If you like Irish and British writers, may I recommend The Offing by Benjamin Myers? It will be in my top five of the year, a lovely story about an unlikely friendship and two people who learn to heal together.
I don’t know that one at all but, amazingly enough(!), it’s available at our local library and I’ll be able to get it later this week. Two others I’ve enjoyed and wondering if you’ve read are Flatlands by Sue Hubbard and Clear by Carys Davies (Scotland and Britain). I put these in my “quiet book” category - not exciting plots but wonderful characters and friendships and important things that matter.
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I almost mentioned Clear to you, and I loved Flatlands too!
I just finished the latest book by one of my most favorite authors, Craig Johnson This is the 21st book in his series and, in spite of the ‘Cowboys and Indians’ flavor they are all of very high literary quality. All set in Wyoming and the Native American story that interests me so much.
If you haven’t read any other books in the series, you won’t really appreciate the essence of the story, so I strongly recommend that you read almost any of the ones earlier in the series. There are some magical realism aspects to several books in the series and the characters associated in the story are very important.
Note that the average rating for these books is well above 4 stars, and 4.2+ is very common.
This book, like all of the others, contains an ever-present discussion of morality, ethics, right and wrong, the meaning of life and existence.
This specific book, Return to Sender has an almost magical connection to me personally, which I will explain as follows.
The Basic Story Description
“When Blair McGowan, the mail person with the longest postal route in the country of over three hundred mile a day, goes missing the question becomes, where do you look for her? The Postal Inspector for the State of Wyoming elicits Sheriff Longmire to mount an investigation into her disappearance and Walt does everything but mail it in; posing as a letter-carrier himself, the good sheriff follows her trail and finds himself enveloped in the intrigue of an otherworldly cult. Packed to the brim with twists and turns, the 21st novel in the New York Times bestselling Longmire series pushes Walt to his absolute limits, forcing him to wrestle with the impossible question: What good are your morals, if you’re marked for the dead letter office?”–
What pushed the story so close to home for me?
The basic description doesn’t mention that the story is centered on the Red Desert, Boars Tusk and the environ of Rock Springs Wyoming where my family has lived since 1920!
The activities that Walt becomes so deeply involved with occurs in the high mountain desert about 15 to 25 miles north and northeast of Rock Springs. It happens that my father, my children and I have spent, literally thousands of hours searching for campsites and artifacts of ancient inhabitants of that desert.
The oldest of these inhabitants are part of the Cody complex that are considered Paleo Indians. They clearly inhabited this area over 10,000 years ago. These activities by my father allowed him to discover numerous sites, including the White Mountain Petroglyphs and the North Table Mountain Paleo Site.
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Evonne, I definitely agree with recommending The Offering by Benjamin Myers’s. I finished it last night. It is a wonderful book. The friendship of Dulcie and Robert is so intriguing and alters their future. The ending gives the reader a heartwarming feeling of warmth and kindness.
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Yes, I must read more of Myers! I hear Cuddy is very good too.
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KIng of Ashes by S A Cosby - I was never much of a ‘Thriller’ afficionado until I read Cosby’s All the Sinners Bleed which was on Obabma’s recommended reading list a year or so ago. I have now read all four of Cosby’s works and had the pleasure hearing him speak at a recent event at Parnassus Books in Nashville. I find Cosby’s thrillers totally engaging, scary, and definite page turners.
I’m reading an ARC of ‘The Homemade God’ by Rachel Joyce. Only 6% in, but I love the writing. It’s about 4 siblings that learn of their fathers untimely death not long after he marries a woman 40 years younger. They all reunite in Italy at the site of their fathers lake house to determine what really happened to him, and his last painting. Great character development! I’m inspired by how much everyone in this group reads!!
@John_B1 I agree! I didn’t think I’d like Cosby’s books but I’ve now read them all. All the Sinners Bleed was my first as well, followed by Razorblade Tears. It’s a bit grittier than my normal read, but they’ve definitely kept my attention.
I am currently reading atmosphere, by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I am actually enjoying it very much surprisingly. It’s not something I would normally pick for myself, but it was the book picked at my local indie bookstore book club that I belong to.
I am almost finished with Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye. Really like this book!