Imagine waking up, completely confused, in a bed, in a room, in a body you don’t recognise. In fact, the only thing you do recognise is the half-naked man in bed beside you. That’s the situation in which Molly finds herself at the beginning of Once, Again, Always. I read an advance copy of the audiobook via Libro.fm.
It turns out, during the night, Molly had a series of small strokes that caused a significant chunk of her memories to simply vanish. She woke up believing she’s still 21 and single, when in fact she’s 27 and married – to Aster Bishop, no less, her nemesis/academic rival from boarding school.
It’s a 13 Going On 30 kind of conceit, as Molly must learn to navigate her new life without the memories that made it, with people she never thought she’d become close to. Occasionally, the reader gets access to flashbacks of “before”, that give some context to Molly’s confusion.
In addition to the romance aspect – will Molly fall in love with the high school bully who is now her husband, all over again? – Once, Again, Always also has a strong undercurrent of mystery. Molly’s friends and family are determined not to overwhelm her with information from the past she can’t remember, so she – and the reader – are constantly waiting for the next Big Reveal.
I enjoyed the conceit and I loved the cast of side characters, all of whom were thoroughly delightful. The only let-down of Once, Again, Always was the cheesiness of the romantic dialogue. Alongside the fast quips and undeniable chemistry of the platonic relationships, it stuck out like a sore thumb (or a sore head, as it were). Honestly, if Gayle wrote another book purely about the friendships without the romance angle, I’d gobble it up greedily.
A good thriller book should always draw you in, with a combination of tension and suspense and (ideally) a jaw-dropping twist or two. These fifteen thriller books will have you on the edge of your seat because you, as the reader, can never be quite sure that you can trust what the unhinged main characters are telling you.
How To Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie
Blurb: “When Grace Bernard discovers her absentee millionaire father has rejected her dying mother’s pleas for help, she vows revenge and coldly sets out to get her retribution―by killing them all, one by one. But then, Grace is imprisoned for a murder she didn’t commit… Outrageously funny, compulsively readable, and subversive, How To Kill Your Family is a wickedly dark romp about class, family, love… and murder.” Read my full review of How To Kill Your Family here.
Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino
Blurb: “Eighteen months and 11 lost bidding wars into house-hunting in the overheated Washington, DC suburbs, 37-year-old publicist Margo Miyake gets a tip about the perfect house, in the perfect neighborhood, slated to come up for sale in one month. Margo becomes obsessed with buying the house before it’s publicly listed and the masses descend (with unbeatable, all-cash offers in hand). A little stalking? Harmless. A bit of trespassing? Necessary. As Margo infiltrates the homeowners’ lives, her tactics grow increasingly unhinged―but just when she thinks she’s won them over, she hits a snag in her plan. Best Offer Wins is a propulsive debut and a razor-sharp exploration of class, ambition, and the modern housing crisis.”
My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Blurb: “In My Sister, The Serial Killer, Korede’s sister Ayoola is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola’s third boyfriend in a row is dead, stabbed through the heart with Ayoola’s knife. Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she’s exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola’s phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she’s willing to go to protect her.” Read my full review of My Sister, The Serial Killer here.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Blurb: “When Gone Girl begins, on a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy’s diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?” Read my full review of Gone Girl here.
Animal by Lisa Taddeo
Blurb: “Joan has spent a lifetime enduring the cruelties of men. But when one of them commits a shocking act of violence in front of her, she flees New York City in search of Alice, the only person alive who can help her make sense of her past. In the sweltering hills above Los Angeles, Joan unravels the horrific event she witnessed as a child—that has haunted her every waking moment—while forging the power to finally strike back. Animal is a depiction of female rage at its rawest, and a visceral exploration of trauma, revenge, and the fallout from a male-dominated society.”
The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Blurb: “Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he’s teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect; he hasn’t written―let alone published―anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then… he hears The Plot. Jake returns to the downward trajectory of his own career and braces himself for the supernova publication of Evan Parker’s first novel: but it never comes. When he discovers that his former student has died, presumably without ever completing his book, Jake does what any self-respecting writer would do with a story like that―a story that absolutely needs to be told.” Read my full review of The Plot here.
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Blurb: “Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it. Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.” Read my full review of Yesteryear here.
