Reader Profiles

Reader Profile – Jennifer Byrnes

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Jennifer is the Head of the Business Insight Center at the Central Library of Rochester & Monroe County (NY). An avid reader since leaving the womb, she grew up going to the Paddy Hill Public Library in Greece NY every other day. She strongly believes you are never too old to read Pigeon books.

What are you reading right now? 

Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison. It’s my book club pick for this month.

The desert island question – What 5 books would you have to have with you if you were stranded on a desert island and why?

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass – And What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll. They have so many layers you could read them a hundred times and always notice something new.

Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. If someone can find meaning while living in a concentration camp, then I can survive a desert island.

The Three Pillars of Zen by Roshi Phillip Kapleau. I may as well reach enlightenment if I have nothing to do.

The Poetry of Edward Lear. To remind me to be on the lookout for a sieve. They went to sea in a sieve they did, in a sieve they went to sea…

Who is your go-to author when someone asks you for a recommendation?

I love Anchee Min.

What book do you wish you’d never read? 

Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler.

Has any book defined your life, as in you would be a different person if you hadn’t read it?

Everyday Zen by Charlotte Joko Beck. Everyday, and everything, is practice.

Describe your favorite place to read.

On my deck in the summertime.

Book or movie? Is there a movie that you think was better than the book?

Never!

Share a favorite quote from a book you’ve read. Why is it meaningful to you?

“We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” – The Cheshire Cat. Don’t take yourself too seriously.

What book challenged you the most when you read it?

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. I knew if I just stuck with it, that it would eventually make sense, and it did!

Is there a book you feel is highly overrated?

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. One should be able to get their point across in less than 1,000 pages.

Are there any books that marked milestones in your life? 

Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret? by Judy Blume. I read it on a weekly basis from the ages of 7 to 9

Are you a “finisher” or do stop reading a book if you’re not connecting with it?

I’m a tried a true quitter. Which is why my book club hates me.

Why do you read?

It’s one of the most effective ways to get out of your own head.

Who would you choose to narrate your favorite book?

Someone British. They make everything sound better.

Where do you get your reading recommendations?

Friends, New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

Do you have a favorite book that you received as a gift?

More Annotated Alice (an annotated edition of Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass) from my grandmother Sophie.

Do you judge a book by it’s cover?

I try not to, but, I’m human.

What was your favorite book when you were a child?

I loved to steal my mother’s Danielle Steele books.

What book made you laugh out loud? What book made you cry?

I cry if I read Goodnight Moon; it reminds me of curling up with my daughter when she was little.  Are You There Vodka, It’s Me Chelsea by Chelsea Handler. A rollicking good time.

If you are interested in doing a Reader Profile here, email me at puttaro (at) libraryweb.org.

Uncategorized

The Door to Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn

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Description

The charming international bestseller about an unlikely friendship between an elderly door-to-door bookseller and a nine-year-old girl that changes his life.

Small-town German bookseller Carl Kollhoff delivers his books to special customers in the evening hours after closing time, walking through the picturesque alleys of the city. These people are almost like friends to him, and he is their most important connection to the world.

When Kollhoff unexpectedly loses his job, it takes the power of books and a nine-year-old girl to make them all find the courage to rebuild their bonds with each other.

A bestselling phenomenon internationally, Carsten Henn’s The Door-to-Door Bookstore is a feel-good novel about books and friendship.

My Thoughts

Charming is an appropriate word to describe this gem of a story. The story is somewhat familiar – older person who is essentially alone makes a much younger friend who transforms their life, picking up more new friends along the way, ultimately transforming everyone’s life. This carries a powerful statement on the power of books to affect and connect people. If you enjoy feel-good, inter-generational stories, this one is for you.

Fans of Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove will enjoy this.

Publication Date: July 4, 2023
Published By: Harlequin Trade, Hanover Square Press
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Makes You Think, Teens, Women

The Gospel of Orla by Eoghan Walls

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Description

Most anticipated in the IRISH TIMES, TORONTO STAR, and the BOOK CULTURE newsletter • INDIE NEXT LIST PICK • LIBRARY READS SELECTION • PERFECT FOR BOOK CLUBS • DEBUT NOVEL

“A consistently surprising, evocative, almost impossible to put down, and gloriously original work.” —Booklist

A stunning debut novel from the Northern Irish poet Eoghan Walls, The Gospel of Orla is the coming-of-age story of a young girl, Orla, and the man she meets who has an astonishing and unique ability.

