Nicole Galland's "Boy," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Boy: A Novel by Nicole Galland.

The entry begins:

My two 19-year-old protagonists are largely described in contrast to each other. Alexander (Sander) is an actor: ethereally, delicately attractive, a bisexual man-boy desired by nearly everyone in London. A singer and dancer, he moves with androgynous grace. Black-haired, blue-eyed, marvelous bone structure that has been praised since childhood. In contrast, his best friend Joan is the living embodiment of nondescript. An unschooled intellectual, she pays little attention to her own appearance: blandly light brown hair, blandly hazel eyes, with an unremarkable physique, and a soft, forgettable face. Her sole distinctive feature: beautifully expressive lips, which live on her face without adding to its overall beauty. She spends a good chunk of the book disguised as a boy – a boy as nondescript as Joan herself.

In general, I never think about who would play my characters in a movie adaptation. I develop such specific mental images of them, an actor would strike me as a mere impersonator.

But…

…virtually every early reader of Boy cooed, “Ooo, based on your description, you’re obviously thinking of Sander as Timothée Chalamet.” Because I’m bad with names, I wasn’t sure who Timothée Chalamet was, so after the fifth time someone said it, I Googled him – and found myself staring at someone who looked remarkably like Sander! But once I’d been prompted to contemplate Sander portrayed by a not-Sander in the flesh, I realized a young...[read on]

Visit Nicole Galland's website, Facebook page, and Threads page.

Coffee with a Canine: Nicole Galland & Leuco.

The Page 69 Test: Stepdog.

My Book, The Movie: Stepdog.

Writers Read: Nicole Galland (August 2015).

My Book, The Movie: Boy.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top domestic psychological thrillers

Susan Moore is an author and screenwriter whose creative journey has been fueled by the world of technology. Her work captures the essence of what it means to be human in a complex and ever-changing world. She has over three decades of experience working in the film, tech and media, most notably at Skywalker for Lucasfilm Ltd.

She has been successfully published worldwide for the Nat Walker Trilogy and Power Families series, and has an MA with distinction in Creative Writing from Kingston University, London. Her new thriller is The Widow’s Web.

At CrimeReads Moore tagged seven of the best domestic psychological thrillers, including:

The Last Mrs Parrish by Liv Constantine

Liv Constantine’s The Last Mrs Parrish is a riveting psychological thriller that burrows deep into the tangled webs of marriage and female rivalry. With its shifting perspectives and unsettling twists, the story unravels the dark secrets and hidden motives lurking beneath the surface of seemingly perfect lives.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Last Mrs. Parrish is among Trisha Sakhlecha's eleven thrillers that feature the mega-rich, Jaime Lynn Hendricks's seven best unlikeable characters in thrillers, Eliza Jane Brazier's nine books that pit the Have against the Have-Nots, Seraphina Nova Glass's seven top obsession thrillers, Allison Dickson's top ten thrillers featuring a dance of girlfriends and deception, Kristyn Kusek Lewis's eight shocking thrillers featuring scandals, Margot Hunt's top nine thrillers featuring duplicitous spouses, and Jennifer Hillier's eight crime novels of women starting over.

The Page 69 Test: The Last Mrs. Parrish.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Robin Derricourt's "Five Innovations That Changed Human History"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Five Innovations That Changed Human History: Transitions and Impacts by Robin Derricourt.

About the book, from the publisher:

We live in an era of major technological developments, post-pandemic social adjustment, and dramatic climate change arising from human activity. Considering these phenomena within the long span of human history, we might ask: which innovations brought about truly significant and long-lasting transformations? Drawing on both historical sources and archaeological discoveries, Robin Derricourt explores the origins and earliest development of five major achievements in our deep history, and their impacts on multiple aspects of human lives. The topics presented are the taming and control of fire, the domestication of the horse,and its later association with the wheeled vehicle, the invention of writing in early civilisations, the creation of the printing press and the printed book, and the revolution of wireless communication with the harnessing of radio waves. Written in an engaging and accessible style, Derricourt's survey of key innovations makes us consider what we mean by long-term change, and how the modern world fits into the human story.

Visit Robin Derricourt's website.

The Page 99 Test: Creating God.

