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Science Fiction & Fantasy

Beyond the Tolkien-esque fantasy

Feature by Ralph Harris

Conventional fantasy settings (often Tolkien-inspired landscapes) can be useful for establishing easy-to-understand lines between good and evil, or to skip the onboarding process of learning new systems and races. However, some authors choose to step away from the industry standard, creating a separate, distinct experience.

In Elle Katharine White’s Dragonshadow, the landscape of her Austenesque fantasy world drives each conflict. Sequel to Heartstone, which was a magical retelling of Pride and Prejudice, White’s latest book finds Alistair and Aliza Daired (her Darcy and Elizabeth avatars) happily married and called upon to defeat a mysterious monster threatening the castle of a powerful lord. The core conflict in White’s world is a direct result of an ancient pact between humans, wyverns and dragons, who fight together against the other dangerous magical creatures that opposed the pact.

Upon arriving at Castle Selwyn, the Daireds find themselves embroiled in a murder mystery, complicated by ancient grudges and secret avengers. White builds out her fantasy world naturally, setting pieces into categories: bad guys, good guys, neutral guys. This seemingly simplistic scheme plays into the novel’s central mystery—without spoiling anything, the story’s twists go to interesting and surprising places.

As a whole, dragon and human (and valkyrie!) relationships keep the beat-to-beat energy going, but they are ultimately in support of White’s primary story: the relationship between the newly married Alistair and Aliza. Their relationship’s growth and conflict mirror the entire arc of the murder mystery. White carves a metaphor into the setting and plot, and allows her fictional married couple to grow naturally within the space that the story creates. Similar to Heartstone, the epic setting and heroic events in Dragonshadow play second fiddle to the romantic struggles of Aliza and Alistair.

With the dynamic setting firmly in place, chock full of independent factions with ulterior motives and rich history, White paints her power-couple romance with a vibrant brush, splashing sorrow, joy and solidarity generously across the canvas.

On the other side of the spectrum, the setting of Mirah Bolender’s City of Broken Magic is the primary engine of her story and characters. The first in a series, Bolender’s debut thrusts the reader into a world where magic can take form as a hungry hive mind, consuming everything. This infestation’s only weakness? Locked and loaded sun-bullets (and other sun-things, but the sun-bullets were my favorite).

The city of Amicae claims to have eliminated such infestations entirely, and newbie exterminator Laura is a member of the Sweepers, a team responsible for keeping that farce alive. Each facet of Bolender’s magical steampunk island is fully fleshed out, with motivations and schemes mapped onto each faction and character. This incredible attention to detail is vital to City of Broken Magic, as Laura is generally responsible for trying to micromanage, overcome or save every single character she encounters. If that sounds exhausting, being a Sweeper most certainly is, and the city’s Renaissance Italy-level intrigue makes Laura and her boss Clae’s plight entirely believable. The pair’s banter and genuinely enjoyable relationship serve as an accessible lens to view the intricate complexities of Bolender’s land (which is like if Rome invaded Japan and ruined it really badly). Laura and Clae are set up as underdogs from the start, and rooting for them to succeed comes naturally as they wage a war against the setting itself, cannily crafted by Bolender to fight them at every turn.

Both of these novels use the setting as powerful third party, both guiding the stories to their natural conclusions and acting as an instigator of adversity and hardship for the protagonists. White’s setting is a gorgeous caravan, carrying characters carefully to their conclusion, while Bolender uses her setting as a bludgeon, beating her proud, struggling characters into the ground with its oppressive constraints. Neither novel would be nearly as engaging and fun to read without the energy of its colorful, fantastic world pushing the story along.

 

P.S. I strongly advise not reading the back of the book summary for City of Broken Magic. It quite literally spoils a major plot point.

Conventional fantasy settings (often Tolkien-inspired landscapes) can be useful for establishing easy-to-understand lines between good and evil, or to skip the onboarding process of learning new systems and races. However, some authors choose to step away from the industry standard, creating a separate, distinct experience.

YA FictionYA

Amy Brashear’s playlist of ’80s teen nostaligia

Feature by Hilli Levin

Author Amy Brashear (No Saints in Kansas) has penned a hilarious, cinematic and off-the-wall story of a small town’s (fake) nuclear demise with her latest YA historical novel, The Incredible True Story of the Making of the Eve of Destruction. There isn’t much to do in Griffin Flats, Arkansas in 1984, and misfit teen Laura is painfully aware of that fact. The only thing that cuts through the boredom is the omnipresent threat of a Soviet bombing of the town's nuclear missile silos and the Mutually Assured Destruction that would follow. But when a Hollywood big shot chooses Griffin Flats as the shooting location for his upcoming nuclear holocaust movie, The Eve of Destruction, the whole town is turned upside down. When Laura calls into the local radio station and wins a walk-on role, she drags her stepbrother, Terrence, along to the set with her. 

With steadily rising tension, plenty of high jinks and a steady stream of fun ’80s pop-culture and music references—many of which are lovingly and hilariously explained in footnotes for today’s Gen Z teen readers—Brashear’s story is a surefire winner. In fact, music plays such a big role in The Incredible True Story of the Making of the Eve of Destruction that Brashear has crafted the pitch-perfect playlist to listen to as you read, and it includes “songs that were referenced in Incredible True Story’s text, songs that Amy had in rotation while she was writing the book, and songs that she associates with the story (re: themes, time frame, mindset, etc.).” Check out her lovingly compiled playlist below, or click here.

YA author Amy Brashear shares a playlist to go along with her newest novel, The Incredibly True Story of the Making of the Eve of Destruction.
Children's & YAPicture Book

Two new picture books for little explorers

Feature by Julie Danielson

Children are natural explorers, traversing their world with wide eyes and delving into their own imaginations with curiosity and gusto. Two new picture books put adventures on the map for eager preschool and elementary-age readers.

Before we even get to the title page of author and illustrator Deborah Marcero’s My Heart Is a Compass, readers are treated to a spread showing a group of children in an elementary school classroom, reading silently on their own. And we see that our blue-haired, brown-skinned protagonist has chosen to read an atlas with a map at the ready. Her name is Rose, and she longs to be “an explorer, a pioneer, a trailblazer.” Show-and-tell is tomorrow, and Rose is determined to discover something new to share with her class. Since she doesn’t know precisely where that thing might be, she draws her own maps before setting out: “Her imagination became a blueprint, with her heart a compass.”

Rose’s journey includes the intricate, imaginative maps she so carefully draws—a road map, a sky map, an ocean map and a map of the mountains—but she returns home with no exciting or unusual discovery. However, she realizes that the four lovingly rendered and hand-drawn maps clutched to her chest are treasures themselves, and she shares them with her inquisitive classmates.

Rose’s maps are visual delights, filled with both geographical information (the sky map includes “thermosphere,” “exosphere,” etc.),  map vocabulary and plenty of her imaginative musings. (The mountain map includes a secret lair and “Blue Dragon Smoky Mountains.”) Marcero’s textured mixed-media illustrations are filled with inviting patterns that make up features like sandy beaches, bumpy mountains and waves in the water. My Heart Is a Compass is a tribute to the exciting adventures a child’s imagination can launch.

Joyce Hesselberth’s Mapping Sam shares Marcero’s sense of adventure, but it features a furry, four-legged and whiskered protagonist. Sam is a cat, and once she puts her family to bed, she slips out of the house to explore at night, and readers are privy to the adventures that unfold in Hesselberth’s sleek illustrations with rich, nighttime colors and crisp, clean lines.

Hesselberth illustrates Sam’s journey for readers with a simple map of the cat’s neighborhood that includes a compass and scale. But things take a surprising turn when Hesselberth lays out an altogether different type of map—a diagram of Sam’s inner workings as she strolls through the grass. This is followed by a transportation map; the diagram of a flower and its parts; a cutaway map showing the depth of a pond; a diagram of a water molecule; a world map; a diagram of our solar system; a constellation chart and a blueprint. All of these different maps and diagrams are seamlessly woven into Sam’s journey as she explores nature and ponders the starlit sky. Information about each type of map is appended. “Can you map a dream?” the author asks, as Sam arrives home to see one of her humans snuggled comfortably in bed. “You might try.” Readers may be eager to do so, as well as explore a variety of other types of maps, after reading both of these informative stories. Bon voyage!

