The kickoff to summer reading
By Romey Petite
The Marsh King’s Daughter, by Karen Dionne
Born to an abducted teenage girl and raised in the confines of a remote, tiny cabin, the last thing Helena ever wants to do is go back to the marshlands of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula — the world she and her mother ran away from 13 years ago. Helena has built a life for herself with a good job, two sons and a loving husband, far away from the media sensation her life turned into following their narrow escape. When her father, Jacob Holbrook, vanishes from custody, murdering two prison guards in the process, a hapless manhunt begins. Having spent her earliest years being trained by Holbrook, Helena’s survivalist instincts kick in — knowing she is the only one with the skill and know-how to find the Marsh King. With allusions to both fairy tales and mythology, praise from Lee Child and Megan Abbott, and told in delicious, hackle-raising prose, Dionne’s The Marsh King’s Daughter is certain to be this summer’s sleeper hit.
Magpie Murders, by Anthony Horowitz
The author of the best-sellers Moriarty, Trigger Mortis, The House of Silk, the young adult Alex Rider series, and one of the creators of the British detective drama Midsomer Murders has crafted a tale in homage to the whodunit masterpieces of Agatha Christie. When editor Susan Ryeland receives the manuscript for novelist Alan Conway’s latest Atticus Pund mystery, she is initially delighted to be holed up all alone in her London, Crouch End flat without her paramour, Andreas, to disturb her. As Susan begins to read between the lines, however, she discovers there might be more to this page-turner than what appears on the page. Spellbound by a mystery only she has the clues to solve, Susan follows a trail left by the author that has her retracing the fictional detective’s steps. Readers will be similarly enthralled.
Flesh and Bone and Water, by Luiza Sauma
When a letter arrives in London for Andre Cabral supposedly all the way from an old flame back in his childhood home in Rio de Janeiro, the middle-aged father and surgeon finds himself drifting into a reverie. Separated from his British wife, Esther, Andre begins to fantasize about searching for the love letter’s sender — Luana, daughter of his family’s housemaid. One problem: He does not remember her surname. Bit by bit, Andre attempts to recall the events spinning out of his mother’s death, prompting him to set out on a journey from London to Rio to the Amazon. Flesh and Bone and Water is Pat Kavanagh Award Winner Luiza Sauma’s dreamlike debut, containing meditations on issues regarding race, social mobility, sex, and the selective nature of memory.
More of Me, by Kathryn Evans
In this electrifying debut novel, possessing the DNA of both Ray Bradbury’s short story “Fever Dream” and Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love, Teva has a convincingly ordinary life where her teachers, Ollie (her boyfriend) and her best friend, Maddy, are concerned. Unbeknown to the world beyond her cloistered home, however, Webb involuntarily clones herself once a year. The 16th Teva in line, she’s forced to balance the usual teenage frets about exams and life with the memories of 15 other Tevas. Fortunately, the others are kept locked away to avoid confusion, but that’s the least of 16’s worries. Realizing there is only a short while before she, in turn, will be replaced by yet another clone, and contending with the 15-year-old version of herself over their mutual affection for Ollie, Teva has decided she won’t surrender her life or love without a fight.
Marriage of a Thousand Lies, by SJ Sindu
Lakshmi, dubbed Lucky, is a programmer and a freelance fantasy illustrator — often acting as the digital artist equivalent of a boudoir photographer. Her husband, Krishna, works as second pass editor for a greeting card company. When the two really want to have fun, they briefly abscond from their traditional gender roles where each acts as the other’s beard — leaving their wedding rings at their Bridgeport, Connecticut, apartment — to frequent the local gay bars. When Lucky’s grandmother in Boston suffers a fall, she finds herself once again staying with her conservative Sri-Lankan American family. It is here that Lucky reconnects with her girlhood crush, Nisha, and discovers she, too, is bound for an arranged marriage to a man she hardly knows. Star-crossed, these two lovers must choose either to defy conventions and face shame, embarrassment and denial from their community, or uphold tradition and accept the lies their families hold dear.