The Page 99 Test: Five Innovations That Changed Human History.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Catherine Con Morse

From my Q&A with Catherine Con Morse, author of The Notes:

How much work does your title of The Notes do to take readers into the story?

The Notes is simple but evocative. It makes you wonder, What notes? Are these music notes or is someone writing a note? Maybe both?

The book takes place in the lively, high-stakes world of a prestigious performing arts boarding school, where Claire Wu is a pianist. When Dr. Li, a glamorous new piano teacher, shows up, Claire can’t help but want to become just like her. But when Claire starts receiving mysterious, handwritten notes about her teacher, she is forced to decide...[read on]

Visit Catherine Con Morse's website.

Q&A with Catherine Con Morse.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine twisted novels about theatrical performers

Jeanette Horn holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she received a Maytag Fellowship, a Teaching/Writing Fellowship, and was named a finalist for Poetry’s Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship.

Jeanette’s poetry has appeared in MARGIE, Poetry International, Stand, Washington Square, and other journals.

Horn's debut novel is Play, With Knives.

At Electric Lit the author tagged nine "novels set in the theatrical world [that] are all a little twisted in some way." One entry on the list:

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

You’ve likely heard of this speculative hit, which was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2014 and was recently named a “Best Book of the 21st Century” by The New York Times. The novel is about a Shakespearean theater troupe traveling the Great Lakes region 15 years after a flu pandemic decimated the world’s population and, with it, civilization. Their tour takes them to a town controlled by a dangerous prophet who they must overcome to save their lives and the lives of others. Along the way, they risk everything for art.

Read about another novel on the list.

Station Eleven is among Isabelle McConville's fifteen books for fans of the post-apocalyptic TV-drama Fallout, Joanna Quinn's six best books set in & around the theatrical world, Carolyn Quimby's 38 best dystopian novels, Tara Sonin's seven books for fans of Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, Maggie Stiefvater's five fantasy books about artists & the magic of creativity, Mark Skinner's five top literary dystopias, Claudia Gray's five essential books about plagues and pandemics, K Chess's five top fictional books inside of real books, Rebecca Kauffman's ten top musical novels, Nathan Englander’s ten favorite books, M.L. Rio’s five top novels inspired by Shakespeare, Anne Corlett's five top books with different takes on the apocalypse, Christopher Priest’s five top sci-fi books that make use of music, and Anne Charnock's five favorite books with fictitious works of art.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Clea Simon's "The Butterfly Trap"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Butterfly Trap by Clea Simon.

About the book, from the publisher:

Anya and Greg seem to be the golden couple, until dark secrets come to light and unleash inevitable devastation in this slow-burn he said/she said psychological suspense novel.

Greg has his life all planned out: become a doctor, buy a house, and have a wife and children – and when he meets Anya during his post-doc studies in Boston, all of his dreams seem to come true. It’s love at first sight, and Greg doesn’t shy away from changing his life to provide Anya, his beautiful butterfly, with everything she wants and needs.

Anya is a struggling artist, determined to make it as a painter in Boston’s art scene – but getting involved with shy and sweet Greg could thwart her lifelong ambition. Their relationship unfolds like a classic love story . . . except that Anya seems to be hiding something that unsuspecting Greg soon must face.

Are Greg and Anya truly the perfect couple, or will jealousy, uncertainty, and dangerous machinations break them apart in the most dreadful way imaginable?

Megan Abbott meets Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train mixed with some Patricia Highsmith creepiness that will make you turn the pages! A psychological suspense novel “darkly inventive and full of grit” (New York Times bestselling author Caroline Leavitt).

Visit Clea Simon's website.

The Page 69 Test: To Conjure a Killer.

The Page 69 Test: Bad Boy Beat.

Writers Read: Clea Simon (May 2024).

Q&A with Clea Simon.

My Book, The Movie: The Butterfly Trap.

