Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #667
by muffy
Reviewers are calling Christina Lynch’s The Italian Party a “perceptive”,” delicious and sharply funny” debut; “a spy thriller, comedy of manners, and valentine to Italy, spiked with forbidden sex and political skulduggery.” (Kirkus Reviews)
April, 1956. American newlyweds Michael and Scottie Messina arrived in Siena ostensibly to open a Ford tractor dealership, while Michael was in fact, a CIA operative on a mission to defeat the Communist mayor’s reelection, and to be close to Duncan, his handler and lover. Scottie has her secrets too which were increasingly hard to keep in a small town like Siena. With the election approaching, complications ensued.
When 14 year-old Robertino, Scottie’s Italian language coach went missing, her search for him led her to discover other, darker truths about herself, her husband, and her country.
For readers who enjoyed The Expats by Chris Pavone.
The author, a former Milan correspondent for W magazine and Women's Wear Daily, was on the writing staff of Unhappily Ever After; Encore, Encore; and The Dead Zone . She will be at Literati Bookshop on April 27th, 7pm for a reading and signing.
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #666
by muffy
Drawn largely from her articles for The New Yorker, war reporter Wendell Steavenson’s debut novel Paris Metro was initially intended as a nonfiction book about the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo massacre, until the November attacks happened.
Catherine (Kit) Kittredge, an British-American reporter, traversed the Middle East following 9/11, filing human interest stories from some of the most dangerous geopolitical hot spots. She met Ahmed Solemani, a Westernized Iraqi diplomat in Baghdad. After their wedding, they moved to Paris where Ahmed began working for the UN. A divorce followed, but not before Kit was left to raise Little Ahmed, his son from a previous marriage, alone. In the company of a makeshift family of diplomats, photographers, and artists, these “two mongrel outcasts brought together by fate” became a family of two. When they lost a friend at Charlie Hebdo, and Kit witnessed firsthand terrorists storming the Bataclan Theatre, she began to distrust those closest to her - her husband, and her own son.
“With unflinching realism and complicated, captivating characters, Steavenson tackles the turbulent realities of the war against terror by diving deeply into the history and motivations of the people waging their own personal battles in search of the truth.” (Booklist)
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #665
by muffy
One of the most anticipated book of spring 2018, Laura & Emma by Kate Greathead is “a sly, charming debut...a beguiling addictive read.” (People)
The way single, thirtysomething Laura got pregnant in 1981 sets the tone for this original take on the mother-daughter novel. Emma is the product of a one-night stand with a burglar while house-sitting for her parents. Consider herself to be progressive, liberal, (& proud to be unfashionable), Laura nevertheless raised Emma the only way she knew - penthouse apartment, private school, summer at the shores, all with the help of a healthy trust fund and Upper East Side connections. When Emma developed into an independent young woman, it seems more in spite of her mother rather than because of her. “This is a thoughtful novel of trying to find oneself despite an assigned place in the world.” (Publishers Weekly)
Not far away in Waterbury CT, another mother-daughter duo struggles with similar issues under drastically different circumstances. In Brass* * *, debut novelist Xhenet Aliu draws on her own life to tell the story of 2 generations of an immigrant family - the mother-daughter connections; resilience; and dreams that endure despite the odds.
* * *= 3 starred reviews
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #664, Classic Reboot
by muffy
Julia Sonneborn’s “(e)ntertaining, romantic, and smart” (Library Journal) debut - By the Book, is a contemporary retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, set in Southern California.
Professor Anne Corey, a scholar of 19th century British literature and women writers, is chasing tenure at Fairfax, a liberal arts college. Between a full teaching load, trying to find a publisher for her book, and caring for her father at a nearby nursing home, she is stunned to find that the new president of the college (and her boss) is none other than her ex-fiancé, Adam Martinez whom she broke up with at their Princeton graduation a decade ago. While Adam remains aloof and professional at college functions, Anne is pursued by the charismatic, motorcycle-riding, literary superstar Rick Chasen, the college’s writer-in-residence. Anne begins to wonder if she might get a a second chance at love.
For readers of The Austen Project , and those who enjoyed the 1995 movie adaptation of the novel. Reading Group Guide included.
