The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope is the debut novel by Rhonda Riley. It is the story of Evelyn, a young girl alone on a farm in rural North Carolina during WWII who finds what she thinks is a wounded soldier on her land. She quickly discovers that this is no soldier, and with a remarkable ability to recover, she is not sure who, or what, it is. Thus begins the story of Adam Hope. With a complete suspension of…
An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine is a novel about Aaliya, a reclusive Beiruti woman in her seventies whose life revolves around her books and the translations that she does in her small apartment. Nothing much happens in this novel, yet we are privileged to see the inner workings of Aaliya’s mind, her thoughts at this late stage in her life, as she moves back and forth through time reliving memories of past days. There are moments of wisdom and…
The Thing Around Your Neck is a collection of short stories by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi. I’ve mentioned before in this blog that I’m not a big fan of short stories, however this collection is well worth reading. Though the stories are not related, as a whole they paint a picture of the immigrant experience of Nigerian women in America. Adichi’s writing is brilliant, and seemingly effortless; every story pulled me in and I cared for each of the characters in…
The Gravity of Birds is the debut novel by Tracy Guzeman. Guzeman writes about the Kessler sisters, Alice and Natalie, whose lives change forever the summer they are 14 and 17 years old and meet 28 year old painter Thomas Bayber who later becomes very famous and reclusive. Bayber paints a portrait of the sisters that summer, that he only shows to two art collectors when he is 70 years old. He asks that the sisters be found before the…
The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith is the 5th installment of The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, and maybe my favorite so far. McCall Smith writes with his usual charm and wit and makes you feel like the world is a little bit better of a place by the time you finish reading this book. Mma Ramotswe is on a new case, while still waiting for the day that Mr J. L. B. Matekoni will marry her, as…
The People of Forever Are Not Afraid is the debut novel by Shani Boianjiu, a new young voice from Israel. The novel tells of three young girls from a tiny Israeli village who go off to do their military service in the Israeli Defense Forces for two years after high school. Yael, Lea and Avishag each have different experiences, yet Boianjiu weaves together a whole picture of what life is like for these girls experiencing hours of endless boredom, and…
Scent of Darkness by Margot Berwin, could have been a really good novel, but instead fell flat. I’ve barely finished reading it, but have mostly forgotten it already. The protagonist, Evangeline, has a wise old grandmother from New Orleans who is a master aromata, scent maker. She leaves a vial for Evangeline that she finds after her grandmother dies. The scent has a secret ingredient that attracts one good man, one evil man to her. This leads her to New…
Mother, Mother is a dark and somewhat disturbing book by Koren Zailckas. It tells the story of a perfect Mother who seems to have everything, beautiful home, beautiful children, successful husband, etc. As the story unfolds, through each family members point of view, we see how destructive and manipulative the Mother truly is. She lies and tells different stories to everyone, pitting them against each other and slowly destroying her entire family. Zailckas writes with razor sharp insight into the…
The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With a Pearl Earring, is historic fiction like only Chevalier can write. Ella Turner moves to France and searches for the history of her family, the Tourniers. She begins having nightmares and is lead to discover some haunting secrets buried deep in her family’s past. The novel takes us back into the 16th century when thousands of Huguenots were persecuted and slaughtered all over France. Not my favorite novel by Chevalier,…
The Frangipani Hotel is a collection of short stories by Violet Kupersmith. Kupersmith is a new, young American writer of Vietnamese descent. The stories are filled with bits of traditional Vietnamese folk tales and ghost stories, while maintaining a distinctly modern feel. The ghost of the Vietnam War floats eerily in the background of all the stories. It’s a wonderfully compelling collection from an original new voice. I was drawn in from the very first story. Kupersmith is working on…