Rebecca Kauffman
The Gunners
Kauffman follows her first novel, Another Place You’ve Never Been, with an affecting and insightful ensemble piece about a group of old friends reuniting for the first time since high school. Thirty now, the five surviving members of The Gunners—taken from the name on the mailbox of the house where they used to gather—meet at the funeral of the sixth, Sally, who committed suicide. She took certain secrets with her, and Sam, in particular, feels haunted by unspoken moments from the past. Other characters are caught up in more recent difficulties: Alice acts out an inner turmoil and Mickey anguishes about his strained relationship with his father and his deteriorating eyesight, even as the reunion gives him a new emotional clarity.
Mira T. Lee
Everything Here Is Beautiful
Lee’s accomplished debut novel is at once a compelling story of two very different sisters, a sensitive exploration of mental illness and its effect on an entire family, and a look at various experiences of immigration. Told from different perspectives, the book centers on Miranda and her younger sister Lucia, whose natural exuberance and unpredictability gradually become symptomatic of a serious mental illness. While Miranda tries to help, Lucia marries twice, has a child, moves to Ecuador, and pursues her own private dreams. Spanning continents, ages, and decades, Lee’s expansive narrative shows just how strong family ties can be while also offering insightful looks at the myriad socio-cultural factors that threaten to break them.