The Page 69 Test: The Butterfly Trap.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Diane Barnes reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Diane Barnes, author of The Mulligan Curse: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

I’m reading an ARC of Unclaimed Baggage by Katie O’Rourke. It’s a beautifully written book about a complicated family. The story is emotional and real. The protagonist is Jenna, a college student who is a twin. When her stepfather falls ill, neither Jenna’s mom nor sister step up to help care for him so Jenna does. She leaves school and moves back home. She discovers family secrets and learns to take care of herself instead of everyone else. Jenna is a relatable character, who is easy to root for her. O’Rourke’s writing style is engaging and...[read on]

About The Mulligan Curse, from the publisher:

From the author of All We Could Still Have comes a charming tale about one woman who embraces a family curse, laying bare the dreams we give up―and the chances we take to get them back.

Mary Mulligan has two problems: her wisdom teeth…and everything else. Her only daughter is moving overseas. Her husband would rather go golfing than spend time with her. And Mary’s left to wonder why she abandoned her career ambitions when loneliness is all she has to show for it.

Plus her teeth really, really hurt.

But that’s one problem she can fix―never mind the stories that say if she gets her wisdom teeth removed, the last thirty years of her life will be erased. In fact, Mary wouldn’t mind if the Mulligan curse were actually true.

Turns out, it is.

The world around her hasn’t changed, but Mary is suddenly twenty-four again, with the life she once dreamed of still ahead of her. As she embarks on this new beginning, Mary comes to realize that those dreams aren’t nearly as important as everything she once had. If only she knew how to get it all back.

Visit Diane Barnes's website.

Q&A with Diane Barnes.

The Page 69 Test: All We Could Still Have.

My Book, The Movie: All We Could Still Have.

The Page 69 Test: The Mulligan Curse.

My Book, The Movie: The Mulligan Curse.

Writers Read: Diane Barnes.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five nonfiction books that explain modern Russia

Charles Hecker has spent forty years travelling and working in the Soviet Union and Russia. He has worked as a journalist and a geopolitical risk consultant, and has lived in Miami, Moscow and London. A fluent Russian speaker, he holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University.

Hecker's new book is Zero Sum: The Arc of International Business in Russia.

At Lit Hub he tagged five nonfiction titles that explain modern Russia, with a "focus on the Soviet and Russian periods, and the seismic transition between the two." One title on the list:

Chrystia Freeland, Sale of the Century: The Inside Story of the Second Russian Revolution

Climb aboard an oligarch’s jet and float above a country whose most prized assets were sold for a song. Sit inside the room in Davos—capitalism’s highest altar—where one of the world’s greatest swindles was devised. Sup at one of Russia’s most exclusive dinner tables, where fierce business rivalries were discussed, defused and designed into spheres of influence in Russia’s emerging political and economic landscape.

Chrystia Freeland’s Sale of the Century—written when she was a Moscow-based journalistic superstar for The Financial Times—is the story of how 1990s Russia mislaid the cornerstones of a new nation. Boris Yeltsin’s failed stewardship of Russia’s transition from communism to capitalism birthed a country that epically failed its citizens, except for the equivalent of Russia’s 0.0001%.

That rarefied layer kept—and enhanced—its spoils by financing Yeltsin’s 1996 reelection campaign in exchange for the keys to the economy, and they never looked back. Until Putin came to town. Freeland, until recently deputy prime minister and finance minister of Canada, unflinchingly chronicled the free-for-all that was Russia’s early days. Experience that maniacal decade with her.

Read about another title on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Daniel J. Mallinson & A. Lee Hannah's "Green Rush"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Green Rush: The Rise of Medical Marijuana in the United States by Daniel J. Mallinson and A. Lee Hannah.

About the book, from the publisher:

A state-by-state analysis of the expansion of medical marijuana access in the United States

As of 2023, thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia have legalized the medical use of marijuana. Twenty-three have legalized recreational use, supporting what is now a flourishing multibillion-dollar industry. In Green Rush, Daniel J. Mallinson and A. Lee Hannah offer a fascinating history of cannabis legalization in America, highlighting the people, states, and policies that made these victories possible.

With sharp insight, Mallinson and Hannah explore the backdrop to this sea change in policy, including shifts in public opinion, growing opposition to the War on Drugs, the promise of new revenue streams, and more. They examine the complex web of state actors―and the steps they took―to chart a path forward for marijuana legalization, from grassroots activists and interest groups to elected officials and other key policymakers.

