By Anais Aguilera, Emily Mawson and Olivia Paris
As November is upon us, we dive into a range of top-rated books featuring stories, authors and characters popping up in the charts.
Amazon
Weyward is Emilia Hart’s breakout book. The novel is a sweeping tale following three women across time and space. Despite the distance between them, each of these women struggle against the forces of the patriarchy and the expectations placed on them. From 1600s witch trials to present-day cottage life, all three have poignant stories to tell. Author Emilia Hart is open about her experience of having a stroke and how it’s changed her outlook on life. The stroke left her with “irreversible brain damage” and vision loss.
This next book is a story of diversity and acceptance that is ever more relevant this month. The Boy with Flowers in His Hair by Jarvis is a children’s picture book about a boy whose best friend, David, has flowers for hair. But as they begin to fall out, David becomes more insecure and his friend must figure out how to help him. This is an honest and touching story that reinforces, for children and adults alike, that difference is nothing to be ashamed of but rather to be celebrated.
WHSmith
This month, WHSmith’s bestseller chart features historical fiction such as Kate Mosse’s The Map of Bones and Jodi Picoult’s By Any Other Name.
The Map of Bones, sequel to Ghost Ship, tells the tale of the history of the Huguenots –beginning in 1688 then jumping forwards to 1862. We follow two women who embark on the dangerous journey of finding long-lost relatives in parallel times. But history has a habit of running in circles, and Isabelle Lepard must discover the truth before it is too late. The Map of Bones is an adventure-filled story of history, love and family, and is well worth a read.
Jodi Picoult’s historical fiction, By Any Other Name, is also seeing success. The book also features women separated by time but tied together by a shared struggle – hiding behind another name. In 1581 and in a society unwelcoming to female voices, Emilia Bassano decides to bring her plays to the stage by paying an actor to front her work – the man? William Shakespeare. Centuries apart, Melina Green also faces a similar struggle and submits her plays under a male pseudonym. By Any Other Name explores the ambitions and courage of two women determined to fight the prejudices they face in order to see their work come to life. But is it worth the cost?
Waterstones
This month on the Waterstones bestsellers’ list we find two original and intimate narratives that shed light on a range of different character perspectives and their individual lives.
Firstly, acclaimed American novelist Daniel Mason finds success with his fifth novel, North Woods, an insightful historical narrative that takes us right from the 1760s to the present day. In a harmonious medley of stories, told through varying forms, we indulge in the diverse lives of those who have inhabited a quaint yellow house in the north woods of Western Massachusetts. Despite its gripping themes of the supernatural, nature, disease and death, one of the novel’s most poignant moments comes in the story of Robert, who inhabits the house in the late twentieth century. Living with schizophrenia, his condition leads him to hallucinate about past dwellers of the house, creating films in an effort to capture their ghosts. This rich and moving story holds a microscope over a small corner of Northeastern America, delving into in-depth storylines and brave symbolism.
Next, at home on the bestsellers list as a million-copies selling success, is Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold. Adapted from a 2010 play, like North Woods the novel dips into the individual lives of a variety of characters who visit the Funiculi Funicula cafe in Tokyo. Telling moving stories of family, grief and heartbreak, one particularly notable storyline is the tale of Kohtake, a mournful wife who travels back in time to spend time with her husband, Fusagi, and receives a letter he had written to her before his struggle with early onset Alzheimer’s. This novel is highly deserving of its success, and is the first of a five-book series, each of which are as heartfelt as the other.
Social Media
Rebecca Roanhorse’s Black Sun features Serapio, a mysterious blind young man who sits aboard as the lone passenger of the ship, Xiala. A book inspired by the pre-Columbian Americas and intertwined with magic and prophecy, Black Sun traces a celestial world that is approaching a solar eclipse in time along with a winter solstice, which promises the unbalancing of the world. Broken pasts will come together on an adventure that explores power,
history and society.
The immensely popular Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is also a repeated hit on social media this month, featuring Kaz, who has a limp – inspired by Bardugo’s own experiences with osteonecrosis. Six of Crows follows Kaz, a well-seasoned criminal, and his opportunity to perform a heist that will make him richer than ever. But he cannot do it alone. Six outcasts come together (although not without trouble) to perform one impossible heist.
Noteworthy Author
This month’s first noteworthy author is Alice Wong. Wong is a disability rights activist, editor and writer. She was born with spinal muscular atrophy and has been vocal about her experiences as, in her own words, “an Asian American disabled cyborg.” Alice Wong founded the Disability Visibility Project, a project dedicated to helping disabled writers and stories find a place in the public eye.
She has written and edited a number of books including her memoir Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life and two notable anthologies, Disability Visibility and Disability Intimacy, that spotlight the writing of various disabled authors. These anthologies capture the diversity of the disabled community, highlighting these authors’ struggles and successes, as well as the everyday commonalities of love and desire. Wong is a recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Award for advocacy and her books have become national bestsellers.