Two Books By My Favorite Authors

Reprinted from auburnpub.com:

There are some authors whose work I will always read. Their books are filled with characters that feel like people I want to know, the stories are interesting, and writing entrances me. Lisa Grunwald and Caroline Leavitt are two of those authors, and they both have wonderful books publishing in April.

There are some authors whose work I will always read. Their books are filled with characters that feel like people I want to know, the stories are interesting, and writing entrances me. Lisa Grunwald and Caroline Leavitt are two of those authors, and they both have wonderful books publishing in April.

Lisa Grunwald’s last novel Time After Time (about a young woman who, after she dies in train crash in a tunnel in Grand Central Station before WWII, returns to life but can only exist within the walls of Grand Central Central Station, falls in love with a train conductor) is one of my all-time favorites. It’s a beautiful love story.

Her new novel, The Evolution of Annabel Craig also has a historical setting. In 1925 Dayton, Tennessee, Annabel is married to George, a lawyer. Annabel overhears a group of the town’s businessmen discussing a newspaper article that states that the American Civil Liberties Union was offering to back any teacher in Tennessee who was willing to test a new law signed by the Tennessee governor. 

The Butler Act forbid the teaching of evolution in public schools in order to protect the children from hearing something that is in direct contrast to religious teachings. The Dayton businessmen believed that this test case could be a boon to business in town. 

Luckily for them, John Scopes, a young substitute science teacher and high school football coach, had taught a class about Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, which is found in their science textbook. John agrees and history is about to be made.

Annabel’s husband George ends up on the defense team, and their lives immediately change. Their neighbors and friends become angry with them. Over 200 reporters descend on the town, including a female reporter named Lottie Nelson. 

Lottie befriends Annabel and opens Annabel’s eyes to a life beyond being a housewife. Annabel likes to take photos and Lottie encourages her in this pursuit, telling Annabel that “what a person wants can change”. 

The Evolution of Annabel Craig may be a historical novel, but it has so many parallels to things happening right now. The media circus, the debate over separation of church and state in schools, the country coming out of a recent horrific pandemic (the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic), it all resonates with today's issues.

If you’re familiar the play “Inherit the Wind”, you know about this story. Lisa Grunwald tells it through the lens of Annabel’s growth as a woman, discovering who she is and what is important to her. It’s a book that leaves the reader with so much to think about, I read it months ago and I still think about it. I give it my highest recommendation.

Caroline Leavitt’s new novel, Days of Wonder is more contemporary, but also tells the story of  a woman’s growth. When Ella was sixteen years old, she fell madly in love with Jude. They were inseparable and their love became nearly obsessive.

When it appears that Ella and Jude poisoned his father, a judge, after he disapproved of their relationship, Ella is sent to prison while Jude’s father moves him far away.

Ella was pregnant with Jude’s baby and Ella’s mother Helen made the decision that the baby would be given up for adoption. Six years later, Ella gets out of prison and returns home to Helen, who just wants her daughter to be safe and happy. Ella cannot forget about the daughter she gave up however and is determined to find her.

Moving to Ann Arbor, Ella doesn’t tell her mother she is going to find her daughter who has been adopted by a couple. Ella becomes involved in the lives of her daughter and the woman who has adopted the baby without them knowing who she really is.

Meanwhile, Helen, who has never had a relationship with a man since she had Ella, finds herself involved with a man who treats her with kindness and respect. Her life has opened up in ways she never believed possible.

Leavitt does a remarkable job with the characters of Helen and Ella. We watch them change and grow as they have to deal with an impossible situation and we root for them. Helen and Ella have found a place in my heart and no one writes the mother-daughter relationship in novels better than Caroline Leavitt. I also give Days of Wonder my highest recommendation, and it may be Caroline Leavitt’s best book yet.

The Evolution of Annabel Craig by Lisa Grunwald- A

Published by Random House

Hardcover, $30, 320 pages

Days of Wonder by Caroline Leavitt- A

Published by Algonquin Books

Hardcover, $29, 320 pages

Friday 5ive- January 26, 2024

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post featuring five things that caught my attention this week. 

