The Lightness
Emily Temple, 2020
HarperCollins
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062905321
Summary
A stylish, stunningly precise, and suspenseful meditation on adolescent desire, female friendship, and the female body that shimmers with rage, wit, and fierce longing—an audacious, darkly observant, and mordantly funny literary debut.
One year ago, the person Olivia adores most in the world, her father, left home for a meditation retreat in the mountains and never returned.
Yearning to make sense of his shocking departure and to escape her overbearing mother—a woman as grounded as her father is mercurial—Olivia runs away from home and retraces his path to a place known as the Levitation Center.
Once there, she enrolls in their summer program for troubled teens, which Olivia refers to as "Buddhist Boot Camp for Bad Girls."
Soon, she finds herself drawn into the company of a close-knit trio of girls determined to transcend their circumstances, by any means necessary. Led by the elusive and beautiful Serena, and her aloof, secretive acolytes, Janet and Laurel, the girls decide this is the summer they will finally achieve enlightenment—and learn to levitate, to defy the weight of their bodies, to experience ultimate lightness.
But as desire and danger intertwine, and Olivia comes ever closer to discovering what a body—and a girl—is capable of, it becomes increasingly clear that this is an advanced and perilous practice, and there’s a chance not all of them will survive.
Set over the course of one fateful summer that unfolds like a fever dream, The Lightness juxtaposes fairy tales with quantum physics, cognitive science with religious fervor, and the passions and obsessions of youth with all of these, to explore concepts as complex as faith and as simple as loving people—even though you don’t, and can’t, know them at all. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1985-86 (?)
• Where—Syracuse, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., MIddlebury College; M.F.A., University of Virginia
• Awards—Henfield Prize
• Currently—lives in Brooklyn, New York City
Emily Temple was born in Syracuse, New York. She earned a BA from Middlebury College and an MFA in fiction from the University of Virginia, where she was a Henry Hoyns fellow and the recipient of a Henfield Prize.
Her short fiction has appeared in Colorado Review, Electric Literature's Recommended Reading, Indiana Review, Fairy Tale Review, and other publications. She lives in Brooklyn, where she is a senior editor at Literary Hub. This is her first novel. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
The breeziest book… in a good way…. A smart but nervous girl who maintains a propulsive inner monologue that evokes Emma Cline’s The Girls and a group of eccentric and bizarre young people that channels Donna Tartt’s The Secret History.
WSJ Magazine
An elegant and entertaining debut novel. A mystery disguised as a coming-of-age story…. This is one of those books that breaks your heart when it’s over.
Philadelphia Inquirer
[An] engrossing debut, by turns smart thriller and nuanced coming-of-age story…. While the frequent asides on fairy tales, etymology, and various intellectual concepts can feel distracting…, the lush, intelligent prose perfectly captures…adolescent yearning.
Publishers Weekly
Temple weaves Buddhist practice, rumor, philosophy, and teenage sexual longing into a story that is both deep and compelling. Her characters are complicated and conflicted, immersed in the throes of teenage angst and hormones. —Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence
Library Journal
(Starred review) Four teenage girls attempt to unlock the secrets of levitation in this unsettling debut…. [A] complex, psychological study of a young woman haunted by her past—and her capacity to hunger for violence and self-destruction. A dark, glittering fable about the terror of desire.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers Book Club Resources. They can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(Resources by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
The Margot Affair
Sanae Lemoine, 2020
Random House
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781984854438
Summary
The secret daughter of a French politician and a famous actress drops the startling revelation that will shatter her family in this beguiling debut novel of intrigue and betrayal.
Margot Louve is a secret: the child of a longstanding affair between an influential French politician with presidential ambitions and a prominent stage actress. This hidden family exists in stolen moments in a small Parisian apartment on the Left Bank.
It is a house of cards that Margot—fueled by a longing to be seen and heard—decides to tumble.
The summer of her seventeenth birthday, she meets the man who will set her plan in motion: a well-regarded journalist whose trust seems surprisingly easy to gain. But as Margot is drawn into an adult world she struggles to comprehend, she learns how one impulsive decision can threaten a family’s love with ruin, shattering the lives of those around her in ways she could never have imagined.
Exposing the seams between private lives and public faces, The Margot Affair is a novel of deceit, desire, and transgression—and the exhilarating knife-edge upon which the danger of telling the truth outweighs the cost of keeping secrets. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Paris, France
• Raised—France and Australia
• Education—B.A., University of Pennsylvania; M.F.A., Columbia University
• Currently—lives in New York, New York
Sanae Lemoine was born in Paris to a Japanese mother and French father, and raised in France and Australia. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her MFA at Columbia University. She now lives in New York. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
[A] gorgeous debut novel…. Even when Margot is at her most misguided, the reader aches for her. Lemoine… perfectly captures the heightened emotion and confusion of being a young woman with a bruised heart and limited experience. Though the book seems to be about an absent father, it's more about a tricky mother, and about motherhood in general. It asks the ultimate question about this most complicated of relationships: What will a mother do for her child?
