Our top 2022 picks… did your favourite make the list?
#1 The Union
Released on December 1, 2022, Leah Vernon’s “The Union” is a short story that readers can’t put down. Published by 47North, a science fiction imprint from Amazon Publishing, this story is a page-turner that forces certain readers to expand their minds and make connections to the present day.
Book Summary
The novel begins a thousand years in the future where a Black elite class has power over the region, and white lower residents serve their rulers. The story follows two characters, Saige Wilde and Avi Jore. Wilde is an enslaved young woman who wants to escape The Union of Civilization’s borders, and Jore, is an elite woman born into power, but can’t help notice the injustice in the community they’ve created.
When Saige saves Avi from an attempt on her life the plot becomes interesting, twisted, and leads them both into a journey they never expected. As Saige continues to find freedom beyond the border, and Avi attempts to understand the wrongs, and invoke change from the inside out, both women become entangled in a dangerous fight for revolution leading to a bewildering friendship.
#2 The Lobotomist’s Wife
ON FEBRUARY 1, 2022, Samantha Greene Woodruff’s debut novel The Lobotomist’s Wife will be available for a world of readers. Published by Lake Union Publishing, this novel fictionizes a terrifying moment in medical history.
Book Summary
An enthralling take on historical fiction, Woodruff’s novel begins in 1952 with Margaret, a mother suffering from postpartum depression, “baby blues,” before going back to 1933, where we meet Ruth Emeraldine.
Rush runs an institution for the mentally ill. She hires Dr. Robert Apter, who brings the lobotomy to America. Later he develops the “ice pick method” for this brain surgery. Her fascination with Robert leads her to become the lobotomist’s wife, only to question the procedure’s benefits decades later, not knowing that Margaret could be his next victim.
#3 The Brighter the Light
On July 1, 2022, Mary Ellen Taylor’s novel, The Brighter the Light, became available for a world of readers. Published by Montlake, Seattle, this novel combines historical fiction with the modern mystery of family lineage.
Book Summary
A gripping take on historical fiction, Taylor’s novel begins in 2022 North Carolina with Ruth, bearing her last storm, leaving her hotel, The Seaside Resort, and her cottage to her granddaughter, Ivy Neal.
Ivy comes back from New York, with no job, no prospects, and her only goal is to clean out her grandmother’s cottage, and leave town. Finding old pictures, old hotel records, and some long-lost paintings, Taylor takes us back to 1950, where Ivy’s family tree gets more complicated, and her reason for leaving loses some of its power.
#4 She’s up to No Good
On August 1, 2022, Sara Goodman Confino’s novel, She’s up to No Good, was released for readers looking for a fulfilling beachside read. Published by Lake Union Publishing, the novel captivates readers with two separate stories coming together by the shore line.
Book Summary
Like many romantic narratives, this novel starts off with a blindsided heartbreak, ending a four-year marriage and losing, what feels like, all autonomy when the main character moves back in with her parents.
Jenna, a woman in her thirties, living with her parents during her separation, finds herself driving her whimsical grandmother, Evelyn, back to her hometown on the seaside of Massachusetts. On the long drive Jenna learns of the adolescent romance in her grandmother’s past with a man named Tony, although she insists the trip isn’t about him. Upon arrival Jenna meets Tony’s great-nephew, Joe, and while her grandmother tends to business in the small seaside town, Joe tends to Jenna. While learning the truths about Evelyn’s passed, and developing a new friendship, Jenna finds herself more confused than ever while her marriage falls apart, and she tries to put her pieces back together.