I truly enjoy stories that use a dual point of view. That technique often gives readers a more complete picture of events than a story told through one narrator. The Witches at the End of the World by Chelsea Iverson gives readers a story told by sisters Kaija and Minna.

Kaija and Minna grow up in the woods of Norway, raised by their grandmother because their mother was burned as a witch. When the grandmother dies, the two girls begin to realize how different they are from one another. Kaiji is much kinder than Minna and decides she is tired of living hidden away in a dark forest. Minna, on the other hand, sees herself as a witch and always feels a sense of anger and rage bubbling within her.

Feeling betrayed when Kaija leaves, Minna unleashes her fury. Little does she know that she is setting in motion a fatal action that will have widespread repercussions. Readers will find insight through the two sisters' stories. How do those stories intertwine? What will be the result of Minna's curse? Will the two sisters be able to reconcile, or will the differences coupled with the curse be too great to overcome?

Iron Curtain: A Love Story by Vesna Goldsworthy takes readers into the life of Milena Urbanska, a "red princess" who lives in an unnamed Soviet satellite in the 1980s. While she lives in luxury, she chafes against her lack of freedom.

Meeting Jason, a British poet, Milena immediately falls in love and begins to look toward a future with him and with freedom. Despite her mother's warnings about Jason's unsuitability, Milena marries him. They are madly in love, at least so Milena thinks. They live in poverty since Jason considers himself a poet, not a man who works a day-to-day job. Milena takes a job at the Royal Entomological Society, translating from Russian into English for a research project.

Milena discovers she is pregnant with twins and Jason is overjoyed. Milena's joy is short-lived when she learns Jason has a mistress. The story takes readers through the ups and downs, many downs, of Milena and Jason's relationship. The story ends satisfactorily for this reader. For book clubs, the story will provide many topics of conversation: marital strife, poverty, the Cold War, and freedom.

Lately, I’ve had the pleasure of reading several debut novels that really grabbed my attention. My most recent entry into debut novels is Moonrise Over New Jessup by Jamila Minnicks. It begins in 1957. I found the first few lines of the story appealing: "The moon rises and sets, stitching eternity together, night by night. Love-spun thread binds family when even years, or blue skies, stand between one and another's touch. Generations travel the same footprints, reach hands to the same climbing branches, and warm the same crown skin under the Alabama sun."

The story continues from that opening to keep me reading. I discover Alice Young who is alone after her father’s recent death. Her sister Rosie has fled to Chicago, and Alice decides she will go there. Unfortunately, Alice does not have enough money to get out of AL, but less to get to Chicago. She buys a ticket to Birmingham, the furthest she can go on her tiny bit of money. Along the way, another passenger suggests that Alice should get off the bus at a stop to use the restroom and buy herself a Coke because the next stop is a long way off. He even gives her ten cents.

When she gets off the bus, Alice looks for the colored entrance to the bus station. She asks the shoeshine man where she should enter. He tells her to use the front door, but she is taken aback. Then he tells her she is in New Jessup, an all-Black town. Alice decides to stay there and finds help from Mr. and Mrs. Brown, a kind minister and his wife.

Alice can already sew by hand, but Mrs. Brown teaches her how to use a sewing machine. Soon, Mrs. Brown introduces Alice to Ms. Vivian Taylor Laramie, owner of the town’s dress shop. Ms. Laramie is impressed with Alice’s sewing skills and hires her. Alice starts a new life in New Jessup, but she still hopes to hear from her sister Rosie.
As mentioned earlier, it is 1957, the Civil Rights Movement is moving forward. Alice has no intention of becoming involved in politics, but life has a way of throwing the right people into situations at the right time. Alice’s involvement becomes almost necessary when she falls in love with and marries Raymond. He is an activist in the National Negro Advancement Society.

Not everyone in New Jessup agrees that integration is the way to go. The story heats up as the Civil Rights Movement continues to create change. The story provides historical background and gives readers a portrait of people fighting for rights.

For book clubs, Moonrise Over New Jessup is a goldmine of topics. Jamila Minnicks, educated as a lawyer, has turned her talents to writing. She is an author to watch.

The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch is a story to move readers and take them into the Russian revolution as well as the present day. Readers will become immersed in a story of family, dysfunction and all. The use of Russian folklore enhances the story. The Last Russian Doll is a mesmerizing read.

After reading The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson, I could not recommend the book to enough people. I chose it for two book clubs to which I belong. Everyone I know who has read the book has thoroughly enjoyed it, learned from it, and recommended it to others. When I learned that Richardson was writing a sequel, The Book Woman’s Daughter, I couldn’t wait to read it. I attended a virtual event featuring Kim Michele Richardson through Adventures by the Book; along with my ticket, I received a copy of The Book Woman’s Daughter as soon as it was published.

The Book Woman’s Daughter can certainly be read as a standalone novel. I do think, however, that those who have also read The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek will find a deeper, richer connection to the story.

When The Book Woman’s Daughter opens in 1953, Honey Mary-Angeline Lovett is almost 17. Her parents are being arrested for breaking the laws of KY. Honey’s father Jackson had dared “to marry a woman of mixed color – a blue-skinned Kentuckian.” Cussy Lovett, Honey’s mother, has a condition called methemoglobinemia, a “gene disorder that the ol’ doc over in Troublesome Creek said me Honey and Mama and the Moffits had.” Cussy has quite blue skin all over, but Honey’s disorder manifests itself in her hands and feet and only when she is stressed or agitated.

