A Book A Week

Like many of us during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, author Zoje Stage found herself isolated at home, waiting for the world to reopen. Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months. It quickly became apparent that COVID was here to stay. Like other authors, the pandemic heavily influenced Stage, inspiring her to write her latest novel Mothered. In an unfortunate act of serendipity, I found myself isolated at home after a positive COVID test earlier this week. I've suffered through the last couple of days with a sore throat and no voice at all, but I'm thankful that my symptoms haven't worsened. With all this time at home, I managed to read Stage's new book. It has added another layer to this already fascinating novel. 

The early days of the pandemic impacted different people in different ways. Yes, there was uncertainty about the situation. What was this strange disease? Were we all in danger of getting it? Beyond the mechanics of the illness, though, arose real questions about how it would impact people's livelihoods. Grace is one such person facing these uncertainties. As a hairdresser, she relies on being in close contact with other people to make a living. You can't cut someone's hair when you are supposed to be social distancing. The owner of the salon where Grace works has decided to use the temporary shutdown as an opportunity to liquidate the business and take early retirement. This, of course, leaves Grace out in the cold. 

With her job prospects on ice, Grace is desperate to find any means of income possible. Right before the pandemic began, she purchased her first home. At the time, she was excited to have made this huge life step, but now she's saddled with a mortgage that she's unsure she'll be able to pay. With no other choices, Grace turns to the one person she never thought she would ask for help. She asks her recently widowed mother Jackie to move in. 

There's a history between mother and daughter that caused a rift in their relationship. Grace optimistically looks at their cohabitation as an opportunity to mend that gap. Soon, however, good intentions turn bad, and their troubled past resurfaces. Grace begins to have nightmares that eerily blend reality and fiction. She dreams of her deceased sister, who despite her own physical challenges always found a way to be cruel to Grace. Things worsen from there, forcing Grace to grapple with the one person she has never been able to fully understand. . . her mother.

This was my first experience reading Zoje Stage's work. I was especially eager to accept this publisher-provided copy of Mothered based on how many of my book reading buddies adored her debut novel Baby Teeth. I found her writing to be compulsively readable. Much of the narrative momentum of the novel is driven by the characters, both of whom are fully fleshed-out versions of people grappling with different aspects of the pandemic. Stage daringly allows her characters to venture into their own paranoia, urging the readers to peek around the corner with them, veering closer and closer to the gruesome and taboo. There is no shortage of disturbing violence, especially as the novel crescendos to its climax. Stage balances this by grounding her characters in a reality that we all recently lived through. Mothered is a unique domestic thriller grounded by strong characters. It is the most inventive and captivating thriller I've read so far this year. 

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2023, 13)

After three years of facing a global pandemic, there is no denying that our world has forever changed. Each of us can probably point to ways our lives were impacted, both big and small. Author C.J. Tudor has had great success writing original horror/thriller novels. In fact, her fabulous book The Burning Girls was one of my favorite reads of last year. Despite this success, she announced that the novel she had worked on through the pandemic and set for release this year just wasn't turning out the way she wanted it to. Living through the lockdown and facing a few personal tribulations just wasn't conducive to her best writing. Tudor made the decision to completely scrap that work and begin a new novel. In place of that now-defunct novel this year, she has opted to release a collection of short stories. A Sliver of Darkness, out today, sees the author apply her signature suspenseful style to several short stories that should more than satiate her readers. 

As the title suggests, each story in this collection contains an element of darkness, either a twist or a supernatural component that gives each page an edge of suspense. I particularly enjoyed the first story which featured an elderly woman on a cruise. I had just seen a news story about a woman who chose to live on a cruise ship instead of in a senior center. She was full of so much joy, meeting different people and traveling from port to port. The woman in Tudor's story has lived most of her life on the boat and has grown tired from living there. The more we learn about the ship, the more nefarious this particular voyage appears to be. 

I always appreciate short story collections in that they give me a small sampling of an author's capabilities in easy-to-read bursts. I've read each of Tudor's four novels, all of which are fairly different from each other, so I thought I had already seen the full breadth of her authorial prowess. Yes, some of the stories are about what I expected from the author, but others still veered in vastly different directions, showcasing a new layer to her storytelling talent. Each story is preceded by a personal recollection from Tudor sharing how the particular tale came to be. It is in these behind-the-scenes glimpses into the life of the author that A Sliver of Darkness elevates itself beyond similar collections. Tudor reminds us that she has a life outside of her writing, full of events and relationships that have shaped who she is as a person. Through the context of her own life, we better understand the stories that she tells. As most short story collections do, this one left me wanting to read even more from one of my favorite authors. Lucky for me, I won't have to wait very long. Tudor's next novel The Drift releases early next year. 

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2022, 49)

Take a moment to think back to the early spring of 2020. What was your life like right before the pandemic forced us all into a lockdown? I had just purchased my first home and had spent the week off of work, moving in. I returned to work and was surprised to learn that we were attempting to social distance. Up until that point, COVID was something affecting people on the other end of the world, not something we had to worry about at home. How wrong I was. A week later, everything was shut down and I was working from home, unsure of what the future would hold. 

As the pandemic went from being a short two-week lockdown to the long-term "new normal" that we've grown to live with for nearly two years, it was inevitable that this reality would find its way into books. I mean, how could an author avoid at least tangentially touching upon an event that was impacting the majority of civilization? Enter Catherine Ryan Howard and her latest thriller 56 Days. I first learned of her intent to write a "COVID thriller" as she publicized her novel The Nowhere Man during an Instagram Live interview. I was instantly drawn to her willingness to embrace the pandemic head-on. In an ultimate lemonade from lemons scenario, she was attempting to turn the uncertainness that comes with a lockdown into a thriller. As soon as her publisher offered a copy of the novel to me, I jumped at the chance to read her work. 