Two new picture books—Deborah Marcer's My Heart Is a Compass and Joyce Hesselberth's Mapping Sam—help young readers learn about maps.
Animals

Raining cats and dogs

Feature by Deanna Larson

Who else but Anna Quindlen could make the short life of an ordinary Labrador retriever so profound? Good Dog. Stay. is a short, elegiac book of black-and-white photographs sprinkled with text, based on a popular Newsweek column by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author (A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Object Lessons).

Barely touching upon the predictable shoe-chewing antics of Lab puppy Beau, a 40th birthday present, she dwells most movingly on the more difficult aspects of aging alongside her dog, noting creaky legs, clouding eyes and the fleeting bittersweet arc of a life that follows children growing up and leaving home. When it comes time to say goodbye, Quindlen lays Beau on their patterned carpet favored as it hides the dirt that a sick, old dog creates surrounded by her now grown children and watches as the dog is put down while her husband's tears fall like raindrops on her head. "Occasionally someone will tell me that they won't have pets because they're messy, and I suppose there's some truth to that," Quindlen writes. "I have to choke down the temptation to respond that life is messy, and that its vagaries go down hardest with those who fool themselves into thinking that they can keep it neat."

STREET SMARTS
The messy, brutal and random lives of strays is the compelling subject of fine art photographer Traer Scott's latest book, Street Dogs. Scott, whose previous collection was the bestseller Shelter Dogs, shot her captivating sepia-tones on the streets of Puerto Rico and Mexico, revealing enigmatic expressions on the faces of animals that reproduce, roam and forage on the streets due to overwhelmed animal control agencies. Scott captures more than 90 close-ups including an exhausted young dog digging a hole in the sand to keep cool on Puerto Rico's Dead Dog Beach and a litter of puppies huddled at dusk in a lot in San Felipe, Mexico (whose rescue caused Scott to get bitten). Despite abuse, neglect and illness, the dogs still wag their tails. While it should be depressing, Scott's work reaffirms the decency of all living beings, the daily miracles worked by shop owners and rescuers who feed, water and rehabilitate the dogs for adoption in the United States, and the indefatigable canine spirit. A portion of the proceeds from the book will be donated to the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).

HELLO KITTY
Cats live on a higher plane, of course, and now they have their own Planet Cat. More than 400 lists of head-scratching and fascinating feline facts, advice and trivia are packed into this entertaining cat-alog, illustrated with line drawings and black-and-white photos. The culture of cats through history, including feline saints, famous cat lovers (and haters) and cats in ancient art is followed by short useful sections and sidebars about cat anatomy, behavior and training, from how to read a cat's eyes, ears and tail, to the reason Chloe bites, has litter box problems, or hates swallowing a pill (Chloe being the most popular female cat name, according to the book). Tons of amusing trivia, including famous cartoon, television and film felines, British pub signs featuring cats, and the nine kitties that have won acting awards, round out this fun blast through Planet Cat.

When you can make yourself vulnerable by lying on your back in the sun then curl and bite the hand that pets your soft tummy you know you're a cat brought to life in a cartoon drawn by Suzy Becker. This updated version of her best-selling All I Need to Know I Learned from My Cat (and Then Some) features old favorites plus nearly 50 new cartoons drawn by Binky, Becker's mischievous kitty sage. The delicate, one-panel drawings contrast with dry and sometimes wicked captions, from a cross-section of the place where no one can find you (under the bed) and a time-lapse of litter box antics, to illustrations of how to drink from the toilet ( Challenge yourself ), recycle trash, commune with the birds by splaying yourself across a window pane, build your own bed out of warm, clean laundry and recognize the toy in everything. With advice on helping with the dishes (insert sandpaper tongue here) and accepting the fact that not all company will like you, Becker's cartoons are subtle enough to win the hearts of sophisticated literary magazine readers, and funny enough to win the hearts of animal lovers everywhere.

HORSE SENSE
Owning land and a few horses is a common city-dweller fantasy, but learning to care for livestock can come with a steep learning curve for those not raised in the country. Cherry Hill's Horsekeeping Almanac: The Essential Month-by-Month Guide for Every Horse Owner puts a metaphoric arm around novices on the way to the barn. Hill, who runs Long Tail Ranch in northern Colorado, covers every aspect of horse ownership, broken down into tasks for each month and season, including buying, conditioning and feeding a horse, lifting a hoof and calling the vet, dealing with muddy pastures and electric fencing, stable flies, flooding, trailer loading and foaling, and setting up the tack room and farm office. Add illustrations and fascinating sidebars on horse history and trivia and you have an indispensable resource for any new or aspiring horse owner.

NEW TRICKS FOR OLD DOGS
These days, domesticated dogs are more likely to dine on organic kibble and be toted about in frilly pink satchels than to roll in dead skunk or chase down prey. Present and former staffers at satirical online newspaper The Onion, writing as Rex and Sparky, come to the rescue of these pampered pooches in The Dangerous Book for Dogs: A Parody, illustrated by Emily Flake. Advice for uncovering latent canine rebellion includes chapters on Things You Can Chase; Begging: A Primer; and Poop: An Indelicate Discussion. Rex and Sparky also take canine wimps through building a doghouse (clue: a hammer won't be involved), escaping fenced areas, picking a pill out of peanut butter, handling a thunderstorm, escaping humiliating costumes, managing territory and taking epic walks. Bound in a retro library binding and dripping with faux-nostalgic tone, these observations are driven home with a wicked funny bone, buried correctly, of course (see page 72, How to Bury a Bone ). Owners who long to let their pets roam free or feel a twinge of guilt over a box of $10 designer biscuits will wallow in this ode to old-school dog.

Who else but Anna Quindlen could make the short life of an ordinary Labrador retriever so profound? Good Dog. Stay. is a short, elegiac book of black-and-white photographs sprinkled with text, based on a popular Newsweek column by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author (A…

Romance

Simmering suspense for cold winter nights

Feature by Dolly R. Sickles

What better time than the holidays to set aside a little “me time” with a good book? Romances are always good for your heart, but if you want some added adrenaline, try one of these suspenseful romances.

SCAPEGOAT
Jannine Gallant kicks off the appetizer course with Hidden Secrets, the third installment of her Siren Cove series. This cozy mystery is as comfortable as the lifelong friendship between restaurateur Quentin Radcliff and antiques shop owner Paige Shephard. It starts off with a simmer, after Quentin moves back home to open his latest restaurant, and kisses Paige on a whim. The slow burn kicks in when they decide to push the boundaries of their relationship and take a chance on love. After all, they’ve loved each other forever—they have to decide if they “can figure out how to be in love.”

But sometimes love isn’t the only answer, particularly when it’s been in front of you for a lifetime. Love and attraction and chemistry are the easy parts—trust is the challenge. Quentin’s last two girlfriends have turned up dead or missing, and he’s the scapegoat. Were it not for Paige’s unwavering trust in him, the investigation might not have turned its attention to an old, unsolved crime. And when Paige attracts the killer’s attention through her most recent antiques acquisition, she comes between him and the cover-up that’s been going on for years.

GUILTY CONSCIENCE
Marie Force is 13 books into her Fatal series and doesn’t see herself slowing down any time soon, thank goodness. Her most recent installment, Fatal Invasion, is a meaty main course, full of love and heartbreak, insider trading and organized crime, and a race to the finish line that’ll leave you breathless.

Fans of “it couple” police Lieutenant Sam Holland and Vice President Nick Cappuano will rejoice. They’re back and as likable as ever. One of the best hallmarks of this series is that although Sam is involved in every book of the series, each installment focuses on a different member of her investigative team. Invasion focuses on Sergeant Tommy “Gonzo” Gonzales, and his battle with an opioid addiction caused by debilitating guilt over the death of his partner nine months ago. Like most functional addicts, Gonzo is able to mask his illness from his fiancé and his colleagues. But hiding the truth and living with his addiction is bleeding over into every facet of his life. His police work is failing, his love life is failing, and his will to care is failing. So on top of the team’s main investigation—the murder of a wealthy couple whose two young children come to live with Sam and Nick—they have to circle the wagons to help one of their own heal. This is an excellent series that hits every emotional, psychological and romantic note.

What better time than the holidays to set aside a little “me time” with a good book? Romances are always good for your heart, but if you want some added adrenaline, try one of these suspenseful romances.