Under The Skin by Michel Faber
Blurb: “Isserley cruises the Scottish Highlands picking up hitchhikers. Scarred and awkward, yet strangely erotic and threatening, she listens to her hitchhikers as they open up to her, revealing clues about who might miss them if they should disappear. Under the Skin takes us on a heart-thumping ride through dangerous territory—our own moral instincts and the boundaries of compassion.” Read my full review of Under The Skin here.
Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage
Blurb: “Suzette loves her daughter, but after years of expulsions and strained home schooling, her precarious health and sanity are weakening day by day. She’s also becoming increasingly frightened by Hanna’s little games, while her husband Alex remains blind to the failing family dynamics. Soon, Suzette starts to fear that maybe their supposedly innocent baby girl may have a truly sinister agenda. Baby Teeth will get under your skin and keep you trapped in its chilling grip until the shocking conclusion.”
You by Caroline Kepnes
Blurb: “When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do: he Googles the name on her credit card. There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance” meeting. As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. You is a compulsively readable page-turner, a razor-sharp novel for our hyper-connected digital age.” Read my full review of You here.
In A Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
Blurb: “When reclusive writer Leonora is invited to the English countryside for a weekend away, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. But as the first night falls, revelations unfold among friends old and new, an unnerving memory shatters Leonora’s reserve, and a haunting realization creeps in: the party is not alone in the woods. What should be a cozy and fun-filled weekend deep in the English countryside takes a sinister turn in In A Dark, Dark Wood.”
A Touch Of Jen by Beth Morgan
Blurb: “Remy and Alicia, a couple of insecure service workers, are not particularly happy together. But they are bound by a shared obsession with Jen, a beautiful former co-worker of Remy’s who now seems to be following her bliss as a globe-trotting jewelry designer. In and outside the bedroom, Remy and Alicia’s entire relationship revolves around fantasies of Jen, whose every Instagram caption, outfit, and new age mantra they know by heart. Imagine their confused excitement when they run into Jen, in the flesh, and she invites them on a surfing trip to the Hamptons with her wealthy boyfriend and their group. Part millennial social comedy, part psychedelic horror, and all wildly entertaining, A Touch Of Jen is a sly, unflinching examination of the hidden drives that lurk just outside the frame of our carefully curated selves.”
Love Letters To A Serial Killer by Tasha Coryell
Blurb: “Recently ghosted and sick of watching her friends fade into the suburbs, thirty-something Hannah finds community in a true-crime forum that’s on a mission to solve the murders of four women in Atlanta. After William, a handsome lawyer, is arrested for the killings, Hannah begins writing him letters. It’s the perfect outlet for her pent-up frustration and rage. The exercise empowers her, and even feels healthy at first. Until William writes back. Hannah takes the investigation into her own hands in Love Letters To A Serial Killer, a dark and irresistibly compelling thriller.”
Call Me Evie by J.P. Pomare
Blurb: “Seventeen-year-old Evie and her uncle Jim have just moved to an isolated cabin in a remote beach town–a far cry from their hometown of Melbourne. But Evie isn’t her real name. And Jim isn’t really her uncle. Jim tells Evie she did something terrible back home, that he’s hiding her for her own good. But Evie can’t remember anything about that night–for all she knows, he’s lying. As fragments of her memory return, she starts to wonder if Jim is really her savior…or her jailer. In Call Me Evie, J.P. Pomare explores the fragility of memory and the potential in everyone to hide the truth–even from themselves.” Read my full review of Call Me Evie here.
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Blurb: “Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word. Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, The Silent Patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.” Read my full review of The Silent Patient here.
It can be tough to write fiction about real people and events – especially when the events in question occurred centuries ago, the people involved are long dead, and contemporaneous records are relatively limited. Hannah Kent really shot for the stars with her debut novel, Burial Rites, a historical crime drama set in Northern Iceland in 1929, based on the real execution of the convicted murderess Agnes Magnúsdóttir.
Get Burial Rites here (And it’s all rite if you want to make sure you’re supporting this site when you make a purchase – just use one of these affiliate links!)
In both the book and real life, Agnes was condemned to death as an accessory to the murder of two men. Agnes was a housemaid, and one of the victims was her ‘master’ (the other being his houseguest). While she awaited execution, she was sent to live and work on the family farm of a District Officer – an informal ‘custodial holding’ arrangement for various bureaucratic reasons – and placed in the care of a young reverend.