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland
Taking a whimsical approach to history, science, fantasy, epistolary documents and mystery, best-selling author Neal Stephenson and critically acclaimed historical novelist Nicole Galland recruit readers for a chimerical speculative thriller. Melisandre “Mel” Stokes, a linguistics expert, is approached by Tristan Lyons, a representative of the shadowy military intelligence division D.O.D.O. — the Department of Diachronic Operations. Initially, she is offered a large sum of money to act as a translator for some very ancient classified documents, but Mel’s life changes forever when her new job takes her on an expedition back through time to the waning days of the Victorian era. Fans of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series and Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens will appreciate how The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. challenges our fundamental assumptions of the post-enlightenment world while being a whirlwind of good fun.
The Shark Club, by Ann Kidd Taylor
On July 30, 1988, a young Maeve Donnelly and her “crush” Daniel are wandering the Gulf of Mexico’s shores just outside of her grandmother Perri’s watch. After the two share a brief kiss, Maeve is seized by her leg and yanked beneath the waves by a prowling blacktip shark. Surviving the attack with only a flesh wound, Maeve is encouraged instead of deterred by her experience and 18 years later has become a marine biologist of semi-renown. Considered by her colleague Nicholas to be a “shark whisperer,” she displays a natural rapport with the creatures. The Shark Club, the first solo novel of the co-author of the best-selling Traveling with Pomegranates, is the story of Maeve’s return to the magical beach where her story first began, her grandmother’s magical Hotel of the Muses — where there is a room dedicated to each of the matriarch’s favorite authors — and perhaps a chance to reconcile with her childhood sweetheart, who promised his heart to her that fateful day in ’88.
Our Little Racket, by Angelica Baker
When the financial crisis of 2008 sees the collapse of investment bank Weiss & Partners, it is immediately followed by a public outcry and the demand that CEO Bob D’Amico be brought to justice. The weight and responsibility of picking up the pieces of the fragmented firm fall on the shoulders of five women in Greenwich, Connecticut: Madison, D’Amico’s teenage daughter; Isabel, D’Amico’s wife; Amanda, Madison’s best friend; Lily, the D’Amico family’s nanny; and Mina, a family friend. As each finds herself in a position of relative complicity in the ongoing scandal, loyalties are tested. Told in a tone both tender and droll, the prose of Baker’s first novel is reminiscent in scale and ambition to Edith Wharton’s abashed insider view into bourgeois family life.
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
By Angie Talley
Go to Sleep in Your Own Bed, by Candace Fleming
It is bedtime on the farm, but when pig toddles off to snuggle down for the night, he finds someone sleeping there already. What ensues will have pajama-clad young readers giggling themselves to sleep
. . . right after they ask to hear the story one more time. Ages 2-4.
The Book of Mistakes, by Corinna Luyken
Oops! Whoops! Oh no! Mistakes can be creativity ending showstoppers or, better yet, opportunities. In this beautiful new ode to U-turns, debut author/
illustrator Corinna Luyken celebrates mistakes and the wonderful roads they can lead down. Ages 3-adult.
Orphan Island, by Laurel Snyder
Nine on an island, orphans all/Any more, the sky might fall. So goes the rhyme and so goes life on Orphan Island, a place where it only rains at night, where snakes are docile, waters calm, food plentiful, and rules must always be followed. But when Jinny, the Elder, breaks a cardinal rule, the serenity of the island is threatened. Reminiscent of a grown-up version of The Boxcar Children, this captivating read is a mysterious journey and a fascinating exploration of what it really means to grow up — a literary novel sure to get a nod toward next year’s Newbery Medal. Ages 11-14.
When Dimple Met Rishi, by Sandhya Menon
Meet Dimple, crazy for coding and psyched to be attending Insomnia Con summer camp, where she can develop an idea she has for an amazing new app. Meet Rishi, crazy for Dimple, and a closet comic-illustrating prodigy who’s attending Insomnia Con to, well, to be with Dimple. This laugh-out-loud coming of age sweet love story between two talented high school graduates brilliantly explores new love, the experience of being young Indian-Americans, and the difficult decisions they must make when they focus on careers, but find themselves smitten. This is the perfect summer-before-college read. Ages 14 and up. PS