Romance

December’s best nonholiday romances: contemporary edition

Feature by Elizabeth Mazer

Tired of holly and mistletoe? Sick of eggnog? Ready to punch the next person who gets “Santa Baby” stuck in your head? Have no fear, these lovely stories are here for your fix of red-hot contemporary romance to warm you head to toe this December—without Christmas playing into the plots at all. These stories don’t feature nativity scenes, Christmas trees or twinkling lights, but each one delivers a strong dose of family love, a hefty helping of communities coming together and a generous display of hearts opening to the idea of real and lasting love.

THE BLACK SHEEP RETURNS
Bryson Wells, the hero of Elle Wright’s Pleasured by You, may joke that his hometown of Wellspring, Michigan, is an African-American version of the quaint, folksy setting of “The Andy Griffith Show,” but his childhood there was certainly no sitcom. Raised by an abusive father, he fled as soon as he could, cutting all ties and vowing to never return. And yet when the fates conspire to bring him home—and the terms of a will require him to stay there for a year—he learns that the only way to overcome his past is to build a better future for himself, for the girl-next-door he’s always secretly loved and for the child they discover they’re having together.

Pleasured by You is loaded with familiar romance tropes: a black-sheep homecoming, a reunion romance with an old crush, a steamy one-night stand leading to a surprise baby. What sets Wright’s novel apart is the strong sense of connection and community underscoring it all. Balancing the hero’s and heroine’s childhood scars—Bryson from his cruel, manipulative father and the heroine, Jordan Clark, from the abandonment of her mother—are their sweet, positive relationships with others. Bryson draws strength and encouragement from his loving relationship with his siblings. Jordan’s devotion to her grandparents proves her capacity for support and commitment despite her self-doubts. And both have friends they can rely on for anything and everything: a shoulder to cry on, a reality check, a wise word of advice, even emergency hair care. As perfectly as Jordan and Bryson fit together, there’s still a sense that the weight of maintaining their happily ever after doesn’t rest solely on their shoulders. They have a wonderful support network to help guide them through whatever obstacles the future brings.

LET THE LIGHT IN
Family and community support are abundant throughout the Latinx neighborhood of Their Perfect Melody, even if the heroine, victim’s advocate Lilí Fernandez, spends most of her time desperately trying to hide her activities from her loving-but-overbearing older sisters. Lilí leads from her heart, whether she’s cheering for her beloved Chicago Cubs, leading a self-defense class for teenage girls at the local community center or all but tackling police officer Diego Reyes to the ground when he stands in between her and a battered woman who needs Lilí’s help. She doesn’t hesitate to put herself at risk if it gives her the chance to help others, to the eternal frustration of her family and Diego. But even as they scold her (which they all do—a lot), there’s also a certain baffled admiration for the way she gives of herself so freely and believes so fervently that she can make the world a better, safer, more compassionate place.

Diego, by contrast, is more closed off, more skeptical. A bad history with an older sister who has been in and out of trouble for years has soured his optimism and given him a colder view of the world. He’s still dedicated to helping—some of the sweetest scenes occur at the community center where Diego and Lilí both volunteer, serving as chaperones, instructors, role models and homegrown heroes to kids of all ages. But Diego is reluctant to trust anyone, even the woman he comes to love. This reluctance, which he calls “protecting her” and she calls “shutting her out,” serves as the real obstacle to their relationship. It’s only when he adopts some of Lilí’s willingness to put her heart on the line that they find their way to each other and discover they truly are, as Oliveras’ series’ name suggests, Matched to Perfection.

CALIFORNIA CATFISHING
Millie Morris of My Favorite Half-Night Stand laughs it off (mostly) when an online dating program tells her she’s a 98 percent match with her best friend, Reid Campbell. But she lets the program “connect” them as a joke, using her middle name and a shadowy profile pic for her account, and is stunned to find herself opening up to him on a level she’s never managed before. Reid’s the person she values and trusts most in the world, but she’s always kept her deepest thoughts, feelings, stories and experiences entirely to herself. Millie doesn’t know how to open up, not even to Reid. But her digital alter ego “Catherine” does. As time passes, Catherine grows closer to Reid emotionally and Millie grows closer to him physically when they start sleeping together (one of the “web lingo” terms they learn is the concept of a half-night stand: when you hook up but leave as soon as the sex is over). Meanwhile, Millie finds herself increasingly torn over what she wants, what she has to offer and what she could possibly tell Reid to make him forgive the snowballing deception.

The writing duo that makes up Christina Lauren manage comedy so well that the emotional depth can sneak up on you like a sucker punch. It’s not an exaggeration to say I laughed and I cried—sometimes simultaneously, such as during a story Catherine tells about her experiences with a childhood bully. The romance is complicated by the moral ambiguity of Millie’s choices, but the writers develop the character so carefully and deliberately, with such compassion for her experiences, that her behavior becomes something that can be understood, even if it can’t really be excused. And the Greek chorus of Millie and Reid’s tightly knit and utterly hilarious group of friends adds to the drama, the comedy and the sweetness of the conclusion by showing the different kind of community that like-minded, loving people can build together.

Tired of holly and mistletoe? Sick of eggnog? Ready to punch the next person who gets “Santa Baby” stuck in your head? Have no fear, these lovely stories are here for your fix of red-hot contemporary romance to warm you head to toe this December—without Christmas playing into the plots at all. These stories don’t feature nativity scenes, Christmas trees or twinkling lights, but each one delivers a strong dose of family love, a hefty helping of communities coming together and a generous display of hearts opening to the idea of real and lasting love.

Best Books of 2018: Mystery & Suspense

Feature by the editors of BookPage

BookPage Best Books of 2018:
Mystery & Suspense

Lock your doors and close the blinds—it’s our list of the year’s 15 best works of crime fiction.

The Cabin at the End of the World#15 The Cabin at the End of the World
By Paul Tremblay
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 latest thriller from the Bram Stoker-winning author of A Head Full of Ghosts.

 

 

 

Red, White, Blue#14 Red, White, Blue
By Lea Carpenter
The new novel from screenwriter Carpenter is an intriguing, albeit challenging, read. But for lovers of spy novels, it’s more than worth the read.

 

 

Noir#13 Noir
By Christopher Moore
Set in 1947 San Francisco, Moore’s latest switches back and forth between on-the-lam bartender Sammy “Two-Toes” Tiffin and an unnamed second party (“Don’t worry about who I am, I know things.”). Larceny abounds, committed or attempted by pretty much everyone in the book, and there is a laugh-out-loud moment every couple of pages.

 

The Fighter#12 The Fighter
By Michael Farris Smith
The setting for Smith’s fourth work of fiction is the vividly described poor, rural towns and back roads scattered throughout the Mississippi Delta, where Jack Boucher is driving alone in the dark, planning to repay his large debt to an unforgiving fight and vice promoter named Big Momma Sweet.

 

 

The Woman in the Window#11 The Woman in the Window
By A.J. Finn
In suspense fiction, as in life, things aren’t always as they appear. We view events through similar, although by no means identical, lenses. And therein lies the fun, both between the covers of one of the year’s most audacious psychological suspense debuts.

 

 

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle#10 The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
By Stuart Turton
Conventional wisdom cautions, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but thankfully, author Turton must not have gotten the memo. His debut novel is a daring and wildly imaginative spin on the tried, tested and true English manor house murder mystery trope.

 

 

Sunburn#9 Sunburn
By Laura Lippman
At one time or another, all of us have considered the appeal of walking out of our current life, leaving everything and everyone behind, and starting afresh somewhere new. Few people have stronger reasons to do this than Polly Costello—female lead in Lippman’s new James M. Cain-inspired thriller.

 

 

Dark Sacred Night#8 Dark Sacred Night
By Michael Connelly
Connelly pairs series stalwart Harry Bosch with Renée Ballard in their first (but hopefully not their last) adventure together. They both share a bit of an outsider’s perspective—respected for their work but not always liked by their peers—and this is what makes them such a formidable team.

 

 

Baby Teeth#7 Baby Teeth
By Zoje Stage 
In Stage’s debut novel, you can’t blame put-upon Suzette Jensen for wanting to be free from her monstrous daughter, Hanna. Indeed, by page five you’re praying for the little horror to eat it in the worst way possible.

 

 

Infinite Blacktop#6 The Infinite Blacktop
By Sara Gran
Imagine, for a moment, a Nancy Drew mystery told partially in flashback by Nancy herself, a girl grown up into the Best Detective in the World—her own rather immodest appellation—and now facing Her Most Perplexing Case. Then you will begin to have an idea of Sara Gran’s strange yet wildly entertaining new novel.

