The Midnight News by Jo Baker
#literarynovel, author interview, character driven fiction, feminist literature, historical fiction, literary fiction, women's issues #literarynovel, author interview, character driven fiction, feminist literature, historical fiction, literary fiction, women's issues

The Midnight News by Jo Baker

The Midnight News is unlike any other World War II era novel I’ve read. Part love story and part mystery, I found Jo Baker’s plot intriguing, her characters engrossing, and the twist at the end of the novel masterful. A riveting story about resiliency and survival.

Read More
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J Ryan Stradal
author interview, character driven fiction, family drama, Feel good fiction, fiction humor, midwestern fiction, Minnesota Fiction, Minnesota interest, sense of place, Sense of Place Fiction, women's issues author interview, character driven fiction, family drama, Feel good fiction, fiction humor, midwestern fiction, Minnesota Fiction, Minnesota interest, sense of place, Sense of Place Fiction, women's issues

Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J Ryan Stradal

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE LAKESIDE SUPPER CLUB will feel like home to Midwesterners – grab a stool at the bar and settle in for a warm and witty read.

Read More
On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel
#literarynovel, addiction, character driven fiction, coming of age, domestic fiction, family drama, generational trauma, literary fiction, poetry, Sense of Place Fiction, true crime, women's issues #literarynovel, addiction, character driven fiction, coming of age, domestic fiction, family drama, generational trauma, literary fiction, poetry, Sense of Place Fiction, true crime, women's issues

On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel

McDaniel’s strength lies in her lyrical prose and character development. I cared for the twins and their ragtag family of friends, but I also despaired for their future, and raged at a world where the women were not considered victims, but somehow implicated in their own demise. Women in abusive relationships are often told they deserve to be mistreated and women who use drugs and prostitute themselves to make a living are told they are asking for it. ON THE SAVAGE SIDE is a testimony to missing women everywhere. Bravo to McDaniel for lifting up these silenced voices.

Read More
Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan
#literarynovel, author interview, character driven fiction, coming of age, feminist literature, Global politics, historical fiction, literary fiction, Minnesota interest, political, political fiction, sense of place, social justice, women's issues #literarynovel, author interview, character driven fiction, coming of age, feminist literature, Global politics, historical fiction, literary fiction, Minnesota interest, political, political fiction, sense of place, social justice, women's issues

Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan

BROTHERLESS NIGHTS is an engrossing and heartrending read, and Sashi is a heroine for the ages. Ganeshananthan writes brilliantly about a complex subject, casting a spotlight on the forgotten heroes and victims of war.

Read More
Demon Copperhead By Barbara Kingsolver
#literarynovel, addiction, Appalachia, character driven fiction, coming of age, family drama, generational trauma, literary fiction, sense of place, Sense of Place Fiction, social justice Lin Salisbury #literarynovel, addiction, Appalachia, character driven fiction, coming of age, family drama, generational trauma, literary fiction, sense of place, Sense of Place Fiction, social justice Lin Salisbury

Demon Copperhead By Barbara Kingsolver

Demon is resilient, he’s Teflon, he’s going to suffer, and the people he loves are not all going to make it out alive, but Demon, Demon is going to be all right.

Read More
Sinister Graves by Marcie R. Rendon
#native voices, character driven fiction, midwestern fiction, Minnesota Fiction, Minnesota interest, mystery, Native American Authors, Native Voices, sense of place Lin Salisbury #native voices, character driven fiction, midwestern fiction, Minnesota Fiction, Minnesota interest, mystery, Native American Authors, Native Voices, sense of place Lin Salisbury

Sinister Graves by Marcie R. Rendon

Cash Blackbear is one of my favorite anti-heroes — a brash beer-drinking, pool-playing Ojibwe woman who has aged out of the foster care system.

Read More
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
#literarynovel, Action adventure, character driven fiction, sense of place, Sense of Place Fiction, social justice Lin Salisbury #literarynovel, Action adventure, character driven fiction, sense of place, Sense of Place Fiction, social justice Lin Salisbury

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

Whitehead has a way of making us think we’re looking through a window into another world with his novels, and then shifting the light so that we realize we’re looking in a mirror.

