The Refugee Ocean intertwines the stories of two refugees, Marguerite Toutoungi and Naïm Rahil, across time and continents through history, loss, and music. Marguerite (who is based on the author’s cousin) is born in 1922 Beirut, and dreams of becoming a composer, but societal and familial expectations keep her tethered. A romance with a Cuban tobacco farmer leads her to a turbulent life in Havana during the Cuban Revolution. Decades later, Naïm Rahil, a teenage piano prodigy from Aleppo, flees war-torn Syria with his mother, seeking solace in suburban America after losing his family and part of his hand in a bombing. Their stories are linked by Annabel Crandell, a […]
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Fascinating History Unveiled in Armstrong’s Touching Debut
The Light of Luna Park is a historical fiction novel that intertwines the lives of two women from different eras—1926 and 1950. In 1926, Althea Anderson, a young nurse at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital, feels horrified as she witnesses the death of a premature baby caused by the callousness of the doctors. Althea saves a baby girl by entrusting her to Dr. Martin Couney, who incubates premature infants while exhibiting them at a sideshow at Coney Island’s Luna Park. Fast forward to 1950, where we meet Stella Wright, a special-education teacher fighting for the rights of students with disabilities. When Stella discovers a hidden letter from her late mother, she unravels […]
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The Angel Makers
The Angel Makers by veteran journalist Patti McCracken is a chilling dive into the world of true crime. The book takes us back to the 1920s in the Hungarian village of Nagyrév, where things got seriously dark. Zsuzsanna Fazekas, aka Auntie Suzy, rolls into town in 1911, and guess what? Her husband is nowhere to be found. Suspicious, right? Then she racks up arrests for conducting illegal abortions, but somehow keeps dodging conviction. That’s when her side hustle begins. She cooks up arsenic from flypaper and selling it to women who want to bump off their kin. And not just a few, mind you. We’re talking about husbands, kids, parents—anyone […]
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Symphony of Secrets
With his background as a music educator and performer, Brendan Slocumb brings a unique authenticity to his storytelling that shines through in this novel. Bern Hendricks, a musicology professor, is asked to authenticate a newly discovered piece by Frederick Delaney, a renowned 20th-century composer. Little does he know; this assignment will lead him down a rabbit hole of secrets and lies. With the help of a computer whiz, he uncovers evidence suggesting Delaney may have stolen his most famous work from a young Black composer named Josephine Reed. Determined to right this wrong, Bern finds himself in the crosshairs of a powerful organization that will stop at nothing to protect […]
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