Abir Mukherjee: The Shadows of Men, Vintage/ Harvill Secker London, (Penguin Random House) 9781787300606 Trade Paperback, pub date:  November 2021 

Those who have been following my reviews know that I am a big fan of Abir Mukherjee’s atmospheric crime novels set in 1920’s India featuring British detective Sam Wyndham and Indian police sergeant Surendranath Banerjee.  

The novels in the series have deservedly won several prizes and “The Shadow of Men”, the fifth in the series, publishing in November,  is set in Calcutta of 1923 with the beginning of uprisings between Muslims and Hindus during their fight for independence from the Raj. 

Sam and Suren recount in alternating chapters how Suren came to find himself accused of murdering a high standing Hindu theologian facing the death sentence. Their seemingly impossible task in trying to prove that the wrong man has been accused is a more opaque, complex plot than that of previous novels; at least that is how it felt to me. The second half of the book, with the plot unfolding, a clever ending and introducing new characters, had my full attention again.  Even if “The Shadow of Men” is not my favorite in the series, I really enjoyed that Surendranath took center stage this time and loved the read.

 

David Heska Wanbil Weiden: Winter Counts,  Ecco / Harper Collins UK, paperback, 9780062968951

 

“Winter Counts” is set in the Rosebud Lakota Indian Reservation in South Dakota, which immediately sets it apart from your ordinary crime novel.  It is also a sobering account of modern Native American life on a reservation dealing with unemployment, alcohol, opioid and heroin addiction. 

Shortlisted for the Edgar Award for First Novel and many other prizes, Weiden created a critical, terrific story with well-drawn out, very likeable characters that stayed with me for some time.

Virgil Wounded Horse works as an enforcer on the Rosebud reservation meaning he deals out justice using violence for those who have escaped the tribal or American legal system, employed by victims or their families.  Coming from a troubled, broken family himself, he is raising his nephew Nathan after his sister’s death. 

When Nathan nearly dies of an overdose, the reservations problem becomes suddenly very personal. Hired by a tribal member to investigate the narcotic trail pointing towards the Mexican cartel in Denver, Virgil teams up with his former girlfriend Marie Short Bear who once dated one of the suspected drug dealers.  The situation becomes truly twisted, when Nathan is used as a pawn in a crooked set up facing a serious prison sentence forcing Virgil to work with the US narcotic law enforcement to get his nephew out of an impossible situation.

“Winter Counts”  is an unusual debut I enjoyed immensely.

 

Ann Patchett: These Precious Days, Bloomsbury UK, Trade Paperback 9781526640956, pub date Nov. 23, 2021

Thanks to an early proof by Bloomsbury I was able to read Ann Patchett’s upcoming collection of essays titled “These Precious Days”, out in November.   I enjoyed “Commonwealth” so very much but I loved this deeply personal multi-facetted book of essays even more.  Patchett’s literary memoir really got under my skin, whether she is talking about her “Three Fathers” and how the women in her family like to marry more than once, her marriage to her husband Karl who is a medical doctor and a pilot or “Sisters”. 

As someone who worked in publishing most of her life, I loved the essays about her writing career and literary life;  her bookshop Parnassus in Nashville where she lives, her publishers, her  essay “Covers” rang so true  or “Reading Kate DiCamillo”.  

“There are no children here” explains why she has remained childless.

But my favorite essay is the one about her unexpected and deep friendship with Sooki which tore me up the most. “These Precious Days” and “A Day at the Beach” are a manifestation of friendship, love and generosity written with such honesty and raw emotion; I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes more than once.   Her spunk and wit are often found in the  much lighter essays, like “The First Thanksgiving” or “My Year of No Shopping” .

Go get a copy once the book comes out, highly recommend “These Precious Days” with my whole heart, she is a terrific and understandably much beloved author with that incomparable Southern warmth and openness.

 

Colm Toibin: The Magician, Viking (Penguin Random House UK) 9780241004616,

 C format Trade paperback, publication date: September 23, 2021

 

To read a new novel by Colm Toibin is always a pleasure, (thank you PRH for the galley) I love his exquisite writing and story-telling. Add the subject of Thomas Mann to his upcoming novel, to publish in September, and you know you are in for a real treat.  

I have to confess I have a hard time reading Thomas Mann's novels although he is one of Germany’s literary greats and a Nobel laureate to top it off. "Buddenbrooks" is still one of the most well-known German classics.  However his very dysfunctional family history and his biography provide fascinating material for several novels.  “The Magician”, as Mann was called by his family members, was an absolute delight to read, loved it.

