April 20, 2024
Who doesn’t want to be in Paris in April? Three books in the selection this week are set there. Then we have a powerful novel from a Booker-shortlisted writer who elegantly weaves a story with three voices. And we finish with a mystery by a Lebanese American writer to celebrate Arab American Heritage Month.
Happy reading,
Melanie Fleishman
Buyer, The Center for Fiction Bookstore
Featured Books
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The Paris Novel
By RUTH REICHL
Published by RANDOM HOUSE
Reichl revisits and fictionalizes her Parisian adventures in food first tackled in her memoir, Save Me the Plums a few years back. It’s the 80s and Stella is wandering through Paris, a trip embarked upon at her recently deceased mother’s directive. You’ll salivate over her descriptions of meals, visual wonders, and must-see spots (like the essential bookshop, Shakespeare & Company) as she makes her way through the city. Stella, a relatable and appealing protagonist, will have many transformative experiences as she processes her grief, and readers will love seeing life through her eyes.
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There's Going to Be Trouble
By JEN SILVERMAN
Published by RANDOM HOUSE
Paris is one of the settings in Silverman’s gripping latest where Minnow (née Minerva) is teaching literature after a fall from grace at an American high school. Her father, Keen, was caught up in protests at Harvard in 1968 and had an affair with Minnow’s mother. Minnow falls for an older man whose own father was an insider in the French government during the ‘Yellow Vest’ deadly riots. The two strands of the complex father/daughter relationship connect in Silverman’s compelling investigation of activism, violence, and romance.
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The French Ingredient
By JANE BERTCH
Published by BALLANTINE BOOKS
“Much has been made of the power of French seduction, and let me tell you, it is wholly merited.” Chicago-born Bertch came to Paris for work and in 2009 decided, bravely, to open a cooking school for non-professionals: “… a cooking school for everyday people who loved to cook.” Named La Cuisine Paris, it was a dream realized—but not without huge obstacles like the foreign banking system, finding romance while navigating another culture’s rules, unspoken social hierarchies, and the challenges of living so far from one’s family. Her book is both inspirational and aspirational (don’t be afraid to pursue your dreams, always good advice!) a total delight.
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Choice
By NEEL MUKHERJEE
Published by W. W. NORTON
This ingenious novel feels both timely and timeless. It intertwines three narratives, each exploring the consequences of free will. In the first part, Ayush, a London publisher who feels like a token hire, lives precariously with his husband and young twins. Two of his authors complete the triangle—one who writes a short story about a mysterious car accident and the other an economist examining the disastrous results of a well-meaning gift in India. They each look at paths not taken; well-laid plans gone awry. The book manages to be both devastating and comic, with a gravitas that prompts the reader to remember what fiction can achieve. Quite extraordinary.
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Blessed Water
By MARGOT DOUAIHY
Published by ZANDO
The 2nd book in the entertaining series from Gillian Flynn’s imprint marks the return of PI Sister Holiday, who checks many boxes that make her unique among female detectives: She lives in a New Orleans convent, she’s a punk-rocker, she has tons of tattoos, chain smokes, and she’s queer. She burst out of Lebanese American Douaihy’s imagination with Scorched Grace, now in paperback. Here Margot joins Magnolia Riveaux of the Redemption Detective Agency to find out who killed a priest found floating in the Mississippi River. A dizzying pace combined with the God-fearing Sister’s determination makes this mystery a literary treat.
