Captivating Fiction for March

Reposted from auburnpub.com

Last month's Book Report was filled with taut thrillers that kept you turning the page. This month we feature fiction that captures your heart and attention.

Nancy Johnson’s first book, The Kindest Lie was one of my favorite books from 2021. Her newest effort, People of Means is just as compelling and deals with timely topics in two different timelines.

In 1959, Freda leaves her home to attend Fisk University in Nashville. Freda’s parents met at Fisk, and her father is now a successful doctor while her mother volunteers for many charities in Chicago.

Freda is now faced with dealing up close with Jim Crow racism in Nashville, something she didn’t see much of back in her mostly Black suburban life in Chicago. While her father admonished her to keep her head down and concentrate on her studies, Freda meets Darius, a young man who becomes increasingly involved in the Civil Rights movement. 

Darius opens Freda’s eyes up to the injustices they face, and Freda must make a choice between keeping to studies following her father’s wishes to make a success of her career, and fighting the injustice she sees every day.

In 1992, Freda’s daughter Tulip faces a similar battle. Tulip has a good job in public relations, but deals with micro aggressions and workplace politics every day. After the Rodney King beating in Los Angeles, Tulip struggles with her feelings about the racial injustices in her world, and must decide whether to work to fight that or keep her head down and work hard to become a success in the business world as her father would like. 

Both Tulip and Freda faced a similar struggle decades apart, will Tulip follow her mother’s example? People of Means is a thought-provoking novel that resonates with issues today.

Lauren Willig’s brilliant new historical novel The Girl From Greenwich Street fictionalizes a real-life murder mystery from 1800 New York City. When young Elma Sands tells her cousin that she is leaving to get married, she is soon found dead in the bottom of a well and suspicion falls to Levi Weeks, the man she claimed she was to marry. 

Levi says he was not planning on marrying Elma and he did not see her the night she disappeared. Elma’s family insists that Levi be arrested, and Levi’s brother hires him a lawyer- Aaron Burr. 

As everyone knows from Hamilton- the Musical, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton had an intense rivalry. Alexander Hamilton works in his way onto the defense team for Levi Weeks, where he clashes with Burr on strategy. 

The Girl From Greenwich Street is a fascinating novel, filled with intriguing characters and a  compelling storyline. Willig drops the reader right into 1800 New York City, and you feel like you are right there watching the action as it happens. 

Just as interesting as Willig’s novel is the Historical Note at the end. It will have you going down a rabbit hole to learn more about this historical event. 

Nickolas Butler’s A Forty Year Kiss tells the story of Charlie and Vivian. They married forty years ago and divorced after four years because of Charlie’s drinking and temper. 

Charlie moves away and has a career in the railroad, while Vivian still lives in Wisconsin. When Charlie moves back home, he finds Vivian on Facebook and asks to meet her again.

They slowly reconnect, with Charlie hoping to make more a permanent relationship with Vivian. But Vivian isn’t sure that Charlie has changed. Time hasn’t been kind to Vivian, she never had a successful career, and lives with her adult daughter who works multiple jobs to support her two children.

Readers will relate to Vivian and her love for her grandchildren whom she cares for, and hope that she and Charlie can find their way back to each other. It tugs at your heartstrings.

Linda Holmes charming new novel, Back After This tells the story of Cecily, who works as a producer for a small company that creates podcasts. The company is not doing well, and Cecily’s boss comes up with an idea to save them- a new podcast featuring the single-and-looking Cecily going on 20 first dates to find the perfect man, while being guided by a popular Instagram influencer. 

After Cecily reluctantly agrees to it, she keeps running into a handsome, charming man who’s perfect for her. But she can’t date him until after the podcast is over which is months away. What’s a girl to do? 

If you are podcast fan, you will enjoy the behind-the-scenes look at the industry. Linda Holmes is a cohost of NPR’s “Pop Culture Happy Hour”. This is a breezy, sweet read. 

People of Means by Nancy Johnson-A

Published by William Morrow

Hardcover, $30, 357 pages

The Girl From Greenwich Street by Lauren Willig-A+

Published by William Morrow

Hardcover, $30, 352 pages

A Forty Year Kiss by Nickolas Butler- A

Published by Sourcebooks

Hardcover, $27.99, 322 pages

Back After This by Linda Holmes- A

Published by Ballantine Books

Hardcover, $28, 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.

Friday 5ive- February 5, 2021

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post featuring five things that caught my attention this week. New York City got hit with the massive snowstorm that blanketed much of the Northeast, and we got 15 inches of snow. The city shut down for two days, but then it was right back to normal.

1)  Walking around the neighborhood, I saw this sign in front of a liquor store. It's spot-on.

2) We found a new appetizer, made right here in New York City and available for purchase online. Pizza Cupcakes are mini bread bowls filled with mozzarella cheese and pizza sauce. There are two flavors- Margherita and Pepperoni, and they are quite tasty. We found them just in time for Super Bowl Sunday, and if you like Pizza Bagel Bites, this is your next new snack. You can order them here.

