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Shirin, whose family came from Iran, finally has her dream job, working in publishing in London. Unfortunately, she's still an assistant even though she comes up with great ideas that are then co-opted by her white colleagues. She runs into an old childhood friend, Kian, whom she hasn't seen for a decade. There's difficult history between them, bullying and violence from mean classmates that got both into trouble back then. Secrets and guilt still eat at both. One of the bullies, Ron, is now a hotshot comedian with a controversial book in the works. Finally, Shirin recognizes that she needs to speak up, and it's transformative--and about time.
The protagonist goes by Eddie, but her given name is Naledi. Her family came from Botswana to London. She's written a play, submits it under a masculine nom de plume, but when the agency lays eyes on her feminine, Black self, it's no go. Hugh, initially a casual acquaintance, offers it under his name and the play takes off. They keep waiting for the right time for the big reveal, but complications keep interfering. Lots of acting all around, and shattered relationships along the way. ( I kept hearkening back to Jodi Picoult's recent novel about the woman who wrote some of Shakespeare's plays—uncanny. This one has one more dimension: race.) Absorbing.
Valerie is taking a break from her job as an ER nurse and from her marriage. Both have been stressful, so she’s determined to find what she really wants from life in Maine on the Appalachian Trail. Not far from the end point, she disappears in the dense woods. Lt. Bev, a veteran fire warden, leads intensive searches. In Connecticut, Lena, 76, gets involved in the search online. Her 300- pound African American trail buddy Santo who quit and went home was the last to see her. These characters are richly drawn, as is the beauty and threat of the natural world. The combination of mystery and psychological depth make this book absolutely stellar.
Someone You Can Build A Nest In
Shesheshen is just one of the names this wyrm goes by. As a shape-shifting “monster,” she’s also known as Siobhan when she takes on almost human form and encounters warm-hearted Homily who nurses her after an attack. She has great hungers, will eat almost anything, and uses spare parts and other stuff she ingests to transform from a tentacled blob to a person of sorts. A very unpleasant royal family is after her but with clever strategy, she manages to evade them. She and Homily fall in love (unprecedented), and though Shesheshen won’t fulfill the title’s promise with her beloved—it would lead to Homily’s demise, there’s a surprising workaround. A very inventive fantasy, sometimes pretty gross and often quite funny.
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