GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE
after their return, the book pauses for several hundred pages of exposition. Gabaldon reintroduces characters, summarizes past events and tragedies, and introduces new characters. The text features not one but two family trees (the one in the back is updated to include the events of the book), and readers will need both to keep track of all the characters and relationships. The Outlander series has always been concerned with themes of time and place, and this novel contains intricate details and descriptions of daily life in Colonial America, clearly the result of countless hours of research. But Claire and Jamie have always been the major draw for readers. Now that they are grandparents, their love story is less epic and more tender, exploring the process of aging, the joys of family, and the longing for community and home. The last third is more plot-driven and actionpacked, but the cliffhanger ending might leave readers feeling as if the book is just filler for the promised 10th installment. Lots of buzz after a seven-year hiatus, but even die-hard Outlander fans might need more action.
Gabaldon, Diana Delacorte (928 pp.) $36.00 | Nov. 23, 2021 978-1-101-88568-0
The ninth book in Gabaldon’s Outlander series finds the Fraser family reunited in the midst of the American Revolution. It’s 1779, and Claire and Jamie Fraser have found each other across time and space and are living peacefully in the American Colony of North Carolina. This novel opens with the mysterious return to Fraser’s Ridge of their daughter, Brianna, her husband, Roger, and their children. In a previous book, Brianna’s family time-traveled to 20thcentury America and planned to stay there permanently. It’s clear that Jamie and the others expect the troubles the family faced in the future will follow them to the past; unfortunately,
LET’S NOT DO THAT AGAIN
Ginder, Grant Henry Holt (352 pp.) $27.99 | April 5, 2022 978-1-250-24377-5 In this timely comic novel set in New York and Paris, a political family deals with drama past and present. A new book from Ginder beckons the reader like a hot bath and glass of something, a reliable and relaxing pleasure. Here the point of departure is a riot in Paris during which a young American pitches a champagne bottle through the window of a famous restaurant, apparently at the behest of a French right-wing extremist. This is bad news for her mother, Nancy Harrison, who is running for the U.S. Senate from New York. Nancy has been representing her district in the House of Representatives for nearly 20 years, since her husband’s death opened the seat, and her hard work, vision, and political instincts have led to this Senate race. Her competition is a Republican television actor “whose most impressive accomplishment was hiding his Botox”—still, beating him won’t be easy, especially with these new headlines. Her son, Nick, who’s just retired from the stress of working for his mom and is looking forward to getting off benzos and finding a boyfriend, is tapped to fly over and pry sister Greta away from the evil Frenchman. Ginder aces the small stuff: sparkling dialogue, hilarious supporting characters (Greta’s roommates!), whimsically named establishments—a doggy day care is BowHaus; a retirement community, Boom Town; a favorite restaurant, Me, Myself, and Thai. Nick is writing a musical based on the work of...Joan Didion. And you know the old saying about a gun in the drawer in the first act? Well, here the gun is a state-ofthe-art trash compactor. Keep your eye on that thing. He also aces the big stuff, characteristically insightful on sibling and parent-child relationships and politically on message. As Nancy 12
|
15 january 2022
|
fiction
|
kirkus.com
|