Sarah Lyall - New York Times
[S]umptuous…. The eclectic cast and rich Parisian backdrop deepen this dramatic exploration of family and the trials of early adulthood. Francophiles and anyone who appreciates an emotionally rewarding story will enjoy Lemoine’s lush, well-crafted tale.
Publishers Weekly
This thoughtful and beautifully written first novel perfectly portrays the inner life of a teen as she navigates the path to adulthood. It's hard to put down and highly recommended for readers who love coming-of-age stories. —Catherine Coyne, Mansfield P.L., MA
Library Journal
[This] moody bildungsroman… moves at a satisfyingly quick pace, and Lemoine’s prose is visually and emotionally precise…. An engrossing, impressive debut novel that skillfully charts a young Frenchwoman’s coming-of-age.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The Margot Affair is a novel of intrigue and betrayal that explores many themes, including family, friendship, romance, and trauma. Which theme takes center stage for you and why?
2. How would you characterize Margot’s relationship with her father? She specifically recounts a weekend they spent together a few years ago, including a dinner they had together. What is the significance of this trip? How does this weekend inform Margot’s perception of their relationship?
3. What role does Margot’s friendship with Juliette play in Margot’s life? In what ways are their lives similar and in what ways are they different?
4. After meeting David Perrin, a journalist, at the afterparty of a play, Margot begins writing to him. What do you think motivates her desire to write to him?
5. Margot’s father’s death is sudden and unexpected. How does this impact the people in his life? Who do you think is most impacted by this tragedy?
6. How does Margot’s understanding of Madame Lapierre change throughout the novel? What moment marks this transition?
7. How does Margot and Brigitte’s relationship develop beyond that of a journalist and subject? What does Margot seek in her friendship with Brigitte? What does Brigitte seek in Margot?
8. What are your thoughts about Margot’s affair with David? In what ways does this brief yet intimate and intense relationship influence Margot?
9. The fragile and potent power of secrets is a returning theme throughout the book. Having been in the shadow of her parents’ secret her whole life, how has this shaped the way in which Margot understands boundaries and relationships?
10. Romance is an essential aspect of one’s coming of age. How do romantic relationships and sexual discovery play a role in Margot’s growth and transition throughout the novel?
11. Put yourself in Margot’s shoes: What would you have done with the secret of your family? Why?
12. Female relationships play a crucial role within this book, especially in Margot’s life. What are the various female relationships she has? Compare and contrast these relationships and the impact of them on her life.
13. What are some ways in which Margot is influenced by her mother? Does she aspire to be like her mother or is she motivated to differentiate herself from her mother?
14. Towards the end of the book Margot receives her birth certificate in which she sees that her father gave her his last name, Lapierre—how does this make Margot feel? In what ways does this change her perception of her identity? Do you think she chooses to take his name (Lapierre), to keep her mother’s (Louve), or to adopt both?
15. Margot and her mother have a tense and at times violent relationship. Would you consider this a factor in why Margot decides to share the story of her family with the world without telling her mother?
16. The revelation of her parents’ affair not only results in Margot’s life shifting from private to public, it also frees Margot from a burden she no longer has to carry. Do you think Margot really feels liberated by the end of the novel? Why or why not?
17. Anouk is a successful stage actress but in her personal life she has remained invisible as the "other" woman. How do you feel about Anouk’s performance at the end of the novel? Did you expect it? Does it change the way you view the rest of the story?
18. What are the different spaces we encounter in the novel, both private and public? How is Margot shaped by those spaces?
19. The characters of this novel often tell each other stories, such as Brigitte’s story about the chef and her daughter, Anouk’s story about being pregnant with Margot and the disappearing girl at the wedding, David’s story about Brigitte’s roommate, Anaïs, and so on. What is the role of storytelling as a form of communication in the novel? How do these stories advance relationships, and what does Margot learn from each story she’s told?
20. Film is another recurring theme in the book, from Margot watching films with her father to Brigitte’s obsession with Trouble Every Day to Juliette’s own attempt at filmmaking. What do you think the author is trying to explore with this theme? What did you make of the stark similarities between Trouble Every Day and Juliette’s film?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
A Taste of Sage
Yaffa S. Santos, 2020
HarperCollins
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062974846
Summary
From talented new writer, Yaffa S. Santos, comes this unforgettable, heartwarming, and hilarious rom-com about chefs, cooking, love, and self-discovery.
