About Book Marks
Recent Reviews
Elizabeth Strout
Positive Booklist Love, loss, regret, the complexities of marriage, the passing of time, and the astonishing beauty of the natural world are abiding themes, along with \'the essential loneliness of people\' and the choices they make \'to keep themselves from that gaping darkness.\' Unmissable, especially for readers who loved Olive Kitteridge.
Cambria Brockman
Positive Booklist Tension builds in a narrative that switches back and forth between Senior Day and freshman year, punctuated by flashbacks to events in Malin’s childhood, and the tension is amplified by the focus on an insular group in an isolated setting. Though there are few surprises left at the end, Brockman’s first novel will appeal to readers looking for another Gone Girl.
Jennifer Ryan
Positive Booklist Even with sometimes-vivid descriptions of the horrors of the blitz, there is a good deal of fun in this cozy caper, and fans of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir will eat it up.
Deborah Shapiro
Positive Booklist Building the novel around just a handful of characters gives it the compression of a play and allows Shapiro...to focus on subtle shifts in relationships. For readers who like thoughtful women’s fiction.
Catherine Chung
Positive Booklist Mathematics and its history, the legacy of WWII, and the struggles women face in pursuing academic success, especially in fields dominated by men, are woven into this novel that Chung...renders in polished prose.
Jennifer Cody Epstein
Positive Booklist ...[an] absorbing exploration of friendship, betrayal, and coming to terms with the past ... Suggest this to fans of novels like Jessica Shattuck’s The Women in the Castle (2017) and Martha Hall Kelly’s Lilac Girls (2016).
Louis Bayard
Positive Booklist Inserting Joshua, a real-life friend from Lincoln’s Springfield days, adds dimension to a familiar story and, along with a richly imagined setting and complex characters, makes this a worthy addition to the fiction-about-Lincoln bookshelf.
Rachel Howard
Rave Booklist The narrator is always addressing \'you\'—sometimes Sebastian and sometimes Maresa—which lends the novel a particular intimacy. Though rooted in memoir, this is compelling fiction, trenchant, heartbreaking, ultimately hopeful.
Lina Wolff, Trans. by Saskia Vogel
Positive Booklist References to writers from Proust to Michel Houellebecq underscore the novel’s inquiry into the uses of literature. A sharp-eyed, sometimes surreal, often funny take on male-female power dynamics.
Andrea Rothman
Positive Booklist The sciencey parts of the book (debuting author Rothman studied the neurobiology of smell before turning to creative writing) will fascinate some readers but are not too heavy-handed to deter those who will be more interested in the human angle.
Maura Roosevelt
Rave Booklist Roosevelt’s debut reveals a sure hand, an eye for detail, and a keen sense of the absurd, and her affection for Brooke, Shelley, and Nick shines through as they fumble their way toward wisdom.
Elizabeth Brooks
Positive Booklist In her debut, Brooks convincingly renders a child trying to make sense of the confusing and mysterious world of adults; Virginia is observant, but she doesn’t always get things right, and her efforts to control events can have unintended consequences ... A careful buildup of suspense will keep readers guessing and glued to the pages.
Chris Cander
Positive Booklist Strong characterization and attention to detail, whether in the manufacture of a piano or in the desolate beauty of Death Valley, elevate Cander’s tale about learning to let go of the past.
N D Galland
Positive Booklist Galland imbues latest her novel with a strong sense of place, and it will appeal to readers who like small-town settings that aren’t overly sweet or falsely charming.
Jess Montgomery
Positive Booklist Absorbing ... Both women are based on historical figures, and the novel will be appreciated by readers who like strong female characters.
Susan Bernhard
Positive BookList \"Wes’ struggles are convincing; the midwestern setting is well realized; and, despite some lapses into sentimentality, Bernhard’s coming-of-age tale is a strong debut.\
Josie Silver
Positive Booklist Silver writes with verve and charm in this debut, and readers will be pulling for Laurie and Jack as they detour through missteps and misunderstandings before their happy ending is finally achieved.
