Staff Picks Audience: Adults

The Storyteller’s Death by Ann Dávila Cardinal [Book]

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The cuentistas in Isla Larsen Sanchez’s family carry their stories through generations. Isla spends summers on the family compound in Puerto Rico with her great-aunt Alma, and lives the rest of the year in New Jersey with her widowed mother. During the summer of her eighteenth year, she learns that she shares the family gift. She experiences the story of each deceased cuentista in visions that repeat at the same time every day until she understands details customarily left out of their telling. In a story shared between her grandmother and great-aunt, Isla witnesses the death of her great-grandfather and, on repetition, is grazed by the bullet that kills him. In order to understand what really happened, she must ask her family and others who were on the estate at the time to reveal what they know, trying to uncover secrets they’ve kept for decades. In the process, Isla learns about her family history and the legacies of racism, sexism, and classism she is inheriting. A great read for fans of stories set in the Caribbean and tales of magic, love, and family.

YA crossover appeal: Isla’s coming of age as a daughter of two countries and traditions will provide a compelling tale for teens.

The giver of stars by Jojo Moyes [Book]

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If you love books and would be saddened to think that some people don’t have access to them, you’ll find this historical fiction Depression-era novel to be a true inspiration. The Giver of Stars is the story of how a handful of dedicated women traverse the sometimes harrowing mountains of Kentucky to deliver books to folks you’ll get to know and care about.

Forbes is pleased to continue the tradition of delivering library materials throughout Northampton, Leeds and Florence. Reach out to outreach@forbeslibrary.org or call 413-587-1019 to learn more.

Cradles of the Reich by Jennifer Coburn [Book]

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Based on historical events in Nazi Germany, this novel follows the lives of three women who intersect at Heim Hochland as part of the Lebensborn breeding program intended to help racially fit women produce Aryan babies for Hitler. Gundi is a university student involved in the resistance who finds herself pregnant by her activist Jewish boyfriend. Hilde is eighteen, underappreciated at home, devoted to Hitler’s regime, and eager to raise her status by having a Nazi official’s baby. Irma is a nurse who lost her fiancé and unborn child during the Great War, discovered her beau concealing a woman in his cellar, and needs the fresh start that working at Heim Hochland offers. Surrounded by looted art and antiques, sustained by the best food available, and subject to the whims of powerful men, these women find connections among the expectant mothers, “apprentice” mothers, and employees of the facility. When Gundi’s child is born with obviously non-Aryan characteristics, she learns of the potential consequences (euthanasia) and must seek help where she can. Parallels may be drawn between Nazi eugenics then and reproductive agency now, and the fundamental sexism of men making decisions about women’s bodies, providing ample topics for discussion groups.

For fans of The Lilac Girls, The Island of Sea Women, Call the Midwife, and World War II women’s stories.

Midnight on the Marne by Sarah Adlakha [Book]

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An unlikely series of events repeats itself, giving one of the participants the opportunity to change the future by sacrificing his past. Wartime in occupied France is made difficult by rationing, persecution, and fear, particularly for French nurse (and spy) Marcelle Marchand and American soldier George Mountcastle. They are immediately drawn to each other, then separated by circumstance and the Great War. Following Germany’s victory, Marcelle and George reconnect, and live in France with their cobbled together family of survivors, including George’s comrade Philip and Marcelle’s sister Rosalie. Hiding their vegetable garden and black market activities from government agents and living as well as they can, they find happiness where possible. After they are caught and punished, George somehow finds himself once again at a critical point in the Battle of the Marne, several years earlier. George and Philip have spent many years contemplating what might have happened if a single decision had been made differently, and now George has the opportunity to find out.

Framed by the narrative of Marcelle’s daughter reading her journal many years later, readers will be drawn in by the details of an alternative post-World War I history, and also pleasantly set adrift by the conflicting information presented in the journal and the known details of Marcelle’s life and history. Offer this to fans of alternative history, war stories, and what-ifs.

Rough Sleepers by Tracy Kidder [Book]

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Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy [Audiobook]

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If ever a novel was meant to be read aloud, this is the one. It is voiced with perfection by Julia Whelan and Edorardo Balerini. A suicidal severely disturbed but brilliant mathematician has admitted herself to a psychiatric facility. Her psychologist peels away the layers of falsehood and obfuscation as the sessions proceed. This was the last book McCarthy published before his recent death. There is no happily ever after here, but a peaceful goodbye.

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez [Book]

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It’s very difficult to recommend this book while trying to keep all of its wonderful secrets and surprises under wraps! At its simplest, The Spear Cuts Through Water is a gripping adventure story following two young men, both with mysterious histories of their own, as they rescue a kidnapped goddess and attempt to protect her on a treacherous journey across a country ruled by a corrupt emperor and his three powerful and villainous sons. This description, while accurate, doesn’t capture what makes this book so magical–but rather than spoil the details for you, I will just say that Simon Jimenez tells this story in an utterly unique way, and his lyrical and emotional writing brings the tale to life. No part of the journey goes the way the reader might expect, but every twist and turn adds to the ever-growing danger closing in on the three adventurers, who must learn to trust one another or face certain death. At times violent and grim, it’s certainly not for everyone, but fans of She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan, Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse, and Netflix’s The Untamed will find plenty to enjoy in this romantic and folklore-driven fantasy.

