
A missing novelist, an early 20th-century painter and the Brontë sisters inspire new historical fiction
Inspired by the unsolved disappearance of 25-year-old fantasy novelist Barbara Newhall Follett in 1939, Henry's fictional version concerns Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham, who walks out on her husband and child in 1927 South Carolina.
In 1952, Bronwyn's daughter, Clara Harrington, an elementary school art teacher and award-winning children's book illustrator, receives a perplexing call from a London stranger, Charlie Jameson, who has a leather satchel with a manuscript; he has instructions from his recently deceased father to give it in person to Clara. She travels there with her asthmatic eight-year-old daughter Wynnie, where the Great Smog displaces them to the cleaner air of the pastoral Lake District.
A Russian nesting doll of secrets is revealed — including the whereabouts of a mysterious linguistic key that will unlock the story of the second novel Bronwyn left behind when she abandoned her family — in this tender narrative about the unbreakable bond between mothers and daughters.
'The Resistance Painter,' by Kath Jonathan, Simon & Schuster Canada, $24.99.
In a dual timeline that artfully shifts between occupied Poland during the Second World War and Toronto in 2010, we follow the lives of two women artists, painter Irena Marianowska and her granddaughter Josephine Blum, a sculptor who specializes in graveyard monuments that reveal the life stories of the deceased.
As a teenager, Irena joins the Polish resistance known as the AK, the Army Krajowa, in Warsaw, and works secretly for many years helping Jewish citizens escape through the underground network of sewers and aboveground safe houses.
When a commission introduces Josephine to an ailing Polish client, Stefan, who claims to have also served in the resistance, she discovers a threatening truth about his past that leads her to the horrors of Ravensbrück and her own family history, in which her intrepid, risk-taking, beloved grandmother dared all to do what was morally right.
Examining sacrifice, selflessness and resilience, Jonathan's atmospheric debut is both timely and timeless.
'Six Days in Bombay,' by Alka Joshi, MIRA, $25.99.
Amrita Sher-Gil, the early 20th-century painter known as 'the Frida Kahlo of India' and the daughter of a Hungarian Jewish mother and an Indian aristocrat father, inspires the fictional biracial figurative painter Mira Novak who is at the heart of this engrossing novel that opens in 1937 Bombay.
Hospitalized due to complications from a miscarriage, Mira is expected to make a full recovery. Yearning for a life larger than her own, attending nurse Sona Falstaff, only a few years younger, welcomes Mira's exotic and enchanting stories of travels and former lovers throughout Europe.
When Mira dies suddenly, the hospital administration wrongly focuses on Sona, dismissing her. Even though the nurse only knew her patient for a short time, four of Mira's paintings have been left in her care to pass along to people from her past in Prague, Florence and Paris.
Themes of identity and self-discovery drive this engaging portrait of young women daring to challenge societal expectations to become who they are meant to be.
'Fifteen Wild Decembers,' by Karen Powell, Europa Editions, $27.
With its title appropriately lifted from an Emily Brontë poem, this captivating coming-of-age novel opens with six-year-old Emily joining her sisters at a girls' school in 1824, where the unsanitary conditions lead to the rampant spread of tuberculosis and the Brontës' subsequent return home to Haworth.
Raised by their widowed father and his sister-in-law, and educated both at home and in boarding schools, encouraged to draw, write stories and stomp about the moors in the company of several cherished family dogs, the surviving Brontë children — Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne — share lives enriched and inspired by the natural world.
Powell's sumptuous, careful prose vividly recreates Victorian Yorkshire and richly conveys Emily's vibrant inner life that sets her imagination aflame as she writes 'Wuthering Heights,' its wildness in her heart.
An immersive, moving, literary page-turner.
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Eater
3 hours ago
- Eater
Who Needs a Labubu When You Could Have a Fried Chicken Bag Charm?
