Rutabaga's Reads 2026: Part 12

It is a rare post that features one author. Here is one of those posts. The author is Evie Woods. The first book I picked up caught my eye when I was wandering around Barbara’s Bookstore at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport early spring of 2025.

            The books are in order by publication/US publication date.

The Lost Bookshop (Nov. 7, 2023) by Evie Woods.

<This is a standalone novel.>

Three characters in two timelines have been supporting characters in their own lives. Opaline Carlisle/Gray faces an arranged marriage to a leering man by a misogynistic brother. Martha Winter has fled a marriage filled with domestic abuse, and Henry Field is fanatically searching for a lost bookshop while avoiding his alcoholic and emotionally abusive father. Opaline’s timeline starts in the 1920s and wraps up years after World War II. She’s a progressive woman of her time, opening her own bookshop and becoming a leader in rare book dealings. She also experiences tremendous loss and years of time when life seems to stop (but no spoilers).

            In the present day, Martha has taken work as a live-in housekeeper for Madame Bowden (first name: Eileen). It’s never what Martha would’ve chosen for herself, but she needs work. Meanwhile, Henry’s obsession crosses paths with Martha’s; she originally thinks he’s a pervert trying to peer in her window. He’s merely obsessed with the location of where Martha is living on Ha’penny Lane. Unfortunately, his fanaticism is costing him, not only financially, but in his relationships with others. The characters are all lost, but not all is lost, and the lost bookshop will prove it.

            This adult fiction novel is historical and contemporary with magical realism and splashes of romance. Despite traversing themes of domestic abuse, alcoholism and misogyny, this is an enchanting story that means to transport readers to a spellbinding Dublin that highlights the wonder of books and storytelling. It’s a story meant for bibliophiles that’s delightfully written and has a captivating warmth at its heart. While not always easy to read, it’s an absorbing novel of escapism. There is joy in storytelling and delight in reading books that capture your imagination.

The Story Collector (Aug. 13, 2024/US edition) by Evie Woods.

<This is a standalone novel.>

In present-day New York, influenced by inebriation, Sarah Harper boards a plane bound for the West Coast of Ireland and not to Boston, where her sister and brother-in-law are expecting her. While staying in the modest Butler’s Cottage in Thornwood, she finds the 100-year-old diary of Anna Butler, a teenaged farm girl who’s helping Harold Griffin-Krauss, an American visitor, who’s seeking fairy stories that have been kept alive. Anna translates the stories from Gaeilge (Irish) to English. The American is handsome and well-educated, while Anna and her family are working class. She laments that she has no real hope of catching the eye of Master George Hawley, who resides at the Thornwood mansion with his twin sister, Olivia, their father and all of their finery. That is, until she does. Oh, how tickled she is to have caught the eye of such a gentleman. But is George the gentleman he comports himself as? Will Anna trust Harold enough to share the secret of her older sister? Back in 2011, Sarah is weighed down by her own grief, questioning the wisdom of her hasty choice to fly to County Clare. Fortunately, she meets good folks like Marcus O’Brien (hotel manager), an upbeat sort, and Hazel Sweeney, who appreciates stories of The Good People. Her dad, Oran, is a good man who continues to sort through his own grief. Myth and magic in the everyday are par for the course when in Ireland.

            A standalone that is part contemporary romance and part historical fiction contains elements of fantasy and magical realism with the cottage life lending a domestic fiction feel. I didn’t fancy this tale as well as Woods’ other two books in this compilation, but the magical feel of the story is tantalizing. There is mystery and darkness, yes, but also beauty and light and, of course, the folklore and otherworldliness of fairies. The story is a tale of grief, but it’s also one of new hope, brighter days and the uplifting power of friendship. If this story were set to music, it would be haunting and lyrical, crescendoing at the highest turmoil and in the deepest grief. It is bewitching.

The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris (Apr. 8, 2025/US edition) by Evie Woods.

