April 9, 2022
This week we continue to highlight a significant new book of poems for National Poetry Month; an exceptional memoir; plus, three novels—two by first time writers, the third with a timely subject. All deal with trauma of some sort and are inspiring for their tales of persistence and survival.
Happy reading,
Melanie Fleishman
Buyer, The Center for Fiction Bookstore
Featured Books
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Post-traumatic
By CHANTAL V. JOHNSON
Published by LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY
It’s very satisfying when an alumnus of our Emerging Writer Fellowships bring out a first book. Chantal V. Johnson’s novel introduces a queer Black Latinx protagonist whose PTSD upends her life. Like Johnson, Vivian is a New York lawyer. She has a very stressful job advocating for the rights of people living with mental health issues. On the surface she’s effective and confident, but underneath Vivian’s a terrified insomniac, slipping into bad behavior. This setup sounds dark, but you will be surprised by the humor, hope and heart the author brings to her character and the subjects of trauma and racism.
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Left on Tenth
By Delia Ephron
Published by LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY
Besides the fact that I’d read anything by someone with the surname ‘Ephron,’ Left on Tenth (which refers to her apartment in the West Village) is prime Delia—honest, raw, generous, bitterly funny. She ruminates on everything from the death of her husband and sister, a phone call with Verizon we can all relate to, the miracle of newfound love and her long and painful journey with leukemia. Though she has endured much loss, Ephron has emerged with a remarkable sense of humor and an overflowing heart. By the way, her novel from 2016, Siracusa, is a terrific psychological thriller set in Sicily.
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True Biz
By SARA NOVIĆ
Published by RANDOM HOUSE
“The deaf world is no longer her safe haven but her place of employment . . .” February, a Child of Deaf Adult(s) (CODA) who punctured her own eardrum with a pencil as a child, is now a headmistress in a deaf boarding school in Northern Ohio. The novel is both a coming-of-age story and a deep dive into the deaf community. The title is American Sign Language for “sure enough,” and it resonates throughout the story in which both February and her students endure a series of crises as Nović reveals this fascinating and often misunderstood world.
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Probably Ruby
By LISA BIRD-WILSON
Published by HOGARTH
Bird-Wilson lives in Saskatoon, Canada, homeland of the Metís Nation. Her first novel concerns themes that reflect her own personal story: Indigenous identity, being adopted and searching for her roots and biological parents. Her fictional heroine Ruby has “spent her life being told she was chosen, but constantly needing to prove it.” Ruby is an infectious character—strong but vulnerable with a weakness for the wrong relationships—and her story, told also through various people important to her, shines a light on the desire for cultural identity that is as universal as it is specific.
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Vinegar Hill
By COLM TÓIBÍN
Published by BEACON PRESS
Not everyone knows that this accomplished novelist and generous teacher is a poet as well. Tóibín, who recently turned 67, fittingly began writing poetry in 1967 as a teenager but this is his first published collection. It wanders to many places—including Dublin, Venice and, of course, Vinegar Hill in County Wexford, Ireland. During chemo and steroid treatment following a cancer diagnosis, Tóibín notes that his poetry changed in both form and content. In the title poem he languidly describes clouds over the hill: “They change their shape, crouch down, Stay still, all camouflage, dreamy, / Lost, with no strategy to speak of. . . .”
