All Features

Fiction

Big books of summer

Feature by Amy Scribner

I don’t know how they do it—bestselling authors who deliver satisfying reads year after year. Among this season’s surefire bestsellers are two terrific novels from masters of their genres.

Stephen King’s The Outsider opens with every parent’s worst nightmare: Eleven-year-old Frankie Peterson is found raped and mutilated in a Flint City park. Detective Ralph Anderson is sure he has a slam-dunk case—it’s as airtight as he’s ever seen. The crime scene is dripping with evidence pointing toward beloved youth baseball coach Terry Maitland. Eyewitnesses recall seeing Maitland around town before and after the crime. Yet an alibi soon emerges that mystifies local authorities: At the time of the abduction, Maitland was at a work event miles away from Flint City. He’s even on video, and his fingerprints are found at his hotel.

King peppers The Outsider with the kind of eerie, nightmarish details that only he can conjure: a man with a melted face and straws for eyes who appears in a young girl’s bedroom; a pile of clothes found in a barn, stained black; and an abandoned cave where twin boys once died.

Can a man be in two places at once? Of course not. King’s creepy, exquisitely crafted, can’t-put-it-down tale offers a shocking possibility, one that stuns hardened law enforcement officials and threatens to destroy an entire community.

MIDDLE-AGE MAZE
A totally different kind of terror envelops Kate Reddy, the Brit who won the hearts of millions of working mums in Allison Pearson’s smash debut, I Don’t Know How She Does It. In the wise and sparkling follow-up, How Hard Can It Be?, Kate faces the horrors of menopause and raising teenagers.

After years tending to kids and aging parents, Kate must now re-enter the working world to support her family. Her husband, Richard, is nursing a serious midlife crisis, having quit his job to spend most of his time cycling—or more precisely, buying expensive cycling equipment. Kate takes a midlevel position at the financial fund she set up a decade before, reporting to a man who was born the year she started college.

“I recognize his type immediately,” Kate says. “Self-styled hipster, metrosexual, spends a fortune on scruffing products and Tom Ford Anti-Fatigue Eye Treatment.”

Navigating the pitfalls of age discrimination, Kate soon demonstrates the kind of hustle that made her a financial star years before. Readers may wish she could show such moxie in her home life: Kate’s daughter uses a social media mishap to manipulate Kate into doing her homework; Kate’s son steals her credit card; and Richard, well, he makes a decision so horrible that one hopes he forgets to wear a helmet on his next bike ride.

How hard can it be? Pretty damn hard, Kate learns. But with great friends, a steely core and a clever mind, Kate shows that women can launch themselves off the mommy track and back into the world.

 

This article was originally published in the June 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

I don’t know how they do it—bestselling authors who deliver satisfying reads year after year. Among this season’s surefire bestsellers are two terrific novels from masters of their genres.

Children's & YAPicture Book

Salute dear old dad with four fresh picture books

Feature by Julie Hale

Plan some family storytime this Father’s Day with one of the four new warmhearted books below that celebrate dads and families. These sweet, silly and love-filled tales are sure to make any dad feel extra special. 

A HAPPY HOMECOMING
Good Morning, Harry—Good Night, Daddy (ages 4 to 8) by Katy Beebe is a delightful celebration of a father and son’s bond. As the story opens, Harry’s father sets off for work in the evening as a conductor on an overnight train while Harry, Mummy, Gran and Baby settle in for the night. Beebe artfully juxtaposes their separate stories, alternating between scenes on the train, where Daddy looks after passengers, and scenes at home, where it’s almost bedtime for Harry: “Whoo-whoo sings the train, rocking on its way. ‘Too-ra-lee, Too-ra-loo,’ sings Mummy, winding down the day.” The concurrent stories come together when Daddy returns from work the next morning, and the family is reunited. Valeri Gorbachev’s detailed illustrations bring out the warmth of Beebe’s tale. The final scene of the book is a playful moment between father and son, making it clear that every day is Father’s Day at Harry’s house.

BETWEEN GENERATIONS
In Davide Cali’s funny, furry family tale, Great Dog (ages 3 to 7), a father-and-son canine pair peruses portraits of their four-legged forebears and discuss their distinguished pedigree. From Aunt Doris, a courageous firedog, to Uncle Tibor, a champion runner, their relatives were all Great Dogs who the young son hopes to emulate. Anxious about living up to such high ancestral standards, he asks his father, “What about me? What will I be?” Dad is ready with the right answer: “No matter what,” he replies, “you will be a GREAT dog.” Each canine portrait is accompanied by a fold-out page with scenes of each dog’s remarkable exploits, and the book’s final spread reveals a surprise. Animal lovers of all ages will adore Miguel Tanco’s droll dog illustrations. This wry, uplifting story is just right for sharing with Dad on his special day.

A DAD WHO’S ALWAYS THERE
Written and illustrated by popular Instagram artist Soosh, Dad by My Side (ages 4 to 8) is a tender little tale that captures the special connection between dads and daughters. The narrator—a tot with braided pigtails—enumerates all the things she loves about her father: “With Dad by my side, there’s nothing we can’t do. He knows how to make me smile,” she begins. “He’s not afraid to look silly.” Whether he’s presenting a puppet show or getting stuck in a hula hoop, Dad is clearly game for anything, and Soosh portrays him as a big, bearded figure who’s capable, comforting, sensitive and completely worthy of his daughter’s adoration. Her gorgeous watercolor illustrations beautifully depict the duo’s special relationship. Featuring simple, poetic text and a heartfelt message, this is an ideal gift book.

A TWILIGHT ADVENTURE
In Laura Krauss Melmed’s Daddy, Me, and the Magic Hour (ages 3 to 6), a spunky youngster can’t wait for the special time after supper when he and his father go for a stroll. The boy views their evening walks as a time of discovery and excitement and calls it “the Magic Hour.” As they begin their trek, “bright, loud daytime is getting softer.” Neighbors are doing yard work and joggers and dog owners fill the sidewalks. After they swing at the playground and catch fireflies, darkness begins to fall, and it’s time to head back home. “One swoop, and I’m up on Daddy’s shoulders. . . . Together, we make a quiet giant who can almost reach the moon,” the boy says. Sarita Rich’s bold, expressive illustrations communicate the boy’s sense of wonder surrounding the outside world—and his admiration for dad. This fun father-son adventure will inspire families to implement Magic Hours of their own.