<This is a standalone novel.>

It’s been over a year since Edith (Edie) Lane’s mother passed away. She doesn’t regret helping to care for her mom, but she knows she used her caretaker role to put her own life on hold on purpose. Now life’s staring her in the face in a big, big way and so she accepts a position in a bakery on the Rue de Paris in Compiègne, France, despite lacking strong fluency in French. The proprietor, Madame (Genevieve) Moreau, is disdainful toward her at best, and Edie’s room is the lonely attic at the top of the building, which sits over La Boulangerie et Pâtisserie de Compiègne. Edie wonders if she made a mistake, but after she makes new friends in Nicole and her husband Johnny and meets Hugo Chadwick, life seems more than a sprinkle brighter. The recipe book that Edie finds with a dash of magic in the ingredients spells deliciousness, but a recipe for disaster waits around the corner, and it involves the last person she’d suspect. Going through it also helps her see that she is exactly where she needs to be, not on the bustling streets of Paris, but in a small, locally-owned bakery on Paris Street in an entirely different town. She’s in a magical place where hot cocoa can unlock a precious memory, and a residual mystery resides in the basement.

            While this standalone novel read slow out of the gate for me, it picked up the whispers of wistfulness and whimsy that I felt when reading “The Lost Bookshop,” and then I got lost in the deliciousness of homemade bread and pastries. There is magic in a fresh croissant or a perfectly made macaron. Grief is at the forefront of the story, no matter the façade one puts on. A brave face still has struggles and sorrows, and the story balances that with secrets and sweets aplenty. The novel is a delight to the senses, even when you must use your imagination, and a literary tribute to hardworking, family-owned bakeries and all who love carbs (this includes me). Go ahead and eat a profiterole for luck!

Rutabaga's Reads 2026: Part 11

The year is scooting along, isn’t it? How are we halfway through August already? What have you been reading? I always welcome recommendations, though I never promise that I’ll get them read, knowing the length of my TBR (To Be Read) list at any given moment. Here is this year’s second adult fiction compilation.

            P.S. Although other posts are technically also adult fiction, I did not nickname them under that banner, making this post still the second.

The Charmed Library (Jan. 26, 2026) by Jennifer Moorman.

<This is a standalone novel.>

The public library in [fictional] Blue Sky Valley, North Carolina, is a sanctum for readers, as libraries should be. Unlike other libraries, fictional characters can step off the page into the contemporary world. Greetings, Mr. Darcy! Hello, Ichabod Crane! Ahoy, Robinson Crusoe! Thirty-year-old assistant librarian Stella Parker is oblivious to this. She’s living in the outdated house inherited from her late father, and she’s holding onto bitterness from a breakup. So she burns one of her journals. She’s always seen actual words rising from people, places and objects, but once she “murders” the words in her journal, she experiences purple words that physically hurt as they arise. Words matter, but why these ones? The truth starts coming to light when Arnie (Arnold) Cohen, the 68-year-old head librarian, has a medical emergency, and he needs her to keep his friends in the library. Suddenly, Stella is faced with her fictional crush, a 27-year-old WWII soldier named Jack Mathis. He is her ideal man: heroic, handsome, kind. It’s too bad that there’s a time limit. Like a library checkout, characters must return to their books after two weeks, and characters can only “visit” once a year. Jack’s already been out for 11 days. With a villain on the loose (Stella’s fault) and the annual Blue Sky Valley Festival coming up this weekend, Stella must maintain control while keeping the library’s secret. She must also face the reality that all stories come to an end, no matter how good. All magic comes with a price.

            An adult fiction novel of contemporary romance and magical realism, it honors libraries, favorite stories and anyone who’s ever fallen for a fictional character. The title caught my eye, but it’s the idea of favorite characters wandering around where you can interact with them that really struck me. This story should’ve been wondrous, but Stella is a woman who’s stuck and is so fixated on romance that she’s miserable. I’ll admit that if she was my friend, I’d be struggling with her. Frustrating Stella aside, this is a novel of hope and renewal that brims with magic, the wanderlust found through reading and book boyfriends come to life. There is whimsy and heartbreak and quite a bit of charm.

Menu of Happiness (Oct. 14, 2025/US edition) by Hisashi Kashiwai.

   Jesse Kirkwood, translator.

