11 Picks for Nonfiction November

November brings us a lot of things, from cooler weather to pumpkin pies and turkeys. In the book-reading world, it’s also popularly known as nonfiction month. Whether you’re official participating in Nonfiction November or are just interested in what’s new, here are my choices from this month’s releases. (all copies—print, digital, and/or audio—provided by the publisher)

Science and Animals

My Penguin Year: Life among the Emperors by Lindsay McCrae (William Morrow; Nov. 12). Written by a BBC award-winning photographer and documentary filmmaker, this memoir recounts the year McCrae spent in Antarctica in the company of 4,000 emperor penguins. Illustrated by gorgeous photographs (see the cover) and drawings, this memoir gives us a rare look at these large penguins and their Antarctica home, not only describing the behavior of the birds throughout the seasons but also giving us insight in how climate change is affecting the penguins’ future. “An unforgettable narrative account that is poised to become a classic of nature writing.” Audiobook: Read by the author (HarperAudio; 7 hr, 28 min).

Beyond the Known: How Exploration Created the Modern World and Will Take Us to the Stars by Andrew Rader (Scribner; Nov. 12): Written by a mission manager at SpaceX who knows as much about history as he does about the possibilities of the future, this book looks at the various ages of discovery, including the exploration of the physical world we live in, discoveries made through scientific inquiry, and—of course—our fascination with space. “Told with an infectious zeal for traveling beyond the known, [this book] illuminates how very human it is to emerge from the cave and walk toward an infinitely expanding horizon.” Audiobook: Read by the author (Simon & Schuster Audio; 11 hr, 14 min).

Snow: A Scientific and Cultural Exploration by Giles Whittell (Atria; Nov. 19): Written by the chief leader writer of the London Times, this book is about all things snow: how it forms, why each snowflake is unique, how many snowflakes fall each second across the globe, and our relationship with it—both fun (skiing) and deadly (avalanches). Scientific snowy facts and figures are balanced with fun trivia and Whittell’s evident passion for and curiosity about the white stuff. “An eye-opening and charming book that illuminates one of the most magnificent wonders of nature.” Audiobook: no information.

Women’s Stories

The Girl in the Photograph: The True Story of a Native American Child, Lost and Found in America by Byron L. Dorgan (Thomas Dunne; Nov. 26): Written by a former U.S. senator, this is at once the story a single American Indian woman as well as a look at hundreds of years of neglect and lies from the U.S. government. American Indian youth have slipped through the safety nets—for example, 33 percent live in poverty and the teen suicide rate is more than double the national rate. When Dorgan met young Tamara in 1990 at Standing Rock Indian Reservation, he became more resolved than ever to make a difference. “Readers will fall in love with this heartbreaking story, but end the book knowing what can be done and what they can do.” Audiobook Read by Peter Berkrot (Dreamscape; 6 hr, 3 min).

Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge by Sheila Weller (Sarah Crichton; Nov. 12): Written by an award-winning journalist and best-selling author, this biography gives us insight into Fisher’s life both on and off the screen. Weller relies on firsthand accounts to tease out the truths of Fisher’s roots, her acting career, her relationship with her mother and daughter, her short marriage to Paul Simon, her successful writing career, and her tough battles with bipolar disease and drug addiction. The biography “is an affectionate and even-handed portrayal of a woman whose unsurpassed honesty is a reminder of how things should be.” AudiobookRead by Saskia Maarleveld (Macmillan Audio; 13 hr, 19 min).

Conversations with RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law by Jeffrey Rosen (Henry Holt; Nov. 5): Written by a law professor and legal journalist, this book reveals almost thirty years of conversations with the long-time Supreme Court justice. Rosen reveals Ginsburg’s thoughts on constitutional law (abortion, cases she disagrees with), contemporary cultural issues, personal life philosophy, and the Supreme Court. “These frank exchanges illuminate the steely determination, self-mastery, and wit that have inspired Americans of all ages to embrace the woman known to all as ‘Notorious RBG.’ ” Audiobook: Read by Peter Ganim and Suzanne Toren (Macmillan Audio; 6 hr, 55 min).