Lumi Santana is a chef with the gift of synesthesia—she can perceive a person’s emotions just by tasting their cooking.
Despite being raised by a single mother who taught her that dreams and true love were silly fairy tales, she decides to take a chance and puts her heart and savings into opening a fusion restaurant in Inwood, Manhattan. The restaurant offers a mix of the Dominican cuisine she grew up with and other world cuisines that have been a source of culinary inspiration to her.
When Lumi’s eclectic venture fails, she is forced to take a position as a sous chef at a staid, traditional French restaurant in midtown owned by Julien Dax, a celebrated chef known for his acid tongue as well as his brilliant smile.
Lumi and Julien don’t get along in the kitchen—to say Lumi is irritated by Julien’s smug attitude is an understatement, and she secretly vows never to taste his cooking. Little does she know that her resolve doesn’t stand a chance against Julien’s culinary prowess.
As Julien produces one delectable dish after another, each one tempting Lumi with its overwhelming aromas and gorgeous presentations, she can no longer resist and samples one of his creations.
She isn’t prepared for the feelings that follow as she’s overcome with intense emotions. She begins to crave his cooking throughout the day, which throws a curveball in her plan to save up enough money and move on as soon as possible.
Plus, there’s also the matter of Esme, Julien’s receptionist who seems to always be near and watching. As the attraction between Lumi and Julien simmers, Lumi experiences a tragedy that not only complicates her professional plans, but her love life as well…
Clever, witty, and romantic, A Taste of Sage is sure to delight and entertain readers until the very last page. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Yaffa S. Santos was born and raised in New Jersey. A solo trip to Dominican Republic in her teenage years changed her relationship to her Dominican heritage and sparked a passion for cooking and its singular ability to bring people together.
Yaffa is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied writing and visual art. She is a member of RWA. She has lived in New York, Philadelphia, Santo Domingo, and now lives in Florida with her family. (From publihsher.)
Book Reviews
[D]isappointingly bland.… Santos’s creativity and humor, however, shine through occasionally in the recipes that accompany many chapters…. Unfortunately, her recipe for romance is not equally inspired.
Publishers Weekly
Santos's debut blends the rare but real condition of synesthesia into a fast-paced if uneven romance. The recipes throughout make this a perfect recommendation to those checking out cookbooks with their romances. —Kellie Tilton, Univ. of Cincinnati Blue Ash
Library Journal
This sweet and spicy tale will bring out the romantic epicurean in all who pull it off the shelves.
Booklist
[A] thread of magical realism runs through the text in Lumi’s ability to taste emotions in food… and [when Santos] lushly describes Lumi’s culinary creations, the passages shine. But these brief moments are not enough to save the uneven writing and thin plot.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Lumi is able to taste food and know what the cook was feeling when they cooked it. If you had this ability, would you want to pursue a career as a chef? Why or why not?
2. Lumi enjoys cooking traditional dishes paired with global elements. Why do you think Lumi does this? Do you have a favorite traditional dish you make with your own modern twist?
3. Julien’s personality was inspired by the larger-than-life short-tempered chef persona you might be familiar with from his various beloved cooking television shows. Did Julien’s personality make you uncomfortable? If so, why? Do you think other chefs also behave this way?
4. Julien is generally regarded as an attractive man, but Lumi is not open to being attracted to him until after tasting his cooking. Why do you think this is?
5. What was unique about the setting of the book? Did you feel it enhanced the story?
6. If you were in Lumi’s position after losing Caraluna, what would you do to make ends meet?
7. Passion can be both beautiful and ugly. How do you think this concept is reflected in Lumi and Julien’s relationship?
8. How did Julien’s character change after Lumi’s accident and during her recovery? Do you think he grew from this experience?
9. Lumi runs into Esme at the end of the book and they share a surprisingly sweet moment. Were you happy to see that there was moment of forgiveness between these two characters? Why or why not?
10. The book ends with Lumi fulfilling her dreams by opening a new restaurant. Were you surprised by her choices in creating the new restaurant? Why or why not?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
top of page (summary)
The Vanishing Half
Brit Bennett, 2020
Penguin Publishing
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780525536291
Summary
From the author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white.
The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical.
But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities.
Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape.
The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect?
Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing.
Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.
