Duality lies at the heart of the short stories contained in this recently republished collection by Canadian-Jamaican author, Olive Senior. Old ways are pitted against the new; traditional religion against the white people's God; the merits of pale complexions over black skin; the backwardness of a rural island versus a prosperous middle-class life.
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Set in Poland and France between the two world wars, this debut novel by acclaimed travel writer Marlena de Blasi has an intriguing premise but promises more than it delivers. Amandine is the illegitimate granddaughter of a beautiful Polish aristocrat. Countess Valeska Czartoryska lost her husband to a shameless and tragic love affair …
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Opening in Saint Domingue, this novel is a reflection on four decades in Zarité's life; from her meager beginnings as a child sold into slavery, to an adult woman striving for a good life for the ones she loves as she attempts to finally gain the freedom she so desires. We are introduced to her when Toulouse Valmorain, a young plantation owner from France, hires her to look over his wife. As Zarité endures her own internal battles, the island around her is rebelling.
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Lemon is not your average teenager—she hates parties and other social functions, spends her time volunteering in the children's cancer ward of the hospital, reads constantly, and criticizes everyone and everything. Pegged by publishers as a modern Catcher in the Rye for girls, Lemon is hilarious, heart-breaking, crude, and hands down one of the best books I have read this year.
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Grace, Tamar and Laszlo the Beautiful is a powerful examination of sisterhood examined through a set of short, short stories with a persistent sinister undertone. The winner of Wales Book of the Year 2009, Deborah Kay Davies writes unflinchingly about the enmity and ultimately, the common bond that forever links Grace and Tamar.
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