Sometimes I hear people remark that they wish they were living in a simpler, kinder time, like the 1950s. Connie Schultz’s debut novel, The Daughters of Erietown, reminds readers that those days weren’t always so happy and innocent. This family saga centers on the McGinty family and how their lives evolve while living in Erietown,…
The intertwined relationships of a slave girl, her mother, and a plantation owner’s daughter are at the heart of this transporting debut novel. Conjure Women by Afia Atakora alternates between Slaverytime in 1854 and Freedomtime in 1867. In Slaverytime, May Belle is a midwife and healer among the plantation’s slaves, but also is known for…
An old church deacon nicknamed “Sportcoat’’ is having a rough time in his golden years. He doesn’t remember shooting a young local drug dealer in the face. He keeps having fierce arguments with his wife Hettie, who died two years ago. He can’t find his church’s Christmas box filled with parishioners’ donations. Now his best…
Ann Patchett’s compelling new family saga, The Dutch House, is one of my favorite books of the year. Danny Conroy narrates this contemporary fairytale, set over five decades. He tells his beloved older sister Maeve’s story, with the requisite absent mother, the clueless father, and a wicked stepmother. Strong-willed Maeve is the heart and soul…
Tea Obreht burst on the literary stage in 2011 with her magnificent novel, The Tiger’s Wife. She was hailed by The New Yorker as one of the twenty best American fiction writers under forty and included in the National Book Foundation’s list of 5 Under 35. Fans, including me, eagerly waited for her next book.…