Mallinson and Hannah show us how states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia not only created, legitimized, and spread medical marijuana policy but also learned from each other’s successes and failures throughout the process. As marijuana legalization increasingly finds its way onto state ballots, Green Rush offers fresh insight into how we got here as a country and where we are going―one state at a time.

Learn more about Green Rush at the NYU Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Green Rush.

--Marshal Zeringue

Clea Simon's "The Butterfly Trap," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Clea Simon's The Butterfly Trap.

The entry begins:

If The Butterfly Trap is made into a movie, the main thing I’d be looking for is chemistry. On the surface, Greg and Anya are very different. He’s a science guy who ultimately decides to abandon research and go into surgery. She’s a painter, and her whole life revolves around the art world. Physically, he’s a nice-looking but somewhat beefy guy. Maybe a younger Ben Affleck, or even Chris Evans, if he put on a few pounds. Anya, on the other hand, is a stunner: a petite woman with arresting eyes. I wasn’t thinking of Anya Taylor Joy when I wrote her, but I am now.

But casting The Butterfly Trap should not about...[read on]

Visit Clea Simon's website.

The Page 69 Test: To Conjure a Killer.

The Page 69 Test: Bad Boy Beat.

Writers Read: Clea Simon (May 2024).

Q&A with Clea Simon.

My Book, The Movie: The Butterfly Trap.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six political thrillers where the good guys don’t necessarily win

Untouchable is the latest thriller from Edgar and Barry Award finalist Mike Lawson. It features Washington DC “troubleshooter” Joe DeMarco, and is the eighteenth title in the series.

At CrimeReads Lawson tagged some favorite books that share the "theme of Untouchable—that corrupt politicians, abetted by their underlings, escape conventional justice." One entry on the list:

In the Netflix series House of Cards, Kevin Spacey plays a corrupt congressman named Francis Underwood who’s willing to do anything to attain power. The television series is based on a book with the same title by another British author, Michael Dobbs. In Dobbs’ House of Cards, the corrupt politician is Francis Urquhart, whovanquishes one rival after another by leaking false stories to the press, blackmailing his colleagues, and ultimately killing a reporter who could have exposed him. I mention this book not only because it’s a good book, but because it was written in 1989, almost forty years ago. As Shakespeare said: What is past is prologue.

Read about another entry on the list.

House of Cards is among Mark Skinner's ten best British political novels, Peter Stone's twelve essential political scandal thrillers, Jeff Somers's ten best political thrillers, and Terry Stiastny’s ten top books about Westminster politics.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Edward Ashton's "The Fourth Consort"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Fourth Consort: A Novel by Edward Ashton.

About the book, from the publisher:

A new standalone sci-fi novel from Edward Ashton, author of Mickey7 (the inspiration for the major motion picture Mickey 17).

Dalton Greaves is a hero. He’s one of humankind’s first representatives to Unity, a pan-species confederation working to bring all sentient life into a single benevolent brotherhood.

That’s what they told him, anyway. The only actual members of Unity that he’s ever met are Boreau, a giant snail who seems more interested in plunder than spreading love and harmony, and Boreau’s human sidekick, Neera, who Dalton strongly suspects roped him into this gig so that she wouldn’t become the next one of Boreau’s crew to get eaten by locals while prospecting.

Funny thing, though―turns out there actually is a benevolent confederation out there, working for the good of all life. They call themselves the Assembly, and they really don’t like Unity. More to the point, they really, really don’t like Unity’s new human minions.

When an encounter between Boreau’s scout ship and an Assembly cruiser over a newly discovered world ends badly for both parties, Dalton finds himself marooned, caught between a stickman, one of the Assembly’s nightmarish shock troops, the planet’s natives, who aren’t winning any congeniality prizes themselves, and Neera, who might actually be the most dangerous of the three. To survive, he’ll need to navigate palace intrigue, alien morality, and a proposal that he literally cannot refuse, all while making sure Neera doesn’t come to the conclusion that he’s worth more to her dead than alive.

Part first contact story, part dark comedy, and part bizarre love triangle, The Fourth Consort asks an important question: how far would you go to survive? And more importantly, how many drinks would you need to go there?

Visit Edward Ashton's website.

The Page 69 Test: Mickey7.

Q&A with Edward Ashton.

The Page 69 Test: Antimatter Blues.

Writers Read: Edward Ashton (March 2023).