As a minor and with her parents jailed, Honey could be sent to an orphanage until she is 18 or she could be remanded to the Kentucky House of Reform where she would be held until she was 21. She would be shackled and forced to do hard labor. And for what? Because the laws of KY were so antiquated and outdated! Her great fear is that the latter will be her fate if she cannot get to Troublesome Creek where a judge can name Retta Adams, 90, her guardian while her parents are in prison.

Honey, like Cussy, loves books. When she gets to Troublesome Creek, she sees an advertisement for a librarian to take books into the KY hills to isolated people just as her mother had done years before. Honey feels if she can get the job that will show she is capable of taking care of herself and she can contribute living expenses with Retta.

This story takes place in 1953, but it might as well be 1900. People in towns have electricity, indoor bathrooms, and running water. People living deep in the hills of KY still have wood stoves for heating and cooking. They have well water and use coal oil lamps. Honey herself has to learn how to use a public telephone. She hasn’t seen a television and hardly knows what a radio is.

Needless to say, Honey encounters a number obstacles in her path, but she also has friends who come to her aid. Her own ingenuity and innate intelligence serve her well too. I highly recommend The Book Woman’s Daughter. It will make readers angry, make them laugh, and ultimately provide them with an excellent story. For book clubs, the topics for discussion are almost endless: interracial marriage laws, child marriages, child emancipation, and child prison labor camps. Other topics will include the stories from the Pack Horse Library Project and the ingenuity of the librarians who took materials to families buried deep in the hills of KY.

Shadows of Berlin by David R. Gillham, like The Mayfair Bookshop by Eliza Knight, is not completely a WWII novel. Both books, though, are rooted in WWII and forward.

David R. Gillham worked in the book business before turning to writing historical fiction himself. He had studied screenwriting before writing fiction. He has published three books: City of Women, Annelies: A Novel of Anne Frank, and, most recently, Shadows of Berlin.

Shadows of Berlin opens in NYC in 1955 by introducing readers to Rachel Perlman, married to Aaron Perlman. The two are very much in love despite Aaron’s mother’s unhappiness at Aaron’s choice of wife.

In the beginning, I found Rachel to be full of complaints and distrustful of herself. Rachel’s conversations with her dead mother reminded me somewhat of a contemporary story, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. In both stories, the absent mothers provide the two daughters much angst for quite different reasons.

As I found myself impatient with Rachel, I stopped to think for a moment. At that point, I realized that the experiences she had during WWII as a Jewish girl and in danger from all corners would certainly entitle her to her fears even though she has survived the war. She has lost all of her family except Uncle Fritz, who, though kind, does use Rachel as an ATM much of the time. Aaron distrusts Fritz and resents the money Rachel gives him.

Readers quickly learn of Lavinia Morgenstern-Landau, Rachel’s mother, who was a talented portrait artist. Rachel, herself, has inherited this talent, but she distrusts herself too much to begin painting again. Her psychiatrist suggests that returning to her painting again could be therapeutic. Rachel disagrees.

Shadows of Berlin takes readers through Rachel’s journey from the horrors of war into a new life in NYC. Rachel must come to terms about how she has managed to survive the war and has now arrived in NYC to start a new life. Other stories explore this issue of what one must do to keep body and soul together when faced with unimaginable choices.

Because of Uncle Fritz, Rachel discovers a self-portrait her mother painted before the war. It is now in the hands of a pawnbroker who wants $50 for the painting. That sum is out of Rachel’s reach unless she can find a way to get the money and purchase the painting which means so much to her since it is a connection to her mother.

Clearly, Shadows of Berlin will generate in-depth discussions in book clubs. Issues such as love, forgiveness, survival, and hope will give book club members plenty to discuss. Rachel has every opportunity to find happiness in her new life. That’s another point of discussion.

When I am anticipating the reading of a new book, I keep my reading of reviews by other people to a minimum. I do need some blurb or short enticement, of course, or I would not know about the book at all. Debut author Marianne Cronin’s The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot crossed my reading radar. I was immediately intrigued by this blurb from Publishers Weekly: "Cronin’s touching debut is a joyous celebration of friendship, love, and life."

When I received a copy of The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot, I sat down and started reading, ignoring the other stack of books I should have been reading for a committee meeting. And I am glad I began reading immediately. Seventeen-year-old Lenni is hospitalized with a terminal illness, a term the nurses are trying to change to life-limiting.

Lenni, quite aware of her life-limiting illness, still makes the best of her situation in the Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. She begins visiting Father Arthur in the hospital’s chapel. Their conversations are funny and touching. She asks him hard questions and he tries honestly to answer. Lenni needs a nurse escort in order to go to the chapel and a nurse must also return an hour later to help Lenni back to her room. This requirement sometimes causes problems when the nurses are short-staffed or extra busy with other patients.

When a temporary secretary, an art major, has an opportunity to apply for a grant so the hospital could receive art supplies and an art teacher, the temp does so with gusto. The grant is awarded. Sadly, the hospital director hires Pippa, another art teacher, rather than the temp. Still, setting up the art room for patients will lead to the friendship between Lenni and Margot, aged 83. As Lenni points out, between the two of them, Lenni and Margot, they have one hundred years.

At first, Pippa is reluctant to allow Lenni to meet at the same time with the senior patients. The classes have been divided according to age. Lenni, however, does not enjoy the art class with her peers and insists she wants to attend with the seniors so she can be with Margot. At last, Pippa relents.