Plan some family stor time this Father’s Day with one of the four new warmhearted books below that celebrate dads and families. These sweet, silly and love-filled tales are sure to make any dad feel extra special. 

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Revolutions in form: Brain-bending sci-fi

Feature by Noah Fram

Science fiction, more than perhaps any other genre, has an established tradition of social and political critique. Such iconic works as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine, Isaac Asimov’s Foundation and Frank Herbert’s Dune all used future human civilizations as stages to play out contemporary struggles such as Golden Age hedonism, class-based societies, modern imperialism and plutocracy. This pattern, dating back to the genre’s inception in the 19th century, has created an expectation that new science fiction must also contend with some contemporary crisis of the human condition, preferably in some novel fashion.

Both Peter Watts and Claire North (the pen name of Catherine Webb) have established themselves as unique literary voices. Watts is known for his exhaustively researched fiction and tight narrative structure, while North is a linguistic gymnast in the tradition of T. S. Eliot and Thomas Pynchon. Their most recent offerings, The Freeze-Frame Revolution and 84K, do not disappoint, and although each of their plots is strongly reminiscent of other novels, the delivery sets them apart from their compatriots.

In Watts’ The Freeze-Frame Revolution, Sunday Ahzmundin is a biological engineer on the spaceship Eriophora, whose unusually close relationship with the AI autopilot, Chimp, is tested when she learns of a rebellion being conducted by certain members of the crew in their brief gaps between decades-long periods of stasis. Although this is, by Watts’ admission, more scientifically speculative than his other work, purists will be pleased by his handling of machine learning, evolutionary time scale and even names—Eriophora is a genus of orb-weaving spider that creates spiral webs, and the Eriophora is building a spiral web of faster-than-light travel routes. The Freeze-Frame Revolution is closer in length to a novella than a novel, which enables the cover-to-cover tautness of the plot and makes the character development, especially of the relationship between Sunday and Chimp, all the more remarkable.

84K, by contrast, is both large and dense. Theo Miller is a man of uncertain provenance, living in a near-future United Kingdom that is dominated by a single massive monopoly called the Company. Theo determines the price in pounds sterling that convicted criminals must pay for their offenses, but when a woman from his past reappears, he must face the blight at the heart of his society. North constructs a linear plot out of disjointed slices of time, resulting in a book that never shows its hand and only snaps into focus at the very end. This unusual plot structure makes 84K a challenge for the reader, but it feels necessary. After all, North is painting a portrait of a society that hides its true form behind a facade of advertising and euphemism. Her heroes miss crucial details, and it is unclear whether “heroes” is really the right thing to call them.

Although The Freeze-Frame Revolution is strongly reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and 84K contends with a similar autocracy to George Orwell’s 1984, each book distinguishes itself both by its author’s technique and by its treatment of moral ambiguity. In each case, the protagonist possesses imperfect and likely biased information and is embroiled in a revolt that, for all its humane intentions, is anything but benevolent in practice. Watts leaves the essential conflict tantalizingly unresolved and writes from the perspective of Sunday retelling the events. This casts doubt on the veracity of Sunday as narrator, transforming what could otherwise have been a relatively cliché story of man versus machine into an engaging tale that leaves the reader with more questions than answers. And North consistently justifies her writerly contortions by using them to convey her protagonist’s state of mind. Her carefully chosen run-on sentences, unusual phrasing and jarring jumps (frequently mid-sentence) from thought to thought, character to narrator, or present to past convey Theo’s progress from being a deliberately boring, utterly confused bureaucrat to a man who has finally attained a sense of purpose.

Perhaps modern science fiction is somewhat hamstrung by its need to reflect our current society in its speculative funhouse mirror. There are only so many great debates to be had, after all. But these latest contributions, from such eminently skilled writers as Watts and North, are worthy voices in their respective conversations, and thoroughly engrossing stories in their own right.

Both Peter Watts and Claire North (the pen name of Catherine Webb) have established themselves as unique literary voices. Watts is known for his exhaustively researched fiction and tight narrative structure, while North is a linguistic gymnast in the tradition of T. S. Eliot and Thomas Pynchon. Their most recent offerings, The Freeze-Frame Revolution and 84K, do not disappoint, and although each of their plots is strongly reminiscent of other novels, the delivery sets them apart from their compatriots.

Romance

Sizzling summer flings

Feature by Lily McGhee

Summer is here, and that means ’tis the season for fun, sexy reads you can take to the beach, the back porch or your dream vacation spot. This trio of fresh, fast-paced romance offerings couldn’t be more different from one another, and they are all standouts of the genre—so they’re sure to steam up your summer and keep the season exciting.

LAW AND ORDER
Henry Garrison has earned infamy and the nickname “Monster of Manhattan” due to his ruthless style in the courtroom and his media-documented personal demons. When he retreats to his cherished childhood home in Martha’s Vineyard for some solitude, the last thing he’s expecting is the beautiful, vibrant Win Hughes who—quite literally—topples into his broken world.

Win is everything Henry is missing. She is kind, vivacious and drop-dead stunning to boot. Beyond all that, she is emerging from her own battle that has left her scarred and vulnerable. Win and Henry are two of a kind, and the spark between them grows quickly to a blaze, until they mutually choose to stifle it in favor of moving on.

However, Win is not who Henry believes she is, and her past soon comes to light when her best friend is murdered at a very public celebrity function. Win needs a lawyer, and she knows just where to turn. Now Henry must come to terms with her new identity and what it means for the two of them.

Order of Protection is a fresh, expertly crafted novel that deftly walks the line between a good mystery and a mouthwatering romance. That is to be expected from an author like Lexi Blake, one of the most prolific and accomplished authors of the genre, who has a series for every taste, fantasy and desire.

What makes this novel a standout, however, is the constant innovation present in the story and in the chemistry between the leading couple. Every moment they share is taut but genuine, and never over-simplified or trite. The pace is engaging—this is as much a murder mystery as it is a love story. It takes a truly excellent writer to develop endearing characters that feel like real people, never mere plot devices. Pick up Order of Protection to make those long, lazy summer days sizzle.

SMALL-TOWN SWEETHEARTS
The best romance novels star the most unexpected protagonists, and a PTA mom is about as unexpected as it gets. The latest installment in the Hellcat Canyon novels, The First Time at Firelight Falls envelops readers in the kind of everyday love we all dream about, while elevating stakes and heart rates alike.

