Novel Archives - Magazine https://magazine.1000libraries.com/book_genre/novel/ Wed, 02 Oct 2024 10:34:22 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.1 https://magazine.1000libraries.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/favicon-100x100.png Novel Archives - Magazine https://magazine.1000libraries.com/book_genre/novel/ 32 32 The Bookbinder of Jericho https://magazine.1000libraries.com/books/the-bookbinder-of-jericho/ Wed, 02 Oct 2024 04:43:39 +0000 https://magazine.1000libraries.com/?post_type=books&p=40199 It is 1914, and as the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, women must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who live on a narrow boat in Oxford and work in the bindery at the university press.

Ambitious, intelligent Peggy has been told for most of her life that her job is to bind the books, not read them—but as she folds and gathers pages, her mind wanders to the opposite side of Walton Street, where the female students of Oxford’s Somerville College have a whole library at their fingertips. Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has: to spend her days folding the pages of books in the company of the other bindery girls. She is extraordinary but vulnerable, and Peggy feels compelled to watch over her.

Then refugees arrive from the war-torn cities of Belgium, sending ripples through the Oxford community and the sisters’ lives. Peggy begins to see the possibility of another future where she can educate herself and use her intellect, not just her hands. But as war and illness reshape her world, her love for a Belgian soldier—and the responsibility that comes with it—threaten to hold her back.

The Bookbinder is a story about knowledge—who creates it, who can access it, and what truths get lost in the process. Much as she did in the international bestseller The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams thoughtfully explores another rarely seen slice of history through women’s eyes.

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"Spellbinding sequel."

— The Australian Women’s Weekly

Review by 1000 Libraries

Depicting the process of bookbinding in rich detail, The Bookbinder of Jericho emphasises the importance of books. Working in the bookbindery at Oxford University Press to sort and sew, Peggy develops a love for reading and gradually begins collecting the works that would otherwise be discarded because of printing errors. 

Underscoring the invaluable worth of knowledge and the detrimental consequences of its loss or concealment, Peggy navigates love, loss, and loyalty during the tumultuous war-stricken era. And through her experiences, readers gain a nuanced understanding of the sacrifices made by individuals to preserve knowledge and the enduring importance of books.    

“Reading was such a quiet activity, and the reader in their parlour or leaning against the trunk of a tree would never imagine all the hands their book had been through, all the folding and cutting and beating it had endured. They would never guess how noisy and smelly the life of that book had been before it was put in their hands.”

Much like Peggy and Maude’s houseboat, overflowing with misprinted yet treasured books, The Bookbinder of Jericho is a literary treasure trove, brimming with a passionate love for the written word. It is a novel that will undoubtedly find a cherished place in the hearts of book lovers.

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“A brilliant exploration of who has access to knowledge and the experience of women during wartime.”

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"Touching . . . The Bookbinder . . . is a rich account of class relations during a tumultuous era in history that also displays deep love and appreciation for literature and its wardens.”

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"Authentic period details and intriguing glimpses into the bookbinding process add to Williams’s portrayal of resilient women. This would make a riveting costume drama for the large or small screen.”

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]]> Yellow Face https://magazine.1000libraries.com/books/yellow-face/ Mon, 23 Sep 2024 09:06:37 +0000 https://magazine.1000libraries.com/?post_type=books&p=38748 Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.

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"Viciously satisfying…addictive.."

— New York Times Book Review

Review by 1000 Libraries

With a sudden resurgence of reading through phenomena such as ‘BookTok’ and ‘BookTube,’ the publishing industry has been at the forefront of introducing budding writers to satisfy the cravings of readers all over the world. But in a new age of social media and celebrity culture, writers are no longer just writers but influencers and personalities. Their existence and their works exist more than just the art of writing. Rebecca F. Kuang’s 2023 satirical metafiction, Yellowface, seeks to unravel the inner workings and competitiveness of the industry while digressing from the juggling of fandom culture as a result of the proliferation of social media.