During their art class, Lenni suggests that they create 100 pictures to commemorate the 100 years between them. As they draw their pictures, they tell each other the stories that make up both of their lives. As a reader, I found their sharing of life stories fascinating. They do not choose to tell the stories in chronological order. This lack of order is not confusing, however. It simply allows Lenni and Margot to relay their pasts to one another through the pictures they are drawing. Lenni finds that Margot is the far better artist, so she concentrates on writing up their stories.

Since I lost a dear, long-time friend unexpectedly recently, I might have expected to find The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot too difficult to read. After all, both Lenni and Margot, our main characters, are in the hospital. Lenni tells us she has a life-limiting illness and Margot is being treated for a heart ailment at age 83. I could expect the outcome to be one or both deaths. Because the story is about love, friendship, a bond between two unlikely people and celebrating little joys, I found it an absorbing read and one that appealed to my heart.

Marianne Cronin earned a PhD in applied linguistics from the U of Birmingham. I enjoyed discovering that she writes with her rescue cat “sleeping under her desk.” Cronin is also an improv performer in the West Midlands, England, where she lives. Learning that bit of news about Cronin makes me understand the humor that is sprinkled throughout The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot.

I am a big fan of historical novels. I especially enjoy reading one that introduces me to figures from history about whom I have no knowledge. The War Nurse by Tracey Enerson Wood does just that. I had not ever heard of Julia Stimson.

Wood has done her research on Stimson’s life and accomplishments and has woven those facts into a mesmerizing recounting in fiction of Stimson’s world.
Julia Catherine Stimson was born in MA and graduated from Vassar College in 1901, a time when few women received an education beyond the age of fourteen. She followed up by attending the New York Hospital Training School for Nurses and then a master’s degree from Washington U in St. Louis in 1917. That same year, she joined Army Nurse Corps in WWI. Stimson received a number of awards for her service. In 1948, she was promoted to full colonel.

Wood takes readers on the journey with Stimson as she volunteers to train American nurses to help British nurses who have already been in the war. In fact, Stimson and her nurses are already engaged before American troops are deployed.

Stimson faces a number of tests. Not only is she training the nurses, but she also faces truly primitive conditions. The horrible war wounds add to her stress and difficulties. Not being able to get the supplies the nurses need and yet trying hard to save lives and give comfort to the wounded makes life more than difficult. These conditions made me think of the difficulties medical personnel and hospitals faced during the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

Stimson also faces prejudice because she is a woman and a nurse. Her strength of character and sense of right keep her going despite all the struggles she faces.
Wood did thorough research on Stimson’s life and career. Adding to that research, Wood herself is a nurse, so her understanding of the medical conditions and the lack of supplies Stimson faced mean even more. Readers can feel certain the medical explanations are accurate. The War Nurse will provide an excellent discussion for book clubs. Meaty topics such as understanding care of wounded soldiers, fighting for women’s rights, seeking recognition for nurses, and risking everything to save those soldiers.

The War Nurse is a must read for historical fiction buffs. It puts the spotlight squarely on Julia Stimson and her career. I am grateful to have received an advance copy from BookBrowse. Tracey Enerson Wood is also a member of NovelNetwork, a group that seeks to connect authors and readers. The book will be published July 6, 2021!

When I have an opportunity, I enter to win books—single books and books for a whole book club. I am sometimes lucky. Recently, I won a copy of Miss Austen: A Novel of the Austen Sisters by Gill Hornby from BookBrowse. In exchange for receiving the book, I will participate in a discussion on BookBrowse along with other avid readers. The book was originally published in hardback in April 2020; the paperback version will be available in April 2021.

Miss Austen, the main character of the story, is Cassandra, Cassy, Austen, Jane’s sister. Jane died twenty-three years before this story takes place in 1840. We find Cassy in the village of Kintbury, home to family friends the Fowles. Fulwar Craven Fowle, vicar of Kintbury, has just died. The connections between the Austens and the Fowles run deep. Cassandra had been engaged to marry Tom Fowle, Fulwar’s brother. Sadly, Tom died of yellow fever on an expedition with a wealthy lord. He, also planning to be a vicar, had gone on the expedition to earn enough money so he and Cassandra could marry.

Cassy has made the journey from her home in Chawton with a distinct purpose in mind. She hopes to retrieve letters from Jane to Eliza Fowle, Fulwar’s wife, also deceased. Cassy must decide whether to share those letters should she find them or destroy them to protect her sister and the family name.

Hornby has captured the style of the time in her depiction of Cassy and the other characters involved in the story. Those who love Jane Austen will find characteristics similar to Jane’s own writings.
Before he leaves on the expedition, Tom tells Cassy that if he should not return that she should marry someone else. Cassy adamantly proclaims she will marry no one if she cannot marry Tom. That promise made in a church is sacred to Cassy and she remains single the rest of her life, serving her family in a variety of ways.

Besides the current story of 1840, Hornby takes us back to the time when Jane and her parents are still living. Cassy remembers fondly the times they spent together. She also recounts the ups and downs of their fortunes. By taking readers back in time, Hornby gives readers a more complete picture of the family and its ties with the Fowles.

Hornby also provides a map of the village of Kintbury and a family tree at the beginning of the book. Both of those additions are invaluable in keeping members of the family and long-time friends clearly in mind. Too, readers should remember that Edward Austen was adopted by wealthy distant relatives who had no children. They changed his name to Edward Knight because he would inherit the estates of his adoptive father.

