Commonwealth, A Novel by Ann Patchett. 2016. 336 pages.
One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating's christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny's mother, Beverly--thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families. Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how this chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them. When, in her twenties, Franny begins an affair with the legendary author Leon Posen and tells him about her family, the story of her siblings is no longer hers to control. Their childhood becomes the basis for his wildly successful book, ultimately forcing them to come to terms with their losses, their guilt, and the deeply loyal connection they feel for one another.longer hers to control. Their childhood becomes the basis for his wildly successful book, ultimately forcing them to come to terms with their losses, their guilt, and the deeply loyal connection they feel for one another.
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, A Novel by Lisa See. 2017. 385 pages.
A
thrilling new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa See
explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been
adopted by an American couple. Li-yan and her family align their lives
around the seasons and the farming of tea. There is ritual and routine,
and it has been ever thus for generations. Then one day a jeep appears
at the village gate—the first automobile any of them have seen—and a
stranger arrives. In this remote Yunnan village, the stranger finds the
rare tea he has been seeking and a reticent Akha people. In her biggest
seller, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, See introduced the Yao people to
her readers. Here she shares the customs of another Chinese ethnic
minority, the Akha, whose world will soon change. Li-yan, one of the few
educated girls on her mountain, translates for the stranger and is
among the first to reject the rules that have shaped her existence. When
she has a baby outside of wedlock, rather than stand by tradition, she
wraps her daughter in a blanket, with a tea cake hidden in her
swaddling, and abandons her in the nearest city. After mother and
daughter have gone their separate ways, Li-yan slowly emerges from the
security and insularity of her village to encounter modern life while
Haley grows up a privileged and well-loved California girl. Despite
Haley’s happy home life, she wonders about her origins; and Li-yan longs
for her lost daughter. They both search for and find answers in the tea
that has shaped their family’s destiny for generations.
San Miguel, by T.C. Boyle. 2012. 385 pages.
On
a tiny, desolate, windswept island off the coast of Southern
California, two families, one in the 1880s and one in the 1930s, come to
start new lives and pursue dreams of self-reliance and freedom. Their
extraordinary stories, full of struggle and hope, are the subject of T.
C. Boyle’s haunting new novel. Thirty-eight-year-old Marantha Waters
arrives on San Miguel on New Year’s Day 1888 to restore her failing
health. Joined by her husband, a stubborn, driven Civil War veteran who
will take over the operation of the sheep ranch on the island, Marantha
strives to persevere in the face of the hardships, some anticipated
and some not, of living in such brutal isolation. Two years later their
adopted teenage daughter, Edith, an aspiring actress, will exploit every
opportunity to escape the captivity her father has imposed on her.
Time closes in on them all and as the new century approaches, the ranch
stands untenanted. And then in March 1930, Elise Lester, a librarian
from New York City, settles on San Miguel with her husband, Herbie, a
World War I veteran full of manic energy. As the years go on they find a
measure of fulfillment and serenity; Elise gives birth to two
daughters, and the family even achieves a celebrity of sorts. But will
the peace and beauty of the island see them through the impending war as
it had seen them through the Depression?
Behold the Dreamers: A Novel by Imbolo Mbue. 2016. 401 pages.
Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the
United States to providea better life for himself, his wife, Neni, and
their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe
his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior
executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and
loyalty—and Jende is eager to please. Clark’s wife, Cindy, even offers
Neni temporary work at the Edwardses’ summer home in the Hamptons. With
these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in
America and imagine a brighter future. However, the world of great power
and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni
notice cracks in their employers’ façades. When the financial world is
rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to
keep Jende’s job—even as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all
four lives are dramatically upended, Jende and Neni are forced to make
an impossible choice.
Homegoing: A novel by Yaa Gyasi. 2016. 322 pages.
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