The Page 69 Test: Mal Goes to War.

Writers Read: Edward Ashton (April 2024).

The Page 69 Test: The Fourth Consort.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Jeff Macfee

Jeff Macfee is the author of the superhero noir Nine Tenths.

His latest crime novel is The Contest.

From my Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

The Contest wasn’t the first title I landed on, although it’s the title I’m happiest with. In earliest forms the book was called Wonka Crime, a handy shorthand given the concept of a widely known event run by an eccentric character. However that title, aside from legal problems, didn’t speak much to the protagonist. I considered Gillian Charles, but Gillian evolves throughout the book and is somewhat of a moving target. The Contest was the only title that spoke to me on multiple levels. It refers to both a literal contest and also the sense of competition within Gillian. The idea of Gillian competing against herself...[read on]

Visit Jeff Macfee's website.

Q&A with Jeff Macfee.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles that use the supernatural to focus on reality

Erin Crosby Eckstine is an author of speculative historical fiction, personal essays, and anything else she’s in the mood for. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, she grew up between the South and Los Angeles before moving to New York City to attend Barnard College. She earned a master’s in secondary English education from Stanford University and taught high school English for six years. Eckstine lives in Brooklyn with her partner and their cats. Junie is her debut novel.

At Electric Lit "seven works of speculative fiction [that] are a few of my favorite examples of the genre’s limitless possibilities to examine power, race, and oppression." One title on the list:

Boys of Alabama by Genevieve Hudson

This queer coming-of-age tale set in the heart of evangelical Alabama focuses on Max, a German immigrant with the ability to resurrect the dead. Hudson uses a Perks of Being a Wallflower-esque narrative to slice into the dark underbelly of Southern culture, from the cult-like football obsession to the charismatic politician/pastor known only as The Judge. The novel uses all the elements of Southern Gothic to great effect to explore identity, religion, queerness, and masculinity, all building to a compelling commentary on power and violence in religious communities.

Read about another entry on Eckstine's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Nicholas D. Anderson's "Inadvertent Expansion"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Inadvertent Expansion: How Peripheral Agents Shape World Politics by Nicholas D. Anderson.

About the book, from the publisher:

In Inadvertent Expansion, Nicholas D. Anderson investigates a surprisingly common yet overlooked phenomenon in the history of great power politics: territorial expansion that was neither intended nor initially authorized by state leaders.

Territorial expansion is typically understood as a centrally driven and often strategic activity. But as Anderson shows, nearly a quarter of great power coercive territorial acquisitions since the nineteenth century have in fact been instances of what he calls "inadvertent expansion." A two-step process, inadvertent expansion first involves agents on the periphery of a state or empire acquiring territory without the authorization or knowledge of higher-ups. Leaders in the capital must then decide whether to accept or reject the already-acquired territory.

Through cases ranging from those of the United States in Florida and Texas to Japan in Manchuria and Germany in East Africa, Anderson shows that inadvertent expansion is rooted in a principal-agent problem. When leaders in the capital fail to exert or have limited control over their agents on the periphery, unauthorized efforts to take territory are more likely to occur. Yet it is only when the geopolitical risks associated with keeping the acquired territory are perceived to be low that leaders are more likely to accept such expansion.

Accentuating the influence of small, seemingly insignificant actors over the foreign policy behavior of powerful states, Inadvertent Expansion offers new insights into how the boundaries of states and empires came to be and captures timeless dynamics between state leaders and their peripheral agents.

Learn more about Inadvertent Expansion at the Cornell University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Inadvertent Expansion.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top books that take you places

Originally from Ballarat, Australia, Tobias Madden now resides in New York City with his husband, Daniel, and their Cavoodle, Ollie. Madden worked for ten years as a performer, touring Australia and New Zealand with musicals such as Mary Poppins, CATS, and Guys and Dolls. In 2019, he edited and published the Underdog anthology and co-wrote the cabaret show Siblingship. Madden’s debut novel, Anything But Fine, was published in 2021, and was awarded the Australian Association of Family Therapy’s Book Award for Older Readers, was shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year for Older Readers, was named one of Better Reading’s Top 50 Kids Books (2022), and was included on Bank Street College of Education’s list of Best Children’s Books of the Year (US, 2023). His second novel, Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell, was published in 2022 in Australia and 2023 in the US.