As with her New York Times-bestselling debut The Mothers, Brit Bennett offers an engrossing page-turner about family and relationships that is immersive and provocative, compassionate and wise. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1989-90
• Raised—Oceanside, California, USA
• Education—B.A., Stanford University; M.F.A., University of Michigan
• Currently—lives in Encino, California
Brit Bennett is an American author whose debut novel, The Mothers, was published in 2016. The novel is a coming-of-age story surrounding a trio of black teens growing up in southern California.
Bennett grew up in Oceanside in southern California. She is the youngest of three sisters. Their father was Oceanside's first black city attorney, and their mother a finger-print analyst for the country sheriff's department.
Bennett recalls herself as a serious, driven child, who started writing when she was 7 or 8. Her efforts resulted in a play about a coyote and short story about a Native American boy whose home is destroyed.
While she was only 17, she began writing The Mothers—she was the same age as the book's protagonist, Nadia Turner. Like Nadia, Bennett was smart and ambitious and eager to get out of the city where she grew up.
My mom grew up sharecropping in Louisiana, and my dad grew up in South Central L.A., and both of them were able to scratch and claw and go to college, so what’s my excuse?
Bennett did leave town. She attended Stanford University, where she received her B.A. in English. Later, she earned an M.F.A. from the University of Michigan. Bennett says she felt out of place in Michigan—she was a southern California girl suffering through Midwestern winters and wrestling with the culture shock of being in a mostly white environment.
At the time that Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York, were killed at the hands of the police, Bennett was completing a writing fellowship at Michigan. Not long after the court cases absolved the policemen involved in the killings, Bennett wrote an essay for the webwite Jezebel, entitled "I Don't Know What to Do With Good White People."
The essay was viewed more than 1 million times in 3 days and drew the attention of a literary agent who emailed her wanting to know if Bennett wanted to write a book. The rest is history. (Adapted from a New York Times article.)
Book Reviews
Bennett is a remarkably assured writer who mostly sidesteps the potential for melodrama inherent in a form built upon secrecy and revelation. The past laps at the present in short flashbacks, never weighing down the quick current of a story that covers almost 20 years…. [T]he pages fairly turn themselves… in a book about suppressed lineages…. As old as the story of passing may be, so too is the effort… to capture its complicated desire.
Parul Sehgal-New York Times
I don't think I've read a book that covers passing in the way that this one does… epic.
Oprah Magazine
Not to be missed.
Harper’s Bazaar
Here, in her sensitive, elegant prose, [Bennett] evokes both the strife of racism, and what it does to a person even if they can evade some of its elements.
Vogue
This is sure to be one of 2020’s best and boldest…. A tale of family, identity, race, history, and perception, Bennett’s next masterpiece is a triumph of character-driven narrative.
Elle
Worth an early pre-order. It's a curvy, looping story… a fitting complement to her debut book, 2017's The Mothers. I gobbled this up.
Bustle
(Starred review) Impressive…. Bennett renders her characters and their struggles with great compassion, and explores the complicated state of mind that Stella finds herself in while passing as white. This prodigious follow-up surpasses Bennett’s formidable debut.
Publishers Weekly
Bennett here features identical twin sisters, who at age 16 run away from their small, black, 1950s Southern town and take different paths, one passing for white. What's key is the relationship between their daughters
Library Journal
(Starred review) Bennett keeps all these plot threads thrumming and her social commentary crisp. In the second half, Jude spars with her cousin Kennedy, Stella's daughter, a spoiled actress. Kin find "each other’s lives inscrutable" in this rich, sharp story about the way identity is formed.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Stella and Desiree Vignes grow up identical and, as children, inseparable. Later, they are not only separated, but lost to each other, completely out of contact. What series of events and experiences leads to this division and why? Was it inevitable, after their growing up so indistinct from each other?
2. When did you notice cracks between the twins begin to form? Do you understand why Stella made the choice she did? What did Stella have to give up, in order to live a different kind of life? Was it necessary to leave Desiree behind? Do you think Stella ultimately regrets her choices? What about Desiree?
3. Consider the various forces that shape the twins into the people they become, and the forces that later shape their respective daughters. In the creation of an individual identity or sense of self, how much influence do you think comes from upbringing, geography, race, gender, class, education? Which of these are mutable and why? Have you ever taken on or discarded aspects of your own identity?
4. Kennedy is born with everything handed to her, Jude with comparatively little. What impact do their relative privileges have on the people they become? How does it affect their relationships with their mothers and their understanding of home? How does it influence the dynamic between them?
5. The town of Mallard is small in size but looms large in the personal histories of its residents. How does the history of this town and its values affect the twins and their parents; how does it affect “outsiders” like Early and later Jude? Do you understand why Desiree decides to return there as an adult? What does the depiction of Mallard say about who belongs to what communities, and how those communities are formed and enforced?