Wild Life: Dispatches from a Childhood of Baboons and Button-Downs by Keena Roberts (Grand Central; Nov. 12): Written by a woman who grew up sometimes in Botswana and sometimes in the affluent Philadelphia suburbs, this is a memoir of Africa, private school, and trying to use African bush skills to fit in with American teen culture. Blending descriptions of life in Africa (adventure, danger, oppressive heat) with memories of negotiating mean girls and field hockey games in Philly, Roberts paints a realistic picture of both her selves and recognizes how each informed the other and led her to pursue a public health career. “By turns heartbreaking and hilarious,” this is “the story of a daring but sensitive young girl.” Audiobook: Read by the author (Hachette Audio; 9 hr, 42 min).

Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference, and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls by Jessica McDiarmid (Atria; Nov. 12): Written by a Canadian journalist, this book looks into a series of murders of Indigenous women and girls that took place along a remote section of highway in British Columbia. McDiarmid interviewed the victims’ families and friends, providing an insider’s look at the effects of racist violence while connecting these murders to thousands of similar cases throughout Canada, This book explores “how systemic racism and indifference have created a climate in which Indigenous women . . . are overpoliced yet underprotected.” Audiobook: Read by Emily Nixon (Simon & Schuster Audio; 9 hr, 58 min).

History

The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of the Edwardian Era by Gareth Russell (Atria, Nov. 19): Written by a historian and novelist, this book places the tragedy of the Titanic into the wider context of a rapidly changing and modernizing world. “Using previously unpublished sources, deck plans, journal entries, and surviving artifacts,” Russell focuses on six very different first-class passengers—including a countess, an actress, and a business tycoon—detailing their fates and showing how their lives signaled a turning point in history, technology, commerce, and politics. The book includes many black-and-white and color photographs. Audiobook: Read by Jenny Funnell (Simon & Schuster Audio; 15 hr).

The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History by Kassia St. Clair (Liveright; Nov. 12): Written by a journalist, this book looks at the history of fabric from the very earliest fibers made by cave dwellers to the fabrics that protect astronauts and clothe today's elite athletes. St. Clair takes a deep historical look at fabric, connecting it to early human migrations out of temperate climates as well as later trade routes (The Silk Road), which connected East and West. The book offers “insights into the economic and social dimensions of clothmaking” and dispels “the enduring, often demeaning, association of textiles as ‘merely women’s work.’ ” Audiobook: Read by Helen Johns (John Murray; 11 hr, 26 min).

Family Papers: A Sephardic Journey through the Twentieth Century by Sarah Abrevaya Stein (Farrar Straus & Giroux; Nov. 19): Written by an award-winning historian, this is the story of a large Sephardic family and how they were affected and scattered by the fall of the Ottoman Empire and later almost wiped out by the Holocaust. Basing her research on the family’s abundant correspondence and papers, including various documents and photographs, Stein recounts the joys and sorrows of a family struggling to keep their connections intact while surviving political unrest and forced immigration. Through these papers, Stein tells “not only [the family’s] history, but the history of Sephardic Jews in the twentieth century.” Audiobook: no information.

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13 Novels for Your Wish List; Or What to Look for at Book Expo (2019)

For the second year in a row I will not be able to attend Book Expo in New York. I'm not all that upset because the real-life trade-offs I made are well worth it. On the downside, I hate missing the chance to visit with friends, see the city, and eat some good food. I'm also sorry to miss out on learning about all the new books coming out in the second half of the year.

I can't do anything about compensating for missed face-to-face conversations with friends, but I can do something about the books. I've been paying attention to the Book Expo buzz and looking through publishers' catalogues to discover the upcoming titles that I would have looked for when at Book Expo.

I found many good books to look forward to, and I want to share some of my discoveries with you. I'm going to save the thrillers, mysteries, and other crime fiction titles for next week, and I think I'll wait until closer to publishing dates to talk about speculative fiction and nonfiction.

Today, I'm featuring 13 novels that caught my eye. These are nowhere near the only books that interest me, but I'm making a start on my fall reading wish list. In the descriptions that follow, I tell you why I want to read each book and then provide the publisher's summary.

