Today’s Top 10 Tuesday topic is a Genre Freebie. As I always do, I am tweaking the prompt. đ I’m not featuring genre fiction, but 5-star general fiction. According to languagehumanities.org, general fiction is —
General fiction is the catch all term for novels and other literature that don’t fit into a particular genre. Romance, Western, mystery, science fiction and other genres each have a particular theme that is fitting to its classification. General works, on the other hand, don’t have enough elements of any one theme to be classified within a certain genre. The story and plot of general fiction is no less strong, and in many cases even stronger, than that of genre works.
General fiction offerings, in my experience, are well-told stories and are some of my favorite books. I hope you like my list and find a book to love!
For more genre favorites, check out That Artsy Reader Girl.
Top 5-Star General Fiction
Before I Saw You by Amy K. Sorrells
The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox
The Nature of Small Birds by Susie Finkbeiner
No One Ever Asked by Katie Ganshert
The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery by Amanda Cox
I started this blog in November of 2009. That seems so long ago! But having been an avid reader for much of my life, plus being the member of 2 book clubs (one that has been meeting for 20 years!), I have read a lot of great books that have never been reviewed here or anywhere else. I may have mentioned them from time to time, but no reviews. Many of the books on my list are old, and you may have trouble finding them except on Kindle or as used. But just know that they are books that have stuck with me. Several genres are represented, so there is something for everyone.
Elvis Takes a Back Seatby award-winning novelist Leanna Ellis is the endearing story of Claudia, a young widow determined to fulfill her husbandâs last request by hauling a three-foot bust of Elvis Presley in the backseat of a vintage Cadillac from Dallas to Memphis to return it to its rightful owner. The road tripâtaken with an eccentric aunt who actually knew the âKing of Rock ânâ Roll,â and a temperamental teen with a suspicious mind of her ownâhits some royal roadblocks and detours as these women uncover pieces of their past along with the bustâs mysterious history. What they find along the way changes their lives forever, inspiring readers to also step out in faith.
Original Sin by Brandt Dodson
Colton Parker was just fired from the FBI, has a teenage daughter who blames him for her motherâs death, and now that heâs hung out his shingle as a P.I., his first paying clientâAngie Howeâhas enough money for only one dayâs worth of investigating. But Angie looks like she could use a friend, so Colton has his first case.
When the mystery is finally resolved, Colton is resigned to improve his parenting skills with his daughterâand while the pair still struggle with each other, hope finally gets a chance to grow.
First in the Colton Parker, P.I. series, from Brandt Dodsonâa compelling new author with a family history in law enforcement spanning several generations.
A Place Called Wiregrass by Michael Morris
Erma Lee is on the run . . . Running from an abusive husband . . . running from a mother who doesn’t care — never cared. Running from a soul-numbing factory job that has held her down her entire life …
Erma Lee and her granddaughter, Cher, flee to the town of Wiregrass, Alabama, to escape the past and start over — or so Erma Lee thinks. Erma Lee forms an unlikely friendship with Miss Claudia, an elderly socialite who is hiding a few details about her own past. Life in Wiregrass is different for Erma Lee and Cher, for here they find mercy and promise — until, that is, the day Cher’s convict father arrives in town, forcing all three women to come to terms with buried secrets.
Searching for Eternity by Elizabeth Musser
French-born Emile de Bonnery lands in the strange environment of 1960s Atlanta with decidedly mixed emotions. Some memories make Emile want to believe the best of his father. Others cause him to fear the worst. Does his mother know more than she’s willing to tell?
Determined to learn the truth, Emile finds an ally and friend–who seems to be hiding secrets of her own. Together they search for answers…and what they find changes everything.
**************
Sober Justice by Joseph H. Hilley
Life in the low country of the Gulf Coast can get pretty steamy. But life just got a lot hotter for Mike Connolly, a divorced, alcoholic, 50 something attorney. Usually content when he just makes it through another day, Mike’s life takes a dangerous and unpredictable turn when a judge appoints him to defend an indigent man accused of murdering a prominent plaintiff’s attorney. Just when he thinks that things can’t get worse, Mike stumbles onto a conspiracy and finds himself in the midst of a complicated web of intrigue that will take a miracle to survive. Trouble is–Mike’s fresh out of miracles. Or is he?
Uncharted by Angela Hunt
It was supposed to be an adventure. A little time off to honor the memory of a friend and complete a service project in the tropics. Do good deeds while getting a tan.
