When we think of letters, and perhaps especially “last letters,” we think of heartfelt correspondence between people sharing ideas and emotions. We don’t usually think of the board game Scrabble and the letters we use when playing that game. The main characters in “The Last Letters of Sally and Walter” meet at an independent living community when Sally decides to try attending the Scrabble club one evening.
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“Mad Mabel” is a magnificent novel. Usually, after reading a story that is engrossing, that has unexpected twists, and that really packs a punch at the end, writing the review is easy. I like to say about a great novel, “The review practically writes itself.” So while I think this is a brilliant novel, and I believe it would be a fabulous choice as a book club read, the review for this complex story is not writing itself. There are so many layers to Mabel’s story that delicacy is required so as to not spoil the novel for those who have not read it.
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When one gets to a “certain age,” it’s a kick to read novels, especially murder mysteries, in which the main character is also a person of a “certain age.” And in Leonie Swann’s very clever “Miss Sharp Investigates” series, Agnes Sharp and her fellow pensioners, who all live together in Sunset Hall, her large home, prove that age is no deterrent to fighting crime.
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Well-written, gripping historical fiction like “The Hired Man” takes us back to another place and time and allows us to experience that setting through the eyes, and usually meticulous research of the author. Sandra Dallas takes us back to Colorado in 1937, during the time of the Dust Bowl, when instead of rain falling from the sky, dirt blew in from neighboring states blanketing the ground and covering everything with layers of dirt and grit. Thanks to her careful, detailed descriptions we can almost feel the grit in our mouths and eyes as a storm blankets the town with dirt.
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“Dog Person” is Camille Pagán’s ultimate love story. It’s a story about all kinds of love, and maybe, most of all, it’s a love story about the love we feel for our dogs and what they bring to our lives. But it’s not “just” a dog story (funny thing, when I was typing this review, without thinking, I wrote “Dog Story” as the title). This lovely, heartwarming, heartbreaking, beautifully conceived novel is about love in all its permutations; a mother’s love, our love for our animal companions, our love for our partner, our love for our parents (or not), our love for our friends and family, and our love of reading and finding safe spaces in which to read.
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In “How Simi Got Her Groom Back,” author Sonali Dev uses a cute and clever title to draw us in and make this novel appear to be a delicious romcom. And it is a romcom, but like many wonderfully written novels in that genre, it’s so much more than “just” a romantic comedy. While we read about Simi and her sister Rupi, we are reading about their really tragic childhood, their sisterly bond, human trafficking, the difficulties of immigration, the perils of life in India, and the wonders of a loving family.
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“The Royal Heir” is a delightful piece of fiction that is loosely based on the very real royal family in England. Rebecca Armitage is a seasoned royal journalist, so her depictions of this alternate royal family ring not-so-alternate in many regards. The main character is Lexi, otherwise known as HRH Princess Alexandrina.
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Well-written historical fiction immerses us into the past as surely as a movie might pictorially show us a scene. In “The Fourth Princess,” author Janie Chang takes us to China in 1911, and we learn about the Boxer Rebellion and the endangered Imperial dynasty. The action is set in Shanghai, and the story is cleverly told through two points of view. Liu Lisan (first names are second in China) is an orphan taken in by a wealthy bachelor from a very important family. She was educated at private schools, but wants to make her own way in the world. The other main character, Caroline Stanton, is a newly arrived wealthy American who wants to hire a secretary to help her with her social obligations. Instead of hiring an American, she decides that a Chinese secretary might be more useful.
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Before you even open the cover of “The Astral Library,” you know immediately that this novel is something special. At least in the first edition of this book, the edges of the pages are stenciled in blue with a dragon-scale pattern and the endpapers are gorgeously illustrated in blues and gold. But the physical appearance of this masterpiece by Kate Quinn is no greater than the story itself, which is a true love story.
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I’m a huge fan of Sadeqa Johnson, and this new novel is as emotionally riveting and filled with fascinating — and often horrifying — historical details, as her novel “Yellow Wife.” The three main characters are all very different individuals: Ethel is a married Black woman living in post-war Germany in 1950 with her husband who is in the military. Ozzie is a Black teenager, only 19, when he volunteers in the Army. He is heading to Germany in 1950, and he’s optimistically hoping to be able to use his intellect in Army Intelligence. And then there’s Sophia, who is 16. She finds out that she was selected to receive a scholarship to integrate a posh private high school, but she’s worried her parents won’t let her go because they need her help on the farm. Her story begins in 1965.
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The latest Robert Dugoni novel is the third in the Keera Duggan series, and in “Her Cold Justice,” Keera Duggan faces another murder trial in which she must defend the accused. This time Michael, the accused, is a young man who also happens to be her private investigator, J.P. Harrison’s nephew. Michael insists he didn’t do it.
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Nature versus nurture. Genes versus upbringing. What forces form a child into the adult he or she becomes? In “What Boys Learn,” author Andromeda Romano-Lax delves forces us to consider that dilemma as we meet Abby Rosso, a counselor whose childhood was really rough. Her only sibling is a brother who is a psychopath and ended up in prison. But Abby also has done things she’s ashamed of.
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