Madden's third YA novel, Wrong Answers Only, is out now in Australia and the US!

At The Nerd Daily the author tagged "seven books that will take you to extraordinary places," including:

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

If you like the sound of marble statues but you’d like a little more star-crossed gay romance thrown in, why not head back to Greece and spend some time with our dear friends Achilles and Patroclus? This book will make you feel like you’re sipping wine and breaking bread with the Grecian armies as they lay siege to Troy. Oh, and you’ll be crying the whole time. I should probably mention that…

Read about another entry on the list.

The Song of Achilles is among Costa B. Pappas's eleven books that are contemporary retellings of classic titles, Bethanne Patrick's twenty-five best historical fiction books of all time, Mark Skinner's nineteen top Greek myth retellings, Alexia Casale's top eight titles sparked by the authors' work life, Allison Epstein's eight queer historical fiction books set around the world, Phong Nguyen's seven titles that live halfway between history & myth, The Center for Fiction's 200 books that shaped two centuries of literature, Sara Stewart's six best books and Nicole Hill's fourteen characters who should have lived.

My Book, The Movie: The Song of Achilles.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Barbara Nickless's "The Drowning Game"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Drowning Game by Barbara Nickless.

About the book, from the publisher:

A woman’s investigation into her sister’s death exposes the dark side of a secret life in a gripping novel of power, money, and murder by a Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

Sisters Nadia and Cass Brenner are heirs to Ocean House, a decades-old empire that builds superyachts for the rich and powerful: emirs, oligarchs, and titans of industry throughout America and Europe. They’re a next-generation success with the design of their soon-to-be-commissioned megayacht for a Chinese billionaire. But the sisters’ entrée into the coveted Asian market is tragically cut short when Cass falls from a fortieth-floor hotel balcony.

A Singapore detective rules suicide. Nadia’s been in the yacht business too long not to be suspicious. Especially when she discovers Cass’s involvement in dangerously illicit activities. Pulled into the same web of betrayal, lies, and secrets that trapped her sister, Nadia is on the most perilous mission of her life. Because uncovering the truth behind her sister’s death could tear the Brenner family apart―and it just might get her killed.

From Seattle to Austria to the South China Sea, Nadia must hold on to the one thing that can keep her safe. It’s the Brenner family motto: Trust no one.

Visit Barbara Nickless's website.

The Page 69 Test: At First Light.

Q&A with Barbara Nickless.

The Page 69 Test: Play of Shadows.

Writers Read: Barbara Nickless.

The Page 69 Test: The Drowning Game.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven memoirs showing the many sides of Cuba

Rebe Huntman is a memoirist, essayist, dancer, teacher and poet. For over a decade she was head of the award-winning Danza Viva Center for World Dance, Art & Music and its dance company, One World Dance Theater. Rebe collaborates with native artists in Cuba and South America, has been featured in Latina Magazine, Chicago Magazine, and the Chicago Tribune and on Fox and ABC News. The recipient of an Ohio Individual Excellence award, Huntman has received support for this book from the Ohio State University, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Ragdale Foundation, Playa, Hambidge Center, and Brush Creek Foundation. She lives in Delaware, Ohio and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Huntman's new book is My Mother in Havana: A Memoir of Magic & Miracle.

At Lit Hub the author tagged "seven richly-rendered memoirs, ... each offers up its own distinct lens on the people and stories that make up the dynamic and ever-changing landscape that is Cuba." One title on the list:

Ada Ferrer, Cuba: An American History

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History, Cuba: An American History tells the sweeping history of Cuba and its complex ties to the U.S., from before the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the death of Fidel Castro and beyond. While technically not a traditional memoir, I include this book because it provides such a comprehensive history of the island and because the author’s intent in writing it is so deeply personal.

Born in Havana between the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, Ferrer spent decades reconstructing the island’s past, and her own. Or as she writes: “I began translating Cuba for Americans and the United States for Cubans. Then I used all that to see myself, my family, and my own home—the United States—with different eyes.”

Read about another book on Huntman's list.

The Page 99 Test: Cuba: An American History.

--Marshal Zeringue