The Indie Next List

“I can’t recall the last time I’ve been reading a work of nonfiction and woken up excited purely by the fact that, today, I would get to read more. Compulsive and psychologically riveting, Three Women reads like a novel. I couldn’t keep from dog-earing its pages each time Taddeo perfectly expressed something I’d felt but never had the words for. In Sloane, Maggie, and Lina, I recognized aspects of myself — namely the desire for connection and for love. When three women tell their uncensored truth, they can liberate a nation. I feel deeply grateful to Lisa Taddeo for giving us this gift of raw authenticity.”

“Claire Lombardo has written a rich and rewarding novel brimming with the messiness of families. Secrets kept and revealed provide a backdrop for the life-long love affair of Marilyn and David Sorenson as they raise their four daughters. The years are filled with joy, angst, anger, longing, and love as the members of the Sorenson family struggle to define their place among the ones who are nearest and dearest to their hearts. The Most Fun We Ever Had will resonate with all readers who have experienced and celebrated the chaotic love of family.”

“Margaret Renkl feels the lives and struggles of each creature that enters her yard as keenly as she feels the paths followed by her mother, grandmother, her people. Learning to accept the sometimes harsh, always lush natural world may crack open a window to acceptance of our own losses. In Late Migrations, we welcome new life, mourn its passing, and honor it along the way.”

“Evvie Drake is young and newly widowed, but no one knows that on the day her husband died, she had finally worked up the nerve to leave him. Dean Tenney is a major league baseball pitcher who has inexplicably lost the talent that made him a star. When Dean moves to Evvie’s small town to escape the humiliating sports headlines, their friendship proves to be just what both of them need. This is an absolute treasure of a novel — big-hearted, funny, sweet, and utterly satisfying. I cannot wait to sell this charming gem.”

“What a joyous, charming, funny and beautiful celebration of books and the people who love them. There is so much detail in both the wonderful, wide-ranging cast of characters and in the setting. Quirky in the very best sense of the word. I will certainly return to the world of Nina Hill again and again.”

“Spanning over 50 years and the intersection of two centuries, The Travelers weaves together the stories of two families and in the process gives an incisive portrait of a country and society in the midst of massive social change. The author artfully moves back and forth in time as the stories emerge and converge, probing the dynamics of love and family and the bounds and conflicts inherent in both. This novel is the story of two families but universal in the America it portrays.”

“THE NEED is a thriller about the sheer emotional and physical intensity of mothering and perhaps a rip in the time space continuum. Phillips is a gifted lyrical creator of worlds. Not for the faint of heart and wonderfully absorbing.”

“Instead of focusing on what is dark and terrifying like most dystopian novels, love lights the way in The Lightest Object in the Universe. Following a cataclysmic event, Beatrix is working with her neighbors to rebuild their community, while former school principal Carson travels across the country on foot to reach the woman he knows is his soul mate. Their individual stories are trying yet hopeful and celebrate the best parts of humanity. Highly recommended for book clubs and fans of dystopian literature.”

“In The Islanders, Moore tells a wonderful tale of forgiveness and love woven into the beautiful backdrop of Block Island, Rhode Island. A disgraced author must hit bottom before he can start to forgive himself and find his way back to life. A local shop owner must deal with the changes that have taken place in her life , including her daughter leaving home and some new competition that threatens her livelihood. Well-written with sharply drawn characters, this is more than a beach read but just as enjoyable.”

“Billie James travels to the Mississippi Delta from Philly for the first time since her father’s mysterious death, some 30 years before. Although she was there that night, she has no recollection of the events that occurred, but learns later that she went missing afterwards. This new detail causes her to start digging into what really happened, which gets her into trouble with people who want the past to remain buried. An emotional and tense novel about racism, justice, family, and the truth, Benz’s debut has so much edge to it that I could not stop reading!”

