THE HEAVENS, by Sandra Newman, Grove Press, Grove Atlantic, Publishers Group West, Raincoast Books

A work of rare literary brilliance and emotional power, The Heavens is a mesmerizing novel of love and time, of dreams and politics, that asks how we come to inhabit our world New York, late summer, 2000. A party in a spacious Manhattan apartment, hosted by a wealthy young activist. Dozens of idealistic twenty-somethings have … Continue reading THE HEAVENS, by Sandra Newman, Grove Press, Grove Atlantic, Publishers Group West, Raincoast Books

HOLLYWOOD EVE: EVE BABITZ AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF L.A., by Lili Anolik, Katherine Monaghan, Simon & Schuster

Los Angeles in the 1960s and 70s was the pop culture capital of the world—a movie factory, a music factory, a dream factory. Eve Babitz was the ultimate factory girl, a pure product of LA. The goddaughter of Igor Stravinsky and a graduate of Hollywood High, Babitz posed in 1963, at age twenty, playing chess … Continue reading HOLLYWOOD EVE: EVE BABITZ AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF L.A., by Lili Anolik, Katherine Monaghan, Simon & Schuster

BECOMING BELLE, by Nuala O’Connor, Penguin/PenguinRandomHouse

A witty and inherently feminist novel about passion and marriage, based on a true story of an unstoppable woman ahead of her time in Victorian London. In 1887, Isabel Bilton is the eldest of three daughters of a middle-class military family, growing up in a small garrison town. By 1891 she is the Countess of … Continue reading BECOMING BELLE, by Nuala O’Connor, Penguin/PenguinRandomHouse

THE MELODY, by Jim Crace, Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Canada

From a generational talent and two-time Booker nominee, a tension-filled story about unacknowledged fears and looming inevitability  Alfred Busi, famed and beloved in his town for his music and songs, is now in his sixties, mourning the recent death of his wife and quietly living out his days alone in the large villa he has … Continue reading THE MELODY, by Jim Crace, Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Canada