But when a storm rocks their plans, five long-time friends from college find themselves hurled onto a desolate island, and relief fades to fear. Here nature rules with a vengenance. The lone shelter from raw conditions is a sinister cave. Are they victims of a bizarre psychological experiment? Or could this godforsaken place have the power to maroon them forever?
***************
Velma Still Cooks in Leeway by Vinita Hampton Wright
As the town’s chief cook and part-time janitor for Jerusalem Baptist church, Velma Brendle has never done anything more outstanding than putting on a good meal at Velma’s Place, the one restaurant in Leeway, Kansas, but she takes good care of her customers, neighbors, and friends. However, in the midst of these two jobs, Velma’s husband stops talking, Cousin Albert comes to live with her, and she finds herself dealing with the town’s problems. As memories of past troubles plague her, she grows weary from even the tasks she loves the most. Old Sunday School lessons take on new meanings, and new problems illuminate trials Velma thought were long over. In sudden leaps of faith and moments of tragedy, Velma and all those she loves journey toward facing their sins and finding forgiveness.
The Wedding Machine by Beth Webb Hart
Welcome to Jasper, South Carolina. A place where Southern hospitality thrives. Where social occasions are done right. And where, for generations, the four most upstanding ladies of this community ensure that the daughters of Jasper are married in the proper manner.
Friends from school days, “the gals” have long pooled their silver, china, and know-how to pull off beautiful events. They’re a force of nature, a well-oiled machine. But the wedding machine’s gears start to stick during the summer their own daughters line up to tie the knot. In the lowcountry heat and humidity, tempers flare, old secrets leak out . . . and both love and gardenias bloom in unlikely places.
Have you ever read a book that you absolutely loved, but had a difficult time putting all the feelings into words. Yeah, me too. This week I am featuring books that had everything — knock-out plotting, relatable characters, truths galore, made me think, kept me pondering. These are the ones I struggled reviewing. I’ve given you an even dozen — I hope you find a new favorite book!
Folks are dying fast as the ash trees in the southern Indiana town ravaged by the heroin epidemic, where Jaycee Givens lives with nothing more than a thread of hope and a quirky neighbor, Sudie, who rescues injured wildlife. After a tragedy leaves her mother in prison, Jaycee is carrying grief and an unplanned pregnancy she conceals because she trusts no one, including the kind and handsome Gabe, who is new to town and to the local diner where she works.
Dividing her time between the diner and Sudieâs place, Jaycee nurses her broken heart among a collection of unlikely friends who are the closest thing to family that she has. Eventually, she realizes she canât hide her pregnancy any longerânot even from the babyâs abusive father, who is furious when he finds out. The choices she must make for the safety of her unborn child threaten to derail any chance she ever had for hope and redemption. Ultimately, Jaycee must decide whether the truest form of love means hanging on or letting go.
The Church Ladies by Lisa Samson
Competition for church members in Mount Oak has reached a furious peak. When tragedy strikes one of their hometown sons, the church women are drawn together through compassion. The Church Ladies is a contemporary tale illustrating how women can have a major impact on the church. Through friendships that reach beneath surface level â and trials more severe than simple â they unite with common purpose: to pray, share, and comfort. Slowly, the community of believers learns that the church grows when it is rooted in love. Characters youâll laugh and cry with, in situations every woman will instantly relate to, light up this page-turner about a miracle that could happen.
The Devil Walks in Mattingly by Billy Coffee
It has been twenty years since Philip McBrideâs body was found along the riverbank in the dark woods known as Happy Hollow. His death was ruled a suicide. But three people have carried the truth ever sinceâPhilip didnât kill himself that day. He was murdered.
Each of the three have wilted in the shadow of their sins. Jake Barnett is Mattinglyâs sheriff, where he spends his days polishing the fragile shell of the man he pretends to be. His wife, Kate, has convinced herself the good she does for the poor will someday wash the blood from her hands. And high in the mountains, Taylor Hathcock lives in seclusion and fear, fueled by madness and hatred.
Yet what cannot be laid to rest is bound to rise again. Philip McBride has haunted Jakeâs dreams for weeks, warning that he is coming back for them all. When Taylor finds mysterious footprints leading from the Hollow, he believes his redemption has come. His actions will plunge the quiet town of Mattingly into darkness. These three will be drawn together for a final confrontation between life and death . . . between truth and lies.
