Marriage of a Thousand Lies

Marriage of a Thousand Lies by SJ Sindu is the tale of breaking away from what your family expects, to be yourself.

Lucky (Lakshmi) is married to Kris (Krishna). They are both gay. In their families, you grow up and get married - that is the only option that does not bring embarrassment on your family.

Lucky and Kris are friends. Their arrangement is that they can date other people. They live far from their families and do what they want.

When Lucky's grandmother falls, she goes home to help her mother take care of her. When she gets home, all of the rules she had when she was a kid are back in place.

While she is home, her best friend from high school comes over - Nisha was also Lucky's first girlfriend, with whom she is still in love.

Sindu has written a rich story of going against others wishes to be who you need to be for yourself, and the consequences of that choice.

Sindu, SJ. (2017). Marriage of a Thousand Lies. New York: Soho Press.

It's Not Like It's a Secret

It's Not Like It's a Secret by Misa Sugiura is a coming out tale.

Sana is Japanese American. She grew up in Wisconsin where she doesn't look like any of her classmates. When her father gets a job in California, she and her parents move. In her new school, there are people from all cultures.

While Sana is getting settled in her new school, the first classmate who talks to her says she will join the other Asian girls group. And she does make friends with them - her first group of friends who understand her culture. But she also makes friends with a punk guy and she has a huge crush on a Latinx chick she met before school started. Sana even tries out for the cross country team to have an excuse to talk to Jaime again.

Sugiura has written a beautiful coming out tale, filled with the stress of not fitting in in a new school. Her characters are courageous and beautiful. She uses poetry for the characters to convey things that are hard to say to each other.

Sugiura, Misa. (2017). It's Not Like It's a Secret. New York: Harper Teen.

The Other Woman (Gabriel Allon 18)

The Other Woman by Daniel Silva is the eighteenth book in his series featuring Gabriel Allon, a Mossad spy who just wants to be an art restorer.

In the continued time of every country spying on every other country, whether friend or foe, everyone is fighting for information. Israel has developed an agent from Russia and is sharing their finds with England and the United States.

When that spy thinks he has been burned, Mossad sets up a way to pull him out and resettle him in a safe place for all of his work over the years.

But the layers of espionage have other ideas. There is a French n the mountains of Andalusia whose knowledge could disrupt the spy services of the United States and England. She has been keeping tabs since she fell in love with a spy in Beirut in the 1960s.

Silva is a masterful story teller who weaves current day news into his stories. He is one of the best authors writing today.

Silva, Daniel. (2018). The Other Woman. New York: Harper.

The Weight of Ink

The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish is an historical fiction discovery of a Jewish scribe in London in the 1600s.

Professor Helen Watts is approaching the age when she will be force into retirement. She is an authority on the Jews of England.

When a former student contacts her about some documents found in a house his wife has inherited, Helen is not too hopeful. Most of those types of finds are in the past. But hidden in a secret panel under the stairs are the papers of a little known rabbi from the 1600s. A possible glimpse into Jewish life of the time - well before the keeping of diaries.

Telling the tale of a Portuguese Jew who moved from Amsterdam to London, the papers are a great find. Even more astonishing - the scribe appears to have been a woman.

Told in alternating chapters between the 2000s and 1600s, this fascinating novel reveals a little explored time of Jewish history. For background, read Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean.

If you are a fan of history, archival librarianship or discovery, read this great book!

Kadish, Rachel (2017). The Weight of Ink. New York: Houghton Mifflin.