1)  It was a bookish week, with two events. It began with Zibby Media's New Year, New Chapter event at the Whitby Hotel on Saturday. There were over 40 authors speaking at several panels, including Rom-Coms, Your Deepest, Darkest (Thrillers), Advice for Debut Authors, and Don't Make Me Laugh among them. The great Anna Quindlen gave the keynote address (more on her later) and the discussions  and authors were so interesting. I got to connect with authors I've met before, like Jane L. Rosen (whose upcoming June novel Seven Summer Weekends is one I can't wait for) and Caroline Leavitt (her upcoming book Days of Wonder is on several lists of 2024 Eagerly Anticipated Books). I also got to meet in person Nancy Johnson, whose debut novel The Kindest Lie holds a place on my All-Time Favorites Shelf. That was such a delight! I met a few Instagram friends, and connected with some people I used to see at Book Expo (I miss that.). It was a great day and the turnout was so good I hope it encourages more bookish events in the future. Zibby Owens and her team did a wonderful job.

The authors

Meeting Nancy Johnson

Keynote speaker Anna Quindlen

2)  On Tuesday evening, the Book Cellar Book Club gathered at the Vanguard Wine Bar to discuss Helene Hanff's classic book 84, Charing Cross Road. The book consists of twenty years of letters written between Hanff, who lived in New York City, and the Marks & Co. Booksellers in London following WWII. Hanff was a freelance writer and literature lover who would order books from London to be sent to her. She struck up a friendly correspondence with the used book dealer and her letters were funny and a bit snarky at times. Eventually she got to know his family and others who worked at the bookstore, and she would arrange to have food and other items sent to them that were hard to find in post-war England. It's a lovely little book that restores your faith in humanity.

While on the way out, we ran into a group of women who were meeting for a book swap and we had a lovely chat with them. Apparently Vanguard Wine Bar is the literary salon of the Upper East Side.

Our new friends

3)  On Saturday evening, my husband and two of our friends went to see the fantastic Nick Fradiani portray Neil Diamond in A Beautiful Noise- the Neil Diamond Musical on Broadway. If you are a Neil Diamond fan this show is a must-see. The music will make you smile and dance in your seat, but please don't sing until the Sweet Caroline singalong at the end. Nick sang at the ArchCare gala in October and we went backstage after the show to congratulate him on an amazing performance. He graciously took a photo with us on stage. With so much bad news and chaos in the world, this show will leave you singing and smiling. 

4)  Somone suggested we watch Beef , a limited series on Netflix, and after it won several awards at the Golden Globes and Emmy Awards recently, we gave it a try. It is crazy good! Ali Wong and Steven Yeun play two people who have a road rage incident that spirals out of control. Both of them make one bad decision after the other that threatens their work, family, sanity and even their lives. Everyone involved deserves all the awards, especially Wong and Yeun who are just brilliant. 

5)  After hearing Anna Quindlen speak at New Year, New Chapter, I couldn't wait to dive into her upcoming novel, After Annie, publishing in February. From the first sentence- "Annie Brown died right before dinner", I was hooked.  Annie was a 37 year-old wife and mom to four young children who worked as a nurse aide in a nursing home. After she dies in their kitchen, her husband Bill, who owns his plumbing business, is lost and doesn't know what to do. Thirteen year-old daughter Ali becomes the caretaker to her dad and three younger brothers, and we see the story of what happens 'after Annie' through Ali, Bill, and Annie's lifelong best friend Annmarie's eyes. They bring Annie to life in this heartbreaking and emotional story. Annie was the glue that held the family together, and helped Annmarie through her addiction to pain killers. We watch these people as they grieve, which Quindlen likens to spring. "Grief was like spring, maybe. You thought you were getting out from under it and then it comes roaring back." After Annie is one of the most visceral novels about grief that I have read, and it will stay with me for a long time. I started reading it and five hours later I finished it because I could not put this book down. I give it my highest recommendation. 

