We hope your new year is going well so far! In this issue, we're kicking off 2023 with two novels that bring distinctive times and places to life through memorable characters.

Our latest First Impressions read, Susanne Pari's In the Time of Our History, explores the tensions between tradition and identity, duty and desire, womanhood and freedom, as the rebellious American-born daughter of Iranian immigrants grapples with her sister’s tragic death in 1990s New Jersey and San Francisco. While inspired by her family's own experiences as exiles in America following the Islamic Revolution, Pari’s multigenerational saga is a universal story about the universal desire to carve our own path in the world, even as we long for the place we once called home.

In Editor's Choice, Jane Smiley's A Dangerous Business is a laid-back mystery and coming-of-age story that unwinds from the perspective of a young woman in 1850s Monterey, California. The accompanying "beyond the book" article explores Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," a genre-defining work of early detective fiction.

We also have a new Wordplay for you to enjoy, and the answers to our Big Holiday Wordplay.

With best wishes,

Davina Morgan-Witts

BookBrowse Publisher

Each month we give away books to BookBrowse members who live in the U.S. to read and review. Here are their opinions on one recently released title.

"A fascinating tale told in elegant language, satisfying the reader who appreciates an excellent story and beautiful writing. Susanne Pari writes specifically about an Iranian American family but much of her story is universal. She writes about parent and child relationships and controversies and the differences inherent in living in two worlds. I strongly recommend this book." - Susanna K. (Willow Street, PA)

"Pari covers topics that are familiar to many families: children rebelling against parental expectations, 'good' girls or boys who morph into different personas to keep the peace and please their families while still being true to who they are and what they want; and people whose perceptions of themselves are incredibly flawed. Interwoven with these are issues unique to immigrants, and especially to immigrants from patriarchal cultures that have traditions completely foreign to many natives of the U.S. In the Time of our History will appeal to book clubs, lovers of family sagas, and readers who enjoy expanding their horizons and experiencing other cultures." - Sally H. (Homosassa, FL)

"A beautiful immigrant family story that drew me in and kept me captivated. I felt I was witnessing an unraveling of an artful web of multiple viewpoints and history. I felt emotionally invested in each angle of the various dynamics and family relationships, such as the push and pull of the bond between sisters, the strong love between mother and daughter, and the love-hate struggle of a patriarchal father-daughter duo. I also felt that the pacing of the story was on target, giving just enough time and detail to easily gain perspective and enough momentum to keep the reader compelled and engaged." - Rebecca H. (Bolton, CT)

In this issue, we bring you reviews and beyond the book articles for a dozen books, including Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor, Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli and We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman.

We also preview more than 40 notable books publishing in the next two weeks, catch up on news stories from the world of books, and much more.

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Jane Smiley, author of the Pulitzer-winning A Thousand Acres, among many other books, begins A Dangerous Business with an amusing note: "I would like to dedicate this novel to all the copy editors who, over many years, have steered me down the path to an understandable and readable book."

Sure enough, A Dangerous Business is nothing if not digestible. Historical fiction for adults, it takes on the guiding, matter-of-fact tone of classic YA literature in the vein of Little House on the Prairie, though the subject matter is quite different. Smiley's novel relates the story of Eliza, a young woman raised in a strict Covenanter (a branch of Presbyterianism) family in Kalamazoo, Michigan, who traveled to Monterey, California during the Gold Rush with her new husband, a brutish man named Peter. After Peter was killed in a bar fight, Eliza accepted an offer of employment from Mrs. Parks, who runs a brothel in town. She subsequently found herself with the independence to enjoy her life free of the expectations that had come with her upbringing and marriage.

In the midst of this new existence, Eliza becomes aware of a possible pattern of violent deaths. In combining these two threads — a coming-of-age tale and a murder mystery plot — Smiley deftly focuses the narrative on her main character's newfound curiosity about the world around her. ... continued

In Jane Smiley's A Dangerous Business, the story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe becomes an important point of reference for main character Eliza as she and her friend Jean investigate a series of murders in 1850s Monterey, California. As Eliza examines the facts and circumstances surrounding the killings, her thoughts frequently return to Poe's amateur detective C. Auguste Dupin (charmingly rendered "DuPANN" in the narration, as Eliza strives to remember the French pronunciation) and his approach to examining relevant details.

Published in Graham's Magazine in 1841, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is widely regarded as a foundational work of crime fiction. It is often considered the first modern detective story, predating Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes tales, and has been credited with being the first locked-room mystery. The plot centers the murder of a woman and her daughter in their Paris apartment; the police are baffled as to how the killer managed to escape unnoticed.

Poe's story, narrated by a friend of Dupin's, delves deep into Dupin's philosophy of analysis, providing rich fodder for Eliza's reflections... continued

Solve our Wordplay puzzle to reveal a well-known expression, and be entered to win the book of your choice or a 6-month membership to BookBrowse!

The answers to the Big Holiday Wordplay:

Clue: R C by D D

Answer: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, 1719

After being shipwrecked, Robinson Crusoe washes up on a deserted island near Trinidad. While Defoe set his book in the Caribbean, he was apparently inspired in part by reading about Alexander Selkirk, a sailor marooned for five years on a Pacific Island about 400 miles west of Chile. In 1966, the Chilean government renamed this 18.5 square mile island, today home to about 800 people, Robinson Crusoe Island.

Clue: I O T B D by S O’D

Answer: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell, 1960

Island of the Blue Dolphins is a historical novel for young readers based on the life of a Native American woman who spent 18 years alone on San Nicolas, one of the eight Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California. She was left behind when the Spanish relocated the island’s population to the mainland in 1835. Apparently, a strong storm was imminent and the sailors, realizing there was a high risk of their ship being wrecked on the island, left without locating her; whether she chose to stay hidden or accidentally missed the boat is unclear.

Clue: A I C by R G and A U

Answer: Asterix in Corsica by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, 1973

In the 20th volume of this long running comic book series (that began in 1961), Asterix and Obelix travel to fight the Romans on the French island of Corsica. Among their company are many colorful characters including (in the English version) Petitsuix from Switzerland, Gaulish restaurateur Instantmix, and Chief Mykindomforanos from Britain. Although not a popular title in English translation, it is the best-selling title in the series owing to its huge sales in France.

Clue: M O A G by A G

Answer: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, 1997

Arthur Golden’s first and, to date, only published novel is set mostly in the geisha district of Kyoto before, during and after World War II. Kyoto is in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, which is by far the largest and most populace of Japan’s more than 6,000 islands. While popular with English-speaking readers, the book sold poorly in Japan and was mostly ignored until Mineko Iwasaki,the geisha Golden had consulted, sued him for defamation as she claimed that many of the events in his story were taken from her own life and then twisted into a prostitution narrative.

Clue: S I by A L

Answer: Small Island by Andrea Levy, 2010

Small Island is set in both Britain and the Caribbean in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Like Andrea Levy’s parents, the characters are part of the Windrush Generation, who arrived in Britain from Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean (that were at the time part of the British Empire) to fill post-war labor shortages; the first boat to dock was the MV Empire Windrush in June 1948.