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #663, “(C)hoice, not chance, determines your destiny.” ~ Aristotle
by muffy
Israeli bestselling-author Yoav Blum’s English-language debut The Coincidence Makers, * “artfully blend(s) elements of thriller, romance, and fantasy.” (Booklist)
Eric, Emily, and Guy are secret agents, trained in orchestrating life-changing encounters for their targets. They think of themselves as “creators of possibilities, givers of hints, winkers of tempting winks, discoverers of options”.
They each have specialties (Guy's in matchmaking). New assignments are slipped under their apartment doors, and the latest one, being of the highest level in complexity and danger, has Guy in a moral quandary. Asked to work above his pay grade (and expertise) on a mission that could alter world history, Guy must decide if he could ignore his conscience and get the job done. In the meantime, Emily, frustrated by unrequited love, arranges a personal coincidence to devastating consequences. As the plot hurtles towards a stunning conclusion, layers of deception and orchestrated coincidences are revealed, and lives are forever changed.
A good choice for book groups interested in exploring issues of chance vs. fate, and free will. “Blum's clever, original piece of speculative fiction may appeal to fans Alice Hoffman and Paulo Coehlo.” (Library Journal)
* = Starred review
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #662, “When all else fails, give up and go to the library. " ~ Stephen King
by muffy
Rhodes Scholar and Guggenheim fellow, Sue Halper sets her fiction debut Summer Hours at the Robbers Library * * in Riverton, NH, a once prosperous mill town now in decline. The public library, a gift from local business mogul Albert Robers (drawing comparison to Andrew Carnegie of the "Robber" baron fame) is a beacon for lost souls, being the only well-maintained building in town.
There is Kit, the librarian, acerbic and secretive, seeking solitude and anonymity from a traumatic past; Sunny, the 15 year-old juvenile offender, sentenced to community service at the library for shoplifting a dictionary; and Rusty, a Wall Street high-roller, adrift without a parachute, hanging onto the library’s wifi connection as if a lifeline. Over the course of a summer, these individuals will come to realize that family is not a matter of blood, but those who will stand by you in adversity. (* * = 2 starred reviews)
Suggested read-alike - Felicity Hayes-McCoy's U.S. debut The Library at the Edge of the World, where a librarian must find a way to rebuild her community and her own life on Ireland’s stunning West Coast.
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #661, British Debut Thrillers
by muffy
In The French Girl by Lexie Elliott, the decade after six Oxford friends spent a summer week at a Dordogne farmhouse, life took them in different directions. Their reunion is marred by the arrival of a French detective reopening a missing person's case upon discovery of Severine's (their neighbor) body in the well behind the farmhouse.
As the friends are being questioned, Kate Channing, a legal recruiter, appears to have an obvious motive. Her then boyfriend Seb(astian), had slept with the missing girl.
“As the narrator, Kate is smart, funny, and attractive, with some confidence issues, making her relatable...As the detective continues to dig, the shifting dynamics within the group will keep the reader guessing until the end. First novelist Elliott has done a phenomenal job of combining a whodunit with a Big Chill vibe.” (Library Journal)
The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor is "an absorbing debut with a well-crafted mystery and a solid dose of Stand by Me creepiness” (Booklist)
In the summer of 1986, 12-year-old Eddie Adams and his friends rode their bikes all over the village of Anderbury looking for excitement, and leaving secret messages for each other with chalk stick figures. Their game turned deadly when chalk figures led them to the dismembered body of a local girl. Though the police lacked solid evidence, suspicion drove their new teacher Mr. Halloran to suicide.
30 years later, thinking the past is behind them, Eddie and his friends start getting chalk figure messages in the mail. When the only person who claims to know the identity of the killer turns up dead, Eddie realizes to save himself means figuring out what really happened all those years ago.
“Taut plotting, smooth writing, and a compelling premise will satisfy fans of Jo Nesbø, Camilla Läckberg, and Tana French.” (Library Journal)
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #660
by muffy
Reviewers are calling The Last Mrs. Parrish * * * by Liv Constantine (pen name of sisters Lynne and Valerie Constantine) a "devilishly ingenious debut thriller." (Publishers Weekly)
Amber Patterson deserves more, definitely more than her impoverished upbringing, her dead-end jobs and the constant worry about money. She set her sights on Daphne and Jackson Parrish, a wealthy “golden couple” from Connecticut who is living the privileged life she wants.