6. Many of the characters are engaged in a kind of performance at some point in the story. Kennedy makes a profession of acting, and ultimately her fans blur the line between performance and reality when they confuse her with her soap opera character. Barry performs on stage in theatrical costumes that he then removes for his daytime life. Reese takes on a new wardrobe and role, but it isn’t a costume. One could say that Stella’s whole marriage and neighborhood life is a kind of performance. What is the author saying about the roles we perform in the world? Do you ever feel you are performing a role rather than being yourself? How does that compare to what some of these characters are doing? Consider the distinction between performance, reinvention, and transformation in respect to the different characters in the book.
7. Desiree’s job as a fingerprint analyst in Washington DC is to use scientific methods to identify people through physical, genetic details. Why do you think the author chose this as a profession for her character? Where else do you see this theme of identity and identification in the book?
8. Compare and contrast the love relationships in the novel –Desiree and Early, Stella and Blake, and Reese and Jude. What are their separate relationships with the truth? How much does telling the truth or obscuring it play a part in the functionality of a relationship? How much does the past matter in each case?
9. What does Stella feel she has to lose in California, if she reveals her true identity to her family and her community? When Loretta, a black woman, moves in across the street, what does she represent for Stella? What do Stella’s interactions with Loretta tell us about Stella’s commitment to her new identity?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Book of the Little Axe
Lauren Francis-Sharma, 2020
Grove/Atlantic Press
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780802129369
Summary
Ambitious and masterfully-wrought, Lauren Francis-Sharma’s Book of the Little Axe is an incredible journey, spanning decades and oceans from Trinidad to the American West during the tumultuous days of warring colonial powers and westward expansion.
In 1796 Trinidad, young Rosa Rendon quietly but purposefully rebels against the life others expect her to lead. Bright, competitive, and opinionated, Rosa sees no reason she should learn to cook and keep house, for it is obvious her talents lie in running the farm she, alone, views as her birthright.
But when her homeland changes from Spanish to British rule, it becomes increasingly unclear whether its free black property owners—Rosa’s family among them—will be allowed to keep their assets, their land, and ultimately, their freedom.
By 1830, Rosa is living among the Crow Nation in Bighorn, Montana with her children and her husband, Edward Rose, a Crow chief. Her son Victor is of the age where he must seek his vision and become a man.
But his path forward is blocked by secrets Rosa has kept from him.
So Rosa must take him to where his story began and, in turn, retrace her own roots, acknowledging along the way, the painful events that forced her from the middle of an ocean to the rugged terrain of a far-away land (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Lauren Francis-Sharma is also the author of the novels, The Book of the Little Axe (2020) and ’Til the Well Runs Dry (2014). She resides near Washington, DC with her husband and two children and is the assistant director of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the proprietor of the DC Writers’ Room. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Francis-Sharma...delivers a satisfying and perceptive transnational family saga …. In this masterly epic, the pleasure lies in piecing everything together.
Publishers Weekly
[T]he tale of Rosa Rendón is hard yet engrossing…. The various strands of the story come together to illuminate how power and race can warp a life…. A sad, compelling novel about a woman of color who fights against society’s expectation… an excellent choice for book groups. —W. Keith McCoy, Edison, NJ
Library Journal
[F]ascinating characters across the broad sweep of the American continent at a time of great tumult, warring colonial powers, the spread of slavery, and expansion West. This is a compelling saga of family… desires, all subject to the vagaries of powerful historical forces.
Booklist
[R]ichly evocative… enchanting.… [Still,] the book occasionally hits patches when too many complications and details clog its forward momentum. Sometimes you get impatient for the story to hurry back northward to the frisky, jaunty pace of Rosa and Victor’s harrowing adventures.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for BOOK OF THE LITTLE AXE … then take off on your own:
1. How would you describe Rosa Rendon and her role in the Rendon family? What about the other members of the family—Eve and Jeremias, especially.
2. Talk about the changes that take place in Trinidad and Tobago—and their effect on the Rendon family—when the British take over from the Spanish.
3. (Follow-up to Question 2) Before reading this novel, were you aware of the history of Trinidad and Tobago and the racism inherent in British rule?
4. The novel incorporates the perspectives of both Creadon Rampley and Victor, Rosa's son. What do they contribute to the story? Do you find their points-of-view engaging: what do they add to the storyline?
5. Describe Victor. Talk about what that takes place when Like-Wind returns after a winter hunt with a runaway slave. What makes this episode so consequential?
6. Talk about the initiation rites of passage for young men among the Apsaalooke tribe. What is the "vision" that Victor must aquire, and why is it crucial in finding his manhood?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)