I'd been anticipating the sequel to HILD and it didn't disappoint. In the distant world of 7th century Britain (evoked with worldbuilding as rich and strange as any fantasy novel), politics turns to war, and suffering, sacrifice, and struggle follow. Griffith’s exquisite prose immersed me in her vivid, beautiful, brutal world.
In the much anticipated sequel to Hild, Nicola Griffith’s Menewood transports readers back to seventh-century Britain, a land of rival kings and religions poised for epochal change.
Making a much-anticipated return to the world of Hild, Nicola Griffith’s Menewood transports readers back to seventh-century Britain, a land of rival kings and religions poised for epochal change. Hild is no longer the bright child who made a place in Edwin Overking’s court with her seemingly supernatural insight. She is eighteen, honed and tested, the formidable lady of Elmet, now building her personal stronghold in the valley of Menewood.
If you’d told me that one of my “3 Best Books” in 2024 would be about a midwestern middle-class housewife in the mid-20th century, my response would have been “yeah, sure.” But here we are. I wasn’t expecting such a sharply observed, smart, ironic, compassionate, often funny, sometimes sad, series of short chapters that trace the life of India Bridge as she navigates the changes of the mid-1900s. I was blown away by the simple but perfect prose and the author’s refusal to either condescend to his main character for her certainty or exonerate her for her blindness and belief in the life she takes for granted. Even if you think this isn’t your thing, take a chance. You might be surprised.
Evan S. Connell's Mrs Bridge is an extraordinary tragicomic portrayal of suburban life and one of the classic American novels of the twentieth century.
Mrs Bridge, an unremarkable and conservative housewife in Kansas City, has three children and a kindly lawyer husband. She spends her time shopping, going to bridge parties and bringing up her children to be pleasant, clean and have nice manners. And yet she finds modern life increasingly baffling, her children aren't growing up into the people she expected, and sometimes she has the vague disquieting sensation that all is not well in her life. In a…
A series of interconnected, multi-generational stories that balance disaster and resilience in a future British Columbia. As the climate changes, so does the world of the characters, as they struggle to save what they love of the old world (not always successfully) and build a new one (not always easily). It can sometimes seem as if we’re swamped with disaster stories, especially about our worsening climate and our stubborn refusal to do anything about it, but this one left me both thoughtful and hopeful (a little). Winner of the Ursula K Leguin Prize for Fiction 2023, which is a good endorsement in my books.
A NOVELLA-LENGTH EXPANSION OF THE 2020 THEODORE STURGEON MEMORIAL AWARD WINNER
A professor in pandemic isolation rescues books from the flooded and collapsing McPherson Library. A man plants fireweed on the hillside of his depopulated Vancouver Island suburb. An aspiring luthier poaches the last ancient Sitka spruce to make a violin for a child prodigy. Campbell's astonishing vision pulls the echoing effects of small acts and intimate moments through this multi-generational and interconnected story of how a West coast community survives the ravages of climate change.
“With them, there are no happy endings." In Lushan, the Fey are not fireside tales but a dangerous reality. Generations ago, the survivors of a dying empire bargained with the Faerie Queen for a place of safety and each year the tribute must be paid. When misfortune means the price is not met, the Queen demands the services of Teresine, once a refugee slave and now advisor to Lushan’s ruler. Teresine must navigate the treacherous politics of the Faerie Court, where the Queen's will determines reality and mortals are pawns in an eternal struggle for power. Years later, another young woman must discover the truth of what happened to Teresine in the Faerie Court, a truth that could threaten everything she loves.
