June Books

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen was described as "a fiendishly smart cat-and-mouse thriller" (NYT).  There’s the story of the young wife who realizes that she is losing the ‘perfect’ man to an even younger model of herself.  That sounds familiar, but people are often (always) more complicated that they appear and have secrets from the past that shape their behaviors. The psychological twists that shape a divorce and second marriage in this story are anything but what they seem. Reminiscent of Gone Girl, but not quite as good (to me). 

*It’s Better than It Looks: Reasons for Optimism in a World of Fear by Gregg Easterbrook presents (lots of) compelling data to argue that despite the narrative of negative events the world is basically better than ever before. Esterbrook discusses how social media, personal biases, and political machinations have blurred our perspective and suggests practical ways to address our most intractable challenges.

*House Fire by Kamila Shamsie looks at the Pakistani experience in London with keen insights into the challenges of assimilation and maintaining cultural and family values.  An older daughter has postponed her own dreams to care for her teen-age twins after the death of their parents.  Even after escaping to Boston, she worries about the influence of a powerful politician's son who ultimately causes the family to choose between love and loyalty with devastating consequences for everyone. 

**Little Fires Everywhere by Celese Ng chronicles an ugly custody battle for a Chinese-American baby in Shaker Heights, a progressive Cleveland suburb.  The primary conflict is between the birth mother, a destitute former addict, and   a wealthy woman who is a desperate to adopt the child. Tensions between artistic tenant who has little regard for the strict rules of Shaker Heights and her proper landlord who becomes obsessed with exposing the tenant's past, only to trigger devastating consequences for everyone involved. . “A deftly woven plot that examines a multitude of issues, including class, wealth, artistic vision, abortion, race, prejudice and cultural privilege.”

*Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate is based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which the director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country. Upon learning that her grandmother was a victim of this corrupt practice, attorney and aspiring politician Avery Stafford delves into her family's past and begins to wonder if some things are best kept secret. Wingate skillfully captures the cruelty of the adoption group and the fear of impoverished children who had no sense of what was happening to  them into “an engaging story with feel-good ending can be seen from miles away, but does nothing to detract from this fantastic novel.”