Read More
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
#literarynovel, Action adventure, author interview, character driven fiction, coming of age, domestic fiction, family drama, historical fiction, literary fiction, Minnesota Fiction Lin Salisbury #literarynovel, Action adventure, author interview, character driven fiction, coming of age, domestic fiction, family drama, historical fiction, literary fiction, Minnesota Fiction Lin Salisbury

The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn

THE WHALEBONE THEATRE is a stunning debut – full of adventure and intrigue, Dickensian characters, and a mildewed mansion on the seaside. Joanna Quinn sets the stage for an immersive read, an escape from the doldrums of winter.

Read More
The Ski Jumpers by Peter Geye
#literarynovel, Action adventure, character driven fiction, coming of age, domestic fiction, family drama, literary fiction, midwestern fiction, Minnesota Fiction, Minnesota interest, mystery, Nature, sense of place, Sense of Place Fiction Lin Salisbury #literarynovel, Action adventure, character driven fiction, coming of age, domestic fiction, family drama, literary fiction, midwestern fiction, Minnesota Fiction, Minnesota interest, mystery, Nature, sense of place, Sense of Place Fiction Lin Salisbury

The Ski Jumpers by Peter Geye

Geye writes with a musicality that soars above the complex plot of The Ski Jumpers. The novel moves back and forth in time and place – moving from Duluth, where Jon and his wife currently live, to the North Woods of Minnesota where he visits his daughter and her partner, and to Minneapolis, where Jon and his brother Anton grew up skiing in Theodore Wirth Park and jumping from the Highland Ski Jump in Bloomington. If you’re a fan of arresting family dramas with a bit of a twist, complex and provocative characters, breathtaking landscapes wrapped in luminous prose, The Ski Jumpers is your next read.

Read More
Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro
#literarynovel, author interview, character driven fiction, coming of age, domestic fiction, family drama, literary fiction Lin Salisbury #literarynovel, author interview, character driven fiction, coming of age, domestic fiction, family drama, literary fiction Lin Salisbury

Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro

Whether Dani Shapiro is writing fiction or memoir, her writing is always reflective and wise. Signal Fires, her first novel in fifteen years, follows on the heels of her poignant memoir, Inheritance, and, like that memoir, examines the complexities of family relationships and the secrets that bind them together or tear them apart.

Read More
Firekeepers Daughter by Angeline Boulley
#literarynovel, #native voices, addiction, character driven fiction, family drama, generational trauma, Native American Authors Lin Salisbury #literarynovel, #native voices, addiction, character driven fiction, family drama, generational trauma, Native American Authors Lin Salisbury

Firekeepers Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Part thriller, mystery, love story, indigenous fiction, and cultural commentary, Firekeepers Daughter grabbed me by the throat and pulled me along at breakneck speed.

Read More
The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher
character driven fiction, feminist literature, historical fiction, Sense of Place Fiction Lin Salisbury character driven fiction, feminist literature, historical fiction, Sense of Place Fiction Lin Salisbury

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher

There were moments at the beginning of the book where I felt that more editing would have been helpful – a little too much book title dropping to establish Beach’s credentials as a bibliophile and set the historical stage, felt forced, but once I got into the story of Beach’s incredible feat – a woman in the 1920s who took on a publishing world largely run by men – I was encouraged to read to the end.

Read More
Carolina Moonset by Matt Goldman
#literarynovel, author interview, character driven fiction, family drama, Minnesota interest, mystery, Southern Fiction Lin Salisbury #literarynovel, author interview, character driven fiction, family drama, Minnesota interest, mystery, Southern Fiction Lin Salisbury

Carolina Moonset by Matt Goldman

When Joey Green returns to North Carolina to take care of his father who suffers from dementia, his father’s long-lost memories of a murdered friend may implicate him in a murder.

