As a huge fan of storytelling, the title The Story Collector won me over.

Narrated in two timelines; Thornwood village 1910 Ireland and New York 2010.
Sarah Harper changes her flight from Boston to Shannon airport instead . Her life is a bit stagnated with her marriage on edge and personal life in tatters. In Ireland she gets caught up in stories and lives of a rural community. She discovers the diary of a young girl Anna . The more she reads it the darker Anna’s story is. She is enthralled with an Ireland of old that is filled with superstition and mysticism.

Not only is this book a mystery, but it is filled with self exploration and teaches one the power that stories have on our lives . To bring comfort in one’s darkest time and takes one on a lifetime journey.

I came away from this book checking off a reason to read- To learn about and from the past.

An extraordinary story from ordinary people.

Family saga- this one is for you.

Long After We Are Gone is a ridiculously explosive account of the Solomon family and the secrets each carry. Coming together after their father’s death to save their ancestral home is no easy task. Each of the four Solomon siblings are broken, there is a comma between them all , they are all trying to be patched back together any way they can. As they come together to fight for the kingdom each of their facades begin to crumble and collide in spectacular unexpected ways.

Terah Harris brilliantly tells a story in alternating view points from each sibling revealing a power keg about family and the secrets kept, the things that one refuses to let go. Secrets from addictions , embezzlement, homosexuality while being in a lengthy marriage and criminal acts and violence.

This is a heartfelt story about the power of family and letting go of the toxicity that no longer serves you and legacies we pass on to children.

This novel is ripe for bookclubs discussion. I unequivocally loved it and I highly recommend it. I have already wishlisted Terah Shelton Harris other novel One Summer In Savannah .

Historical fiction lovers like me will rush to discover more about reformatory institutions in South Korea in the years leading to the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
In this novel, Crystal Hana Kim emotionally reveals a dark chapter in South Korea history; state sanctioned brutality, abuses, coverups, and just plain human rights abuse.
" It is only by knowing our past that we can guard against the future ".
This searing novel shows humanity's capacity for evil. But some can be evil and some can be good as discovered in these pages ; a mother and daughter bond and two brothers whose bond is put to the ultimate test.
Through alternating time lines and inmates point of view , we meet Eunju in 2011 who opens her door to a woman bearing a familiar knife that she remembered from 30 years ago.
In 1980 Eunju and her mother are homeless, living on the street and is scooped up by the police and sent to the reformatory center.
The characters in this novel are determined and resilient. Kim deserves praise for this exploration of violence and how if we as humans want to we can rise from the ashes, the brokenness, the darkness into light with acts of friendship and devotion.
Thrilling and tragic —this is not a novel for the faint of heart but I hasten to add, human rights atrocities should not be ignored in order for these horrific events never be repeated.

Banyan trees are popular to Asia. I always visualize stories being told, gossips and secrets that transpire under a Banyan tree. When I chose this book, I had a hunch I was in for a historical drama. It was more a family drama than historical and for that I was disappointed. I wanted to know more about Ming's life in Vietnam. The novel spanned the 1960's there and being as the war was happening, I needed more of that, more of the Vietnamese culture. I needed more historical context.

I thought Ann was a bit flat. Hated the way she treated her mom.

I give 3 stars based on the generational narrative; The matriarch Is dead and Ann is called to Florida from her Michigan home and rich privileged boyfriend. In Florida secrets are revealed and burdens are peeled off, all at the same time trying to rebuild a mother-daughter relationship without the matriarch who held them together. If you like multigenerational family sagas, you will like this. I did, but I also needed some historical context.

"I come from a tribe of women who are ravaged and joyous, loud, raging, tied to our own convoluted histories. We are a tangle of branches, mud speckled and ever searching. " we claim squatters right in our tangled histories". My favorite quote but it did not live up it.