Eden Harwood has been juggling motherhood, a career and her family for the blissful 10 years since her daughter, Annelise, was born. As her life stabilizes and she and Annelise learn together what happiness looks like, Eden can’t imagine adding one more thing to her to-do list. Except, of course, for Gabe Caldera, her daughter’s mouthwatering ex-Navy SEAL principal.

Gabe is equally drawn to Eden, and he soon makes it clear that he wants to be part of the gorgeous redhead’s life. Unfortunately, new love is delicate, and it isn’t long before a figure from Eden’s past comes into the picture, forcing her to re-evaluate her own happiness, her daughter’s and that of her newfound beau.

What makes The First Time at Firelight Falls truly unique is author Julie Anne Long’s sparkling voice. The tone is light and sassy (Long is genuinely hilarious), the writing is insightful, and the whole novel is infused with important lessons on how vital it is to fill our lives with love from all sources—family, friends and, yes, lovers. Side note: This is the first romance novel I have ever read that made me go, “Oh, this was written by a woman, and thank God for that.” The ego trips and male posturing of the men in Eden’s life are punctured by some truly hilarious jokes, and are not tolerated or glorified for one moment.

Long ordinarily writes sumptuous historical romances, and her Hellcat Canyon books are a delicious foray into the contemporary side of the genre. The First Time at Firelight Falls is a fresh, funny, essential read for the summer bookshelf of the everyday romantic.

HIGHLAND FLING
A good romance novel gives its readers a great atmosphere, and Laird of the Black Isle proves the point flawlessly. Paula Quinn’s latest novel of the Highlands sweeps readers into a high-stakes encounter between a cold, formidable nobleman and a tempestuous young woman.

Since tragedy befell his family, Lachlan MacKenzie has needed nobody and nothing. He is a mystery to his people and takes comfort in the solitary existence he has carefully constructed for himself. That is, until he receives word that he may have a chance to right the wrongs of his past. All he has to do is kidnap a young woman of the MacGregor clan—an easy mission for a warrior like Lachlan.

Or so he believes, until he takes Mailie MacGregor hostage and gets far, far more than he bargained for. Mailie is breathtakingly beautiful, with a fierce spirit to match. She resolves to fight her captor with everything she has and to return home to her loved ones as quickly as possible. The longer the two of them are together, however, the more Mailie finds that her Highland kidnapper may not be the only one who’s caught off guard.

Quinn is well-seasoned in the art of the Highland romance novel. Her books are lush, detailed and irresistibly sexy. Laird of the Black Isle features one of the most engaging heroines of the genre, but more than the fiery, lovable characters, this story makes readers really and truly care. Almost every character here is deeply devoted to their family, and this theme lends the narrative a warm, engaging depth. A small note for those looking to devour this book the way I did: Because Quinn is incredibly dedicated to authenticity, this book is written phonetically. Words are spelled as they sound in a Scottish accent, and this particular detail may take some getting used to. But for anyone yearning after a summer read that’s hotter than the temperature outside, look no further than Laird of the Black Isle.

Summer is here, and that means ’tis the season for fun, sexy reads you can take to the beach, the back porch or your dream vacation spot. This trio of fresh, fast-paced romance offerings couldn’t be more different from one another, and they are all standouts of the genre—so they’re sure to steam up your summer and keep the season exciting.

Fiction

Stay up all night with cold-blooded fiction

Feature by G. Robert Frazier

It’s Private Eye July at BookPage! This month, we’re celebrating the sinister side of fiction with the year’s best mysteries and thrillers. Look for the Private Eye July magnifying glass for a dose of murder, espionage and all those creepy neighbors with even creepier secrets.

The latest wave of suspenseful novels brings thrills and chills to your summer reading list. These five stories of mystery, intrigue and horrific happenings are perfect for lazy days at the beach or hot summer nights.

What begins as a fun, relaxing getaway at a New Hampshire lake for 7-year-old Wen and her dads, Andrew and Eric, turns into a terrifying ordeal of survival in The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay. When the trio is visited at their cabin by four mysterious strangers—Leonard, Adriane, Redmond and Sabrina—their familial bond is put to the ultimate test. “We are not going to kill you, Wen, and we are not going to kill your parents,” promises Leonard, the smooth-talking leader of the visitors and an alleged bartender from the Chicago area. He goes on to explain: “The four of us are here to prevent the apocalypse.” But to ensure that happens, Wen, Andrew or Eric has to die, and they must choose among themselves who it will be. The unusual deal thrusts the family into a tense moral dilemma that tests the limits of their love. Tremblay won the 2015 Bram Stoker Award for A Head Full of Ghosts and may be on his way to a repeat with the chillingly good The Cabin at the End of the World.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read a Q&A with Tremblay for The Cabin at the End of the World.

DON'T DIG TOO DEEP
What secrets do a mother and her son keep, and how far are they willing to go to protect those secrets? These are just two of the questions facing Lydia Fitzsimons and her son, Laurence, in Lying in Wait, set in 1980s Dublin. Lydia explains on page one that her husband, Andrew, “did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it.” It’s off to the races from there. Within short order, 18-year-old Laurence—who recently had sex for the first time with his girlfriend and endures bullying every day at school because of his excess weight—discovers Annie’s body buried in their backyard. As Laurence wrestles to learn what happened and how his parents could have done such a thing, Lydia goes about her business as if nothing happened. Elsewhere, Annie’s twin sister, Karen, begins a meticulous investigation into her sister’s disappearance. Events cascade toward a collision as the trio’s stories unwind in alternating chapters. Author Liz Nugent, whose debut novel, Unraveling Oliver, earned high critical praise, has upped her game here with a darkly twisted tale of murder, lies and secrets best left buried.

AND THE CREDITS ROLL
Sibling rivalry and Hollywood obsessions collide in young adult novelist Jennifer Wolfe’s adult fiction debut, Watch the Girls. From the start of her acting career, Liv Hendricks (formerly known as child actress Olivia Hill) has been pushed at every turn by her domineering mother, Desiree, and has lived in the shadows of her successful sisters, Miranda and Gemma. Then Liv’s career reaches a dead end when Miranda goes missing. Years later, after a bout of alcoholism and being ousted from a reality series, Liv decides to reignite her career by filming her own detective web series. Her first case: find the missing daughter of auteur Jonas Kron, whose horror films have earned him a cult-like following. Liv follows the trail to Kron’s California hometown of Stone’s Throw, where fans are converging for an annual film festival in Kron’s honor. With bitter townsfolk, a none-too-helpful sheriff and Kron’s crazed followers to contend with, Liv discovers that finding the truth will be a challenge. When Liv’s younger sister Gemma also goes missing in the haunted woods of Stone’s Throw, the stakes intensify. Wolfe incorporates text message exchanges into the more traditional first-person narrative to create a novel that reflects today’s social media-obsessed world. Fast-paced and fraught with suspense, Watch the Girls unravels like a perfect summer-night movie.