Widowland by C. J. Carey [Book]

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In this alternate history, Germany and Great Britain are thirteen years into an alliance that began with the 1940 murder of George VI and his family in favor of the rule of Edward VIII, remorseless pawn of The Leader. Women are classified into six categories based on their usefulness to men and, by extension, the empire. Any sign of rebellion or resistance is punishable by interrogation, torture, and death. Rose Ransom is a Geli, the most elite class of women, and has a job with the culture ministry editing literature of the past to match the current values of the regime. When inflammatory quotes from forbidden texts begin to appear as graffiti, she is asked to infiltrate a Widowland community, where childless women over 50 are relegated and the insurgent messages appear to originate. The subversion must be stopped before The Leader arrives for the coronation of King Edward and Queen Wallis, and Rose is expected to act in the best interests of the Protectorate. Carey builds a chillingly believable setting and society that feels relevant now.

For fans of historical fiction, women’s stories, alternate history (it’s all three!) and readers looking for The Handmaid’s Tale by way of Fatherland.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers [Book]

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The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet begins when Ashby Santoso, the captain of a tunnelling ship, hires a young woman from Mars to be the ships first clerk. Rosemary Harper joins the ship’s small crew, which, prior to her arrival, was just the captain, the ships computer, two techs, the pilot, the navigator, an algaeist, and the kindly Dr. Chef, who serves as both the ships doctor and its chef. We see the crew through Rosemary’s eye’s as they take on an unprecedent contract which requires them to travel the long way around to a distant planet near the galactic core.

The galaxy portrayed in The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is full of diverse and intelligent life. It’s a vision of the future much like that portrayed in Star Trek–there’s still plenty of misbehavior and conflict, but overall most folks have found ways to get along. We meet diverse intelligent species, from the lizard-like Aandrisk to the clam-like Harmagian. The tone of the book is light hearted and whimsical–it’s not as outrageous or as tongue-in-cheek as The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but Douglas Adams fans will certainly find much to appreciate here. And, while established science fiction fans will appreciate the numerous homages to classic science fiction (I was delighted by reference to Ursula K. Le Guin and Vernor Vinge), it is also approachable for those new to science fiction.

Some may complain that The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet isn’t sufficiently profound. It doesn’t chart new territory in terms of scientific ideas or paint some novel vision of the future we have never seen before. These criticisms are valid. But it does introduce us to interesting ideas while allowing to get to know a cast of characters that we can genuinely like, and it does so while painting a refreshingly optimistic view of the future that is a pleasure to read. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is the first in a series, and I look forward to reading more.

They Drown Our Daughters by Katrina Monroe [Book]

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In the shadow of an old lighthouse on the Pacific coast, seven generations of women have each been affected by a family curse in their own way. They are drawn to and terrified of the ocean, the source of heartbreak and tragedy for women of their line. Meredith Strand, who fled to the east coast as a young woman, returns home to Cape Disappointment with her daughter Alice in tow, seeking refuge from her impending divorce. Meredith’s mother Judith struggles with memory as her belief in the curse seems to govern her life and choices. When Judith is taken by the sea and Alice disappears, Meredith must face a mysterious adversary to rescue her daughter and break the curse’s pattern of misfortune for both of them and the future of their family. More than a century of loss related by narrators from different generations, combined with a malevolent ghost, give this gothic read plenty of appeal for horror fans, while the family drama will compel readers of women’s fiction.

Compass Roads: Poems About the Pioneer Valley by Jane Yolen [Book]

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The jacket copy reads “a book about a place”. This collection of poems gathered by Jane Yolen is also a book about a people, people who have chosen to plant their roots in this valley and those who came before us. You will laugh in recognition. An ode to the parking garage? Maybe shed a tear too.

For Those Who Are Lost by Julia Bryan Thomas [Book]

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In the chaos of evacuating children from Guernsey to England in 1940, Lily Carre switches places with her sister Helen, undertaking the care of a pair of children–Henry and Catherine Simon–who are being reluctantly sent away by their mother Ava. Lily wants to escape an unhappy marriage, and Helen wants to remain on Guernsey with their aging parents. Once in England, Lily puts nine-year-old Henry on a train bound for Manchester, where he starts out in a dormitory of evacuees and is eventually sent to a Yorkshire farm for the rest of the war. Lily takes four-year-old Catherine with her to Cornwall, which she arbitrarily chose based on its proximity to the sea and distance from the continent. They find refuge with the assistance of local vicar Peter Ashby and embed themselves in village life, Lily posing as a widow and Catherine’s mother. Following the stories of Lily, Ava, Henry, and Peter during the war, and checking in with Catherine thirty years later, the reader sees several aspects of life during wartime and long term consequences of impulsive decisions.

A sure bet for readers of personal war stories and those who want to know, “What about the women and children?”