Friday, March 11, 2016

New Books Coming Your Way, March 15, 2016

An Unrestored Woman by Shobha Rao
256 p.
Fiction/short stories; India/Pakistan

The twelve paired stories in Shobha Rao's An Unrestored Woman trace their origins to the formation of India and Pakistan in 1947, but they transcend that historical moment. A young woman in a crushingly loveless marriage seizes freedom in the only way left to her; a mother is forced to confront a chilling, unforgiveable crime she committed out of love; an ambitious servant seduces both master and mistress; a young prostitute quietly, inexorably plots revenge on the madam who holds her hostage; a husband and wife must forgive each other for the death of their child. Caught in extreme states of tension, in a world of shifting borders, of instability, Rao's characters must rely on their own wits. When Partition established Pakistan and India as sovereign states, the new boundary resulted in a colossal transfer of people, the largest peacetime migration in human history. This mass displacement echoes throughout Rao's story couplets, which range across the twentieth century, moving beyond the subcontinent to Europe and America. Told with dark humor and ravaging beauty, An Unrestored Woman unleashes a fearless new voice on the literary scene.

Purchase: Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound


Know the Mother by Desiree Cooper
112 p.
Fiction/short stories; race/gender

While a mother can be defined as a creator, a nurturer, a protector—at the center of each mother is an individual who is attempting to manage her own fears, desires, and responsibilities in different and sometimes unexpected ways. In Know the Mother, author Desiree Cooper explores the complex archetype of the mother in all of her incarnations. In a collage of meditative stories, women—both black and white—find themselves wedged between their own yearnings and their roles as daughters, sisters, grandmothers, and wives.

In this heart-wrenching collection, Cooper reveals that gender and race are often unanticipated interlopers in family life. An anxious mother reflects on her prenatal fantasies of suicide while waiting for her daughter to come home late one night. A lawyer miscarries during a conference call and must proceed as though nothing has happened. On a rare night out with her husband, a new mother tries convincing herself that everything is still the same. A politician’s wife’s thoughts turn to slavery as she contemplates her own escape: "Even Harriet Tubman had realized that freedom wasn’t worth the price of abandoning her family, so she’d come back home. She’d risked it all for love." With her lyrical and carefully crafted prose, Cooper’s stories provide truths without sermon and invite empathy without sentimentality.

Know the Mother explores the intersection of race and gender in vignettes that pull you in and then are gone in an instant. Readers of short fiction will appreciate this deeply felt collection.

Purchase: Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound


Shelter by Jung Yun
336 p.
Fiction; Korean American

Kyung Cho is a young father burdened by a house he can’t afford. For years, he and his wife, Gillian, have lived beyond their means. Now their debts and bad decisions are catching up with them, and Kyung is anxious for his family’s future.

A few miles away, his parents, Jin and Mae, live in the town’s most exclusive neighborhood, surrounded by the material comforts that Kyung desires for his wife and son. Growing up, they gave him every possible advantage, but never kindness nor affection. Now, Kyung can hardly bear to see his parents, much less ask them for help. Yet when an act of violence leaves Jin and Mae unable to live on their own, the dynamic suddenly changes, and he feels compelled to take them in. Once more under the same roof, Kyung is forced to question what it means to be a good husband, father, and son, while the life he knew begins to crumble and his own anger demands to be released.

As Shelter veers swiftly toward its startling conclusion, Jung Yun leads us through dark and violent territory, where, unexpectedly, the Chos discover hope. Shelter is a masterfully crafted debut novel that asks what it means to provide for one's family and, in answer, delivers a story as riveting as it is profound.

Purchase: Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound


A Life Apart by Neel Mukherjee
384 p.
Fiction; India/London

Ritwik Ghosh, twenty-two and recently orphaned, finds the chance to start a new life when he arrives in England from Calcutta. But Oxford holds little of the salvation Ritwik is looking for. Instead, he moves to London, where he drops out of official existence into a shadowy hinterland of illegal immigrants. The story that Ritwik writes to stave off his loneliness begins to find ghostly echoes in his own life. And, as present and past of several lives collide, Ritwik’s own goes into free fall.

Purchase: Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound


On the Way Back by Montague Kobbé
288 p.
Fiction; Caribbean (Anguilla)

Nathaniel Jones, a middle-aged businessman from England, travels to the Caribbean island of Anguilla to spend a fortnight on holiday when he's captivated by a brilliant and beautiful member of the local community, Sheila Rawlingson. After a secret, intense hundred-day courtship, Nathaniel proposes to Sheila, whose agreement to marry this white man is seen as a betrayal by her family and fellow Anguillans.

Recognizing the value Anguillan society places on economic projects, Nathaniel attempts to set up an airline business to gain the support and favor of the Rawlingsons. Nathaniel sends for his son, Dragon Jones, to travel to Anguilla and cofound Dragon Wings, the nation's first commercial airline. Nathaniel, Dragon, and Sheila turn to her uncle for financial backing. Sheila's uncle, however, foils Nathaniel's best-laid plans at every turn. Kobbé's hilarious social novel brilliantly echoes A Confederacy of Dunces and Herman Wouk's Don't Stop the Carnival.

Purchase: Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound

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