In the backstory and the current story, Hornby goes into the fate of unmarried women and the real need for them to marry and marry well. As I read, I could not help but think of The Glass Menagerie and an exchange between Amanda Wingfield and her daughter Laura. Amanda chastises Laura: “What is there left but dependency all our lives? I know so well what becomes of unmarried women who aren’t prepared to occupy a position. I’ve seen such pitiful cases in the South – barely tolerated spinsters living upon the grudging patronage of sister’s husband or brother’s wife – stuck away in some little mousetrap of a room --- encouraged by one in-law to visit another --- little birdlike women without any nest – eating the crust of humility all their life.”

In fact, that is Cassy’s plight in life, helping other family members, particularly her brother Edward and his wife Elizabeth when their children, eleven in all, were born. Still, Cassy feels satisfied with her life and has benefited from her longevity by inheriting sums of money upon the deaths of other family members. She lives comfortably in Chawton.

Readers will find Mary Austen, widow of James Austen, a caricature of a person who downplays Jane Austen’s worth as a novelist and touts her late husband’s poetry, calling him the real genius in the family. Readers quickly see she is given to exaggerating stories and, in some cases, flatly making them up. James’s poetry cannot hold a candle to Jane’s delightful work. The humor in Mary’s character is also repeated in Caroline’s nature; she is James and Mary’s daughter.

Cassy goes to Kintbury to find Jane’s letters and she is successful. She also does some meddling in the life of Isabella, the daughter of Fulwar and Eliza Fowle. Isabella is almost forty and unmarried. She must vacate the vicarage so that the new vicar can move in and start to minister to his flock. Cassy thinks Isabella should move in with one of her sisters, both of whom live in the village. Elizabeth and Mary-Jane Fowle are odd creatures, both unmarried and set on their own courses. As a reader, I could not see Isabella being happy with either sister or the sisters with her, for that matter.

Luckily, through some machinations, Dinah, the servant, engineers a new path for Isabella, and Cassy sees the error of her ways in trying to impose her will.

Readers will find Miss Austen a satisfying read. Those who love Jane Austen will enjoy the backstory of Jane and Cassy when they were young ladies. Throughout the story, readers will delight in the letters Cassy reads from Jane to Eliza Fowle. Hornby points out at the end of the book that she made up the letters, but they do fit nicely into the scheme of the book and sound as if Jane Austen herself wrote them.

Gill Hornby, a journalist, published her first book, The Hive, in 2013. It created quite a stir when Little, Brown UK purchased the book in an auction. Her second novel was All Together Now in 2015. Miss Austen is Hornby’s first historical novel. The novels reveal Hornby’s diversity of talents.

What is the mark of a talented novelist? That question can have many answers. The one I have in mind by asking the question follows here: A talented novelist can tell many stories and surprise the readers by telling quite diverse stories. Such is the case with Anne Youngson who debuted Meet me at the Museum after she had a long career in the car industry.

I discovered Meet me at the Museum and reviewed it for my blog, calling it a gem of a novel. And it is! I have recommended it to many friends and chose it for a book club discussion. I also nominated it for the Books Sandwiched In series, a program sponsored by the Friends of the Tulsa City-County Libraries and it was chosen for the book talk.

When I discovered Youngson was publishing The Narrowboat Summer, her next novel, in January 2021, I very much wanted to be an early reader. Luckily for me, I received an advance e-copy from BookBrowse.

Many readers could read Meet me at the Museum and then read The Narrowboat Summer and not realize the two are by the same author. Indeed, the two stories are that different, and yet, one will find commonalities surfacing, particularly in view of friendship, love, kindness, hope and forgiveness.

The Narrowboat Summer opens with three women, strangers to one another, and all at a crossroads in their lives, converging on a towpath of a canal. Eve and Sally are walking toward one another when they hear a terrible howling; clearly, the howling comes from a dog confined on the narrowboat named Number One. Is the dog hurt? In pain? Without a thought to themselves, both Eve and Sally jump onto the boat to rescue the dog even though as readers will come to learn Sally does not like dogs.

In order to rescue the dog, Eve and Sally break a window in the door on the Number One in order to reach the dog. About that time, Anastasia, the boat’s owner and, also coincidentally, the dog’s owner, arrives. Anastasia says to Eve and Sally, “You’ve been on my boat. You’d better explain why.”

Strangely, Anastasia approves Eve and Sally’s method of rescuing the dog rather than reporting Anastasia to the RSPCA. Eve and Sally offer to pay for replacing the glass in the door. After a short discussion, Anastasia refuses the offer to pay for the glass, but does allow Eve and Sally a chance to clean up the broken glass, so then, of course, the three must have tea.

Readers quickly learn that Eve, an engineer, has been made redundant at the Rambusch Corporation after an American outfit purchased the company. Sally has decided she no longer wishes to be married nor does she wish to continue living in the cottage on Beech Grove where she and Duncan, her husband, have raised their son and daughter. Anastasia’s cross to bear is illness. She needs tests and possibly an operation which may also require follow-up chemo treatments.

A chance meeting of three women, all in need of something with only Anastasia being the most certain of those needs, will set the three on a unusual course. Anastasia’s boat needs some repair and must go through the locks and down the canal to Chester where Owen who runs a boat repair yard will make the repairs. Although they know nothing about conducting a narrowboat along the canals, Eve and Sally agree to take Anastasia’s boat to Chester while Anastasia stays in Eve’s flat to have the medical tests she needs.

Over the course of the journey, Eve and Sally meet an unusual cast of characters, all of whom know Anastasia in some capacity. As the journey progresses, Eve and Sally become expert at handing the Number One. They fall into the water culture, meeting new people and learning a bit more about Anastasia along the way. However, the surprise to both Eve and Sally is that they also learn about themselves and their own capabilities.