<This is the third novel in a series.>

Anyone for thirds? The food detectives and father-daughter duo are back at the Kamogawa Diner serving up lost recipes and reviving suppressed memories. They may not realize it, but their clients aren’t just hungry for food; they’re hungry for nostalgia. A professional dancer looks for kake soba (plain noodles in hot broth with no trimmings) as an upscale lacquerware artisan wants curry and rice made by his estranged daughter who’s currently in prison. A former piano prodigy who injured her own hand for love seeks yakisoba made by the man she loves but hasn’t seen in 15 years while a man unhappy in his decades-long marriage yearns for gyoza served by the parents of the woman he once had an affair with in his student years. A businessman wants omurice (an omelet on fried rice) made by the mom of his best friend growing up and a popular romance author desires croquettes that she serially stole from a stall as a desperately hungry child. They come for the sustenance and will return for the solace.

            This is the third novel in Kashiwai’s Kamogawa Food Detectives series, and it’s the third of his I’ve read. The adult fiction, cozy mystery is one to warm you up on a chilly day and bring you the luxury of comfort food, even if one isn’t familiar with all of the food in these books. Step into the diner on Shomen-dori and sit yourself down. Might Chef Nagare serve you omi beef with miso sauce and tempura vegetables? Will you wash it down with the hojicha (a Japanese green) tea Koishi brings you? Or do you prefer sake? A nice cava? The entire book is succinct and reading it makes me feel nutrient-rich. Hungry, too!

          Book One: The Kamogawa Food Detectives

          Book Two: The Restaurant of Lost Recipes

Tales from the Cafe (Oct. 12, 2021) by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.

   Geoffrey Trousselot, translator.

<This is the second novel in a series.>

<Alert: Potential spoilers ahead.>

Clang-Dong. Return to Tokyo’s Funiculi Funicula to meet four new patrons looking to travel back in time. There are familiar faces, too, in Kazu Tokita, waitress and coffee pourer, and Nagare Tokita, Kazu’s cousin and proprietor of the cafe. There’s Miki, Nagare’s daughter, who’s eager to become the cafe’s pourer (when she’s seven). Gohtaro Chiba wanders into the shop wanting to meet Shuichi Kamiya. Gohtaro’s been raising Shuichi’s daughter all these years as a single dad, and she’s about to get married. Yukio Mita’s life isn’t going according to plan. He isn’t the successful potter he thought he’d be, and his mother (Kinuyo), his biggest champion, passed away from cancer without her or his sister (Kyoko Kijima) ever telling him she was sick. Katsuki Kurata wants to travel to the future to see Asami Mori, but he doesn’t want to meet her if either of two circumstances has come to pass. Kiyoshi Manda, a homicide detective at Kanda Police Station, wants to give his wife (Kimiko) a birthday gift, but he needs the advice of those at Funiculi Funicula. And ever present is the woman in the white dress: Kaname. Kazu’s mom. Clang-Dong.

            The follow-up to “Before the Coffee Gets Cold” is a short, adult fiction, Japanese literature novel that isn’t limited to one genre. There’s time travel in a contemporary setting with dashes of magical realism and patrons who each must face their past (or, for one, his future) in order to move on with their lives. It’s wistful and charming, deeply moving and sometimes sad. The story contains the multitudes of life and death, love and loss, the gladness of renewal and the awe of happiness. It manages to show pragmatism within the magic of the cafe.

            Book One: Before the Coffee Gets Cold

"The Beheading Game" by Rebecca Lehmann

The Beheading Game (Mar. 24, 2026) by Rebecca Lehmann.