 I hope you have a safe, healthy week, Until next time.

New in Paperback- With Or Without You by Caroline Leavitt

With Or Without You by Caroline Leavitt 

Published by Algonquin Paperbacks ISBN 9781643751436

Trade paperback, $16.95, 289 pages

Author Caroline Leavitt's novels share stories of people facing some kind of crisis, often ones not of their design. In Pictures of You, a car crash causes the death of a woman that upends the life of the other driver. In Cruel Beautiful World, Charlotte's life is thrown into turmoil when her younger 16 year-old sister runs away with her teacher. She creates characters that you empathize with, and feel deeply about.

Leavitt's latest novel, With or Without You, begins with Stella and Simon, who have been together for twenty years, having a recurring argument. Stella, a nurse, wants to settle down, buy their New York City apartment, and have a child. Simon, a rock musician, does not.

Simon is preparing to go Los Angeles with his bandmates to open for a younger, popular rocker. He sees this as an opportunity for the band to break out and gain the attention they have been seeking for the last twenty years. Times have been tough for them, and this may be their last best chance.

Stella is suffering from a terrible cold, and instead of going to Los Angeles with Simon as planned, she says that she will stay in New York. At first upset, Simon tries to talk her into coming, even though maybe deep down, he thinks it would be better for her not to go. 

During the argument, they are drinking wine, and Simon gives Stella a pill to take to feel better. The next morning, Simon has to rush the unconscious Stella to the hospital where she works, after she has fallen into a coma.

Libby is an attending doctor and one of Stella's best friends. She is on Stella's case, and not a fan of Simon, whom she thinks is selfish. But Simon stays by Stella's side the entire time, giving up his trip to Los Angeles and dreams of stardom.

Stella's mom Bette flies in from Spain, and she and Simon form their own new family as they wait by Stella's bedside for her to wake up. The relationship between Simon and Bette is touching, and we see a side to Bette that Stella doesn't know. Libby comes to see another side of Simon as well.

When Stella eventually wakes up, she is a different person. She begins drawing circles on paper, over and over. She goes to the park and feels compelled to sketch people. Her drawings are so intense, and she becomes a popular attraction. People begin to pay her for her drawings, and soon she gets commissions for her sketches and draws the attention of the media.

Simon doesn't know what to make of this. All his life he has been an artist, and wanted attention for his work, and now Stella is the one whom the world notices. 

No one writes characters as well as Leavitt, and here we see how the circumstances of Stella's coma have changed the lives of not only Simon and Stella, but Libby's as well. People are forced to look at the life they had wanted but must deal with the life they now find themselves facing. 

 I liked how Leavitt looks at memories that we have of our childhood, and assumptions we make about those we love that turn out to be different from we had always believed. The characters in With Or Without You go through such emotional and physical upheavals, and the reader is right along with them for all the heartache. I read With Or Without You in one sitting, my heart breaking the entire time. I highly recommend it, and Caroline Leavitt gets better with every novel.

 Thanks to Algonquin Books for putting me on Caroline Leavitt's tour.

Three Books About People in Crisis

Reprinted from auburnpub.com :

This month’s Book Report features three new novels about people each facing a serious crisis. Each author has written characters that we can empathize with and care about.

Ellen Marie Wiseman’s The Orphan Collector is set in 1918 Philadelphia, during the Spanish flu pandemic. Thirteen year-old Pia lives with her German immigrant family- Mom, twin baby brothers, while her father is away fighting for his new country in Europe in WWI as part of the U.S. Army. 

The war has just ended, and thousands of people attend a celebratory parade, including Pia, her mother and brothers. Soon, people all over Philadelphia are dying from the Spanish flu. It is a gruesome death, and people fear seeing the black fabric tied to doors indicating a death there.

Pia is left to care for her baby brothers, but soon the food runs out and she must venture outside to find supplies. When she faints and comes to in the hospital, it is days later and Pia is panicked about her brothers.