Meticulously clever and ruthlessly manipulative, Amber moves to Bishops Harbor, and plots to insinuate herself into Daphne's life, and through her, to Jackson, the handsome, powerful real estate mogul. Before long, Amber is traveling to Europe with the Parrish family; and when she finds out Daphne’s failure to give Jackson a male heir is the main source of tension in the marriage, she knows what she needs to do to become the next Mrs. Parrish, that is as long as the skeleton in her closet does not lay waste to all that scheming.
Halfway through, the narrative is picked up by Daphne, and the readers will get a surprisingly different take on the story. Well, let's just say some women get everything and some women get everything they deserve.
"With a plot equally as twisty, spellbinding, and addictive as Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl or Paula Hawkins's The Girl on the Train, this is sure to be a hit with suspense fans."(Library Journal)
* * * = 3 starred reviews
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #659
by muffy
Seven Days of Us * * by Francesca Hornak, is a sharply observed and ultimately satisfying holiday story.
For the first time in years the entire Birch family will be spending Christmas together under one roof, no thanks to elder daughter, 32-year old Olivia, a disaster-relief physician who just spent 6 weeks in Liberia fighting an Ebola-like Haag epidemic. The family decides to ride out the one-week quarantine at Weyfield Hall, their dilapidated country estate.
Thrown together with little to occupy themselves, and cut off from the outside world (even their Wi-Fi is spotty at best), all their disagreements, resentments, and secrets, both old and new, come bubbling up.
Father Andrew, a restaurant critic secretly hates food, and longs for the glory days as a globe-trotting war correspondent. Mother Emma is trying to shield her family from the cancer diagnosis so they could enjoy their time together. Olivia's secret relationship with a fellow doctor could potentially be dire for the whole household. Younger, and unabashedly frivolous, Phoebe is fixated on her upcoming wedding while secretly having second thoughts about her fiance George. None of them are prepared for the charming stranger who turns up at the door - Andrew's son from a one-night stand while on assignment in the Middle East.
"Hornak writes with a sense of irony and an eye on today's social issues... Fans of contemporary English stories such as those by Jane Green or Jenny Colgan will enjoy this novel about the shaky recovery of family bonds." (Library Journal)
* * = 2 starred reviews
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #658 “There’s no such thing as ruining your life. Life’s a pretty resilient thing, it turns out.” ~ Sophie Kinsella
by muffy
The Readymade Thief by Augustus Rose is an unputdownable literary puzzler set in contemporary Philadelphia. Its title - an obvious homage to Marcel Duchamp's famous creations that rocked the art world a century ago.
After years of shoplifting and dealing drugs at her high school, 17 year-old Lee Cuddy finally got sent to juvie taking a fall for a friend in a drug bust. A lucky escape means living rough, until she finds refuge in the Crystal Castle - a derelict building where homeless kids squat, under the control of a mysterious figure known as the Station Master. Not one to follow rules, Lee wonders around the restricted area of the Castle, and quickly discovers why homeless kids are disappearing from the streets in suspicious numbers. She manages to steal a strange object from the Station Master that turns out to be a work of art (With Hidden Noise, 1916) by Marcel Duchamp, recently stolen from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, one that holds special significance to members of a twisted reincarnation of the Société Anonyme.
With a young artist/hacker Tomi as ally, Lee tries to elude her pursuers who believe Duchamp left clues in his art that reveal the key to immortality, and that Lee holds the key to it all.
"The novel is complex on many intellectual levels, drawing heavily on theories of art history and physics, and the mystery is deep and satisfying in both its unpredictability and its culmination." (Kirkus Reviews)
"With dynamic characters and unforgettable scenes, including after-hours museum sex, mysterious pursuers, and wondrous evasions, Rose’s captivating, art-anchored pager-turner reads like a mashup of Home Alone and The Da Vinci Code." (Booklist)