 

 

A Necessary Evil#5 A Necessary Evil
By Abir Mukherjee
Picture Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolfe’s wisecracking and nose-thumbing sidekick, plucked from his New York brownstone and transplanted to 1920s Calcutta, and you’ll have a pretty good image of Captain Sam Wyndham, a former Scotland Yard officer whose first-person perspective offers a noir voiceover to Mukherjee’s brilliant new novel.

 

Lethal White#4 Lethal White
By Robert Galbraith
Strike, a London private investigator with a reputation for unraveling high-profile cases, and his able, lovely assistant, Robin, are in the thick of it, investigating political blackmail and the murder of a Tory minister.

 

 

 

Kingdom of the Blind#3 Kingdom of the Blind
By Louise Penny
Penny’s novels are unique for how seamlessly they straddle the line between charming small-town mysteries and big-city police procedurals. This time out, protagonist Armand Gamache, former head of the Sûreté du Québec, receives a strange invitation to an abandoned farmhouse, and an even stranger request to act as executor of a will crafted by someone he never met.

 

 

The Word Is Murder#2 The Word Is Murder
By Anthony Horowitz
It’s tempting to wade into these first few pages of Horowitz’s latest with the assumption that you’re about to enjoy a loving homage to the classic British mysteries of Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. Then comes Horowitz’s inventive twist: The inscrutable investigator enlists an author whose name happens to be Anthony Horowitz to join him as he probes the case.

 

The Witch Elm#1 The Witch Elm
By Tana French
In French’s brilliantly tense first standalone novel, an oblivious male protagonist investigates two crimes—and confronts whether he is, in fact, the hero of his own story.

Lock your doors and close the blinds—it’s our list of the year’s 15 best works of crime fiction.

Romance

December’s best nonholiday romances: historical edition

Feature by Lily McGhee

The holidays are a time to celebrate the future and to think back on the past. What more delicious way to honor the Ghost of Christmas Past than with a trio of romances set in days gone by?

RENOVATION ROMANCE
It takes a strong woman to hold on to what belongs to her. No one knows this better than Thomasina Thorne, steward of Enderley and heroine of A Duke Changes Everything, the latest title from Christy Carlyle. Miss Thorne has a comfortable life at the estate she loves—unless a certain handsome scoundrel can snatch it away from her.

Mina Thorne is proud of the role she’s played as protector and caretaker of her beloved Enderley estate. However, in the eyes of the men around her, Mina’s bravery and discipline count for nothing given her gender. So when she receives word that the new Duke of Tremayne is coming to take over the estate, signaling her imminent dismissal, she is bound and determined to keep things the way they always have been, with her trusted staff close to her and the duke far away. Unfortunately, the newly christened Tremayne may find a way to get closer than Mina ever imagined.

In truth, the new duke, Nicholas Lyon, isn’t any happier with his new post than Mina is. All Nick really wants is to run his already-successful gentlemen’s club and see it grow. He’d also like to keep his past where it belongs, in the past. But when his brother dies and burdens him with a dukedom he never wanted, Nick’s demons aren’t the only surprise waiting for him at Enderley. Entering Mina’s home means surrendering to her world. When all is said and done, it may not be his only surrender.

Christy Carlyle, it seems, was born to write historical romance. In a former life, she studied and taught history herself, and professes that she’s happiest when imagining the worlds of her stories. She pens lush, delicious stories about love amongst the Victorians, and Nick and Mina are a stunning pair. Writing strong characters comes with the risk of making them too strong and ending up with one character being off balance. Not so in A Duke Changes Everything. Nick and Mina hold their own when they must, but they bend, too. Mina treats Nick’s painful family memories with compassion and understanding, and Nick strives always to be Mina’s equal, never dominating or submitting to her strong personality more than he should.

Think you know every story Victorian romance has to offer? Pick up A Duke Changes Everything this winter. I promise, you’ll never be happier to be wrong.

AN ACCIDENTAL KIDNAPPING
At first glance, being kidnapped by pirates does not exactly sound like a dream come true. In fact, for Poppy Bridgerton—the brash, beautiful captive in question—it is a nightmare. Can she survive two weeks aboard a ship sailing far from home? For another matter, can she manage not to strangle the handsome, infuriating ship’s captain who kidnapped her?

Poppy, the heroine of Julia Quinn’s newest novel The Other Miss Bridgerton, is headstrong, sharp-tongued and trapped aboard a privateer’s ship after wandering into the wrong cave during an afternoon walk. She misses her family, there is constant bickering between herself and the captain, the voyage itself is dangerous and the goal is high-stakes. Will Poppy ever see her home again?

Captain Andrew James Rokesby, is, if possible, in an even worse predicament than his beautiful prisoner. For starters, she is a Bridgerton, daughter of a high and prestigious family (not to mention a family his own noble house is closely connected to). Add to this that he must now bring her home safely from a secret mission he’s not even sure that he’ll survive, and it’s a (ship) wreck of a situation. Besides, he’s not sure why, but he is more and more drawn to Poppy by the day.

Julia Quinn’s novels are a staple of the historical romance genre. She has written dozens of lush, heart-warming stories, all with her unique brand of humor and whip-smart writing. It’s appropriate, seeing as how Quinn’s mission as an author is to prove that smart women can both read and write romance—a philosophy that’s evident in every quip and tightly paced chapter.

Speaking of smart women, Poppy is an utter delight. She is witty, headstrong (not simply in a cute, rescue-me sort of way), and fiercely protective of the weak around her and her loved ones. Andrew falls for her exactly as she is, flaws and all, and it’s clear that their relationship is built on mutual admiration rather than simply desire. However, do you want some sexual tension? Julia Quinn will give you tension. It’s a relationship as thoughtfully crafted as the book’s impeccable plot and pacing. If winter has you longing for warm days at the beach, immerse yourself in The Other Miss Bridgerton for the most delicious pirate (er, privateer) story on the shelves.

AN AMERICAN IN LONDON
What do you get when you combine a happily single young heiress, her handsome partner-in-matchmaking and a duke with the absolute worst intentions? Well, this winter you get The Girl with the Sweetest Secret, Betina Krahn’s newest romance.

Frankie Bumgarten has had it with the men of London. As a sensible American girl, Frankie loathes the idea of marrying a stuck-up nobleman, much to the dismay of her mother. She’ll settle for finding her younger sister a match, with the help of a young English nobleman known as the Fox. Soon, however, Frankie finds herself caught between her growing attraction to the Fox and the attention of an ominous foreign duke who’ll do anything to have her. There’s more to her dilemma than meets the eye, and she’s determined to find out exactly what.

Reynard Boulton earned the nickname “the Fox” because of his sharp mind, talent for collecting secrets and shady dealings in the underworld of London. Reynard has sworn to his best friend that he will protect the Bumgarten girls, and that means keeping Frankie out of the grasping hands of a certain Prussian duke. Although he swears indifference to eligible young women and their charms, he must admit that Frankie’s strong will and stunning beauty have begun to catch his eye.

The words you could use to describe Krahn’s books are the same words you would use to talk about a sunbeam. Her stories glow with charm, sweetness and warmth. It should also be noted that the bright quality of her stories never comes at the expense of their excitement, suspense and rich characters. She continues to rise above the rest of her genre (historical and otherwise) with the sparkling, optimistic novels we all deserve.

There’s nothing I love better than a fabulous romance that has more on its mind than just the central relationship. Those that deliver a sumptuous love story alongside real suspense and intrigue are the pride and joy of their genre. And oh boy, does this one deliver. Sweetest Secret gives readers true villains, complex issues to solve and two lead characters who really do keep you wondering if they will ever manage to end up together. It’s a richly dimensional story that will, I’m sure, stand the test of time.

As Christmas approaches, it’s good to take a break from the hustle and the grey skies that surround our favorite holiday. You’ll find no better shelter than the pages of The Girl with the Sweetest Secret.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our Q&A with Christy Carlyle about A Duke Changes Everything.

The holidays are a time to celebrate the future and to think back on the past. What more delicious way to honor the Ghost of Christmas Past than with a trio of romances set in days gone by?

2019 preview: Most anticipated fiction

Feature by Cat, Deputy Editor

There’s really one kind of resolution I want to talk about—book resolutions. Promise me you’ll read as many books as you can this year! To get you started, here are the 30 novels we’re most excited to read in 2019.

