NOVEL SUGGESTIONS FOR GIFT GIVING AND WINTER READING
It’s that time of year again. Snow and colder temperatures have arrived and the festive season is drawing near. If you’re looking for books for the readers on your Christmas list or searching for titles for winter reading, here are some suggestions from amongst the best books I’ve read this past year.
The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey
This novel has an unusual narrator, a magpie named Tama who falls out of his nest and is rescued by Marnie, a farmer’s wife on New Zealand’s South Island. Her husband Rob does not approve, but Marnie enjoys the bird’s companionship. And though he misses his magpie family, Marnie becomes the centre of Tama’s world. When Tama learns to mimic human speech, his talent may be a way to alleviate the couple’s financial woes. All is not well in the home, however, as Tama witnesses Rob’s short temper, coercive control, and violent outbursts. This unique book explores serious issues and is emotionally engaging.
The Guests by Agnes Ravatn
This psychological drama reminds us “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” Karin and her husband Kai spend a week in a friend’s luxurious holiday home in the Norwegian fjords. While there, Karin meets a neighbour and, believing she has been treated disparagingly, she implies that the holiday home actually belongs to her and Kai. Then Kai joins in the charade and the lies are compounded, thereby creating further problems and a domino structure of complications. This dense and powerful book shows that the author has an insightful understanding of human psychology.
The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson
This quiet book, set in the first summer after the end of World War I, will appeal to those who enjoy historical fiction. Constance Haverhill is sent as a lady’s companion to an old family friend who is convalescing at a hotel in Hazelbourne-on-Sea. Constance finds herself mixing with the elites who live in the hotel. In particular, she meets Poppy Wirrall, an unconventional young woman, the leader of a group of independent-minded motorcycle-riding women, and her brother Harris, a fighter pilot trying to adjust to life as an amputee. The book, with its social commentary, captures the mood of the world after the war.
The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry
This is a western adventure with romance and humour. It begins in October of 1891 in Butte, Montana. Tom Rourke, addicted to a life of alcohol, opium, and debauchery, meets Polly Gillespie who has just arrived and been married to a mine captain. It’s love at first sight for Tom, and Polly quickly succumbs to his roguish charm. Soon the two head west with stolen money and a stolen horse, their escape resulting in a pursuit by hired hit men. The book’s memorable characters, humour, vivid imagery, and poetic language make for an engrossing, entertaining read.
For readers who enjoy big books, this one, at 600+ pages and 261 chapters spanning 25 years, is a good choice. Saint Brown and Patch Macauley, young teenagers, become inseparable best friends. One day, after coming to the aid of a young girl, Patch goes missing. After a time, people fear he is dead, but Saint never gives up searching for him. When Patch does return, he is irrevocably changed. Saint wants to pick up their friendship, but Patch is fixated on Grace, a girl who shared his trauma and helped him survive. But is she even real? As years pass, Patch does not give up searching for Grace, and Saint does not give up trying to help her friend. This book is a literary thriller plus crime fiction plus love story plus coming-of-age tale.
Yule Island by Johana Gustawsson
If you enjoy dark and disturbing books with genuinely shocking twists, this one is for you. Emma Lindahl, an art appraiser, is sent to Storholmen, an island in the Stockholm Archipelago, to the manor house of the Gussman family to catalogue their art collection. Nine years earlier the body of a teenaged girl was found hanging from a tree on the property. Inspector Karl Rosén investigated but the case remains unsolved. Then the body of another teenager is found. Emma makes some discoveries at the house and ends up assisting Karl in his investigation. Only the most astute readers will see all of the author’s sleights of hand.
Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan
This award-winning novel is set in Sri Lanka. It focuses on 1981 to 1989, the earlier years of the Sri Lankan civil war between the Sinhalese-dominated government and Tamil separatist groups. The narrator is Sashi Kulenthiren, a Tamil, and the only daughter in a family with four sons. When the novel opens, she is sixteen and an aspiring doctor. One brother is killed in anti-Tamil riots and then two others join the militant Tamil Tigers. Once in medical school, Sashi’s friendship with K, a high-ranking member of the Tigers, leads her to become a medic in a Tigers’ field hospital, but she starts to question her role in the war. This is a coming-of-age tale but the reader also learns a great deal.
The above recommendations are by writers from New Zealand, Norway, England, Ireland, France, and the United States, but Canada has no shortage of talent. Here are five titles from Canadian authors.
In Winter I Get Up at Night by Jane Urquhart
This historical novel is set in the 1950s. Emer McConnell, a middle-aged teacher in rural Saskatchewan, thinks back on her life. When she was eleven, she spent a year in a hospital. There she became acquainted with a child performer in a travelling theatre company, a Jewish boy from a farm collective, and a girl from a Doukhobor community. Emer also reflects on her mother’s relationship with a man not her husband, her brother’s spirituality, and her own long-term love affair with a brilliant scientist. The book touches on colonial expansion in Canada, attitudes towards immigrants, and the role of women.
Death and Other Inconveniences by Lesley Crewe
Despite its title, this book is a fun, cozy, heart-warming read. Margo Sterling is left a widow when her second husband Dick dies suddenly and leaves her homeless and virtually penniless. The appearance of Dick’s ex-wife Carole and daughter Velma, who both hate Margo, adds to Margo’s problems. Fortunately, she has a supportive family. This, a late-in-life coming-of-age story, touches on relatable events happening to relatable people.
This book, which examines the dehumanizing effects of pretendianism, focuses on two Métis sisters and what happens when their estranged white mother Renee is called out as a pretendian. An artist, going by the name Raven Bearclaw, Renee has enjoyed considerable success copying the Indigenous Woodland Art style. When the story is made public, the sisters read enraged online commentary. As they consider what effects Renee’s false representation will have on them and what to do about her lies, painful memories of their relationships with their mother resurface. This novel is very timely because there have been a number of instances of pretendianism in the news.
The setting is 2016 in Drumheller, Alberta. Regina Bergmann lives a solitary, mundane existence in her run-down childhood home. Her life is upended with the arrival of her brother Ricky with whom she has had no contact for seven years. He is accompanied by his daughter, six-year-old Jez, but is reluctant to reveal why they left Arizona and Jez’s mother. When Regina learns what happened, she decides that her niece needs protection so she takes Jez away on a trip that becomes a journey of discovery. The novel touches on some heavy subject matter: parental abandonment, mental illness, violence, and generational trauma.
With its dual timeline, this book is both entertaining and informative. In 1950, Saida, one of many Yemeni Jews who immigrated to Israel after the establishment of the country, is in an immigrant camp where she meets a young man named Yaqub. They fall in love, but it’s a forbidden relationship because Saida is married and has a young son. In 1995, Zohara, a grad student in New York City, receives a call notifying her that her mother Saida has died. Zohara decides to return to Israel. While cleaning out her mother’s house, she uncovers Saida’s secrets and learns more about her heritage. Given current events in Israel and Gaza, this is a timely book which sheds light on the complex history of Israel.
Complete reviews of all these
books – and over a thousand more – can be found on my blog:
https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS! HAPPY READING!
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