Unbeknownst to Pia, her neighbor Bernice sees her leave and hears the babies crying. Bernice   is bereft after losing her beloved baby boy to the flu, and makes a decision that will define her and Pia’s life going forward.

Pia ends up in an orphanage, filled with children who have lost their parents to the flu. Even though she is trapped, she cannot stop searching for clues as to what happened to her brothers. 

Bernice meanwhile has come upon an idea. Angered at the immigrant families she believes responsible for the deadly flu, Bernice uses the children in orphanages to fulfill a greedy plan.

When Bernice and Pia’s paths cross, can Pia discover what happened to her brothers? 

The Orphan Collector is a brilliantly written, riveting piece of historical fiction. Every detail feels so authentic. You will find yourself dropped right into 1918 Philadelphia, and feel like you are right alongside Pia as she never gives up her quest to find her brothers. Fans of Christina Baker Kline’s The Orphan Train and Lisa Wingate’s “Before We Were Yours” should put this next on their reading list.

Helen Cullen’s The Dazzling Truth takes place on an Irish island near Galway, where Murtagh and Maeve are raising their four children. From the moment Murtagh saw Maeve at Trinity College, he was smitten. 

Maeve was from America, studying acting. Murtagh made ceramic pottery, and they both loved art. He was given the opportunity to apprentice with a famous potter, and Maeve gave up her dreams to follow him and raise their family on the island.

Maeve also suffered from severe depression and anxiety. She would spend days, sometimes weeks in bed, and nights wandering the countryside. As her children got older, they didn’t understand what was happening, as it was never discussed openly. 

The story moves back and forth in time so we get to see Murtagh and Maeve’s courtship, and their lives of the children as they grow older. The characters are so well drawn, you care for each of them, and ache for each of them as Maeve’s illness affects them. Your heart will break for them.

In Caroline Leavitt’s latest novel, With Or Without You the main characters deal with a physical illness. Stella is a 42 year-old nurse who longs to settle down and have a child with her longtime love Simon, a rocker who has one last chance to make it in the music business with his bandmates. 

When Stella falls into a coma, it upends both their worlds, as well the life as Libby, her best friend, a doctor who is caring for Stella. Libby becomes close to Simon as they bond together working and hoping for Stella’s recovery. Simon also becomes close to Stella’s mother who moves in with him. Their relationship is so touching.

We see the story through Stella’s eyes as she is in the coma, and Simon who gives up his last chance to stay by her side. When Stella awakes, her world is completely different. She has a new artistic ability that eventually brings her the fame that Simon had once hoped would be his. 

 

Caroline Leavitt excels at writing characters facing a crisis not of their doing, and this is her best book yet. 

If you want to get lost in a good book that makes you feel something for the characters, take you out of your everyday sameness, each one of these three is a great choice.

The Orphan Collector by Ellen Marie Wiseman- A+

Published by Kensington Books

Trade paperback, $16.95, 400pages

The Dazzling Truth by Helen Cullen- B+

Published by Graydon House

Trade paperback, $17.99, 336 pages

With Or Without You by Caroline Leavitt- A

Published by Algonquin 

Hardcover, $26.95, 288 pages

 

With or Without You by Caroline Leavitt

With Or Without You by Caroline Leavitt

Published by Algonquin Books ISBN 9781616207793

Hardcover, $26.95, 288 pages

Author Caroline Leavitt's novels share stories of people facing some kind of crisis, often ones not of their design. In Pictures of You, a car crash causes the death of a woman that upends the life of the other driver. In Cruel Beautiful World, Charlotte's life is thrown into turmoil when her younger 16 year-old sister runs away with her teacher. She creates characters that you empathize with, and feel deeply about.

Leavitt's latest novel, With or Without You, begins with Stella and Simon, who have been together for twenty years, having a recurring argument. Stella, a nurse, wants to settle down, buy their New York City apartment, and have a child. Simon, a rock musician, does not.

Simon is preparing to go Los Angeles with his bandmates to open for a younger, popular rocker. He sees this as an opportunity for the band to break out and gain the attention they have been seeking for the last twenty years. Times have been tough for them, and this may be their last best chance.