3)  One of the best books I have read in a long time is Nancy Johnson's novel, The Kindest Lie, (my review here), and I listened to her in conversation with Zibby Owens on her podcast, Moms Don't Have Time to Read. It was a fascinating conversation, and since Nancy was a TV news reporter for over a decade, she is a great communicator. If you take my recommendation and read The Kindest Lie, follow it up with this podcast episode to get a deeper dive into the book. 

4)  I watched the Netflix movie, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the film version of the brilliant August Wilson play of the same name. Viola Davis shows why she is one of the best actors of her generation as she ferociously tears into the role of real life 1920s blues singer Ma Rainey. Chadwick Boseman gives the best performance of his short life as a trumpet player yearning to become a star in his own right. The film is set in Chicago at a recording studio, and was deservedly nominated this week for both multiple Golden Globe and Screen Actors' Guild awards. 

5) It's been a week for nonfiction. Buffalo native Laura Pedersen (whose book Buffalo Gal about growing up in Buffalo in the 1970s made me laugh so hard) has a book of essays out.  A Theory of Everything Else is both hilarious (with more funny stories about growing up in Buffalo) and philosophical as she tackles the subjects of the importance of art, women in history, religion and more. It made me laugh and think. My full review will follow next week. 

I also started a collection of essays, Moms Don't Have Time To- A Quarantine Anthology, edited by Zibby Owens (see #3 above).  Owens collected original essays from 60 authors who appeared on her podcast Moms Don't Have Time to Read, about things that have helped and hindered people during quarantine. The sections are READ, WORK OUT, EAT, HAVE SEX and BREATHE. The essays are short, something you can dip in and out of, from authors like Chris Bohjalian, Gretchen Rubin, Wendy Walker and more, and are relatable to what we have all been going through. Proceeds of the book go to the Susan Felice Owens Program for COVID-19 Vaccine Research at Mount Sinai Health System. Susan was Zibby's mother-in-law who died from COVID-19 a month after caring for her own mother who passed away from the disease. The book launch is scheduled for February 16th, with 50 authors in attendance on Zoom. More information on that is here. 

Stay safe and socially distant, wash your hands, wear a mask, and get a vaccine when it's your turn.

The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson

The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson

Published by William Morrow ISBN 9780063057272

Hardcover, $27.99, 322 pages

Sometimes you read a book, and you know its going to be one that you will tell everyone about it, until they ask you to please stop. Nancy Johnson's debut novel, The Kindest Lie, is one of those. 

Ruth Tuttle is a Yale-educated Black engineer at a consumer packaged goods company. She's married to Xavier, a high-level executive at PespiCo. They live in Chicago, and are celebrating the election of Barack Obama with their friends.  

Life is good, and when Xavier talks of now starting a family with Ruth, she balks. Ruth never told her husband that when she was seventeen, she gave birth to a baby. Her grandmother and older brother Eli took the baby and gave him up for adoption. Ruth left for Yale and it was never spoken of again.

Ruth returns home to Indiana, to her hometown of Ganton, whose "very soil was a trapdoor, a gateway to nothingness that few people climbed out of." The author paints a vivid picture of Ganton in that one sentence. The town relied on one big industry, a car manufacturing plant, and when that plant closed, the entire town was decimated.

When Ruth stops into a local small store owned by her grandmother's best friend Lena, a white woman, she meets Midnight, Lena's eleven year-old grandson. Midnight's arm was disfigured, and he "stood on the outside of things, bitter, chafed by the unfairness of life". His mother died giving birth to his sister, who also died. His father lost his job at the plant, and spent his time drinking, so Midnight lived mostly with his grandmother.

Ruth feels a kinship with Midnight. She and her brother were raised by her grandparents, her mother had a drug problem and left, she never knew her father. Ruth's grandparents sacrificed much to send Ruth to Yale, knowing that she could be successful if she left Ganton.

Confronting her grandmother and brother about what happened to her baby does not go well for Ruth. They insist that they did what was best for all involved, and tell her to leave it alone, but she is determined to find her son.

The story is told from the viewpoints of Ruth and Midnight. The author succeeds in putting the reader in their shoes, these two characters who have lived such different lives, yet share so much. You feel deeply for everyone, that they are doing the best they can. It is a gift that Nancy Johnson can allow the reader to see each character's side of the story. 

The Kindest Lie is a heartbreaking, beautifully written novel that tackles secrets, race, class and gives us insight into what happens when a small town's industry disappears, the myriad of ways it destroys people. It is a richly developed story, with so much humanity contained within its pages. I think everyone can relate to something in this book. When I can't stop thinking about these characters, I know that I have read something profound that touched me deeply. I give The Kindest Lie my highest recommendation, and encourage everyone to read this book.