Authors I Like

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (Doubleday, Nov. 5) Why: mysterious book, puzzle to be solved, non-reality

Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues—a bee, a key, and a sword—that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth.

What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians—it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also of those who are intent on its destruction. Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose—in both the mysterious book and in his own life.

The Innocents by Michael Crummey (Doubleday, Nov. 12): Why: setting (Newfoundland), the premise

A brother and sister are orphaned in an isolated cove on Newfoundland’s northern coastline. Their home is a stretch of rocky shore governed by the feral ocean, by a relentless pendulum of abundance and murderous scarcity. Still children with only the barest notion of the outside world, they have nothing but the family’s boat and the little knowledge passed on haphazardly by their mother and father to keep them.

Muddling though the severe round of the seasons, through years of meager catches and storms and ravaging illness, it is their fierce loyalty to each other that motivates and sustains them. But as seasons pass and they wade deeper into the mystery of their own natures, even that loyalty will be tested.

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson (Riverhead, Sept. 17): Why: I'll read anything Woodson writes.

As the book opens in 2001, it is the evening of sixteen-year-old Melody’s coming of age ceremony in her grandparents’ Brooklyn brownstone. Watched lovingly by her relatives and friends, making her entrance to the soundtrack of Prince, she wears a special custom-made dress. But the event is not without poignancy. Sixteen years earlier, that very dress was measured and sewn for a different wearer: Melody’s mother, for her own ceremony—a celebration that ultimately never took place.

Unfurling the history of Melody’s parents and grandparents to show how they all arrived at this moment, Woodson considers not just their ambitions and successes but also the costs, the tolls they’ve paid for striving to overcome expectations and escape the pull of history. As it explores sexual desire and identity, ambition, gentrification, education, class and status, and the life-altering facts of parenthood, Red at the Bone most strikingly looks at the ways in which young people must so often make long-lasting decisions about their lives—even before they have begun to figure out who they are and what they want to be.

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson (Ecco, Nov. 5): Why: humor, themes (families, twins)

Lillian and Madison were the unlikeliest of roommates at their elite boarding school: Madison, the daughter of a prominent Atlanta family, being groomed for greatness; Lillian, a scholarship student, plucked out of nowhere based solely on her intellect and athletic prowess. The two were as tight as could be, reveling in their unique weirdnesses, until Lillian had to leave the school unexpectedly.

Years later, the two have lost touch, but Madison writes and begs Lillian for help. Her husband’s twin stepkids are moving in with them and she wants Lillian to be their caretaker. However, there’s a catch: the twins can spontaneously combust when they get agitated, flames igniting from their skin in a disturbing but beautiful way.

Disbelieving at first but ultimately too intrigued by these strange children, Lillian agrees. And as they hunker down in the pool house, Lillian and the twins learn to trust each other—and stay cool—just as Madison’s family is bracing for a major announcement. It all seems impossible to manage, but Lillian soon accepts that she and the children need each other, urgently and fiercely.With a white-hot wit and a big, tender heart, Kevin Wilson has written a most unusual story of deep parental love that proves to be his best book yet.

Diversifying My Reading List

On Swift Horses by Shannon Pufahl (Riverhead, Nov. 5): Why: setting (American West, 1950s), themes (including LGBTQ+).

Muriel is newly married and restless, transplanted from her rural Kansas hometown to life in a dusty bungalow in San Diego. The air is rich with the tang of salt and citrus, but the limits of her new life seem to be closing in: She misses her freethinking mother, dead before Muriel’s nineteenth birthday, and her sly, itinerant brother-in-law, Julius, who made the world feel bigger than she had imagined. And so she begins slipping off to the Del Mar racetrack to bet and eavesdrop, learning the language of horses and risk. Meanwhile, Julius is testing his fate in Las Vegas, working at a local casino where tourists watch atomic tests from the roof, and falling in love with Henry, a young card cheat. When Henry is eventually discovered and run out of town, Julius takes off to search for him in the plazas and dives of Tijuana, trading one city of dangerous illusions and indiscretions for another.

