Author Archives: Teresa

Freshwater

Posted on May 21, 2019

When Ada was born, she did not come into the world alone. She was accompanied by a group of spirit/gods, or ogbanje. These spirits were largely silent, but they had an influence that grew over time. In Akwaeke Emezi’s novel, … Continue reading →

Posted in Contemporary, Fiction | Leave a comment

The Parasites

Posted on May 19, 2019

The Delaney children had an unconventional childhood, moving all around, spending time backstage as their famous parents performed, their only constant being each other. And as adults, the can’t seen to form strong relationships with other people. In this 1950 … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Fiction | 5 Comments

Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again

Posted on May 14, 2019

Like many people, I was shocked and saddened at the recent death of Rachel Held Evans, the author and blogger who helped so many people see that Christianity is a faith of love and acceptance, even when so many of … Continue reading →

Posted in Nonfiction, Religion | 2 Comments

Don’t Look Now

Posted on May 13, 2019

The nine short stories in this collection by Daphne du Maurier are wonderfully dark, some of them downright terrifying. Two of them — “Don’t Look Now” and “The Birds”— have been made into classic horror films, and the stories are … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Short Stories/Essays | 16 Comments

Praise Song for the Butterflies

Posted on May 11, 2019

Abeo Kata had a happy, relatively uneventful life in Ukemby (a fictional country between Ghana and Togo). There were some minor dramas here are there, but she was mostly shielded from them, focusing instead on the fun times, such as … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction | Leave a comment

Never the Bride

Posted on May 6, 2019

Having lived a (very very) long life, Brenda, the narrator of this novel by Paul Magrs, has settled in Whitby to run her own B&B. Her best friend Effie has a junk shop next door, and the two ladies enjoy … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Mysteries/Crime | 4 Comments

Ghost Wall

Posted on May 4, 2019

Seventeen-year-old Silvie and her parents have joined up with a group of experiential archaeology students to spend part of their summer in rural England, attempting to live as the people of the iron age did. They wear simple tunics, forage … Continue reading →

Posted in Contemporary, Fiction | 12 Comments

The Secret Place

Posted on April 28, 2019

The Secret Place of Tana French’s fifth novel is a bulletin board at St. Kilda’s School, where girls can leave notes, sharing their secrets anonymously. When Holly Mackey, daughter of Frank Mackey from The Likeness and Faithful Place, finds a note about … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Mysteries/Crime | 6 Comments

When I Whistle

Posted on April 25, 2019

This 1971 novel by Shūsaku Endō (translated from Japanese by Van G. Gessel) tells the story of a father and son, separated by time and temperament and war. The father, Ozu, spends much of his time looking back on his … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction | Leave a comment

Killers of the Flower Moon

Posted on April 21, 2019

In the 1920s, a series of mysterious deaths took place among the Osage of Oklahoma. There were shootings, a bombing, and poisonings, many of them within a single family, that of Mollie Burkhart. Mollie, like many of the Osage, had … Continue reading →

Posted in Nonfiction | 4 Comments