The Paragon HotelParagon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye
Putnam | January 8

Jane Steele author Faye writes like she left the stove on—hurry up, because this place is about to burn down. Her new novel is a historical mystery that careens from Prohibition-era New York City to Portland, Oregon, where a young white woman known as “Nobody” finds refuge in the eponymous hotel, a safe space for black Oregonians in a city besieged by the Klu Klux Klan. Read our cover story interview with Faye from the January 2019 issue.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
Riverhead | February 5

The first volume in Man Booker Prize winner James’ Dark Star Trilogy is an epic merging of history and fantasy, a fiercely inventive tale that includes a hunter tracking down a mysterious boy, a shape-shifter known as Leopard and strange, profound metaphysical explorations.

The Lost Man by Jane Harper
Flatiron | February 5

Australian author Harper has readers totally hooked with her mystery series centered on Agent Aaron Falk, and she sets an equally enticing trap with her new standalone, which returns to the scorching Outback to find two brothers facing family secrets after the strange death of their third brother.

The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
Flatiron | February 12

With her debut, The Ghost Bride, Choo dazzled readers with a colonial Malayan tale that explores the Chinese world of the afterlife. With her second novel, she draws us once again into a dark fairy tale, this time with weretigers, dressmakers and a boy who has been tasked with returning a severed finger to a corpse.

The White Book by Han Kang
Hogarth | February 19

The Korean author of the disquieting, daring novels The Vegetarian and Human Acts returns to her poetic roots with an intimate fictional odyssey of love and loss. This lyrical exploration of grief through the color white was short-listed for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize, and it promises to be something entirely of its own.

The Huntress by Kate Quinn
William Morrow | February 26

The Alice Network was one of our most beloved historical fiction works of 2018—and one of Reese Witherspoon’s book club picks—so Quinn’s new novel is one I’m especially excited about. It features all-female bomber regiments, Nazi hunting and (of course!) some deeply buried family secrets.

GingerbreadGingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi
Riverhead | March 5

No one does contemporary folk tales quite like Oyeyemi, award-winning author of six previous books. Her latest should appeal to fans of both literary fairy tales and baking shows, as it explores a family and their strangely bewitching recipe for gingerbread.

Little Faith by Nickolas Butler
Ecco | March 5

As he proved with Shotgun Lovesongs, Butler knows the way to my Midwestern-loving heart. His latest novel, about a rural Wisconsin father facing his grown daughter’s involvement in a radical church, was inspired by the 2008 Kara Neumann case.

The River by Peter Heller
Knopf | March 5

When critically acclaimed nonfiction writer Heller ventured into new territory with his debut novel, The Dog Stars (2012), it heralded an exciting new voice in page-turning literary fiction. In his exhilarating new tale, two college students fight for survival during a canoe trip in the Canadian wilderness.

The ParadeThe Parade by Dave Eggers
Knopf | March 19

Founder of McSweeney’s and award-winning author of many fiction, nonfiction and children’s books, Eggers sets his new novel in an unnamed country that has finally reached a tenuous peace after 10 years of war. The government commissions a road to connect the two halves of the state—and under these strange circumstances, two foreign contractors are brought together.

The Other Americans by Laila Lalami
Pantheon | March 26

Lalami’s Secret Son was on the Orange Prize long list, and her novel The Moor’s Account won multiple awards, including the American Book Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer. Her exciting new novel is described as part murder mystery, part love story and part family saga, and it centers on the death of a Moroccan immigrant in California.

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
Holt | April 9

The new novel from Pulitzer finalist Choi begins by immersing the reader in the world of a competitive performing arts school, complete with obsessive first loves and transformative classes—but this tale is much more, and much darker, than that. Readers looking for transfixing, complex narrative structures and an intricate web of themes will likely consider this one a new classic.

The Department of Sensitive CrimesThe Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall Smith
Pantheon | April 16

The beloved author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency offers a contrast to Scandi-noir with his new Scandinavian mystery series. He calls it scandi-blanc: “These are the crimes and criminals you won’t find in the newspaper or the ten o’clock news . . . unless it’s a particularly slow news day.” Excuse my guffaw, and be sure to check out his Malmo-set mystery, involving a stabbing in the back of the knee, a missing imaginary boyfriend and a potentially haunted local spa.

Normal People by Sally Rooney
Hogarth | April 16

The second novel from Irish author Rooney has already received a lot of attention (long-listed for the 2018 Booker and short-listed for the 2018 Costa Award), and rhapsodic fans of Conversations with Friends know why. In this coming-of-age tale, two young people come together time and again, magnetically drawn together during their years at Trinity College in Dublin.

Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan
Nan A. Talese | April 23

The multiple award-winning author of 14 novels and several story collections, McEwan transports readers to an alternate 1980s, where Britain has lost the Falklands War, Margaret Thatcher takes on British politician Tony Benn, and Alan Turing has made a breakthrough in artificial intelligence. As these events play out on a larger scale, two lovers—or rather, three, including a synthetic human—face unexpected moral questions.

Orange WorldOrange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell
Knopf | May 14 

The new story collection from the Pulitzer finalist and bestselling author (Swamplandia!) includes eight tales guaranteed to suck you in, from a love story between a young man and the 2,000-year-old girl he finds in a Florida peat bog, to a giant tree that infects a young woman in Joshua Tree National Park.

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
Riverhead | June 4

The bestselling author of Big Magic and Eat, Pray, Love returns with a new novel narrated by 89-year-old Vivian, who recalls her youth spent in the theater world. In 1940s New York City, she lived with her Aunt Peg, owner of a run-down midtown theater called the Lily Playhouse.

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Penguin Press | June 4

Perhaps the year’s buzziest debut, the first novel from poet Vuong (Night Sky with Exit Wounds, winner of the Whiting Award and the T.S. Eliot Prize) is a letter from a son to his mother who can’t read, exploring their family history from Vietnam to the United States.

PatsyPatsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn
Liveright | June 4

Jamaican-born author and Lambda Literary Award winner Dennis-Benn centers her new novel on the story of the eponymous Patsy, who leaves her daughter behind in Jamaica for the chance at a new life in Brooklyn with her oldest friend and secret love.

Big Sky by Kate Atkinson
Little, Brown | June 25

Clear my schedule, it’s a new Atkinson—and more importantly, a new Jackson Brodie. In this new crime novel, our intrepid private investigator has moved to a quiet seaside town, but this bucolic setting belies an unexpected darkness: human trafficking.

Deep River by Karl Marlantes
Atlantic Monthly | July 2

In his first novel since Matterhorn (2010), Marlantes enters the American frontier and explores questions of old-growth forest harvesting and radical labor moments through the story of three siblings who, in the early 1900s, are forced to flee Russia’s imperial rule over Finland and settle in a logging community in southern Washington.

The Nickel BoysThe Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Doubleday | July 16

On the heels of his Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning The Underground Railroad, Whitehead takes readers to the Jim Crow South of early-1960s segregated Tallahassee, where Elwood Curtis has been sent to an infamous juvenile reformatory, the Nickel Academy, which is based on a real reform school in Florida that operated for 111 years.

Inland by Téa Obreht
Random House | August 13

Finally! Obreht took her sweet time following up The Tiger’s Wife (2011), which was a finalist for the National Book Award, but I forgive her because her new novel sounds so good. In the Arizona Territory in 1893, two stories intertwine: that of a former outlaw who is haunted by ghosts, and that of a frontierswoman waiting for her men to return, whose youngest son is convinced a mysterious beast watches their home.

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
Random House | September 3

Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge (2008) has delighted millions of readers, and now she returns to the seaside town of Crosby, Maine, for the next decade of Olive’s life—through a second marriage, a fluctuating relationship with her son and encounters with an unforgettable cast of characters.

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Nan A. Talese | September 10

Did Atwood decide to write a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale because she didn’t like season two of the Hulu adaptation? That’s my theory anyway. With this novel, Offred’s story picks up 15 years later, along with voices from two other female narrators from Gilead.

Agent Running in the Field by John le Carré
Viking | October 22

Prolific spy novelist le Carré will release his 25th novel this year, this one set in 2018 London and starring a 26-year-old in the middle of a political maelstrom.