We are our stories. And when it comes to an immigrant story, we all have one to tell. This compelling story had me hooked from the first sentence. Spoiler alert- I am a sucker for a good immigrant story.
Set in the big Apple- New York and China , Susie Luo debut novel explains what it means to be other, what it means to be stereotyped because of how you look, what it means to fit in, what it means to be a first generation American and having to appease an old school Chinese father in America who wants to do everything in his power to make you have a better life, to make you attain that elusive American dream.
Told from three perspectives with engaging rounded characters; Tony, Chinese born engineer who is now a doorman in Manhattan, his daughter Tammy who wishes he was more American and then there is Oliver, white , handsome and dark family secrets. Their lives collide and intertwine like one would not imagine and the effects are devastating.
"But for all his attempts to control me, what he also did was create a person who was capable of making hard decisions of breaking the cage itself".
" I had not realized until his death that he had also caged me with his dreams". Ah!! The long shadows of parents and their expectations when when is confronted with cultural bonds and duties. A compelling evocative read that you recognize yourself or someone you know on these pages. I unequivocally recommend this novel. It will stay with me forever. I wonder what Tammy is up to now. I wonder if she found a space to call home.

Historical fiction fans will be drawn to this intriguing debut novel that takes place in Sudan late 1990's to 2000, and will come away with enlightening moments of what is now North and South Sudan.
The narrative is centered around five strangers on a non-government organization compound. Amongst them are a filmmaker, one to update the maps of the district, a translator who is from South Sudan and a twelve year old who will do anything to get out of poverty. These characters' mission is thwarted and disrupted by a looming civil war.
I have my pros and cons about the rating on which I assigned to The Ghost Season. I love the imagery of the topography of the country ranges; desert in the north and the white nile basin drainage to the south. Hence the reason for South Sudan population undertaking agriculture and pastoralism as livelihood activities. I clearly understand how these strategic locations became flash points and the "red line" in the civil war and how the people in the north were looked upon from those in the south as stealing their land and livelihoods. The inhabitants are very territorial to the point of discussing a corpse at the beginning of the novel as to whether the corpse was nomad or Nilote and what burial rites and ablutions should be given. This was definitely a harbinger and indeed it was.
I thought the character Dena, who is supposed to be a filmmaker, was very weak. I felt like she was not developed and considering her role, there was a naïveté about her that diminished her position. I appreciated Alex position at the end when he wrote his final report about his project. It was nice to have the love story with William and Layla, but it was too contrived . I needed more narrative about the politics, history and how Sudan came to be split apart into North and South.
However this was certainly a sampler of this East African country to a neophyte and I would absolutely recommend in getting an insight into Sudan and its people and how different they are culturally.
Beautifully told in storytelling prose from this debut author- Ghost Season is worth looking at.

"Steely eyes met. Two generations, five thousand miles of culture apart. Righteousness hard as stones on both sides".
This novel opens up in 1998 on America's east coast. Mitra is one two sisters born to an Iranian father and American mother. The story collides with Tehran and New Jersey. The 1979 Iranian revolution has seen the rise of an Iranian diaspora in the United States. The novel captures the complexity of dealing with a family steeped in cultural and traditions from the Middle East and trying to fit in to a western culture. Some of that tradition ls kept, but there is far more that drives a wedge between the Jahani family; Mitra is the renegade. A medical document stating that she has had a tubal ligation, is not fit to be married in accordance to their tradition has poisoned her relationship with her father. He has expelled her from his life. There is a second daughter who just wants to please and is the favorite. Then there is the submissive wife who wants to avoid feuds and just get along with everyone. It is tall climb for her; she has to put up with a domineering husband, disrespectful to her, sees her as an object while he continues with his philandering.
I like the writing style of this author: oftentimes the characters are recounting past events in the present which added a flavorful layer to the story. The secrets that threads its way throughout the characters is used as a means of survival, but once again Mitra calls it out. She calls out her father for his old-school dogged ways and his hypocrisy.
This novel comes alive on every page with such tension and joy just like
any other family and at the same time tells of a rich ancient and modern Persian culture and politics.
Susan Pari's In the Time Of Our History will linger with me for a long time .

