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The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
A dense, high-powered historical novel from the ‘50s in which issues of racism, misogyny, reproductive rights, and more get played out through the lives of the women who live in a boarding house in DC. Their landlady is restrictive and repellant but one boarder, Grace, manages to create art and community through her cleverly covert efforts. Thus, the Thursday evening dining club in her tiny room brings the denizens together for mutual support, and boy, do they need it. They present a variety of problems, including a couple of dead bodies alluded to throughout the book. (I’m always shocked to realize that the period in which I came of age is now considered history.) Quinn really knows how to bring an era to life.
The Winner by Teddy Wayne
Connor from Yonkers, just out of law school with dim prospects so far, gets a job as a tennis instructor for the summer at a fancy New England enclave. Catherine, who’s chilly, fierce, and divorced, starts paying him above and beyond for trysts. Her estranged daughter, Emily, living in a cabin on her family’s over-the-top estate, falls into a relationship with Connor but knows nothing of his other entanglement. A recipe for disaster with predictable but shocking consequences. Will Connor get away with it (no spoiler alert here…)? What was so disturbing to me was how the ruthless strategy that served Connor so well in his tennis game, plus the lure of class, power, and riches, may just catapult Connor into politics in the future. Riveting.
The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
A fascinating take on the legend of King Arthur reimagined after the king’s death and played out in rich imagination. Collum, a benighted orphan from the outer Isles, has always dreamed of Camelot. When he finally gets there, after having been schooled in fighting through a supernatural connection, he finds it dreadfully depleted and dispirited. He and the few survivors of the Round Table set out on a series of quests. We get to know an amazing cast of characters and there is action and magic galore. The big question: who will be the next king? All sorts of “contemporary” material finds its way in, with gender, sexuality, and feminism poking through the epic. I enjoyed it greatly in CD form, transported from Marin to not-so-Merrie Olde England before it was England for many miles—it’s a long book.
In This RavIshing World by Nina Schuyler
The word “ravish” is double-edged: it can mean entrancing or threatening, depending on the circumstances. The latter describes the current state of our poor planet, as protagonist Eleanor knows well. An eco-warrior whose work led to big changes now subverted by money and politics, she’s old, exhausted, and cynical. In connected stories, others reflect the constant dilemma in which conflicting aspects of denial, comfort, and greed play out. A huge demonstration on the Golden Gate Bridge constellates positive energies for participants while significantly messing with others’ daily lives. A glimmer of possibility at the end rests with the children and gives Eleanor the boost she needs to appreciate the beauty around her again and rekindle hope.
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