Literary Fiction
The liberators : a novel
EJ Koh
FICTION Koh Ej
Literary Fiction
"At the height of the military dictatorship in South Korea, Insuk and Sungho are arranged to be married. The couple soon moves to San Jose, California, with an infant and Sungho's overbearing mother-in-law. Adrift in a new country, Insuk grieves the loss of her past and her divided homeland, finding herself drawn into an illicit relationship that sets into motion a dramatic saga and echoes for generations to come. From the Gwangju Massacre to the 1988 Olympics, flashbacks to Korean repatriation after Japanese surrender, and the Sewol ferry accident, E. J. Koh's exquisitely drawn portraits and symphonic testimony from guards, prisoners, perpetrators, and liberators spans continents and four generations of two Korean families forever changed by fateful past decisions made in love and war. Extraordinarily beautiful and deeply moving, The Liberators is an elegantly wrought family saga of memory, trauma, and empathy, and a stunning testament to the consequences and fortunes of inheritance"--
The fraud
Zadie Smith
FICTION Smith Zadie
Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
"It is 1873. Mrs. Eliza Touchet is the Scottish housekeeper-and cousin by marriage-of a once-famous novelist, now in decline, William Ainsworth, with whom she has lived for thirty years. Mrs. Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature, justice, abolitionism, class, her cousin, his wives, this life and the next. But she is also sceptical. She suspects her cousin of having no talent; his successful friend, Mr. Charles Dickens, of being a bully and a moralist; and England of being a land of facades, in which nothing is quite what it seems. Andrew Bogle, meanwhile, grew up enslaved on the Hope Plantation, Jamaica. He knows every lump of sugar comes at a human cost. That the rich deceive the poor. And that people are more easily manipulated than they realize. When Bogle finds himself in London, star witness in a celebrated case of imposture, he knows his future depends on telling the right story. The "Tichborne Trial"-wherein a lower-class butcher from Australia claimed he was in fact the rightful heir of a sizable estate and title-captivates Mrs. Touchet and all of England. Is Sir Roger Tichborne really who he says he is? Or is he a fraud? Mrs. Touchet is a woman of the world. Mr. Bogle is no fool. But in a world of hypocrisy and self-deception, deciding what is real proves a complicated task.""--
Zadie Smith is swinging for Dickens with this novel. There are some glimpses of brilliancy here: the humor, the cast of characters, and the atmosphere Smith creates showing the crushing nature of Victorian society. -Anne M
The wren, the wren : a novel
Anne Enright
FICTION Enright Anne
Literary Fiction
"From Booker-prize winning author Anne Enright, an astonishing novel about the love between mother and daughter--sometimes fierce, often painful, but always transcendent. "Carmel had been alone all her life. She had been alone since she was twelve years old. The baby knew all this. They looked at each other; one life into another life, and the baby knew exactly how alone her mother had been." Nell--funny, brave and so much loved--is a young woman with adventure on her mind. As she sets out into the world, she finds her family history hard to escape. For her mother, Carmel, Nell's leaving home opens a space in her heart, where the turmoil of a lifetime begins to churn. And across the generations falls the long shadow of Carmel's famous father, an Irish poet of beautiful words and brutal actions. In this penetrating and beautifully written novel, Anne Enright luminously brings to life the essence of what makes a family survive the vicissitudes of life. The Wren, the Wren is a meditation on love: spiritual, romantic, darkly sexual, or genetic. A generational saga that traces the inheritance not just of trauma but also of wonder, it is a testament to the glorious resilience of women, by one of the greatest living writers of our age"--
While this novel centers around Carmel and her daughter Nell, the elephant in the room for both characters is Phil, Carmel's father and Nell's grandfather--Irish poet and national treasure. It's about the poetry--the beauty and the heartbreak in the meanings behind those words. Carmel tries to reckon with them, while Nell is trying to discover and find connection. What we inherit can be so different. -Anne M
North woods : a novel
Daniel (Daniel Philippe) Mason
FICTION Mason Daniel
Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
"When a pair of young lovers abscond from a Puritan colony, little do they know that their humble cabin in the woods will become the home of an extraordinary succession of human and nonhuman characters alike. An English soldier, destined for glory, abandons the battlefields of the New World to devote himself to apples. A pair of spinster twins navigate war and famine, envy and desire. A crime reporter unearths a mass grave--only to discover that the ancient trees refuse to give up their secrets. A lovelorn painter, a sinister conman, a stalking panther, a lusty beetle: As each inhabitant confronts the wonder and mystery around them, they begin to realize that the dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive"--
I really enjoy Daniel Mason’s writing. I loved The Winter Soldier. (Now that I think of it, I should read that one again. It’s so good!) But Mason really surprised me with this book. It is refreshing, funny, and a little chaotic. It follows the history of a single piece of land in the woods of western Massachusetts from first contact into the future. It’s the story of the land, the animals that live there, and the house that stands on it and how they change with each generation, but also how each generation is influenced by the land and the house. It is full of these beautiful connections woven throughout the generations—sometimes in completely unexpected ways. One of my favorite parts of the novel are the ghostly ballads written by two twin sisters that are used as interludes between chapters. Yes, this novel is ambitious. And Mason succeeds. -Anne M
The vaster wilds
Lauren Groff
FICTION Groff Lauren
Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
"A servant girl escapes from a colonial settlement in the wilderness. She carries nothing with her but her wits, a few possessions, and the spark of god that burns hot within her. What she finds in this terra incognita is beyond the limits of her imagination and will bend her belief in everything that her own civilization has taught her. Lauren Groff's new novel is at once a thrilling adventure story and a penetrating fable about trying to find a new way of living in a world succumbing to the churn of colonialism. The Vaster Wilds is a work of raw and prophetic power that tells the story of America in miniature, through one girl at a hinge point in history, to ask how--and if--we can adapt quickly enough to save ourselves."