“Like an archeologist desperately excavating a foreign world, I want to bring the details of my nomadic upbringing to life before it is lost forever “. “ I don’t want the library of my past to die with me”.
How lucky for readers like me to have someone like Shugri Said Salh who poignantly tells her story growing up a nomad in the desert of the East African country, Somalia.
Shugri has narrated a clear eye unflinching account of her life as a young girl at 6 years old , when she was sent to live with her nomadic grandmother in the desert. Such imagery of the landscape; livestock, and how camels are used to go from place to place to find greener pastures, to find water and food. I love the way Somali terms are used in a sentence while at the same time explaining the meaning. Words like “Jilal”- At the end of Jilal, the long and dry season. This style of writing made it very easy to explore and comprehend Somali culture effortlessly. Words like eeidio (auntie),devotee (waadad) mother (ayaeyo) to name a few.
Religion, clans, female circumcisions were some of the cultural aspects explored in this coming of age novel.
The Somali proverbs at the beginning of the chapters was a clever harbinger. “Oh lord, sad is the soul that leaves its native land”. This chapter further went on to show events about one fleeing their homeland due to war, albeit a civil war, where friends, neighbors turn on each other all in the name of protecting ones clan. The most disturbing part of the book for me was what adolescent girls must endure in the most brutal unhygienic, primitive medical way called female circumcision and the scar literally and figuratively it left on young girls including the author herself.
Knowing Salh’s story makes me want to know more about the strength, tenacity and resilience of Somali women. This book is indeed an eye opener. I have Salhs’ grandmother to thank for having her granddaughter inherit the gift of storytelling and pass it on to readers.
This is a stunning read- raw and authentic.

Kaitlyn Greenidge has “hit it out of the park” with this coming of age novel set during the reconstruction era in America, specifically Brooklyn where this story begins in 1860.
For what was suppose to be a significant chapter for civil rights, it was not an easy road for African Americans by any means.
Libertie Simpson realizes she has many strikes against her; a woman, and black. To go a step further and add salt to injury, her mother who is a physician constantly reminds her that she is even too black to pass like her for she is light skin.
A layered narrative about colorism, struggles for blacks during the reconstruction era and finding your own place and space and owning it.
I was annoyed with Libertie with the poor choices she made, going to Haiti and to her chagrin was subordinate to the man she married. She still was not free.
This book echoes Brit Bennett,Vanishing Half, albeit steeped in historical events, specifically reconstruction in America 1861-1865. What does freedom really mean? Does the freedom of one impinges on the other? A superb page turner of this young woman’s painful coming of age period. In the end I felt better that she returned to America from Haiti and just maybe will forge a path for future generations. I couldn’t put this book down. It swooped me up not only in the arms of Kaitlyn Greenidge, but also Zora Neale Hurston and Yaa Guadiana and that is a good thing. Historical fiction is my favorite genres and Libertie has a place in my library.

In as much as I found this novel relatable, specifically the witnessing a parent’s end of life as I have been through it, I would have been okay with just the caring of a dying loved one. There are two different stories happening and in as much as I tried to see the parallel, I personally related to the end of life journey of the stepfather. That part of the novel carried more weight for me than the project of the artist.Because of personal bias, favoring this story, I find it difficult to review. There are times I thought the storyline wandered and meandered, like when the French author Simone de Beauvoir was mentioned and there was an entire almost two pages about her “The coming of age”. I found myself researching this author and being curious about her work… this took me away from focusing on the story. In other words, the author did not do a good enough job to keep me “hooked”. If it was not for the stepfather and his mental decline, I don’t known how much this novel will have kept me reading. All in all, the stepfather’s experience in nursing homes and all the safety nets or lack thereof I totally experienced with a love one and that was realistic and relatable.

At first I was thrown off by the young narrator's voice in this coming of age memoir. At the opening it seemed funny the narrator never questioned the meaning of freedom until she hugged Stalin and the very flattering description of him. It then got very serious about growing up in Albania, the last Stalinist country of Europe.
I chose this book to review to learn more about Albania and what it was like growing up there and the end of communism in that region.

There is a famous quote that " the freedom of one man impinges on the freedom of the other. We are not free till all is free". While we in the west value our freedom, we must not forget what it is like for others like this young Albanian to witness queues, scarcity , secret police and executions. Friends and families disappear, loyalties were tested. Yip, the young narrator with sharp insight lays it out gently in this Bildungsroman book about how history can shape our lives and our politics. Her story is all our story.

This novel made me laugh, cry and laugh again. Starting from the Nigerian embassy, Ekong, a Nigerian editor has a fellowship to work in Manhattan, NY to curate his anthology of the Biafran war and at the same time learn the ins and outs of publishing.

I was drawn into this novel for many reasons; I love a good immigrant story. As far as I am concerned, you change the names and the stories are the same; I remember looking at the display of malnourished children on television as a result of the Biafra war; and, as a New Yorker, I couldn't wait to discover what the protagonist's take on the city is. Most of all, being a huge fan of historical fiction, I wanted to know more about the Biafran war.

