The Way the Crow Flies by Anne-Marie MacDonald

A sweet, dark, rich novel set in the Cold War era of rural Ontario, Canada and told through the eyes of Madeleine McCarthy, an eight year old To Kill a Mockingbird Scout-like character.

Madeleine is a smart, precocious child whose Royal Canadian Air Force father Jack is transferred from Germany to the barren Centralia Air Force Base, not exactly a plum posting. Jack is assigned to the base to watch a Soviet defector who is secreted into the United States to work on missiles, but Jack’s mission is undercover.

The amazing thing about this novel is that the structure is not static – it starts as a slow and innocent narrative, an almost idyllic portrayal of life in the 1960′s, as Madeleine describes rural military base life, her drop-dead gorgeous mother Mimi’s antics, and her protective older brother Mike. The plot darkens with the discovery of a child’s body in a barren field; with that, the novel becomes a becomes a twisty, labyrinth of secrets.

Madeleine hides from her parents a teacher who steals her innocence. Her father has his own secrets that threaten to destroy his family as well as national security. The ending, related through Madeleine’s adult eyes, is riveting and unexpected. Ultimately, this is a compelling novel about secrets, relationships, and coming of age violently in a topsy-turvy world.

Learn more about author Anne-Marie McDonald.

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The Year of the Gadfly by Jennifer Miller

When author Jennifer Miller contacted me through Goodreads to recommend that I read her book, she had clearly done her research. She’d seen how much I enjoyed Special Topics in Calamity Physics and figured that her debut novel, The Year of the Gadfly, would be right up my alley. Its part coming-of-age story set at a New England prep school, part mystery that spans 13 years and three perspectives, and all sinister secret societies, gothic architecture, and intrigue.

Iris’s recent loss of her best friend, not to mention being caught by her concerned parents while talking to her imaginary mentor, Edward R. Murrow, land her in a new school in a new town with a new start. Wanting to become a hard-nosed reporter, dedicated to discovering the truth and uncovering injustices in the world, Iris joins the school newspaper, The Oracle. Her pitches for stories are repeatedly rejected in favor of fluff pieces, and Iris begins to nose around into the reasons behind the cover ups and lies that seem so rampant at Mariana Academy.

The history of the school begins to unwind, slowly at first, and then more and more quickly. The story skips between Iris, her biology teacher Jonah Kaplan (a Mariana Academy alum), and Lily Morgan, a classmate of Jonah’s who grew up in the house that Iris’s family now rents. Jonah and Lily’s stories intertwine and skirt around the truth of what happened at Mariana 12 years before, leading to the death (or perhaps suicide?) of Jonah’s brother (and Lily’s boyfriend), Justin.

I don’t want to say much more and spoil anything for you, so pick this up and try it out for yourself. And if you enjoy this one, be sure to take a look at Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman and The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

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Family Album by Penelope Lively

Penelope Lively’s new book Family Album presents itself as the story of an old fashioned (or out of fashion) large family of six children, growing up at the family estate of Allersmead.  This family is certainly everything that the perpetually smiling matriarch Alison has ever wanted, as she frequently tells anyone who will listen ….. “this lovely big family and a lovely home…. What mattered was the family, always..”  Whether this was what her husband Charles wanted is a matter of conjecture, as Charles is remote, sarcastic and always holed up in his study, writing.  Charles is present in body at selected important family events but emotionally he is a black hole.  Ingrid is the inscrutable Swedish au pair who comes as a young woman to help Alision with her brood and is still there 35 years later.

As for the children, Paul, Gina, Sandra, Roger, Katie and Clare, they are marked in their own ways by the discrepancy between the picture perfect family presented to the world (and to the children themselves) and the reality behind the façade.  Adulthood finds them scattered across the globe and none have produced children, apparently not seduced by Alison’s vision of the importance of family.  They rarely visit Allersmead, with the exception of Paul, the eldest, who hasn’t really ever managed to leave.
Lively is a good writer, and prolific, but this novel certainly doesn’t break new ground, nor is it particularly compelling.  A couple of secrets are revealed towards the end, but only the necessity of writing this blog entry caused me to finish the book. If you like books about the changing roles of women, about families and contemporary society in general, however, this unchallenging read may fit the bill.

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The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

This novel does not open with “It was a dark and stormy night…”, but it certainly would be an apt beginning.  A modern day Gothic, The Thirteenth Tale is ripe with secrets, suspicions, dark  rooms, howling storms and a mysterious past.

Books are Margaret Lea’s life.  She was written a few minor biographies, and spends much of her life assisting her father with his antiquarian book shop.  She prides herself in reading works of ‘value’, not popular fiction.  Vida Winter is the most popular of British authors.  She is famous for a number of popular novels, none of which Margaret has read.  Therefore, when Winter contacts her, requesting that Margaret write her definitive biography, Margaret is very reluctant.

After agreeing to consider the project, Margaret begins to investigate Winter.  She finds that over the years Vida Winter has given various accounts of her life.  And, she finds one of Winter’s book in her father’s shop entitled The Thirteenth Tale, which has only twelve stories.  Her interest peaked, Margaret ventures to Winter’s isolated estate to begin the work.  After a lifetime of secrecy, Vida Winter is ready to tell the truth about her life.  However, she is only willing to do it her own way, and in her own time.  She convinces Margaret to stay in her house and to hear her story.  Slowly, Margaret begins to realize that the secrets are not just in Winter’s past, they are in her house.

In the best style of du Maurier and the Bronte sisters, The Thirteenth Tale is a delightful, if slightly dark and spooky, novel.  Setterfield is a former professor of French literature.   The Thirteenth Tale is her debut novel.  I think you will look forward to her second book, due out next year.  I certainly do!

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