Eve has a peripheral knowledge of Jacob and Vic, her neighbors in her building. Jacob befriends Anastasia, prickly as she is, and that friendship also creates a new relationship between Eve and Jacob and eventually Vic as well. These friendships deepen because Anastasia needs the new and old friends as she confronts her illness and thus connections begin to strengthen like bits of tether from the boat itself.

The Narrowboat Summer will be a winner for a book club discussion. First, the story is simply beguiling. Second, readers will find much to ponder as the three women’s stories unfold. Third, The Narrowboat Summer is just plain fun with the added bonus of engendering a thoughtful, stimulating discussion.

What is the mark of a talented novelist? That question can have many answers. The one I have in mind by asking the question follows here: A talented novelist can tell many stories and surprise the readers by telling quite diverse stories. Such is the case with Anne Youngson who debuted Meet me at the Museum after she had a long career in the car industry.

I discovered Meet me at the Museum and reviewed it for my blog, calling it a gem of a novel. And it is! I have recommended it to many friends and chose it for a book club discussion. I also nominated it for the Books Sandwiched In series, a program sponsored by the Friends of the Tulsa City-County Libraries and it was chosen for the book talk.

When I discovered Youngson was publishing The Narrowboat Summer, her next novel, in January 2021, I very much wanted to be an early reader. Luckily for me, I received an advance e-copy from BookBrowse.

Many readers could read Meet me at the Museum and then read The Narrowboat Summer and not realize the two are by the same author. Indeed, the two stories are that different, and yet, one will find commonalities surfacing, particularly in view of friendship, love, kindness, hope and forgiveness.

The Narrowboat Summer opens with three women, strangers to one another, and all at a crossroads in their lives, converging on a towpath of a canal. Eve and Sally are walking toward one another when they hear a terrible howling; clearly, the howling comes from a dog confined on the narrowboat named Number One. Is the dog hurt? In pain? Without a thought to themselves, both Eve and Sally jump onto the boat to rescue the dog even though as readers will come to learn Sally does not like dogs.

In order to rescue the dog, Eve and Sally break a window in the door on the Number One in order to reach the dog. About that time, Anastasia, the boat’s owner and, also coincidentally, the dog’s owner, arrives. Anastasia says to Eve and Sally, “You’ve been on my boat. You’d better explain why.”

Strangely, Anastasia approves Eve and Sally’s method of rescuing the dog rather than reporting Anastasia to the RSPCA. Eve and Sally offer to pay for replacing the glass in the door. After a short discussion, Anastasia refuses the offer to pay for the glass, but does allow Eve and Sally a chance to clean up the broken glass, so then, of course, the three must have tea.

Readers quickly learn that Eve, an engineer, has been made redundant at the Rambusch Corporation after an American outfit purchased the company. Sally has decided she no longer wishes to be married nor does she wish to continue living in the cottage on Beech Grove where she and Duncan, her husband, have raised their son and daughter. Anastasia’s cross to bear is illness. She needs tests and possibly an operation which may also require follow-up chemo treatments.

A chance meeting of three women, all in need of something with only Anastasia being the most certain of those needs, will set the three on a unusual course. Anastasia’s boat needs some repair and must go through the locks and down the canal to Chester where Owen who runs a boat repair yard will make the repairs. Although they know nothing about conducting a narrowboat along the canals, Eve and Sally agree to take Anastasia’s boat to Chester while Anastasia stays in Eve’s flat to have the medical tests she needs.

Over the course of the journey, Eve and Sally meet an unusual cast of characters, all of whom know Anastasia in some capacity. As the journey progresses, Eve and Sally become expert at handing the Number One. They fall into the water culture, meeting new people and learning a bit more about Anastasia along the way. However, the surprise to both Eve and Sally is that they also learn about themselves and their own capabilities.

Eve has a peripheral knowledge of Jacob and Vic, her neighbors in her building. Jacob befriends Anastasia, prickly as she is, and that friendship also creates a new relationship between Eve and Jacob and eventually Vic as well. These friendships deepen because Anastasia needs the new and old friends as she confronts her illness and thus connections begin to strengthen like bits of tether from the boat itself.

The Narrowboat Summer will be a winner for a book club discussion. First, the story is simply beguiling. Second, readers will find much to ponder as the three women’s stories unfold. Third, The Narrowboat Summer is just plain fun with the added bonus of engendering a thoughtful, stimulating discussion.

To learn a bit about narrow boats and their history, I looked up some information. Originally, the narrow boats were prominent during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries as working boats which carried all manner of goods along the narrow canals. No longer needed to transport goods, the narrow boats became pleasure boats. Some people live on the boats full time while others rent them for a vacation or recreation.

The Number Ones, like Anastasia’s boat, were boats owned by self-employed boatmen.

