At the bookend of summer, here are September’s best reads
Christian Science Monitor · C · trust 37/100
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Monitor reviewers recommend titles by Emily St. John Mandel, Min Jin Lee, and Paul Theroux.
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These are the fiction titles our reviewers liked best this month.
The Birthing Tree, by Amanda Peters (Penguin Random House)
Thirty-something city dweller Aliet – raised by her midwife grandmother Kiju and their extended Mi’kmaw community – returns to rural Nova Scotia after learning of Kiju’s passing. Inheritances, both official and intangible, await: the now-ramshackle cabin, well-worn recipes, as well as Kiju’s despair over the government-enforced abandonment of traditional birthing practices. As Aliet rebuilds the property and faces her own aches – a mother who died giving birth to her, an unknown father, a relationship cut short – she finds strength and new purpose. It’s a warmhearted story that embraces the bumpy, invigorating path of preservation and repair. – Erin Douglass
Our fiction reviewers visited fictional stories set in Nova Scotia, Scotland, and Seoul. They also explored nonfiction accounts from Canada, Denmark, or coastal England. Here’s their postcard-length dispatches from the pages they’ve traversed.
Exit Party, by Emily St. John Mandel (Penguin Random House)
Emily St. John Mandel’s speculative tale, rejecting the proverbial “road not taken,” posits a world in which characters can indeed travel two diverging paths. Here, differing future visions of the United States unfurl: one authoritarian and monolithic, surveilling, subduing, and corralling its citizens; the other fractured, with militias, city-states, and pockets of fragile calm. Ari Waker, fresh out of prison and living in Los Angeles circa 2031, realizes something is amiss when she attends a party where someone disappears and someone else ... seems to be in two places. Mysterious, somber, or maybe just sober, the book has a thoughtful, shivery vibe. – Erin Douglass
The Pirate Queen, by Ariel Lawhon (Penguin Random House)
Clear the decks – or at least find a long weekend – for Ariel Lawhon’s historical adventure. A fictional imagining of the very real 16th-century Irish sailor, leader, and liberator Grace O’Malley, this rip-roaring tale interweaves the three chapters of her never-dull life: maiden, mother, and matriarch. Lawhon does her research and has a ball with her characters. Full of big feeling and brisk banter, it’s another winner from the bestselling author. – Erin Douglass
The Oxford Guide to Scandal & Lies, by Kate Westbury (Minotaur Books)
This rollicking historical mystery presents two collegians hired by British Intelligence to ferret out a Soviet spy responsible for poisoning an MI5 agent at Oxford University. Debutante Ginevra Bishop enthusiastically matches wits with pensive ex-soldier Sidney Braithwaite, both deftly sidestepping romantic attraction. They dodge danger and swap banter while attempting to unknot the tangle of possible culprits. The novel delivers high-spirited fun with charm to spare. – Stefanie Milligan
American Hagwon, by Min Jin Lee (Cardinal)
Min Jin Lee digs into work – the work of learning, the toil of earning, and the persistent effort of immigrants navigating unfamiliar landscapes and altered expectations. But “American Hagwon” is no chore. This richly told, wise book is also a blast to read. The successful Koh family of five, with roots in Australia, the United States, and South Korea, leaves Sydney for Seoul. In mere months, a shocking event sets the father, John, reeling and their finances tumbling. Committing to a new start in Orange County, California, in the midst of the late ’90s Asian financial crisis, the family members transform. Page after page illuminates innovation, loyalty, and steadfastness, yet Min Jin Lee saves her strongest grilling for education itself: Is it a means to material wealth? A pressure cooker for children? A tool for self-knowledge? It’s an enormous, embracing book well worth the time. – Erin Douglass
We’re So Lucky to Live Here, by Rachel Pastan (Delphinium Books)
Rachel Pastan’s life-affirming novel revolves around young Pittsburgh theater director Gwen Rivlin’s journey through grief. After her mother’s death, Gwen returns to the rambling, turreted house where she grew up. She discovers that her mother took out a second mortgage, so the property might be unaffordable for Gwen to keep. She takes in an assortment of housemates, who help her stage a production of Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” inside the home. The themes of chosen family and the power of creativity to conquer grief are threaded through Pastan’s story. – Stefanie Milligan
Sisters of the Midnight Sun, by Fiona Valpy (Penguin Random House)
On the Shetland Islands in northern Scotland in 2001, an older woman, Hanna, and her younger companion, Ruby, find sanctuary in friendship. Each is grieving a lost twin sister. One woman’s twin died long ago; the other’s died more recently. This dual-timeline World War II historical novel highlights Norwegian resistance against the Nazi occupation, as well as the existence of light and delight in the darkest times. For both women, discovering a kindred spirit and embracing hope inspires…
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