WELCOME BACK TO CAMP
Riley Sager, who made a splash with last year’s Final Girls, returns this summer with another tense thriller. Whereas Final Girls followed the plight of the sole survivor of a horror movie-like massacre whose past comes back to haunt her, The Last Time I Lied follows Emma Davis in her quest to find her friends, who disappeared in the dead of night during a camp outing 15 years ago. Emma, who has become an accomplished New York artist, is invited to return to Camp Nightingale as an art instructor and sees it as an opportunity to learn what really happened that night. The past has a way of repeating itself, and it isn’t long before Emma suspects she and her new camp companions may be in as much danger as her lost friends. The tension ratchets up with each chapter, leading to a suspenseful showdown. Like Final Girls, The Last Time I Lied has all the earmarks of a campy Friday the 13th-type horror flick, but Sager elevates the story with a strong lead character and a grounded, realistic threat.

MONEY WON'T SAVE YOU
In case the previous thrill-a-minute reads are a little too intense, or readers are looking for a more intellectually stirring, sophisticated mystery, The Banker’s Wife by Cristina Alger may fit the bill. A former financial analyst and corporate attorney, Alger brings her real-world experiences to bear in this novel about the world of global finance, insider trading and corruption. After Swiss banker Matthew Lerner’s private plane bound for Geneva crashes in the Alps during a storm, his wife, Annabel, is left to piece together her life and, perhaps more importantly, the mysteries he leaves behind—namely, an encrypted laptop and a client who doesn’t want Matthew’s secrets getting out. At the same time, journalist Marina Tourneau is enlisted to obtain a USB drive containing highly sensitive materials from a Luxembourg courier that may reveal the whereabouts of long-thought deceased financial schemer Morty Reiss. Along the way, Marina discovers a financial web with far-reaching implications, inevitably bringing the two storylines together. With global settings, covert government agencies and intricate plotting, The Banker’s Wife reads like an old-fashioned international espionage thriller. But Alger’s talents keep the plot digestible for readers while her female protagonists provide strong, smart alternatives to this typically male-dominated genre.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

The latest wave of suspenseful novels brings thrills and chills to your summer reading list. These five stories of mystery, intrigue and horrific happenings are perfect for lazy days at the beach or hot summer nights.

MysteryCozy Mystery

Whip-smart amateur sleuths

Feature by Barbara Clark

It’s Private Eye July at BookPage! This month, we’re celebrating the sinister side of fiction with the year’s best mysteries and thrillers. Look for the Private Eye July magnifying glass for a dose of murder, espionage and all those creepy neighbors with even creepier secrets.

Secrets make for good reading in three new cozy mysteries set against colorful backdrops, from 1913 prewar New York City and Boston’s lively North End in 1937 to an abandoned mansion in present-day Maryland.

In Murder in Greenwich Village, 20-year-old Louise Faulk has a painful secret, one that follows her to New York City in 1913 as she seeks work and a new life. She has a new roommate and friend, the lovely Broadway wannabe Callie, and the two run smack into a gruesome murder committed in their Greenwich Village apartment. As she gets involved in searching for clues, Louise discovers her own talent for problem-solving and detection, and she finds she has a taste for police work that’s both intimidating and inviting. First-time novelist Liz Freeland lures readers in with her tense, escalating plot, droll humor and the possibility of an unexpected romance. Readers are never bludgeoned with the obvious or overly dramatic. This new series is sure to be a hit on all fronts.

BOSTON GLAM
Cream-filled cannoli from the North End, the golden dome of the State House, bells ringing from the Old North Church—there’s atmosphere galore in Murder at the Flamingo, the opener of Rachel McMillan’s new Van Buren and DeLuca Mystery series, set in 1937 Boston. The murder happens nearly 200 pages in, but in the meantime, the story revolves around two characters, runaways of a kind, who eventually pair up to sleuth and maybe even fall in love. Well-to-do Regina “Reggie” Van Buren and young lawyer Hamish DeLuca are each about to turn a corner in their lives when they are swept up in the orbit of Hamish’s cousin Luca Valari, a young man of charm, ambition—and many secrets. Adventure and a quick coming of age are at hand when Luca’s new nightclub, the Flamingo, opens its doors to champagne, glamour and shady doings, as the youthful pair encounters the darker side of Boston’s glitzy nightclub scene.

HOMETOWN HOMICIDE
A formerly thriving industrial town falls victim to changing times, but a spirited young woman rides to the rescue—at least that’s where things seem to be headed in Murder at the Mansion, the first book in the Victorian Village Mystery series by Sheila Connolly, the beloved author of more than 30 mysteries. The story centers on a lovely old Victorian mansion that may hold the key to the struggling Maryland town’s rejuvenation. Kate Hamilton, who works in hospitality management at a tony Baltimore hotel, returns to her hometown of Asheford at the behest of an old friend to discuss ways to get the town back on its feet. Of course there’s a caretaker at the mansion, and of course he’s attractive. When the two tour the place, they stumble over a dead body—but since when did murder impede a budding romance? Readers who like inheritance drama will enjoy this diverting story.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Secrets make for good reading in three new cozy mysteries set against colorful backdrops, from 1913 prewar New York City and Boston’s lively North End in 1937 to an abandoned mansion in present-day Maryland.

Nonfiction

Pack it up, pack it in

Feature by Sarah McCraw Crow

Summertime means travel—family travel, solo journeys, finding lost places. Two new books take on these concepts in distinctive ways.

In Don’t Make Me Pull Over!, Richard Ratay uses his memories of family trips as a portal back to what he calls the golden age of car travel: the 1970s, when he would sit crammed in the family car’s back seat between his two brothers, his sister up front between their parents. Ratay’s dad had some eccentric ideas about saving time and money on their long car trips, and Ratay recounts these anecdotes with relish.

Ratay also takes a comprehensive look at the family road trip, starting with the patchy history of American roads and the changes wrought by the interstate system. He gives us the backstory on entrepreneurs like Howard Johnson, who grew one drugstore into a national chain of restaurants and motels, and Bill Stuckey, whose stores once blanketed the South. And he delves into smaller but memorable details of ’70s-era car trips: the CB radio craze, eight-track tape players, AAA’s TripTik guides and low-tech video games.