Hidden Among The Stars by Melanie Dobson
The year is 1938, and as Hitlerâs troops sweep into Vienna, Austrian Max Dornbach promises to help his Jewish friends hide their most valuable possessions from the Nazis, smuggling them to his familyâs summer estate near the picturesque village of Hallstatt. He enlists the help of Annika Knopf, his childhood friend and the caretakerâs daughter, who is eager to help the man sheâs loved her entire life. But when Max also brings Luzia Weiss, a young Jewish woman, to hide at the castle, it complicates Annikaâs feelings and puts their entire planâeven their very livesâin jeopardy. Especially when the Nazis come to scour the estate and find both Luzia and the treasure gone.
Eighty years later, Callie Randall is mostly content with her quiet life, running a bookstore with her sister and reaching out into the world through her blog. Then she finds a cryptic list in an old edition of Bambithat connects her to Annikaâs story . . . and maybe to the long-buried story of a dear friend. As she digs into the past, Callie must risk venturing outside the safe world sheâs built for a chance at answers, adventure, and maybe even new love.
The Last Year of The War by Susan Meissner
In 1943, Elise Sontag is a typical American teenager from Iowa â aware of the war but distanced from its reach. Then her father, a legal U.S. resident for nearly two decades, is suddenly arrested on suspicion of being a Nazi sympathizer. The family is sent to an internment camp in Texas, where, behind the armed guards and barbed wire, Elise feels stripped of everything beloved and familiar, including her own identity. The only thing that makes the camp bearable is meeting fellow internee Mariko Inoue, a Japanese-American teen from Los Angeles, whose friendship empowers Elise to believe the life she knew before the war will again be hers. Together in the desert wilderness, Elise and Mariko hold tight the dream of being young American women with a future beyond the fences. But when the Sontag family is exchanged for American prisoners behind enemy lines in Germany, Elise will face head-on the person the war desires to make of her. In that devastating crucible she must discover if she has the will to rise above prejudice and hatred and re-claim her own destiny, or disappear into the image others have cast upon her. The Last Year of the War tells a little-known story of World War II with great resonance for our own times and challenges the very notion of who we are when who weâve always been is called into question.
Maggie Bright by Tracy Groot
England, 1940. Clare Childs knew life would change when she unexpectedly inherited the Maggie Brightâa noble fifty-two-foot yacht. In fact, sheâs counting on it. But the boat harbors secrets. When a stranger arrives, searching for documents hidden onboard, Clare is pulled into a Scotland Yard investigation that could shed light on Hitlerâs darkest schemes and prompt America to action.
Across the Channel, Hitlerâs Blitzkrieg has the entire British army in retreat with little hope for rescue at the shallow beaches of Dunkirk. With time running out, Churchill recruits civilian watercraft to help. Hitler is attacking from land, air, and sea, and any boat that goes might not return. Yet Clare knows Maggie Bright must answer the callâpiloted by an American who has refused to join the war effort until now and a detective with a very personal motive for exposing the truth.
The fate of the war hinges on this rescue. While two men join the desperate fight, a nation prays for a miracle.
Missing Isaac by Valerie Fraser Luesse
There was another South in the 1960s, one far removed from the marches and bombings and turmoil in the streets that were broadcast on the evening news. It was a place of inner turmoil, where ordinary people struggled to right themselves on a social landscape that was dramatically shifting beneath their feet. This is the world of Valerie Fraser Luesseâs stunning debut, Missing Isaac.
It is 1965 when black field hand Isaac Reynolds goes missing from the tiny, unassuming town of Glory, Alabama. The townspeopleâs reactions range from concern to indifference, but one boy will stop at nothing to find out what happened to his unlikely friend. White, wealthy, and fatherless, young Pete McLean has nothing to gain and everything to lose in his relentless search for Isaac. In the process, he will discover much more than he bargained for. Before itâs all over, Pete â and the people he loves most â will have to blur the hard lines of race, class, and religion. And what they discover about themselves may change some of them forever.
No One Ever Asked by Katie Ganshert
When an impoverished school district loses its accreditation and the affluent community of Crystal Ridge has no choice but to open their school doors, the lives of three very different women converge: Camille Gray â the wife of an executive, mother of three, long-standing PTA chairwoman and champion fundraiser â faced with a shocking discovery that threatens to tear her picture-perfect world apart at the seams. Jen Covington, the career nurse whose long, painful journey to motherhood finally resulted in adoption but she is struggling with a happily-ever-after so much harder than she anticipated. Twenty-two-year-old Anaya Jonesâthe first woman in her family to graduate college and a brand new teacher at Crystal Ridgeâs top elementary school, unprepared for the powder-keg situation sheâs stepped into. Tensions rise within and without, culminating in an unforeseen event that impacts them all. This story explores the implicit biases impacting American society, and asks the ultimate question: What does it mean to be human? Why are we so quick to put labels on each other and categorize people as âthisâ or âthatâ, when such complexity exists in each person?
