How to Hide in Plain Sight

Finished May 12

How to Hide in Plain Sight by Emma Noyes

This novel is outstanding. The main character, twenty-one-year old Eliot Beck hasn't seen in family in three years since she left for New York City. She is the youngest child in a large family, and loves her siblings and their partners. She fled because of a secret that she feels is devastating, and she uses routine and work to distract herself from her obsessive-compulsive thoughts. 

Eliot has agreed to attend her brother Taz's wedding celebration at the family island, Cradle Island,  located in Canada near Manitoulin Island on Lake Huron. Eliot grew up in Chicago, in her family's large home there, with summers on the family island. The island has numerous cabins located on a sheltered cove and connected by a boardwalk. It is a place close to the heart for the family, special to them all. 

The summer that Eliot was ten, her brother Henry, less than a year older than her, stayed behind in Illinois for summer school, but died in an accident. Eliot's obsessive-compulsive disorder began then, although she didn't have a term for it and thought of it as her worries. When she started school that fall, she became attached to a new boy in school. Manuel is from Colombia and his parents travel a lot for work, leaving him to be raised by his nanny. At first, Eliot natters to him endlessley, without a response. She picks up where she left off the last time she saw him. 

Eliot's oldest brothers, Caleb and Clarence, are from an earlier wife of her father's. Then came Karma, Taz, Henry, and Eliot. There was a fairly large gap between Taz and Henry, and Henry was the way that quieter Eliot connected to her older siblings. Since losing him, she's felt that she doesn't fit in, and struggles with what to say at family dinners. 

The book moves between the present, over a four-day wedding celebration that integrates family traditions and new connections, and Eliot and her family's past, beginning with the loss of Henry. We see her mother's withdrawal followed by a new purpose-filled existence, and her father's collapse and resolve. We see Karma's obsession with baking leading to a new career, and details of the social changes the family goes through. 

We also see clearly one example of obsessive compulsive disorder, an example of intrusive thoughts that drive Eliot to confide in Manuel, and then ask her parents to let her go to a therapist. Despite the professional help, the disorder affects Eliot in a large way, and she struggles to hold onto what she can of a normal life as she tries to hide the reality of her mental health. 

This book had me laughing and crying as I saw the reality of Eliot's struggles and her relationship with her friend and close-knit family. 

An amazing read that also opens a window into a complicated mental health condition. 

The Whalebone Theatre

Finished June 30

The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn

This story start in World War I and continues past World War II. The central character is Cristabel Seagrave, a child as the book begins. Cristabel's mother died giving birth to her, and her father pushed her away in his grief. He is now remarried and hoping his new young wife can give him the son and heir he wants. Cristabel is a child that is curious and imaginative. She exists on the edges of her world, a daughter of the Chilcombe estate, but one often ignored. She is befriended by one of the younger members of staff, Maudie, who answers her questions if she can. She also waits eagerly for the letters from her uncle who is an officer in the army and tells tales of faraway places and interesting events. 

She eventually does get the long-awaited brother, Digby, after first a sister Flossie, and longs for the formal education that Digby gets, as opposed to the French governess that she and Flossie are educated by. In 1928, before Digby gets sent away to school, a whale washes up on the beach bordering the estate. Cristabel is one of the first on the scene and she claims the beast for the family. Around the same time, an interesting group of artistic people are visiting the area, and Cristabel manages, through her unorthodox manner to befriend the artist at the center of the group, and convince him to help her stage a play. This event leads to regular events and new connections, and gradually the three children grow up. 

As World War II begins, Digby is determined to sign-up, but not as an officer as his father wishes, and he sneaks away to enlist. Cristabel is also keen to help the war effort in some way and ventures off to London to offer her services. Flossie stays at the estate, but soon finds herself contributing in her own way. As the three begin their adult lives, the point of view takes turns between them, giving us insight into each experience. 

The main actions of the book take place in 1928 and during World War II, but pre-1928 also gives us a lot of background to the characters and the situation of Cristabel. 

