Predictably, Ms. Hay has written another superb short novel. There are many relationships in a coming-of-middle-age story: intense complicated friendships abound. On page 214: “They were lovers the way some people are Sunday painters – not fulltime, not exclusively, but companionably and gratefully”. And there is an exquisite description of place; Snow Road Station is a barely discernable dot in an Ontario map, but there are wonderful descriptions of the changing seasons, a wedding, and harvesting sap. In short, tour-de-force writing.
Shutter – Ramona Emerson
Rita Todachene is a young Navajo woman working for the Albuquerque Police as a forensic photographer, documenting crime scenes. Her secret: the ability to see the ghosts of crime victims. Rita’s back story also unfolds while present-day ghosts persist in demanding justice. This is very good crime fiction with an eery paranormal component.
Birnam Wood – Eleanor Catton
Another great book by this author, set in New Zealand. The first one-third starts slowly as we meet the players. The middle third shows intricate maneuvering: self-mythologizing rebels in a horticultural collective, political and economic rants, jealousy and envy of a scheming super-rich American, debates over the ethics of wealth distribution. And the final third is a cracking adventure as plans go awry, to become an eco-thriller with an abrupt but fitting ending. Obviously the topic is very contemporary – highly recommended.
She also wrote The Luminaries as previously reviewed by David.
Fayne – Ann-Marie MacDonald
Full disclosure: this sweeping sage is long (722 pages) but Ms. MacDonald’s exquisite writing makes the reading very worthwhile. The setting: Fayne, an estate straddling the border between England and Scotland. The time: late 19th century. The main players: Lord Henry Bell and wife Mae, and children Charles and Charlotte. The story is rife with family secrets, with cruelty and cowardice in male-female and father-child relationships. A shifting timeline accentuates the drama: highly recommended.
PS: A-MM wrote the wonderful Fall On Your Knees a long time ago.
Homecoming – Kate Morton
In 2018, Jess is an almost 40-year-old who returns to Australia because her elderly grandmother Nora has been hospitalized after a serious fall. At Nora’s house, Jess learns about the Turner Family Tragedy of 1959: the death of Nora’s sister-in-law and her three children in South Australia. Is this a murder-suicide by a distraught mother? What are the family lies designed to protect the ones we love? The story becomes an exciting crime drama that is a compelling read.
Lessons In Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus
This is a superb example of a book that is both delightful and meaningful. It is the 1950-60s, so Elizabeth Zott’s career as a graduate student and research chemist is subject to brutal sex discrimination. As a consequence, she eventually becomes the star of a cooking show, Supper At Six. Her motto: cooking is serious science because it is based on chemistry. There are laugh-out-loud sections and shrewd observations about human behaviours: highly recommended.
The Rising Tide – Anne Cleeves
Another story about DCI Vera Stanhope, the 10th book in a popular series of police dramas. The setting is NE England, and there are only three murders: one at the beginning, one in the middle and one at the end of the book. In part, this is a police procedural story involving face-to-face interviews. Who are withholding information, keeping secrets that threaten to resurface? Overall, an enjoyable read.
The Weight of Ink – Rachel Kadish
Be advised: this sweeping story of historical fiction is long (652 pages) but exquisite writing creates a literary mystery. In 2000 in England, an elderly female historian with Parkinson’s and an American graduate student are asked to evaluate a newly discovered cache of Jewish documents from the 1660s, the writings of the blind Rabbi HaCoen Mendes and his scribe Aleph. Eventually, Aleph is discovered to be a woman, Ester Velasquez. There are two critical tensions in this book. First, what are the prospects for a Jewish woman more than 300 years ago in London? Is there a brief bloom of intellectual freedom or is there a longer lasting consequence of a hunger for knowledge and learning? And second, the description of contemporary academic politics is vicious and compelling. This is an astonishing novel about a quest for knowledge: highly recommended.
Junie – Chelene Knight
First, the context: East-end Vancouver from 1933-39, an area called Hogan’s Alley which is home to Black and immigrant communities. At its core, this brilliant book is about complex mother-daughter relationships: Junie and her jazz singer mother Maddie, and Estelle and her mother Faye. As Junie progresses from age 13-19, her artistic talents bloom despite a disquieting reality. Thanks Amy, for this recommendation: highly recommended.
What David Read 