All of this is firmly established in the historical record, and Kent uses that as the starting point around which she builds Burial Rites. She says in her author’s note that she wanted to portray Agnes more ambiguously than other historical records have done. Agnes is widely depicted as a Lady Macbeth-type figure, with a reputation for (as Kent herself puts it in Burial Rites) “a sharp tongue and loose skirts”, but Kent’s depiction delves more deeply into what could have possibly motivated her crimes – and, as such, engenders more sympathy.
Agnes’s story is revealed very gradually over the course of the novel (so gradually, in fact, that I often lost track of who was what to whom and where they were headed). She was hired along with another (much younger, and dumber) housekeeper to work for Natan Ketilsson, and eventually the two women conspired with Natan’s neighbour Friðrik Sigurðsson to rob and murder him, afterwards setting fire to his house in an ultimately futile effort to conceal their crimes. Of course, Kent encourages us to read between the lines of how and why this set of circumstances played out.
While Burial Rites moves slowly – undoubtedly too slowly for many readers’ tastes – and hopscotches across perspectives, I was impressed by Kent’s careful use of detail in depicting the characters. The example that sticks in my mind is the District Commissioner (the District Officer’s boss). He is described as being ‘repelled’ by the Icelandic peasants’ ‘hovels’, and he insists on his full title being used in conversation – immediately giving the distinct impression that he is a self-important arsehole.
That attention to detail expands beyond the characters, too, to the rhythms and realities of farm life across the seasons in 19th century Iceland. The prioritisation of food and warmth, the rigors of the seasonal workload, and the isolation and insularity of the region are all driving forces in Burial Rites. Kent also uses these tangible details to imply commentary about class and wealth disparity, and the roles of women as both caretakers and scapegoats, without needing to hammer the reader over the head.
(There’s also quite a bit of animal slaughter, and one brief mention of an awful dog death, as well as the eventual reveal of the gruesome human murders – so beware if you’re particularly sensitive to any of that.)
Burial Rites is an intense read, and I’d imagine that its gradual pace and heavy reliance on Icelandic phrases and saga stories will be off-putting to some readers – but if you enjoyed Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace, you’re in for a treat with this one.
“Perhaps the sources Kent used mentioned the affairs between characters and the hinted-at attraction between the priest and the condemned, but all the sex seemed trite in a world where people might not survive a snowstorm.” – Momof4girls
“frankly, I’d rather have been beheaded than read another page.” – L Bellamy
“Schadenfreudeans rejoice – this one’s for you!” – The archaeologist
“Burial Rites reaks of stink, blood, and death. The pace is that of slow hot piss.” – Desert Studio Art Co.
Exit Party is undoubtedly one of the buzziest books of 2026 – with good reason! Emily St John Mandel already has a string of best-sellers under her belt, so the world has been awaiting her next novel with breath that is bated. My friends at Macmillan Australia were kind enough to send me a copy for review.
The story is told in three parts, starting in Los Angeles. The year is 2031, and the United States plunged into chaos after a coup d’état, but things are finally starting to stabilise in the new “Republic of California”. As the nighttime curfew is lifted and Californians celebrate, protagonist Ari is adjusting to her new life off the back of an 18 year stretch in a federal prison. A friend of her new roommate is throwing a party, and they cautiously venture out to attend.
That’s about all I want to tell you about Exit Party, as what follows is an incredible story that’s best experienced when you have no idea what to expect. It’s a Something Is Going On book, with doppelgängers and disappearances and gun runners and state surveillance and art heists and more. And yet, as mysterious and chaotic as all that sounds, the exposition is masterfully balanced, connecting just enough of the dots to keep the reader from getting frustrated while remaining cryptic enough to keep you curious.
Ari is the perfect protagonist, in my view. She’s pragmatic, wry, and exactly the kind of person you’d want to have around in a crisis. And not just because she has premonitions! (Not cheesy ones, just certainty in her sense of what’s about to happen.)
Exit Party is a surprisingly allusive novel, too: from the real-world response to COVID-19 lockdowns, to the literary works of George Orwell, to the artwork of the mid-20th century, to the calming effect of classical music. Mandel even works in a few overlaps with her previous novels (The Singer’s Gun and The Glass Hotel), which make for nice little Easter eggs for fans. The one that surprised me most, though, was the reference to a PostSecret note (“Everyone who knew me before 9/11 believes I’m dead”) that also served as inspiration for Jodi Picoult’s new novel released last month.
Exit Party is superbly written, defying expectations at every turn and creating a story that is so immersive it feels impossible to explain – each reader must experience it for themselves.