<This is a standalone novel.>

Disgraced, beheaded, died. Awoke, sewed on ... survived? The story starts in the hours after Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, has been beheaded. She’d been falsely accused of incest, adultery and high treason. And she hadn’t given the king a male heir. She finds herself unceremoniously in an arrow chest, grabs her head and borrows a woman’s sewing kit to sew it back on. Just another day of a woman being proactive! She’s gone from a genteel upbringing to a royal life and now has to disguise herself as a commoner to blend in. She’s learning as she goes, and she’s got a lot to learn. She knows her world as a living, breathing queen, not as the dead returned to life dressed like a working-class woman. She doesn’t realize the shopkeeper is sizing her up for weaknesses, and the fenlanders are not the simpletons she envisions. A prostitute who saves her becomes a trusted friend, but she hesitates to tell Alice her biggest secret. Anne tells her that she needs to find her daughter before harm comes to her. While she would truly love to see Elizabeth, she means to exact revenge and set in motion Elizabeth’s ascension to the throne. She’ll have to sneak into Whitehall Palace and slip into the one place Henry VIII is ever alone (and no, that place is not the bathroom). Anne is out for revenge. An eye for an eye ... or how about a head for a head?

            Wander through the wilds of England during the Tudor reign of 1536. The adult fiction tale blends speculative fiction and magical realism in a historical fantasy with an alternate history. It is crafty and inventive, vicious and macabre. There is danger and unpleasantness, and no one who’s easily queasy should read this. Lehmann’s novel is bold, upsetting, triumphant, vulnerable and strong. She fashions a new future for one of history’s most maligned women. She gives voice to one who was historically mouthy.

"The Midnight Train" by Matt Haig

The Midnight Train (May 26, 2026) by Matt Haig.

<This is the second novel in a series.>

It’s the three-cylinder passenger express engine of Wilbur Budd’s childhood, the Duke of Gloucester, except this one has carriages trailing behind, and the gray nameplate on the side of the boiler reads The Midnight Train. The station location isn’t SHEFFIELD, but WILBUR. Wilbur has just died, you see. Dead or not, no one can change a past that’s already been, but the Midnight Train can take you to all of those places where there is something to be observed and learned. It’s a chance to relive the moments that meant the most. With Agnes Deborah Amaryllis Bagdale (a.k.a. Mrs. Bagdale) of Bagdale’s Bookshop as his guide, Wilbur’s about to take a really hard look at the person he was in life. He’ll visit his best days with Maggie Shaw (eventually Mrs. Budd), the love of his life, when their love was young and their compasses centered. Then there was after. The shop expansions, the trips, more business trips, a husband that is never home and a wife who no longer feels like she has a husband. He wants more, more, more, but pushes Maggie aside as he achieves all of that more-ness. He loses his compass. Referring to his deceased self as the Ghost, he anticipates the memories he’s about to relive and there are those he wishes he could skip over (but he can’t). The regrets he didn’t have in life are staring back at him through his memories. He wishes he could go back and live better. He has an idea ... but the risk might be too great.

            Penned as the second novel in The Midnight World series but easily read as a standalone (Nora Seed makes an appearance), this is a time travel fiction novel of fantasy and magical realism that gives readers an interesting take on a journey after death. This love story is an adventure, as well as an exploration of what’s truly important in a lifetime. Through Wilbur, Haig reminds us that we should remember to live in the moment, but not in a way that feels clichéd. The love story is an appreciation expedition, a journey, a lesson and a reflection. It’s an adult fiction novel that makes readers think and encourages us “...to be nostalgic about the present.” Let none of us ever be in the sidecar of anyone’s ambition!

            Book One: The Midnight Library

Rutabaga's Reads 2026: Part 6

Welcome to this first edition of adult fiction titles for 2026. I actually have more adult fiction than usual plotted for this year, but some are saved under different nicknames and not specifically as adult fiction posts. Stay tuned, my fellow readers! I didn’t plot the post this way, but each of the short novels is from a Japanese author.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Nov. 17, 2020) by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.