The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery by Amanda Cox
Present Day. After tragedy plunges her into grief and unresolved anger, Sarah Ashby returns to her childhood home determined to finally follow her long-denied dream of running Old Depot Grocery alongside her mother and grandmother. But when she arrives, her mother, Rosemary, announces to her that the store is closing. Sarah and her grandmother, Glory Ann, make a pact to save the store, but Rosemary has worked her entire life to make sure her daughter never follows in her footsteps. She has her reasonsâbut sheâll certainly never reveal the real one.
1965. Glory Ann confesses to her family that sheâs pregnant with her deceased fiancĂŠâs baby. Pressured into a marriage of convenience with a shopkeeper to preserve the family reputation, Glory Ann vows never to love again. But some promises are not as easily kept as she imagined.
This dual-timeline story from Amanda Cox deftly explores the complexity of a mother-daughter dynamic, the way the secrets we keep shape our lives and the lives of others, and the healing power of telling the truth.
Stories That Bind Us by Susie Finkbeiner
Betty Sweet never expected to be a widow at 40. With so much life still in front of her, she tries to figure out whatâs next. She couldnât have imagined what God had in mind. When her estranged sister is committed to a sanitarium, Betty finds herself taking on the care of a 5-year-old nephew she never knew she had.
In 1960s LaFontaine, Michigan, they make an odd pair. Betty with her pink button nose and bouffant hair. Hugo with his light brown skin and large brown eyes. But more powerful than what makes them different is what they share: the heartache of an empty space in their lives. Slowly, they will learn to trust one another as they discover common ground and healing through the magic of storytelling.
Award-winning author Susie Finkbeiner offers fans a novel that invites us to rediscover the power of story to open the doors of our hearts.
The Swan House by Elizabeth Musser
Mary Swan Middleton has always taken for granted the advantages of her familyâs wealth. But a tragedy that touches all of Atlanta sends her reeling in grief. When the family maid challenges her to reach out to the less fortunate as a way to ease her own pain, Mary Swan meets Carl â and everything changes. For although Carl is her opposite in nearly every way, he has something her privileged life could not give her. And when she seeks his help to uncover a mystery, she learns far more than she ever could have imagined.
Where Hope Begins by Catherine West
Sometimes weâre allowed to glimpse the beauty within the brokenness . . .
Savannah Barrington has always found solace at her parentsâ lake house in the Berkshires, and itâs the place that she runs to when her husband of over twenty years leaves her. Though her world is shaken, and the future uncertain, she finds hope through an old womanâs wisdom, a little girlâs laughter, and a man whoâs willing to risk his own heart to prove to Savannah that she is worthy of love.
But soon Savannah is given a challenge she canât run away from: Forgiving the unforgivable. Amidst the ancient gardens and musty bookstores of the small town sheâs sought refuge in, she must reconcile with the grief that haunts her, the God pursuing her, and the wounds of the past that might be healed after all.
Where Hope Begins is the story of grace in the midst of brokenness, pointing us to the miracles that await when we look beyond our own expectations.
My book club read The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox this month. It is a novel with themes of belonging, worthiness, and identity. We haven’t discussed it yet due to the virus that shall not be named, but tomorrow we will. From conversations with individuals from my group, I think we will have a great conversation.
My recommendations if you too liked Cox’s book include novels that explore discovering missing pieces from the past. I hope you find another great book to love.
Let It Be Me by Becky Wade
The one woman he wants is the one he cannot have.
Former foster kid Sebastian Grant has leveraged his intelligence and hard work to become a pediatric heart surgeon. But not even his career success can erase the void heâs tried so hard to fill. Then he meets high school teacher Leah Montgomery and his fast-spinning world comes to a sudden stop. He falls hard, only to make a devastating discoveryâLeah is the woman his best friend set his heart on months before.
Leahâs a math prodigy whoâs only ever had one big dreamâto earn her PhD. Raising her little brother put that dream on hold. Now that her brother will soon be college bound, sheâs not going to let anything stand in her way. Especially romance . . . which is far less dependable than algebra.
