Book Review

Bridge of Clay

Author: Markus Zusak Published: 2018, Knopf Books for Young Readers Genre: Contemporary Setting: Australia This is the story of the Dunbar boys, five brothers coping with their mother’s death and father’s abandonment. Told from the viewpoint of the oldest brother and through a series of flashbacks, we see how their parents met and the impetus… Read More Bridge of Clay

Book Review

Where the Crawdads Sing

Author: Delia Owens Published: 2018, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Genre: Commercial Setting: 1950’s-1970’s North Carolina Part murder mystery, part ode to the lush beauty of the tidal marshes of North Carolina, Where the Crawdads Sing tells the story of Kya, a young girl abandoned by her family in a southern backwater. Alone in the wilderness, with… Read More Where the Crawdads Sing

Book Review

The Muse

Author: Jessie Burton Published: 2016, Ecco Genre: Historical Fiction Setting: Dual Timeline, 1967 London/1936 Spain Synopsis Odelle Bastien, a native Trinidadian, has toiled in London for five years, her dream of a better life slowly slipping away. When she takes a job as typist at an art gallery, her enigmatic boss, Marjorie Quick, and the… Read More The Muse

Book Review

The Great Alone

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah Published 2018 Genre: General Fiction Setting: 1970’s Alaska Thirteen-year-old Leni Allbright’s father, a former Vietnam War POW, moves his family to Alaska in a bid to rid himself of his war-stained memories. Leni and her mother do their best to please volatile Ernt, and for a time it works.… Read More The Great Alone

Book Review

Just One Damned Thing After Another: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s

Just One Damned Thing After Another: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s by Jodi Taylor Published 2013 Genre: Historical Fantasy Setting: England, the near-future St. Mary’s is a listed estate in the rural countryside of Rushford, England. It functions as the headquarters for a select group of historians, scientists, technicians, and security personnel whose job is to… Read More Just One Damned Thing After Another: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s

Book Review

The Taster

The Taster by V.S. Alexander Published 2018 Genre: Historical Fiction Setting: World War II Germany ‘I shuddered. My life might end here. Not even the bombings in Berlin had forced me to face my mortality in such a brutal way. The thought that I might die for Hitler stunned me.’ Magda Ritter is a young… Read More The Taster