Cathy Marie Buchanan brings first century Britannia to life in her latest novel, Daughter of Black Lake, which follows the twin narrative arcs of a mother and daughter coming-of-age during troubled times as villagers of the remote tribe living on Black Lake. Thirteen year old Hobble (she gets her name from her affliction with a… Continue reading Daughter of Black Lake by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Tag: bookblog
Lady Romeo by Tana Wojczuk
In a recent interview with them., writer Tana Wojczuk commented on her inspiration for her book Lady Romeo, explaining, “I grew up reading fairy tales and being really frustrated by the female characters in them and how powerless they seemed. They never got to have adventures, and [Charlotte] Cushman’s story is like an adventure story,… Continue reading Lady Romeo by Tana Wojczuk
Luster by Raven Leilani
Purchase a copy for yourself here! In an essay written for Vogue about her departure from her mother’s strict Seventh Day Adventist church, Raven Leilani writes, “It would take years for the questions to develop and still more time for me to admit that I had them: How could an omniscient being create animals capable… Continue reading Luster by Raven Leilani
This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Purchase a copy for yourself here! “You feel you are creeping up over the edge of a precipice and that this cliff beckons you; worse… that there is no way to stop that fall because you are the precipice”, writes Tsitsi Dangarembga in This Mournable Body, the final entry in her trilogy surrounding the life… Continue reading This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Purchase a copy for yourself here! “Will Slater is not the man you think he is. He’s a cheat and a liar. Don’t marry him“, reads a foreboding note received by Jules Keegan, just a couple of weeks before her wedding. Jules is a highly organized and driven businesswoman, the founder and head of The… Continue reading The Guest List by Lucy Foley
How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang
Purchase a copy for yourself here! There is perhaps no subset of literature that feels more emblematic of the white male literary canon than the classic American western novel. In her Booker Prize nominated debut, How Much of These Hills is Gold, C Pam Zhang brings the western novel into a new century. The novel… Continue reading How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Purchase a copy for yourself here! “Every life has its kernel, its hub, its epicentre, from which everything flows out, to which everything returns. This moment is the absent mother’s: the boy, the empty house, the deserted yard, the unheard cry … It will lie at her very core, for the rest of her life”,… Continue reading Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Nine Shiny Objects by Brian Castleberry
Purchase a copy for yourself here! On June 24, 1947, private pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing a string of nine unidentified flying objects in the Mount Rainier area, a story that would spark national news coverage and mark the first modern UFO sighting post-WWII. The story catalyzed an international obsession with UFOs and extraterrestrial life,… Continue reading Nine Shiny Objects by Brian Castleberry
Lot by Bryan Washington
Purchase a copy for yourself here! “Houston is molting. The city sheds all over the concrete”, writes Bryan Washington in his award-winning story collection, Lot, an exploration of one of America’s most fascinating metropolises and the characters that inhabit it. Around half of the stories in the collection are told from the perspective of Nicolás,… Continue reading Lot by Bryan Washington
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
Purchase a copy for yourself here! With his recent debut, Real Life, Brandon Taylor has reinvigorated the concept of the campus novel. The novel’s protagonist is Wallace, a grad student biochemistry researcher at a midwestern university, one which has not admitted a black student into its lab in over three decades. Wallace, a gay black… Continue reading Real Life by Brandon Taylor