Books Set in North America, Washington State, United States of America

Somewhere Out There, by Amy Hatvany (2016)

Jennifer was a 20-year-old woman with 2 children.  Her family had kicked her out and she was living in her car.  With basically no choice, she relinquished custody of her daughters.  She believed that they would be adopted together into a loving family.  Instead, the 6-month-old baby was quickly adopted, but the 4-year-old went through a number of foster homes until she aged out of the state system.

Thirty-five years later, both daughters independently seek information about their birth mother.  This novel is told in the voices of each daughter and their birth mother.  While not great literature, it was a compelling book that kept my interest.

Read:  September 14, 2026

4 Stars

Books Set in Europe; Croatia

The Hired Man, by Aminatta Forna (2013)

This novel takes place over the summer of 2007 and is narrated by Duro Kolak, a life-long resident of a small Croatian village.  An English woman and her two children suddenly appear and move into the "blue house", a house that holds memories for Duro.  The house had been empty for some time, so Duro approaches her and offers to help make repairs.

As Duro recounts the summer and his relationship with the English family, Laura and her teenaged son, Matthew, and daughter Grace, memories of the recent Balkan Wars come flooding back.  As a child, Duro and a close friendship with Fabjan, Kresimir and his younger sister, Anka.  Together, they would go hunting in the nearby woods.  Duro had a secret romance with Anka, but when it is discovered, he was forced to leave town.  When he returned to the village a decade later, life seemed to pick up where it had left off, except Anka was married and now lived in the Blue House.  Civil War has erupted in Croatia.  Who to trust?

As Duro and Grace work to repair a mosaic on the wall of the Blue House, she guesses that Duro is hiding dark secrets from an earlier time.  Slowly, the layers of Duro's past are peeled away, and we learn what keeps Duro and the other villagers attached to their small community.

This was a wonderfully written novel.

Read: September 3, 2026

5 Stars 

Books Set in North America, United States, Massachusetts

This Is Not About Us, by Allegra Goodman (2026)

The novel opens as sev­en­ty-four-year-old Jean­nie Rubin­stein, the youngest of three sis­ters, is dying.  She is surrounded by her family ~ her two sisters, her sons and her nieces and nephews.  After Jeannie dies, the family gathers with food to mourn her passing.  Sadly, however, Helen, the oldest sister (and apparently a terrible cook), becomes angry when the middle sister, Sylvia, brings an apple cake to the gathering.  Everyone devours Sylvia's cake, thus beginning a feud between Helen and Sylvia.  Although they used to be close, Helen refused to speak with Sylvia.  This is the underlying thread of the novel.

As the novel unfolds, we learn of the lives of the other family members.  Helen and her husband, Charlie, had two daughters ~ Pam and Wendy.  Pam is single, much to the dismay of her parents, and Wendy is happily married to a non-Jewish woman.  Thus, Helen has no grandchildren.  A matter which greatly disturbs Sylvia.  Pam and Wendy have their own tensions and hurt feelings to deal with.

Meanwhile, Sylvia's son, Richard, is navigating a divorce and shared parenting with his ex-wife.  Their two young daughters have their own battles with their parents as they, too, must live with the consequences of the divorce.

Although the novel is "not about us", the reader, probably every family can relate to one or more of the circumstances of this family's trials and tribulations.

Read:  July 31, 2026

4 Stars

Books Set in North America: Kentucky

Horse, by Geraldine Brooks (2022)

Read:  June 14, 2026

3.5 stars

Books Set in North America, Washington State

Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt (2022)

Read: June 12, 2026

4 Stars

Books Set in North America, Golden Georgia

Theo of Golden, by Allen Levi (2025)

Read: June 11, 2026

5 Stars

Books Set in North America; Georgia, United States

Pretty Girls, by Karin Slaughter (2025)

This novel was billed as a psychological thriller.  It's a horrible story.  The premise revolves around snuff porn and a disfunctional family.  Twenty-plus years earlier, Julia Carroll went missing and was never found.  Fast forward to present day, and Julia's younger sister, Claire, who seemingly has a perfect marriage, watches her husband murdered before her eyes.  When Paul dies, Claire reaches out to her estranged sister, Lydia, who is a former drug addict.  They are suddenly found in the midst of a snuff-porn scheme.  Is there a connection to their dead sister?

None of the characters were likeable and the premise was horrific.

I will not be reading other books by this author.

Read: May 20, 2025

2 Stars

Books Set in Europe and Asia; London, England, Turkey, and Iraq

There are Rivers in the Sky, by Elif Shafak (2024)

This is by far the best book I have read in a long time.

