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Fiction |
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The Euthanist
by Alex Dolan
Euthanasia is a tricky topic and much in the news these days. However there aren’t a lot of fiction titles dealing with the subject. In Alex Dolan’s debut novel, The Euthanist, we have a psychological thriller that strikes deep into the right-to-die movement as well as other sensitive areas such as torture of criminals by those investigating their crimes. Kali has chosen to help the terminally ill gain peace. Veda Moon wants to put being abducted as a child behind him. Leland Moon (his father and an FBI agent) desires peace for his son and the families of all the other victims of Helena Mumm and Walter Gretsch. When Kali tries to help the wrong person, she gets roped into Leland’s not exactly legal plan to bring that comfort about. Recommended for libraries who have patrons interested in fiction titles about such timely topics.
—Tracy Gallagher, MLIS, Collection Development
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The Well
by Catherine Chanter
When middle-aged couple, Ruth and Mike Ardingly, leave the city and move to their new country property, The Well, life initially seems idyllic. Their first attempts at homesteading are successful, and the cracks in their marriage seem to be healing. Ruth hopes that perhaps there is a chance of making peace with her estranged daughter and providing a home for their grandson, Lucien. Drought changes everything, though. As the rest of the country suffers, The Well stays mysteriously lush and fertile, and the Ardingly’s idyllic life becomes nightmarish. Ruth and Mike struggle with their marriage, government intrusion, jealous neighbors, a group of religious fanatics known as the Sisters of the Rose, and the final straw, the murder of their grandson. A sorrowful tale, told in a haunting style, Catherine Chanter’s The Well explores how fragile a person can become when caught in the middle of extraordinary events.
—Arwen Wagers, Cataloger, Ingram Library Services
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The Mountain Story
by Lori Lansens
Best-selling author Lori Lansens’ newest offering, The Mountain Story, trades the semi-autobiographical territory of her previous novels for a moving survival narrative set in the California wilderness. Reeling from a series of personal tragedies, Wolf truly resolves to spend his eighteenth birthday taking his own life atop the titular mountain. A chance meeting en route with the three women of the Devine family, followed by a series of mishaps on the trail to a secret lake, alters the path of each of their lives dramatically. Written as an account for his college-bound son of key events that shaped adult Wolf's life, The Mountain Story presents a lively cast of off-beat characters amid the backdrop of a man-versus-nature tale. A brisk coming-of-age story tinged with adventure elements, Lansen succeeds in bringing the reader into the hard-luck life of her teenage protagonist and into the suspenseful battle between the group's own self-reliance and the mercilessness of the elements.
—Lisa Hungate, M. Ed, Library Specialist
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The Fair Fight
by Anna Freeman
The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman is a smart and striking gem of a debut. Set in Napoleonic England, in the hardscrabble port of Bristol and its surrounds, Freeman’s novel evokes the seedy underbelly of Jane Austen’s beloved era. Not only a fascinating depiction of the rise of female boxing, The Fair Fight is a tale of survival. Told in alternating narration by characters with varying degrees of likeability, readers can’t help but root for the fighters in this story, particularly the women, who are equal parts tenacious and tender. Freeman uses language and setting elegantly, grounding readers firmly in 18th century England. Austen’s Wickham would feel right at home amongst the men of the novel, and fans are left with the sense that this could have been Darcy’s story if he had allowed debauchery to guide him, driving Pemberley into ruin. Readers interested in historical fiction, strong female characters, and fans of Jane Austen will appreciate this novel.
—Jean M. Ward, MLIS, Manager, New Titles
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Dietland
by Sarai Walker
Sarai Walker’s bold debut novel Dietland challenges America’s unrealistic standards for beauty and the harsh reality of gender inequality. Plum Kettle’s life is small. She spends her days in a cafe ghostwriting responses to troubled teens’ emails to the editor of a popular magazine. She longs for the day of her weight-loss surgery, which she believes will be the beginning of a new life. Plum begins to notice a strange woman following her and writing notes about her in a spiral notebook. One day, the woman writes the word “Dietland” on Plum’s hand. That word becomes the key to a new world for Plum. It leads her to meet a community of women who choose to live their lives on their own terms, and she is drawn closer to a guerrilla group that avenges mistreated women. Plum is forced to confront everything she has come to believe about her body and her future. The deep and irrevocable transformation that she undergoes is far different from the one she imagined. Dietland is an unexpected trip down the rabbit hole that readers won’t soon forget.
—Beth Reinker, MSLS, Collection Development Librarian |
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The Second Sister
by Marie Bostwick
Lucy Toomey has been hard at work as a strategist for a Presidential campaign. On Election Day, she finds out simultaneously that her candidate has won and her sister has died. She returns to her Wisconsin hometown to take care of funeral arrangements and tie up the loose ends of her sister’s life, and finds herself at a decision point as to what direction she wishes her life to go. Her career hasn’t gone as she has planned and she has to reassess her priorities and find herself. The writing is luminous and the characters are relatable and sharply drawn. Readers of thoughtful and redemptive women’s fiction will be glad they picked this one up. Highly recommended for most public library collections.
—Shannan Rosa, MSLS, Collection Development Librarian |
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