Contemporary

Dew in the Morning, Shimmer Chinodya

Dew in the Morning is a tender, evocative novel of growing up, but in it we see the seeds of many issues which Chinodya will dwell on in his later novels: familial tensions, the taut interplay of tradition and modernity, ancestral beliefs and Christianity…A Bildungsroman, Chinodya captures the centrality of […]

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Mahanadi, Anita Agnihotri

Translated by Nivedita Sen, with the subtitle: A novel about the river. In this novel, the tale of the river is entwined with the people through vignettes of their dynamic lives that are infused with myths, legends and archaeological anecdotes. Characters like Malati Gond, Neelkantha, Kuber, Bhanu Shitulia, Parvati and […]

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Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr

In Cloud Cuckoo Land, the world may be falling apart but everything and everyone must come together…This novel of performative storytelling that is also a novel about storytelling is dedicated to “the librarians then, now, and in the years to come.” Two anxieties, reinforcing each other, are at play: the […]

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Spotlight – Bijal Vachharajani

Click here to return to the series I virtually met author Bijal Vachharajani this past summer at Scotland’s CYMERA Festival of Science-Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Writing. We talked with host and author Lauren James, along with author James Bradley, about how we were motivated to write stories that focus around […]

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Beautiful World, Where Are You, Sally Rooney

Rooney is back with another bookish, epistolary novel — this time following two intelligent young adults navigating their personal lives amid the backdrop of environmental and social upheaval. –New York Times Alice, a novelist, meets Felix, who works in a warehouse, and asks him if he’d like to travel to […]

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The Body Scout, Lincoln Michael

Diamond-sharp and savagely wry, The Body Scout is a timely science fiction thriller debut set in an all-too-possible future, perfect for readers of William Gibson. In Michel’s cyberpunk New York of the future, climate change and repeated pandemics have ravaged the city; meanwhile, cybernetic body modification is de rigeur, and […]

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Indie Corner – Cai Emmons

Back to the Indie Corner series Thanks so much to Cai Emmons, author of Sinking Islands (a sequel to Weather Woman), for answering some questions about her new book. Sinking Islands is out September 14, 2021, from Red Hen Press. Cai is also the author of the novels His Mother’s […]

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The Girl and the Grove, Eric Smith

Young Adult Fiction Reviewed by Kimberly Christensen High school junior Leila has bounced between group homes and foster homes for her whole life—until her recent adoption. Whenever things felt chaotic in her personal life, Leila found solace in nature. Environmentalism became her passion—so much so that she and her best […]

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Damnation Spring, Ash Robinson

An epic, immersive debut, Damnation Spring is the deeply human story of a Pacific Northwest logging town wrenched in two by a mystery that threatens to derail its way of life. Thanks to Booknet Canada for the BiblioShare plugin.  

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Ark of the Apocalypse, Tobin Marks (Review)

Ark of the Apocalypse by Tobin Marks ISBN: 978-1-63337-237-5 Publisher: Boyle & Dalton Publication date: March 14, 2021 Review by Mary Woodbury Review Tobin Marks’ Ark of the Apocalypse is, in part, a thrilling, page-turning journey into a fictionalized history of our world, with a look-back at some of our […]

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The High House, Jessie Greengrass

The water is rising around a coastal hideaway in which five people, including a small child, are trapped, as civilisation is engulfed by flood. –The Spectator Goodreads Reviews Back to Goodreads

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Sugar Birds, Cheryl Grey Bostrom

Perfect for fans The Scent Keeper, The Snow Child, and The Great Alone, Sugar Birds immerses readers in a layered, evocative coming-of-age story set in the breathtaking natural world where characters encounter the mending power of forgiveness—for themselves and for those who have failed them. Goodreads Reviews Back to Goodreads

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Indie Corner – Paul S. Piper

Back to the Indie Corner series I’m happy to have the chance to talk with Paul S. Piper, author of the novel The Wolves of Mirr (Book View Cafe, February 2021), which is set in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana. Paul has five published books of poetry, including Dogs and […]

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American Delirium, Betina González

Despite its plenty, nature is a source of immense alienation, a transcendent domain whose existence must be inferred from pale and rippled reflections. González’ writing is at its most innovative when showing (often through only juxtaposition) that human beings are the ultimate cause of their estrangement from the natural world. […]

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