Dominicana by Angie Cruz (Flatiron, Sept. 3): Why: themes (immigration, feminism. POC), setting (1960s New York)

Fifteen-year-old Ana Cancion never dreamed of moving to America, the way the girls she grew up with in the Dominican countryside did. But when Juan Ruiz proposes and promises to take her to New York City, she has to say yes. It doesn’t matter that he is twice her age, that there is no love between them. Their marriage is an opportunity for her entire close-knit family to eventually immigrate. So on New Year’s Day, 1965, Ana leaves behind everything she knows and becomes Ana Ruiz, a wife confined to a cold six-floor walk-up in Washington Heights. Lonely and miserable, Ana hatches a reckless plan to escape. But at the bus terminal, she is stopped by Cesar, Juan’s free-spirited younger brother, who convinces her to stay.

As the Dominican Republic slides into political turmoil, Juan returns to protect his family’s assets, leaving Cesar to take care of Ana. Suddenly, Ana is free to take English lessons at a local church, lie on the beach at Coney Island, see a movie at Radio City Music Hall, go dancing with Cesar, and imagine the possibility of a different kind of life in America. When Juan returns, Ana must decide once again between her heart and her duty to her family.

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid (Putnam, Jan. 7, 2020): Why: themes (race, class, social media), setting (Philadelphia)

Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living showing other women how to do the same. A mother to two small girls, she started out as a blogger and has quickly built herself into a confidence-driven brand. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains’ toddler one night. Seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, a security guard at their local high-end supermarket accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make it right.

But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix’s desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix’s past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other.

Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha (Ecco, Oct. 15): Why: themes (race, police violence), setting (LA)

In the wake of the police shooting of a black teenager, Los Angeles is as tense as it’s been since the unrest of the early 1990s. Protests and vigils are being staged all over the city. It’s in this dangerous tinderbox that two families must finally confront their pasts.

Grace Park lives a sheltered existence: living at home with her Korean-immigrant parents, working at the family pharmacy, and trying her best to understand why her sister Miriam hasn’t spoken to their mother in years. The chasm in her family is growing wider by the day and Grace is desperate for reconciliation, and frustrated by the feeling that her sister and parents are shielding her from the true cause of the falling out.

Shawn Matthews is dealing with a fractured family of his own. His sister, Ava, was murdered as a teenager back in 1991, and this new shooting is bringing up painful memories. Plus, his cousin Ray is just released from prison and needs to reconnect with their family after so many years away. While Shawn is trying his best to keep his demons at bay, he’s not sure Ray can do the same.

When another shocking crime hits LA, the Parks and the Matthewses collide in ways they never could have expected. After decades of loss, violence, and injustice, tensions come to a head and force a reckoning that could clear the air or lead to more violence.

My Kind of Book

Call Upon the Water by Stella Tillyard (Atria, Sept. 17): Why: time period (1600s), themes (engineering, New World, love/hate, women)

In 1649, Jan Brunt arrives in Great Britain from the Netherlands to work on draining and developing an expanse of marshy wetlands known as the Great Level. It is here in this wild country that he meets Eliza, a local woman whose love overturns his ordered vision. Determined to help her strive beyond her situation, Jan is heedless of her devotion to her home and way of life. When she uses the education Jan has given her to sabotage his work, Eliza is brutally punished, and Jan flees to the New World.

In the American colonies, profiteers on Manatus Eyland are hungry for viable land to develop, and Jan’s skills as an engineer are highly prized. His prosperous new life is rattled, however, on a spring morning when a boy delivers a note that prompts him to remember the Great Level, and confront all that was lost there. Eliza has made it to the New World and is once again using the education Jan gave her to bend the landscape—this time to find her own place of freedom.

The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine (Sarah Crichton, Sept. 3): Why: themes (language, twins), other (copyeditor, dictionaries, language)

An enchanting, comic love letter to sibling rivalry and the English language

The Grammarians are Laurel and Daphne Wolfe, identical, inseparable redheaded twins who share an obsession with words. They speak a secret “twin” tongue of their own as toddlers; as adults making their way in 1980s Manhattan, their verbal infatuation continues, but this love, which has always bound them together, begins instead to push them apart. Daphne, copy editor and grammar columnist, devotes herself to preserving the dignity and elegance of Standard English. Laurel, who gives up teaching kindergarten to write poetry, is drawn, instead, to the polymorphous, chameleon nature of the written and spoken word. Their fraying twinship finally shreds completely when the sisters go to war, absurdly but passionately, over custody of their most prized family heirloom: Merriam Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition.

