The book of mirrors by E.O.Chirovici, currently scheduld for Jan 2017, royal hard back 9781780895673, 12,99 GBP (all subject to change) 

I am fortunate my wonderful colleagues at Penguin Random House continue to send me book proofs before the title is actually published. Probably one of the best books I read all year „The book of mirrors" by E.O. Chirovici is not published yet,  take note and race out to buy the book once  published in January 2017, I guarantee a fantastic page turner with breathtaking twists and turns.

I was sucked into the story right from the moment I started reading, a psychological thriller recounted from three people’s perspectives. The books is as much a who's dunnit as it is trying to uncover the motive behind the murder of Prof. Joseph Wieder, a renowned psychologist and university professor. The memories and assumptions of all the characters in the book play a central role in this fascinating web of events. I could not guess the ending until the final chapter and even then the book took turns. 

The first part of the story has Peter Katz’s voice, a literary agent who receives the first pages of a manuscript in the mail, a submission by Richard Flynn, a failed writer as we later learn, describing his acquaintance and involvement with Joseph Wieder. His submitted 20 pages are the next part in the book, stating events leading up to Wieder’s death. 

Richard Flynn was once in love with Laura Baines who is also one of Wieder’s protégées, a promising student but also an inscrutable young woman with high ambitions. When Katz realizes he is reading a great mystery and a bestseller, he tries to contact Richard Flynn only to learn from his girlfriend of Flynn’s unexpected death. He instructs the girlfriend to search for the rest of the manuscript but this proves unsuccessful. Katz makes the decision to hire an investigative journalist, John Keller, hoping to get to the bottom of Joe Wielder’s murder which was never resolved and to fill in the blank pages left by Richard Flynn’s death.

John Keller's investigation make up the next part of the book providing some startling discoveries, such as finding Frank Spoel sitting on death row and his connection with the events. Keller also comes across the name of a now retired cop, Roy Freeman, who was one of the investigating officers in the Joe Wieder case. Having a lot of spare time on his hands and still feeling unhappy about this unresolved case in his career, Freeman decides to embark on an investigation of his own. 

It would be crimial if I revealed anything more as it would rob you of the suspense when reading this terrific book.

The manuscript  was sold into more than 30 countries which doesn't surprise me, I would have snapped it up on the spot. I am absolutely certain we will see this novel on many bestseller lists in the months to come as it deserves to be. I envy you the page turning time ahead, sadly behind me now.

Yaa Gyasi: Homegoing, Knopf/Penguin Random House US, 978045149385, paperback, Viking/ Penguin Random House UK, Jan. 2017, 9780241242735, both available now

Every once in a while a debut comes along which knocks you of your feet. “Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi is such a book, you finish it, sit there, sad the last page has been read and cannot pick up another book for a day or so. This is what just happened to me, “Homegoing” is definitely going up on my shelf of all-time favorite books.  An epic story, a literary page-turner, a historical novel set in America and Ghana, all blended together.

Yaa Gyasi was born in Ghana and grew up in Alabama; she comes with a brilliant background graduating from the Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop. I am not surprised the rights to this book were snatched up by 21 countries around the world very quickly.

Effia and Esi are two sisters born in Africa along the Gold Coast but separated immediately after birth, never to learn of each other’s existence.  Following their very different destinies and those of their bloodlines, one to remain in Africa throughout many generations and another to be sold into America slavery, you become a firsthand witness of the atrocities, fears, struggles and dreams in their lives.  I sometimes had to put the book down, could not bear to read on, the misery and injustice these people suffered were so vivid.

In alternating chapters, from the 18^th century onwards to the present, starting with Effia and Esi’s lives, Yaa Gyasi picks one character of the following generation and with their portrait captures a part of history on both sides of the Atlantic.  In the following chapter you often learn of the final fate of the family member described in the previous chapter which often remains unresolved. 

It is an incredible story with unforgettable characters going back and forth between the Gold Coast, later Ghana, the slave trade amongst the African tribes and the British, the American South, the Anti-Slavery movement, the misery black convicts suffered in American coal mines, New York and Harlem.  Each chapter is so very rich; I often consulted the family tree at the beginning of the book reminding myself of the red string connected to everyone’s lives. 

I encourage you to go out and buy this fabulous book; I promise you will not regret it.  The German edition is not listed yet. 

Absolutely love the cover of the American paperback edition !

Edithsbookpicks: A.L Gaylin: What remains of me, Arrow (Penguin Ran...

Edithsbookpicks: A.L Gaylin: What remains of me, Arrow (Penguin Ran...: A.L Gaylin: What remains of me, Arrow (Penguin Random House), paperback, 9781784756192, September 22, 2016 (hardback 9780062369857, Willi...