Don’t Make Me Pull Over! is a love letter to the ’70s and all its weirdness, and if Ratay sometimes goes a little overboard on travel-related puns, that’s OK—he just so enjoys his subject. His enthusiasm shows in this entertaining, funny book.

Northland takes a quieter journey, detailing author Porter Fox’s treks along the border between the United States and Canada, the world’s longest international border. “On a map the boundary is a line,” Fox writes. “On land, it passes through impossible places—ravines, cliff bands, bogs, waterfalls, rocky summits, whitewater—that few people ever see.” Fox begins his journey near Passamaquoddy Bay, Maine, where he puts in for a solo canoe trip up the St. Croix River, following the path of explorer Samuel de Champlain.

Fox’s journey has five legs. In Montreal, he boards a freighter bound for the Great Lakes; in Minnesota, he canoes the Boundary Waters with an older married couple; in North Dakota, he visits the pipeline protests at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation; in Montana, he follows the border to Glacier National Park; and finally he makes his way to the Peace Arch Border Crossing, which connects Washington and Canada.

The narrative moves fluidly between Fox’s own travels and larger stories of the border, mixing history, travel writing and nature writing. Fox shows how the northern border is intimately bound up with our nation’s history, particularly in the shifting relationships between European settlers and Native Americans and the violent and sad history of the United States’ treatment of indigenous people. But he also gives nuanced profiles of intrepid French explorers Champlain and Robert de La Salle, who learned from and fought alongside Native Americans.

Most memorably, Northland offers vivid, lyrical writing about the strange and beautiful places along the United States’ northern border.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Summertime means travel—family travel, solo journeys, finding lost places. Two new books take on these concepts in distinctive ways.

YA FictionYA

Into the woods we go

Feature by Jon Little

Two new young adult novels open in Boulder, Colorado, and find their teen protagonists in the wilderness—struggling to save themselves or someone they love.

With a host of deftly drawn characters, Emily France’s Zen and Gone is a paean to the multicultural mountain mecca of Boulder.

With no father, a stoner mom who burns through boyfriends like cigarettes and a little sister to look after, Essa is not a carefree teenager. Determined to give her little sister, Puck, the stability and attention she so desperately needs, Essa spurns drugs and dating for the clean thrills of orienteering and the practical wisdom of Zen Buddhism. Everything changes when a Chicago transplant named Oliver arrives in Boulder for the summer, and Essa’s self-imposed no-dating rule is put to the test. But when the couple signs up for a survival game in the Rocky Mountains, Puck breaks the rules and tags along—and promptly goes missing in the Colorado wilderness.

Though Zen and Gone toggles back and forth between Essa’s and Oliver’s viewpoints, with the latter struggling to come to terms with his sister’s schizophrenia, this story belongs to Essa. And as she searches for Puck, it becomes a tale of faith as much as anything else.

While France’s promotion of mindfulness and her foregrounding of Buddhist principles make Zen and Gone a unique contribution to the YA canon, its vivid rooting in place and its granular depiction of present-day Boulder is its greatest achievement.

Kathy Parks’ Notes from My Captivity also features a complex female protagonist who is thrust into the unknown, but Parks favors quick-witted dialogue over detailed description, resulting in a story filled with high-energy prose and off-kilter humor.

When Adrienne leaves Boulder to join her anthropologist stepfather in the Siberian wilderness on a mission to find the elusive and possibly mythical Osinov family, she quickly finds herself out of her depth. In a matter of pages, their entire search party dies and Adrienne is captured by the Osinovs. The only eligible woman for miles around, Adrienne decides her best shot at surviving rests with the Osinovs’ youngest son, Vanya. If she can make him fall for her, then she might be able to survive long enough to convince him to smuggle her back to civilization. Though it begins as a ploy, their real attraction threatens to develop into something else entirely.

When Adrienne learns that the Osinovs can communicate with the dead, her focus turns from her budding romance and dreams of escape to her deceased father. She would give anything to speak to him just one more time, but if it means losing Vanya and forgoing the chance of returning to her home, will she go through with it? With a touch of magic and a heavy dose of humor, Notes from My Captivity is a fast-paced summer read sure to thrill.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Two new young adult novels open in Boulder, Colorado, and find their teen protagonists in the wilderness—struggling to save themselves or someone they love.

Children's & YAYA FictionYAMiddle Grade

Summer fantasies to keep young readers flipping pages

Feature by Hilli Levin & Savanna Walker

Sweeping fantasies are this year’s biggest trend in children’s and teen literature—think breathtaking action, complex world building, magical abilities and bands of young heroes who must save the day.

Like any great high fantasy should, Jaleigh Johnson’s The Door to the Lost opens with a series of maps depicting the land of Talhaven and the grand city of Regara, where “magic is dying,” only to be found in the abilities of 327 seemingly orphaned children who have been mysteriously jettisoned from their magic-filled homeland known as Vora.

A young girl known as Rook happens to be one of these magical refugees, and she and her friend Drift survive in Regara by offering their magical skills on a sort of black market. Rook’s particular talent is creating doors—she simply draws a rectangle with a piece of chalk and channels thoughts of her destination in order to open a portal. But one client’s door goes horribly wrong, and Rook lets in a giant Fox, whom she discovers is actually a shape-shifting boy from a snow-filled world. Can Rook and Drift get Fox back home again when they’re not even sure how to get there?

Johnson’s spell-casting cast of young heroes will entertain and endear, and their sweet adventure will help young readers grasp some key details of the refugee crisis in a way that never feels ham-fisted.

MAGIC OF FRIENDSHIP
The latest middle grade novel from Printz Honor-winning author Garret Weyr, The Language of Spells, is an extraordinary tale that meshes real historical events with a winning cast of magical creatures.

As this magic-filled journey begins in 1803, we meet a young dragon known as Grisha in the Black Forest. He’s young and carefree and enjoys eating acorns and playing by the stream—until one day, a heartless sorcerer imprisons him in a teapot. Grisha’s teapot is sold to the highest bidder, and for hundreds of years, he silently observes the world as it changes around him. When his enchantment is finally broken, he’s reunited with a group of dragons in Vienna during World War II. But the lives of the once mighty dragons are now controlled by the Department of Extinct Exotics, an organization that refuses to allow them to return to the forest and instead assigns them strict jobs and curfews. On a night off in a hotel bar, Grisha meets a human girl named Maggie, and the two forge a sweet and powerful friendship built on empathy and honesty. Soon, the two join forces to face their fears and investigate what happened to the city’s missing dragons.

