One of my favorites from recent years, this book is classic Grady Hendrix. Suspenseful, very Southern, and a little gory (especially near the end), it is a yearly re-read for me. The audiobook is phenomenal too!
Publisher's description:
South Carolina in the '90s: a women's book club must protect its suburban community from a mysterious stranger who turns out to be a real monster.
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The Women follows Frances, a fictional character representing many women whose Vietnam War service went unrecognized. It focuses on overcoming trauma, the importance of sisterhood, and giving voice to the forgotten. Fans of The Nightingale will likely enjoy The Women.
Publisher's description:
Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path. As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets―and becomes one of―the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost. But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.
I absolutely LOVED These Violent Delights and it's sequel, Our Violent Ends. Based off of Romeo and Juliet (but with gangs), it's a great historical enemies-to-lovers romance set in 1920's Shanghai. I loved the strong female main character and engaging plot, as well as the political elements that are sprinkled throughout. It was incredibly well written, and still managed to have surprising plot twists, despite it being a retelling. I'll definitely be reading it again sometime soon.
Beautiful book, but most definitely not for the faint of heart, it describes the struggles of the Jewish children living in Vienna in 1936 when Nazi influence was on the rise. When the World was Ours is a great way to get an in depth perspective on each child’s experience. Absolutely love this book, it was my favorite for quite a while, but I wouldn’t recommend it to younger people, or anyone with sensitivities towards violence and child abuse. This book is pretty dark and has some heavy subjects like death and Nazis, but I do feel it’s important that youths read it.
A pitch-black story about a girl born in the slums of 18th century London, cursed with the desire for more. Mary Saunders should be content with her lot in life, but fine fabrics and ribbons always tempt her. As she wends her way through life on the streets of St. Giles, her eternal desire leads her to darker and darker places. This book has stuck with me for twenty years since I first read it, and it absolutely holds up to the scrutiny of a second read. Not for the faint of heart.Born to rough cloth in Hogarth's London, but longing for silk, Mary Saunders's eye for a shiny red ribbon leads her to prostitution at a young age. A dangerous misstep sends her fleeing to Monmouth, and the position of household seamstress, the ordinary life of an ordinary girl with no expectations. But Mary has known freedom, and having never known love, it is freedom that motivates her. Mary asks herself if the prostitute who hires out her body is more or less free than the "honest woman" locked into marriage, or the servant who runs a household not her own? And is either as free as a man? Ultimately, Mary remains true only to the three rules she learned on the streets: Never give up your liberty. Clothes make the woman. Clothes are the greatest lie ever told.
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This pitch-black satire originally written in German imagines the consequences of Adolf Hitler inexplicably arriving alive and well in the twenty-first century--and finding it not so different from the century he just left. With its nuanced take on our global media ecosystem, by turns hilarious and bleak, this is a book that will stick with readers long after closing the cover.
The Bletchley Riddle is a historical fiction book about Bletchley Park, a code breaking operation in England. The story follows Jakob and Lizzie. Jakob is a mathematician who was recruited to join the code breaking team at Bletchley Park to help break the enigma machines, a code making device used by the Germans in World War II. Lizzie is determined to find out what happened to their mother; she doesn't believe that she's really dead. This book is amazing and might be my favorite piece of historical fiction I've read. It has facts about World War II and even has some characters who actually existed. I've read other books by one of the authors, Ruta Sepetys, and they were also really amazing. So, if you're looking for a historical fiction book to read, I highly recommend The Bletchley Riddle.
When We Flew Away is a touching historical fiction about Anne Frank's life before going into hiding. As someone who's read The Diary of a Young Girl, I found this book beautifully captures Anne's courage and wisdom beyond her years. Though aimed at young adults, it resonates with all ages.
This short novella caught my eye at #52 on the New York Times Book Review: Best 100 Books--and I read it in one gulp, captivated by the flawed but lovely and unforgettable protagonist. The wildfire he endures will be familiar to most Westerners. So will his paradoxical yearning for both remoteness and connection.
Publisher’s description:
France, 1714. In a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever--and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world. But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.
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