Love and loss, life and death, an outcast and redemption—it’s all here. This novel ties several characters’ stories together for a heartwarming read.
I loved the interactions between Tova and her friends, who don’t quite understand her but care for her all the same. Marcellus, the octopus at the aquarium where Tova works, gets her, and the two develop a surprising bond. Van Patt introduced me to the wonders of the giant Pacific octopus and I will never look at one the same way again.
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK
'Full of heart and humour . . . I loved it.' Ruth Hogan
'Will stay with you for a long time.' Anstey Harris
'I defy you to put it down once you've started' Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night cleaner shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Ever since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat over thirty years ago keeping busy has helped her cope. One night she meets Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium who…
I loved this novel with its twists and turns. Boyne is skilled in writing characters that can be sympathetic and abhorred, rooted for and despised.
Maurice Swift’s life as an ambitious, manipulative writer is viewed through his interactions with friends, acquaintances, lovers, a spouse, and child. His inexplicable draw is his beauty, and he uses this power to gather, use, and discard people to get exactly what he wants.
“A satire of writerly ambition wrapped in a psychological thriller . . . An homage to Patricia Highsmith, Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allan Poe, but its execution is entirely Boyne’s own.”—Ron Charles, The Washington Post
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for fame. The one thing he doesn’t have is talent—but he’s not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don’t need to be his own.
What’s not to like? A school for fantastical creatures and a stuffy government official who’ll be transformed by his love for them?
Filled with witty, engaging characters, this story appealed to me with its messages of accepting and appreciating those who are different, finding one’s family, and seeking the life one wants. Delightful!
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.
When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not…
Alice Harris is pressed to marry a Civil War veteran twice her age when her family’s inn fails in 1882 in western North Carolina. She remakes herself by learning to farm tobacco, campaigning for the city’s first public schools, and immersing herself in the large and divisive Carter family.
But marriage offers a tenuous promise of security. When tragedy strikes, Alice turns to the courts to fight for her independence and discovers an unexpected love.
