Anne M

Emma Donoghue brings imaginative storytelling to a famous photograph: the Montparnasse derailment, the one with the steam engine hanging out of the station. Donoghue wonders who was on that train, what were their lives like, what did their interactions look like. What she creates is riveting. -Anne M

I’ve been a little stuck on “Dream State” since I’ve finished it. I have a range of feelings and lots of unanswered questions—about the book, the characters, the sequence of events, and about myself. It is one of those books that makes you self-examine your past and think more about the future. What is in our control and what is out of it? What do our relationships mean to us and what do we mean to others? “Dream State” is a heavy-lift of a novel, but if you want a book to stay with you, this one sure will for me. -Anne M

This is a book about death and coming to terms with it. How does one wrestle with loss as a child? What type of scars do they leave when we are older? How long do you carry loss with you? These are questions Starnone wrestles with in "The Mortal and Immortal Life of the Girl from Milan." Mimi's experiences and feelings strike true. -Anne M

This new audioversion of Natalie Haynes' novel is compelling! Great story, great narration. And Haynes is talented in providing layers and thoughtfulness in her retelling of the Greek tragedy. -Anne M

I really enjoy John Singer Sargent portraits--there is a great one at the Des Moines Art Center! Strouse's Family Romance tells the story of Sargent's portraits of the Wertheimer family giving context to the culture and politics of early 20th century England, the art scene, and this period of Sargent's life. -Anne M

Bazterrica's unsettling (perhaps better described as disturbing) fictional future shows a world ravaged by climate change and societal collapse. But our storyteller has found refuge from starvation, violence, and the harsh weather--if you can call it a refuge.This is a novel that peels back itself layer by layer revealing harsh truths and buried feelings. -Anne M

Save Our Souls is a shipwreck survival book. It has all the elements of a thrilling adventure--being lost at sea, foraging on a deserted island (in this case one of the Midway Islands), and faction-based mutiny. But there is a twist. Someone is already on the island that makes things far more complicated--he knows the island, but why is he there by himself? And there is also the context of the late-19th century. Pearl deftly explains the economics and politics of a European shark fishing boat in the middle of the Pacific.It is a fascinating read. -Anne M

If you are counting down the days until the next Winter Olympics, explore the drama and determination of getting a gold in The Favorites. It is filled with drama. It's a nod to Wuthering Heights, but with ice dancing. There are the figure skating rivalries, the international intrigue, the off-rink backstabbing, the on-rink backstabbing, the oscillation of love and hate between partners, and many angry walks through the rain. Honestly, there is too much drama. This book is packed with it. But I don't care--I enjoyed it. It was a great winter distraction. -Anne M

Amy Helen Bell's exploration of murders during London's Blitz and blackout is staggering--a murder rate skyrockets when disruption to everyday life (and established law) happens. From fear, opportunity, and need to bombed out buildings, dark streets, and an overwhelmed police force, London faced much more than German bombs--they faced a threat from their own people. Bell does not revel in her subject's fates, but uses the book to show that the people of London were not as cohesive or resolved as we thought. -Anne M

"It took a universe of pain to make a musical monument to hope." Charles King provides a riveting account of how Handel's Messiah came to be. -Anne M

There is an anger in this book. Of course, there would be. This is the story of Agamemnon’s return home from the war in Troy—and of his demise. Told from the perspective of Clytemnestra, his wife, Cassandra, his war bride, and Ritsa, the slave of Cassandra and Trojan healer, they all have an axe to grind. Agamemnon has taken things from them: their children, their families, their freedom. This is the third book in Barker’s Trojan trilogy and it caps the series expanding on the themes of loss, patience, and revenge. Barker is scathing in her commentary on the lasting wrongs of the Trojan war—all with an eye on themes still very much relevant today. -Anne M

The book, set in 1918 Nova Scotia, are the journals of Toby Havenshaw, a court reporter who is assigned to cover a murder case. The accused, Elizabeth Frame, allegedly and admittedly murders her husband on their wedding night after he refuses to come to the window to see a beached whale. Elizabeth’s story gets pretty odd and as the story progresses and Toby uncovers more and more about the case, things start to shift for Toby. He feels the magnitude of the change of time—World War I, the Spanish flu, this murder—it is all catching up with him. And Amelia, Toby’s wife, a surgeon, is back from the front—working through her own fears and terrors. I think living during a time of immense change (I guess who hasn’t lived through immense change…), you feel an affinity with Toby and Amelia. This is one of those small, but mighty books. -Anne M

I was in need of a good story and Tidelands fit the bill. Gregory always writes good characters and dialogue and knows her historical settings. You feel thrown in the moments on the page. -Anne M

