Mad Woman

by Louisa Treger Mad Woman is a psychological drama based on the intriguing life of feminist heroine Nellie Bly. Nellie, as you know, is the courageous newspaper woman who, in 1817, posed as a madwoman to expose the atrocities taking place in the “insane” asylum on Blackwell’s Island, New York.Treger begins her novel in Nellie’s … Continue reading Mad Woman

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin

Megan Goldin is one of my new favourite mystery writers. My introduction to her was the novel  Night Swim and I absolutely loved it. I was privileged enough to receive, through NetGalley and  St. Martin’s Press, a copy of her newest novel Awake. Goldin does not disappoint.  This novel is in the vein of the … Continue reading Stay Awake by Megan Goldin

Haven by Emma Donoghue

Father Artt had a dream. A dream of an island far off the coast of Ireland where he and two other men will build a monastery. Artt recruits old Cormac and young Train to come with him. Each monk possess skills that will be important for the successful manifestation of Artt’s dream. Using Skellig Michael … Continue reading Haven by Emma Donoghue

The Woman in the Library

by Sulari Gentill The Woman in the Library is a twisted tale of a murder that occurs in no better place than a library. Winifred Kincaid (Freddie), is a writer looking for inspiration in the wonderful setting of the Boston Library. There, she sits at a table in the Reading Room looking for inspiration. She … Continue reading The Woman in the Library

When We Stop and Blink

Sometimes there are small quotes from books, another person’s gift of weaving images and metaphors in such a way that sums up exactly what is going on in the readers reality without clinically spelling it out. One of the most poignant novels I’ve read is The Secret Scripture by Sabastian Barry. It’s the type of … Continue reading When We Stop and Blink

Star Fish by Lisa Fipps

Ellie doesn’t physically fit the standards set by society today and therefore is bullied relentlessly. In this novel written in verse we are given a brutally honest first person narration of a young girl’s emotional and sometimes physical abuse dealt to her by kids at school as well as some members of her own family. … Continue reading Star Fish by Lisa Fipps

The Book Eaters

by Sunyi Dean Devon is not human, she is a book eater. She does not get her nourishment from food but rather from eating the written word. With each text she consumes, Devon absorbs the knowledge each text possesses. And her blood runs black like ink. The chapters in this novel alternate between the past … Continue reading The Book Eaters

Alone

by Megan E. Freeman Twelve-year-old Maddie is a normal teenager who just wants to do normal things like having a party at her grandmother’s vacant house without her parents knowing. Maddie has it all arranged: she will tell her mother she is staying with her father and tell her father she is staying at her … Continue reading Alone

Escape from Chernobyl by Andy Marino

Escape from Chernobyl is a fictional account of the Chernobyl disaster, a global incident that most young people know nothing about.  16-year-old Yuri Formichev is an intern at the Chernobyl power plant in Pripyat Ukraine on the border of what was then the Soviet Union. Yuri’s dream is to be an engineer at the nuclear … Continue reading Escape from Chernobyl by Andy Marino