Amber and Clay by Laura Amy Schlitz

  Amber and Clay by Laura Amy Schlitz. Illustrations by Julia Iredale. Candlewick Press, 2021. Historical fiction. Children's/YA.

     With a handful of fictional characters tossed in with actual historical figures of ancient Greece, Laura Amy Schlitz has created a captivating multilayered story. An enslaved boy, Rhaskos, works in the stables and dreams of drawing horses and making fine things out of clay. Melisto, a wealthy girl, knows him. Their futures are linked in unexpected ways that could well be called a Greek tragedy. 

     The careful research of the author forms the basis of the story and expands it from a mere tale to an epic. Rhaskos becomes friends with philosopher Sokrates. It may take a minute for younger readers to get comfortable with the Greek spellings used in the book, but it IS the famous Socrates. Gods and goddesses speak and are also characters, but not in the Rick Riordan style. Most of the narrative is in free verse, but Melisto's story is prose. Interesting black-and-white illustrations make divisions in the print and bring related information into more of what modern readers might see in a museum.

     Schlitz has provided a meaty and unexpected story. Readers with any interest in Greek mythology will welcome this thoughtful addition to their libraries. 

The Last Mona Lisa: A Novel by Jonathan Santlofer

  The Last Mona Lisa: A Novel by Jonathan Santlofer. Sourcebooks Landmark, 2021. Adult fiction. Mystery. 

     Based on the true 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa painting in the Louvre, this thriller tells the fictional contemporary story of a man whose great grandfather was the thief. Luke Perrone, an Italian-American art professor, goes to Florence to see if he can find and read a memoir by his ancestor. Luke wonders if the painting returned to the Louvre was the real one or a clever replacement. Readers will learn about Luke, his family, his past, and cheer him on as he searches for answers. The "bad guys" abound and no one is safe from the poisonous happenings and gunfire. Is the beautiful blonde in the library trustworthy? Will Luke be tempted to break his no alcohol pledge? What prompted his great grandfather to risk his job at the Louvre and steal a painting? And, is the painting now in the museum the real one or a fake?  

     If you pick only one thriller to read this summer, make it this one! Santlofer's pacing is a rollercoaster, his characters compelling, and the action never stops. Hopefully, this title will soon be a motion picture, too. 

We Are All the Same in the Dark: A Novel by Julia Heaberlin

  We Are All the Same in the Dark: A Novel by Julia Heaberlin. Ballantine Books, 2020. Adult fiction. Mystery. Thriller.

When Heaberlin writes of Texas, she knows her people and places. No one puts together the details of life and death in the Lone Star State better. In this dark and twisty mystery, young policewoman Odette Tucker has never really recovered from losing her best friend Trumanell Branson ten years ago. Equally hard to deal with is the loss of Odette's leg. Now, with a world class prothesis, she is strong and brave even when a new documentary opens all the old wounds for their community. But, when Trumanell's brother and Odette's maybe lost love finds a teen with only one eye, Odette is challenged to help her. Was Wyatt involved in Trumanell's disappearance after all? Who was? Who is this girl? How can life in the small town ever be the same again? 

The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian

  The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian. Sourcebooks Landmark, 2021.  Adult fiction. Debut novel.

        This deeply atmospheric tale of two young women in the swampy Natchez Trace in the early 1920's has nothing to do with the typical Great Gatsby glamor of that era. Instead, Mustian provides a rich story of poverty and scrappy characters who must help each other in order to ensure their very survival. There are villains, Virgil and Frank, but it is the main characters of Ada and Matilda who carry the story and win readers' hearts. Ada finds herself pregnant and without her love, Jesse. Matilda has had her own share of sadness and knows a lot about babies. They make an unlikely pair as they share secrets and dream of better lives. Congratulations to Mustian on her debut novel as she truly expresses the despair, hopes, and struggles and makes the location almost a character, too. Readers will hope against hope that nothing tragic will happen, but rest assured, these girls are in capable hands with Kelly Mustian. 

Malibu Rising: A Novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

  Malibu Rising: A Novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Ballantine Books, Penguin Random House LLC, 2021. Adult fiction.

     Looking for a great beach book for summer reading? Check out this family saga of four siblings and their rock star father and California mother. Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit have grown up surfing and living in the gorgeous Malibu, California area. The book features one day, Saturday, August, 27,1983 when the annual Riva party is to be held. From movie stars to local celebrities and wannas bes, everyone wants to be at a famous Riva party. Alternately, portions go back to 1956 when Mick and June Riva first met and then forward in the lives of their family members. Nina, the oldest, whose tennis champ husband has just left her,  has always been the "grown up". Jay is a champion surfer with a secret. Hud is a famous photographer with his own guilty conscience. And, young Kit is just becoming independent and finding herself.  Reid's writing is smooth and readers may have a hard time putting down this tale once it begins to unwind. The setting is, of course, beautiful and will return those of us fortunate enough to have been there and make new fans of others. But, it is the characters who drive the plot and find their ways into your mind and heart.