Stephenie Harrison

It is sometimes the quiet novels, reserved and restrained, that pack the biggest emotional punches. Like artists and painters, truly gifted novelists seem to have the uncanny knack of utilizing “negative space” to tell their tales, striking chords deep within us with a careful juxtaposition of elegant prose while still leaving much unsaid. Reading The Hand That First Held Mine, it is abundantly clear that author Maggie O’Farrell has this rare skill.

O’Farrell’s fifth novel follows the style of the increasingly popular dual-narrative, in which readers are introduced to two remarkable women in alternating chapters. Lexie is a spirited young woman determined to experience as much as she can in 1950s London, while Elina is a present-day artist struggling to navigate the challenges of the first fraught weeks of motherhood following the difficult delivery of her son. Lexie’s journey brings her into the path of Innes Kent, a dashing—but married—magazine editor, who helps her to discover the exhilaration of art, reporting and the various facets of love. As Elina’s own story unfolds, we watch as she grapples with the new depth of feelings her child evokes within her, while also working to incorporate her new role as a mother into her self-identity and maintain intimacy with her boyfriend, Ted.

Initially, the two narratives are equally compelling but also feel separate and unrelated, which may leave a few readers scratching their heads. However, by giving the two stories room to breathe and grow independently, O’Farrell deftly maximizes the psychological tension that sparks and shatters when the two storylines eventually merge. The resulting climax is both dazzling and heartbreaking, rendered in gorgeously haunting prose. A provocative and mesmerizing read, The Hand That First Held Mine is an exquisite but bruising meditation on loss, parenthood and identity that will linger in readers’ minds long after its final pages are turned.

Stephenie Harrison writes from Nashville.

Tim and Kate Welch may not have it all, but they’ve got more than most. Tim is a high school history teacher, while Kate stays at home looking after their two young sons, organizing play dates and struggling to keep her sanity. All this changes when Kate is offered a high-flying job and Tim quits work to be a stay-at-home dad. As if this role reversal weren’t enough to shake up their suburban lives, Anna Brody, an alluring and beautiful socialite, moves into the most coveted brownstone in their Brooklyn Heights neighborhood and sets her sights on Tim and Kate. Initially flattered by her attentions, it isn’t long before the imperceptible cracks in Tim and Kate’s marriage begin to widen, and they realize that climbing the social ladder while rubbing elbows with Anna comes at a high cost.

If while reading Peter Hedges’ latest novel, The Heights, you feel the book has a certain cinematic quality, you’ll be forgiven, since Hedges is the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of such hits as About A Boy and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (adapted from his own novel). But don’t let his celluloid prowess dissuade you from picking up The Heights, as Hedges has a knack for taking everyday life and making it fascinating. In alternating chapters, Tim and Kate gradually reveal their story, which helps maintain the momentum of the narrative and is sure to keep readers glued to the page as we watch them in their valiant struggles to survive.

The Heights is a no-holds-barred exposé of suburbia and the strains of marriage and childrearing, but Hedges deftly transforms this weighty subject matter into an addictive blend of melodrama carefully balanced with comedy; it takes real skill to inject levity into the Welches’ narrative, without ever becoming glib or insensitive, and thankfully Hedges is up to the task. His writing helps elevate a relatively simple story, creating a novel that is devilishly delightful. Given past precedence, it wouldn’t be surprising if The Heights one day graces a theater near you, but this is definitely one book you’ll want to read before seeing the movie.

Stephenie Harrison writes from Nashville.

Imagine a distant future in which the job you hold and your social position—not to mention who you can marry—depend critically on the colors you are able to see. Such is the world in which Eddie Russet finds himself in Jasper Fforde’s latest novel, Shades of Grey.

After an ill-advised marriage greatly depleted the Russet family’s Red vision several generations ago, the Russets have struggled over the years to regain their social standing and vibrant Red perception through carefully planned marriages with other high-standing Reds. In this vein, it is Eddie’s fiercest hope that he can win the hand of Constance Oxblood, who is practically Red royalty, and take over her family’s string business. All this changes, however, when a foolhardy prank gets Eddie and his father sent to the Outer Fringes, where Eddie encounters a lowly Grey named Jane. In the blink of an eye, Eddie is irrevocably in love. Eddie soon learns that it will take a lot more than poor poetry to curry Jane’s favor, and her friendship may mean often running afoul of authority. In his attempts to lessen her hostility towards him, Eddie’s blinders begin to lift and he finally begins to see beyond red to something far more dangerous: the Truth.

