July 29, 2023
From the Harlem Renaissance to Midwestern nostalgia, the facade of perfection, interracial romance, and a Pakistani character’s vision of the future, this week’s stories all provide social commentary with a light touch. Two books are from newly created writer imprints. One of our most treasured writers—and an independent bookseller—has written her best novel yet (no small feat after over a dozen books).
Happy reading,
Melanie Fleishman
Buyer, The Center for Fiction Bookstore
Featured Books
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Tom Lake
By Ann Patchett
Published by Harpercollins
It is 2020 and as Lara, her husband, and three daughters harvest the Michigan cherry orchard that belonged to her husband’s family, she regales the girls with tales about her brief time as an actress playing Emily in Our Town at nearby Tom Lake. There she met the charismatic actor Duke, an eventual Hollywood star. The structure is deftly balanced by these two time periods. An homage to theatre (including Thornton Wilder’s iconic play, not to mention Chekhov and a little Sam Shepard), it is also a wistful elegy for the innocence of youth. Tender and poignant, it is equal parts sweet and tart just like those delicious cherries. Limited signed copies available.
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The Exhibitionist
By Charlotte Mendelson
Published by St. Martin's Press
Mendelson gleefully examines one London family as the patriarch prepares for an exhibition after many fallow years. When painter Ray Hanrahan, one of contemporary literature’s great monsters, married his young student she put her own work on hold to “serve the genius.” Lucia always felt lucky, but there is a limit. Ray is “a bit of an ass but doesn’t realize it.” You know the type. Ray, Lucia, and their three daughters spend the weekend in their townhouse sorting it all out. The book is a pure delight (don’t miss the list of things Ray hates, including all their neighbors, cats other than his cat, postwar fiction, and bread ends.
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Lush Lives
By J. Vanessa Lyon
Published by Roxane Gay Books
Published by the recently launched Roxane Gay Books at Grove Press, Lyon’s new novel investigates the price of artistic ambition. There are secrets buried in the Harlem brownstone that Los Angeles-based struggling artist Glory inherits from her aunt. What at first feels like a burden becomes a potential opportunity as Glory becomes involved with Parkie, a successful art auction appraiser who could help her uncover a long-hidden manuscript in the attic. Will this burgeoning romance withstand the differences in the way they approach their lives and careers? Both the Harlem and art world milieus add a vivid dimension to a queer love story where opposites attract.
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Hope
By Andrew Ridker
Published by Viking
As in his clever 2019 novel The Altruists, Ridker paints a meticulous portrait of affluent Jewish life amid family crises. Once again, the patriarch is in trouble. Set in Brookline, Massachusetts (“a sylvan streetcar suburb”) we are introduced to the Greenspans, a family with financial security, good liberal politics, impressive careers, perfect children…. When cardiac surgeon father Scott is found to have falsified a clinical trial, the family scatters into uncharted territory (lesbian affairs, a birthright trip to Israel, abusive relationships) that threatens their privileged stability—all recounted with a biting wit. In Ridker’s assured hands, this comedy of manners proves that hope can save the day.
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The Centre
By Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
Published by Zando / Gillian Flynn Books
Karachi-born Londoner Siddiqi’s gripping thriller is the second book in Gillian Flynn’s imprint. Anisa, a translator of Bollywood subtitles, stumbles across a language program that promises almost immediate fluency. It is her white boyfriend (she finds his racial naiveté trying), who introduces her to the mysterious Centre. “The Centre could be the stepping stone I needed to reach the life I really wanted.” Eager to quit her thankless job, she applies to the program, despite Adam’s warning that it can shake your sense of self. This speculative fiction deftly mixes humor, horror, and suspense with an inquiry into race, identity, and the search for fulfillment.
