Homegoing

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is the best book I have read this year. I have given copies away and recommended it to everyone I know who likes to read!

Homegoing is an epic family tale, following two branches of a family tree from 1700s through today. The family started in what is today Ghana. The book begins with two sisters. They live in different villages and do not know they are sisters. One, Effia, marries a British man and lives in the castle that controls the slave trade in the region. The other, Esi, is captured during a battle between two tribes and is sold to the British and send to the United States.

Each chapter is a new person in the line, alternating between the progeny of Effia and Esi, through all of the changes in Ghana and the United States. Gyasi highlights the major themes of African and African American history through personal stories of the characters.

I tend to like family epics. A couple of examples are The Night Counter by Alia Yunis and Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald. What Gyasi adds is a greater sense of how the social and political changes effect each generation and build on what that generation learned from the last.

If you have not yet read this, buy a copy TODAY! You will be drawn in by it. With each chapter you will fall in love with the next character while wanting more of the previous one (which you will get in many cases through the stories of their children). This book will live with you long after you finish it. I have read four books since this and still find myself thinking about it every couple of days.

Homegoing is on my list of best books I have ever read. I will always be grateful to my local bookstore for putting it on display.

Gyasi, Yaa. (2016). Homegoing. New York: Vintage Books.

The Long Sunset (Priscilla Hutchins #8)

The Long Sunset by Jack McDevitt is the eighth book in series featuring space pilot Priscilla Hutchins (now renamed the Academy series).  Priscilla Hutchins works for the Academy, the group that sends scientists into space to explore signs of other life.

While looking through the most powerful telescope yet invented, a signal is intercepted. It is a video of a waterfall with what sounds like classical music. This message sparks debate: do we send a ship to explore the area and maybe find intelligent life or should we worry about finding life that could follow a ship back and attack the Earth?

A team is chosen to go explore, if the okay is given by the Academy. Priscilla Hutchins, the captain of many a trip into the unknown, is chosen to fly what may be the last ship sent outside our solar system. They are not to make contact, but to find the source of the message.

What follows is the discovery of more than one planet containing sentient beings. One of which is in danger from a black hole slowly approaching.

McDevitt writes a great science fiction story. And Priscilla Hutchins is the captain you would want with you on any space exploration. Any fans of science fiction, good stories, or interested in how our society may progress should read this series.

McDevitt, Jack. (2018). The Long Sunset. New York: Saga Press.

Nantucket Rose

Nantucket Rose by CF Frizzell is a lesbian romance set on the beautiful island of Nantucket.

Maggie Jordan is about to open a bed and breakfast on Nantucket. She purchased an historical home in the village and has fixed it up. If all goes well she will open on time, have a great summer, and sell the B&B in the Fall. However, if the islanders get wind of the idea that she is there to flip the property her life will become very difficult. Nantucketters are very protective of their heritage and community.

Ellis Chilton's family has been on Nantucket since they were part of the whale oil business. She works for the Steamship Authority on the Ferry Eagle. She lives on the boat that was her grandfather's and then her father's. She grew up in an historic home in the center of the village that she lost due to a bad business investment.

Frizzell has written a great romance set in an idyllic location. This is a great beach read. Plus if you have not been to Nantucket, it is very worth the trip!

Frizzell, CF. (2017). Nantucket Rose. New York: Bold Stroke Books.

Freedom to Love

Freedom to Love by Ronica Black is a lesbian romance in the middle of a manhunt.

Brynn Williams is getting out of prison after five years. She took the fall to protect her sister and she is ready to be out and toeing the line.

Sargent Kat Vander is the officer who arrested Brynn. Brynn has no hard feelings. If they had not been doing something against the law, she would not have been arrested. Sgt Vander was just doing her job.

From the moment she gets out she is back in the family drama. Her sister Bea show up to get her in a stolen car, and high. On the drive back to their home town, their car is overtaken by an SUV that almost hits them. Next comes a police car.

As Brynn and Bea come around the next bend in the road, the SUV is shooting into the police car. They stop and try to help, though Bea does not think that cops deserve help. When the shooting stops, Brynn races to the car. It looks like the driver is dead, but the passenger can be saved.

Brynn forces her sister to drive them to the hospital. The whole time Brynn is trying to keep Sargent Kat Vander alive. Unfortunately, they broke the law, so Brynn has no desire to stick around and answer questions. And because of her family's reputation and Sgt Vander being unconscious, the rest of the force is convinced that Brynn had something to do with the shooting.

Black has written a fast-paced, lesbian romance between two women from different backgrounds. This is a great vacation read.

Black, Ronica. (2017). Freedom to Love. New York: Bold Strokes Books.

To Die But Once (Maisie Dobbs 14)

To Die But Once by Jacqueline Winspear is the fourteenth book in the Maisie Dobbs series - an historical mystery series featuring a psychologist and private investigator in London.

It is 1940 and the British Army is being forced out of France by the invading Nazis. In the UK, children who have been evacuated to the country are trickling home as no bombs have (yet) been dropped on London. Young men and women are working for the war effort.

Maisie's neighbors come to her about their son Joe. He is working with a painting crew on a government contract, painting on the Air Force bases in the South. But he has not called. They are worried. He is not the kind of young man who would worry his family on purpose.

Maisie's investigation will reveal an underworld connection - someone making a profit while putting the soldiers at risk.

Winspear captures the time period and the tensions, worries and fear that plague a society at war - and on the brink of invasion. Her characters are well created and her stories based on family tales of the wars. For anyone who likes to read, this series is a must.

Winspear, Jacqueline. (2018). To Die But Once. New York: Harper.