“Because if things can be broken, then things can be changed; and if things can be changed, then it stands to good and logical reason that they can also be fixed. That’s all I need to know.” Holly Smale’s Cassandra in Reverse (Mira 2023) was my June Aardvark selection. It’s a cheeky novel that remindedContinue reading “CASSANDRA IN REVERSE – Holly Smale”
Tag Archives: Aardvark Book Club
CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS – Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
“There’s blood on every piece of here.” Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s Chain-Gang All-Stars (Pantheon Books 2023) has been compared to The Hunger Games meets Gladiator meets Squid Games, and it will fuck you up. It’s a gory, bloodbath to the bitter end with a piercing sneer of a look at the US penal system that doesContinue reading “CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS – Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah”
THE NEW LIFE – Tom Crewe
Tom Crewe’s debut novel, The New Life (Scribner 2023), is historical fiction based on actual events. Crewe plays a little bit with the timeline and reimagines documented relationships as well as creates new ones. In the Afterword, he writes “Truths needn’t always depend on facts for their expression.” Crewe is a novelist; he’s not aContinue reading “THE NEW LIFE – Tom Crewe”
THE MARSH QUEEN – Virginia Hartman
Virginia Hartman’s debut The Marsh Queen (Gallery Books 2022) had the potential to be as stunning as its cover. A bird artist from the Smithsonian returns to the marshes of Florida to face the ghost of her father, the mental decline of her mother, and a mystery that has sullied the town for years; itContinue reading “THE MARSH QUEEN – Virginia Hartman”
THE HOUSE IN THE ORCHARD – Elizabeth Brooks
“On closer inspection it’s obvious that every single one of the apples is rotten, whether they’re brown and speckled with mould, or green-gold and riddled with holes.” October is the perfect month for a slow burning gothic, and Elizabeth Brooks’s The House in the Orchard (Tin House 2022) is a quick read that hits theContinue reading “THE HOUSE IN THE ORCHARD – Elizabeth Brooks”
A Girl Named Tommi 