Literary Fiction

Beneath the Polish Moon

Two boys meet and a friendship is forged that will echo for a lifetime. Luke Karpinski and his friend Eugene, along with a cast of unforgettable characters navigate life in a Polish neighborhood in mid-century Milwaukee. Their stories are both hilarious and heartwarming. For the boys, every day is an adventure. It never occurs to them that one day they will grow up and have to go their separate ways. Many years later, Luke is a cop working in the lush city of Miami, his childhood friends almost forgotten. He chose his career to make the world a better place, but life is never that simple.

Hidden Ones

When you pick up a book by Author Marcia Fine, you know going in two things – 1) the author is a master at telling a story, and 2) you will always learn something new. Such is the case with Marcia’s latest, Hidden Ones, A Veil of Memories. Set in the 1600’s in the new world area of what is now Mexico and the Southwestern United States, it brings to light something of which I had no idea.

Allegro for Life

I met the author and his wife, Suzanne, several years ago over lunch in Phoenix, discussing fundraising strategies for an NGO they set up in Guatemala, “Seeds for a Future,” which provides training to impoverished rural women in and around Chocolá on the South coast, to improve family access to food and nutrition. I soon learned that we not only shared a love and appreciation of Guatemala and the Desert Southwest but that Earl was also a writer and, in his case, a poet as well.

Pedro Páramo

I first learned of what is considered “one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century world literature” while reading Paul Theroux’s, “On the Plain of Snakes.” In his critique of Mexican literature, he mentions “Pedro Páramo” because, unlike many Mexico’s best-known authors, Rulfo wrote about rural Mexico. He mentions that the book was published in 1955 and was one of procurers of “magical realism”, which influenced many of Latin America’s best authors.

The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?

The Long Night of White Chickens” was my introduction to the author and I’ve been a fan ever since. His mother is a Catholic Guatemalan, his father Jewish American, and he was born in Boston, so he started off with a very interesting combination of influences. The book is a tense, almost surrealistic detective story which opens windows on the Latin American reality of State Sponsored assassinations, mara youth gangs and organized crime.

 

Down to the River

Remi and Nash Potts are identical twin heirs of the Boston Brahmin elite who were promised the good life: Harvard, wealth, and guaranteed privilege. But as their family fortune dwindles, they are failing as husbands, fathers, and men in a changing world. Now middle aged, the former golden boys are partners in a sporting goods store and are taking their dissatisfaction out on those closest to them. Heavy drinking, affairs, and abusive behavior are shattering their marriages and shaking loose the family ties that connect them to their children.

A Week of Warm Weather

Tessa Cordelia appears to have it all—a loving husband who’s just opened a dental practice, a beautiful baby girl, a big house in the suburbs, and a large supportive family. But when her husband's reckless choices entwine with a trauma from Tessa's childhood, she must decide which is more costly: keeping his secrets or revealing them. He manipulates Tessa into believing his career and their happiness depend on her silence. She feels like she’s losing her mind. Is her husband's habit so awful? Should she let him have this one thing?

A Better Heart

"A promising new literary voice." –Kirkus Reviews

For aspiring indie filmmaker Kevin Stacey, it's another day on the set of his first film, but when his estranged father, a failed Hollywood actor, arrives unexpectedly with a bundle of cash, a gun, and a stolen capuchin monkey, he's propelled toward the journey that will change his life.

The Cardiff Giant

The Cardiff Giant, set in Cooperstown, New York, has up its novelistic sleeve Puck's profound declaration, "Lord, what fools these mortals be!" Jess Freeman, investigative reporter, arrives on the scene to look into the weird disappearance from the Farmers' Museum of a huge human figure. He had been unearthed in the late nineteenth century near Cardiff, New York.

Subscribe to Literary Fiction