New & Recommended Fiction from our 2019 Winter Newsletter

Jeanette Winterson draws you into a world split between a life mostly true and one that could be: 18-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley writing Frankenstein, and young trans Dr. Ry Shelley, in love with Victor Stein, who dreams of breaking death’s hold on humanity. Also, sex dolls, poetry, workers’ rights, AI ethics, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and God—all part of a modern fable on humanity’s fears, Desire, and Love; a wild dream to marvel at. - Jocelyn

This is a powerful character novel about two brutal Irish gangsters well past their prime. Maurice and Charlie have long corrupted and harmed themselves and those around them. They are now in search of Maurice’s daughter Dilly at the Spanish ferry terminal in Algeciras. In lyrical prose, Kevin Barry tells the story of how the life, loves, and fraught friendship of these two men brought them to this place. This is writing to savor and linger over with every turn of the page. - Trey

I couldn’t put this book down. Who doesn’t like spies? Especially if they are women trained as secretaries. Sally and Irina are drawn into the world of espionage at the height of the Cold War through the recently formed CIA. Their mission? Smuggling literature into Russia as a way to ignite democracy and a sense of freedom. I was fascinated by how these women moved between two worlds, working as secretaries during the day and involved in clandestine operations after hours. - Laurel Maxwell, Bookshop Santa Cruz Bookshop Ambassador

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How do you see? How do you see strength? Evil? Resilience? Tragedy? Hope? Hopelessness? Love? Lefteri asks these questions in The Beekeeper of Aleppo. This story is about a young man, Uri, his wife Afra, and their escape from war-torn Aleppo. They experience the unimaginable loss of war and it’s up to Uri to get all he has left—his wife—to the safety of the UK. Uri and Afra are gentle people and so is the book. It doesn’t hide the horrors the two suffer, but the revelations of these atrocities are veiled and tragic, not bloody or graphic. The text reflects Uri’s spirit and perspective. Lefteri spent time volunteering in refugee camps and has worked with refugees in the UK. Her deep knowledge of their plight, both acute and long term, has produced an empathetic account of survival and love. This is a must-read. - Judi Heher, Bookshop Santa Cruz Book Group Amabassador

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Fans of Strout’s Olive Kitteridge will be thrilled with this follow-up. Olive remains as brutally honest and irritable as ever, her world packed with complexities that befuddle and amuse her. The genius of Strout’s juicy prose is found in her characters and how their stories illustrate what it is to be human: vulnerable, sweet, disappointing, heartbreaking, heartwarming. We recognize ourselves and our neighbors in these stories—and maybe our book group members, too! - Jennifer Wood, Bookshop Santa Cruz Book Group Ambassador

Don’t miss a special evening celebrating Olive, Again with A Literary Soirée with Elizabeth Strout on October 29th.

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