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Hamilton Spectator
8 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Toronto Star bestsellers: Drew Hayden Taylor's play ‘Cottagers and Indians' joins fiction lists
Clearly, summer is a time for rediscovery. How else to explain how a Canadian book that has never made the Star's bestseller lists suddenly popped up this week in both the original and Canadian fiction rankings, at No. 5 and No. 2 respectively. I can't say why 'Cottagers and Indians' — the book version of a play by author and humourist Drew Hayden Taylor , first published in 2019 — has lately captured readers' attention. Suffice to say it has. In the play — inspired by a real-life dispute — Hayden Taylor dramatizes a tussle over land and water rights in Ontario cottage country between an Indigenous man and a Toronto woman. Hayden Taylor, who is Ojibway from Curve Lake First Nation, isn't the only Indigenous author with an older book on the lists. Jesse Wente 's memoir 'Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance,' which is in part about growing up in Toronto the son of an American father and an Anishinaabe mother, is back on the original non-fiction list at No. 6 and the Canadian list at No. 5. It's the book's first appearance on original non-fiction since September 2021, although it was a regular presence on Canadian non-fiction that year. Hayden Taylor has even more company on the Canadian fiction list, where Waubgeshig Rice 's 'Moon of the Crusted Snow' (2018) returns at No. 6; Jessica Johns ' 'Bad Cree' (2023) at No. 8; and 'Medicine Walk' (2014) by the late Richard Wagamese , at No. 10. ORIGINAL FICTION 1. One Golden Summer , Carley Fortune, Viking (11)* 2. An Inside Job , Daniel Silva, Harper (1) 3. The Woman in Suite 11 , Ruth Ware, Simon & Schuster (2) 4. Don't Let Him In , Lisa Jewell, Atria (4) 5. Cottagers and Indians , Drew Hayden Taylor, Talonbooks (1) 6. Atmosphere , Taylor Jenkins Reid, Doubleday Canada (7) 7. The Enchanted Greenhouse , Sarah Beth Durst, Bramble (1) 8. My Friends, Fredrik Backman, Simon & Schuster (12) 9. Broken Country , Clare Leslie Hall, Simon & Schuster (16) 10. Every Summer After , Carley Fortune, Viking (11) ORIGINAL NON-FICTION 1. The Idaho Four , James Patterson, Vicky Ward, Little, Brown (1) 2. Anatomy of a Cover-Up , Paul Palango, Random House Canada (6) 3. The Anxious Generation , Jonathan Haidt, Penguin (55) 4. The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Scribner (34) 5. One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This, Omar El Akkad, McClelland & Stewart (20) 6. Unreconciled , Jesse Wente, Penguin Canada (2) 7. Everything Is Tuberculosis , John Green (7) 8. Abundance , Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson, Avid Reader (6) 9. 52 Ways to Reconcile , David A. Robertson, McClelland & Stewart (9) 10. The Crisis of Canadian Democracy , Andrew Coyne, Sutherland House (4) CANADIAN FICTION 1. One Golden Summer , Carley Fortune, Viking 2. Cottagers and Indians , Drew Hayden Taylor, Talonbooks 3. Every Summer After , Carley Fortune, Viking 4. Valentine in Montreal , Heather O'Neill, Arizona O'Neill, HarperCollins Canada 5. A Most Puzzling Murder , Bianca Marais, Mira 6. Moon of the Crusted Snow , Waubgeshig Rice, ECW 7. Finding Flora , Elinor Florence, Simon & Schuster 8. Bad Cree , Jessica Johns, HarperCollins Canada 9. Everyone Here Is Lying , Shari Lapena, Seal 10. Medicine Walk , Richard Wagamese, Emblem CANADIAN NON-FICTION 1. Value(s), Mark Carney, Signal 2. Anatomy of a Cover-Up , Paul Palango, Random House Canada 3. Outsider , Brett Popplewell, HarperCollins Canada 4. One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This, Omar El Akkad, McClelland & Stewart 5. Unreconciled , Jesse Wente, Penguin Canada 6. 52 Ways to Reconcile , David A. Robertson, McClelland & Stewart 7. Murder, Madness and Mayhem , Mike Browne, HarperCollins Canada 8. A History of Canada in Ten Maps , Adam Shoalts, Penguin Canada 9. The Massey Murder , Charlotte Gray, HarperCollins Canada 10. Lessons From Cats for Surviving Fascism , Stewart Reynolds, Grand Central CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULT 1. Sunrise on the Reaping, Suzanne Collins, Scholastic 2. This Place , Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Sonny Assu, Brandon Mitchell, etc., Highwater 3. Love You Forever , Robert Munsch, Sheila McGraw, Firefly 4. Dinosaurs Before Dark , Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca, Random House Books for Young Readers 5. The Summer I Turned Pretty , Jenny Han, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 6. Karen's Ghost (Baby-Sitters Little Sister #11) , D.K. Yingst, Ann M. Martin, Graphix 7. Binding 13, Chloe Walsh, Bloom 8. We Were Liars , E. Lockhart, Ember 9. Borders , Thomas King, Natasha Donovan, HarperCollins 10. Fearless, Lauren Roberts, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers BUSINESS AND PERSONAL FINANCE 1. Atomic Habits , James Clear, Avery 2. The Psychology of Money , Morgan Housel, Harriman House 3. Rich Dad Poor Dad , Robert T. Kiyosaki, Plata 4. How Countries Go Broke , Ray Dalio, Avid Reader 5. No More Tears , Gardiner Harris, Random House 6. Dare to Lead , Brené Brown, Random House 7. Surrounded by Idiots , Thomas Erikson, St. Martin's Essentials 8. Start With Why , Simon Sinek, Portfolio 9. Radical Candor (updated) , Kim Scott, St. Martin's 10. In This Economy? , Kyla Scanlon, Morgan Housel, Currency * Weeks on list The bestseller lists are compiled by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited from information provided by BookNet Canada's national sales tracking service, BNC SalesData.