Katie Harnett’s black-and-white illustrations kick off each chapter and add to the classic European fairy-tale atmosphere, and Weyr’s allegorical tale never glosses over a heart-rending detail or passes up a chance for a gorgeous turn of phrase, making this an ideal read-aloud that fantasy lovers of all ages can enjoy.

EPIC TRAGEDY
Puccini’s opera Turandot is based on a Persian fairy tale about a princess who challenges her suitors to solve three riddles in order to win her hand. If they fail, they will be executed. As one would expect from an opera written in 1924 set in the “mystical East,” there isn’t much historical accuracy to be found—but the original fairy tale was inspired by a Mongol warrior woman named Khutulun, who declared she would only marry a man who could beat her in a wrestling match. It is within this Mongol Empire that author Megan Bannen sets her retelling of Turandot, The Bird and the Blade (Balzer + Bray, $17.99, 432 pages, ISBN 9780062674159, ages 13 and up).

Slave girl Jinghua is on the run with deposed Mongol Khan Timur and his kindhearted son Khalaf. Timur wants to raise an army to take back his lands. Khalaf wants to marry the princess Turandokht by solving her riddles and, as her husband, restore his father to power. Jinghua, who thinks both plans are idiotic, is hilariously blunt about her chances of surviving either of them, but less open about her growing feelings for Khalaf.

Bannen plays with time in her YA debut, beginning with the trio’s arrival at Turandokht’s palace and then flashing back to their dangerous journey there. The awkward attraction between Jinghua and Khalaf, plus Timur’s caustic sarcasm, makes this novel surprisingly funny. But after Bannen reveals the utter devastation behind one character’s self-deprecating facade, it’s a relentless rush to the finale as Jinghua tries to save Khalaf.

Bannen’s prose grows ever more lyrical, soaring to match her ambition as The Bird and the Blade arrives at an unforgettable climax.

LOST GIRLS
For some reason, there are an awful lot of new YA novels in which women are endangered or oppressed. Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart is one of the most compelling of the bunch.

Serina Tessaro and her sister, Nomi, travel to the capital city of Bellaqua where Serina will compete for a chance to become one of the Heir’s Graces. Banghart doesn’t spell it out all at once, but Graces are essentially glorified concubines who represent the ideal subservient woman. The sisters are shocked when rebellious Nomi is chosen, and soon Serina takes the fall for one of Nomi’s crimes and is sent to Mount Ruin, a prison island.

Nomi’s storyline has the romantic entanglements and sparkling settings common to YA fantasy, but Banghart presents both with queasy suspicion. The beautiful rooms and pretty gowns of the Graces are mere decoration for another type of prison, and it is impossible to fall in love with a man who might see you as a possession or a tool.

Meanwhile, the all-female prisoners of Mount Ruin are forced to fight for rations, and Serina’s lifelong training to become a Grace surprisingly helps her excel in her new environment. As she begins to enjoy the camaraderie and mentorship of other women for the first time in her life, Serina’s feminine ideal quickly transforms from elegant consort to ferocious warrior. After all, in a society that constrains women at every turn, both roles offer a way to survive.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Sweeping fantasies are this year’s biggest trend in children’s and teen literature—think breathtaking action, complex world building, magical abilities and bands of young heroes who must save the day.

Children's & YAPicture Book

Wacky tales of animal antics

Feature by Julie Hale

These rollicking picture books feature animals who get mixed up in some outrageous situations. High jinks and humor ensue in five slapstick stories for young readers. Reading has never been more uproarious!

Sterling, Best Dog Ever by Aidan Cassie is a heartwarming parable about a lonely pooch’s search for his place in the world. Sterling is living in a box in an alley when he gets a crazy idea. He sneaks into the Butlery Cutlery Company’s warehouse, takes a ride down the silverware assembly line, gets packed up in a box of brand new forks and is soon delivered to the Gilbert family’s front door. As a skinny critter with a silvery coat, Sterling blends right in with the utensils at first glance, but the Gilberts quickly realize that he’s different. Their daughter befriends him, and Sterling is determined to please her and keep up the ruse. Instead—with the help of his new friend—he learns the importance of being himself. Cassie brings Sterling’s changeable nature to vivid life through vibrant, playful illustrations. This is a sweet story that addresses important ideas about self-esteem and individuality.

TOO MANY MISSING PETS
The confused little girl in Mark Iacolina’s Did You Eat the Parakeet? is convinced her cat has made a meal of her pet bird, but readers know from the get-go that this isn’t the case. It’s a silly scenario that’s sure to elicit lots of laughs during storytime. The girl takes her cat to task: “Did you eat the parakeet? He was right there on his tiny seat! He was such a small and scrawny bird. To eat him would be absurd!” The frustrated feline soon sets the girl straight, and all is well—until her pet mouse goes missing! Iacolina’s rhyming text is irresistible, and his stick-figure illustrations, embellished with patches of color and pattern, are wonderfully expressive. There’s lots to love about this story of pet ownership gone awry.

FINDING FRIENDSHIP
Jim Averbeck’s touching Trevor features a solitary canary who longs for someone to sing with. Perched in his “safe, boring cage,” Trevor is feeling dejected until he spies a lemon hanging on a branch outside the window. Mistaking it for a bird, he leaves his cage and flies to the tree with a seed as a gift. Although the lemon remains strangely silent, Trevor builds a nest where they can live together. When the lemon disappears during a storm, Trevor is alone again, but not for a long. The kernel he brought as a gift has sprouted into a sunflower, and its seeds attract a feathered flock who welcome him as one of their own. Amy Hevron’s lovely acrylic-on-wood illustrations have eye-catching texture. Filled with hope, this gentle book shows that friendship can materialize at the perfect moment.

AN UNEXPECTED GUEST
Deborah Underwood’s madcap Walrus in the Bathtub is filled with splish-splash fun. Mom, Dad and the kids are excited about their new house. It has a large yard and a big bathtub that—surprise!—is already occupied by an enormous walrus. He’s having a leisurely soak as the family arrives on move-in day, accidentally creating some “bathtub tidal waves.” Between the walrus’ pool parties (er, bathtub parties)—complete with friendly seagulls and a blasting boombox—and his unendurable singing, the family’s nerves begin to fray. Despite the efforts of a plumber, a firefighter and a wildlife rescuer, the walrus won’t budge from the tub, which means the family might have to move out, but perhaps the troublesome walrus is just a little misunderstood. Matt Hunt’s bright, vivid illustrations are chock-full of details, including lots of floating soap bubbles. Bath time will never be the same once the kiddos get a look at this book.