I enjoyed the personalities of these three characters, and how each had their own strengths that carried them through the troubles they encountered. The story took a while to grab me, but once it did I was hooked. This book has mystery, romance, and suspense, and the Chilcombe estate is brought to life through the descriptions and events around it. 

Goodnight Stranger

Finished May 26

Goodnight Stranger by Miciah Bay Gault

This tale is set mostly on Wolf Island, a fictional island near Martha's Vineyard. The main character Lydia Moore is 29 and feeling like she is stuck, unable to have a fulfilling life. She went to college for almost one term, but returned home due to her mother's illness. She has stayed in the family home, with her twin brother Lucas, who has extreme anxiety. She works seasonally in the information booth near the ferry dock. She likes to look at those exiting the ferry and classify them as tourist, visitor, or resident. One day she notices someone who doesn't fit, and makes eye contact with him. She feels compelled to meet him and soon he has found his way into her life.

Lucas is sure this man, Cole Anthony, is the reincarnation of their dead sibling, Baby B (real name Colin), who died when they were infants. If he hadn't, they would be triplets. Lydia isn't convinced despite things that he does or knows about them. She is determined to find his real identity to save herself from what she feels is a man taking over her life. 

Along the way, she finds help from an unlikely new friend, and perhaps a way to break out of the rut her life was in before. She also gets to know some of her fellow islanders and things about the island that are new to her. 

This is a story with a dark tone, as Lydia feels menaced by this man she has met. Sometimes it feels like things are eerie and haunting, and sometimes just uneasy. I liked how Lydia was able to find strength within herself to continue her search for the truth. 

A story that is hard to put down.  

All Her Little Secrets

Finished January 8

All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris

This thriller moves back and forth between the childhood of the main character, corporate lawyer Ellice Littlejohn, with occasional viewpoints of other people like her younger brother Sam. Ellice escaped her small town, and the life of poverty she lived there through scholarships. She now has an Ivy League degree, and a secret relationship with her married white superior Michael, the EVP and general counsel for Houghton Transportation in Atlanta. That's just one of her secrets. She also keeps secret her origins, passing herself off as an orphan with no family. The woman that saved her, helping protect her from that early life is now in the later stages of dementia and Ellice pays for her stay at a high-scale living facility. But she knows Vera would rather be back on her farm. 

Ellice also hides her younger brother Sam, who's had some legal issues and doesn't seem to be able to keep away from the temptations of that life. She and Sam are close, and she loves him, but she also feels guilty for leaving him behind when she escaped. 

After an episode from the early part of her life, the present-day part of the novel begins with Ellice finding her boss shot in the head when she goes to meet him for an early pre-work assignation. So she hides the fact that she found him too, and goes to her own desk and tries to get on with things. But, soon she finds that with the gossip, the police, and the sudden interest in her from the executive suite, that all those secrets are pretty hard to hide.

Ellice is also one of the very few black employees in the building. Outside of the security staff, and other low-paid workers, she is it. There have been protests outside the corporate building about the lack of racial presence and a threat of a class action suit. This is another thing looming on the horizon. 

As Ellice starts trying to figure out what happened to Michael to save her from the threats now coming at her, she finds even more secrets to deal with. 

The plot is a good one, and I found the main character interesting. The author is also a corporate attorney, so she brings in realistic elements from that life. A good read. 

Clear Skies, No Wind, 100% Visibility

Finished September 22

Clear Skies, No Wind, 100% Visibility by Theodora Armstrong

This collection of stories, some novella length, are all set in British Columbia, and landscape is definitely important to the stories. Characters have surprising depth for the story lengths. The stories are also quite varied in circumstance. 

Rabbit has a girl quietly observing her own troubled family dynamics along with the kidnapping of an older girl on their street where no one responded to her calls for help. 

Fishtail has a father taking his teen daughters away for a weekend where he investigates a possible real estate acquisition

Whale Stories has a boy adjusting to a new house with his mom and younger sister, out of which his mom runs a bed and breakfast for tourists.

In The Art of Eating, a middle-aged restaurant chef, about to become a father for the first time, feels unprepared for this life changing event, even as he struggles with disappointment in his career. 

Thanks to Carin explores the relationship between two sisters who've made different life choices as one makes an impulsive visit to the other.