Stella is suffering from a terrible cold, and instead of going to Los Angeles with Simon as planned, she says that she will stay in New York. At first upset, Simon tries to talk her into coming, even though maybe deep down, he thinks it would be better for her not to go. 

During the argument, they are drinking wine, and Simon gives Stella a pill to take to feel better. The next morning, Simon has to rush the unconscious Stella to the hospital where she works, after she has fallen into a coma.

Libby is an attending doctor and one of Stella's best friends. She is on Stella's case, and not a fan of Simon, whom she thinks is selfish. But Simon stays by Stella's side the entire time, giving up his trip to Los Angeles and dreams of stardom.

Stella's mom Bette flies in from Spain, and she and Simon form their own new family as they wait by Stella's bedside for her to wake up. The relationship between Simon and Bette is touching, and we see a side to Bette that Stella doesn't know. Libby comes to see another side of Simon as well.

When Stella eventually wakes up, she is a different person. She begins drawing circles on paper, over and over. She goes to the park and feels compelled to sketch people. Her drawings are so intense, and she becomes a popular attraction. People begin to pay her for her drawings, and soon she gets commissions for her sketches and draws the attention of the media.

Simon doesn't know what to make of this. All his life he has been an artist, and wanted attention for his work, and now Stella is the one whom the world notices. 

No one writes characters as well as Leavitt, and here we see how the circumstances of Stella's coma have changed the lives of not only Simon and Stella, but Libby's as well. People are forced to look at the life they had wanted but must deal with the life they now find themselves facing. 

 I liked how Leavitt looks at memories that we have of our childhood, and assumptions we make about those we love that turn out to be different from we had always believed. The characters in With Or Without You go through such emotional and physical upheavals, and the reader is right along with them for all the heartache. I read With Or Without You in one sitting, my heart breaking the entire time. I highly recommend it, and Caroline Leavitt gets better with every novel.

 Thanks to Algonquin Books for putting me on Caroline Leavitt's tour.

Friday 5ive- July 31, 2020

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention this week. It's so hard to believe that this is the last day of July. The days go by so slowly, but the weeks go by too fast. Does that make sense?

1)  Our animal photo this week is a dog on a plaque. While walking in downtown Bronxville, my friend Barb and saw this woman touching this plaque on a wall of one of the buildings. On the plaque is a rendering of Jake, known as "The Prince of Pondfield". You are supposed to pet him and make a wish.  I think I know what most people are wishing for.

2) While in Bronxville, we stopped into the local bookstore, Womrath Books, and I picked up a few books to continue my quest to support indie bookstores. I bought Sue Monk Kidd's new novel, The Book of Longings, a fictionalized tale of the wife of Jesus, and then something to make me laugh, Selina Meyer's "autobiography", A Woman First.  Fans of HBO's Veep will recognize the book. I hope it has lots of cursing in it.

Womrath Books

3) I passed by The Beach Cafe today and I think they have the cutest outdoor seating decor I've seen yet, with a teal lifeguard chair and beach balls outside. 

4) The heat was too much for me this week, so I caught up on some TV. I finally finished the last season of Schitt's Creek, and it was everything I hoped it would be. I really stretched it out because I didn't want to finish it. Dan Levy and company created such a lovely show, and the timing for it couldn't be better. The world needs to see that people can grow and be better people, like the Rose family. Bravo to all, and congratulations on their 15 Emmy nominations this week. This show will stand the test of time. 

I also started Apple TV+'s The Morning Show. The first two hours are gripping television, and Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carrell, Mark Duplass and Billy Crudup deserve their Emmy nominations this week. Anyone who likes morning TV shows will love this one, and I like how they really hit the zeitgeist of the moment. I can't wait to dive back into this one. 

5)  I only read two books this week. Susan Mallery's The Friendship List is about two female friends who try to get out of their comfort zone by making a list of new things to do- skydiving, getting a tattoo, and having sex with a hot guy. It's the last one that has long lasting consequences for both women. It's funny, sweet, and sometimes a little heartbreaking. My full review is here.

