All Booked | Best of Both Seasons: Mixing Summer Spirit with Fall Feels
Hello, bookish friends!
It’s Tessa again, the Indy’s Copy Chief. While Emily enjoys her maternity leave for a few more weeks, it’s up to us guest stars to bring the bookish goodness you know and love.
As a person who loves both the long, sun-soaked, beachy days of summer and the cool, cozy, bring-on-the-soup-and-baked-goods weather of autumn, I did my best to round up some recommendations to bring you the best of both seasons! The following books are all set in countries other than the U.S. — for your last chance of some summer travel vibes — and feature themes of cold weather, the importance of family, and/or a dash of spooky and mysterious, to get you ready for the autumn holidays just around the corner.
In 1859 Ireland, Lib Wright, an English nurse trained by Florence Nightingale, is called to a tiny village to observe the town miracle: a little girl named Anna who is said to not have eaten a thing in months. With Anna drawing more and more attention, Logical Lib sets out to apply her medical knowledge to proving that the girl’s family is lying, but she finds herself bonding with Anna. Lib’s loyalty to her profession and belief in medical science are tested by the people she finds herself surrounded with and her liking for sweet Anna as she unravels the unexpected truth.
Emma Donoghue’s The Wonder is a touching showcase of the varying definitions of family, cultural differences, the clashes between logic and science versus superstition and myth, and a reminder that you can always begin again.
For something spooky, take a trip to Sweden, where in 1959, the residents of the village of Silvertjärn disappeared overnight. The only ones left were a woman found dead in the town square and an abandoned newborn baby, and over the years, the mystery of the vanishing townspeople has never been solved. In the modern day, Alice Lindstedt, a descendant of one of the vanished residents, has gathered a crew to film a documentary in the remains of Silvertjärn and try to unravel the mystery of what really happened all those years ago — but the mysterious happenings are far from over.
The Lost Village by Camilla Sten switches between 1959 and present day, highlighting the differences and similarities between the time periods and delving into our fascination with the lingering mysteries of the world.
On the lighter side of things, take a literary trip across the pond to England with Rebecca “Bex” Porter, an American student at Oxford who finds herself living down the hall from Prince Nicholas, future king of Great Britain, and, as Bex finds him, a kind friend and a lover of bad vampire dramas. Drawn into Nick’s world of unbelievable luxury and his hilarious, fun-loving friend group, Bex finds it impossible to stay away from the prince. As Bex and Nick fall for each other, she finds herself dealing with the pressure of notoriety, culture shock, and reconciling the public image of Prince Nicholas with the man she’s come to know and love — and if it’s all worth it.
The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan manages to balance realistic parallels to the real-life royal family and notoriously thorny British press with hilarious escapades, heartwarming romance, and a healthy dose of British charm.
Lifelong friends Winnie and Helen have kept each other’s worst secrets for years. But when Helen wants to expose everything to clear her conscience before her death, Winnie decides that she needs to be the one to tell her daughter, Pearl, the truth about her life. Winnie’s story, spanning from a small island in China through the events of World War II and her long journey to America, is one of hope in the face of hardship and a fierce tenacity she hopes her daughter will inherit from her.
The Kitchen God’s Wife is a wonderful example of what Amy Tan does best: a portrait of Chinese history juxtaposed with American culture, and the love and complicated relationships between mothers and daughters. If you’ve read The Joy Luck Club but haven’t picked up any of Amy Tan’s other books, I’d definitely recommend this one.
Whether you’re holding onto the last of the summer vibes or looking ahead to autumn coziness, I hope you find something to add to your list. Happy reading!
—Tessa.
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