Review by Kristine GouldingPublished by Faber & Faber, 2023, 496 pages. Francis Spufford’s Cahokia Jazz is an exceptional alternate history that transports readers to a reimagined 1920s America. In this version of the past, Cahokia—a thriving city built around the real-life Cahokia Mounds near a village called St. Louis—has replaced New York as the cultural …
The Cemetery of Untold Stories: Julia Alvarez
Published by Charco Press, 2024, 265 pages. “As usual, she stops at El Barón’s tomb, to pay her respects, making the sign of the cross, then laying her fingers on the glass. The touch sets the flakes flying. A voice commences recounting its stories, other voices join in, more and more, as if blown by …
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No One Prayed Over Their Graves: Khaled Khalifa
Translated from Arabic by Leri Price.Published by Faber, 2023, 404 pages. Original version published in 2019. January 1907. A flood wipes out the village of Hosh Hanna, near Aleppo, leaving only two survivors. At the time, Hanna Gregoros—who had built this village—is away with his friend Zakariya Bayazidi. They return home to total devastation: Hanna’s …
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A Life’s Journey: An Interview with Robert W. Norris
Robert W. Norris is an American writer and retired teacher who lives near Fukuoka, Japan. Robert’s books include his memoir, The Good Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise (2023); novels, including Looking for the Summer (1996); The Many Roads to Japan: A Search for Identity (1997); Toraware (1998); and Autumn Shadows in August (2006). …
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Finding Me: Viola Davis
Published by HarperOne / Coronet, 2022, 293 pages. “Everybody has secrets. Everybody. I guess the difference is that we either die with them and let them eat us up, or we put them out there, wrestle with them (or they wrestle with us) until we . . . reconcile. Secrets are what swallow us.” In …
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: Ocean Vuong
Published by Jonathan Cape / Vintage / Penguin, 2019, 242 pages. “In a previous draft of this letter, one I’ve since deleted, I told you how I came to be a writer. How I, the first in our family to go to college, squandered it on a degree in English. … But none of that …
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The Travelling Cat Chronicles: Hiro Arikawa
Translated from Japanese by Philip GabrielPublished by Doubleday, 2017, 247 pages. Original version published in 2012. Nana is a cat. He was once a stray cat with no name, sleeping on the bonnet of a silver van, made “warm and toasty” by the sun. But when Nana is hit by a car, the owner of …
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The Fifth Season: N. K. Jemisin
Published by Orbit, 2015, 468 pages. “This is what you must remember: the ending of one story is just the beginning of another. This has happened before, after all. People die. Old orders pass. New societies are born. When we say ‘the world has ended,’ it’s usually a lie, because the planet is just fine."But …
Star 111: Lutz Seiler
Translated from German by Tess LewisPublished by And Other Stories, 2023, 495 pages. Original version published in 2020. East Germany, November 1989. The Berlin Wall has fallen. Carl Bischoff, a student, is heading home, summoned by a telegram from his parents saying, “we need help please do come immediately your parents”. When Carl gets home, …
The Good Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise—Pentimento Memories of Mom and Me: Robert W. Norris
Published by Tin Gate, 2023, 469 pages. Sometimes so-called ordinary people lead extraordinary lives. The two people at the centre of this memoir are among these: Robert W. Norris and his mother, Kay Murphy Schlinkman. Norris writes about his life, weaving it with his mother’s, someone who influenced him deeply and with whom he formed …
Talking About Books 