The Truants by Kate Weinberg (Putnam, Jan 28, 2020): Why: descriptions (obsession, coming of age, deceit, first love)

People disappear when they most want to be seen.

Jess Walker has come to a concrete campus under the flat grey skies of East Anglia for one reason: To be taught by the mesmerizing and rebellious Dr Lorna Clay, whose seminars soon transform Jess’s thinking on life, love, and Agatha Christie. Swept up in Lorna’s thrall, Jess falls in with a tightly-knit group of rule-breakers—Alec, a courageous South African journalist with a nihilistic streak; Georgie, a seductive, pill-popping aristocrat; and Nick, a handsome geologist with layers of his own.

But when tragedy strikes the group, Jess turns to Lorna. Together, the two seek refuge on a remote Italian island, where Jess tastes the life she’s long dreamed of—and uncovers a shocking secret that will challenge everything she’s learned.

Still Loving Dystopian

The Bear by Andrew Krivak (Bellevue Literary Press, Feb. 11, 2020): themes (nature takes over, father/daughter, survival)

A gorgeous fable of Earth’s last two human inhabitants, and a girl’s journey home

In an Edenic future, a girl and her father live close to the land in the shadow of a lone mountain. They possess a few remnants of civilization: some books, a pane of glass, a set of flint and steel, a comb. The father teaches the girl how to fish and hunt, the secrets of the seasons and the stars. He is preparing her for an adulthood in harmony with nature, for they are the last of humankind. But when the girl finds herself alone in an unknown landscape, it is a bear that will lead her back home through a vast wilderness that offers the greatest lessons of all, if she can only learn to listen.

A cautionary tale of human fragility, of love and loss, The Bear is a stunning tribute to the beauty of nature’s dominion.

The Divers' Game by Jesse Ball (Ecco, Sept. 10): Why: themes (class divide, future, power)

The old-fashioned struggle for fairness has finally been abandoned. It was a misguided endeavor. The world is divided into two groups, pats and quads. The pats may kill the quads as they like, and do. The quads have no recourse but to continue with their lives.

The Divers’ Game is a thinly veiled description of our society, an extreme case that demonstrates a truth: we must change or our world will collapse.

What is the effect of constant fear on a life, or on a culture? The Divers’ Game explores the consequences of violence through two festivals, and through the dramatic and excruciating examination of a woman’s final moments.

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14 Standalone Thrillers to Read This Summer

There's something about pairing summer with a good mystery or thriller, but at the same time, there's the issue of not wanting to start a new series. I'm here to say you can have your page-turner without a making a commitment. Take a look at these 14 recent standalone novels, perfect for warm-weather entertainment. (Publishing dates are in parentheses.)

• Defectors by Joseph Kanon (Atria Books, June 6): Two brothers on different sides of the cold war star in this story of a divided family, spies, and politics.
• Don't Close Your Eyes by Holly Seddon (Ballantine, July 4): The past comes back to haunt shattered, estranged twins, forcing the sisters to face their demons.
• Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker (St. Martin's Press, August 8): Two teenage sisters go missing; three years later, one returns with a questionable story of abduction and a mysterious island.

• Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips (Viking, July 25): Set in a zoo after closing, a woman and her four-year-old son are caught in a deadly game of hide and seek in the midst of an active mass shooting.
• Final Girls by Riley Sager (Dutton, July 11): Years after surviving a mass shooting, a woman once again fears for her life when she realizes she may be the next victim of a serial killer.
• The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter (William Morrow, August 8): A teenage survivor of a home intrusion grows up to be a lawyer tapped to investigate a school shooting; the incidents may be related.
• The Lying Game by Ruth Ware (Simon & Schuster, July 25): Four friends, reunited after seventeen years, face the long-reaching consequences of a series of lies they circulated when still teenagers.

• Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz (Harper, June 6): A murder mystery within a murder mystery discovered by the editor of a best-selling author.
• The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond (Bantam, July 25): Newlyweds join an organization that promises to make their relationship last a lifetime, until they realize there's no quitting the group.
• My Sister's Bones by Nuala Ellwood (William Morrow, July 11): A war reporter, just back from the Mideast to bury her mother, must sort out her PTSD symptoms from a possible crime involving a child.

• The Other Girl by Erica Spindler (St. Martin's Press, August 22): While a Louisiana police officer investigates the ritualistic murder of a professor, she transitions into a suspect.
• The Secrets She Keeps by Michael Robotham (Scribner, July 11): Two pregnant Londoners--one successful, one not; both with secrets--cross paths with devastating consequences.
• A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena (Pamela Dorman, August 15): A double-crossing by a third party leaves a husband and wife full of doubts and accusations.
• You Belong to Me by Colin Harrison (Sarah Crichton, June 6): Who knew an auction of antique maps could set off a violent chain of events, including kidnapping, murder, and a mystery?

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Reading on Topic: Seven Orphaned Novels

Am I the only one who has noticed the publishing industry's interest in orphans? Over the last couple of years there's been an upswing in books with the word orphan in the title and in books that feature orphans as the main characters. I'm not sure what this means, but it's a trend that caught my attention.

Today's Reading On Topic covers seven books I've shelved under the general category of orphans. They range from creepy to thoughtful to light-hearted, so I'm sure there's a title that's just right for you. They all look great to me.

A Little Bit Scary

Sophie Hannah, The Orphan Choir (Picador; ISBN: 9781250063755; 2015) Life in the city becomes unbearable for Louise Beeston after her young son leaves for boarding school and joins a famous boys' choir. It's not only that she misses her son but that she can no longer bear the noise of her neighbor's music and of the workmen who are sandblasting her house. After talking her husband into relocating to the country, Louise is distressed to discover she cannot outrun the ghostly choir that, apparently, only she can hear. As she begins a downward spiral, Louise tries to uncover the secret meanings behind the music. Recommendation: Perfectly spooky for readers who love psychological suspense.

Catherine Jinx How to Catch a Bogle (Harcourt Children's; ISBN: 9780544087088; 2013) Ten-year-old Birdie loves her job with Alfred the Bogle catcher, especially because she knows how bad it can be for an orphan in Victorian London. Birdie and Alfred's services are required whenever a village child goes missing. But when the number of disappearances gets out of hand, the pair relies on friends to help them figure out what is happening. Quirky characters, plenty of action, and a surprising dilemma for Birdie perk up this fun start to a promising middle grade trilogy. Recommendation: Perfect for anyone who likes a engaging mix of mystery, fantasy, and folklore seasoned with a little creep factor. Don't miss the book trailer.

Friends and Family

Christina Baker Kline, Orphan Train (William Morrow; ISBN: 9780061950728, 2013) In modern times, Molly, a troubled Native American teen, meets ninety-something Vivian when fulfilling a community service obligation. Eventually bonding over their shared orphan status, Vivian opens up to Molly about her experiences after being sent to the Midwest on a orphan train in the 1920s. Alternating between early-twentieth-century Minnesota and contemporary Maine, Kline takes readers on an emotional journey of survival, forgiveness, and self-acceptance. Recommendation: For readers who like stories of overcoming hardship, female friendships, and historical fiction. Based on a real policy for placing orphans in family homes.

Patry Francis, The Orphans of Race Point (Harper Perennial; ISBN: 9780061950728; 2014) From a childhood friendship that was forged over a tragedy, Gus and Hallie's feelings blossom into love, only to be shattered around the time they graduate high school. Decades later, Gus finds himself once again caught up in violence, and Hallie is drawn back into his life, hoping to prove his innocence and recapture the closeness they once felt. This emotionally deep saga follows the two motherless children over almost thirty years and explores family, friendship, domestic violence, parenthood, and redemption. Recommendation: For readers looking for a heartfelt story of friendship, love, and loyalty.

