The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo ~ Taylor Jenkins Reid Monique Grant is an unknown aspiring journalist who is summoned by a famous actress of yesteryear to write her biography. Why has she summoned Grant for the job? We do not know. Hugo’s stipulation is that the book cannot be published until after her death, but as she has no heirs, all of the proceeds, which should be vast, will go to the author. From this beginning, we learn the story of famed actress Evelyn Hugo, of her 7 husbands and 1 great love. Evelyn starts out poor, her mom dies young, her dad is a creep. She escapes to…

The Correspondent ~ Virginia Evans The Correspondent is made up of letters to and from Sybil Van Antwerp, a 70 something year old retired lawyer, mother, and divorcee living in Maryland. She writes to her best friend, her neighbor down the street, her brother who lives in France, and her children. She writes letters to authors and other famous people. She writes to the teenaged son of a friend of hers, and to an employee at a genetic research company (think 23 and Me) They generally write back. The thought and depth that she puts into her letters, and how that consideration and depth is mirrored back in the letters…

Say You’ll Remember Me ~ Abby Jimenez Xavier is a young veterinarian with a relatively new practice in Minnesota. He has a small set of close friends, but is an only child and is estranged from his abusive parents. Samantha is a social media content provider for a mustard company, and brings her new kitten to Xavier’s practice. They do not get on well, but cannot stop thinking about each other. A few weeks later, she brings her kitten back in for a checkup, she’s taking it on a flight to California and needs a clean bill of health. This time they get on much better, and he asks her…

And Then There Were None ~ Agatha Christie Ten strangers (8 invited guests and 2 staff) find themselves stranded in a mansion on an island off the coast of Devon, England without a boat. They do not appear to have anything in common, but the first evening they listen to a recording accusing them all of being instrumental in the deaths of others. The guest rooms all have a copy of an old rhyme, ‘10 Little Soldier Boys’. “Ten Little Soldier Boys went out to Dine, one choked his little self and then there were nine.Nine  Little Soldier Boys stayed up very late; One overslept himself and then there were…

The Anomaly ~ Hervé Le Tellier, translated from French by Adriana Hunter In March of 2021, an Air France flight from Paris to New York hits extreme turbulence. The plane is damaged but lands safely. In June of 2021, an exact duplicate flight (both the plane and the passengers) attempts to land at JFK. Alarms go off when air traffic control realizes something very strange is going on, and brings in the US Department of Defense. The Anomaly follows the passengers and crew, both before the second plane lands and after. We hear from both the versions who land in March, and those who land in June. We see their…

Foreverland ~ Heather Havrilesky In Foreverland, Heather Havrilesky explores her 15 year marriage to her husband. It’s a memoir told in essays, from their first meeting, falling in love, marrying and having children, and aging together. Are we really meant to sleep next to the same person every night, put up with all of their annoying habits, care for them when they need it, let them take care of you when you need it? She’s not sure that marriage is for everyone. She doesn’t seem entirely sure it’s for her. But here she is, and she loves her husband more than she is frustrated by him. I think anyone in…

Heartwood ~ Amity Gaige Valerie Gillis is hiking the Appalachian Trail alone. Well, sort of alone, as there are a lot of hikers on the trail, and people sometimes hike together for days or weeks on end, and her husband is following along in his car, meeting her every few days to give her provisions. When she doesn’t show up on time, he’s not too worried at first, but after a day goes by and she still doesn’t appear, he starts to worry. The search is on, led by Beverly, the Maine State Game Warden with a perfect record for finding lost hikers. She doesn’t always find them alive, but…

The Three Lives of Cate Kay ~ Kate Fagan Annie Callahan and her best friend Amanda Kent are inseparable. They are both involved in their High School theater, and dream of getting out of upstate New York and moving to Los Angeles in search of fame and fortune. After a horrible accident, Annie leaves town. Her shame at leaving is so great, she does not go back. Instead, she becomes… Cass Ford, a barista who dreams of becoming an author. On a whim, she audits a writing class at her local college, where she meets Sidney Collins, a lawyer who also wants to write. They become involved romantically, and Sidney…

Black Cake ~ Charmaine Wilkerson Benny and Byron Bennett are estranged siblings, brought together by the death of their beloved mother, Eleanor. Eleanor, with help from her lawyer, has recorded a message for them, and she wants them to hear it together. This is the beginning of Black Cake, and from there we are taken back and forth in time, to learn the deep secrets that Eleanor has kept from her children. Listening to her recording, Benny and Byron discover that while they knew the essence of their mother, they did not know the details of how she became to be the woman they admired and loved. The trials she…

Meet Me in Another Life ~ Catriona Silvey Thora and Santi meet under a clock tower in central Cologne, and quickly feel a connection. They will be friends, they think, but then there is a tragic accident. Santi is a teacher who dreams of the stars, so when his young student, Thora, says she wants to be an astronaut, he does everything he can to encourage her. Santi is an infant, and Thora is close friends with his mother. Thora and Santi are lovers. Santi and Thora are enemies. Again and again, Thora and Santi come together in Cologne, near the clock tower, and eventually they start remembering these past…

Woodworking ~ Emily St. James Erica is a recently divorced 35 year old High School teacher who is trying to come to terms with her identity. She lives her life as a man, has a mustache, wears men’s clothing, all of that. She has never felt right as a man, and keeping that fact a secret succeeded in destroying her marriage. Her ex-wife is now married to a Trump lover, and is pregnant. Erica befriends Abigail, the only other trans person in their small South Dakota town. Abigail was kicked out of her parents’ house and lives with her older sister and her sister’s boyfriend. She is secretly hooking up…

The Adults ~ Alison Espach At the beginning of The Adults, we meet Emily Vidal, a teenaged girl from a wealthy Connecticut suburb. The setting is a 50th birthday party for Emily’s father, Victor, and the entire neighborhood is there. Emily is a wry sort, making all sorts of internal observations about how absolutely dull it must be to be an adult. Then she and her best friend Mark spy her father embracing Mark’s mother, Mrs. Resnick. Later that night, Emily’s parents tell her that they are divorcing, as Mr. Vidal’s job is taking him to Prague, and Mrs. Vidal doesn’t want to go. Also, the affair. A few weeks…

These Silent Woods ~ Kimi Cunningham Grant Cooper and his daughter, Finch, live in a remote cabin in the woods. Their only human contact is an annual visit from Cooper’s friend, Jake, who brings them supplies, and a nosy neighbor, Scotland, who spies on them with his binoculars. When Jake doesn’t arrive and supplies are low, Cooper is forced to go into town. He worries that he and Finch will be recognized, an occurrence that would bring devastating consequences for their secretive way of life. Why did Jake not come? Why is Cooper so afraid that they might be discovered? Why does Scotland keep such a close eye on them?…

The Bright Years ~ Sarah Damoff Ryan Brighton is a child from a broken home. His mother takes him away from his abusive, alcoholic father, and raises him on her own. Ryan vows that he will not be like his father, starting with abstaining from alcohol. Lillian Wright was orphaned young, one parent killed by a drunk driver, the other from cancer. When she learns she is pregnant as a young adult, she decides that she isn’t ready to become a parent, and gives her baby boy up for adoption, a decision that she hopes was the right one, even as she aches with the loss. Ryan and Lillian meet,…