Reviews

Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens

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Rumours of the “Marsh Girl” have circulated for years in the small coastal village of Barkley Cove. Kya Clark is uneducated, barefoot and wild, not fit for civilised society. So when handsome and popular Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya. But Kya is not what everyone thinks she is.
Abandoned by her family and forced to fend for herself from a very young age, Kya is a born naturalist and learned life’s lessons from the land and wildlife around her. But while she has the skills necessary to survive, as she grows up, Kya feels her lack of community ever more keenly. Drawn to two very different young men from the village, she opens herself to a new and startling world, until the unthinkable happens. Read More »

We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir, by Samra Habib

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How do you find yourself when the world tells you that you don’t exist?
Growing up as an Ahmadi Muslim in Pakistan, Samra Habib learned from a young age that revealing their identity could put them in grave danger. But fleeing the threat of Islamic extremists and emigrating to Canada did not solve any of these problems. Instead, Samra was faced with a whole new host of challenges: racism, bullying, poverty and an arranged marriage.
With their life policed by men, and with their only example of womanhood being a pious and obedient wife, Samra began a journey of self-discovery. A journey that would encompass faith, art, love and queer sexuality, and which would take them across the globe in search of a truth that was inside them all along. Read More »

Silver in the Wood, by Emily Tesh

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There is a Wild Man who dwells in the quiet green depths of Greenhollow and there are many legends and stories about him in the local village. Tobias lives a perfectly unremarkable life in his cottage with his cat, and his dryads. He listens to the wood and keeps himself to himself. Until, however, Greenhollow Hall acquires a new, handsome and very curious owner in Henry Silver. Old secrets better left buried are dug up, and Tobias must confront his troubled past. Read More »

The Prophets, by Robert Jones Jr.

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A cotton plantation in the deep South does not seem a likely place for a tender romance. But amidst all of the horror and hardship, Isaiah has Samuel and Samuel has Isaiah. Separated from the rest of the slaves by their roles working in the barn with the animals, the two men have created a place of refuge, intimacy and hope for themselves. Their relationship is acknowledged but mostly ignored by the rest of the plantation. Until that is, a fellow slave seeks to gain the Master’s favour by preaching the gospel.
Suddenly, Samuel and Isaiah’s love, which was once so pure, is seen as sinful and a danger to the harmony of the wider plantation. As the enslaved begin to turn on one another, the two men’s future on the plantation becomes more and more uncertain. Read More »