Once Upon a RiverDiane SetterfieldSimon & Schuster (December 2018) It was a dark winter night. The solstice, to be exact. A man, face battered and bloodied, bursts in the door of the Swan Inn holding a small limp body. He collapses. When the village nurse Rita Sunday arrives to care for the man, she first …
The Half BrotherHolly LeCrawDoubleday (2015) Holly LeCraw’s novel The Half Brother is one of those family-with-a-secret-sagas and a story of forbidden love. And then it becomes something more. Charlie Garrett is the son of a single mother. The father he never knew died, ostensibly, in Vietnam. Then his mother married the wealthy Hugh Satterthwaite when he was …
Virgil Wander Leif Enger Grove Atlantic Press (October 2018) Virgil Wander (yes, that’s the main character’s name) thinks his “world began reorganizing itself” the day a stranger, Rune Eliassen, turned up in town–but I’m pretty sure the sea change in Virgil’s life really began when he found himself launched off Highway 61 on a snowy autumn …
The Blue Kingfisher Erica Wright Polis Books (November 2018) I’ve written a number times over the past ten years on This Is My Symphony of my dislike for mysteries and whodunits. Then I read one and rationalize that this particular title is an aberration–an outlier–a fluke. Except in the past two years, I’ve managed to read at least several. …
Mr. & Mrs. American Pie Juliet McDaniel Inkshares (August 2018) Juliet McDaniel’s Mr. & Mrs. American Pie is chick lit turned on its head. Call it wacky. Call it madcap. But however you describe it, the novel is 172 pages of fun, largely because the characters and situations are larger-than-life. Here’s a run-down. Mrs. Maxine Hortence …
Ohio Stephen Markley Simon & Schuster (August 2018) Stephen Markley’s novel Ohio follows four twenty-somethings (Class of 2004) back to their home town in Ohio shortly after Obama’s election. Chapters follow each character to New Canaan, giving their backstory with special attention to their high school years. New Canaan has been ravaged by the financial crisis and …
Three Things About Elsie Joanna Cannon Scribner (2018) “Everyone’s life has a secret, somethings they never talk about. Everyone has words they keep to themselves. It’s what you do with your secret that really matters. Do you drag it behind you forever, like a difficult suitcase, or do you find someone to tell?” Joanna Cannon’s …
The Forgotten Guide to Happiness Sophie Jenkins Avon (July 2018) Lana Green writes romance novels–or at least one, the best seller Love Crazy. Her second romance, Heartbreak, has just gotten a thumbs down from her publisher. The reason? It’s bleak and bitter, hardly the stuff of romance. Except Lana was just writing what she knew. And what …
Heaven Adjacent Catherine Ryan Hyde Lake Union Publishing June 2018 With over thirty books, Catherine Ryan Hyde’s fan base is deep. There are probably few who don’t remember the movie Pay It Forward which is based on her book by the same title; her novel Take Me With You is a favorite of mine. Hyde is a story-teller, …
The Pearl That Broke Its Shell Nadia Hashimi William Morrow Be honest. How much do you really know about Afghanistan? That it’s the site of one of the United States’ longest foreign wars. That it was the seat of Osama bin Laden and el Qaeda. Maybe you read The Kite Runner, so you have at least a better-than-average …
This is my symphony 