The Warm Hands of Ghosts

by Katherine Arden

DelRey Books/PRH

    This is a beautifully written novel of WWI - a nurse who has returned, injured, from the war and loses most of her family in the Great Halifax Explosion chooses to return to the war to try to find her younger brother.  The war scenes in the trenches and the hospitals are described in chilling detail, as is the depiction of evil as a force that destroys souls - this is not a book you'll soon forget.

    We don't get anti-war novels quite as beautifully done as this.

If you would like to learn more about this book, or own it, please check with your local bookstore or this great place bookshop.org .

 Deacon King Kong

by James McBride

PenguinRandomHouse

     Why Deacon King Kong, aka Sportcoat, shoots a young man whom he clearly loved and had tried to save with baseball, is only one of the compelling mysteries in this great book. All of the questions come to be seen as revolving around love, hope and change - for the wonderful, disparate characters McBride brings to credible life.  Not to be missed.

If you would like to know more about this book, or purchase it, please check with your local independent bookstore or this very good place bookshop.org .

 Behind You Is the Sea

by Susan Muaddi Darraj

HarperCollins Publishers

    This is a warm and loving portrait of three Palestinian-American families - their happy moments and their very sad ones. There are generational, economic and cultural differences, but also much love and a constant struggle to take good care of each other. 

    A quick read that will stay with you.

If you'd like to know more about this book, or own it, please try your local independent bookstore or this great place bookshop.org .

 Strange Sally Diamond

by Liz Nugent

Scout Press/S&S

    This is a disturbing book dealing with kidnapping and rape and the long-term effects of both. Not an easy book to read but the characters, especially Sally, are very well drawn, as is the sense of a small town attempting to deal with, and in some cases, help a damaged member of their community.

If you would like to know more about or purchase this book, please try your local independent bookstore or this great place: bookshop.org .

 Distant Sons

by Tim Johnston

Hachette Book Group

     There is a crime, in fact several, but this is primarily a story of friendship and love - familial and romantic. It is filled with honesty, hard work and ripples of horror from years of a small town's bereavement.

    Johnston's earlier novels - Descent and The Current - are also very compelling reads - suspense with a large dose of family love. Worth your time.

If you would like to read or own any of these books please check with your local independent bookstore or this great place - bookshop.org .