I received a copy of The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi from Bookbrowse.com. This review reflects my own thoughts and opinions without bias for having received the free book. The Henna Artist is Joshi’s first novel. Joshi runs an advertising and marketing firm. Born in India and raised in the US, Joshi has lived in India, France, Italy, and the US. On her Web site, Joshi focuses on her advertising and marketing abilities, but The Henna Artist is also featured.
When I began reading about Lakshmi, a woman of thirty, who is a renowned henna artist in Jaipur, I could hardly put the book down. Lakshmi’s father had been a school teacher, but he fought for freedom from the British and was demoted to a tiny village and had to live with his family on a reduced salary. His response to the shame was alcohol.
At fifteen, Lakshmi finds her mother has accepted a marriage proposal to Hari Shastri. Although Lakshmi begs her mother to allow her to continue to live at home and find a job, her mother will not relent. Lakshmi marries Hari and moves into the house with Hari and his mother. Lakshmi’s mother-in-law, teaches Lakshmi how to gather and use herbal medicines including herbs that will help women conceive and other herbs which help women abort an unwanted pregnancy.
Often, the desire to end the pregnancy occurs because the women are too poor to feed the children they have much less another one. Lakshmi becomes quite skilled by working with her mother-in-law. Hari, Lakshmi’s husband turns out to be much less than kind, unlike his mother. He beats Lakshmi and becomes more and more disappointed when she does not bear him a son.
Finally, Lakshmi takes money she knows her mother-in-law has put aside and runs away. At first, she works with prostitutes, giving them potions to abort children and to cure disease. Samir Singh, a wealthy man from Jaipur, notices her and takes her to Jaipur, helping her set up a more legitimate business of drawing intricate henna designs on wealthy women including his wife, Parvati.
Lakshmi, a true artist, grinds her own henna paste. She also adds delicious treats to take to the ladies as she works on their henna designs. Steadily, she builds up her clientele until she meets many wealthy and influential women and their daughters. They trust Lakshmi and admire the designs she creates.
Lakshmi also uses her herbs to help women conceive when they long for an heir. The oils, lotions, and potions all help the women to overcome depression, illness, and barrenness. On the other side of the coin, she also continues to supply sachets of a tea that will cause a miscarriage. Samir discreetly requests these sachets for his mistresses and for his friends’ mistresses.

Lakshmi is having a home built with her own designs in the intricate tile floor. She dreams of bringing her parents to live with her so she can care for them and make up for running away. Instead of her parents, though, Lakshmi’s sister Radha, thirteen, appears. Radha was born the year Lakshmi ran away, so Lakshmi has never known about her sister.
Radha tells Lakshmi both their parents are dead. Lakshmi takes Radha in to care for her and teach her. Unfortunately, both Lakshmi and Radha get caught up in events that cause all of Lakshmi’s plans to fall apart. Yes, she and Radha move into the home Lakshmi has so lovingly designed in hopes of caring for her parents as they age. She has switched that allegiance to her sister, but forces outside Lakshmi’s control conspire to make the plans fail.
Because Lakshmi helps Joyce Harris, a British woman, with an abortion, Lakshmi meets Dr. Jay Kumar. Mrs. Harris fears the baby is not her husband’s but possibly an Indian man’s. She cannot take the chance of having a brown baby; she lies to Lakshmi about how far along she is. The sachets for tea that Lakshmi leaves with Mrs. Harris then cause Mrs. Harris to become very ill since she was more than four months along in the pregnancy.
Dr. Kumar is very impressed with Lakshmi’s talents and her herbal medicines. This meeting and the saving of Joyce Harris’s life create a strong impression on Dr. Kumar who then figures as an important ally in Lakshmi’s life.
Joshi makes the book come alive with the Indian traditions and the careful steps Lakshmi must always take to ensure that she maintains her place. She cannot be abrupt or haughty or act in any way that will displease the wealthy, privileged women she serves. She must bite her tongue and bow in order to keep them making appointments with her. When gossip makes its way around the ladies’ circle, Lakshmi is devastated and her business all but ruined.
At this point, another meeting with Dr. Kumar will be advantageous to Lakshmi and Radha and not in a romantic sense.
The other character I must describe is Malik, a young boy of indeterminate age, possibly eight when we first meet him. At least, he tells the Maharani Indira, the maharaja’s stepmother, “I prefer to be eight.” He is a wise young man with skills far above his age and education. Lakshmi had discovered him some time after she arrived in Jaipur. He becomes her right-hand man. I like Malik; he is a true survivor and an entrepreneur just as much as Lakshmi is.