Sounds zany and outlandish? It is! Fforde’s novels are akin to a Monty Python episode put to print, or a Salvador Dalí painting brought to life, and readers who are able to suspend their disbelief are in for a breathtaking and illuminating literary adventure. When the pieces of Fforde’s tricky puzzle fall into place, the resultant climax is an explosive kaleidoscope of emotion that will startle and unsettle, while also igniting a desperate need to nab the next volume in this dazzling new series. With romance, adventure, conspiracies and plenty of laughs, Shades of Grey is high-energy storytelling that offers something for every reader.

Stephenie Harrison writes from Nashville.

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Read an interview with Jasper Fforde about Shades of Grey.

Oryx & Crake fans rejoice! Margaret Atwood triumphantly returns with The Year of the Flood, in which readers are once more catapulted into the smoking embers of a world that faintly echoes our own. After centuries of rampant moral and environmental exploitation, the Earth has been decimated—perhaps beyond repair—by a “waterless flood,” one that comes in the form of a plague and leaves few survivors standing.

The Year of the Flood occurs in parallel with Oryx & Crake, meaning the two books can be read in any order. This time, we trace the fall of the human race through the eyes of two female narrators, Toby and Ren. When the flood hit, these two women were members of God’s Gardeners, an organization focused on sustainability, its principles founded in early Christian scripture updated with a modern-day vegan twist. Through interwoven, retrospective narratives, Toby and Ren share how they each came to join the Gardeners, and how they witnessed the eventual crumble and collapse of civilization. Living as they do in a world where healthcare corporations are actively spreading disease so they can profit from providing the cures, prisoners are sentenced to Battle Royale-style death matches in which winners get their freedom, and losers are brutally slaughtered, and the only animals to walk the Earth are genetically engineered splices, it is only too easy to appreciate Atwood’s indictment of our own 21st-century world.

At times this skewering can feel heavy-handed, as if the storytelling has taken a backseat to environmental and corporate whistle-blowing, but even so, no one can deny that Atwood’s message remains chilling, timely and necessary. For all the portents of doom and destruction caused by our own hands, Atwood is at her very best when she is focusing on the human struggle to survive, despite the odds. Above all else, readers will be moved by Toby and Ren’s story; in a strange land, these women feel like family. The Year of the Flood is sure to thrill fans of speculative fiction, while also converting an entirely new wave of Atwood devotees. 

Stephenie Harrison writes from Nashville. 

Nigel Farndale’s The Blasphemer is one of those epic novels, so grand in scope that it proves near impossible to provide a succinct summary of its various parts while still capturing its vital essence. With a narrative that shifts among multiple characters as well as jumping between events of World War I and the present day, there are so many storylines and ideas swirling about that the sheer grace and ease of the novel are truly a testament to Farndale’s prowess as a writer; in the hands of someone less skilled, the novel would likely implode in a tangled mess rather than unifying into a triumphant whole.

At its heart, The Blasphemer is about two men, Daniel and Andrew Kennedy, and the moments when their actions cause their lives to fracture and hurtle down a path in which their choices reverberate far into the future. Daniel is a prominent professor of zoology who observes Darwin’s cruel principle of “survival of the fittest” firsthand when the plane carrying him and the love of his life, Nancy, to the Galapagos Islands crashes headlong into the sea. Does Daniel save himself first or Nancy? The same is true for his great-grandfather, Andrew, who enlisted to fight for England in the war against Germany. When his battalion charges at Passchendaele, he too must face the critical dilemma of fight or flight. Both men’s split-second decisions have long-reaching consequences that neither could have envisioned, forever changing the course of their lives.

The Blasphemer is, quite simply, a joyful symphony of a novel. Through Daniel and Andrew, Farndale examines existentialist issues of faith, love, truth, courage and redemption. These various themes are intricately woven together to form a stirring meditation on the human condition, one that will resonate and strike a chord deep within any reader—even those who believe that there are no new stories to tell about the Great War. A thoughtful and ambitious rumination on the union of science and religion with the pacing of a contemporary thriller penned in melodic prose, this is a novel that lays the groundwork for a truly transcendental reading experience.