In The Spider in the Jar, two young brothers with an imbalanced relationship explore the nature surrounding them while one tries to be accepted by the other.

The title story has a novice air traffic controller face an accident and its aftermath.

And in Mosquito Creek, two teen girls test their friendship against the background of first relationships and risky behaviour. 

Interesting and surprising. 

Pride and Protest

Finished August 7

Pride and Protest by Nikki Payne

This is a modern day retelling of Pride and Prejudice with a few changes to certain elements of the plot and characters. A great read that is well written with lots of humour and a serious undertone.

The issue at the center of the story here is affordable housing.

Liza Bennett recently moved back in with her mother, grandmother and siblings after a rent increase made her own apartment unaffordable. Along with her mom are her older sister Jayne, who has her own very interesting past and a strength that comes from dealing with adversity; her brother Maurice who is passionate about both black rights and poverty issues; and her teenage sister LeDeya who is very into fashion and does her own Tiktok videos giving fashion and beauty advice; and Granny who loves to garden and gives practical advice.

Granny is the Mr. Bennett of this story and Maurice is the Mary, both adapted and yet recognizably not only the same characterization, but a deeper one as well. 

Darcy here is a guy named Dorsey. He is the middle child in his family, but recently lost his older brother and his parents in a car accident, so now only has a younger sister, Gigi. Dorsey and his siblings were all adopted from different cultures. Dorsey is from the Philippines, and into his native culture, but also has been thrust unexpectedly into a leadership role in the company his parents ran, with his heart more interesting in his mother's philanthropic foundation. 

Liza is a strong, smart woman with a degree who works as a DJ at a Washington, D.C. radio station and has been fighting against developers gentrifying her neighbourhood and driving out the lower income people who live there now. Netherfield is a new development project there and Dorsey's company is behind it. They have done some community events to present a friendlier aspect to themselves, but it is mostly lip service and Liza is all too ready to call them on it. 

As Liza and her family get to know Dorsey, his organization, and his friends, we see a greater depth to this adaptation than even was in the original story. The characters have more complexity and the backstories are bigger. 

This also has so many things I like about modern relationship fiction, including dealing with serious real-life issues, great banter, and strong sibling relationships. 

This is a fantastic read.

Chaotic Good

Finished December 8

Chaotic Good by Whitney Gardner

This teen novel is told by teen Cameron. She has a twin brother Cooper and their family has just moved from Portland, Oregon to Eugene, Oregon. It is the beginning of summer before their senior year of high school. Cameron loves to sew and create new fashion items, and she's also into costuming for cosplay. She is applying for Fashion Design school and has a portfolio that she needs to get ready for her application. 

When she ventures into the local comic store for inspiration, the clerk treats her in a very condescending way, because of her gender and she feels very uncomfortable. After some thought and discussion, she decides to take advantage of her gender neutral name and dress as a boy the next time she shops there. This decision ends up leading to a summer of deceit, new friends, and an introduction to the world of Dungeons and Dragons (D and D). It also means that her new relationships are built on pretty shaky ground and at some point she's going to need to be truthful about her gender. 

Another aspect of the IRL part of this story is her online life. She has a blog where she talks about her fashion creations, including her cosplay creations, and this draws attention from the internet trolls. As she finds herself assaulted by this foul-mouthed mob, threatened and verbally assaulted, she finds her boy persona a way to escape that reality for a while. 

I liked Cameron as a character, and liked that D and D also gave her another connection to her father. This was an interesting story looking at some real world issues around gender and online harassment.

The Needle

Finished April 29

The Needle by Francis King

This is a short novel about the relationship between two siblings. Lorna, the eldest is a doctor, with the practice located on the lower level of her home. Her partner, Matty, is also a friend, and up until the return of Lorna's brother Bob from Kuala Lumpur three years earlier, had been a frequent visitor upstairs. Bob and Matty don't seem to like each other much, but they aren't overt about it. Lorna, a widow, also has a grown daughter, Edie who visits from time to time. 