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
Ecco | November 5

The Shirley Jackson Award-winning author of The Family Fang and Perfect Little World will publish a new novel about a young woman who moves in with her best friend from high school to help care for her stepchildren—but then the kids display strange and disturbing abilities. Expect spontaneous human combustion.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Doubleday | November 5

This is another one that seems to have taken forever to get to excited readers, but our patience is finally being rewarded. The author of The Night Circus will deliver a fantastical new tale, this one about a grad student in Vermont who discovers a strange book in the library stacks.

Dragonfly by Leila Meacham
Grand Central | “Just in time for Christmas”

There’s not a lot to share about the new novel from Meacham, bestselling author of Roses. She promises a fall 2019 release, and it’s apparently about five young Americans who have been selected to infiltrate Nazi-occupied France in 1942.

Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon
Delacorte | maybe

This is probably too good to be true, but on December 22 via Twitter, Gabaldon said that her ninth book in the Outlander series would indeed “be out in 2019.” I’m including it on this list so as to manifest my dreams.

 

Editor’s note: An early version of this article incorrectly described the character in Gilbert’s novel as 95 years old, not 89.

There’s really one kind of resolution I want to talk about—book resolutions. Promise me you’ll read as many books as you can this year! To get you started, here are the 30 novels we’re most excited to read in 2019.

15 women to watch in 2019

Feature by the editors of BookPage

The March issue of BookPage is a total Women’s History Month party, with oodles of reading recommendations for female-centric historical fiction, biographies of long-forgotten heroes in women’s history and shrewd, of-the-moment social commentary. But it wouldn’t be Women’s History Month at BookPage without our annual list of Women to Watch. Keep these 15 female authors on your radar in 2019—big things are coming.

Carty-WilliamsCandice Carty-Williams
QUEENIE
March 19 • Scout

This debut novelist is no rookie: Starting in publishing at the age of only 23, Carty-Williams created and launched the Guardian and 4th Estate BAME Short Story Prize in 2016, which focuses on and celebrates black, Asian and minority writers. Her first novel is a feel-good, smart rom-com starring a 25-year-old Jamaican-British woman who, post-break-up, needs a lot of help from her friends to navigate dating apps and self-doubt.

SerpellNamwali Serpell
THE OLD DRIFT
March 26 • Hogarth

When Zambian author Serpell won the Caine Prize in 2015 for her short story “The Sack,” she announced that “fiction is not a competitive sport” and shared the $15,000 prize with the other short-listed writers. Clearly a badass, Serpell teaches English at UC Berkeley and makes her debut with an ambitious, century-sweeping family saga set in Northwestern Rhodesia (now Zambia) that blends elements of post-colonialist literature with magical realism.

Sarah Blake
NAAMAH
April 9 • Riverhead

In the tradition of recent feminist reimaginings (like Madeline Miller’s Circe and Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls), Blake’s first novel transforms an ancient tale by exploring it through the eyes of a woman. Naamah, wife of Noah, is aboard the ark, trapped on unreceding waters—and seeking sanctuary with a seductive underwater angel. Blake has two previously published collections of poetry (Let’s Not Live on Earth and Mr. West), and her debut novel enters into a surreal dreamspace through sensual, lyrical language.

KimAngie Kim
MIRACLE CREEK
April 16 • Sarah Crichton

South Korea-born Kim was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, then practiced as a trial lawyer, and she’s also won a handful of awards for both nonfiction and fiction writing. She brings her two talents together in her debut, a courtroom drama that centers on the deadly explosion of a device known as the Miracle Submarine: a pressurized oxygen chamber used as therapy for autistic children and people suffering from issues such as infertility. Immigration, autism, mysterious notes, a murder trial—it’s a book club bonanza.

Casey McQuiston
RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE
May 14 • St. Martin’s Griffin

The buzz for McQuiston’s debut romance novel is near-deafening in the hallowed halls of romance Twitter, and for good reason—Red, White & Royal Blue is one of the few print romances from a major publisher to center a gay couple. And as one half of said couple is a fictional prince of England, fans thirsty for more tales of royal love will be very, very satisfied.

PhillipsJulia Phillips
DISAPPEARING EARTH
May 14 • Knopf

Phillips has loved Russia since she was a teenager, and she used her Fulbright fellowship to live and study there after college. Her impressive debut takes readers to the remote Russian peninsula Kamchatka—a land of extremes, of mountains, tundra and forests—where two young sisters disappear from a beach one August afternoon. Each chapter of the book explores a different character throughout the year after the kidnapping, from witnesses to fellow students to the detective. 

PitoniakAnna Pitoniak
NECESSARY PEOPLE
May 21 • Little, Brown

A Yale graduate and former senior editor at Random House, Pitoniak initially caught the attention of the literary community with her first novel, The Futures, and its assured, striking blend of insightful character work and well-plotted suspense. Her second novel takes a well-trod premise—a young woman from a poor family becomes the close friend of another girl, who is far more wealthy and charismatic—and gives it an ingenious twist, as aspiring journalist Violet has begun to outgrow her flighty friend Stella and achieve career success, dangerously upsetting the unhealthy equilibrium of their relationship.

KeaneMary Beth Keane
ASK AGAIN, YES
May 28 • Scribner

Celeste Ng fans and readers of smart domestic fiction, keep an eye on this one. In 2011, Keane was named one of the National Book Award Foundation’s “5 Under 35,” and in 2015 she was awarded a John S. Gugenheim fellowship for fiction writing. She has written two previous novels (The Walking People and Fever), and her third novel—about two rookie cops in the NYPD and their wives, who live next door to one another—has the potential to make Keane a household name. 

Catherine ChungCatherine Chung
THE TENTH MUSE
June 18 • Ecco

Chung’s list of honors is enviably long: She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and a Director’s Visitorship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. She was a Granta New Voice, and won an Honorable Mention for the PEN/Hemingway Award for her first novel, Forgotten Country, which was also the BookPage Top Pick in Fiction for March 2012 and one of our Best Books of 2012. Her much anticipated sophomore effort centers on a mathematician named Katherine who, in her journey to conquer the Riemann Hypothesis, unearths secrets that date back to World War II.

BenzChanelle Benz
THE GONE DEAD
June 25 • Ecco

Benz, an assistant professor of English at Rhodes College in Memphis, made her debut in 2017 with her short story collection, a book of literary acrobatics wonderfully titled The Man Who Shot Out My Eye Is Dead. Her first novel promises to be an important addition to the Southern literature canon, unfolding a decades-long family legacy when a biracial woman returns home to the Mississippi Delta 30 years after her father’s death.

TaddeoLisa Taddeo
THREE WOMEN
July 9 • Simon & Schuster / Avid Reader

Pushcart Prize-winning fiction writer and journalist Taddeo has written her first book, and it’s already changing the game of narrative nonfiction. It’s an intimate profile of three ordinary women’s pursuit of sensual passion: an unfaithful housewife, a sexually deviant entrepreneur and a high school student. Taddeo spent nearly a decade with these women, and the result is a stunning, timely examination of female desire.

TomarRuchika Tomar
A PRAYER FOR TRAVELERS
July 9 • Riverhead

For readers who’ve been waiting for a worthy successor to Claire Vaye Watkins’ Gold Fame Citrus, the Nevada-set debut novel from Tomar sounds promising. A former Wallace Stegner Fellow, Tomar is currently a Jones Lecturer at Stanford University, and her novel stars two girls—quiet Cale and enigmatic Penélope—and the tragic events that lead to Penny’s disappearance and Cale’s desperate search in the desert.

JiaJia Tolentino
TRICK MIRROR: REFLECTIONS ON SELF-DELUSION
August 6 • Random House

Texas-born Tolentino is a staff writer at The New Yorker whose writing has covered everything from music to vaping to sexual assault. Her debut collection of essays contains nine new essays about the cultural forces that have warped this already twisted decade. You won’t find anyone with a funnier, sharper, bolder take on the world as it unravels.

BroomSarah M. Broom
THE YELLOW HOUSE
August 13 • Grove

Broom’s debut memoir is a complex portrait of a city, a house, a family and the author’s place within each of them. In 1963, at the age of 19, Broom’s mother bought a yellow shotgun house in East New Orleans for $3,200. Now Broom tells the 100-year story of her family through this house, with equal parts deftness and depth. This book, and its author, demands our attention.

MachadoCarmen Maria Machado
IN THE DREAM HOUSE
October 1 • Graywolf

Machado’s debut short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties, was the winner of five literary awards (including the Bard Fiction Prize) and a finalist for six others (including the National Book Award). It blew readers’ expectations of the genre to bits, and her upcoming memoir promises to do the same. In the Dream House explores the reality of domestic abuse in queer relationships by recounting Machado’s entanglement with one magnetic but explosive woman. Bravery, levity, sociology, unorthodoxy—this book has it all.

