BookTrib’s Bites: Four Exciting Reads to Sink Your Teeth Into

Lost in Thought by Deborah Serra

Does your mind wander? Where does it go without you?

Ilana manages an opera house in Manhattan. Her world is well-planned until she begins to question her choices. Having been adopted, she decides to secretly spy on her birth family. When she does, her life explodes.

This novel is about how our lives are driven by unconscious choices and the consequences from our illusion of free will.

“Ilana’s journey as a woman trying to figure out who she is, is compelling, unexpected, and also heartbreaking. This novel captured me.” — Delia Ephron, author, screenwriter

“I am in awe. This is an extraordinary story, and one that will remain with me.” — WendiReviews

“This novel is a masterclass in psychological fiction.” — Rekha Rao

“This book is about a character navigating matters of self-control. It’s gripping.”  — Patricia S. Churchland, author, MacArthur grant recipient, neuro-philosopher

Purchase at https://bit.ly/3AFn4zk.

Civil Unity by Shola Richards

In order to transform our world, we must unite behind a new kind of civility.

In a world that is more divided than ever, it will take a radical act to transform our discourse, our lives, and our world. International civility consultant and keynote speaker Shola Richards believes that unifying our world around the power of civility is that radical act, and it’s not for the faint of heart.

Civil Unity is not another book about turning the other cheek when faced with harmful or hateful behavior. This book is about providing the practical tactics to disagree more effectively, bridge ideological divisions, actively prioritize our mental health, and fiercely create a more civil world that will sustain over time. If you are ready to transform our discourse, our lives, and our world, let’s get to work. Purchase at https://bit.ly/3yH4iqD.

The Little Bird by Ashby Jones

In 1964, a Black teenager was murdered by a drunken white cop who got away with the crime, and eight years later, the boy’s best friend, Shane, returns from combat intent on carving out justice himself. Suzanne, the daughter of the lawyer who failed in prosecuting the case, also lands back in Virginia, but her aim is to follow her father’s path to suicide, a path created by his loss and the severe rheumatoid arthritis that followed.

Shane and Suzanne were four years apart in high school and barely knew each other before they met, but after a chance encounter, an almost instant connection is made. Neither knows the other’s secret goal, but as their bonds deepen, their love will be tested by familial duty, long-held grief, and even shifting sanity. But love might have other plans for Shane and Suzanne. Purchase at https://bit.ly/3AJZ7GY.

Here There is No Why by Philip Graubart

Did Chaim Lerner, acclaimed Israeli author and Holocaust survivor, kill himself in 1983, 38 years after surviving Auschwitz? If so, was it traumatic memories finally catching up to him? Or despair over Holocaust denialism? Or ordinary, difficult health issues? Or simply a deadly episode of depression?

Or was it murder?

In 2005, Judah Loeb, Lerner’s former student and now a struggling American journalist and single father, travels to Jerusalem to investigate Lerner’s death. He drags along his 15-year-old daughter, Hannah, and they team up with Charlie, Judah’s former Hebrew University roommate, now a Jerusalem homicide detective. Their investigation takes them through the darker corners of the Israeli psyche, where they uncover secrets that threaten to destroy Lerner’s reputation and alter Jewish history. While probing the mysteries of Israel’s past, they encounter personal betrayal, heartbreak, and the fragile possibilities of forgiveness and redemption. Purchase at https://bit.ly/46ZJLdy.