by Katherine Center ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 14, 2020
A timely, uplifting read about finding joy in the midst of tragedy, filled with quirky characters and comforting warmth.
A spirited librarian attempts to save her school from a dour new principal, opening herself up to love in the process.
Samantha Casey adores being a librarian at the artsy, progressive Kempner School, which is run by her mentor and substitute father, Max Kempner. Together with his wife, Babette, he’s created an educational environment full of love, creativity, and warmth. But when Max dies suddenly, a new principal is appointed, and to Samantha's horror, she realizes she knows him—he's Duncan Carpenter, who taught at her last school. He was a charming, fun-loving goofball, and she had such an unrequited crush on him that she had to move away to start a new life. She’s no longer the mousy girl she was then—now she wears bright colors and flowered hats and has no problem standing out. But Duncan isn’t what he used to be, either. Instead of wearing Hawaiian shirts, he wears gray suits. He redecorates his new office in gray. He wants to paint the school’s walls (that’s right) gray. But most important, he wants to completely revamp the school’s quirky, loving atmosphere and turn it into a secure, high-tech fortress that’s focused on keeping students safe. As Samantha and Duncan spend more time together, she starts to see bits of the Duncan she used to know. But why is he hiding, and what can she do to bring the old Duncan back…and save her beloved school? Making things even more complicated is Samantha’s epilepsy, which gives her seizures and makes her feel like she’s too much work for any potential relationship partner. Center uses familiar rom-com tropes but never in a way that feels forced or clichéd. Instead, she fills even the lightest moments with a real, human sadness. Even when dealing with traumatic events, Center manages to evoke a sense of comfort that is a pure pleasure. The story’s message, that people should choose joy even (and especially) in difficult and painful times, seems tailor-made for this moment.
A timely, uplifting read about finding joy in the midst of tragedy, filled with quirky characters and comforting warmth.Pub Date: July 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21936-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2020
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by Elin Hilderbrand ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 2023
The people in her books may screw up, but Hilderbrand always gets it right. Kind of amazing.
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A dreamy Nantucket house party given by a meticulous hostess goes off the rails.
“When Hollis posts a potato and white cheddar tart with a crispy bacon crust, her foodie community breaks the one-million-member milestone. (Leave it to bacon!)” And leave it to Hilderbrand, in her 30th book of Nantucket-based fiction, to cook up more literary bacon, this time focusing on female friendship, female “friendship,” and the power of the internet and social media. When Hollis Shaw's doctor husband dies in a crash on the way to the airport, she steps back from Hungry With Hollis, her popular website. After moping around her house in “Swellesley” for a while, she returns to Nantucket for the summer, planning a kick-out-the-stops weekend party that will involve one girlfriend from each phase of her life—youth, college, motherhood—plus her favorite internet follower, an Atlanta-based airline pilot, whom she's never actually met. Two of these old pals are definitely not as close to Hollis as they once were, one of them has done her secret harm, and Hollis dramatically increases the potential for trouble by paying her angry 20-something daughter to document the weekend on film. Add two bottles each of Casa Dragones tequila, Triple 8 vodka, and Veuve Clicquot, plus some Hendricks gin and Mount Gay rum—what could possibly go wrong? Known for gently inserting social commentary into her plots, Hilderbrand here highlights the ridiculous fickleness of cancel culture when one of the characters—Dru-Ann, an extremely successful Black sports agent—almost loses her clients, her job, and her boyfriend when a video clip of a private conversation in a restaurant is posted on social media. Everyone says there's no way forward without a self-effacing apology. Dru-Ann says pass the Casa Dragones. Meanwhile, Hollis is about to learn that friendships forged on the internet are not always what they seem. Hilderbrand has announced plans to retire in 2024. Wait—that's next year! No!
The people in her books may screw up, but Hilderbrand always gets it right. Kind of amazing.Pub Date: June 13, 2023
ISBN: 9780316258777
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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by Richard Wright ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 20, 2021
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.
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A falsely accused Black man goes into hiding in this masterful novella by Wright (1908-1960), finally published in full.
Written in 1941 and '42, between Wright’s classics Native Son and Black Boy, this short novel concerns Fred Daniels, a modest laborer who’s arrested by police officers and bullied into signing a false confession that he killed the residents of a house near where he was working. In a brief unsupervised moment, he escapes through a manhole and goes into hiding in a sewer. A series of allegorical, surrealistic set pieces ensues as Fred explores the nether reaches of a church, a real estate firm, and a jewelry store. Each stop is an opportunity for Wright to explore themes of hope, greed, and exploitation; the real estate firm, Wright notes, “collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent from poor colored folks.” But Fred’s deepening existential crisis and growing distance from society keep the scenes from feeling like potted commentaries. As he wallpapers his underground warren with cash, mocking and invalidating the currency, he registers a surrealistic but engrossing protest against divisive social norms. The novel, rejected by Wright’s publisher, has only appeared as a substantially truncated short story until now, without the opening setup and with a different ending. Wright's take on racial injustice seems to have unsettled his publisher: A note reveals that an editor found reading about Fred’s treatment by the police “unbearable.” That may explain why Wright, in an essay included here, says its focus on race is “rather muted,” emphasizing broader existential themes. Regardless, as an afterword by Wright’s grandson Malcolm attests, the story now serves as an allegory both of Wright (he moved to France, an “exile beyond the reach of Jim Crow and American bigotry”) and American life. Today, it resonates deeply as a story about race and the struggle to envision a different, better world.
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-59853-676-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Library of America
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
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