Cathleen Schine, Fin & Lady (Sarah Crichton; ISBN: 9780374154905, 2013) When eleven-year-old Fin is orphaned, he is uprooted from his mother's dairy farm to live with his much older, flighty half-sister, Lady, in Greenwich Village. Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous 1960s, practical Fin and the free-spirited Lady must learn to negotiate life both on their own terms and as a team. Schine brilliantly captures the inner thoughts of the young boy, from his initial adaptation to city life to his maturing reactions to Lady's sometimes questionable choices. Recommendation: For fans of family stories, coming-of-age tales, and the sociopolitical atmosphere of the 1960s.

Maybe Not So Orphaned

Jamie Ford, Songs of Willow Frost (Ballantine; ISBN: 9780345522023; 2013) Twelve-year-old William Eng has been at a Seattle orphanage for almost half his life, but after a rare trip to the movie theater he is convinced that the star of the film is really is presumed-dead mother. Accompanied by a friend, the boy scours the city in an attempt to discover the true story of the actress Willow Frost. More than a tale of a young orphan searching for family, this novel explores Depression Era economic hardships, the plight of Chinese-American women in the 1920s, family, religion, and friendship. Recommendation: For readers who love historical fiction, family stories, and emotional journeys.

Paulette Jiles, Lighthouse Island (William Morrow; ISBN: 9780062232502; 2013) We all know the future of the world looks dark, but for orphans like Nadia, life is particularly hard. Remembering her parents' parting words before they abandoned her years ago, Nadia is convinced there is a haven from the overcrowded, drought-ridden existence that passes for normal. When she sees a chance to escape government control, she leaves the city for the uncharted wilderness to chase her dreams and find her parents. Nadia's journey is fraught with danger as well as unexpected alliances. But can reality ever match our expectations? Recommendation: This tale of desperate hope is perfect for lovers of adult dystopian fiction.

Which one would you read first?

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Review: The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler

If you like Scandinavian mysteries and thrillers then I'm sure you've heard of the author Lars Kepler (really the pen name for a Swedish couple). I had too, but I was slow to start this series starring police inspector Joona Linna.

However, I gave a copy of the first Linna book, The Hypnotist, to my father and both he and my niece made a point of telling me that they liked it. So on that double recommendation, I decided to give the audiobook a try.

In short, Kepler had me on the edge of my seat. I was even talking to the characters: "No, don't go down in the basement!" "Watch out!" I mean it, I was totally invested.

• The plot. When Joona Linna takes on a case involving a teenage boy, Josef, who barely survived when his family was murdered by a knife-wielding intruder, he calls on Erik Maria Bark, a psychologist who once used hypnosis as therapy for traumatized patients. For reasons we learn only later, Erik has vowed to never hypnotize anyone ever again. Joona, however, talks Erik into helping Josef remember what happened to his family, hoping that the boy will reveal the killer once he's under hypnosis. That one act sets off a whirlwind of events that profoundly affect Erik and his family. There seems to be no way out of the disastrous situation.
• The good and the bad. The Hypnotist was a slow start for me. There are several things going on that concern both Joona and Erik together and separately and it took me a while to get a handle on the characters and their personalities. But once the action started (a couple of hours into the audiobook) I was suddenly sucked right into the story and couldn't leave. Some of the action is startling, some scary, and some disturbing (in a good thriller kind of way). I don't want to tell you exactly what happens because I don't want to take away from the shock value, but if you stick with this story through the setup, you will be amply rewarded. My only other complaint was that one of the plot lines seems to have been dropped, but I got over that.
• The cover. Once you've read the book, you will find the cover to be really, really creepy!
• The audiobook. The unabridged audiobook edition (Blackstone Audio, 17 hr, 28 min) was read by Mark Bramhall, who did a good job, although I was bothered by some odd pronunciations of a couple of English words. On the other hand, he distinguished the characters enough so I could tell them apart and excelled at adding to the thriller/tension part of the story. I won't hesitate to listen to the next book in the series, also read by Bramhall.
• Recommendation. Despite a slow start, I became fully invested in the story and recommend Lars Kepler's The Hypnotist to anyone who likes psychological thrillers, Scandinavian mysteries, and semi-scary escape reading.

Published by Farrar, Straus & Girous / Sara Crichton Books, 2011
ISBN-13:9780374173951
Source: Bought (audio) & review (print) (see review policy)
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)

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