May 31, 2025
The characters in this week’s selection are either on paths that feel predetermined or journeys against the odds. There is a stunning novel about lost families that we will launch at The Center; a Ukrainian book in which the protagonist struggles to steer her fate; a fascinating memoir by a woman who reflects on her life’s path; a debut about two sisters whose fates are intertwined; and a madcap novel featuring an ensemble of interconnected characters. It is a particularly compelling group of writers, whether returning or debuting.
Happy reading,
Melanie Fleishman
Buyer, The Center for Fiction Bookstore
Featured Books
-
.
Flashlight
By Susan Choi
Published by FSG
This is a deeply layered novel about a fractured family and the incident that turned their lives upside down. It is told in four voices: an American mother, Anne; a Korean-born father, Serk; Louisa, their daughter who resembles her father; and Tobias, Anne’s son by her first marriage. Serk drowns—or disappears—while he and young Louisa are at the beach in Japan. Though the family members may not seem close at first, we come to understand the distant dynamics that belie their strong attachments. Choi’s story is astute and psychologically fascinating—about homelands, biracial identity, and losing a parent—as it untangles the mystery of Serk’s disappearance.
-
.
Endling
By Maria Reva
Published by KNOPF
How to encapsulate this startling book? Yeva works out of a mobile lab in Ukraine, trying to save an endangered species of snails. She teams up with two sisters whose activist mother is AWOL, and who are working undercover in the “romance industry,” matching prospective Ukrainian brides with bachelors from across the globe. When they kidnap 13 of these bachelors, there are Russian troops rumored to be at the border. But wait: all of this is actually a novel within the novel, written by ‘Reva,’ who abandons her writing when real life begins to mirror her fiction and Russian troops actually invade. She returns to it later, combining an absurdist scenario with current events, managing to bring the trauma of citizens living through a protracted war into relief.
.
-
.
The Dry Season
By Melissa Febos
Published by KNOPF
With four successful books under her belt—three memoirs and a book about the craft of memoir—Febos’s latest focuses on a year during which she decided to remain celibate. This was quite out-of-character for her, but still a challenge she embraced and was surprised to find the pleasure within. Referring to old journals and diaries, she was at first concerned the subject could not become an entire book: “I’d never tried to write about happiness before; I wasn’t sure there would be enough conflict.” The result is a fascinating narrative of finding oneself and appreciating the way in which sexuality and love can take many forms.
-
.
Parallel Lines
By Edward St Aubyn
Published by KNOPF
After reading ten pages of St. Aubyn’s new novel, you are either hooked or your head explodes. I was all in as his characters weave in and out of this delightfully frenetic narrative. Sebastian, in the bin after a breakdown, meets with his wonderful psychoanalyst Martin, who turns out to be the adoptive father of Olivia, who is juggling her career and motherhood. Her best friend is facing a catastrophic diagnosis, and Martin realizes Olivia and Seb are long lost twins. Take a deep breath and don’t miss St. Aubyn’s sharp, linguistically witty tale as he unveils their parallel stories with the pace of a brainy British farce.
.
-
.
The Catch
By Yrsa Daley-Ward
Published by Liveright
Daley-Ward remarked in an interview that “there’s something about writing two sides of the same coin that’s deeply satisfying.” The twin sisters at the heart of her novel—which encompasses a cornucopia of genres—are searching for their mother, gone 30 years. One of the twins, the celebrated writer Clara, is convinced that she has seen her on a London bus. The sisters, who grew up separately, are wildly different from one another (Dempsey is mild-mannered with a job in admin) and their journey bends toward the fantastic. There is a shocking finale as Daley-Ward explores what it is like to be a Black woman today. Is the woman on the bus a con artist? You’ll want to find out.