LOST AT SEA
Leo is a wee infant when he goes flying overboard—and away from his frantic parents—during a boat trip. Following the accident, he’s cared for by friendly sea lions. In A Home for Leo, Vin Vogel tells the delightful story of the boy’s life by the ocean. Leo has fun with his new family—they teach him to swim and catch fish—although he doesn’t quite fit in with them. After he’s unexpectedly reunited with his parents, Leo is one happy lad, but he misses his animal pals. Can he find a way to bring his two lives together? Vogel’s energetic, cartoonish illustrations add to the appeal of Leo’s adventures. This out-of-the-ordinary story has a heartwarming ending, as Leo and his parents find the perfect home—by the sea, of course.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

These rollicking picture books feature animals who get mixed up in some outrageous situations. High jinks and humor ensue in five slapstick stories for young readers. Reading has never been more uproarious!

Romance

Kiss me deadly

Feature by Lily McGhee

Summer days are long and slow, which is why it’s the perfect season for devouring a smart, spicy story that never lets up on the suspense or the chemistry between its characters.

DEADLY CRESCENDO
Julie Ann Walker’s award-winning Black Knights Inc. series comes to a heart-pounding conclusion this summer with Built to Last. Ten years ago, Interpol agent Sonya Butler had a whirlwind of a romance with a hard, mysterious man who left her behind in a tragedy that shook her to her core. Now, coerced into the service of the world’s most dangerous criminal kingpin, she comes face-to-face with a dangerous—and very hot—international legend whose ghosts have a startling amount in common with her own.

As an operative for some of the world’s most elite spy organizations, Angel has changed identities so many times he hardly remembers who he is. All that ever matters to him is his mission, and his drive to save the world. But regardless of how many years go by, he cannot escape the memory of the woman who still holds his heart. He is about to find out how hard it is to love when you have no name.

Walker’s signature style is a deadly, tightly paced combination of romance, intrigue and men on motorcycles. The perilous situations in this book felt so real, I found myself sincerely worried for the safety of the characters as I read. It can be difficult to combine multiple genres in one book, but Walker expertly toes the line between a high-octane spy thriller and an unforgettably steamy romance. Her characters are complex and believable, and readers will truly want to root for them.

If you’re looking for a genuinely unique summer read that will make those long days fly by and keep them endlessly exciting, I suggest you clear your schedule for Built to Last.

BURIED TREASURE
One of the unfortunate pitfalls of the romance genre is that, too often, the leading ladies of our favorite novels begin to blend together. An archetype has emerged: strong, sassy and sweetly unexceptional.

But now and then, a novel joins the ranks of books that have elevated the genre by breaking convention. This summer’s stellar new standout is One for the Rogue by Manda Collins.

Gemma Hastings has devoted her life to her work as a geologist and her friendships with the intellectual young women with whom she shares a home. The one person hampering her career (and her sanity) is Lord Cameron Lisle, who Gemma finds as insufferable as he is attractive. Her ambitions have painted a target on her back, however, and it soon becomes clear that someone is willing to kill to steal Gemma’s latest archeological discoveries. Complicating matters, she finds herself stuck in a sham romance with none other than Cameron himself after an indiscretion.

Lord Cameron would never admit it, but he’s found in Gemma a woman who is more than a match for his intellect as well as his stubbornness. As he grows closer to her, he realizes that he wants nothing more than to take a place in her life, and to keep her safe. Neither will be easy, but for Cameron, Gemma is worth the fight.

Manda Collins is a prolific author of lush, juicy Regency romances. She writes with style and intensity, and creates characters designed to uplift and empower women, which is a rare and valuable treat in today’s media. One for the Rogue stands out for its fierce dedication to developing interesting, engaging and worthwhile characters. Collins’ heroine is no shrinking violet, or even a strong but ordinary girl next door. Gemma is smarter and more passionate than average, and is completely driven by her work and her love and admiration for the women around her. Her suitor also develops more as a character than the typical romance novel hero. Cameron learns to support Gemma’s ambitions as he realizes that they are an integral part of the woman he grows to love.

Romance novels can run the risk of following convention too closely and becoming mundane as a result. For a story that is as sexy as it is empowering, pick up a copy of One for the Rogue.

Summer days are long and slow, which is why it’s the perfect season for devouring a smart, spicy story that never lets up on the suspense or the chemistry between its characters.

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Supernatural intrigue: Two Cold War thrillers

Feature by Chris Pickens

It’s Private Eye July at BookPage! This month, we’re celebrating the sinister side of fiction with the year’s best mysteries and thrillers. Look for the Private Eye July magnifying glass for a dose of murder, espionage and all those creepy neighbors with even creepier secrets.

No doubt there are a multitude of mystery readers out there who love digging into classic spy stories from the golden age of espionage. Filled with ritzy postwar ballrooms, foggy alleyways and the smell of gunpowder, these stories conjure up boatloads of thrilling nostalgia, one swishing trench coat at a time. But have you ever imagined a Cold War that plays out in both this life and the afterlife? Or contemplated world powers vying for demonic runes in their quest for influence? Both of these supernatural mysteries excel at taking a familiar genre and time period and augmenting them with just enough otherworldly elements to make each page feel new and exciting.

In Hannu Rajaniemi’s Summerland, it’s 1938, and England and Russia are poised at the brink of war. Each has deployed a large number of spies to survey and counter the other’s covert operations around the world. Rachel White, an English operative, learns from a Russian asset that there’s a mole in British intelligence. After clashing with her superiors and being thrown back to a desk job, she takes it upon herself to bring him to justice, even if it’s off the record. But there’s a problem. Peter Bloom, the Russian traitor, doesn’t live on Earth. In fact, he doesn’t “live” at all. Peter is already dead and working as a spy in Summerland, an ethereal city filled with recently deceased souls. How do you expose a mole who isn’t even alive?

