Hell of a Book is a hell of a book. This is a familiar refrain throughout the book, a running meme. The basic premise is that The Author is on cross-country tour to promote his first novel, Hell of a Book. There are many hilarious, insider jokes about how publishing works, the grind of promoting a novel, media training, and the various handlers who shepherd the author through each city’s schedule of events. This author is being run off his feet and by the end he has a break down. But the break down isn’t really about the tour schedule. The backdrop is that in every city, at every stop, there is a news story about the latest Black kid who has been shot dead by the police. The author is a Black author. He’s asked to speak to this tragic situation. But what is he going to say?

The Author’s story of growing up in a small town, and escaping to become a well-travelled writer, is told alongside the story of The Kid, a boy whose skin is so black that people can’t seem to not mention it. The Kid even suffers slurs from his lighter-skinned cousin who taunts him with the name “Soot.”

The twist is that the stories of The Author and The Kid may be one and the same. The Author has a wild imagination and often sees things that aren’t there. He sees The Kid often enough that it’s hard to know if The Kid is his imagination, or his younger self.

But the reveal isn’t whether The Author and The Kid are the same. The reveal is about what it means to be Black in America. Racism, injustice, and violence prevail, and it means that Black people live with the fear of that ugly eye noticing them, attacking them, destroying their families. They live with that sense of disbelief that the violence continues, that nothing seems to change, that identifying with your community could be fatal.

The Kid knows that his parents want him to be unseen and safe. Invisibility is safety. Don’t get noticed. The Author demonstrates how self-destructive this coping mechanism is but, between his story and The Kid’s, it’s clear that the anxiety and stress of racial trauma is generational. Why is there a collective head nodding about having the conversation with your kids about what it means to be Black and how you have to behave differently to survive? Why is that acceptable? And yet that’s the reality readers are presented with. What you imagine may not be someone else’s reality.

The Kid imagines a world where his father isn’t shot dead by police, where his parents aren’t afraid for him because of the colour of his skin, where he can look in the mirror and love who he is and what he looks like.

Is that not what we all want? Self love? During media training, the Author is told that his novel is a love story. I think it is. And we all have a choice to uphold or disrupt the narrative.

Check out the publisher site for where to buy the book.

Little Fires Everywhere is the story of rich and poor colliding.

The Richardson family is happy and settled in Shaker Heights, America’s first planned community, where the houses follow a colour palette and the community rules ensure garbage is never in sight and noise never hits a certain level. Their three children are top in class and have strong, confident personalities.

The Warren family (Mia and her teen daughter Pearl) are basically modern-day gypsies who travel America and never stay settled for long. Mia is an artist and works odd jobs to pay for rent and food. Pearl is crackerjack smart and easily adaptable to new schools and homes. Mia and Pearl move into the Richardson’s rental duplex and quickly turn heads.

The Richardson’s are not the rich family here. They are certainly rich in terms of house and lands, but they are each limited by emotional or environmental constraints. And they are each deeply affected by the relationships they have with Mia and Pearl.

It all comes to a head when longtime friends of the Richardson’s try to adopt a Chinese-American baby who has been left at the town firehall, and the birth mother turns up to claim the baby. Class hierarchy, racism, and pro-American ideologies are brought to the forefront, which divides the Richardson family and forces Mia and Pearl to uproot again.

I found this book to be a compelling page-turner about breaking and bending the rules, and why we need to think about the identity we create for ourselves and when it’s time to let it go. Little Fires Everywhere is smart, funny, and insightful. Most of the characters are very likeable, despite how devastating the consequences of their actions are.

As the marketing copy says: ‘This enchanting tale of a cursed mythical creature and the lonely fisherman who falls in love with her is “a daring, mesmerizing novel…single-handedly bringing magic realism up-to-date” (Maggie O’Farrell, best-selling author of Hamnet).’

I really loved this book. It’s the stuff of fairy tales and Caribbean lore. In 1976, David is fishing off the island of Black Conch when he meets a mermaid named Aycayia. She is a big and powerful creature of the sea who is enamoured with his guitar playing. They meet several times in the same spot but one day David accidentally lures her into danger.

Two Americans have chartered a fishing vessel and catch Aycayia. They are thrilled with their luck and dream of the wealth they’ll have selling her to a museum.

David, under the cover of darkness, rescues Aycayia but he has another problem on his hands when she starts turning from a mermaid back into a young woman. Gossip, nosy neighbours, long-time grudges and all the vices of a small island collide with the beautiful love story between two lonely creatures.

Give it a read: The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

Based on a true story, The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn is a heart-pounding novel of heroism and desperation. Ludmila (Mila) Pavlichenko is 15 when she is romanced by an ass of a man who gets her pregnant. He’s a doctor and incredibly demeaning to her, but Mila’s father knows high-ranking Soviets and they are married. Mila is a scholar and between working in a factory and studying at university, she is able to support her son with the help of her parents. But Hilter’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia upends her plans and suddenly she is working as sniper.

The callous nature of her husband meant that she was doing rifle training so she could be father and mother to her son. “Never miss” became her mantra and during the war, it meant she was a lethal hunter. Mila becomes known as Lady Death. She has two wartime romances and finds herself on the American goodwill tour to convince Roosevelt to send troops to help the Soviets. It’s in Washington DC where she befriends Eleanor Roosevelt.

The author’s note at the end of Kate Quinn’s novels are always informative and this one is extraordinary. This is the little-known story of an incredible woman who did remarkable things.

Check out Kate Quinn’s website for more.

The audiobook has fantastic production quality. This one is a great listen.

Published by HarperCollins Canada