All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

July 2024

I was a huge fan of Chris Whitaker’s previous novel, WE BEGIN AT THE END, and I have been waiting impatiently to see what he would write next. When the 600-plus-page ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK came to my house, I just wanted to hunker down and see where Chris was taking us now. Once again, he did not disappoint.

The book opens in 1975 in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, where we are introduced to its two young protagonists. The first is Saint, who is somewhat of an outsider. She is a pianist and a beekeeper. Her parents are absent, and she is being raised by her grandmother, Norma, who drives a bus and embraces the differences in her. The other is a boy nicknamed Patch because of the patch over his missing eye; his real name is Joseph. There is a bond between these two that is forged after Patch attempts to steal honey from Saint. He is like the bad boy who is always getting in trouble, and she is the girl who wants to set him on the right path.

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Husbands & Lovers by Beatriz Williams

July 2024

I smiled a lot while reading HUSBANDS & LOVERS, loving what Beatriz Williams captures in a book that is genre-bending. It’s both historical fiction and women’s fiction, and it features a great love story…or two. Beatriz once again tackles two time frames --- actually, there are three --- but for the first time, one of them is in present day…or at least in this decade (2022 New England). Mallory is a single mom whose 10-year-old son, Sam, is at camp and has eaten poisonous mushrooms, which have destroyed his kidneys. He is in weekly dialysis and needs to be watched carefully as too much water or too many salty foods can throw his body off. He desperately needs a transplant.

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The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams of a friend to alleviate her isolation.

Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind, passionate girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions for becoming “lion women.”

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