It is also a road novel that takes us across the north of England after the two flee Orla’s village together. Here the mysteries of faith charge full bore into the vagaries of contemporary mores. A humorous, wise, deeply human and sometimes breathtaking work of lyrical fiction. 

“A melancholic, funny, and magical coming-of-age story, The Gospel of Orla is glorious, wise, and totally weird. I loved it.” —Annie Hartnett, author of Unlikely Animals

“Utterly convincing and fresh and original.” —Colm Tóibín, author of The Magician

“In his debut novel, poet Eoghan Walls imagines the intersection of the material and the mystic. . . . As the troubled teenager ricochets between circus illusion and divine touch, she and the reader are beckoned to ponder where magic ends and miracles begin.” —Kia Corthron, author of Moon and the Mars

Advance Praise

“A melancholic, funny, and magical coming-of-age story, The Gospel of Orla is glorious, wise, and totally weird. I loved it.” —Annie Hartnett, author of Unlikely Animals

“The Gospel of Orla is written with immense control and precision so that the voice of the protagonist emerges as alive, individual and memorable. Eoghan Walls manages to make every single emotion Orla feels—every thought, response and action—utterly convincing and fresh and original.”—Colm Tóibín, author of The Magician

“In his debut novel, poet Eoghan Walls imagines the intersection of the material and the mystic when a grieving adolescent stumbles upon a struggling savior. Walls provides an authentic and page-turning narrative from the perspective of his restless and ever-beguiling protagonist. As the troubled teenager ricochets between circus illusion and divine touch, she and the reader are beckoned to ponder where magic ends and miracles begin.” —Kia Corthron, author of Moon and the Mars

“The Gospel of Orla is an astonishing feat of characterization and storytelling. The prose is both earthy and sparkling and the story—equal parts bravado and vulnerability—is told with both wit and tenderness. Everyone should read this.” —Jenn Ashworth, author of Ghosted

My Thoughts

I will be thinking about this short book for a very long time.

The anger, confusion, pain, and loneliness Orla experiences following the death of her mother peeled back years of forgetting for me. I was Orla in 1984 when my mother died and so I immediately connected with this character. Grief is a lonely and solitary thing. Each person affected experiences it differently, and Walls does a masterful job of depicting the monumental changes to Orla’s life and that of her father.

That feeling that everything will be okay if Orla can just get to Ireland – that’s part of the grieving process. This is a raw look at how grief tears people up and makes them do things they never would have done before the grief took hold. If you know, you know.

Publication Date: March 7, 2023
Published By: Seven Stories Press
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Action Adventure, Historical, Mystery, Suspense

The Last Kingdom by Steve Berry

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Description

From celebrated New York Times bestselling author, Steve Berry, comes the latest Cotton Malone adventure, in which the discovery of a lost historical document challenges the global might of the United States.

King Ludwig II of Bavaria was an enigmatic figure who was deposed in 1886, mysteriously drowning three days later.  Eccentric to the point of madness, history tells us that in the years before he died Ludwig engaged in a worldwide search for a new kingdom, one separate, apart, and in lieu of Bavaria.  A place he could retreat into and rule as he wished.  But a question remains:  did he succeed? 

Enter Cotton Malone.  After many months, Malone’s protégé, Luke Daniels, has managed to infiltrate a renegade group intent on winning Bavarian independence from Germany.  Daniels has also managed to gain the trust of the prince of Bavaria, a frustrated second son intent on eliminating his brother, the duke, and restoring the Wittelsbach monarchy, only now with him as king.  Everything hinges on a 19th century deed which proves that Ludwig’s long-rumored search bore fruit–legal title to lands that Germany, China, and the United States all now want, only for vastly different reasons.  

In a race across Bavaria for clues hidden in Ludwig’s three fairytale castles–Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee–Malone and Daniels battle an ever-growing list of deadly adversaries, all intent on finding the last kingdom.

My Thoughts

Fans of Berry’s Cotton Malone series will find the familiar fast-paced action revolving around an historic mystery at the center of present-day plotting by assorted villains. I am never sure if the historic secrets used in Berry’s novels are fact or fiction, so I always find myself doing some research while reading his books. No different with this one.