“This book is a wild ride through a post-dissolution, post-apocalyptic United States beginning a mere decade from now and continuing to the end of the 21st century. The political, technological, and ecological disasters it envisions seem all too plausibly extrapolated from the headlines of today. Despite the litany of cascading disasters — mass extinctions, warring androids, southern California dropping into the ocean, conflicts between different corporations controlling different sections of the former USA, mind control, goat-human hybrids, and more — Reed King injects a measure of hilarity into his tale. At the same time harrowing and hysterical, this is a great book by a visionary author. Highly recommended.”

“Oh, to have the wisdom and perspective of age when one is young. In 1987, Eve Rosen joins an elite seaside community as the summer assistant for a prestigious author. As their relationship turns from professional to personal, Eve gains more insight into the publishing world than she ever thought possible. Full of wistful yearning for a time long ago, The Last Book Party is a tribute to youth and its folly, all wrapped up in a gorgeous novel.”

“Say Say Say is a small and subtle debut novel that packs an emotional wallop. Lila Savage’s writing is so beautiful and vulnerable it’s impossible to put down. This is the kind of novel that shines with such honestly and compassion you feel the need re-evaluate your life right along the main character, Ella. I eagerly await reading anything else Savage writes.”

“It was inevitable that, with the #MeToo movement sweeping America, someone would pen a novel encompassing the realities of working women in our country. What I wasn’t prepared for, however, was the degree to which I’d become involved in Whisper Network, racing home to finish it because I loved the story. I haven’t felt this strength of solidarity with other women since the march in D.C. I closed this book with a resounding, ‘Oh, hell yes!’”

“What role does money play in our lives? Family? Those two questions are at the heart of this amazing story by Sadie Jones. This book deserves to be read (or listened to) and examined and would be a great choice for a book club - there is a great deal here to be dissected and analyzed. Dan and Bea are newly married Londoners who are managing to do fine in the London economy. Dan has grown up in poverty, but Bea grew up in luxury. A key line in the story is when Dan realizes that to Bea "money is a cage," while to him, "money is freedom." That difference the two of them share is an underlying current throughout the story as they arrive at the abandoned hotel in Burgundy where Bea's brother Alex is living after rehab. When tragedy strikes the family Bea gets pulled back in to her family, even after she tried to divorce herself from them. As the story unfolds the reader learns that it's not just the nest of snakes in the hotel attic that are a presence - it's the snakes that are in human form that a person needs to be most careful around.”

“I know Nora Roberts is a prolific author with many titles under her belt, but every time I pick up a new one it’s pure magic, and Under Currents was no different. I love how Nora didn’t pull her punches during the hard moments and tough times, but the novel was still beautifully balanced with the sweet romance that developed. Without a doubt, Under Currents is a new Nora Roberts favorite. Whether they are old fans or new, I hope romance readers (and others!) will give this book a try. They won’t be disappointed.”

“The Stationery Shop is one of the most beautifully written novels I have read in a long time. The masterful plot brings us to a lost time and culture, but also transcends time and country. In a story set against the upheaval of 1953 Tehran, we discover how events change the destiny of two teenagers who meet in a book and stationery shop and fall in love. This novel of political dreams, family loyalty, lingering memories, love, and fate will haunt you long after the story ends.”

“Catherine Chung’s female protagonist is a mathematician, and it is thrilling to have a woman scientist who is a complex character in an even more complex novel. In trying to solve a math riddle, she ends up exploring the riddle of her own childhood, which is inextricably linked to one of the darkest episodes in human history. Catherine Chung has woven a rich tapestry mixing present and past, ambition, identity, and gender issues. A beautiful book.”

“I began The Guest Book expecting an excellent family saga set, in part, on an island in Maine. The magic of the family home is palpable as three generations build loyalty, identity, and memories there. But what I read was far, far more. This is a history of our country’s evolution through matters of race, class, and politics, and it relates compellingly to our current struggles with those topics as the characters grapple with the underpinnings of privilege, familial love, and morality. Sarah Blake has written a stunning and complex novel that lingers in your mind long after the last page.”