A Book A Week

With the start of a new year comes the annual barrage of best and worst lists. I'm happy to add mine into the ring. Out of the 52 books that I read in 2017, I've chosen 5 as my favorite books of the year. Here they are, listed in no particular order.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Author Stephen P. Kiernan writes about life, death, and love in his remarkable new novel The Hummingbird. I'm pleased to have two copies of the novel to giveaway!

From the publisher William Morrow:

From the author of the acclaimed The Curiosity comes a compelling and moving story of redemption.

Deborah Birch is a seasoned hospice nurse whose daily work requires courage and compassion. but her skills and experience are tested in new and dramatic ways when her formerly easygoing husband, Michael, returns from his third deployment to Iraq haunted by nightmares, anxiety, and rage. Deborah is determined to help him heal and to restore the tender, loving marriage they once had.

At the same time, her primary patient is Barclay Reed, a retired history professor and expert on the Pacific Theater of World War II whose career ended in academic scandal. Alone in the world, the embittered professor is now dying. AS Barclay begrudgingly comes to trust Deborah, he tells her stories from that long-ago war, which guide her to find a way to help her husband battle his demons.

Told with piercing empathy and heartbreaking realism, The Hummingbird is a masterful story of loving commitment, service to country, and absolution through wisdom and forgiveness.

Read my review of The Hummingbird here!

Stephen P. Kiernan is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. During his twenty years plus as a journalist, he has won numerous awards including the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Award, the Edward Willis Scripps Award for Distinguished Service to the First Amendment, and the George Polk Award. Kiernan is the author of The Curiosity, his first novel. He lives in Vermont with his two sons.

If The Hummingbird sounds like a book you would enjoy, enter using the Rafflecopter form below. Open to US residents, no PO boxes please. Ends September 22, 2015.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

A couple of years ago, author and journalist Stephen P. Kiernan made his fiction debut with his novel The Curiosity. That book, about a man reanimated from death, showcased Kiernan's aptitude for a creative character driven story that defied the confines of traditional genres and left an indelible mark in the hearts and minds of readers. In his sophomore novel, The Hummingbird, Kiernan trades in the high concept premise of his debut for a more intimate narrative that is remarkably understated, but equally affecting.

Dr. Kate Philo is on an arctic expedition to discover frozen lifeforms. She works for a team of scientists who study cell reanimation. Basically, they have the technology to bring small frozen lifeforms, mostly krill, back to life. As with all science, the process is not full proof. In fact, the creatures come to life for only a short period of time before dying again for good. But the young doctor is optimistic at the promises of the project. So much so that she gave up her university position, which she really loved, to take on the expedition full time. One day the team, sailing under the banner of the Carthage Institute, comes across an unusual find. They come upon a giant "candidate berg" that has the largest carbon signature ever recorded. As they begin digging into the berg, they expect to find some sort of sea creature like a seal. But as the divers dig deeper into the ice, they see something poking out that they never expected to find . . . a human hand.

To say journalist Daniel Dixon is ambitious would be an understatement. He has spent his career searching for that one high-profile story to propel him to the top of his field. It is no wonder then that he agreed to be the sole journalist to cover the Carthage Institute. He has seen the reanimation of krill with his own eyes, and was aboard the ship when the team, led by the beautiful Dr. Kate Philo, discovered the frozen remains of a human man. Now the leader of the institute, Dr. Erastus Carthage, has called upon Dixon to be the sole reporter, as the institute, recently renamed the Lazarus Project, attempts to reanimate their largest subject to date. But Daniel Dixon has an ulterior motive. Yes, being the sole reporter for the historic attempt to bring a man back to life will bring his writing international exposure, but Daniel believes there is more to the story than meets the eye. In fact, he is certain that the Lazarus Project is nothing more that an elaborate hoax, meant to bring fortune and political power to its founder.

Dr. Erastus Carthage is not a nice man. As the head of his privately funded institute and as the leading scientist on cell reanimation, he has become accustom to getting his way, no matter what. With the discovery of a frozen human, he prepares himself for the windfall that is sure to come when he brings the man back to life. But he knows this will not be easy. The project has it's fair share of detractors. Many protest the project, claiming that God and only God has the power to revive human life. Carthage is certain of his science and the powerful possibilities that reanimation of human life could present. He is aware of the various thoughts for and against his work and will stop at nothing to see his work through.

In The Curiosity, author Stephen P. Kiernan masterfully blends science, morality, and romance into a stunning novel. Each chapter is told from the perspective of either Dr. Kate Philo, Daniel Dixon, or Dr. Erastus Carthage, allowing the reader to delve deeper into the motivations of each character and their reactions to the actions of the others. Kiernan explores the issue of morality in science and the lengths that people are willing to go to fulfill their ambitions. Despite the exploration of some potentially controversial themes, Kiernan never pushes an agenda upon the reader, opting instead to let the characters and events speak for themselves.

The novel is hard to place within one genre, reading as a kind of cross between At The Mountains Of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft, Dan Brown's Deception Point, and Eowyn Ivey's Snow Child.  The novel presents a strong romantic thread to it's plot, about halfway through. Fortunately, Kiernan devotes as much effort to building a believable romance as he does in convincing us that reanimation could actually occur. In the end, The Curiosity is a masterful novel, equally entertaining and heartbreaking. It will force you to reevaluate some of your own beliefs while never leading you to a definitive answer. In the end, readers are sure to devour this thought provoking novel and still be thinking about it for weeks to come.

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

(2013: week 28, book 28)