About the Book: Carol is a divorced teacher living in a small town in Ireland, her only son now grown. A second chance at love brings her unexpected connection and belonging. The new relationship sparks local speculation: what does a woman like her see in a man like that? What happened to his wife who … Continue reading Book Review: Forever Home by Graham Norton
Books from Abroad
Book Review: The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante
Translated by Ann Goldstein About the Book: The Story of the Lost Child is the concluding volume in the dazzling saga of two women — the brilliant, bookish Elena, and the fiery, uncontainable Lila. Both are now adults, with husbands, lovers, aging parents, and children. Their friendship has been the gravitational center of their lives. Both … Continue reading Book Review: The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante
Book Review: Haven by Emma Donoghue
About the Book: Three men vow to leave the world behind them. They set out in a small boat for an island their leader has seen in a dream, with only faith to guide them. What they find is the extraordinary island now known as Skellig Michael. Haven, Emma Donoghue's gripping and moving novel, has her … Continue reading Book Review: Haven by Emma Donoghue
Book Review: The Pachinko Parlour by Elisa Shua Dusapin (trans. Aneesa Abbas Higgins)
About the Book: It is summer in Tokyo. Claire finds herself dividing her time between tutoring twelve-year-old Mieko in an apartment in an abandoned hotel and lying on the floor at her grandparents: daydreaming, playing Tetris, and listening to the sounds from the street above. The heat rises; the days slip by. The plan is … Continue reading Book Review: The Pachinko Parlour by Elisa Shua Dusapin (trans. Aneesa Abbas Higgins)
Book Recommendation: The Making of Her by Bernadette Jiwa
About the Book: Dublin 1966. When Joan Quinn, a factory girl from the Cranmore Estate, marries Martin Egan, it looks like her dreams have come true. But all is not as it seems. Joan lives in the shadow of a secret – the couple’s decision to give up their first daughter for adoption only months … Continue reading Book Recommendation: The Making of Her by Bernadette Jiwa
Book Review: The Night Ship by Jess Kidd
About the Book: ONE SHIPWRECK. TWO MISFITS. THREE CENTURIES APART. 1629. Embarking on a journey in search of her father, a young girl called Mayken boards the Batavia, the most impressive sea vessel of the age. During the long voyage, this curious and resourceful child must find her place in the ship’s stratified world. She … Continue reading Book Review: The Night Ship by Jess Kidd
Book Review: Notes on Heartbreak by Annie Lord
About the Book: Dark, fierce and raw, Notes on Heartbreak is a love story told in reverse, starting with a devastating and unexpected break-up. As Annie Lord reels from a broken heart, her stunning memoir revisits the past, from the moment she first fell in love, the shared in-jokes and intertwining of a long-term relationship, … Continue reading Book Review: Notes on Heartbreak by Annie Lord
Book Review: I’m Sorry You Feel that Way by Rebecca Wait
About the Book: Immensely readable and gorgeously comic, this is Rebecca's finest novel yet. For Alice and Hanna, saint and sinner, growing up is a trial. There is their mother, who takes a divide and conquer approach to child-rearing, and their father, who takes an absent one. There is their older brother Michael, whose disapproval … Continue reading Book Review: I’m Sorry You Feel that Way by Rebecca Wait
Book Review: The Caretakers by Amanda Bestor-Siegal
About the Book: In the smart Parisian suburb of Maisons-Larue, in the wake of the Paris 2015 terrorist attacks, an au pair is arrested after the sudden and suspicious death of her nine-year-old charge... The truth behind what happened is unravelled through six women: Geraldine, a heartbroken French teacher who struggles to connect with her … Continue reading Book Review: The Caretakers by Amanda Bestor-Siegal
Book Review: Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner
About the Book: Natalie Jenner, the internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society, returns with a compelling and heart-warming story of post-war London, a century-old bookstore, and three women determined to find their way in a fast-changing world in Bloomsbury Girls. Bloomsbury Books is an old-fashioned new and rare bookstore that has persisted and … Continue reading Book Review: Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner
Theresa Smith Writes 