   Geoffrey Trousselot, translator.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

Clang-Dong. Customers at Funiculi Funicula can go back in time, but there are unbending rules to be followed, including the one that states the trip will only last until the coffee gets cold. The cafe in Tokyo is small and unassuming, but it’s significant for four people one sweltering summer. She knows she can’t change the present, but Fumiko Kiyokawa still wants to tell her boyfriend Goro Katada how she feels. Kohtake, a nurse, wants to retrieve a letter from Fusagi, her husband battling dementia. Yaeko Hirai runs a successful bar after leaving her family’s inn, but is desperate to connect with Kumi, a sister six years her junior. Kei Tokita, the wife of proprietor Nagare Tokita, wants to travel to the future, but not to know if she’s alive. She knows her heart is weak, and she isn’t afraid of dying. They will be guided by Kazu Tokita, cousin to Nagare, and the only one who can serve the transporting coffee. There’s also a teenage girl looking for someone, but no one knows who she is when she turns up in that seat, the one normally occupied by the woman in the white dress (she’s a ghost). It remains to be seen if the travelers will find the answers they’re looking for, but one thing’s for sure -- they must all return before the coffee gets cold. Clang-Dong.

            The first in a series of the same name is a short, adult fiction, Japanese literature novel centering on magical realism and time travel. It’s as immersive as one’s favorite cup of hot coffee/tea/chocolate and is wistful, delightful and totally individual. It’s also heartwarming and heartrending, and it made me teary, but I can’t deny its charm and simple beauty. The story is engaging and highlights the power of human relationships and love. Based on one of the cafe’s rules, it reminds readers that you can’t change what’s already happened, but you can change yourself.

The Full Moon Coffee Shop (Aug. 20, 2024) by Mai Mochizuki.

   Jesse Kirkwood, translator.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

Welcome to the Full Moon Coffee Shop. There are no set hours, no fixed location, and it typically appears without notice. The shop is currently appearing under a Kyoto moon to people feeling lost who are also interconnected. The shop doesn’t have a menu, but guests will be served by talking cats who will discuss astrology and natal charts and say things like Mercury is in retrograde and With Venus in your fifth house. There’s Mizuki Serikawa, a scriptwriter down on her luck, Akari Nakayama, a director who isn’t as goody-goody as she presents herself despite the perfectionism she places on herself and others, and Satsuki Ayukawa, a lead actress crumbling under a public scandal. There’s Jiro, a stylist whom someone hasn’t admitted she has romantic feelings for, Takashi Mizumoto, co-owner of M Y Systems and its server security engineer who feels like things go wrong more for him than his partner, and Megumi Hayakawa, a hairdresser who’s made a rather impulsive career choice based on a dream. They will be served delectable, otherworldly treats like Astral Milk from the Milky Way, Aquarius Trifle, Mercury Cream Soda and Sunrise Syrup (none of which can be replicated with regular, mortal ingredients). It may be served by Master, a six-foot tall tortoiseshell cat; Caelus, a Singapura; Cronus (Saturn), a tuxedo cat; Venus, a Persian; or Mercury, a Siamese. With varying personalities and cryptic wisdom, these working lost will reclaim their paths.

            Although I don’t drink coffee, I do love cats, and with cats on the cover, I was drawn to this short, adult fiction novel of contemporary fantasy and magical realism. It’s a cozy Japanese literature story and a gentle one. Even though I’m not into astrology, this tale is charming and well-crafted. Reading it goes down smooth like a luscious milkshake and dazzles like diamond stars in the night sky. Clever celestial confections, unruffled fantasy and enchantment create a feel-good story, despite the woes of the human characters. The magical cats are a delight, too. I will be continuing this series.

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes (Oct. 8, 2024/US edition) by Hisashi Kashiwai.

   Jesse Kirkwood, translator.

<This is the second novel in a series.>

In this second helping, Chef Nagare Kamogawa and his adult daughter Koishi continue running the unassuming but incredible Kamogawa Diner and the Kamogawa Detective Agency, respectively. Nagare’s turned his past as a former detective and his passion for food into a culinary sleuthing business. He serves a mouthwatering set menu to first-time customers. They might be served miso-marinated pomfret, deep-fried Manganji peppers, hamo eel and chilled tofu, but they seek lost recipes. An Olympic-level swimmer looks for nori-ben (nori seaweed on a bed of rice) made by his estranged father as a gray pantsuit-ed woman always in a hurry looks for a Japanese-style hamburger steak recipe that she thinks her father made. A couple who run a traditional bakery are hoping for a Western-style Christmas cake as an offering for their young son’s shrine (he died in a car accident six years ago) while a model friend longs for fried rice made by her deceased mother. A managing director of a printing company seeks ramen from a yatai (food cart) existing during his university days over 30 years prior and a singer pursues ten-don (tempura served over a bowl of rice) she once had after her one hit from a restaurant that’s no longer open. Each of these characters longs for lost recipes. They need help finding them again.