Colm Toibin’s biographical novel follows Thomas Mann’s actual life very closely; his homosexual tendencies and fantasies which he most probably never acted out provided him with material for his novels causing quite a stir when published.  His sexual preference did not keep him from marrying the much younger Katia Pringsheim who came from a very wealthy, cultured Jewish family in Munich, they had six children over the years and became one of Germany’s most fascinating literary families with Erika, Klaus and Golo Mann their most prominent, outspoken children. All six siblings lived lives which were overshadowed by their emotionally absent, famous father.  As a couple Katia and Thomas remained devoted to each other until his death. The rise of the Nazis forced them into exile several times, first Switzerland, later France and eventually the US where they settled and were given citizenship and then back again to Switzerland.

The novel is not only an extensive, captivating story of their family with Katia the absolute ruling matriarch but also an excellent synopsis of world and German politics during their life time which greatly affected their lives.   The novel centers around Thomas Mann and Colm Toibin’s imaginative dialogues and thoughts are probably very close to what actually happend.. I was often shocked how emotionally inept Mann reacted to all the pain and misery surrounding him, his life focused and devoted to writing predominently.  

“The magician” is definitely one of my favorite literary reads of the year.

 

Richard Osman:The Man who died twice, 9780241425435, C format paperback, September 2021, Penguin Random House UK 

The Thursday Murder Club  with the formidable silver locked gang of four are back :Elisabeth, Joyce, Ron, Ibrahim and their younger side kicks Chris, Donna and Bogdan.  The new sequel" The Man who died twice"  is releasing in September, I  am grateful for an early galley.   

Elisabeth's first husband, like her a former intelligence professional, makes an unexpected appearance begging for help. As it turns out, he has stolen extremely valuable diamonds from the mob and has a serious death thread hanging over his head. 

Richard Osman writes with the same humourous, funny tone I enjoyed so much in the first novel but perhaps the novelty has worn thin with the second, did not quite enjoy "The Man who died twice" as much as the first book. Still an entertaining, funny read  if you want to escape reality.

 

Miranda Cowley Heller: The Paper Palace, 9780241470725, C format Paperback, Viking (Penguin Random House UK)

“The Paper Palace” broke the spell for me in being bored by many novels I started this year, they felt like a rehash of topics I had read before.  Cowley Heller’s debut, which is hard to believe, was just the book I had been waiting for this summer. What made me love this book is her exquisite, warm, fluid writing, her description of nature, swimming, family dynamics,  the distinct voice of the main protagonist Elle Bishop and a great story.

Elle Bishop is spending her summer with her family in the “The Paper Palace”, a slightly decaying set of cabins in the back woods of Cape Cod which has been in her family’s possession as long as she can remember and where she has spent almost all her childhood and adult summers.

But this year the past is catching up with her, something irreversible has happened during last night’s annual summer party which is how the novel opens.  

Meandering through nearly 50 years of Elle’s life, the puzzles is put together as she remembers her childhood and tumultuous family history, her unconditional love to Jonas her childhood friend, her happy marriage to Peter and own children,  her formidable mother Wallace and husbands until a dreadful incident nearly destroyed Elle's life years ago casting a shadow to the present.  No more details, it would spoil it all, this basic story line doesn’t really do the book justice...  

Publishing July 8^th in the US by Riverhead and in the UK by Viking, I guarantee you great summer page turner. Nick Hornby, Meg Worlitzer, William Boyd and Claire Fuller give it full thumbs up.  So do I, loved every 400 pages of it and had to reread the ending twice…

 

Lily King: Writers & Lovers, Picador/UK, 9781529033137, paperback, 

(German edition: Writers &Lovers, C.H. Beck, hardback)

Excellent reviews for Lily King’s “Writers& Lovers” caught my eye after it was also recommended by several people whose judgement I trust... Although I am hardly the target reader for this novel age wise, I  enjoyed this uplifting, funny, warm story immensely, the right novel at the right time.  

Thirtyish Casey Peabody always wanted to be a writer and is happy supporting herself working as a waitress while trying to finish her first novel which is taking far longer than expected. When her mother dies unexpectedly, she is overcome by grief and starts to question the validity of her life decisions: her drifting around, being incapable of finishing her book, the breakup of a love affair, living in something close to a garden shack or the mountain of debt piled up from her master’s degree.  Life is yet to become less complicated when she is drawn to fellow writer Silas and almost at the same time meets Oscar, a widower and professor in his forties with two small boys that capture her heart.  

"Writers and Lovers"  has a lighthearted seriousness to it, if that makes sense,  which really struck a chord with me. A perfect summer read.