Caroline Leavitt's new novel, With Or Without You, about a woman who comes out of a coma with a different personality and artistic ability, is Leavitt's best book yet. She excels at writing about people who face a crisis, usually not of their own creation, and she engenders such empathy for her characters. It's heartbreaking and very moving. My full review publishes Tuesday, but spoiler alert, I adored it. I can't get Stella and Simon out of my mind.  

Bring on August! Stay safe and socially distant everyone, wear a mask and wash your hands. We're all in this together.

New in Paperback- Cruel Beautiful World by Caroline Leavitt

Cruel Beautiful World by Caroline Leavitt

Published by Algonquin Books ISBN 9781616207373

Trade paperback, $15.95, 384 pages

Author Caroline Leavitt took an event that happened to a high school classmate of hers as a jumping-off point for her incredibly riveting novel “Cruel Beautiful World”. Charlotte and Lucy were just young girls when their parents died tragically and they went to live with a distant older relative Iris.

In reality Iris is their much older half-sister, a fact Iris conceals from the girls. Iris never had children of her own and she grew to love the girls. Set in the late 1960’s, during the time of great social and political upheaval, Leavitt drops the reader into the time of hippies and free love and the frightening Manson murders that gripped the nation.

When Lucy is sixteen, she falls in love with William, the cool teacher at her school. She runs away with William to a dilapidated old farmhouse, where William gets a job teaching at a school that basically has no rules, while Lucy stays hidden at the farmhouse, all alone except for the chickens.

Lucy’s disappearance devastates Iris and Charlotte, who is ready to go off to college. Iris fears that something terrible has happened to Lucy, and the police are of no help as they tell her that so many teenager girls are running off nowadays and that she will probably return.

Charlotte goes off to college, which is much more difficult than she thought. She excelled in high school, but at college, the classes are much harder and she spends all her time studying. She has no real friends and travels home frequently to check on Iris.

Iris is getting on in age and eventually she must face the fact that for her own safety, she has to move out of her home and into an assisted living facility. Leavitt does a beautiful job with the character of Iris, and some of the most compelling parts of the story belong to her.

We see her as a young woman during WWII, who falls in love and marries the man of her dreams, a young soldier. She believes she will finally have the simple, happy life she longs for, but a secret builds a wall between her and her husband.

When Iris is in the assisted living facility, she is unhappy. She mourns the loss of her freedom to choose when to eat and what to eat, and the ability to go where she wants, when she wants. 

Lucy’s life is not turning out the way she had hoped either. William has isolated her, and she isn’t even allowed to let her aunt and sister know that she is alive for fear that William will be arrested.

What Lucy believed to be a romantic life ahead turns into a nightmare. William is gone all day at work, and when he comes home he is unhappy because his teaching job is not what he thought it would be. She is expected to cook dinner, but William insists on a very specific all-natural diet and Lucy doesn’t know how to cook.

One day Lucy takes a walk and ends up at a farm stand. There are lots of people there and she befriends the owner, Patrick, who gives Lucy a job. Lucy is overjoyed at having someplace to go and something to do.

Patrick is kind to her, and he is interested in what she thinks, something William is not. Patrick is hiding out from his past too, a tragic loss that he has not yet overcome. 

Halfway through the book something happens that changes the lives of all the characters. It is a real blow to the reader as well as to all of the characters, something that made me literally gasp out loud.

By that point we are so invested in these characters and their stories, we feel like we know them as real people. Leavitt has written terrific books, “Pictures of You” and “Is This Tomorrow” among them, but “Cruel Beautiful World” is her best book yet. She has taken her writing to an entirely new level, and she has garnered so much deserved praise for this one.

“Cruel Beautiful World” is the simply the best novel I have read in a long time, and if you enjoy a story that you can lost in, this is the one for you. The characters are simply unforgettable and I give it my highest recommendation.