It seemed to me throughout this typical Steve Berry adventure that he was setting the stage to retire Cotton Malone and elevate “The Frat Boy” Luke to primary badass and new “Captain America” status. However, by the end, I was not so sure!

No matter what Berry chooses to do with these characters, I am confident he will keep turning out some of the best adventure fiction out there. Fans will welcome the fast-paced, action-packed story, told in relatively short sections and chapters which makes this a fantastic weekend read.

Recommended.

Publication Date: February 21, 2023
Published By: Grand Central Publishing
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Food & Drink, Mystery, Psychological, Suspense, Women

The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell

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Description

Every summer for the past ten years, six awe-struck bakers have descended on the grounds of Grafton, the leafy and imposing Vermont estate that is not only the filming site for “Bake Week” but also the childhood home of the show’s famous host, celebrated baker Betsy Martin.

The author of numerous bestselling cookbooks and hailed as “America’s Grandmother,” Betsy Martin isn’t as warm off-screen as on, though no one needs to know that but her. She has always demanded perfection, and gotten it with a smile, but this year something is off. As the baking competition commences, things begin to go awry. At first, it’s merely sabotage—sugar replaced with salt, a burner turned to high—but when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect.

A sharp and suspenseful thriller for mystery buffs and avid bakers alike, The Golden Spoon is a brilliant puzzle filled with shocking twists and turns that will keep you reading late into the night until you turn the very last page of this incredible debut.

My Thoughts

I’ve heard a lot of buzz about this debut and I wasn’t disappointed. The plot is well-constructed and slick in it’s blending of the baking competition show and a semi-locked-room mystery. The format, featuring short sections channeling the thoughts of the characters, might put off readers who like their mysteries complex, but I found it a pleasant change from lengthy prose. The multiple perspectives of the characters added confusion and tension to the plot, leading to the bombshell ending.

I spent some time last year bingeing a rather silly series called The Great Witches Bake Off, so I am guessing that setting murders on set of these kinds of shows might be a new trend. I’d welcome it because The Golden Spoon was a lot of fun!

Highly recommended.

“This delicious combination of Clue and The Great British Bake Off kept me turning the pages all night!” —Janet Evanovich, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Only Murders in the Building meets The Maid in this darkly beguiling locked-room mystery where someone turns up dead on the set of TV’s hottest baking competition—perfect for fans of Nita Prose, Richard Osman, and Anthony Horowitz.

Publication Date: March 7, 2023
Published By: Atria Books
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Children's, Fantasy, Magical

Nic Blake & the Remarkables by Angie Thomas

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Description

Internationally bestselling superstar author Angie Thomas makes her middle grade debut with the launch of an inventive, hilarious, and suspenseful new contemporary fantasy trilogy inspired by African American history and folklore.

It’s not easy being a Remarkable in the Unremarkable world. Some things are cool—like getting a pet hellhound for your twelfth birthday. Others, not so much—like not being trusted to learn magic because you might use it to take revenge on an annoying neighbor.

All Nic Blake wants is to be a powerful Manifestor like her dad. But before she has a chance to convince him to teach her the gift, a series of shocking revelations and terrifying events launch Nic and two friends on a hunt for a powerful magic tool she’s never heard of…to save her father from imprisonment for a crime she refuses to believe he committed.

My Thoughts

Angie Thomas is well on her way to becoming the best writer of her generation. Not many authors can swap genres, but here Thomas more than succeeds in moving from realistic contemporary fiction to building a brand new world full of magic and unimaginable power.

Nic Blake and her family are some of most engaging characters I’ve read in a while. Their remarkable abilities, drawn out of African folklore, family, and friendship are fascinating and fearful. Nic is the star here. A powerful but still vulnerable female lead in a new middle grade action-fantasy series is GOLD! She’s sassy, smart, and resilient and above all a loyal friend. Every main character is well-developed and the secondary characters show great promise.

This joins The Marvellers and BB Alston’s Amari books for kids and, for older readers, the Akata series and the Murder & Magic series by Nicole Glover in the new and exciting trend of books featuring African magic and power. This one will be the book of the summer.