I received an advance copy of Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy, and I am delighted to have been chosen to be among the first readers. Caroline Bleeke, Senior Editor, Flatiron Books, wrote a note to readers at the beginning of the book. She says, “When Migrations slipped unobtrusively into my inbox, the pitch was so enthralling that I read the first sentence and that was so mesmerizing that I read the first chapter, and, before I knew it, I was convinced that if I didn’t publish this novel, I would never love another book again.” That’s high praise from someone who obviously reads a great many books. Bleeke goes on to record that “the experience of first reading Migrations was galvanizing.”
Occasionally, if I read such high praise for a book or a movie, I am immediately skeptical and wonder if the hype is deserved. In the case of Migrations, I would agree with Bleeke. The first two lines of Migrations follow here: “The animals are dying. Soon we will be alone here.” Since we are in the midst of the COVID-19 virus pandemic, those lines are wounding. The news constantly reminds us of how many people have died from the virus as well as the climbing numbers of those catching the virus. Instead of people’s deaths, we see animals dying; however, if animals die, how much time is left for humans as well?
Set in the future, Migrations takes readers along with wanderer Franny Stone as she tracks the migration of terns in the Arctic Circle. Her goal is to be allowed on board the Saghani, a fishing vessel, so that she can follow the terns she has banded. Franny must prove herself worthy to be aboard the ship and must work just as the other members of the crew do to pull her weight.
Franny shares a tiny room with the only other female onboard the ship, Lea, who is none too happy to share her quarters with Franny. Other crew members include Basil, Malachai, Daeshim, Anik, and the Skipper Ennis. Anik teaches Franny how to tie all the knots necessary for working on the ship and the reason for each one. Her fingers bleed from the constant tying of the harsh ropes, but she stays at her task as Anik quizzes her on each knot’s use.
To understand a bit about Franny and her quest, readers need some backstory. Born to Irish folk who had migrated to Australia, Franny and her mother, the husband and father long gone, reverse the migration and return to Ireland, years after their first ancestors landed in Australia. When Franny was ten, she decided to run away with a boy she met by the sea. She went with him and his family to the West Coast of Ireland, some distance from her home.
Franny realizes she needs to return home, and she starts walking, but the backpack she carries is full of books. She begins leaving them along the way to lighten her load. A kindly woman pays for a bus ticket and Franny returns to her home, but her mother is gone, vanished. Her mother has told Franny often enough that if Franny abandons her the way everyone else in her life has done, that will be the end. And now, Franny is both motherless and fatherless. Social services discover her grandmother in Australia and send her to the grandmother.
Franny is full of secrets which haunt her even as she works so hard on the ship that she falls into a deep sleep most nights. Occasionally, she has night terrors and wakes only to find sleep elusive. She writes letters which obviously go unsent.
In this future when animals are going extinct, Franny Stone searches for meaning and a hope for the future. McConaghy writes with power. This sample from a storm in the North Atlantic highlights the strength of her prose: “The Saghani is barely holding anchor in the gale-force winds and I can see ten-foot waves crashing onto the deck. It will be slippery as hell down there, the simplest thing in the world to be washed overboard.”
After Franny is attacked by a man when the ship is in port, Ennis rescues her. The rawness of the encounter and the danger Franny faces makes readers’ hearts race. After she is safe with Ennis, “we run, an adrenaline-fueled blur, feet slapping on boards and low voices giving urgent commands. I blink and I’m on the boat and the guys are working like madmen to get it moving.” Ennis reassures her, “You’re not alone, love. Be easy. You’re not alone.”
But that’s what Franny fights all the way through the story, being alone in her own head and trying to make connections.
Charlotte McConaghy, living in Sydney, Australia, is a screenwriter who has also published eight books. Migrations is her first book published in the US. Learn more from her Web site.

Chris Pavone’s The Paris Diversion arrived from BookBrowse. I was not familiar with Pavone; he has published three previous spy thrillers. Since I like to know something about the author’s background, I looked for his Web site to discover a bit about Pavone.
After reading the book, I did further research which brought additional information. Janet Maslin, writing for The New York Times, said Pavone “had previously worked in cookbook publishing.” That forms an interesting leap from cookbooks to espionage thrillers. Maslin calls The Expats, Pavone’s first thriller, “sexy” and “rare.” Then she continues by saying that The Paris Diversion, the latest book and the one I received, will become part of a series. Further, Maslin tells readers that if they start with The Paris Diversion, they will “spend a lot of time wondering who the Moores are, what happened to them in Luxembourg (not to mention what happened during Kate’s long career in espionage before she married Dexter) and what residue of problems and enemies are brought to this touristy new book.”
Luckily, I did not read Maslin’s review until after I had completed The Paris Diversion. I can see why Maslin makes those remarks because I kept wondering how Kate and Dexter’s backstory—still unknown to me---fit into the current story.
Pavone writes with surety and creates a breathless narrative. With Paris as the setting, the well-known landmarks also become part of the story, especially if one is in danger of being blown up by a terrorist.
Keeping up with the wide cast of characters becomes a task for the reader. How will the stories connect? Kate and Dexter, a married couple, have more secrets from each other than any two strangers might. Their two young sons appear to be the only remaining link between them. Dexter asks Kate about her job and she continues to be evasive, telling him nothing. On the other hand, Dexter is withholding information from Kate as well.
In the midst of a potential terrorist attack at the Louvre, Kate and Dexter continue to plan a birthday party for one of their sons with the planning taking place via text messages. As Kate remembers other tasks for Dexter for the upcoming party, she is dashing around Paris trying to find out about the bomb, the organization behind it, and more.
Pavone’s writing is fast-paced, to say the least. Following Kate around as she backtracks and crisscrosses Paris to avoid being followed is dizzying. Kate has contingency plans for all sorts of encounters. She has a ready false name to give in any situation.
The disparate stories in The Paris Diversion became a bit disconcerting to me as I tried to determine how they would come together. Once, I relaxed, sat back, and simply read to the end, I felt better about the story. Instead of trying to figure out the connections, I read on and waited for the stories to come together.

Sandra Cisneros says of Ordinary Girls that Jaquira Diaz "is a wondrous survivor, a woman who has claimed her own voice." Look at this example of her prose when she goes to see Paula at the Mailman Center for Child Development and Diaz describes Paula: "She wore slacks and a short-sleeved blouse, except she was barefoot, with a toe ring and tattooed forearms, her brown curls messy and frizzy" (129). Sentences like that throughout the book draw readers into the scenes. Diaz continually surprises readers with the intensity of the moments when she interacts with other people or describes those people. Another time, Diaz reflects on her mother: "I would think of my mother, adrift in that city, alone. How she descended into madness, sometimes sleeping on the steps of the Miami Beach Post Office, sometimes in the hallway of a friend's building" (138-9). Diaz continues to make readers feel as if they are seeing through her eyes and experiencing incidents as she does. As I read, I couldn't help but think of Educated by Tara Westover and an even earlier book, The Glass Castle. Ordinary Girls is its own story though regardless of the reminders of other stories. Diaz gives an honest account of her experiences. I found the last chapter particularly gratifying because Diaz says, "We're not girls anymore. We are women now." And she goes on to explain what each woman she has described is now doing. Thus, Ordinary Girls gives us hope that regardless of the horrors the girls experienced, they have risen above them.