Set in 1894 Minneapolis, the backdrop is a new city, teeming with possibilities--and every vice that comes with that. Abby, a progressive crusader and treasurer of the Bethany House for Unwed Mothers is desperately trying to solicit donations and lobby city leaders to support the work of the respite home. She needs to shore up their reputation as their work might not have the support of the incoming mayoral administration. And then Faith shows up. Newly pregnant, unable to speak, wearing an expensive gown, and looking as if she survived a serious act of violence, Faith is welcomed into the house’s community. But she comes with rumors—rumors of the occult, of magic powers, of mesmerism and she is quickly blamed by the other girls in the house for any small misfortune. Abby wants to help the girl—that is her prerogative and the purpose of the Bethany Home. But she also doesn’t want Faith’s reputation to be a blight on their tenuous stance in Minneapolis. She tasks May, Faith’s roommate to figure out how Faith got to Bethany. The answer is far more human than supernatural. -Anne M

Ellery Wainwright is trying to get away from her mess of her life by taking the vacation to a resort in Big Sur she originally planned to take with her now ex-husband to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary they never made it to. She knows that this isn't going to be a great vacation--but better her on her own than her ex with his new girlfriend. Unfortunately, there is a wedding also scheduled for this same weekend. But Ellery doesn't get too much time to fester in her self-loathing and unhappiness--the groom is murdered. And there is a storm cutting off access to a resort. Anyone could be the murderer and anyone could be their next victim. Super fun read! -Anne M

I feel like I’m reading a lot of fiction that takes on how to find meaning. These books begin with a divorce or a job loss or the death of a family member and the protagonist is trying to make sense of themselves now that their vision of who they are is no longer reality. “Creation Lake” is also about meaning, but “Sadie,” our narrator, is never who she is at any given moment. There is no sense of self—no past sense—no future self-aspirations. She is a spy that works for some multinational corporation or the like and she is who her alias is: someone who doesn’t really exist. This time she is infiltrating a rural French group opposed to corporate industrial agriculture and European Union trade agricultural regulations. It is just a job, one that involves building relationships, playing a part, instigating actions, and hacking emails. It’s this last task that moves Sadie to question herself for among the emails are missives from Bruno Lacombe, a hero of this group cooperative, who lives in caves and writes eloquently about the loss of things that make us human (I cannot detail the entire essence of his philosophy—you’ll have to read it). Sadie is so strong in her facade and skeptical of pretty much everything—does she even want meaning? This is a really compelling book. -Anne M

Both affecting and funny, Catherine Newman deftly portrays how nostalgia may bring up those lovely, wistful feelings--but these can also lead to thinking about old wounds. Vacations sometimes brings up all these thoughts. -Anne M

I loved this book. It is so sweet, and endearing, and funny, and relatable. I have talked about this book to anyone who will listen to me. The premise is sad and serious. But it is what comes next that’s the gift—to Phoebe Stone, our heroine, to the other characters she builds relationships with, and to us the reader. Espach has a fantastic way of showing absurdity and awkwardness, but the laughter at these situations is meant to grow connections to the characters. [In this book, Phoebe experiences suicidal thoughts and she learns that she isn't alone in grief. If you or someone you know is experiencing thoughts of suicide, help is available by calling or texting 988.] -Anne M

After inheriting some land in Sicily from her great aunt, Sara Marsala travels to the island to get the land sold—money she really needs after the closure of her business and a devastating divorce. This is just a real estate transaction, but of course, it isn’t. For one, it’s Sicily, not Pennsylvania—the laws are different. And there are dangerous people in the village that don’t recognize her ownership. And there is the rich history of the land, how her Aunt Ruthie—and her great-grandmother came into the parcel in the first place. Sara Marsala is now on an adventure. The Sicilian Inheritance is one of those books that keeps you hooked to find out what happens next. -Anne M

Kristy Harvey's books are always sugary--like a Southern ice tea. If you want a book to end all wrapped up with a nice bow where everyone finds love, happiness, and their problems resolved, you can't go wrong with this book or with any Harvey's others. This one takes on family histories revolving around a centuries-old family beach house on the coast of North Carolina. The house has been shut up for decades after the tragic deaths of Keaton's grandparents--a tragedy that stung so hard, no one can bare to face the house and its contents. Keaton arrives to get the house ready to sell on behalf of her mother and uncle--it's time to let go. Of course it isn't time to let go, not when Keaton finds journals from her grandparents and meets with her grandmother's friends, uncovering their lives and what they meant to the community. And it becomes harder to let the house go up for sale when she's sort of following for the neighbor... I really loved the description of the rooms stuck in the mid-1970's. -Anne M

