Literary Fiction

Held book cover

Held

Anne Michaels

FICTION Michaels Anne
Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction

"A breathtaking and ineffable new novel from the author of the international best sellers Fugitive Pieces and The Winter Vault-a novel of love and loyalty across generations, at once sweeping and intimate. 1917. On a battlefield near the River Aisne, John lies in the aftermath of a blast, unable to move or feel his legs. Struggling to focus his thoughts, he is lost to memory as the snow falls-a chance encounter in a pub by a railway, a hot bath with his lover on a winter night. 1920. John has returned from war to North Yorkshire, near a different river. He is alive but still not whole. Reunited with Helena, an artist, he reopens his photography business and tries to keep on living. But the past erupts insistently into the present, as ghosts begin to surface in his pictures: ghosts with messages he cannot understand. So begins a narrative that spans four generations of connections and consequences that ignite and re-ignite as the century unfolds. In luminous moments of desire, comprehension, longing, and transcendence, the sparks fly upward, working their transformations decades later. Held is affecting and intensely beautiful, full of mystery, wisdom, and compassion, a novel by a writer at the height of her powers"--

Anne M's picture

“Held” is a little like a literary puzzle. The narrative is organized in generational fragments; but “organized” isn’t quite the right word. Each chapter is connected with the others by a thread—a child, a grandchild, a spouse, a mother--advancing or in some cases, retreating through the 20th century. Each chapter gives you a little more understanding of the family as a whole. It is fitting that we are first introduced to a photographer, John, just back from the trenches in 1917 to find that his photographs contain the ghosts of his subjects. It’s a little like a metaphor for how this book develops. Anne Michaels’s prose shimmers. -Anne M

So late in the day : stories of women and men book cover

So late in the day : stories of women and men

Claire Keegan

FICTION Keegan Claire
Literary Fiction

"Celebrated for her powerful short fiction, Claire Keegan now gifts us three exquisite stories together forming a brilliant examination of gender dynamics and an arc from Keegan's earliest to her most recent work. In "So Late in the Day," Cathal faces a long weekend as his mind agitates over a woman with whom he could have spent his life, had he acted differently; in "The Long and Painful Death" a writer's arrival at the seaside home of Heinrich Böll for a two-week writing residency is disrupted by an academic who imposes his criticisms and opinions; and in "Antarctica" a married woman travels out of town to see what it's like to sleep with another man and ends up in the grip of a possessive stranger.' Each story probes the dynamics that corrupt what could be between women and men: a lack of generosity, the weight of expectation, the looming threat of violence."--

Anne M's picture

I’m resolved to read anything that Claire Keegan publishes. “Foster” and “Small Things Like These” made such an impression. “So Late in the Day” is comprised of three short stories on a theme: men and women together. Whether in a long-term relationship or an impromptu meeting or as a tryst, none of it goes well. There is resentment, judgement, anger, fear, and in one story, violence. These are themes Keegan explores well. Keegan stays concise and compact in her writing, but wow, is able to build so much tension. -Anne M

The liberators : a novel book cover

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"--

Anne M's picture

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

The fraud book cover

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.""--

Anne M's picture

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 book cover

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"--

Anne M's picture

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 book cover

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"--

Anne M's picture

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 book cover

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."

Anne M's picture

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 book cover

The awakening, and selected stories

Kate Chopin

FICTION Chopin, Kate
Fiction, Classics, Literary Fiction

Annie's picture

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 book cover

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

Amanda's picture

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 secret lives of church ladies book cover

The secret lives of church ladies

Philyaw, Deesha, author.

FICTION Philyaw Deesha
Literary Fiction, LGBTQ+, Short Story

"The Secret Lives of Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good. The nine stories in this collection feature four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught as they are between the church's double standards and their own needs and passions"--

Bailey's picture

Every single story in this collection is beautifully crafted, emotionally impactful, with characters you'll feel connected to even in just a few pages. This was truly a delight to read, perfect for taking a pause between weekend errands. -Bailey