Many novels are based on real events. Hannah Pittard has taken the tragedy of a plane crash, 3 June 1962, in Paris that killed 103 of “Atlanta’s wealthiest residents” and created Visible Empire, a novel. The plane crashed on takeoff. The Atlanta residents on board were art patrons who had been on a month-long tour of art galleries across Europe. They had returned to Paris and following an evening of partying they were on their way home the next day. In all 130 people died in the crash which was caused by a mechanical failure. At the time, it was the worst single airplane crash recorded.
For The Atlanta Journal Constitution, on 5 June 2018, Mandi Albright wrote “Atlanta Arts Patrons Die in 1962 Paris Plane Crash,” an article looking back on the terrible accident.
Pittard has published four other novels. Visible Empire has received a number of honors including the following: an Amazon Editors' Pick for Summer Fiction, an IndieNext List Pick, a New York Times "New and Noteworthy" Selection, an O Magazine Book of Summer, and one of Southern Living's Best New Books of Summer. Her previous novels also received high praise and awards. Discover more about Pittard and her work on her Web site. Currently, she leads the MFA program in creative writing at the U of KY.
Visible Empire employs the use of different voices to tell the story. This ploy annoys some readers, but I like the added perspective it gives readers. Instead of an omniscient narrator or a single narrator, Pittard gives readers five characters who tell the story of the crash’s impact and the deaths of those on board on those left behind in Atlanta.
The book opens with Robert’s story. Immediately, I found Robert to be an unsympathetic character. He learns his in-laws have died in the Paris crash. His mind, however, is on the death of another passenger on board, a young woman named Rita. Rita, a journalist, works with Robert and they have been having an affair for over a year. Meanwhile, Robert’s wife Lily is seven months into what is becoming a difficult pregnancy. Robert is also in debt and drinking heavily. So what does Robert do---and this information is no spoiler since it occurs in the first chapter—but leave his pregnant, vulnerable wife on the day she learns her parents have died in Paris.
Other narrators include Piedmont Dobbs, a young Black man; Lily, Robert’s wife; Anastasia, a grifter; Coleman, a wealthy n’er-do-well and drug addict; and Skylar, Anastasia’s newly reunited twin brother. Additionally, short chapters of one or two pages feature Ivan and Lulu, Atlanta’s mayor and his wife. Those short chapters are interspersed throughout the book.
All of these characters find themselves interwoven into a story beyond their control. Piedmont, Anastasia, and Skylar are unknown to the other characters until the accident. Their addition to the story completes the narrative. Without them, Visible Empire would be the story of wealth and privilege as well as loss. Yet, 1962 is a critical time in Atlanta and the US because of integration and racial unrest.
All of the narrators have stories to tell. Their stories all relate in one way or another to the plane crash because without it, all of these people would not come together.

Pival Sengupta, a widow, plans an extensive tour of the US, starting in NY and ending in CA. Satya, her tour guide and Rebecca, her companion, are unaware of her motives for the tour and are surprised by her changing the plans once they reach CA. All of the characters are struggling with their own losses, life difficulties, and pains. They keep much of their own pain to themselves, but occasionally, they allow their traveling companions glimpses into their real selves.

Amy Whey lives a good life. She is married to Davis, a professor, and is step-mother to Maddie, Davis's daughter from his first marriage. Together, Amy and Davis have an infant son, Oliver. What could mar this picture-perfect life? Perhaps the secret that she has been harboring since she was sixteen? Joshilyn Jackson takes readers on a terrifying journey in Never Have I Ever.
Amy is hosting the neighborhood book club, Brain Dead Mommies Book Club. All the members have arrived so Amy and Char are surprised when the doorbell rings announcing the arrival of someone. That someone turns out to be a new neighbor, Angelica, renting the house at the end of the block.
Angelica, who asks that everyone call her Roux, wants to join the book club. Roux attracts everyone's attention immediately. She also quickly commandeers the meeting, much to orderly Char's dismay.
Roux suggests that they play a game while Char wishes to focus on discussing the book. Roux further takes over the meeting by grabbing all the wine bottles from the bar and putting them in the middle of the discussion, continuing to fill everyone's glasses until the wine bottles are all empty. Then she starts on the liquor behind the bar, again filling glasses.
Roux starts the game she has wanted to play all along: Never Have I Ever. The game begins when everyone tells the worst thing they've done during the day, followed by the last week, and the eventual goal is to tell the worst thing you've ever done in your life.
Obviously, Roux has a plan; her neighbors simply do not know yet how far she is willing to go to learn their deepest, darkest secrets and finally to profit from those secrets, particularly Amy's.

I have been reading articles about Up Lit and books that fall into that category of uplifting, but not sugary sweet. The Lost for Words Bookshop fits into that mold. First, as a reviewer on Book Browse notes, what's not to love about a story set in a bookstore! Loveland's story is tragic and yet she comes out of a terrible situation and builds a life of her own. Over time, she learns about developing warm, loving relationships with a number of people. I thoroughly enjoyed The Lost for Words Bookshop!

I am completely mesmerized by Meet me at the Museum. I could hardly put the book down--and not because it is a thriller that causes me to turn the pages breathlessly. I wanted to read the next letter and the next letter. The story is one of calm, yet it also details some of the writers' most tender and vulnerable moments. Read Meet me at the Museum!