Gretchen Anthony
Positive Booklist \"Many of us have been on the receiving end of those humble/bragging holiday letters. Violet Baumgartner’s letters are the humble/braggiest, detailing the accomplishments of her distinguished scientist-husband, Ed, and their brilliant daughter, Cerise, not to mention her own work on behalf of Faithful Redeemer Lutheran Church. Her perfect life all comes crashing down—literally—at Ed’s retirement party, when the discovery that Cerise is expecting causes her to faint ... Anthony’s debut gently pokes fun at her characters while affirming the supreme importance of family, whatever form that family might take. \
Simon Van Booy
Positive Booklist \"Van Booy’s latest collection is full of surprises, starting with the settings, which range from small-town Ireland to New York City’s Chinatown. Some stories are grounded in realism, but others contain elements of magic. \
Rebecca Serle
Positive Booklist The fifth guest is Tobias, the commitment-averse photographer with whom Sabrina has been smitten since college. Chapters detailing their on-again, off-again relationship, intense but also fractious and ultimately devastating, alternate with chapters in which the dinner guests eat their meal, converse, work out why they are there, and help Sabrina move on with her life. Themes of love, loss, and forgiveness weave through this intriguing mix of the real and the fanciful.
Esther Gerritsen, Trans. by Michele Hutchison
Positive Booklist \"The handful of characters, circumscribed setting, and spare prose style effectively highlight the complexities of a mother-daughter incompatibility that is never quite resolved. Award-winner Gerrsiten’s first novel to be translated into English from the Dutch will appeal to readers interested in exploring world literature.\
Frances De Pontes Peebles
Positive Booklist \"De Pontes Peebles does a marvelous job of evoking the world of samba, which forms the backdrop to the complicated relationship the two women share. Readers who are not daunted by the novel’s length will be rewarded with complex characters and a well-realized setting.\
Fiona Davis
Mixed Booklist As she did with the Barbizon Hotel in The Dollhouse (2016) and the Dakota in The Address (2017), Davis uses an iconic NYC building as the backdrop for the story of two women whose lives intersect across time ... Davis is a maximalist when it comes to plot elements, and not everything convinces, but the use she makes of New York history is always interesting.
Spencer Wise
Positive Booklist Online Alex Cohen is being groomed to take over the family business, the Tiger Step Shoe Factory, in Foshan, China. The factory has relied on cheap labor to manufacture \'casuals for the masses\' back in the U.S., but sales are starting to flag, and Alex has his own ideas about taking the business in a new direction ... Wise’s debut offers a fascinating look at contemporary China, but its greatest strength is the struggle between a hard-to-please father bent on preserving what he has worked so hard to build and a son who is trying to find his own way.
Carla Guelfenbein, Trans. by John Cullen
Rave Booklist Vera herself remains elusive, but the effect she has on the other characters is profound. This luminous and eloquent novel will appeal in particular to readers with an interest in Latin American literature.
Grace Dane Mazur
Positive Booklist The descriptions of the garden are lush, and Mazur (Trespass, 2002) does a fine job of evoking a summer evening as well as juggling her many characters. Give this to readers who enjoy a comedy of manners and won’t mind the leisurely pace.
David Duchovny
Positive Booklist \"Emer has a dreamy side, compounded by a benign brain tumor, that makes her, and the reader, wonder whether she is hallucinating or if her reality keeps changing as she wages a battle for her right to love. Duchovny’s humor and fondness for New York City enliven every page. Give this to readers willing to go on a wild ride.\
Georgia Hunter
Positive Booklist Historical context is provided by the chunks of exposition that are folded into the personal stories, which are compellingly told. Amid the many accounts of Jews who did not survive the Holocaust, this novel stands out in its depiction of one lucky family who, miraculously, did.
Jessica Shattuck
Positive Booklist The narrative unfolds in a fluid way, with most of the action taking place in 1945, when the women struggle through the harrowing last days of the war, and 1950, when they adjust to new, postwar realities. The reader is fully immersed in the experiences of these women, the choices they make, and the burdens they carry. Shattuck has crafted a rich, potent, fluently written tale of endurance and survival.