Publication Date: April 4, 2023
Published By: Harper Collins Children’s Books; Balzer & Bray
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Book Tour, Detective, Mystery, Partners In Crime

Gillespie Field Groove by Corey Lynn Fayman

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Gillespie Field Groove

by Corey Fayman

May 8 – June 2, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

An obscure rock’n’roll roadie dies under mysterious circumstances. A prized Jimi Hendrix guitar has gone missing. Can Rolly Waters save his new client from the ruthless collectors looking for it?

When nurse and fledgling pilot Lucinda Rhodes hires guitar-playing private detective Rolly Waters to track down a Stratocaster guitar owned by her deceased father, Rolly is thrilled to take on her case, especially when he learns the guitar’s original owner may have been Jimi Hendrix. But Gerry Rhodes’s reckless personal history leads to more questions than Rolly and Lucinda have bargained for, as an aging rock’n’roll impresario, his trophy wife, a Russian gangster and the FBI get involved. When a forty-year-old shooting accident reveals a surprising connection to a pop star’s hit record, Rolly sees darker forces at work. And his and Lucinda’s lives hang in the balance.

My Thoughts

It’s official. Rolly Waters is my new favorite PI and Corey Lynn Fayman the latest author whose books I’m binge-reading. They make a dynamite team!

Gillespie Field Groove pulled me in from the first page and kept me entangled with the story and characters until the last word was read. Fayman’s writing is smart, exciting, well-paced, and just descriptive enough. His characters are colorful, intriguing although sometimes repulsive, and paired with great dialog. The best among them, though, is Rolly Waters, the damaged-guy-in-recovery who’s tough and soft at the same time.

The music that pervades the story adds a wonderful dimension, especially for readers who know the artists and tunes described in the plot. (I confess, I cranked up some King Crimson after reading this!) That, paired with the California location, put me in mind of a mash-up between Robert Crais’ Elvis Cole and Ace Atkins Nick Travers mysteries, which is not a bad place to be!

I’ll be recommending this book and the author to anyone looking for a new mystery/suspense series. Well done!

Praise for Gillespie Field Groove:

“Gillespie Field Groove hits all the right notes. Music fans and general mystery readers alike will enjoy this story’s irresistible beat.”
~ blueinkreview.com

“Exciting, compelling, suspenseful, and reflective of the realities of the music industry and San Diego culture, Gillespie Field Groove is a thrilling mystery novel in which a man seeks to right the wrongs committed by greedy executives.”
~ forewordreviews.com

“GILLESPIE FIELD GROOVE is a gripping mystery and a captivating ride through rock and roll history and San Diego’s music scene. It’s so authentic you can practically hear the fuzz and crunch of Jimi’s Stratocaster coming off the page.”
~ Matthew Quirk, New York Times bestselling author of RED WARNING and THE NIGHT AGENT (now a Netflix series)

“Rolly Waters is back with a ripped-from-the headlines thriller custom made for music-lovers. Hired to hunt down a missing Fender Strat that may have belonged to Jimi Hendrix, Waters uncovers a series of intertwined mysteries with more twists than a crate full of guitar cables. Gillespie Field Groove is an uptempo page turner that shines a spotlight on the music industry’s darkest corners.”
~ S.W. Lauden, author of BAD CITIZEN CORPORATION and THAT’LL BE THE DAY:A POWER POP HEIST

“Carefully crafted characters. Twists and revelations. Music and murder. A PI who plays guitar or a guitar player who dallies in detecting? Even Rolly Waters isn’t sure. Whichever it is, Corey Lynn Fayman’s latest gives you a real insight into what it means to be both. Like Don Quixote wielding a guitar instead of a sword. Awesome.”
~ Pamela Cowan, author of COLD KILL

“GILLESPIE FIELD GROOVE is like an easter egg hunt filled with suspense and intrigue that also gives readers a straightforward look into the life of a working musician. I love this series.”
~ Marc Intravaia, guitarist, RICHIE FURAY BAND; BACK TO THE GARDEN

Book Details:

Genre: Private Detective Mystery, Cozy Mystery
Published by: Konstellation Press
Publication Date: March 2023
Number of Pages: 276
ISBN: 0998748285 (ISBN-13: 978-0998748283)
Series: A Rolly Waters Mystery, 5th
Book Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads

Author Bio:

Corey Lynn Fayman has worked as a musician, sound technician, and interactive designer. He holds a B.A. in English, with a specialization in creative writing and poetry from UCLA, and an M.A. in Educational Technology from San Diego State University. Fayman spent five years as a sound technician and designer at the nationally lauded Old Globe Theatre, where he received several nominations and a Drama-Logue Award for his theatrical sound design. He’s worked as an interactive designer for organizations both corporate and sundry and has taught technology and design courses at various colleges and universities. He lives in San Diego, California, and is the author of four Rolly Waters mystery series, including Blacks Beach Shuffle, Border Field Blues, and Desert City Diva (2015 Indiefab Book of the Year bronze award). The fourth in the series, Ballast Point Breakdown, was honored with the best-in-show Geisel Award at the 2021 San Diego Book Awards.

Catch Up With Corey Fayman:
www.CoreyLynnFayman.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @clfayman
Twitter – @CLFayman
Facebook – @CoreyLynnFayman

Cookbooks, Non Fiction

National Dish by Anya von Bremzen

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Description

In this engrossing and timely journey to the crossroads of food and identity award-winning writer Anya von Bremzen explores six of the world’s most fascinating and iconic culinary cultures—France, Italy, Japan, Spain, Mexico, and Turkey—brilliantly weaving cuisine, history, and politics into a work of scintillating connoisseurship and charm

We all have an idea in our heads about what French food is—or Italian, or Japanese, or Mexican, or . . .  But where did those ideas come from? Who decides what makes a national food canon? Recipient of three James Beard awards, Anya von Bremzen has written definitive cookbooks on Russian, Spanish, and Latin American cuisines, as well as her internationally acclaimed memoir Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking. Now in National Dish, she sets out to investigate the truth behind the eternal cliché—“we are what we eat”—traveling to six storied food capitals, going high and low, from world-famous chefs to scholars to strangers in bars, in search of how cuisine became connected to place and identity.

Paris is where the whole idea of food as national heritage was first invented, and so it is where Anya must begin. With an inquisitive eye and unmistakable wit, she ponders the codification of French food and the current tension between locavorism and globalization. From France, she’s off to Naples, to probe the myth and reality of pizza, pasta, and Italian-ness. Next up, Tokyo, where Anya and her partner Barry explore ramen, rice, and the distance between Japan’s future and its past. From there they move to Seville, to search for the community-based essence of Spain’s tapas traditions, and then Oaxaca, where debates over postcolonial cultural integration find expression in maize and mole. In Istanbul, a traditional Ottoman potluck becomes a lens on how a former multicultural empire defines its food heritage. Finally, they land back in their beloved home in Queens, for a dinner centered on Ukrainian borsch, a meal that has never felt more loaded, or more precious and poignant.

A unique and magical cook’s tour of the world, National Dish brings us to a deep appreciation of how the country makes the food, and the food the country.

My Thoughts

It’s not often you run across a book about cooking and food that is truly a non-fiction exploration of food history, mores, and national identity. National Dish is all that and more.

Anya von Bremzen brings to the table her own form of sarcastic, witty, and irreverent assessment of the foods considered part of the identity of certain countries. She begins in Paris, a city she really, really dislikes (and she let’s you know it), where she chases down the meaning and national importance of pot-au-feu by talking to giants in the French food industry and then by making her own.

This format continues through five other cities where she explores dishes intrinsic to the city, nation, and culture of those particular locations. I learned quite a bit about those cities/countries and their foods.

Serious foodies and those in the industry will enjoy this, but the average reader like me, who has an interest in food but not a deep knowledge of world cuisine, will end up skimming a lot of the text or will alternate between the text and the internet looking up names, dates, and dishes.

This is less of a cookbook and more of a non-fiction dive into the food that makes a culture a culture, and that makes for fascinating reading.

Publication Date: June 20, 2023
Published By: Penguin Group; The Penguin Press
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Historical, Mystery, Women

The White Lady By Jacqueline Winspear

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Description

The White Lady introduces yet another extraordinary heroine from Jacqueline Winspear, creator of the best-selling Maisie Dobbs series. This heart-stopping novel, set in Post WWII Britain in 1947, follows the coming of age and maturity of former wartime operative Elinor White—veteran of two wars, trained killer, protective of her anonymity—when she is drawn back into the world of menace she has been desperate to leave behind.