The historical context was laid out from the first chapter when Ekong went to get a visa of which it took him several attempts. Ekong was aghast at the condescending clerk at the embassy who belittled him and his tribe.
Through Ekong's encounter with the clerk, I learnt that Biafra was a secessionist state in West Africa that existed from 1967-1970 when Ekong curated his story. I learnt that Biafra was formed as a result Of the nationalist aspirations of the Igbo people of Nigeria leading to the Nigerian civil war.

After Biafra declared its independence, war ensued, defeating Biafra and reuniting the two states. The historical context brought back memories of being told by my parents "don't waste the food, children in Biafra are starving." I thought of the Biafran flag which is half of a yellow sun and wondered about the significance.
Ekong had bouts of rude awakenings in NY; he lived in a small apartment which he thought did not look like those he saw on CNN, and to add salt to injury, the apartment was filled with bedbugs of which the poor man thought he had AIDS after been bitten all over his body. This entire bed bugs scene was totally hilarious.

The saddest discovery for Ekong was the different types of racism among blacks Americans, African Americans, blacks and Africans. For me as a black woman, it was an eye opener of the many ways prejudices can be felt.
Ekong was met with kindness by his colleagues at the publishing house, but underneath it all was stereotyping of him as an African, his foods, language and tribalism was all under attack. Underneath the publishing industry was a wall of white superiority and control. Ekong found that he could not escape the darkness of the Civil war and the ways in which tribalism defined him from his villages of Africa to the villages Within New York City.

A captivating read, filled with humor, sharp wit and brutal satire. Through it all, there is compassion
and human connectedness. Bravo Uwem Akpan! Your unique prose jumps off the pages.

Nora, an orphan in 19th century London has lost her parents to cholera and is raised by Dr. Croft . The tenacity and persistence of Nora to risk it all in a Victorian society where women’s role in medicine is zero is absolutely shunned on to the point of criminality. Nora is defiant that she she won’t be the homemaker: not knitting, not baking cookies. She follows Dr Croft around, she reads, learns her anatomy, practices on the cadavers, learns to do sutures and mend wounds - all of this done clandestinely, because she is not supposed to be in this role.
This novel hooked me right in and didn’t let me go. I totally enjoyed the medical aspect especially the surgery performed on a patient with gangrenous bowel. Even if you were not in the health field, you were awed by the surgical settings. It was made better with a little romance thrown in by a doctor (Daniel) who at first had issues with Nora being “ in the way” until she proved herself knowledgeable and capable.
An absolute gem of a book with characters ranging from hero to villains. I loved it because of the enlightenment towards women in the 19th century and thinking how far women has come. I wished that Nora did not have to leave Daniel and I would always wonder if they will ever meet again. There should be a sequel.

I chose this book simply because of the word "Mob". It has to be a dark side of me, but I find Mob stories intriguing. Smalltime by Russell Shorto was more than intriguing and more than the Mob. I loved the way the author drew on historical events in the 1920's. It was post WW1 and with the consequences of prohibition came organized crime and pre-mafia activities.

The story starts in Sicily where the author travels back to his great grandfather home town to find out more of the families role in the making of a mob family. The story started from Sicily and ended in a small town in Pennsylvania, America - Johnstown. The setting is a store front next to City Hall of all places. There is where a gambling empire ruled the town with ping pong machines, number games, chess. All of this happening along with the illegal sale of alcohol.

Smalltime is also an immigrant story; a family living in poverty and squalor and experiencing deep prejudice and racist acts against Italian Americans. At this juncture, I must add that I learnt that not only blacks were lynched at that time period in America, Italians were also lynched. But as the author reminded the reader, "But while things were changing fast in the postwar era, with Italians being accepted as white, the wall was still in place with regards to Blacks. Black performers couldn't sit in the audience after their set but had to retire to their dressing rooms". This narrative bit of history was quite welcoming and was not sugarcoated at all. So along with all the mix of history, discrimination, night clubs, lounges, slot machines this book was fascinating. It is a deeply personal account of family and cultural history and aspiring to the American dream.

Never underestimate the power of words and storytelling from a debut author.
Waiting For The Night Song by Julie Carrick Dalton shattered those doubts about this coming of age novel.

“Truth hides in fissures and hollows, In broken places and empty parts. It can be buried, crushed, or burnt, but the truth will always rise”. This opening line from this novel hooked me right in and did not let me go. By the end of chapter 1 that ended with: “ where they left him. Buried in the woods”. There was no turning back.
Told in alternating narratives between “that summer “ where the protagonist was a young girl and “ present day” where she has revisited her home town,
Marble Crest and as Cadie, the protagonist puts it: “the cracks and crevices”. So much has happened there: First love, friendship, oaths of bonds, lies, secrets, cover-ups and betrayals all makes for an edge of your seat heart shattering read that leaves you splattered in the most epic way.

The novel throws everything at you in a real way: climate change, anti-immigrants, foster systems, the abused and abuser , family bonds and the secrets within those bonds are all served up in this brilliant masterpiece of all the things one cherish.

One’s environment and caring for it and how we humans become the “canary In the coal mine“. The stigma applied to illegal immigrants not knowing about the
circumstances that led them to where they are. The question of family and if blood is really thicker than water? It is about what defines a person life - the present moment or their actions afterwards? And then there is the nostalgia of returning to ones childhood: “there had been so much magic in the forest of her childhood “. Cadie, the heroine of this story has deep roots in these forest (no pun intended), her research about the beetles destruction to the forest and hopes of saving it. Her story has echoes of “Where The Crawdads Sing” and of one’s connections to the land they grew up on and how it shapes them.

Most of all, at the core of this novel is the death of this town citizen and the accusations of who did it, who buried him, who is the accessory of the murder, who is covering up, and who really stands accused.

This is a soul provoking unstoppable tale of lies and deceit by all concerned and it will linger and etch in your memory. It truly will make you question the motives
of everyone around you. A superb engaging read. I cannot wait for Dalton's next book.

After reading A Piece Of The World, Christina Baker Kline did not disappoint with her research on the Australian Aborigines, the penal colony and the way the British in the 1800’s felt about the Aborigines, albeit , negatively. Actually they thought that they were a nuisance.

My thoughts go to the indigenous people world over who were exploited and raped of their culture and ethnicity. I have always wanted to know more about Australia’ penal colony and it was quite an enlightening read I experienced in The Exile.This episode in 19th century Australia and Britain exposes the plight of three women whose lives are bound together aboard “ The Medea” to Van Diemens Land, the penal colony.

I enjoyed reading about the bond built by these women , their stories, hardships, and challenges.

Stories are everywhere : from the Native American Indians in the United States who were slaughtered and trampled on, the Africans brought to American shores, the Burmese of Myanmar- change the names and the stories are the same of being colonized and left to fend alone.

I loved this book because it made me want to to read more atrocities suffered under British rule. This was an unapologetic reveal about the past and how history cannot be forgotten.

Jennifer Mansubuga Makumbi is a born storyteller. Every word resonates with such imagery of this Uganda village and its denizens. Told in alternate chapters from a third person point of view,this novel has a " folklorish" aura about it: tradition, superstitions, tribalism is all served up in this captivating page turner.

Kirabo search for her mother haunts her throughout this novel and while seeking who and where her mother is learns about the rest of the family. The secrets, the silence is all complicit. The vernacular is at times funny, but yet brilliantly served up with personification and profound metaphors: " his stare made her feel as if the world was scorched but she was the only plant sprouting ".

The characters are rich and round... they all have a story to tell and tell it they do . At this juncture, I will say that it was helpful that there was a character list at the end of the book It was very hard keeping the numerous names in place.
Even though it took many pages later to find out who Kirabo's mother was, it was quite an experience traveling to Uganda learning about this rich culture: family, village life, beliefs, and much told about the Uganda unrest and civil war in the 1980's.

I love the storytelling within the storytelling. It was like sitting around a fire and listen to your grandmother tell stories of long ago and why life is the way it is now.
A very captivating story of a young girl coming of age: falling in love , attending school, painful experiences, but through it all she endured .

Exit west is every immigrants story.
Ironically, the message is so relatable to what is going on globally with people going through doors and hoping for something better on the other side. Sadly, this is not the case with Saeed and Nadia, the main characters in the novel who flees an unnamed city due to violence and makes their way to Greece, London and then California USA. At each step of the way difficulties are encountered.
There is no welcome party. It is a factual reality of what immigrants deal with in another country; the walls, fences, borders, prejudices. People are scared of others who don’t look like them, peoples stereotypical nature , all is uncovered in Exit West. Brilliant elegiac writing that will make you pause.