A lot of “pandemic novels” are coming out right now—at least narratives inspired by or written during the pandemic and everything that happened within that time. They provide a window into what authors were thinking about, working through, or grappling with during the height of the pandemic. Lauren Groff’s thinking was pretty bleak. Her thoughts turned to the “Starving Time” of Jamestown: crops failed, disease flourished, and those that survived ate everything. The narrative centers on a white servant girl, who is called many different names in her short life, and her decision to run away from the colonial settlement and strike out on her own in hopes of finding the French. She is hungry and afraid in the settlement and what is unknown to her beyond the palisade holds better chances for survival. The story follows her during those first few weeks with glimpses into how she found herself on this side of the Atlantic. This survival novel is engrossing, and it takes on quite a few subjects: colonization, land use, 17th century religion, and the oppressively hierarchical structure of English society. But also, what does it mean to be human when you are alone? What does real survival mean? Groff left me with more questions than answers, but good novelists do that. -Anne M
The awakening, and selected stories
Kate Chopin
FICTION Chopin, Kate
Fiction, Classics, Literary Fiction
A fast read with gorgeous writing and imagery. This book was censored for decades after its publishing in 1899 for its depictions of female sexual desire and a protagonist who opposed traditional social and gender norms. If you haven't read this Romantic classic yet, I highly recommend it for Banned Books Week! -Annie
My dark Vanessa : a novel
Kate Elizabeth Russell
FICTION Russell Kate
Literary Fiction
2000: Bright, ambitious fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher. 2017: Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa. Now Vanessa finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? -- adapted from jacket
This book was absolutely stunning. The writing, the phrasing alone is brilliant, and though the story can be difficult to read and process, I became as immersed into it as I could. Just beautiful. The author does a great job of getting us into the main character's headspace so you can better identify with her feelings and desires and reactions. -Amanda
The last true poets of the sea
Drake, Julia, author.
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Drake Julia
Fiction, Young Adult, Literary Fiction
Inspired loosely by Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, teenaged Violet is shipped off to Maine after her brother's hospitalization, where she searches for the lost shipwreck that her great-great grandmother survived and for answers about her family's long struggle with mental illness, all while falling in love.
I'm always in for a Shakespeare retelling, and Twelfth Night is one of my favorites. I've heard The Last True Poets of the Sea is really good, but have yet to get to it. Maybe this year! -Casey
A gentleman in Moscow
Towles, Amor, author.
FICTION Towles Amor
Fiction, Literary Fiction
From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility--a transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel
This is the book in 2023 that I am determined to tackle. It's been on my list for at least four years and I have multiple family members who adore this title. I'm coming for you, Amor Towles! -Casey
Bea Wolf.
Zach Author Weinersmith
Kids, Graphic Novels, Adventure, Literary Fiction
A modern middle-grade graphic novel retelling of Beowulf, featuring a gang of troublemaking kids who must defend their tree house from a fun-hating adult who can instantly turn children into grown-ups. Listen! Hear a tale of mallow-munchers and warriors who answer candy’s clarion call! Somewhere in a generic suburb stands Treeheart, a kid-forged sanctuary where generations of tireless tykes have spent their youths making merry, spilling soda, and staving off the shadow of adulthood. One day, these brave warriors find their fun cut short by their nefarious neighbor Grindle, who can no longer tolerate the sounds of mirth seeping into his joyless adult life. As the guardian of gloom lays siege to Treeheart, scores of kids suddenly find themselves transformed into pimply teenagers and sullen adults! The survivors of the onslaught cry out for a savior―a warrior whose will is unbreakable and whose appetite for mischief is unbounded. They call for Bea Wolf.
New middle grade graphic novel alert! Bea Wolf is a modern middle-grade graphic novel retelling of Beowulf. I would have loved to have read Bea's story in school instead of of Beo's. Even still this amazingly creative retelling also mimics the original's language by using alliteration throughout. Kids will enjoy this retelling, and not realize they’re also learning about a great classic! Plus, it was laugh out loud funny in many parts; a true delight! -Angie
This tiny but mighty novel was praised for its sparse language, making every word matter. While the words are precise, Koh created a saga here. Spanning three generations, four generations of a Korean family grapple with the past (both their own and their country's)--showing that our ties aren't always severed when we cross an ocean. -Anne M