Novel Lovers of Sonoma County, CA

'Unpredictable, fantastic ... It takes a charged narrative, like Dickens achieves, and as Dalton does too, to reach the heart and the brain - writing that is able to carry both stories, the individual and the political/personal ... To tell you more would spoil this complicated and surprising story. You should read it.' Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

Publisher's description:
A girl and her mother have been on the run for sixteen years, from police and the monster they left in their kitchen with a knife in his throat. They've found themselves a home inside a van with four flat tyres parked in a scrapyard by the edge of the Brisbane River.

The girl has no name because names are dangerous when you're on the run. But the girl has a dream. A vision of a life as an artist of international acclaim. A life outside the grip of the Brisbane underworld drug queen 'Lady' Flora Box. A life of love with the boy who's waiting for her on the bridge that stretches across a flooding, deadly river. A life beyond the bullet that has her name on it. And now that the storm clouds are rising, there's only one person who can help make her dreams come true. That person is Lola and she carries all the answers. But to find Lola, the girl with no name must first do one of the hardest things we can ever do. She must look in the mirror.

From international bestselling author Trent Dalton, Lola in the Mirror is a big, moving, blackly funny, violent, heartbreaking and beautiful novel of love, fate, life and death and all the things we see when we look in the mirror: all our past, all our present, and all our possible futures.

WINNER 2024 ABIA BOOK LITERARY FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR
SHORTLISTED FOR 2023 DYMOCKS BOOK OF THE YEAR, 2024 INDIE BOOK AWARDS, 2024 BOOKPEOPLE FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR. SHORTLISTED 2024 MARGARET AND COLIN RODERICK LITERARY AWARD

Note from Joan: Mac and I vacationed in Australia last fall, where Lola in the MIrror was featured in every bookstore window. Mac bought it for me as a gift. Novel Lovers had enjoyed Dalton's Boy Swallows Universe a few years back, and we were both eager to read it. I finished it during the trip, making noises of surprise, appreciation, dismay, and delight as I went. Mac stayed awake during the flight home reading it. We raved about it to Novel Lovers, but it wasn't available in the US at that time (though Jeanne managed to get a copy, and agreed with our endorsement). It will be available here -- print, online, and audio -- as of Sept. 17. Hurray!

We're discussing selections from The Best American Short Stories of the Century, ed. John Updike and Katrina Kenison, a collection of short stories from 1915 to 1999. Our choices are based on member recommendations. Today's story is “The Best Girlfriend You Never Had” by Pam Houston, 1999, recommended by Mac. (Note that this story was added to this anthology in the "expanded edition." If your copy doesn't include it, you can read it online at https://xpressenglish.com/our-stories/best-girlfriend .)

We've chosen a short novel for December: Clear by Carys Davies. Only 3 hours audio, 160-208 pages (depending on edition) paperback.

Ed: "This is about a breakaway Scottish clergyman, John Ferguson, who in his need for money agrees with a huge landowner to 'clear' a remote Shetland island of Ivar, its sole human inhabitant, who speaks 'Norn' and not English nor Scottish. John is injured in a fall and rescued and rehabilitated by Ivar as they learn to communicate, even as John struggles to fulfill his task with men scheduled to come to evict Ivar by force if necessary. Meanwhile Mary Ferguson, worried about John, endeavors to come to his assistance. At only 185 pages, this is a fast suspenseful work of discovery against a historical backdrop of the ruthless move by great landlords to clear huge numbers of people from their homes."

Obe: "Luscious prose, vivid sense of place, understated but powerfully drawn characters. Must be read via audiobook. There is so much to discuss from a mere 160 pages."

Publisher's description:
A “daring and necessary…sophisticated and playful” (The New York Times) novel from an award-winning writer, Clear is the story of a minister dispatched to a remote island to “clear” its last remaining inhabitant—an unforgettable tale of resilience, change, and hope.

John, an impoverished Scottish minister, has accepted a job evicting the lone remaining occupant of an island north of Scotland—Ivar, who has been living alone for decades, with only the animals and the sea for company. Though his wife, Mary, has serious misgivings about the errand, he decides to go anyway, setting in motion a chain of events that neither he nor Mary could have predicted.

Shortly after John reaches the island, he falls down a cliff and is found, unconscious and badly injured, by Ivar who takes him home and tends to his wounds. “Clear chronicles the surprising bond that develops between these two men…pack[ing] a great deal of power into a compact tale” (The Wall Street Journal) about connection, home, and hope—in which John begins to learn Ivar’s language, and Ivar sees himself reflected through the eyes of another person for the first time in decades.

Unfolding during the final stages of the infamous Scottish Clearances—a period of the 19th century which saw whole communities of the rural poor driven off the land in a relentless program of forced evictions—this singular novel explores what binds us together in the face of insurmountable difference, the way history shapes our deepest convictions, and how the human spirit can endure despite all odds. Moving and unpredictable, “a love letter to the scorching power of language” (The Guardian), Clear is “a jewel of a novel” (The Washington Post)—a profound and unforgettable read.

We're discussing selections from The Best American Short Stories of the Century, ed. John Updike and Katrina Kenison, a collection of short stories from 1915 to 1999. Our choices are based on member recommendations. Today's very short story is "Janus" by Ann Beattie, 1986, recommended by Martha, who tells us, "This small but elegant story has a special place in my heart as the first BASS story I ever read."