Next up for book club this Sunday. Maybe. Why the maybe? Because we were planning a fully vaccinated gathering in Becky’s backyard. It’s springtime in the Rockies, so the weather’s a real coin toss. Could be rain, could be snow. The joy of Colorado in May. We are actually considering moving our gather date.

Still, don’t let that keep you from picking up our next work of fiction. From the instant #1 New York Times bestselling author of the The Thirteenth Tale comes a novel about how we explain the world to ourselves, ourselves to others, and the meaning of our lives in a universe that remains impenetrably mysterious. Yep, I agree that’s a little vague, so I think this Amazon Best Book of 2018 reviewer does a lovely job with a sum up:

When a man bursts into a riverside inn on the longest night of the year, covered in blood and carrying a dead child, the patrons of the Swan are beyond thrilled to find themselves in the middle of a swiftly unfolding tale—especially when the child is determined to actually be alive. Is the mute girl the long-missing daughter of a nearby wealthy family, or the bastard child of woman who threw herself in the Thames only a day or so earlier? Inquiring minds want to know. Weaving among the turmoil is a buoyant dance between science and superstition, as Darwin’s ideas, psychiatry, and scientific observation waltz with skullduggery, a curiously wise pig, and a man—or ghost—who patrols the Thames. As Setterfield juggles a colorful mob of characters whose lives are upended by the mysterious young girl, the joy of storytelling permeates every moment in this lively and wise historical novel.

Madeline Miller, internationally bestselling author of Circe (which we read last year), calls the novel “swift and entrancing, profound and beautiful.” As always, I’ll be listening along on audio. You have a treat of a tale in front of you, so join us.