Lorna and Bob grew up with a stepfather who entered the picture shortly after Bob was born. Lorna fondly remembers their father, who died of a sudden illness before Bob was born. Bob was a weak boy, fond of telling fanciful stories, until he was sent to boarding school. He returned more silent and shuttered. 

While he lives with Lorna, and supposedly makes a little money from short-lived acting roles, he doesn't share with her. She has no real idea what he does with his time, who his friends are, or much really about his life. He is in many ways as dependent on her as he was when they were young, but much more secretive about her life. 

As elements of his life begin to intrude on Lorna's life, she begins asking questions and learning more about him, learning about things that aren't that comfortable to know. As she learns of his actions, her reaction is also a surprise. 

An interesting, yet unsettling read. 

The Beacon

Finished April 24

The Beacon by Susan Hill

Hill's novels are very atmospheric and this one, set around a family in a small North Country town in England gives us a sense of isolation and loneliness. The Prime family has farmed here for years, John Jr. taking over from John, and living in the attic with his wife Bertha until the farm is his. John and Bertha raised four children: Colin, May, Frank, and Berenice. May always stood a bit apart from her siblings as she was academically minded and got a place at university. 

But her year in London wasn't what she thought it would be and she returned home to the farm, which was called The Beacon. Colin married young and worked in farming. Berenice married a man who was quiet and supportive, and Frank left. May stayed, gradually taking on more and more of the duties around the farm until both of her parents died. 

May visited Colin and Berenice and they were as close as could be expected. They didn't think of Frank often, until he wrote a memoir. That became a turning point that changed their lives and the relationships they had with the community. 

As we see them take in this information, make decisions in the wake of it, and get on with their lives as best they can, we also see the underlying emotions.

This short novel is one that will stay with you as you think about how actions influence so much beyond the ones who initiated them. 

Mostly Dead Things

Finished June 20

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

 

This is a most unusual novel. It is set around a Florida family who are all reacting in different ways to recent losses. The main character here Jessa, is a woman in her thirties, who runs a taxidermy shop. The shop was her father's and he taught her most of what she knows. He tried to train her brother Milo as well, but Milo didn't take to it as naturally as she did.  A few months ago, Jessa's father killed himself at the shop, leaving her to clean up the mess. Jessa has thrown herself into work, but isn't doing well. She and Milo are also both grieving the loss of Milo's wife Brynn who has left the family. Jessa considered Brynn her best friend, but she also had a sexual relationship with her. Brynn left behind her son Bastien in his teens and her daughter Lolee who is younger. Jessa's mom is grieving in a different way. She is both free of a man who was very dictatorial in his life, and missing him as a partner. Her way of reacting is very different. She wasn't really involved in the shop before, but now she is taking the pieces and posing them in sexual ways in the window. When a nearby art gallery sees this, they take her on to do a show, and things really get wild. 

Jessa is reacting in a very prudish way to her mother's actions, both aghast at the blatant sexuality, and upset at the way the taxidermied pieces are being taken apart and repurposed. She is also drawn to the owner of the gallery, another strong woman named Lucinda. 

Bastien is also an interesting character. Like Jessa, he is trying to hold the family that is left together, but his methods are off the map. This is a novel that took me places I didn't even know existed and expanded my mind in wild ways. 

I also loved that the author is a librarian. 

Girl A

Finished April 30

Girl A by Abigail Dean

This was a novel that I couldn't stop reading. Girl A, real name Alexandra or Lex, is at a women's prison in England as the book opens, called there to meet with prison authorities. Her birth mother was incarcerated there and has named Lex, her oldest daughter as the executor of her will. Lex must decide whether she wants to take on this burden.

Lex now lives in New York City and travels all over the world for her job in corporate acquisitions. She loves the work and is good at it. She hasn't seen her siblings in years. One isn't even aware of his birth family. 

The book gradually reveals what happened to this family and the children who were traumatized by their experience. There were four boys and three girls in the family. They lived in a small town in a house remote from others. The abuse started with control and slowly, so slowly escalated to some of them being chained in their rooms. Girl A was the one who escaped, the one who brought help that freed the others. She was the one that led to them all starting with other families. 