Read:  May 13, 2026 while in the South China Sea

5 Stars

The Most Fun We Ever Had, by Claire Lombardo (2019)

This novel is a family saga about  David and Marilyn Sorenson and their four daughters.  The novel goes back and forth in time as we learn about the lives and struggles of this dysfunctional family.  In the "present", which is 2016 in the novel, each of the four adult daughters are struggling with live.  The eldest daughter, Wendy, seemingly has a perfect life, she dropped out of college to marry the love of her life, a wealthy man 15 years her senior.  When she is widowed young, she sought solace with a parade of men.  In her early 20's, Liza had a child whom she put up for adoption.  She later married and was a promising young attorney until she became a stay-at-home mother.  She began doubting herself and her life choices.  Liza lived with a very needy man who was more child than functioning adult.  When she became pregnant, he left her.  Finally, there was Gracie, the "epilogue" who was far younger than her sisters.  She failed to get into law school but was unable to tell her parents for fear of disappointing them.  When Liza son who had been given up 15 years earlier suddenly enters their lives, the family members must face the family secrets.

The book kept my attention, but wasn't great.

Read: April 26, 2026

3 Stars

Books Set in Europe, Ireland

In the Woods, by Tana French (2007)

This mystery novel is narrated by Adam Robert Ryan.  He and his Murder Squad partner, Cassie Maddox,  are investigating the murder of a young girl, which took place in the same woods where Ryan was the victim of a crime as a young boy.  

When Ryan was 12-years old, he and two friends were victims of a mysterious crime.  His two friends disappeared, and Ryan was found covered in blood.  His family moved away from the village, and he dropped Adam from his name, and became known as Rob Ryan.  When he is assigned to the murder case years later, he did not recuse himself from the case.  The proximity of the new crime triggered vague memories from his own past.

This novel is well written and kept my attention.  I really liked the interaction between Ryan and Maddox as we follow the current murder as well as Rob's mysterious past.

This was Tana French's first novel.  I will definitely be looking for more of her books.

Read:  March 3, 2026

4 Stars

Books Set in North America (New Hampshire); Europe (Vienna); and Asia (Israel)

Queen Esther, by John Irving (2025)

John Irving is a very quirky author.  While the title seems to refer to Esther, a Jewish orphan, adopted as a young teen to be a nanny to the daughter of the Winslow family, much of the book actually focuses on her son, Jimmy.  Esther was born in Vienna, Austria in 1905.  Soon after her birth, her family immigrated to the United States to escape the growing antisemitism.  Sadly, antisemitism was prevalent in the United States as well, and Esther's mother was murdered antisemites in Maine.  (Her father had died en route to the United States.)

The Winslows of New Hampshire provide Esther with a loving, but non-Jewish, family.  She grew up knowing of her Jewish background and values.  She is determined not to marry, but does agree to be the birth mother to Jimmy, who will be raised by Honor Winslow.  Esther longs to find her Jewish roots and becomes like the biblical Queen Esther and work to protect the Jews post-World War II.  Her life becomes mysterious and her Winslow family believes she has ties to Israel's Mossad.

Esther's son is curious about his birth mother and her ties to Judaism.  He also is determined to become a writer, so travels to Vienna, the place of his mother's birth.  At this point, the novel takes a turn and we meet all the quirky characters that are Irving's signature.

Irving's descriptions of live in New Hampshire are so New England.  His take on the formation of Israel are also so vivid and factual.  As he describes walking down the streets of Jerusalem, I felt as though I, too, were walking with Jimmy.  As Jimmy meets people, he has the opportunity to determine his own life course ~ is he the child of Esther, or of Honor?

I enjoyed the beginning and the ending of this novel, but got bogged down my much of the middle of the book.

3 Stars

Read: January 27, 2026

Books Set in Europe; England

The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman (2020)

Read: December 8, 2025

3.5 Stars

Book 1

Books Set in North America, New Hampshire, United States of America

The Last One at the Wedding, by Jason Rekulak (2024)

Read:  November 25, 2025

5 Stars

Books Set in North America; Washington State

Between Sisters, by Kristin Hannah (2003)

Read:  September 30, 2025

3 Stars

Books Set in Europe; France

The Paris Agent, by Kelly Rimmer (2023)

This novel follows two female British Special Operatives Executive (SOE) spies whose lives will be determined by a double agent in their midst.  This novel is loosely based on the women who served in the SOE during World War II.

Read: September 27, 2025

3.5 stars

Books Set in Asia: Jerusalem, Israel and Russia

A Woman in Jerusalem, by A. B. Yehoshua (2004)

Read: September 13, 2025

3 Stars

Books Set in North America, Connecticut, United States of America

As Close to Us as Breathing, by Elizabeth Poliner (2016)

Read:  August 14, 2025

4 Stars

Books Set in North America, California, United States

One Amazing Thing, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaaruni (2009)

This novel takes place in the basement of a government building somewhere in California.  A group of random people trapped in the visa office hoping for a visa to visit India when a massive earthquake occurs.  To pass the time while they await a hoped rescue, each person shares something amazing that has happened in their lives.

Read:  August 4, 2025

5 Stars

Books Set in Asia; India

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters, by Balli Kaur Jaswal (2019)

Read:  July 4, 2025

4 Stars

Books Set in Europe; England

The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, by Eva Jurczyk (2022)

Read:  June 27, 2025

3 Stars