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.

The Fake – Zoe Whittall

Full disclosure – this is a superb relationship book, my favourite genre. Shelby meets Cammie at a grief support group. Shelby is grieving the sudden death of her wife; Cammie is recovering from cancer and many other apparent calamities. Gibson is recently divorced, meets Cammie in a bar and falls in love. But what if Cammie is a lying psychopath, a consummate con person? And what does it say about the psychology of Shelby and Gibson that they can be so profoundly manipulated? Finally, the ending of this book is sublime in its simplicity: highly recommended.