In Valérie Perrin’s “Forgotten on Sunday,” Justine Neige, a 21-year old aide at a nursing home hardly knows anything about her family’s history. Raised by her grandparents (her mother and father died in a car crash), they never liked to talk about the past. If Justine doesn’t have a history, the residents of the nursing home help fill the gap. She loves to listen to their stories, reveling in their adventures, their past loves, and their careers. She is especially taken by Hélène Hel, who reveals that her lover disappeared sometime during World War II. Justine begins to record Hélène’s story, but in learning about regret and loss, she finds inspiration to confront what really happened to her parents. As always, Perrin surprises in her explorations of buried family secrets. -Anne M

The audio collaboration of author Amor Towles and narrators Edoardo Ballerini and J. Smith-Cameron is perfect. -Anne M

In Sarah Perry’s “Enlightenment,” the past is a circle. In her latest novel, we meet Thomas Hart and Grace Macaulay. Steeped in a shared unshakeable faith, they both don’t belong to their small English village or their small Baptist church—or at least they don’t feel that way. While the decades that span between their ages makes their friendship unlikely, they bond through turning their eyes to the past, and more importantly the cosmos. It’s 1997 and Hart, a newspaper columnist for the “Essex Chronicle,” is told by his editor to write about Hale-Bopp, the great comet visible to the eye that year. This assignment leads Hart down a rabbit hole. He develops a new love of physics, and more importantly, an obsession with a local astronomer who vanished a century before. This need to solve the mystery of Maria Vaduva alters the course of thirty years (or was this always the course?), stretching and straining the relationship of Thomas and Grace—two people in orbit. You can argue with yourself about what is the gravitational pull. It is a splendid book. -Anne M

Looking for an action-packed read that will keep you turning the pages? Look no further. -Anne M

Colombe Schneck is dabbling with biographical fiction here—each novella (there are three) from a different stage in her life (?) or her alter-ego's life (?). I’m not going to speculate on how closely these events follow Schneck’s life—because the focus should be on how good these stories are. In the first story, she discusses the shock of an unplanned pregnancy. The second story explores a lifelong friendship, grappling with the loss of a friend and how formative a friend’s influence can be. Schneck really shows how a single friendship can ebb and flow, change, and move throughout a lifetime. The last story is about having an affair after ending a marriage--the adjustment, excitement, and anxiety of starting a new romance. The overarching theme is growth and self-awareness and Schneck works with this theme through subtlety in language and narrative. But she is also direct in how she discusses complex issues, which is refreshing. This is the first time Schneck’s work has been translated into English—and I guess there is more to come. -Anne M

I really enjoyed this book. Of course, I would--it's set during World War I. I’m intrigued by this time period: the world was going through such drastic changes. Arden explores this “brave new world” theme well. This book is pretty clever, but it is also riveting. -Anne M

While I'm writing this in April of 2024, I can attest that "James" is one of the best books of the year. It doesn't matter that there are eight more months of books coming out in 2024. It's very good. As a book, it is smart and funny, yet tragic where it needs to be. It is an homage to Twain, yet stands on its own. -Anne M

Ilium is a spy novel, but calling it a spy novel is misleading. Yes, our main character is a spy, albeit accidental. And although there is action, it is a very slow burn to get to the action part. But I liked it. The novel is a revelatory one, much more interested in our main character (her past, how she got her, what motivates her) than the CIA ops. That is far more interesting to me than any street chase. -Anne M

Lincoln was a gifted politician. In Steve Inskeep's latest, he explores how Lincoln navigated arguing with, persuading, and standing up to the many different people he disagreed with during his political career, from people in his own party, to people he agreed with morally, but disagreed on methods, to those he didn't want anything to do with, but needed their votes to achieve his ends. Inskeep's engaging book holds lessons for our politically fractured times. -Anne M

There is something reminiscent of Dickens, Hardy, and Bronte in this novel, but the sentiments are all modern. Livesey skillfully illustrates how one's desires shift and change. You never truly sure if what you want or what is best--but there are those moments you do. I really enjoyed this book. -Anne M

“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

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

This is a pretty fun read. It involves mistaken identify, a fraudulent claimant, and a slow burn of an unsolved mystery. Of course there is a British manor and the slow decay of an aristocratic family. And there is a lot of talk about horses. Tey is so good at pulling you around as a reader in where your sympathies lie and in your belief in what happened. It is clear why this is a classic. -Anne M

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

Segal's collection of stories are both poignant and funny, capturing the fullness of feelings as her characters come to terms with living in their twilight years. Of course, Segal is a great author, but rarely do we see the work of an author in their nineties. There is something special here. -Anne M

Christmas is just a convenient time of year for this super fun mystery. If you like moldering British manors and everything being not as it seems, this quick novella will not disappoint. -Anne M