What’s so great about Rajeniemi’s writing is how much sympathy he engenders for both Rachel and Peter. This split-perspective novel had me nonplussed at first, as I assumed there would be a “right” and “wrong” spelled out for the reader. This wasn’t the case at all. Peter’s painful past and his dedication to the mission of communism make him a sympathetic figure. Rachel has a great deal of pain, too, as a woman in a man’s world, as wife to a husband with PTSD and as someone who just wants justice. Summerland also poses questions about the cost of knowing the afterlife exists. What is a life really worth if we knew there is somewhere else to go? Contemplative, exciting and utterly imaginative, it’s a wild ride for readers who want some sci-fi twists in their thrillers.

In Nick Setchfield’s dark, lightning-quick The War in the Dark, an English spy named Christopher Winter encounters a demon living inside a human. After battling the monster, being attacked by his dead partner and betrayed by his wife, he goes rogue, trying to understand what his colleague Malcolm tells him—there’s an entirely other war being fought here. The world powers are waging an occult war over the runes of power, which are ancient words that drive these supernatural beings. With the tenuous aid of a Russian KGB agent named Karina, Winter must try to navigate Cold War politics and avert the destruction caused by unholy, recently awakened forces.

The War in the Dark is a tight, high-intensity spook-fest that never wavers from its vision. Setchfield is a master at choosing just the right word to remind us where we are and how we should feel. The reader may rarely get a chance to breathe, but this breathlessness is invigorating. Set in 1963, The War in the Dark uses a more traditional noir aesthetic than the post-WWI Summerland as a foundation for its supernatural elements. And these elements are unequivocally creepy. Exploding demons, sacrificial bleeding wheels and faceless visions feel right at home in the fantasy genre. But Winter’s perspective grounds us with his dry wit and spy’s tenacity. Seekers of supernatural thrillers will find both familiar and entirely new elements in Setchfield’s deftly written, atmospheric spy caper.

No doubt there are a multitude of mystery readers out there who love digging into classic spy stories from the golden age of espionage. Filled with ritzy postwar ballrooms, foggy alleyways and the smell of gunpowder, these stories conjure up boatloads of thrilling nostalgia, one swishing trench coat at a time. But have you ever imagined a Cold War that plays out in both this life and the afterlife? Or contemplated world powers vying for demonic runes in their quest for influence? Both of these supernatural mysteries excel at taking a familiar genre and time period and augmenting them with just enough otherworldly elements to make each page feel new and exciting.

FictionDebut Fiction

Six new authors you need to know

Feature by the editors of BookPage

Become a fan from the very beginning, as these six outstanding new novelists make their debuts with deeply emotional narratives peopled with tremendous characters that will leave you aching for more.

IF YOU LEAVE ME
By Crystal Hana Kim

For fans of: Lisa See, Amy Tan, Toni Morrison and Jesmyn Ward.

First line: “Kyunghwan and I met where the farm fields ended and our refugee village began.”

The book: In war-torn Korea, Haemi and Kyunghwan find love in a refugee village, but honor and duty take precedence when a wealthy man begins courting the spirited Haemi.

The author: Winner of the PEN America’s Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers, Crystal Hana Kim is a contributing editor for Apogee Journal and lives in Brooklyn.

Read it for: Lyrical prose that offers an unflinching look at motherhood and the aftermath of American imperialism.

BABY TEETH
By Zoje Stage

For fans of: We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver and movies like The Babadook, The Bad Seed and The Ring.

First line: “Maybe the machine could see the words she never spoke.”

The book: Upscale parents grapple with an inexplicable and unremitting evil—in the form of their 7-year-old daughter.

The author: Zoje Stage is a former filmmaker and screenwriter who lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Read it for: One more book to talk you out of procreating.

FRUIT OF THE DRUNKEN TREE
By Ingrid Rojas Contreras

For fans of: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez and The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende.

First line: “She sits in a plastic chair in front of a brick wall, slouching.”

The book: Two coming-of-age stories—that of rich city girl Chula and her maid, Petrona—overlap during Colombia’s violent 1990s.

The author: A Bogotá native, Ingrid Rojas Contreras and her family fled to Los Angeles when she was 14. She now writes for HuffPost and NPR, and teaches writing to immigrant high schoolers in San Francisco.

Read it for: A first-hand glimpse into the plight of vulnerable Colombian children in the recent past.

THE SHORTEST WAY HOME
By Miriam Parker

For fans of: Camille Perri, Elin Hilderbrand and Stephanie Danler.

First line: “I would have never predicted that a winery could change my life.”

The book: A business school graduate lands a coveted New York investment job, but her heart is set on a path less traveled (quite literally) in the wine country.

The author: Miriam Parker has worked in publishing for more than 17 years and is currently an associate publisher at Ecco. She lives in Brooklyn with her dog, Leopold Bloom.

Read it for: The love of wine, and the inspiring tale of taking chances and dreaming of a life more rewarding than a nine-to-five job.

LET ME BE LIKE WATER
By S.K. Perry

For fans of: Mitch Albom, Anne Tyler and Rachel Khong.

First line: “I was sitting on a bench at the beach when Frank told me I’d dropped my keys.”

The book: After the death of her boyfriend, 20-something Holly finds solitude and hope at the seaside in Brighton, in particular through a new friendship with an elderly, retired magician.

The author: The author of the poetry collection Curious Hands: 24 Hours in Soho, S.K. Perry was long-listed for London’s youth poet laureate in 2013.

Read it for: A sense of comfort, and for a reading experience as soothing and cathartic as ocean waves lapping at your toes.

BROTHER
By David Chariandy

For fans of: Zadie Smith, Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid, Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn.

First line: “Once he showed me his place in the sky.”

The book: The lives of two Canadian brothers are forever changed after a violent shooting draws additional police scrutiny to their neighborhood.

The author: David Chariandy grew up in the same Toronto public housing as the family in Brother. He currently teaches English at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. He has been previously published in his native Canada (the critically acclaimed novel Soucouyant), but this is his first novel to be published in the United States.

Read it for: A poignant and timely look at community, family and race in a setting that will be new to many American readers.

August is First Fiction Month at BookPage! Click here to read all our First Fiction coverage on the blog; click here to read our most recent coverage of debut novels.

This article was originally published in the August 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Kim photo credit Nina Subin.
Stage photo credit Gabrianna Dacko.
Contreras photo credit Jeremiah Barber.
Parker photo credit Shannon Carpenter.
Perry photo credit Naomi Woddis.
Chariandy photo credit Joy von Tiedemann.

Become a fan from the very beginning, as these six outstanding new novelists make their debuts with deeply emotional narratives peopled with tremendous characters that will leave you aching for more.

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