A.L Gaylin: What remains of me, Arrow (Penguin Random House), paperback, 9781784756192, September 22, 2016 (hardback 9780062369857, William Morrow, available)

The author A.L. Gaylin worked as a journalist for a celebrity tabloid and was nominated for the Edgar for her first novel, “Hide your Eyes”.  One  can attribute her talent of spinning a twisted story set amongst Hollywood celebrity teenagers and the quality of her writing to both of these facts with her latest book ”What remains of me”. It is also a perfect summer read, too bad the paperback will only be published in September; the hardback is out already, also available as a download for EBook readers.

When seventeen year old Kelly Michelle Lund shoots and kills Oscar nominated director John McFadden at a party in his home, she becomes an immediate media star.  She refuses to reveal her motive why she shot this famous celebrity and with an incompetent defense by her lawyer at her trial she ends up spending the next 25 years in prison.

What makes this book so thrilling is that the writing is done with two story lines running parallel in alternating chapters. One set in 1980, leading up to the very day when Kelly shoots McFadden and the other 30 years later, in 2010, when she is a free person again, living quietly with her husband Shane Marshall in their house in Joshua tree desert outside of Hollywood. Shane is no other than the younger brother of her former best friend Bellamy Marshall, both Hollywood royalty and part of the gang she hung out with before the tragic event. Their father and now Kelly’s father-in-law is movie legend Sterling Marshall who one day is found dead in his home, shot very much in the same fashion as John McFadden. It doesn’t take very long before the police are suspecting Kelly of having committed this second murder particularly since Marshall and McFadden were best friends. This time however a few people from her past believe she is innocent, one a tabloid journalist, all trying to help her to prove her innocence?  Or is she guilty after all one asks oneself the more pages one turns?

It was absolutely fascinating to uncover secrets from Kelly’s youthful past with each alternating chapter: her troubled and controlling mother, a sweet and weak father, the death of her sister Catherine, the lives of some seriously disturbed Hollywood kids she hung out with and how these deeds from the past still reverberate into her present life.  The book holds many surprises, discovering some sad and heart wrenching truth until the very end. 

Edithsbookpicks: MilenaBusquets: This too shall pass, Harvill Se...

Edithsbookpicks:


MilenaBusquets: This too shall pass, Harvill Se...: Milena Busquets: This too shall pass, Harvill Secker, 9781910701072, L 9.99, Trade Paperback, (German edition:  “Auch das wird vergeh...

Milena Busquets: This too shall pass, Harvill Secker, 9781910701072, L 9.99, Trade Paperback, (German edition:  “Auch das wird vergehen “, Suhrkamp, 19.95, gebunden)

The author Milena Busquets is Spanish; the Original was published in Spanish last year (Tambien esto pasara) and made it straight into all Spanish bestseller lists.

I read the book in English (This too shall pass), Suhrkamp published the book in German in spring(Auch das wird vergehen). 

Meet Busquets’s heroine: Blanca, forty and motherless, her mother just died and she is completely on a limb.

I am obviously not the target age group to read this novel but I found her immensely likeable and enjoyed the 152 pages.

Blanca has two boys by two ex-husbands. Sex, husbands and lovers play a big part in her life, she never lets go of them completely.  Raised by her very warm hearted, yet independent mother to be a free spirited woman, the bond between mother and daughter was exceptionally strong making her dizzy with grief. The monologues she holds with her deceased mother are hilarious and touching at the same time and apply to anyone who has experienced the loss of a beloved parent, no matter how old you are.

Blanca deals with her loss by having life affirming sex, with Oscar, her ex-husband and Santi, her married lover.  There is something utterly refreshing, uninhibited and loveable about her relationship with her lovers and the importance of sex and flirting in her life. The idea to escape from Barcelona to Cadaques on the coast, where she spent many happy summers with her mother and where they have a house,  seems the perfect antidote to her feeling miserable. Inviting her closest girlfriends, their children and lovers, her two ex-husbands and their sons to the sea side, living with this tribe turns out to be a bit more complicated than she naively anticipated leading to some funny, raw and sobering moments. 

"This too shall pass" is a charming, light-hearted read,  dealing with what shapes us in our lives:  friendship, love, death, letting go, parenthood, family, sex and the struggles of trying to live by your own terms. 

Edithsbookpicks: CraigJohnson: The Highway Man, Viking, Penguin Ran...

Edithsbookpicks: CraigJohnson: The Highway Man, Viking, Penguin Ran...: Craig Johnson: The Highway Man, Viking, Penguin Random House US, 9780735220898, small hardback, Every once in a while I need an armchai...