 

Carty-Williams photo © Lily Richards / Serpell photo © Peg Korpinski / Kim photo © Tim Coburn / Chung photo © David Noles / Benz photo © Christine Jean Chambers / Taddeo photo © J. Waite / Broom photo © Hal Williamson / Machado photo © Art Streiber / AUGUST

The March issue of BookPage is a total Women’s History Month party, with oodles of reading recommendations for female-centric historical fiction, biographies of long-forgotten heroes in women’s history and shrewd, of-the-moment social commentary. But it wouldn’t be Women’s History Month at BookPage without our annual list of Women to Watch. Keep these 15 female authors on your radar in 2019—big things are coming.

Children's & YAPicture Book

Tips for teachers: Christmas in England

Feature by Emmie Stuart

Lapland, crackers, Christmas pudding, Crimble, mince pies, Father Christmas—if these words and expressions are familiar to you, then you’re likely from England, or you’ve celebrated Christmas across the pond. British holiday traditions look similar to those found in the United States, but there are some key differences: Presents are delivered by Father Christmas (who hails from Lapland), pantomimes pop up on every street corner, and a Christmas dinner is not complete without Christmas pudding and the pulling of Christmas crackers. The following three festive picture books are brimming with British traditions, magic and cheer.

The Queen and the First Christmas Tree by Nancy Churnin and Luisa Uribe

When she is 17 years old, Princess Charlotte leaves her home in Germany and moves to England so she can marry King George III. She brings a yew branch with her and it brings her immense comfort during her first Christmas away from home. Forty years later, Charlotte throws a Christmas party in Windsor Castle and invites 100 local children. At the party, she delights the children by decorating a giant fir with nuts, fruits, string, toys and candles. The tradition soon spreads beyond the walls of the castle to the people of England. Appealing to history- and princess-lovers alike, this nonfiction narrative tells the interesting and little-known backstory behind a familiar holiday tradition.

• History of the Christmas tree—After reading The Queen and the First Christmas Tree, ask students what questions they still have about Charlotte or the Christmas tree tradition. Write the questions on the board or a piece of chart paper. Read aloud the History Today article, “The First Christmas Tree,” by Allison Barnes. For younger children, discuss the article and if it answers any of their questions. Write the answers under the questions. For older children, provide each child with a copy of the article and a highlighter. Give them time to read the article, highlighting the parts which provide answers to the class questions. This activity gives children the opportunity to read for knowledge and helps equip them with research and information-gathering skills. For a short video on the topic, watch the History Channel’s History of Christmas Trees. Be sure to watch a time lapse of this year’s Windsor Castle’s Christmas Tree.

• Diary entry—Queen Charlotte invited 100 children to her first Christmas party. Read the pages that discuss the party aloud as well as the back matter. Discuss how these children (who had never seen a Christmas tree) might have felt at the party. As a class, brainstorm and list some adjectives and phrases that might describe the feelings of the children at Charlotte’s party. Give students time to write a first-person diary entry from the perspective of one of the children. Afterward, let the children copy their entries onto old-fashioned looking paper and provide materials for them to illustrate their entry.

• Make a yew branch—Visit a local Christmas tree stand and ask them if you can gather the branches and remnants of tree trimmings. Ask the tree trimmers to help you cut the branches so that they about 12”-18” each. Discuss Charlotte’s yew branch with your students. Queen Charlotte decorated her yew branch with colored paper, nuts, fruits and candles. Brainstorm other items that can be used to decorate yew branches. If the weather is nice, take a walk outside and let children collect acorns, leaves and other natural elements. Invite them to bring items from home as well. Provide ribbon or string and let children decorate their yew branches with their collected items. My students’ creativity amazed me. Each yew branch reflected the decorator’s personality and creative sensibilities.

The Village of Lights by Mitchell Stevens and Emily Pritchett

“A long time ago, on top of a hill overlooking a village in far-off England there lived a lonely old farmer,” writes author Mitchell Stevens. The farmer’s wife has died and his children have grown and moved away. To ease his loneliness, the old man would watch the lights of the village come on in the evening and then watch them as they were extinguished one by one. When World War II brings aerial bombers to England, the villagers take all of the lights out of their street lights, businesses and homes. The village is blanketed in darkness. As Christmas approaches, the old farmer figures out a way to bring light and hope to the people in the village. A simple yet powerful story, The Village of Lights shows how a single person’s small act can renew the spirit of an entire community.

• Life on the English home front—Briefly discuss life on the home front during World War II. For older students, read the opening few pages or watch the opening scene of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In The Village of Lights, the farmer hears that England is at war with Germany over the radio. Listen to recordings of Winston Churchill addressing his country over the radio.

• Letters for the lonely—Discuss why the farmer is lonely and looking at the village lights makes him remember his family and their happy holidays together. Ask students why the holiday season can make deepen feelings of loneliness for those who have lost their families. Ask students to think about people in the community who might be lonely. Write their ideas on the board and then let them brainstorm ideas for helping these people feel less alone. Provide time for children to write letters or make cards for the elderly, soldiers serving overseas or other people who might suffer from loneliness during the holiday season.

• FDR and Winston Churchill—Franklin and Winston: A Christmas That Changed the World (Douglas Wood) and In the Dark Streets Shineth: A 1941 Christmas Eve Story (David McCullough) are excellent read-alouds to pair with Village of Lights. Both books tell the story of Churchill’s visit to the White House just days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In the Dark Streets Shineth addresses an aspect of the British blackout that brings tears to my eyes each time I read it. Watch this accompanying video to hear the story and song. The video also has excellent photographs of Roosevelt, Churchill and the British blackouts.

• Blackout posters—Discuss blackouts and ask children why it was important for all of the villages in England to be dark at night. Show students examples of the blackout posters from World War II. Invite them to design their own blackout poster.

One Christmas Wish by Katherine Rundell and Emily Sutton

Feeling annoyed at being left at home alone on Christmas Eve, Theo unwraps a cardboard box and discovers four old ornaments: a tin soldier, an angel, a rocking horse and a robin. Looking out the window, he sees a shooting star and wishes, “to be un-alone.” Instantly, the four ornaments come to life. The rocking horse eats everything in sight, the robins longs to sing, the angel desires real feathers and the solider wants to find true love. Theo and the ornaments venture out into the night and have experiences that can only happen on Christmas Eve. Katherine Rundell’s prose is delightfully British (“That might be rather difficult. I don’t know many tin people that I can introduce you to. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have a furry hat?”), and Emily Sutton’s 1950s retro and atmospheric illustrations add more British goodness. Though it is a new story, One Christmas Wish feels magical and timeless—just the type of story one longs to read during the holiday season. At 60 pages, it’s an ideal holiday class read-aloud.

• Christmas in England—Before reading it aloud, tell your students that One Christmas Wish takes place in England. Ask them to keep their ears and eyes open for phrases, words, traditions and illustration details that are distinctly British. As a class, compile a list of included details like Christmas pudding, fruitcake, baubles, tinsel, old cathedrals and trains. Take some time to read other Christmas books that have distinctly British settings like The Snowman (Raymond Briggs), The Story of Holly and Ivy (Rumer Godden), Alfie’s Christmas (Shirley Hughes) and an adaption of Charles Dickens’ The Christmas Carol.

• Shooting stars—Theo makes his wish on a shooting star. What are shooting stars? Falling stars or meteor showers are other names for shooting stars. Take some time to research them with your students.

• Story of ornaments—After reading One Christmas Wish, invite children to choose a favorite ornament from home (or provide a few in the classroom). Model a creative writing exercise with the class. What if our ornaments came to life? The ornaments in One Christmas Wish have distinct personalities and desires. Remind students to include these elements in their ornament story. This exercise works well in pairs or groups of three. My students enjoyed imagining and writing ornament stories together.

• Compare and contrast—Read aloud a version of The Nutcracker. My favorite versions are illustrated by Susan Jeffers and Lisbeth Zwerger. The traditional Nutcracker story shares many of the magical elements present in One Christmas Wish. As a class, make a Venn diagram comparing the two stories. What are the similarities and differences between the two?