When Leah receives surprising results from the DNA test she submitted to a genealogy site, she solicits Sebastianâs help. Together, they comb through hospital records to uncover the secrets of her history. The more powerfully theyâre drawn to each other, the more strongly Sebastian must resist, and the more Leah must admit that some things in lifeâlike loveâcanât be explained with numbers.
The Nature of Small Birds by Susie Finkbeiner
In 1975, three thousand children were airlifted out of Saigon to be adopted into Western homes. When Mindy, one of those children, announces her plans to return to Vietnam to find her birth mother, her loving adopted family is suddenly thrown back to the events surrounding her unconventional arrival in their lives.
Though her father supports Mindyâs desire to meet her family of origin, he struggles privately with an unsettling fear that heâll lose the daughter heâs poured his heart into. Mindyâs mother undergoes the emotional rollercoaster inherent in the adoption of a child from a war-torn country, discovering the joy hidden amid the difficulties. And Mindyâs sister helps her sort through relics that whisper of the effect the trauma of war has had on their familyâbut also speak of the beauty of overcoming.
Told through three strong voices in three compelling timelines, The Nature of Small Birds is a hopeful story that explores the meaning of family far beyond genetic code.
Out of The Water by Ann Marie Stewart
Irish immigrant Siobhan Kildeaâs impetuous flight from a Boston lover in 1919 leads her to a new family in an unfamiliar Montana prison town. After a horrific tragedy impacts her children, her land, and her livelihood, Siobhan makes a heart wrenching decision â with consequences that ripple for decades to come.
Mysteriously linked to Siobhan is Genevieve Marchard, a battlefront nurse in France who returns stateside to find the absence of a certain soldier is her greatest loss; Anna Hanson, a music teacher who tucks herself away in a small Washington town, assuming her secrets are safe; and Erin Ellis, who thinks she and her husband won the lottery when they adopted their daughter, Claire.
These interconnected stories, spanning three continents and five generations, begin to unravel in 1981 when Claire Ellis sets out to find her biological mother.
With puzzling suspense, unforgettable characters and uncanny insight, Out of the Water is an intoxicating novel of motherhood, secrets, and the profound ramifications our decisions have. Readers will be left wondering: ultimately, is it always better to know the truth?
When I Close My Eyes by Elizabeth Musser
Could she ever share the secret of The Awful Year?
There is one story that novelist Josephine Bourdillon shirked from writing. And now she may never have a chance. Trapped in her memories, she lies in a coma.
The man who put her there is just as paralyzed. Former soldier Henry Hughes failed to complete the kill. Whatâs more: he never received full payment â funds that would ensure surgery for his son.
As detectives investigate disturbing fan letters, a young but not-so-naive Paige Bourdillon turns to her motherâs turbulent past for answers. Could The Awful Year be worse than the one theyâre living now?
Set against the flaming hills of North Carolina and the peaceful shores of the Mediterranean Sea, When I Close My Eyes tells the story of two families struggling with dysfunction and finding that love is stronger than death.
I read a lot less books in 2021 than I did in previous years. Some of that was by design, and some was because, well, life. But fewer books did not mean less enjoyment — I had a lot of great reading experiences! Limiting my list to 10 is too hard, so I have split the books into categories: historical, time-split, contemporary and suspense. There should be something for everyone!