            When you’re on Karasuma and reach Higashi Honganji temple, turn onto Shomen-dori to find the tucked away Kamogawa Diner. The second novel in the Kamogawa Food Detectives series is as comforting as rich hot cocoa and as healing as any balm. The adult fiction, cozy mystery highlights the marvel of delectable food. I love the details of the served food as well as the found food. This short novel is easy to devour with a lot of flavor and nourishing to boot. The only unfortunate part isn’t the story, but the lack of any Japanese restaurants near me.

            Book One: The Kamogawa Food Detectives

Rutabaga's Reads 2025: Part 10

Here I am with a second adult fiction compilation for 2025. I didn’t purposely aim for variety, but in this post, you’ll find magical realism, a cozy, contemporary mystery and domestic (or women’s) fiction.

The Cat Who Saved the Library (Apr. 8, 2025) by Sosuke Natsukawa.

   Louise Heal Kawai, translator.

<This is a sequel book.>

The local library is 13-year-old Nanami Kosaki’s home away from home. Her books are her best friends, though she does have one human friend, a straightforward classmate named Itsuka Imamura who’s often seen carrying her archery bow. Nanami, with her “wild horse” asthma, can’t do physically exerting things, and she’s had limited exposure to the outside world. But her world is in the books she reads, so it’s troubling when she notices that some of her favorite books are disappearing from the library’s shelves. There is a mysterious man taking them, but maybe more mysterious is Tiger the Tabby. He’s a talking cat. There’s a passageway that glows blue, and the General tries to convince her that books are extremely dangerous, the Prime Minister tells her that imagination is the worst evil of all, and the King only seems to understand power. There’s also Rintaro Natsuki, a.k.a. Mr. Proprietor, who helps Nanami and Tabby out of a tight spot. Rintaro owns Natsuki Books, and he understands what Nanami and Tabby are trying to do. Save books.

            Whether someone reads one genre or multiple, all readers understand the transporting power of good literature. In a time where book bans are at an all-time high (or it certainly seems so), this contemporary fantasy, magical realism story is needed. It’s a story where faceless gray soldiers led by a changeling menace (who happens to take the form of men in authority roles) are stealing books to try to erase them from humans’ minds. They are taking away the freedom to choose, but Natsukawa writes the story in a way that’s warm and wise. The fleeing scenes don’t have the intensity of an action-adventure or suspense novel, but it doesn’t diminish the seriousness of the situation. We are reminded to think for ourselves and be intelligent about it. “We need to see things with our heart as well as our mind, but that view can easily become clouded” (Rintaro, p. 67).

            Book One: The Cat Who Saved Books (haven’t read as of this posting)

The Kamogawa Food Detectives (Feb. 13, 2024/US edition) by Hisashi Kashiwai.

   Jesse Kirkwood, translator.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

The Kamogawa Diner exists past the Higashi Honganji Temple in Kyoto, Japan, down a quiet backstreet. The restaurant has no sign and no listed menu and those customers looking for the Kamogawa Detective Agency typically have naught to go on but one line from an ad in Gourmet Monthly magazine: “We Find Your Food.” Koishi Kamogawa and her father, Nagare, run the unique restaurant, serving delicious food on high-quality dishes with top-brand chopsticks. But the reason for their ad proclaims them to be “food detectives.” Koishi takes the initial information, but it’s Nagare who does the bulk of the research and creates the lost recipe, treasured by the customer. One customer wants tonkatsu that her ex-husband used to make for her. Another wants Napolitan spaghetti that she once ate with her grandfather when she was five years old, but she has no recollection of where they ate it or the name of the restaurant. The unassuming restaurant is one of lost recipes waiting to be found – and eaten – again.