The Most Compelling Books of 2016

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

The year 2016 is quickly coming to a close, and it’s time to reflect on all of the reading I’ve done this year with my list of the most compelling books of 2016. These are books that long after I finished reading, I find myself still thinking about them.

I didn’t read much non-fiction this year, but two titles in that genre made the list, including the one book I was most moved by: Lisa Fenn’s Carry On. Fenn, a producer at ESPN, was looking for a good documentary subject when her father told her about two high school wrestlers — one was blind, the other lost both legs in an accident, and both lived in poverty. Fenn becomes involved in trying to help these young men make better lives for themselves. It restores your faith in humanity and helps you to understand the world better. 

Carry On

Jeffrey Toobin, whose book was the basis for the FX smash TV series The People v. O.J. Simpson, turned his attention to the Patty Hearst kidnapping in American Heiress. Toobin brilliantly immerses the reader in the mid-1970s as he tells of wealthy heiress Hearst’s kidnapping by a group of ragtag political extremists, and what happened when she became an ally to their violent cause. 

American Heiress

Mysteries and thrillers were tops on my reading list, something different for me. Chris Bohjalian’s novel The Guest Room shows how easily one mistake can turn the life of a happily married father into a nightmare. You can feel a pain in the pit of your stomach as his life unravels after a bachelor party, and the ending is shocking. 

The Guest Room

Lisa Lutz’s The Passenger opens with a woman’s husband lying dead at the bottom of the stairs and her on the run. We discover she was already on the run for something else and when she is saved by a stranger, their lives become entwined. You’ll hold your breath the entire time you’re reading. 

The Passenger

Irish writer Tana French’s latest Dublin Murder Squad mystery The Trespasser is the best of the series so far, with a protagonist, detective Antoinette Conway, who is tenacious as she maneuvers her way in an all-male environment to solve a murder that hits close to the squad. 

The Trespasser

Much of the fiction I read this year was just outstanding, and emotional. Caroline Leavitt’s Cruel Beautiful World, set in the early 1970's, follows a 16-year-old girl who runs away with her teacher, and how that affects her sister and Iris, the woman who raised them. Iris’ story moved me most, and these characters are unforgettable. 

Cruel Beautiful World

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Louise Erdrich’s LaRose starts out heartbreaking, as a man accidentally kills his best friend’s young son and, following his tribal tradition, gives his young son to the grieving parents as amends. This beautifully sad book is filled with the fascinating characters affected by this act, and the writing is devastating. 

LaRose

Jennifer Haigh’s Heat and Light tackles the topic of fracking and how it impacts the lives of a small Pennsylvania town where the factory work is gone and people are torn between saving their environment and making enough money to survive. Haigh’s brilliant novel especially resonates in today’s atmosphere. 

Heat and Light

Richard Fifeld’s The Flood Girls is set in a small town as well, in Montana. Rachel comes home to make amends for all the trouble she caused and befriends her teenage neighbor, a young man who doesn’t fit in. Again, the characters here are so well-drawn, and the ending is just shattering. 

The Flood Girls

Deanna Lynn Sletten’s Finding Libbie is a novel that didn’t get a lot of attention, but should have. When a young woman finds a wedding photo of her father with a woman not her mother, she sets out to find out what happened to the bride. It’s about first love, the difficulties of marriage, and the heartbreak of mental illness and addiction. 

Finding Libbie

Anthony Marra’s The Tsar of Love and Techno perfectly places all of the pieces of the puzzle in a story that spans a century, telling how a 19th-century Russian painting affects a variety of people. Given the current interest in Russia, this one is a must-read, and Marra is a genius storyteller. 

The Tsar of Love and Techno

And finally, the book that everyone (including Oprah) has on their list: “The Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead. I don’t normally like books that everyone loves, but this one is incredible. Cora's story, a slave who runs away on a literal underground railroad, is just one punch to the gut after another. Every American should read it. 

The Underground Railroad

Diane La Rue is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and blogs about books at http://bookchickdi.blogspot.com. You can follow her on Twitter@bookchickdi, and she can be emailed at laruediane2000@yahoo.com.