Take a scenic British residential square in London owned by a wealthy woman, tenants selected for their character instead of their pocketbooks, a set of murders, and the two residents who are tasked with solving the crimes, and you have Nicola Whyte’s fabulous debut novel “10 Marchfield Square.”
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There are three female main characters in Laura Anthony’s “The Women on Platform Two,” and they couldn’t be more different.
The story opens with Saoirse in 2023, finding out that she is not pregnant. She is relieved; her fiancé is not. We quickly learn that while she doesn’t want a child, her fiancé Miles is desperate to have a child with her. They cannot reconcile their differences, and she leaves the apartment after they argue. She accidentally ends up on a train headed for Belfast as she returns a photograph to an elderly woman who dropped it in the station. The train leaves the station before Saoirse can get off, so she joins Maura, the woman who dropped the photograph. Maura is making her yearly pilgrimage to Belfast, and this year she tells Saoirse the story of why, every year on May 22, Maura travels from Dublin to Belfast on this train.
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Fans of Pam Jenoff know that her historical fiction novels don’t just tell a story. Instead, they insert us right into the middle of events most of us had never heard of — real events that are shocking and which deserve to be exposed. The French capitulated to the Germans during WWII, and many didn’t seem particularly opposed to assisting when it came to the impoundment of the Jewish French population. The French police joined in with the Gestapo to help round up the Jews of Paris, and many of the French population were only too happy to take for their own apartments that had belonged to Parisian Jews. Acclaimed author Pam Jenoff shares a little known facet of that war in “Last Twilight in Paris,” a fictional account that takes place partly in Lévitan, the French furniture store that served as both a Jewish detention center and a shopping mecca for Nazi officers during the war.
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Women of a certain age (of whom I am one) loved Deanna Raybourn’s “Killers of a Certain Age,” and its sequel, “Kills Well With Others,” is just as brilliantly conceived, wonderfully executed, and thrilling as its predecessor. It features the same deadly sexagenarians, Mary Alice, Helen, Natalie, and Billie.
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In his new novel, “Bird of a Thousand Stories,” which is billed as young adult, but which all adults will find charming, Kiyash Monsef continues the story he began in “Once There Was.” It’s the tale of Marjan, who comes from a long line of Persian healers of fantastical animals. Marjan didn’t realize her talents until her father died, and those who needed her services came for her.
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One might be tempted to look at the cover of “There’s Something About Mira” and think that Sonali Dev’s newest novel is a romcom. While there is plenty of romance in this very touching story that spans generations, states, continents, cultures, and social status, there are also quite a few situations that force readers to examine our own prejudices and misconceptions. Even in how we express ourselves, we often reveal our inner, often very unintentional microaggressions.
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“Cold As Hell” is a title that is extremely appropriate for Kelley Armstrong’s newest addition to her gripping “Haven Rock” series. Not only is the novel set in the Yukon in March, but there are events in the story that bring the title to mind as we read. “Cold As Hell” is the third book in this series, and while it could be read as a stand alone novel, there would be so much missing from the backstory that it makes more sense to either start with the first novel in the series, “Murder at Haven’s Rock,” or go back to the first novel in the previous series, “City of the Lost,” and read forward from there. That way you’ll be able to savor how Armstrong expertly develops the characters and uses the unique setting as almost another character, because it’s so much a part of each novel.
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Jess Armstrong’s newest mystery, “The Secret of the Three Fates,” continues the story of Ruby Vaughn, a transplant from New York to England. Ruby is no young simpering ingenue; she spent several years in the first world war helping wounded soldiers and facing the blood and trauma of battle. Now she calls Exeter home and lives with octogenarian Mr. Owen. She runs his bookstore and lives with him in his home. They have formed their own little family.
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Starting “Eddie Winston Is Looking for Love” is like diving headfirst into a warm bubble bath, knowing that heated towels are waiting for you when it’s over. The story is delightful, the characters heartfelt and real, and the ending just perfection. It’s about a nonagenarian, Eddie Winston, who we come to find out has never been kissed. It’s also about Bella, a young woman whose boyfriend, the love of her life, has died.
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Alafair Burke is known for her clever, twisty mysteries, and “The Note” is no exception. She keeps us guessing almost to the end. There are three female protagonists who are also best friends, although while they refer to themselves as best friends, several windows into the past make us wonder just how “bestie” they actually are.
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“The Lotus Shoes” is a novel of old China, set there in the late 1800s. In this engrossing novel, Jane Yang recounts the sometimes-tragic lives of girls and women in a time and place where their lives have no value. Little Flower’s father died when she was six, and her mother was forced to sell her as a slave to a wealthy family in order that Little Flower’s brother not starve to death. She was to be a maidservant to Linjing, the daughter of the family, who was the same age as Little Flower.
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This is a wonderful and disparate collection of nonfiction picture books, and they all deserve attention for many reasons. Librarians and teachers should consider these because of the important subject matter, the quality of the writing, and the engaging nature of the illustrations. From information about animal homes to facts about the elusive narwhal, there’s a lot of learning that will go on when kids peruse these books. They would also make great additions to a classroom library, a school (or public) library, or a child’s bookshelf at home. These are about animals, and therefore sure to be a kid magnet.
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