            Reading “The Kamogawa Food Detectives” (TKFD) is like being enveloped by your favorite comfort food and warmed up by a steaming bowl of soup. Each of the six chapters follows the same recipe (a.k.a. setup), and each meal is worthy of a Michelin star. TKFD is completely charming. Koishi and Nagare are so warm and welcoming, that I wish this was a local restaurant that I could frequent. It’s beautifully crafted and completely off-beat compared to other mystery stories. You’ll find no dead bodies or major scandals, but good company, great cuisine and culinary history for each of the found-again foods. It’s an ode to nostalgic food; it’s umami for the soul. Remember to savor each bite (a.k.a. page)!

The Memory Library (Dec. 3, 2024) by Kate Storey.

<This is a standalone novel.>

Every year, on July 11 at midnight, Sally Harrison adds a new book to a special bookshelf with a personal note to the daughter who hasn’t been home in 21 years. Ella, Sally’s only child, fled from the U.K. to Australia after angry words were exchanged, and she’s had nothing but cursory contact via phone with her mother. Ella and Charlie’s daughter, Willow, doesn’t properly know her own grandma, who’d love to dote on her. When an accident prompts Ella to grudgingly return to the home she grew up in, she learns critical lessons about herself that are hard to learn, like how judgmental she’s been -- to her mother and to Nathan, one of her mother’s next-door neighbors. Something precious of Sally’s has been ruined because of the accident, and Ella may find it within herself to do something positive about it.

            While I wasn’t specifically looking for a domestic fiction story, this one’s large print edition cover and “Library” in the title caught my attention. As gathered from the title, this lovely novel celebrates books and libraries (and notes that libraries these days do so much more than simply house physical books), but also emphasizes the importance of family, compassion and love. There’s the rekindling of love between spouses who’ve let life drift them apart, the understanding of the unconditional love of a parent while accepting the misunderstanding of youth that led to a false accusation toward said parent whose love never wavered, and the love of friendship that’s grown dusty with time. Ella’s not an easy character to like in the beginning, but as her awareness grows and understanding seeps in, the complexity of her and Sally’s characters really stand out. A touching story, full of heart and hope.

            P.S. No, I don’t need large print books. My local library only has the large print edition, so I checked that one out vs. requesting the regular print from a different library.

"These Nameless Things" by Shawn Smucker

These Nameless Things (June 30, 2020) by Shawn Smucker.*

There is a village. It is the first village a survivor would come across after battling the captivity and torture of the western mountain. There used to be many who made their way out of the mountain, but there haven’t been any in a long time. There are only nine in the village: Dan, Abe, Miho, Miss B, Mary, John, Circe, Po and Misha. But Mary is leaving. She is heading east, past all of the trees and over the eastern mountain. But Dan is waiting. Waiting for Adam, his brother. A mysterious, wounded survivor comes during a downpour, and Dan houses her in his home, the first one a survivor would come across after exiting the canyon leading to the western mountain. He knows he should tell Abe about her, but he does not, instead pocketing the key he finds, which the newest survivor seems worried about having lost. Then someone comes to their village … returns from the east. No one who’s gone east has ever returned. She’s young and goes by Lucia. She doesn’t talk. Who is she looking for? She looks at Dan, almost with familiarity, but seems to find him lacking. Watching Mary leave and as more days pass without Adam, Dan struggles. He wants to cling to the village to await his brother, but villagers’ memories are awakening of their lives before their captivity, and those memories don’t show Adam in a good light. It turns out the villagers are waiting for Dan’s brother.

            As I’ve never read Dante’s “Inferno,” I expect I’ve missed much of the symbolism that is present in this story. However, I typically enjoy stories within the magical realism genre. I appreciated the very real struggle of Dan, but overall, unfortunately, I did not feel invested in the story. It could be due to my lack of familiarity with Dante’s work, but I suspect it’s just that this story did not resonate with me. It did have a bit of the “Lost” TV show feel to it, which I liked. The melancholy tone of the book was powerful and showcases how difficult a road it often is to live in grace, know how to forgive, admit guilt and come out the other side all the stronger for it. And in a better place than before.

* Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Revell Books. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions are expressly my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”