It’s been a while since I’ve put together a reading list for Banned Books Week (4-10 October this year), and a whole lot of books have been newly banned or challenged in that time. An increasing number of them are books by women, usually those that deal with gender politics and resisting the patriarchy. Here are 15+ banned books by women.
Affiliate links aren’t banned – in fact, they’re an amazing, easy way to show support for sites like this one 🙂
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Blurb: “In The Hate U Give, sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.” Read my full review of The Hate U Give here.
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Blurb: “Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and must live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love towards herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors will allow her to be free rather than imprisoned. Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read.” Read my full review of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings here.
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Blurb: “Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. Sethe has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.” Read my full review of Beloved here.
Blurb: “In Margaret Atwood’s dystopian future, environmental disasters and declining birthrates have led to a Second American Civil War. The result is the rise of the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian regime that enforces rigid social roles and enslaves the few remaining fertile women. Offred is one of these, a Handmaid bound to produce children for one of Gilead’s commanders. Deprived of her husband, her child, her freedom, and even her own name, Offred clings to her memories and her will to survive. At once a scathing satire, an ominous warning, and a tour de force of narrative suspense, The Handmaid’s Tale is a modern classic.” Read my full review of The Handmaid’s Tale here.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Blurb: “One of the most cherished stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than fifty million copies worldwide, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, Scout Finch, as her father, Atticus—a crusading local lawyer—risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.” Read my full review of To Kill A Mockingbird here.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Blurb: “One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century, Their Eyes Were Watching God brings to life a Southern love story with the wit and pathos found only in the writing of Zora Neale Hurston. Out of print for almost thirty years—due largely to initial audiences’ rejection of its strong black female protagonist—Hurston’s classic has since its 1978 reissue become perhaps the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African-American literature.” Read my full review of Their Eyes Were Watching God here.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Blurb: “A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early-twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance, and silence. Through a series of letters spanning nearly thirty years, first from Celie to God, then from the sisters to each other, the novel draws readers into a rich and memorable portrayal of Black women—their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery.” Read my full review of The Color Purple here.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Blurb: “In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in The Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature.” Read my full review of The Hunger Games here.
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Blurb: “Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the Fun Home. It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve. In her hands, personal history becomes a work of amazing subtlety and power, a unique coming-of-age story written with controlled force and enlivened with humor, rich literary allusion, and heartbreaking detail. How does a daughter resolve the legacy of mystery left by the man she called her father?”
A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J Maas
Blurb: “When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world. At least, he’s not a beast all the time. As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. A Court Of Thorns And Roses is a seductive, breathtaking book that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable read.” Read my full review of A Court Of Thorns And Roses here.
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Blurb: “Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate—a life and a role that she has never challenged…until now. My Sister’s Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child’s life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another?” Read my full review of My Sister’s Keeper here.
The Miseducation Of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
Blurb: “The Miseducation Of Cameron Post is a stunning and provocative literary debut. When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they’ll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl. But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone, and Cam becomes an expert at both. Then Coley Talor moves to town.” Read my full review of The Miseducation Of Cameron Post here.
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
Blurb: “In Prep, Lee Fiora is an intelligent, observant fourteen-year-old when her father drops her off in front of her dorm at the prestigious Ault School in Massachusetts. She leaves her animated, affectionate family in South Bend, Indiana, at least in part because of the boarding school’s glossy brochure, in which boys in sweaters chat in front of old brick buildings, girls in kilts hold lacrosse sticks on pristinely mown athletic fields, and everyone sings hymns in chapel. As Lee soon learns, Ault is a cloistered world of jaded, attractive teenagers who spend summers on Nantucket and speak in their own clever shorthand. Both intimidated and fascinated by her classmates, Lee becomes a shrewd observer of—and, ultimately, a participant in—their rituals and mores.”
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Blurb: “Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave. The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.” Read my full review of The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks here.
Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Blurb: “This is the tale of Scarlett O’Hara, the spoiled, manipulative daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, who arrives at young womanhood just in time to see the Civil War forever change her way of life. A sweeping story of tangled passion and courage, Margaret Mitchell brings to life the unforgettable characters that have captivated readers for decades. Widely considered an American classic, Gone With the Wind explores the depth of human passions with an intensity as bold as its setting in the red hills of Georgia. A superb piece of storytelling, it vividly depicts the drama of the Civil War and Reconstruction.”
