After his mother is struck by a bus and killed, 16 year old straight-A student Joey Crouch boards a bus to Bloughton, Iowa, to live with his estranged father Ken Harnett. Known in town as the Garbageman, Harnett is neither an idea father nor roommate. His small house is unkempt, full of newspaper stacks and a strong odor; Harnett himself disappears for days at a time, leaving Joey with no food or money.

After discovering a safe full of putrid jewels in his father’s closet, Joey follows Harnett one night, stowing away in the bed of his pickup with a disposable camera. Forgetting about the consequence of a flash late at night, Joey snaps a photo: “Everything was illuminated in one instant of motionless clarity: individual blades of tall grass, bugs caught in the air like thrown pebbles, the mirrored surface of the truck, my father, his stunned expression, the handheld wire cutter, the sparkle of multiple jeweled rings, and, clenched in my father’s fist, wearing these rings, a severed human hand. … My father is a grave robber.”

Unlike most teens who catch a parent red-handed robbing a grave, Joey wants nothing more than to join his father. Though initially hesitant and refusing, Harnett begins to train Joey in the art of digging – burying Joey’s homework assignments or shoes deep beneath the earth hours before the start of school, lecturing on the art and history of grave robbing as Joey digs.

Obviously not a hot topic in contemporary literature for any age, Kraus writes about grave robbing a little too realistically for comfort – all the while providing mystery, intrigue, and the intricate exploration of a powerful connection between father and son. At times, this subterranean novel is graphic, horrific, and downright gooey, but Kraus’ unforgettable writing strengthens the allure of this dark, multilayered world of bullies young and old, live and dead, and of fathers and sons, in a way that keeps the pages turning.

For her next book after bestselling hit,Room, Donoghue draws inspiration from a handful of historical newspaper articles and stories, creating a collection of short narratives that are remarkably engrossing, despite their length.  Using lushly drawn backdrops, she dramatically explores the themes of loss, struggle, love, grace and determination, all which accompany the strikingly rich characters who are adrift in time and place, detached from their roots; gone astray.  In “Onward”, a Victorian Londoner decides prostitution is the only way to keep her family afloat while in “The Widow’s Curse” that empathy is upturned  when readers encounter a beautiful woman who cons a young lawyer in order to obtain her living husband’s fortune in 18^th-century New York.  It is amazing how Donoghue brings these long-forgotten figures back to life in order to tell their stories with such heart.  Although a departure from her last thriller, Donoghue returns to her other specialty as a historical storyteller in Astray. 

The small kingdom of Aydori is at war, under threat from outside by the sprawling Kresentian empire.  Within the cities near the border, life as usual continues on in the face of battle, with parties and operas and young women trying to catch the eyes—or noses—of the unmarried nobles—who are all either werewolves (known as the Pack) or mages.  One such young woman is the, by her own admission, eminently sensible Mirian Maylin. Mirian has recently been sent home by the university because her magecraft was deemed to be too scattered and low-level to ever be useful.  But any thoughts of marriage or society are derailed when the battle at the border begins to go against the Aydori and the city empties. However, the mad Kresentian Emperor has sent a small force into Aydori under cover of battle to capture the mages foreseen by prophecy to be instrumental in either the rise or the fall of his empire. All five of the captured mages are women, all are pregnant, and all are married to the Pack’s leaders. By chance, Mirian finds herself, along with young werewolf Tomas Hagen—youngest brother of the Pack Leader—the only hope the captured mages have of rescue. But she herself is the sixth mage foretold, and as the two young heroes race deep into enemy territory, facing danger at every step, Mirian’s supposedly weak mage-craft begins acting strangely…

Steampunk-of-manners meets high fantasy meets werewolf saga in Huff’s fascinating newest title.  The Silvered is seamlessly constructed and fascinatingly original, and sequels are to be hoped for!

As the half-sister, aunt, and great grand-aunt respectively of the last three Japanese Emperors, the princess Harueme has lived a very long, very privileged life. Now elderly and dying, she is preparing to leave the court for a convent. This necessitates the packing up or destroying of her lifetime of belongings. In this process, she comes upon a stack of empty notebooks and feels compelled to fill them.  Harueme’s story begins as a monogatari tale, or traditional Japanese epic, about a young female cat whose entire feline family is killed, sending her on a long, mythic journey across Japan. In the course of this journey, a kami, or spirit, changes the cat into a girl. But as Harueme writes her story, a story about a life so very different from her own sheltered and carefully pruned existence, she begins interspersing reflections and memories of her own long life and the many ways her life has both fulfilled and disappointed her.  The two stories weave together to create a vivid, gloriously textured view of both Japanese traditional folklore and 12^th century Japanese culture.

Gorgeously written, with two compelling main characters in the tamed princess Harueme and the untamable cat-girl, Fudoki is luminous and absorbing. Highly recommended.