses a single drop of water as a vehicle to weave these diverse stories together. What was a raindrop that fell upon the Mesopotamian king became a snowflake that fell on Arthur’s face at his birth, that became a tear shed for Narin, that later fell on Zaleekah. Water is the vehicle for describing these humans and it’s just perfect. I love this story so much so far. It is beautiful and moving. So far Arthur is my favorite story but Narin is very compelling too.

New Releases Wednesday – September 4, 2024

by Stefani

The Booklover’s Library by Madeline Martin

Published: September 3, 2024 by Hanover Square Press

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

A heartwarming story about a mother and daughter in wartime England and the power of the books that bring them together.

In Nottingham, England, widow Emma Taylor finds herself in desperate need of a job to provide for herself and her beloved daughter, Olivia. But with the legal restrictions prohibiting widows with children from most employment opportunities, she’s left with only one option: persuading the manageress at Boots’ Booklover’s Library to take a chance on her.

When the threat of war becomes a reality, Olivia must be evacuated to the countryside. In her daughter’s absence, Emma seeks solace in the unlikely friendships she forms with her neighbors and coworkers, as well as the recommendations she provides to the library’s quirky regulars. But the job doesn’t come without its difficulties. Books are mysteriously misshelved and disappearing, and her work forces her to confront the memories of her late father and the bookstore they once owned together before a terrible accident.

As the Blitz intensifies in Nottingham and Emma fights to reunite with her daughter, she must learn to depend on her community and the power of literature more than ever to find hope in the darkest of times.

Why this caught my eye:

I generally enjoy historical fiction. And I enjoy stories set in England. So, taking those two things together and throw in a mom desperate to stay with her child and I am on board.

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig

Published: September 3, 2024 by Viking

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

The remarkable next novel from Matt Haig, the author of #1 New York Times bestseller The Midnight Library, with more than nine million copies sold worldwide

“What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet…”

When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.

Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.

Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.

Why this caught my eye:

The quote about magic being a part of life we don’t understand sold me on this book immediately. It’s such a promising idea, and the rest of the synopsis paints a beautiful picture too.

Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma

Published: September 3, 2024 by Little Brown Books

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

The Cruel Prince meets Ninth House in this dangerously romantic dark academia fantasy, where a lost heiress must infiltrate an arcane society and live with the vampire she suspects killed her family and kidnapped her sister.

It began long before my time, but something has always hunted our family.

Orphaned heiress Kidan Adane grew up far from the arcane society she was born into, where human bloodlines gain power through vampire companionship. When her sister, June, disappears, Kidan is convinced a vampire stole her—the very vampire bound to their family, the cruel yet captivating Susenyos Sagad.

To find June, Kidan must infiltrate the elite Uxlay University—where students study to ensure peaceful coexistence between humans and vampires and inherit their family legacies. Kidan must survive living with Susenyos—even as he does everything he can to drive her away. It doesn’t matter that Susenyos’s wickedness speaks to Kidan’s own violent nature and tempts her to surrender to a life of darkness. She must find her sister and kill Susenyos at all costs.

When a murder mirroring June’s disappearance shakes Uxlay, Kidan sinks further into the ruthless underworld of vampires, risking her very soul. There she discovers a centuries-old threat—and June could be at the center of it. To save her sister, Kidan must bring Uxlay to its knees and either break free from the horrors of her own actions or embrace the dark entanglements of love—and the blood it requires.

Why this caught my eye:

I can never say no to a book about secrets at a magical, secret school. They almost never turn out as amazingly as I imagine they will, but sometimes they do. Maybe this one will be the sometimes?

New Releases Wednesday – August 7, 2024

by Stefani

Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid

Published: August 6, 2024 by Del Rey

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ava Reid comes a reimagining of Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare’s most famous villainess, giving her a voice, a past, and a power that transforms the story men have written for her.

The Lady knows the stories: how her eyes induce madness in men. 

The Lady knows she will be wed to the Scottish brute, who does not leave his warrior ways behind when he comes to the marriage bed.  

The Lady knows his hostile, suspicious court will be a game of strategy, requiring all of her wiles and hidden witchcraft to survive. 

But the Lady does not know her husband has occult secrets of his own. She does not know that prophecy girds him like armor. She does not know that her magic is greater and more dangerous, and that it will threaten the order of the world. 

She does not know this yet. But she will.

House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen

Published: August 6, 2024 by St. Martin’s Press

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

On the outside they were the golden family with the perfect life. On the inside they built the perfect lie.

A young nanny who plunged to her death, or was she pushed? A nine-year-old girl who collects sharp objects and refuses to speak. A lawyer whose job it is to uncover who in the family is a victim and who is a murderer. But how can you find out the truth when everyone here is lying?

Rose Barclay is a nine-year-old girl who witnessed the possible murder of her nanny – in the midst of her parent’s bitter divorce – and immediately stopped speaking. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. She never accepts clients under thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood, but Stella’s mentor, a revered judge, believes Stella is the only one who can help.

From the moment Stella passes through the iron security gate and steps into the gilded, historic DC home of the Barclays, she realizes the case is even more twisted, and the Barclay family far more troubled, than she feared. And there’s something eerie about the house itself: It’s a plastic house, with not a single bit of glass to be found.

As Stella comes closer to uncovering the secrets the Barclays are desperate to hide, danger wraps around her like a shroud, and her past and present are set on a collision course in ways she never expected. Everyone is a suspect in the nanny’s murder. The mother, the father, the grandmother, the nanny’s boyfriend. Even Rose. Is the person Stella’s supposed to protect the one she may need protection from?

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

Published: August 6, 2024 by Tor Books

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

A dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm’s Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic

Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn’t allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother’s beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.

After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.

Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.