The novel begins innocently enough. When we first meet Ciarra and Oliver, COVID-19 isn't on anyone's mind. The couple meets at the local supermarket and instantly connects over a shared interest in space exploration. Both are new to the city and haven't really put themselves out there up until now. A first date goes well and the pair vow to meet again. Here's where things begin to get tricky. As the couple prepares for date number two, the entire country enters a lockdown. COVID is beginning to spread, so citizens are asked to quarantine with their own households, work from home, and avoid traveling for any "non-essential" needs. 

Eager to not lose the momentum of their new relationship, Ciarra and Oliver decided to proceed in an unconventional way. Rather than postpone their next meeting until after the two-week lockdown has been lifted, they decide to quarantine together. As the pair begin their time together, the truth behind their motivations begins to be revealed. Ciarra sees their quartine as a chance to truly get to know each other, find out if their love will flourish, and avoid the scrutiny of her family and friends. Oliver sees things a bit differently. While he tells Ciarra that he's locked down with her for the same reasons, he is actually keeping something from her. He knows that if Ciarra learned of his true identity, their relationship would be over in an instant. What Ciarra doesn't know can't hurt her. Or can it?

In 56 Days Catherine Ryan Howard spins the COVID pandemic into a devilishly twisted thriller that strings the reader along through paranoia-driven suspense. She employs shifting perspectives and jumps back and forth in time to slowly reveal her hand, only giving the reader a tease of the things to come with each chapter. I'm always a bit hesitant at this tactic, but Ryan Howard uses it to maximum effect. My enjoyment of the novel was probably heightened by my own connection to quarantining during the pandemic. Every time a new ripple of the COVID crisis unfolded, I was reminded of my own experience going through those same developments. As such, it will be interesting to see how the novel plays when we are further removed from that history. With a timely plot, intriguing characters, and a twist ending that I didn't see coming, 56 Days gave me everything I could have dreamed of in a COVID thriller. I hope to work my way back to The Nowhere Man soon and will be eager to read whatever Catherine Ryan Howard conjures up next. 

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2021, 32)

"Woe unto them that are with child."

The year is 1918. The world is in the throngs of a deadly flu pandemic, overcome by crippling death and despair. In Dublin, the country is doubly challenged by both the Great Flu and the World War. With most citizens occupied by one of these two hardships, the city has become, "...a great mouth holed with missing teeth." In a matter of extreme literary foresight, this is the world that author Emma Donoghue has chosen to set her latest novel. The Pull of the Stars sees Donoghue tackle the pandemic of 1918 in a novel that takes on an ever more poignant tone given the state of the COVID-19 pandemic that the world continues to grapple with today. Her works always resonate with me emotionally, but the parallels between this historical fiction and the real world make this particular novel all the more affecting.

We meet Julia as she approaches the stone facade of the hospital, mentally preparing herself for the daunting day that lies ahead. As a nurse who has also trained as a midwife, the twenty-nine-year-old has been assigned to the makeshift maternity ward specifically reserved for those expectant mothers who have contracted the flu. Julia enters the overstuffed room to see that the middle of the three hospital beds is empty. Another life was lost in the night. This is a new reality. Julia quietly makes a small scratch in the back of her pocket watch, a silent and permanent acknowledgment of the lost life. With hospital beds overflowing and hospital staff hard to come by, Julie knows two things. One, it will not take long for that empty bed to host the next woman. Two, she will be overseeing the care of this ward completely on her own.

"Patient first, hospital next, self last.

Julia is right on both accounts. The night nurse, a stern and disapproving nun from the local convent, informs Julia that she will be the sole nurse for the meager maternity room. Julia is quickly overwhelmed by the sheer multitude of her daily tasks. One patient is in and out of consciousness, struck by the absolute worst parts of this horrid illness. She is able to stop the fits long enough to vomit all over the floor, leaving Julia to tend to her patients while also completing janitorial duties. Relief comes in the form of Birdie, a young woman who has been plucked from the streets to assist in any way possible. Birdie has no training in nursing, let alone even the most primary understanding of basic human anatomy, but she is a welcome sight. Unprompted, she begins mopping the mess on the floor allowing Julia to tend to the patients uninterrupted. As if on cue, the orderlies bring another pregnant woman into the room, filling the last remaining bed.

From a plot perspective, that is pretty much the focus of The Pull of the Stars. We follow Julia as she makes her way through a couple of days in this hospital room. Women come and go, giving birth in between. Some are successful, bringing in new life amongst the despair of this plague. Others are tragic, a reminder that this life is not promised to us, even in birth. The cramped confines of this impromptu ward become a microcosm of the world at large. Just like those lives outside, Julia and the women in her care are forced to reckon with the mystery of life in a time of unparalleled adversity.

Emma Donoghue is known for placing her readers directly into the worlds that her novels are set within. We were all in that storage shed with Jack and his kidnapped mother in Donoghue's novel Room. In Akin, she transported us to the streets of France as an elderly man searched for answers to his family history. It comes as no surprise then that The Pull of the Stars plants us directly amongst the crowded beds of the hospital. We feel the joy, hope, and pain as Donoghue writes of every striking detail. The medical procedures are given as much credence as the emotional strife that happens in between. The characters soar off of the page, connecting on a level that only the most well-tuned authors are able to create. There is an innate intimacy that exists between a nurse and her patients, a trust that forms between two relative strangers. Donoghue invites us into that confidence, allowing us to experience all of the emotions that the women in that room do. This emotional prowess combines with the strange synchroneity of this historical novel mirroring the events of our present-day pandemic to make for a read that touches the reader on every level. We are only halfway through this eventful year, but The Pull of the Stars is already my favorite novel of the year.

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.
(2020, 32)