Arcadia by Iain Pears
I loved Arcadia; it’s my favorite book of 2016 (so far, anyway). It encompasses time travel, history/alt-history, romance, clever literary …
Category Archives: Contemporary fiction
Fallen Fret by Ray Richard
I’m as guilty as the next reader of drifting into ruts, defaulting too often to the same genres, settings, and …
Someone by Alice McDermott
Young Marie’s Brooklyn neighbor Pegeen has been having problems keeping her balance as she heads back and forth to work …
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
The Luminaries is set in the gold rush region of New Zealand’s west coast, circa 1866. At its core, it’s …
Longbourn by Jo Baker
Longbourn opens with a detailed description of a housemaid’s early morning labors, fetching the water from the well for laundry …
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani
I quickly got caught up in The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, an atmospheric, well-written coming of age novel set …
Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus
I was intrigued by this book’s title, and discovered it was the first novel published in English (in translation) by …
Dear Life by Alice Munro
A week after the announcement that Alice Munro had won the Nobel Prize for her beautiful, evocative short stories, I …
The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín
A slender book, at eighty-one pages, but one that makes a big impact. Its subject: the final reflections of Mary, …
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both…” Did you ever wonder what your …