Now she must talk to them all to get them to agree on what happens to what their mother left behind. The house they were held captive in, and a small amount of money. 

Lex and Edie have an idea to repurpose the house to give it a new and better meaning. But can she convince the others? 

This is a book that reveals its story gradually, with chapters for each child that Lex meets with, labelled with their assigned letter and their real name. There are some missing and we find out why. Each one has a story, some worse than others. This is a story of love gone wrong, of psychological and physical abuse, and of recovery. Lex got lucky with the couple that took her in, and with the psychologist, Doctor Kay, who was assigned to her. She doesn't like to look back, but she must now. 

Her oldest brother is getting married soon too, and that event also lurks on the horizon. Will she go? How will she react to that. 

This is a story masterfully told. So well done.

The Dutch House

Finished March 18 

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, read by Tom Hanks

I started this book back in March 2020 when I was commuting to work and when the commute stopped, so did the reading. I recently started it up again to listen to while I did crafts and really enjoyed getting back into it. Tom Hanks does a great job of the reading, even breaking into song in one part. 

The story is of a place, a house that was bought by an ambitious young man, Cyril Conroy, for his family after it had been sitting empty for some time, empty of residents that is. 

It was bought full of the art, furniture, and other possessions of the Dutch family that built it. From crystal chandeliers to family portraits, Dutch language books in the bookcase and finely upholstered furniture the house was ready to live in. But Cyril and his wife Elna had come from the inner city. He'd made a career in real estate, but Elna had trouble adjusting to life in such a house, especially with servants who did the work she'd be used to doing. They had two young children, Maeve and Danny, and soon Cyril's wife left, at first for India to work with the poor there. For much of the book we don't learn her story, but she does return to it near the end. 

Meave and Danny were raised mostly by the two women working in the house, sisters Jocelyn and Sandy, who loved them as if they were their own. Danny started going with his father on the weekends to visit the buildings that he owned, help him collect the rents and learn about the business. Right down to the nuts and bolts of maintenance. But a single man of that kind of wealth attracts some attention and a woman had set her sights on Cyril. By this time, Maeve was in college and Danny in high school, and by the time the young single mother Andrea married Cyril and moved in with her two daughters Norma and Bright, Cyril was in her hands. Thus, when Cyril died young, the first thing Andrea did was kick Danny out of the house. Maeve and Danny soon discovered that she had maneuvered things so that she was the sole heir of the estate and the only thing Danny had access to was an educational trust fund. 

As the book begins, Danny and Maeve are sitting in a car on the street looking at the house and wishing they still lived there, so their circumstances are pretty clear from the beginning and how they got there soon gets told. 

The rest of the book tells of their growing up, starting lives of their own, but never able to let go of this house that had been their home. The story is told from Danny's viewpoint and Hanks brings him to life. We see his relationship to his sister, his happenstance meeting of his future wife and how his sister played a role in getting them together, how his history led to his career decisions and some of his personal ones. We also see how Maeve made Danny her project, giving up her own goals to ensure that he became a success despite Andrea's manipulations. 

Andrea is the stereotypical evil stepmother, a caricature of a person. The other characters are more complex, and the story makes some lovely turns bringing it to a quite unexpected ending that seems perfect. 

The Push

Finished January 22

The Push by Ashley Audrain

This tense psychological thriller is set mostly around Blythe a young woman, who falls in love, marries, and has children. But it jumps back into the experiences of other women in her family at certain points, and into her own childhood. Besides her own earlier life experiences, we see her mother Cecilia and her grandmother Etta. 

Beginning with Etta, who had a difficult childhood and felt like an outsider, we see a pattern with her daughter Cecilia, who felt unloved, yet tried to connect with her mother, until she couldn't anymore, and tried to find a better life for herself. And Blythe herself tried to connect with her mother, but when she couldn't found a substitute mother figure to connect with.

Blythe isn't sure about her own ability to be a good mother. Her husband Fox reassures her and pushes her on the issue, and she has a baby girl, Violet. But Blythe doesn't feel a connection to her daughter at first, and finds the lack of sleep, the lack of understanding from Fox, and her own daughter's personality all contribute to this. Her second child, Sam, is a completely different story, and she connects with him instantly and continues to as he grows. She worries about the discrepancy between the children, but Violet seems to cherish Sam as well, and she hopes that life will improve for the family. 

