Reviews

The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn is a family saga; a novel in 5 Acts and an Encore spanning the years of 1919 - 1945. Three children, Cristabel, Flossie, and Digby grow up in an English manor house with little supervision. The adults are rather dysfunctional and turn the home into a sort of artist colony. Taras, an artist and a bit of a grifter, ends up in residence at Chilcombe manor with his entourage of family and a couple of free-spirited admirers. As the children grow up, they are the ones who have a sense of decency, maturity, and a devotion to each other. Taras helps set up the Whalebone Theatre styled from the ribs of a beached whale and is the one who encourages the children's creativity.

When WWII befalls England and the world, everyone must do their part. Cristabel and Digby are driven to do more dangerous work. Flossie remains at home but participates in the Women's Land Army. German soldiers are taken prisoner and are sent to work at the house tending the grounds, garden and stable. English soldiers are billeted inside. Every aspect of their lives are upturned; there is sacrifice and deprivation. It is a frightening time and showed a point of view I hadn't read before.

The story moves at a langurous pace through its 553 pages but I found the storyline engrossing. This is for readers who enjoy a long story, and are in it for the long haul; and who enjoy reading a historical fiction debut novel. 

The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World is a fictional story wrapped around a real place in Japan. There, on a private residence, in a garden, one can find a telephone booth with a disconnected phone "that carries voices into the wind". It was installed there to help those grieving, to provide an outlet for the living, to perhaps say what you always meant to say to someone who you now mourn.

Yui is a young woman bereft from the tragic loss of both her mother and her daughter. She travels to this wind phone, far from her home, to find out for herself if it can help her find some solace. There, she meets another traveler, Takeshi. Together, they will find themselves visiting the phone booth many times over the course of years, meeting others who use the phone, and finding compassion with the family who tends it. 

Author Laura Imai Messina has written a beautiful, engaging, character-driven story. It is slow-moving, similar to the path of healing from loss. I was so moved and intrigued by this unique tribute, I found out several replicas of the wind phone have been built around the world.
 

In A Map for the Missing, debut author Belinda Huijuan Tang has created a story that provided me with some insight into aspects of Chinese culture. The story begins in 1993 with Tang Yitian, a young math professor working in America who receives a phone call from his mother informing him that his father is missing. His parents still live in the small rural village in Anhui Province in China where Yitian grew up, a place where he hasn’t been in 15 years. 

Once he returns home, he feels out of place. Memories of his youth come roaring back including the estrangement with his father, the man he now is trying to find. He turns to a friend, Hanwen, he once knew during the days of the Cultural Revolution and who is now married to a mid-level bureaucrat for assistance. The story continues with different timelines of his younger days as well as Hanwen’s and how they helped each other once the government reinstated the gaokao in 1977; a national, grueling, university level exam, one that hadn’t been allowed to take place in a decade. Hanwen has her own story of how she was “sent-down” from her life in Shanghai to the rural province where she met Yitian. 

The plot moves slowly, allowing us to see the characters develop, to see the stoicism that gives them a fortitude to go on to create meaningful lives despite hardships they endured. 

Themes of family, forgiveness, loss, adaptation, internal strength, identity, belonging, regret, and hopefulness. How maturity is something that can only be learned through time and experience. Readers who enjoy a different cultural point of view and a story that slowly unfurls might like to pick up A Map for the Missing. I found it beautiful and moving. 

The Narrowboat Summer is a delightful surprise. Three women, at pivotal moments in their life, happen to meet by chance because of a barking dog. It is decided that two of them, Sally and Eve, will navigate Anastasia's narrowboat through England's canal system for repairs. A great deal of trust is placed upon each of them as they embark on this adventure through the lock and dam waterways including some long, dark tunnels. As they travel, they meet some eclectic people that recognize Anastasia's boat, and befriend a few of them, too. I was so intrigued by this aspect of the story that I discovered there really is an entire community of people who live this lifestyle, periodically moving their watercraft, exploring new locales. This is a gentle story of fresh beginnings, self-reflection, friendship, humor, kindness, pushing yourself to your limits and finding out what is important to you.

This book is for fans of author Anne Youngson's previous novel, Meet Me at the Museum, and will also appeal to readers who enjoy reading a story that proceeds at a more languid pace.

