Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com.
“The Silence of the Choir,” by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, translated by Alison Anderson (Europa Editions, 2024)
A small town in Sicily accepts several waves of immigrants, most recently a group from Africa that landed on Sicily’s coast. This premise allows the author to examine immigration writ large from several angles: the idealistic welcomers, the indignant opponents and the impatient immigrants themselves. Does the help offered actually help? Do the immigrants devour resources needed elsewhere? What are the immigrants’ aspirations? No simple or single answer. A timely and thoughtful examination of an incendiary topic. — 4 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
“Wild Dark Shore,” by Charlotte McConaghy (Flatiron Books, 2025)
Dominic Salt and his three children are the sole lingering humans on Shearwater, a small, subantarctic island where a seed bank is secured. Then a woman washes up on their shore. From the first page, McConaghy creates an intriguing maelstrom of uncertainty. We don’t know if any character can be trusted to tell the truth: Each of the five major characters is grieving in multiple ways, and that grief germinates secrets. A sense of humming menace pervades.
Climate fiction is not a genre I find easy to read, but McConaghy is a master who ignites both my intellect and emotions. Her characters have great depth and credibility; the wild settings are described with detail and delicacy that make her writing so beautiful. Her passion for nature illuminates her writing. McConaghy’s plots are not optimistic, but still somehow they are hopeful, and leave me feeling enriched, satisfied, even inspired. — 4 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, Parker
“Black Butterflies,” by Priscilla Morris (Knopf, 2024)
This account of the early days of the Bosnian War in Sarajevo is based on the author’s own family’s experiences there. It depicts in a very human way the uncertainties, indecisiveness and changes in everyday life as civil war initially looms and then arrives. Societal norms and individual standards drift ever downward in response to growing shortages and the relentless, random violence. The “black butterflies” are the citizens’ dark nickname for the charred fragments of paper and books that float throughout the city after the National Library is bombed. This frank and haunting book is a stark reminder of the human costs of war, regardless of where it occurs, and of human resilience. (Shortlisted for the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction.) — 4 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
“I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman,” by Nora Ephron (Knopf, 2006)
This collection of Ephron’s most hilarious essays was included (at No. 100) on The Guardian’s list of the 100 best books of the 21st century in 2019. Her pieces are relatable to every “woke” female in the country. She admits she’s probably the only young woman who inhabited the White House during Kennedy’s tenure to escape without a romantic pass from the president. She chronicles her amorous failures, including marriages; the dreadful consequences of aging (losing hair); apartment living in New York (highly desirable); and the scarcity of cabbage strudel in the city. Ephron died at age 71 in 2012. How can we figure out our contemporary society and the part all genders play in it without her? — 4 stars (out of 4); Bonnie McCune, Denver (bonniemccune.com)
“Central Park West,” by James Comey (Mysterious Press, 2024)
Remember Comey? Yes, the former director of the FBI. He is the author of “Central Park West,” a crime thriller published by the always reliable Mysterious Press. Steeped in East Coast politics and “Maf-eye’ah” crime families, the story begins with the suicide of a disgraced former New York governor which surprisingly intersects with the long-running trial of a mob boss. You may want to invite the very relatable trio of protagonists — Nora Carleton, Benny Dugan and Carmen Garcia — to your Easter brunch. — 3 stars (out of 4); Joanna Johnson, Denver