Los Angeles Times
16 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
The week's bestselling books, July 27
1. An Inside Job by Daniel Silva (Harper: $32) An art restorer and legendary spy must solve the perfect crime. 2. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine Books: $30) A story of friendship, love and adversity during the 1980s Space Shuttle program. 3. The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey: $29) Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft. 4. James by Percival Everett (Doubleday: $28) An action-packed reimagining of 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.' 5. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (Penguin Press: $30) An unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond. 6. My Friends by Fredrik Backman (Atria Books: $30) The bond between a group of teens 25 years earlier has a powerful effect on a budding artist. 7. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (Spiegel & Grau: $30) A suspenseful family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence. 8. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab (Tor Books: $30) A vampiric tale follows three women across the centuries. 9. The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb (S&S/Marysue Rucci Books: $30) A young father grapples with tragedy and the search for redemption. 10. Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild (St. Martin's Press: $29) A sweeping love story explores the price of a new beginning. … 1. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House: $30) How to stop wasting energy on things you can't control. 2. A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst (Riverhead Books: $28) The true story of a young couple shipwrecked at sea. 3. Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $30) A study of the barriers to progress in the U.S. 4. The Mission by Tim Weiner (Mariner Books: $35) A history of the modern CIA featuring interviews with former directors, spies and other insiders. 5. Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green (Crash Course Books: $28) The deeply human story of the fight against the world's deadliest infectious disease. 6. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (Knopf: $28) Reckoning with what it means to live in a West that betrays its fundamental values. 7. Lessons From Cats for Surviving Fascism by Stewart Reynolds (Grand Central Publishing: $13) A guide to channeling feline wisdom in the face of authoritarian nonsense. 8. The Creative Act by Rick Rubin (Penguin: $32) The music producer on how to be a creative person. 9. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer and John Burgoyne (illustrator) (Scribner: $20) On gratitude, reciprocity and community, and the lessons to take from the natural world. 10. Who Knew by Barry Diller (Simon & Schuster: $30) A frank memoir from one of America's top businessmen. … 1. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20) 2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine: $20) 3. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18) 4. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $19) 5. All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (Crown: $19) 6. Circe by Madeline Miller (Back Bay: $20) 7. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17) 8. Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood (Berkley: $20) 9. A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna (Berkley: $19) 10. Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (Scribner: $20) … 1. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions: $22) 2. The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne (Penguin: $21) 3. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $12) 4. The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides (Vintage: $19) 5. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18) 6. The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger (Harper Perennial: $20) 7. A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn (Harper Perennial Modern Classics: $24) 8. Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch (Tarcher: $20) 9. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17) 10. All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley (Simon & Schuster: $19)