Kuang’s Yellowface cuts deep with the story of Juniper ‘June’ Hayward, an unsuccessful young author who witnessed firsthand the death of her former classmate and literary darling, Athena Liu. Realizing she has the manuscript of Athena’s final work in her hands, June decides to claim her deceased friend’s work as hers, rewrites and edits Athena’s story whilst justifying her ownership over Athena’s work. Due to the novel revolving around Chinese laborers during World War I, she publishes ‘her’ book under the alias ‘Juniper Song’ to avoid controversy and tries to pass off as somewhat Asian. As the dome of lies built around her starts to crumble, June fights to keep her newfound fame alive, even if it goes too far.

The novel also opens up a window to the behind-the-scenes of the publishing industry. The experience of publishing varies for each author. Some authors have the privilege and honor of having their works published under the Big Five (i.e., Penguin, Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins, etc.), while others either go the indie publishing route or self-publish. We can see June’s journey as a writer published from a small press to rocketing through stardom after being published by a Big Five publisher. June barely makes any profit when she publishes under the smaller press, but with the power and backing of a larger corporate publisher, June achieves her dreams of being the next ‘Athena Liu’—a title she doesn’t deserve.

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"Her magnificent novel uses satire to shine a light on systemic racial discrimination and the truth that often hides behind the twisted narratives constructed by those in power."

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"This book felt like a gentle hug, welcoming me back to the world of reading after a long break."

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“This is a great read. Crime, satire, horror, paranoia, questions of cultural appropriation. Plenty of nasty social media pile-ons, too. But, basically, just a great story. Hard to put down, harder to forget.”

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]]> The Book of Two Ways  https://magazine.1000libraries.com/books/all-the-crooked-saints/ Mon, 09 Sep 2024 16:45:14 +0000 https://magazine.1000libraries.com/?post_type=books&p=36930 When you question your purpose and take action, the rest of your life pans out in one of two ways. Chasing your ‘what if’ either lets you know that you ended up with a better life or reminds you of how glorious your life could have been. As much as you may want both of these alternatives, you eventually have to decide on just one. Jodi Picoult’s The Book of Two Ways is a tale of love and loss, which leaves us at the crossroads of making that decision.

Through the journey of Dawn Edelstein, readers are introduced to two alternate realities—one where Dawn follows her heart back to Egypt and one where she returns to the life she has built with her family. Picoult’s masterful storytelling weaves these two timelines together in a tale that leaves readers questioning fate, choice, and the roads not taken. A must-read for anyone who enjoys thought-provoking stories that delve into deep emotional complexities.

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"Power of choices."

— Kirkus Reviews

Review by 1000 Libraries

In the context of ancient Egyptian culture, the Book of Two Ways wasn’t a book at all. Instead, it was a collection of spells and illustrations inscribed on the interiors of coffins and tomb walls. Dating back to the Middle Kingdom, the Book of Two Ways was essentially a map for the deceased’s journey to the afterlife, detailing two possible routes: a land route depicted in black and a water route depicted in blue. Both of these routes posed several challenges in the form of monsters and infernos that the deceased had to overcome.

On the other hand, Jodi Picoult’s The Book of Two Ways is Dawn’s journey of wondering what her life would have been like if she had become an Egyptologist as she had initially planned instead of becoming a death doula. Fifteen years after leaving her research in Egypt behind, Dawn has built a life with a loving husband and a teenage daughter. Not straying too far from the Coffin Texts that assisted the deceased, Dawn’s work as a death doula allows her to offer solace and guidance to her terminally ill clients as they confront the inevitable.

Yet, Dawn’s seemingly perfect life begins to crumble as she confronts growing tension with her husband and the self-image issues of her daughter. As if that weren’t enough, her new client, with a past that feels ripped from the pages of her own, throws Dawn’s carefully constructed world into chaos.

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“If you didn’t already see Jodi’s name and preorder this one, let us convince you.”

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"This is a book with Egypt, history, caring, meaning, death, reconnection and truth. I read all of her books and I this one enchanted me like when I read the first one."

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“A delightfully escapist, high-concept novel . . . The Book of Two Ways nearly spills over in its earnestness and emotion. . . . This is a book of big, burning questions such as what defines a great life.”

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