Something very unusual has happened. Overnight, all around the world every adult age 22 and older has received an identical box with a length of string inside. Inscribed on each box is the phrase: "The measure of your life lies within." No one knows what it means. Is it a test? What do the different length of the strings mean? Should people open their box or ignore it? Of course, human nature, being what it is, creates its own intended and unintended consequences including deceit, broken trust, dashed hopes, discrimination,political maneuvering as well as a resurgence in exploring what is really important. The story is told through the point of view of the main characters via their own chapters, piecing their stories together. Their relationships and connectedness are what really appealed to me. Each character's reactions and interactions advance the story. By chance, two of them begin corresponding with each other anonymously through hand-written notes left inside a classroom. My favorite phrase in the novel is on page 276. "We are all strung together." 

The Measure by debut author Nikki Erlick is a reaction to something unexplained, raising many questions with parallels to issues in the world today. I think this is a good title for book discussion groups and will spark thought-provoking conversation.

You don’t need to be a fan of swimming to enjoy reading about a community of swimmers sharing the use of their local subterranean public pool. Some swim to relax, some to escape, some because they are creatures of habit. We learn the names and peculiarities of the narrator’s cohorts without learning hers. She describes individuals and their idiosyncrasies. Before long a crack develops in the pool wall which causes great concern and angst among the swimmers.  

The last part of the book shifts its focus to one of the swimmers, Alice, who is slowly losing her memory. Beautifully written, tinged with emotion, bittersweetness and a dose of reality.  

At only 175 pages, author Julie Otsuka has written a story that resonates with me. Pick up a copy of The Swimmers if you are a fan of author Julie Otsuka or of a story well told. 

Amanda Lovelace writes succinctly, yet expresses emotion and hard-hitting ideas into her poems, which feels autobiographical and heartfelt. Her feminist viewpoint is self-affirming despite, or because of, diving into some darker territory about relationships, outdated ideals and how we can still fall into unhealthy traps. This is a slim book of poetry, accessible, not high-brow and can be quickly read. It also contains beautiful artwork that illustrates the contrast in the title of being both soft and fierce.

My favorite verse is on page 27: "i refuse to be ashamed of taking up my rightful space. i refuse to apologize for daring to have an opinion. - it's a pleasure to disappoint you."

Flower Crowns & Fearsome Things is for fans of Amanda Lovelace's other work and for those who would like to try reading contemporary poetry.

By the time Blue Lake is 15 years old, she and her mother Scarlet have moved multiple times, always on the run from a mysterious person that Scarlet only identifies as HIM. Blue slowly begins to doubt this person's existence and her mother's sanity as they settle into a small tourist town in Michigan. Isolated for so long while growing up, Blue learns how to have friends despite her outsider awkwardness. Further, she is drawn to the music shop in the neighborhood. The shop's owner recognizes her musical talent and becomes her mentor - once Blue convinces her mother to allow her to take piano lessons. Scarlet is an artist, a painter, who loses herself in her work but continues to isolate herself except for the therapy sessions she pursues with a psychoanalyst in town. And so the story goes on, each chapter revolving around three different points of view, revealing a little more, pulling the reader along and making us wonder what is the truth and how will this end? 

Scarlet in Blue is a mix of psychological fiction, coming-of-age, childhood trauma, control, mother-daughter relationships, art, music, murder, a long-term plot, and family secrets. It is descriptive and ominous. The reason why Scarlet and Blue are on the run, and how they survive, makes it a unique story.

If you enjoyed author Jennifer Murphy's debut novel I Love You More, you may also enjoy this page-turner.

Light from Uncommon Stars is Ryka Aoki's debut novel - a blend of fantasy, science fiction, artificial intelligence, a demonish deal and the beauty of music. I became invested in the story and in the three main characters, Katrina, Shizuka and Lan whose storylines revolve around one another brought together by chance and fate.

It covers themes about gender identity, runaways, non-acceptance, acceptance, painful experiences, actions taken that can't be undone, and found family. Despite these heavy real-life issues it is interspersed with humor, kindness and hope.

This is a strange yet surprising book about friendship and taking chances. Take a chance and pick up a coy of Light from Uncommon Stars.

Together by Luke Adam Hawker is told and drawn in beautiful black and white pencil sketch illustrations in this graphic novel. The story follows an older man with his faithful dog at his side as he navigates the maelstrom of the Covid-19 pandemic. The book communicates with few words and detailed imagery about how the pandemic isolated communities changing the course of people's lives. We get a peek into how people contend with this issue within a cross-section of their homes to see how life carries on despite obstacles, setbacks and the fear of unknown outcomes. Working and schooling from home, separation, loneliness, new priorities, and finding ways to connect become a new normal.

You can read through Together quickly or slowly savor it by reviewing and interpreting the images on each page. Despite the topic of the book, I wanted this book to be longer, to know more about the man and his canine companion. Despite its brevity, I recommend it as a quick read and think that it will appeal to those who enjoy graphic novels and a hopeful story.