This week, our First Impressions pick is Michael McGarrity's The Long Ago, a novel that probes the traumatic past of a pair of siblings as a soldier returns home to Montana from Vietnam in the early 1960s to search for his sister, who has gone missing.

In Editor's Choice, we bring you another fascinating mystery mired in personal history. Dominic Smith's Return to Valetto follows a writer who discovers buried truths about his family in his late mother's birthplace, an Italian village located on an unstable plateau. Our accompanying "beyond the book" article looks at the "Dying City" of Civita di Bagnoregio, which served as inspiration for the author.

Plus, we have a sampler of recent reader reviews for your enjoyment!

With best wishes,

Davina Morgan-Witts

BookBrowse Publisher

Each month, we share books with BookBrowse members to read and review. Here are their opinions on one recently released title.

"From the moment I started reading this book, I never wanted to put it down! The title, The Long Ago, refers to an imaginary place sister and brother Barbara and Ray would fantasize about when they were kids. A place with peace and harmony unlike the volatile family they grew up in. To escape that traumatic upbringing, Ray joins the army, but when he learns that Barbara is missing, he takes a leave from his deployment in Vietnam and returns home to Montana to search for her... The author skillfully keeps us engaged till the very end. It is a love story, a western, and a mystery. Don't miss this book!" —Pamela C. (Boxborough, MA)

"I had never read a Michael McGarrity novel and pseudo-mysteries are usually not my preferred genre. So, I thought I would come out of my comfort zone and was pleasantly surprised. Mr. McGarrity's style is warm and laidback, honest and unassuming." —Elizabeth L. (Langhorne, PA)

"Have not read Michael McGarrity books in a while and wish I had... This was a good story of family and friendship and caring for one another. After reading The Long Ago I will certainly return to what I missed of McGarrity's good books." —Joan W. (Orion, MI)

This issue of The BookBrowse Review features reviews and "beyond the book" articles for 16 books, including King of the Armadillos by Wendy Chin-Tanner, The Book That Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence and The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer.

Plus, we have a new Q&A with Paging Creatives, a Zoom-based book club for creative business owners, and much more.

This twice-monthly online-magazine is just one benefit of being a BookBrowse member. Find out more!

Dominic Smith's novel Return to Valetto is narrated by Hugh Fisher, an author and historian. In the book's opening chapter we learn Hugh's wife died of cancer six years prior, and his mother followed not long afterwards; he's been unable to move on with his life, still mourning these losses. While on a lecture tour in Italy he decides to spend time in his mother's birthplace, Valetto, a tiny village situated on a crumbling plateau in the country's central region. Among the town's 10 remaining residents are his three elderly aunts and his grandmother, who is within weeks of celebrating her 100th birthday. He plans to stay in a cottage behind their villa that he inherited from his mother, but he finds the house has recently been occupied by a squatter. Elisa Tomassi claims Hugh's grandfather (who left his wife and four daughters to join the World War II Italian resistance and was never heard from again) gave her family the cottage to thank them for hiding and protecting him during the waning days of the war. As Hugh seeks to sort out the cottage's true ownership, he and Elisa uncover evidence of a long-ago trauma that impacted each of their families in unexpected ways. ... continued

Dominic Smith's novel Return to Valetto was in part inspired by his visit to Civita di Bagnoregio, a town roughly 60 miles north of Rome. Known as "Il paese che muore" or "The Dying City," this tiny village sits atop a crumbling column of clay and tufa (a type of soft volcanic rock common in the region). As the column continues to erode the city's livable area decreases; the village will eventually be destroyed.

Civita di Bagnoregio, frequently referred to as just Civita, was founded around 500 BCE by the Etruscans, a civilization that ruled central Italy from approximately the 8th to the 3rd centuries BCE. Its height gave it a commanding view of the territory below and protected its residents from floods and malaria that plagued the lowlands. Unfortunately, the ground on which the city was built was unstable. The area was subject to frequent earthquakes and landslides, and the soft sides of the plateau were scoured by wind and rain. The city's earliest residents constructed dams and other water control features in an attempt to minimize erosion, but they also worsened the plateau's stability by digging mines, tombs and tunnels into its base, and quarrying large blocks of tufa from its sides. ... continued

As you may know, through our First Impressions program, BookBrowse members can receive free copies of some titles in exchange for their honest review. But any visitor can write a review for any of the more than 17,000 books we've covered, just by clicking on the "Write a Review" link.

To see what BookBrowse visitors have been saying recently, visit our Best Recent Reader Reviews page, where you'll find a constantly updated selection of opinions for a wide variety of books. Below are just a few examples:

Elizabeth Winkler rewards and entertains readers in several genres with her debut. For historians and general Shakespeare enthusiasts, Winkler’s solid, citation-rich research draws aside the curtain to reveal how concepts about the Bard and the works have evolved over 400 years. For detective and mystery lovers craving an entertaining whodunit, Winkler serves up pace, place, juicy three-dimensional characters, a racing story line and a bang-up finish, yet invites readers to assemble the clues and solve the biggest literary mystery of all time themselves. (Dorothea D) More

This is one of those novels that sneaks up on you, dear reader. The first half is good—actually, quite good—but not what I would call riveting. Or compelling. It's more interesting than engrossing. But hang on to your hats because the second half is unputdownable. Written by Luis Alberto Urrea, the novel is loosely based on his mother's experiences in World War II as a "Donut Dollie." His mom served with the American Red Cross in Clubmobile Cheyenne where she and two other women made donuts and coffee for the soldiers serving on the frontlines. (Cathryn C) More

Girlfriend on Mars by Deborah Willis is a great choice for your next beach (or vacation) read. Funny and poignant, it tells the story of a reality competition with the two winners receiving a trip to Mars to jumpstart a new outpost designed to provide a refuge to preserve our species. Relevant to the times we live in when climate change is a crisis affecting our future, I can actually envision this as a limited television series. There is action, drama, international locales, love, betrayal, all mixed with humor as a slacker pot growing dude tries to cope with the inescapable fact that his girlfriend is leaving him for Mars. (Gloria M) More