The BookBrowse Book Club is now discussing All the Little Hopes by Leah Weiss, which published this week; you can read some of their comments and learn more about this charming World War II-era novel set in North Carolina below.
Our Editor's Choice selection this week is Love and Fury, a historical novel by Samantha Silva about the life of Mary Wollstonecraft. It's a layered portrait of a woman whose significance has spanned centuries, and our Beyond the Book feature looks at Wollstonecraft's legacy since her death in 1797.
We also bring you a brand new Wordplay and information about our Read-Alikes tool to help you find your next favorite book or author.
Very best,
Davina
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All the Little Hopes
by Leah Weiss
From the Jacket
Deep in the tobacco land of North Carolina, nothing's been the same since the boys shipped off to war and worry took their place. Thirteen-year-old Lucy Brown is precocious and itching for adventure. Then Allie Bert Tucker wanders into town, an outcast with a puzzling past, and Lucy figures the two of them can solve any curious crime they find - just like her hero, Nancy Drew.
Their chance comes when a man goes missing, a woman stops speaking, and an eccentric gives the girls a mystery to solve that takes them beyond the ordinary.
From the Discussion
"I really enjoyed this book. It’s a coming-of-age story with a multitude of intersecting themes: friendship, home, family, acceptance, forgiveness, belonging and justice. The story is rich and compelling and filled with great characters. The tragedy of sacrifice and loss, the power of words, and an undercurrent of spiritualism fill the story with sumptuous layers to explore and enjoy." - gerrib
"I found this book totally engaging. I think of the era as the time my mother and her siblings grew up. But this southern rural world seemed so different from my family's large midwestern city world. I loved experiencing it through these characters. I will be sharing this book with friends." - ssh
"All the Little Hopes is a wonderful story of two young girls in North Carolina from very different backgrounds. Fate throws them together and you see the world from each of their viewpoints. There is mystery, friendship, judgment, forgiveness, charity and suspense. It reminds me just a little of Where the Crawdads Sing in that they are surrounded by loving adults that add wonder, generosity and magic to their lives. I would have finished it in one sitting but life kept getting in the way - it's a hard book to put down. I definitely recommend it." - patriciah
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Sourcebooks Landmark. Historical Fiction. 368 pages. Published July 27, 2021 |
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BookBrowse offers hand-picked read-alike recommendations for more than 4,000 books and 3,000 authors. For example, if you enjoy Great Circle, you might also like:
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Editor's Choice: Love and Fury |
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Love and Fury
by Samantha Silva
Mary Wollstonecraft is best known for being an early advocate for women's rights and the mother of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley. Undeniably ahead of her time, Wollstonecraft suffered a tarnished reputation until she was elevated to icon status in the 20th century as feminist ideology gathered steam.
The novel opens on August 30, 1797, the day that Mary Shelley was born. We meet Wollstonecraft and her husband, anarchist philosopher William Godwin, and see the day's events through the eyes of midwife Mrs. Blenkinsop (also referred to as Mrs. B). From here, the book's chapters shift back and forth between this narrow period of time — ranging from the birth of Mary Shelley to the death of her mother 11 days later — and the earlier life events of Wollstonecraft, told in the first person. This device gives readers a consistent and welcome shift in tone and setting. The Mary W chapters are longer and broader in scope, while the Mrs. B chapters are shorter, behaving like interludes that increase in intensity as the novel progresses. Love and Fury is plotted with tight pacing, dwelling on moments of impact and emotion while also jumping forward when the need arises, keeping the momentum consistently high...
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Beyond the Book: The Legacy of Mary Wollstonecraft
Although the word "feminist" did not enter popular political discourse until over a century after her death, the published works of Mary Wollstonecraft show her to be one of the world's pioneering feminist writers. As Love and Fury explores in some detail, the events of Wollstonecraft's life were crucial in cementing her ideologies and philosophies concerning the roles and education of women. Her earliest gestures in defense of women included protecting her mother from her father's abuse and convincing her sister to leave her husband.
It was the rise of women's suffrage in the early 20th century that reignited and reframed Wollstonecraft in the public eye. In 1929, author Virginia Woolf declared, "she is alive and active, she argues and experiments, we hear her voice and trace her influence even now among the living." This statement arguably showed not only the impact of Wollstonecraft's writing on other feminist writers, but also an acceptance of her actions while alive. In the 1960s, as feminism became more mainstream in academic circles, scholars of the subject turned their attention to the pioneering works of Wollstonecraft. She was now being studied and discussed, inspiring thinkers and writers more than 150 years after her death...
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Flatiron Books. Historical Fiction. 288 pages. Published May 25, 2021
Critics' Consensus: 4.7/5. BookBrowse Rating: 5/5
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Solve our Wordplay puzzle to reveal a well-known expression, and be entered to win a 6-month membership to BookBrowse.
"N Say N"
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The answer to the last Wordplay: C T T Chase
"Cut to the chase"
This phrase originates in the early years of the US film industry. Many of the early films (which had plots that would seem very simplistic by today's standards) contained a chase sequence that formed the core action of the film. The expression is believed to have been used as a direction in silent movies, albeit the earliest known reference is in the script for Hollywood Girl, a very late silent movie released in 1929, two years after the first "talkie"...
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