8 Gift Books for Grownups
THE OPPORTUNIST is a book about obscenely wealthy people doing horrible things to each other. If you're a fan of Succession or White Lotus and can't get enough of the lives of the rich and morally bankrupt, you'll love this. Three siblings descend on their father's private estate determined to break up his engagement to his very young nurse, and everything goes wrong from there. Every chapter has a twist, I read this in one big gulp.
LOOKING FOR JANE weaves together the story of three different women, living in different time periods in Canada, each somehow connected to the Jane Network, which was the name given to the underground abortion network. Given the state of women's rights, this story is sadly more relevant than ever. Marshall’s nuanced novel really puts you smack dab in the era and sheds light on the Canadian history of women's reproductive rights, the treatment of unwed mothers, and adoption policies.
SON OF ELSEWHERE (PRH) is a collection of essays from culture writer & podcaster Elamin Abdelmahmoud. Elamin immigrated to Kingston, ON from the Sudan as a young teen, and much of the memoir addresses this move and his new Canadian life, but this warm, conversational book covers a wide range of topics, including family, pop culture, and more. I particularly enjoyed the essay about wrestling and how it helped him make friends when he moved to Canada.
DUCKS is a memoir from cartoonist, writer and national treasure Kate Beaton. Many people may recognise her name from her webcomics Hark a Vagrant or her NYT bestselling picture books, but DUCKS is very different. After university, Kate moves from Cape Breton to Fort McMurray to work in the oil sands and this is the story of those few years. Fort McMurray is a place a lot of Canadians have a passing familiarity with, but Kate puts you right in the middle of that world, exposing the loneliness, intense working conditions, camaraderie, kindness and the harassment she faced as one of very few women in an extremely male dominated environment. A necessary story from one of Canada’s greatest storytellers.
For the chefs in the family, LITTLE CRITICS (Appetite) is a collection of personal, kid-tested recipes from Canadian chefs that are specifically designed to appeal to kids.
THE BULLET THAT MISSED (PRH) is the third book in the incredibly charming, crowd-pleasing series The Thursday Murder Club. The Thursday Murder Club consists of four senior citizens living in a retirement community who meet on Thursdays to solve cold cases. The series is delightful, full of lovable characters, and twists and turns. Will appeal to fans of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
MARRYING THE KETCHUPS is family fiction at its best. Author Jennifer Close is consistently excellent for me, on par with Emma Straub and Curtis Sittenfeld. She creates characters you want to root for, and this story about family drama set in a family restaurant made for cozy, satisfying reading.
SHRINES OF GAIETY (PRH) by International superstar Kate Atkinson features a cast of characters in gritty, glitzy Jazz-era London who are call connected to crime boss/queen of the nightclub scene Nellie Coker, loosely based on a real person. This is top notch historical fiction with lots of twists and sharply observed characters.