Read More
The Evening Hero by Marie Myung-Ok Lee
#literarynovel, character driven fiction, domestic fiction, family drama, generational trauma, historical fiction, immigrant experience, literary fiction, Minnesota interest, Sense of Place Fiction Lin Salisbury #literarynovel, character driven fiction, domestic fiction, family drama, generational trauma, historical fiction, immigrant experience, literary fiction, Minnesota interest, Sense of Place Fiction Lin Salisbury

The Evening Hero by Marie Myung-Ok Lee

Lee is one of a handful of American journalists who have been granted a visa to North Korea since the Korean War. Her book is carefully researched and the sections on Yungman’s early life in Korea, as well as his return, are layered with historical truths and emotional impact. It isn’t an easy thing to sustain momentum in a four hundred plus page book, but Lee’s ending is pitch-perfect and will resonate with readers for a long time.

Read More
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
#literarynovel, character driven fiction, domestic fiction, family drama, feminist literature, historical fiction, literary fiction, sense of place, women's issues Lin Salisbury #literarynovel, character driven fiction, domestic fiction, family drama, feminist literature, historical fiction, literary fiction, sense of place, women's issues Lin Salisbury

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

O’Farrell follows Agnes into the woods, into the field, and into the depths of her despair. Her writing is lyrical and layered, her characters are complex, and their relationships are complicated. There will be no easy passageway through this grief, and dear reader, you should be forewarned to have a tissue within reach, but you will be carried along by a mother’s love and a father’s remorse. “There will be no going back,” O’Farrell writes, “Time only runs in one direction.”

Read More
The Net Beneath Us by Carol Dunbar
#literarynovel, author interview, character driven fiction, domestic fiction, family drama, literary fiction, Sense of Place Fiction, women's issues Lin Salisbury #literarynovel, author interview, character driven fiction, domestic fiction, family drama, literary fiction, Sense of Place Fiction, women's issues Lin Salisbury

The Net Beneath Us by Carol Dunbar

Dunbar’s writing is evocative and as lush as the forest. Structured in four segments: Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer, we watch Elsa flail and falter and then grow in strength and confidence as each season passes. THE NET BENEATH US is about the promises we make and keep – to ourselves and to others – and the profound work of grief – how it cleaves us in two and yet, we live, allowing the days and months and years that pass bind us back together, the two halves of a split trunk like the before times and the after times, joined in the middle by the heartwood.

Read More
Violeta by Isabel Allende
#literarynovel, character driven fiction, coming of age, domestic fiction, family drama, feminist literature, historical, historical fiction, literary fiction, Sense of Place Fiction Lin Salisbury #literarynovel, character driven fiction, coming of age, domestic fiction, family drama, feminist literature, historical, historical fiction, literary fiction, Sense of Place Fiction Lin Salisbury

Violeta by Isabel Allende

During a time when laws protecting a woman’s body autonomy are being threatened, reading Allende’s book reminds me that throughout history, women have exhibited great strength and resolve, and when banded together, are a force to be reckoned with.

Read More
The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict
#literarynovel, character driven fiction, domestic fiction, family drama, feminist literature, historical fiction, literary fiction, women's history, women's issues Lin Salisbury #literarynovel, character driven fiction, domestic fiction, family drama, feminist literature, historical fiction, literary fiction, women's history, women's issues Lin Salisbury

The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict

THE OTHER EINSTEIN is a sad commentary on love and marriage in the early nineteenth century. In this age of two steps forward one step back in equal rights for women, THE OTHER EINSTEIN is a reminder of how quickly gains can become losses.

Read More
When Women were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
#literarynovel, author interview, character driven fiction, coming of age, domestic fiction, family drama, fantasy, feminist literature, Minnesota interest, political, political fiction, social justice, women's issues Lin Salisbury #literarynovel, author interview, character driven fiction, coming of age, domestic fiction, family drama, fantasy, feminist literature, Minnesota interest, political, political fiction, social justice, women's issues Lin Salisbury

When Women were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

WHEN WOMEN WERE DRAGONS is an evocative tale about gender, gender roles, and the politicization of history. Barnhill has written a cautionary tale about what happens when women are silenced and their human right to make their own choices is taken from them.

Read More