Molly is a 25-year-old maid at the Regency Grand Hotel where her goal is making the cleaning of guest suites into an act of perfection. When she finds a dead body in a guest suite, her behaviour as a neurodivergent individual together with the manipulative actions of some nasty criminals raises suspicions such that she is accused of murder. Think Amelia Bedelia in a murder mystery. Entirely delightful, highly recommended.
Category: Genre
A Marvellous Light – Freya Marske
Imagine you ae a civil servant in Edwardian London (1908) and are suddenly and unexpectedly assigned to a new position in the Office of Special Domestic Affairs and Complaints, where your role is to be a liaison to magicians. What a wonderful premise for a first novel about a muggle learning that magic exists. And there is a cracking good mystery about a lost document, curses and spells, and even an enchanted malevolent maze! Overall, very entertaining.
Run Towards the Danger – Sarah Polley
Ms. Polley is a wonderful actor, screenwriter, and director, so it is not surprising that she has written this impressive collection of essays. Her stories are intensely personal and achingly candid, describing some terrifying situations. She also addresses the fallibility of memory, and the mutability of memory/reality because the person you are now is not who you were then. This is a powerful and moving book, invoking both laughter and tears: a must read.
The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections – Eva Jurczyk
A rare book collection at a University Library become a vehicle for prestige, resulting in cut-throat politics in academia. And when a rare book goes missing, the plot thickens to become an intriguing mystery. The politics of gender, academic rivalries, suspicions, and the uncomfortable relationship with donors are all described perfectly.
My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry – Fredrik Backman
Elsa is a precocious almost 8-year-old who is perceived as different and thus bullied at school. Thankfully, she has a very close relationship with her 77-year-old grandmother who tells her mythical stories about the Land-of-Almost-Awake. When Elsa’s grandmother dies, Elsa receives a series of apology letters that she is directed to deliver, and so Elsa learns about her grandmother’s incredible back story. This is a brilliant book about life and death, with inspired comic moments and deeply sentimental sad situations, so both laughs and tears abound.
Matrix – Lauren Groff
In the late 12th century, Marie is banished to an English abbey by Eleanor of Aquitaine. Under her leadership, first as prioress and eventually as abbess, the abbey prospers because of Marie’s ambition, pride and yes, arrogance. This is a feminist story, of female creativity, religious ecstasy, and passion.
Em – Kim Thuy
Ms. Thuy writes impeccable books that are short, like her titles (Ru, Vi), and yet packed with insightful content. This new book begins in Viet Nam in the 1970s, with the My Lai massacre and the fall of Saigon. Both the horrors of war and the resilience of survivors are highlighted: overall, this is a powerful book.
When We Lost Our Heads – Heather O’Neill
Simply put, this is a wonderful book about compelling and complex women in Montreal at the end of the 19th century. Men in the story are mostly inconsequential, despite some appallingly boorish behaviour. Marie and Sadie are best friends as children, but theirs is a classic love-hate relationship (“Every decent friendship comes with a drop of hatred. But that hatred is like honey in the tea. It makes it addictive”). Marie is spoiled and entitled; Sadie is subversive and dangerous. Ms. O’Neill‘s writing is enchanting with exquisite similes describing disparate worlds: life in a brothel, exploitive factory work (the Squalid Mile). Female relationships are infinitely complex with righteous anger, pettiness and jealousy, and a self-absorbed woman who has no empathy toward other women. Powerful feminist themes abound: the invisibility of marriage, sexual awareness leading to female empowerment. And finally, anticipate a late plot twist and an extraordinary ending. This is O’Neill at her best, a Montreal noir story.
These Precious Days – Ann Patchett
Ms. Patchett is one of my favourite novelists (The Patron Saint of Liars, Bel Canto) but she also writes essays that previously were collected into the wonderful book This is a Story of a Happy Marriage. This is her second book of essays, some published previously in Harpers and the Atlantic. All are insightful glimpses into her life, from childhood to the current time. A favourite for me is the first essay about her three fathers, all different experiences, all with positive and negatives. Her writing is clear, focused, and honest – highly recommended.
(Amy seconds all of this!)
What David Read 