One thing I found interesting was the men in this book. They were largely absent emotionally for Blythe and her mother and grandmother. The women in the previous generations had strong personalities and the men seemed to focus on them rather than their daughters. For Blythe it is different. Once Violet is born, she is Fox's focus and Blythe's concerns and feelings are dismissed and ignored. So Blythe has been failed twice by the men in her life. 

Even when things are dark, Blythe doubts herself and tries to make some type of connection to her daughter, but once Sam exists, we can see that her joy is from him. She has a good relationship with her mother-in-law and has confided in her to some extent, but holds back as Blythe expects that if sides have to be chosen, she will not be. 

Things escalate slowly, pull back, and escalate again, with the suspense growing as the plot moves forward. I found the one friend connection that Blythe made interesting and how it still had a shadow that existed even when it stopped being what it was. 

An amazing read!

Me and You

Finished July 14
Me and You by Niccolo Ammaniti, translated by Kylee Doust

This short novel focuses on a young man, with most of the story taking place when he was a teenager, over a week. Lorenzo Cuni is not socially adept. He has spent time watching his peers and trying to mimic their behaviour to fit in, with limited success. He isn't picked on like he used to be, but he doesn't have any close friends.
On a weeklong school holiday, Lorenzo has told his parents that he was invited to go on a ski trip by fellow students, and now he has to figure out how to manage this. Setting up a spot in a storage space in his apartment complex basement that his parents never use, he stashes supplies and activities to occupy himself with during the week. But he must find a way to manage his mother's phone calls, and deal with an unexpected visitor, his half-sister.
The present day has him connecting once again with that sister, honoring the special connection they developed during this time, and recognizing how she helped him emotionally.
I found this book extremely poignant and really felt for the young Lorenzo as he tried to manage the expectations of those around him.

The Skeleton Coast

Finished June 12
The Skeleton Coast by Mardi McConnochie

This is the third book in the series that started with The Flooded Earth. Set in a future time where the earth's waters have risen and humanity has grown more divided, Annalie and her brother Will have set sail to try to find their father Spinner, and are running from the Admiralty, a ruling group that controls much of their world. Along with them are Annalie's best friend Essie, and Pod, a homeless young boy that they found abandoned in the sea in the first book in the series. Also along is Graham, their father's intelligent and often very helpful parrot.
There are many adventures along their voyage from pirates to dog packs, and they must use all their skills and ingenuity to stay together and on their father's trail.
I liked the way that each child brought something to the quest, and that without all of them, they wouldn't be successful. None of them are perfect, but they recognize that and accept it.
This is a story that shows all the children having unique and necessary attributes and I liked that gender wasn't an issue. Bravery is shown by all at different times, as is weakness.
I liked some of the larger issues around fairness and diversity as well.

A Catalog of Birds

Finished April 7
A Catalog of Birds by Laura Harrington

This novel takes place in 1970 with the main characters Billy Flynn and his younger sister Nell. Billy has an amazing affinity for birds. From a young age he watched them, drew them, and knew their sounds. He always wanted to fly, and when the war in Vietnam started, he signed up. He flew helicopters in the war, but has now returned home, damaged and hurting. His hearing has been affected, and his right arm, meaning that he can no longer draw like he did.
Billy's parents are supportive, and so is Nell. Nell's best friend was Billy's girlfriend, but she has suddenly gone missing, and no one seems to know where she is, or whether she left of her own accord. Billy's best friend Harlow also did his time in the war, and came back changed. He tried college, but now works as a mechanic at a local service station.
Billy and Nell both have their own secrets, and they hold them close. Billy has nightmares about his, and their father Jack tries to talk to him about it, citing his own period of nightmares following his stint in World War II. Billy and Nell's other siblings aren't as close, but they still play roles here.
This is a story of a bond between siblings, but also a story of coming of age, of the terrible effects of war, and of loss.  A beautiful read.