The Whole World Over, by Julia Glass
    I was a huge fan of Julia Glass’s novel ‘Three Junes’, and this follow-up, featuring some of the same neighborhoods and at least one of the same characters, is another delight.  It is really a novel about how the past affects the present and how small incidents of fate and chance can determine the future.  Greenie Duquette’s New York bakery supplies pastries to restaurants, including one owned by her gay friend Walter.  When the handsome governor of New Mexico falls in love with her coconut cake and invites her to become his personal chef, Greenie decides to go, in no small part to take a break from her marriage to Alan Glazier, a psychiatrist with hidden issues.  Greenie takes their precocious four-year-old son George with her, something which upsets Alan greatly since his dwindling practice and Greenie’s burgeoning career have made him something of a house-husband.  His own life is then changed by a chance encounter with a young woman named Saga - an animal-rights activist who has lost much of her memory in a traumatic accident.  Glass again manages to juggle many multi-dimensional characters in a complex plot without dropping any its diverse threads.
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A Tale of Two Sisters, by Anna Maxted
    Once again Anna Maxted (all of whose previous novels have been featured on this page) manages to write a novel with wit, humor, and humanity, while dealing with serious core issues.  In past books she has dealt skillfully with commitment, eating disorders, body issues, and painful break-ups among other things, and in this ambitious venture she deals with child-bearing, sibling rivalries, adoption, and divorce with just as much aplomb.  Lizbet and Cassie Montgomery, Jewish sisters in London, seem to like their lives: Lizbet, cute but schlumpy, has a mid-level job at Ladz Mag and a smart, sweet long-term, live-in boyfriend in product designer Tim; barrister Cassie, glossy, smart and hot, is married to fastidious BBC production assistant George Hershlag, which suits her fine. The book is told in alternating sections from each sister’s point of view, and in this way we are able to understand what comes between them in a way that the sisters cannot.  The two sisters have a close if constrained relationship, but when Lizbet announces she's pregnant, Cassie turns cold, even as their parents ("Vivica and Dad") are immediately thrilled. When, 30 or so pages later, Lizbet miscarries the baby in the second trimester, she plunges into despair. She spins out of control, drinking heavily, pushing Tim away, losing too much weight, and totally alienating Cassie.  Meanwhile Cassie is having some crises of her own, brought about by some shocking revelations that she doesn’t want Lizbet to know about.  There is a lot of sadness in this book, but Maxted manages a happy ending which offsets the very real suffering that takes place.
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My Half of the Sky, by Jana McBurney-Lin
    This novel, set primarily in China, is Jana McBurney-Lin’s first, and it took twelve years to write it.  McBurney-Lin is an American married to a Chinese doctor, and she lived in Asia for many years.  This novel makes it apparent that her understanding of the Chinese culture, and especially the role of women in that culture, is far more than superficial.  Li Hui, the female protagonist, is a recent college graduate who was unable to get a good posting as a teacher, due to the greedy demands of her father - a drunken compulsive gambler.  She is forced to return to her home village, where old customs still rule.  Because she is the only child, she will be expected to provide for her mother and father, and because she is a girl, her best hopes will be in making a profitable marriage.  In her struggle to find a decent job and begin to make a living, we are treated to descriptions of Chinese village life which are both fascinating and harrowing.  I have read many Chinese novels, by both Chinese and American writers, and life in China is never portrayed as anything other than brutal and bleak - this novel is no exception.  Li Hui finds herself in a difficult position when she actually falls in love, but is then forced by her father to marry a computer expert living in Singapore.  In her new environment Li Hui is subject to relentless criticism from her mother-in-law and neglect by her husband.  What ensues is truly interesting and invites immediate speculation as to whether McBurney-Lin plans a sequel.  Very rich read.
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The Dead Hour, by Denise Mina
    In 'Field of Blood', Denise Mina introduced Paddy Meehan, night cops reporter for the Scottish Daily News - a sensitive, self-consciously overweight young woman competing for bylines with hard-bitten, middle-aged men. Paddy is a great character.  In this novel, set in Glasgow in the bleakest part of the 80's Thatcher era, Paddy is once again in the middle of a situation that becomes much bigger than her brief.  In this book, it's just Paddy’s bad luck to turn up for an apparent domestic-disturbance call at a posh residence where the cops take a bribe from the man who answers the door. Paddy sees a battered woman behind him and manages to ask a few questions before the man presses a large, blood-soaked bill into her hand and slams the door before she can return it. She writes up the story anyway. But when the woman turns up dead, guilt-wracked Paddy reports the attempted bribe to the cops and frets about losing her career when word reaches her editor. In the meantime, she'll open her own dogged investigation into the murder. Mina also provides a gritty, authentic look at daily journalism's sausage-making process, and Paddy’s wit and humor provides much-needed spice.
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