Lapland, crackers, Christmas pudding, Crimble, mince pies, Father Christmas—if these words and expressions are familiar to you, then you’re likely from England, or you’ve celebrated Christmas across the pond. British holiday traditions look similar to those found in the United States, but there are some key differences: Presents are delivered by Father Christmas (who hails from Lapland), pantomimes pop up on every street corner, and a Christmas dinner is not complete without Christmas pudding and the pulling of Christmas crackers. The following three festive picture books are brimming with British traditions, magic and cheer.

Fiction

What they’re reading: Lisa Jewell

Feature by Cat, Deputy Editor

It’s possible that sometimes, just sometimes, we may be guilty of putting charming (and charmingly warped) British mysteries on a pedestal. But how can we not, especially after reading a book like bestselling author Lisa Jewell’s latest, Watching You? It’s a wonderfully addictive tale of neighborhood-watch-gone-wrong and well-to-do secrets.

Jewell lives in London with her husband and their two daughters. We asked her to tell us about a few books she’s been reading.

Standard Deviation

Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny

I rarely read funny books, and it’s rare, even when I do, that a funny book manages to make me laugh. I think the last time I laughed out loud while reading a book was Nick Hornby’s About a Boy back in the last millennium. But Heiny’s book made me laugh a lot. Set in Manhattan, it’s a fresh, though curiously old-fashioned (I sometimes got a little shock when a character pulled out a mobile phone) tale of a year in the second marriage of 50-something Graham Cavanaugh to much younger Adria. We only ever see Adria through Graham’s eyes, and Adria is quirky, over-friendly, intense, funny, infuriating, kind, unreliable, unpredictable and adorable. Their 10-year-old son is starting to display some symptoms of being on the ASD spectrum, and while Graham quietly wonders about genetics and what it means to be “normal” or otherwise, Adria is determined to befriend Graham’s ex-wife when she discovers she has a new boyfriend. It’s just a beautiful window into a weird and wonderful marriage, and I could have stayed there with them for longer.

Skin Deep

Skin Deep by Liz Nugent

Liz Nugent’s third novel starts with a bang. Middle-aged Cordelia Russell is fading away on the Cote d’Azur, living on her wits and rapidly diminishing physical charms. After a night at the Hotel Negresco, doing cocaine in the toilets with strangers and dancing so hard her dress splits on the dance floor, she stumbles home in the early hours to find a corpse decomposing in her apartment. The twist being that she already knew it was there. Her story then spools back 40 years to a bleak and traumatic childhood in 1970s Ireland on the godforsaken island of Inishcrann. It’s written in the first person, and although the corpse is always there, loitering in the back of your mind, her life story is so compelling and satisfying that you don’t really mind if you never find out why it was there or who put it there. A thriller that doesn’t completely hinge on its big reveal is a brilliant thing indeed.

Death of Mrs. Westaway

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

My absolute favourite Ruth Ware novel, this had me completely under its spell from the moment I picked it up. It’s the story of Hal (Harriet) Westaway, a young girl earning a pittance doing tarot card readings on Brighton Pier on England’s south coast. Her mother was killed in a hit-and-run accident two years earlier, and ever since she has been struggling to survive. Then a letter arrives from a firm of solicitors advising her that she is the joint recipient of her grandmother’s inheritance. Which would be great, except for the fact that it’s not her grandmother. She decides that it is a case of mistaken identity and ignores it. But when debt collectors come heavy handed to her apartment, threatening to break her legs, she feels she has run out of options and so takes a train down to Cornwall to play the role of the mysterious granddaughter. The setting is tremendous: a cold, unheated mansion, uncomfortable beds, a sinister old housekeeper, shadows and magpies and creaking floorboards. I read this in two days and put it down completely satisfied.

 

Author photo by Andrew Whitton

It’s possible that sometimes, just sometimes, we may be guilty of putting charming (and charmingly warped) British mysteries on a pedestal. But how can we not, especially after reading a book like bestselling author Lisa Jewell’s latest, Watching You? It’s a wonderfully addictive tale of neighborhood-watch-gone-wrong and well-to-do secrets.

Jewell lives in London with her husband and their two daughters. We asked her to tell us about a few books she’s been reading.

Mystery

Whodunit: January 2019

Feature by Bruce Tierney

James Lee Burke is one of a small handful of elite suspense writers whose work transcends the genre, making the leap into capital-L Literature. You don’t have to get past the opening paragraph of The New Iberia Blues to see his mastery of the craft: “Desmond Cormier’s success story was an improbable one, even among the many self-congratulatory rags-to-riches tales we tell ourselves in the ongoing saga of our green republic, one that is forever changing yet forever the same, a saga that also includes the graves of Shiloh and cinders from aboriginal villages.” First-person narrator Dave Robicheaux is on hand and in fine fettle. Fans have watched Robicheaux age in real time, battling his demons, losing one wife, then another and another, raising the refugee girl he rescued from a submerged airplane when she was a small child and skating close to the edge (and sometimes over the edge) of the law. This time out, he will investigate the ritual slaying of a young black woman, nailed to a cross and left to the vagaries of the rising tide. There is a film company in town, and Robicheaux cannot shake the notion that they are somehow at the epicenter of this homicide, and as he gets closer to proving his thesis, the body count piles up. It is a long book, but I read it slowly, pausing from time to time to digest the first-rate prose, the atmospheric bayou setting and the complex interactions of people I feel I have known for 30-plus years.

In James Bond movies, one of the many ways of ratcheting up the tension is to introduce a Bad Thing About to Happen in, say, five minutes’ time, and to regularly return to the flashing digital countdown amid the action to see how much time is left before the Bad Thing transpires. Author Taylor Adams updates this suspense-building device in his supercharged novel No Exit with a dwindling cellphone battery peppering the high-tension text. The scene: a lonely snowbound rest area in rural Colorado, a place with little to no cellphone service, and a protagonist who has left her charger at home on what will prove to be the worst night of her life. At risk are a kidnapped child, albeit a rather resourceful one; a pair of innocent (or maybe not) bystanders; and the aforementioned protagonist, a college student named Darby Thorne, who was en route to her mother’s hospital bedside before her plans were interrupted by the freakish snowstorm and an even more freakish group of fellow strandees at the mountain shelter. Oh, and one last thing, and it really is the last thing—the twist ending is way cool.

Gytha Lodge’s suspenseful new psychological thriller, She Lies in Wait, tells the story of a ruinous outing and its aftermath decades later. Thirty- odd years ago, six friends went camping. Only five came home, and there was never a trace of the missing girl, Aurora Jackson. Her friends, a wide-ranging volunteer search party and even police with cadaver dogs turned up nothing—until now, when a young girl on a family holiday discovers a detached finger beneath a hollow tree within steps of the friends’ original campsite. Police Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens knew Aurora peripherally from his high school days, but he decided to stay on the investigation—a decision his assistant, Detective Inspector Juliette Hanson, will come to question as the investigation proceeds. This isn’t the only secret that comes to light: One of the campers, an Olympic star in later life, displayed a morbid fascination with young women; another of the group, now a well-regarded politician, was caught by Aurora in flagrante delicto with another boy, and more importantly, he had placed a large supply of Dexedrine in the hollow of that tree. I am just scratching the surface of the secrets here. There are plenty more to unearth for yourselves.

In any gathering of mystery writers, Tim Dorsey would be the resident jester, providing more laughs per page than virtually anyone else. His amiably psychopathic protagonist, Serge Storms, is a modern-day Don Quixote, tilting at the windmills of politics, ageism, sexism and any other –ism that happens to catch his fancy. In his latest adventure, No Sunscreen for the Dead, Storms invades a Florida retirement community in the wake of a very public sex scandal featuring a 68-year-old retiree and her much younger boy toy. There are two reasons behind Storms’ invasion, one being that he is perversely fascinated by this salacious news item, the other being that he wants to find an interesting place to live out his golden years. He has all the necessary gear for that, including plaid shorts and knee-length black socks. And the white belt, without which the ensemble, well, c’est incomplète. As the plot develops, Storms gets conscripted into the investigation of some big-dollar swindling in the old folks’ community, and high jinks ensue. And because it is Dorsey chronicling said high jinks, be prepared for mirth—lots and lots of mirth.

 

This article was originally published in the January 2019 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

James Lee Burke is one of a small handful of elite suspense writers whose work transcends the genre, making the leap into capital-L Literature. You don’t have to get past the opening paragraph of The New Iberia Blues to see his mastery of the craft:…

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