Congratulations to the talented authors who are this year’s winners of the ACFW Carol Award. I hope your TBR wishlist just got longer! đ
2021 Carol Award Winners
Contemporary
The Promised Land by Elizabeth Musser; Bethany House (Baker) Publishing; Editor: L. B. Norton
Historical
Things We Didnât Say by Amy Lynn Green; Bethany House (Baker) Publishing; Editors: Dave Horton and Rochelle Gloege
Historical Romance
Like Flames in the Night by Connilyn Cossette; Bethany House (Baker) Publishing; Editors: Raela Schoenherr and Jennifer Veilleux
Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Dead End by Nancy Mehl; Bethany House (Baker) Publishing; Editors: Raela Schoenherr and Jean Bloom
Novella
Far as the Curse is Found (from The Joy to the World Collection) by Amanda Barratt; Kregel Publications; Editors: Janyre Tromp and Dori De Vries Harrell
Romance
Love and A Little White Lie by Tammy L. Gray; Bethany House (Baker) Publishing; Editor: Raela Schoenherr
Romantic Suspense
Lost Down Deep by Sara Davison; ACFW QIP (Qualified Independently Published); Editors: Ines Jimenez and Deb Elkink
Short Novel
The Christmas Bargain by Lisa Carter; Love Inspired (Harlequin); Editor: Melissa Endlich
Speculative
Stealing Embers by Julie Hall; ACFW QIP (Qualified Independently Published); Editors: Rebecca Heyman and Janelle Leonard
Young Adult
Mortal Sight by Sandra Fernandez Rhoads; Enclave Publishing; Editors: Steve Laube and Lisa Laube
Debut Author
Things We Didnât Say by Amy Lynn Green; Bethany House (Baker) Publishing; Editors: Dave Horton and Rochelle Gloege
Congratulations to all the wonderful authors who are finalists in the 2021 Carol Awards presented by the ACFW. Now you know what to read this summer! đ
Contemporary
The Promised Land by Elizabeth Musser
If For Any Reason by Courtney Walsh
On a Coastal Breeze by Suzanne Woods Fisher
Historical
Things We Didnât Say by Amy Lynn Green
In High Cotton by Ane Mulligan
The Right Kind of Fool by Sarah Loudin Thomas
Historical Romance
Daughter of Rome by Tessa Afshar
Like Flames in the Night by Connilyn Cossette
The Runaway Bride by Jody Hedlund
Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Dead End by Nancy Mehl
Relative Silence by Carrie Stuart Parks
A Babyâs Right to Choose by David L. Winters
Novella
Far as the Curse is Found, from the collection Joy to the World: A Regency Christmas Collection by Amanda Barratt
Christmas in Galway, in the collection Christmas Lights and Romance by Elizabeth Ludwig
A New Hope for Christmas by Erin Stevenson
Romance
Love and a Little White Lie by Tammy L. Gray
Starfish Pier by Irene Hannon
Carolina Breeze by Denise Hunter
Romantic Suspense
Lost Down Deep by Sara Davison
Point of Danger by Irene Hannon
Airborne by DiAnn Mills
Short Novel
The Christmas Bargain by Lisa Carter
Killer Insight by Virginia Vaughan
Texas Holiday Hideout by Virginia Vaughan
Speculative
Cry of the Raven (Book 3, The Ravenwood Saga) by Morgan L. Busse
Over the weekend a friend asked for audiobook recommendations. As a big fan, I had a few recommendations — I had to stop myself! đ Since this week’s Top 10 Tuesday is a Freebie, I thought I would share some of my favorite audiobooks. The stories are great and the readers are excellent, capturing just the right pacing and accents needed to make the experience enjoyable. Whether you have a road trip planned or need something to help while away the hours next to the pool or beach, or if you need something to help get thought an exercise routine or boring chores, all on my list will fit the bill.
Today’s Top 10 Tuesday challenge is to list books with titles that are complete sentences. Looking at my shelves I didn’t find any, but I did find books with titles that convey a complete thought. With all our social media shorthand, I thought they would fit into today’s topic pretty well. The genres of these books vary, so there is something for everyone. I hope you find a title to love!
I have been reading a totally engrossing novel. While I love the story and the characters, the setting is what has fueled my imagination. A Tapestry of Light is Kimberly Duffy‘s sophomore novel. Her debut, A Mosaic of Wings, was partially set in India in the late 1880s. That book opened a new world for me, but it is with her second book that I can immerse myself in the sights, sounds, and even smells of historic India. The main character is Anglo-Indian or as termed in the past, Eurasian. Her viewpoint combined with the lushly detailed narrative has enchanted me. That brings me to my question for discussion:
Do you often read novels set in unfamiliar locations?
I am a big fan of learning something new while reading. That does not often translate into settings I would term unfamiliar — a place that is vastly different from what I encounter in day to day life with differing customs, foods, dress, etc. I have read a few books that would fit that description, but most were historical fiction. Here are a few:
Set in the Holy Land, the island of Nevis, and Australia, respectively, they featured a time and place I was unfamiliar with. I think that learning about the history of a place helps me understand its modern-day world. A Tapestry of Light is a great view into India under British rule and gives some insight into what it is today.
What do you like about an unfamiliar setting?
In researching this topic, I found most of the contemporary books I have read feature missions, which is good. But I think I would like some that feature more of the day to day life of those who are citizens of the locales. Here are a few contemporary books that have unfamiliar settings. Of the three I have featured, only Two Destinies does not have a missions connection.
Let me know what you think. And I’d love some book recommendations!
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