A reluctant ex-spy with demons of her own, Elinor finds herself facing down one of the most dangerous organized crime gangs in London, ultimately exposing corruption from Scotland Yard to the highest levels of government.

The private, quiet “Miss White” as Elinor is known, lives in a village in rural Kent, England, and to her fellow villagers seems something of an enigma. Well she might, as Elinor occupies a “grace and favor” property, a rare privilege offered to faithful servants of the Crown for services to the nation. But the residents of Shacklehurst have no way of knowing how dangerous Elinor’s war work had been, or that their mysterious neighbor is haunted by her past.

It will take Susie, the child of a young farmworker, Jim Mackie and his wife, Rose, to break through Miss White’s icy demeanor—but Jim has something in common with Elinor. He, too, is desperate to escape his past. When the powerful Mackie crime family demands a return of their prodigal son for an important job, Elinor assumes the task of protecting her neighbors, especially the bright-eyed Susie. Yet in her quest to uncover the truth behind the family’s pursuit of Jim, Elinor unwittingly sets out on a treacherous path—yet it is one that leads to her freedom.

My Thoughts

Jacqueline Winspear is one of the best writers of historical fiction practicing today. Her Maisie Dobbs series is pretty perfect, and this stand-alone effort is just as good as any of the Dobbs books.

The setting is somewhat familiar – Winspear’s strength is her capacious knowledge of the two World Wars and all aspects of the service that went into both, especially service by women. Here, we have a retired spy/assassin who is trying to build a life away from the service. Try as she might, she cannot avoid getting involved with other humans, another thing that is common on Winspear’s work. She has an uncanny way of writing characters who think they want to be alone but who end up forging important and long-lasting friendships.

The writing here is excellent, with good descriptive passages and well-delivered dialog. I’d expect nothing less from this author. Winspear’s fans won’t be disappointed.

Recommended.

Publication Date: March 21, 2023
Published By: Harper
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Children's, Fairytales, Fantasy, Folktales, Magical, Women, Young Adult

Unseelie by Ivelisse Housman

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Description

The start of a swoony, high-energy duology that Emily Lloyd-Jones, author of The Bone Houses, calls “reminiscent of classic fairytales yet brimming with a charm all its own.”

“A world of glimmering fae that sparkles with mystery, adventure, and enchantment.” —Andrew Joseph White, New York Times bestselling author of Hell Followed with Us

Iselia “Seelie” Graygrove looks just like her twin, Isolde…but as an autistic changeling left in the human world by the fae as an infant, she has always known she is different. Seelie’s unpredictable magic makes it hard for her to fit in—and draws her and Isolde into the hunt for a fabled treasure. In a heist gone wrong, the sisters make some unexpected allies and find themselves unraveling a mystery that has its roots in the history of humans and fae alike.

Both sisters soon discover that the secrets of the faeries may be more valuable than any pile of gold and jewels. But can Seelie harness her magic in time to protect her sister and herself?

“Housman’s stunning debut is the sort of love letter only an autistic author could write. Fae canon has been waiting for this one.” —H.E. Edgmon, author of The Witch King

My Thoughts

The author provides an informative and thought-provoking introduction to Unseelie where she discusses what it’s like to be a changeling. Ivelisse Housman, you see, is autistic. She presents an interesting case for the changelings – those unusual beings well-known in folklore as fairy children who have replaced human children – having been children with autism whose differences made them part of folklore.

In Unseelie, Housman has created a character who is different. Whose differences are acknowledged by her family, if not fully accepted, and who is loved unconditionally. Iselia or Seelie as she is called throughout the book, doubts herself and feels responsible for bad things that happened to her family. In Housman’s hands, though, Seelie becomes powerful as she accepts who she is and what she can do.

The story follows many of the familiar themes in folklore – there’s a quest, a treasure, and a band of misfits who battle powerful forces. There is also a strong theme of family and friendship which provides the backbone upon which the story is built. And this is a cracking good story – imaginative, clever, and full of vivid description.

This is a beautiful and powerful story that will surely appeal to fans of fantasy and folklore of all ages. Appropriate for upper middle grade and older.

Publication Date: January 3, 2023
Published By: Inkyard Press
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy