First Lines Friday is a weekly feature for book lovers created by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? Here’s how to join in:
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
Finally… reveal the book!
Today’s FLF selection is from a book I recently added to my Kindle library (but haven’t started yet):
As the crowd screams, all Henri thinks is that he’s going to be in so much trouble when his parents find out. He closes his eyes, trying his best to undo what happened. Unwind his day. End up anywhere but here.
So what’s the book?
The Fox and the Devil by Kiersten White Published 2026 350 pages
Synopsis:
Anneke has a complicated relationship with her father, Abraham Van Helsing—doctor, scientist, and madman devoted to the study of vampires—until the night she comes home to find him murdered, with a surreally beautiful woman looming over his body. A woman who leaves no trace behind, other than the dreams and nightmares that now plague Anneke every night.
Spurred by her desire for vengeance and armed with the latest forensic and investigatory techniques, Anneke puts together a team of detectives to catch this mysterious serial killer. Because her father isn’t the only inexplicable dead body. There’s a trail of victims across Europe, and Anneke is certain they’re all connected.
But during the years spent relentlessly hunting the killer, Anneke keeps crucial evidence to herself: infuriatingly coy letters, addressed only to her, occasionally soaked in blood, and always signed Diavola.
The closer Anneke gets to her devil, though, the less sense the world makes. Maybe her father wasn’t a madman after all. Diavola might be something much worse than a serial killer . . . and much harder to destroy. Yet as Anneke unearths more of Diavola’s tragic past, she suspects there’s still a heart somewhere in that undead body.
Title: The Postcard Author: Anne Berest Publisher: Europa Editions Publication date: May 16, 2023 (English translation; first published in France in 2021) Length: 489 pages Genre: Autobiographical fiction Source: Purchased Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Winner of the Choix Goncourt Prize, Anne Berest’s The Postcard is a vivid portrait of twentieth-century Parisian intellectual and artistic life, an enthralling investigation into family secrets, and poignant tale of a Jewish family devastated by the Holocaust and partly restored through the power of storytelling.
January, 2003. Together with the usual holiday cards, an anonymous postcard is delivered to the Berest family home. On the front, a photo of the Opéra Garnier in Paris. On the back, the names of Anne Berest’s maternal great-grandparents, Ephraïm and Emma, and their children, Noémie and Jacques—all killed at Auschwitz.
Fifteen years after the postcard is delivered, Anne, the heroine of this novel, is moved to discover who sent it and why. Aided by her chain-smoking mother, family members, friends, associates, a private detective, a graphologist, and many others, she embarks on a journey to discover the fate of the Rabinovitch family: their flight from Russia following the revolution, their journey to Latvia, Palestine, and Paris. What emerges is a moving saga that shatters long-held certainties about Anne’s family, her country, and herself.
The Postcard delivers an unforgettable, deeply impactful history of a family, told through the lens of a book described as “autobiographical fiction”. Written by French author Anne Berest, translated to English by Tina Kover, the book explores the author’s family history and their experiences before, during, and after the Holocaust. Anne Berest herself is a character in the book, as we follow her attempts to unravel a mystery related to the arrival of an anonymously sent postcard.
The postcard is slightly old, featuring a Paris landmark, and has only four words written on it: the names of Anne’s great-grandparents and great aunt and uncle, all of whom were murdered at Auschwitz following their deportation from France during the Nazi occupation. While the postcard is delivered to Anne’s mother’s address in 2003, it’s not until sixteen years later, spurred by an antisemitic incident at her daughter’s school, that Anne becomes consumed by the need to understand who might have sent the postcard, and why.
As she investigates, Anne is driven by questions surrounding her Jewish identity. She does not attend synagogue, knows practically nothing about Jewish holidays or rituals, and has no grounding in organized religion. And yet, she feels deeply that she is Jewish, and that being Jewish is essential to understanding herself and her family. Questioned by a woman she meets at a Passover seder, she has to consider whether her Jewish identity is something she claims only when it suits her, or if not, what does it actually mean in her life?
While the investigation into the postcard provides the framing of this novel, the family’s story provides the most compelling and devastating sections of the book as a whole. The Rabinovitch family’s journey, from Russia to Latvia to Palestine to France, is one of seeking a home and a place representing hope for the future. Anne’s great-grandfather Ephraim’s ultimate goal is French citizenship. As he settles in France with his wife and children, he files for patents and establishes a thriving business. His illusion of belonging is shattered by the advent of the Nazis, and the family’s sense of security is destroyed as edict after edict strips them of rights, freedoms, financial means, and safety.
The stories of Ephraim’s three children — Myriam, Noémie, and Jacques — are particularly powerful. All quite young at the time — in their late teens and early twenties — and what happens to each of them is tragic in different ways. As the sole survivor, Myriam could be considered fortunate, yet we see through the story of her life following the war all the ways in which she’s irrevocably altered and damaged by her experiences and her terrible losses.
I puzzled over this book being called a novel, and only stumbled across the “autobiographical fiction” label (which I’d never heard of before) after the fact. What I came to understand, after doing a bit more reading about the author and her research, is that while she’s portraying her family’s story based on archival documents and intensive research, she’s created scenes between characters to fill in the blanks and bring interactions to life, especially in cases where no living participants or witnesses remain to provide details. She’s also altered certain names of people and villages in France, in order to protect the privacy of descendants of those whose actions or inactions allowed atrocities to occur.
The Postcard never left my thoughts during the week I spent reading it, and even now, days later, it’s hard to shake the thoughts and images associated with this book. The first 40% or so is especially devastating. Yes, we’ve all read about this terrible, unimaginable time, but there’s something about the specificity of the details here that make it all seem new and fresh. Statistics tell us how many Jews were deported from France and ultimately killed; by focusing in one family, the author brings us into the personal nature of the experiences and makes us feel the nightmare they found themselves trapped in.
I’m not sure I have the words to do justice to this important, powerful, haunting book. I’ll close by sharing links to reviews and background pieces related to The Postcard:
Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Book Series I Want to Catch Up On (or series you’d like to start)
I generally start each year with a post about my series reading goals (here’s the version I shared for 2026), where I share my intentions regarding new-to-me series that I plan (or hope) to start. For today’s post, I decided to focus on the next books in series that I’m already involved with. Most of these are series that I’m totally committed to, basically just checking my calendar until the next installment is available — and a couple are series where I’ve read a book or two and feel interested in continuing, but perhaps a little less motivated to dive in the second I get hold of them.
In no particular order, here are the top ten next installments from series I’m reading — can’t wait to get to all of these!
1. October Daye by Seanan McGuire
Up next: A Divided Duty #20 in the series Release date: September 2026
2. Wayward Children by Seanan McGuire
Up next: A Song of Sugar Sparrows #12 in the series Release date: January 2027
3. InCryptids by Seanan McGuire
Up next: Pride and Poltergeists #16 in the series Release date: March 2027
(Yes, that’s three from three different series by Seanan McGuire!! Moving on…)
4. Alpha & Omega by Patricia Briggs
Up next: Steel Rain (no cover yet — this is an earlier book in the series) #7 in the series Release date: April 2027
5. Haven’s Rock by Kelley Armstrong
Up next: Last Resort at Haven’s Rock #5 in the series (series finale) Release date: February 2027
6. We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
Up next: We Chase Shadows #2 in the series Release date: September 2026
7. The Marys by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows
Up next: My Imaginary Mary #2 in the series Published: 2022
8. Well Met by Jen DeLuca
Up next: Well Versed #5 in the series Release date: September 2026
9. Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
Up next: The Neverfear #3 in the series Release date: September 2026
10. Detour by Jeff Rake & Rob Hart
Up next: Roundabout #2 in the series Release date: January 2027
What series do you hope to start or continue?
If you posted a TTT list this week, please share your link!
My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.
Life.
Yet another busy week, but the weekend was a little slower-paced, which I was grateful for. We had typical August weather for where I live… overcast, gray, and misty! But that didn’t stop me from getting out for a long walk and checking out events at a nearby park.
It was my son’s birthday on Friday — and while he did most of his celebrating with friends, we were able to start the day with brunch together. Good food, good times!
As for my reading life… this week was the newest Classics Club Spin, and I’m delighted with my result. Check it out below, under my ongoing reads.
Bookish bits & bobs.
Here’s something fun! An author I follow shared this link (https://uncovered.ink/) to a site where the general idea is:
It’s a cool idea — read a sample without knowing what the book is, reveal what it is, and then — if you’re interested — add it to your reading lists.
What did I read during the last week?
The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian: Tense, absorbing story with quite a unique premise. My review is here.
Kill the Beast by Serra Swift: Engaging (and surprisingly bloody) fairy tale retelling. I really enjoyed the audiobook. My review is here.
The Postcard by Anne Berest: I spent most of this past week absorbed by this deeply emotional book (my book group’s upcoming discussion book for August). I’ll need a bit of time to gather my thoughts. Watch for my review later in the week.
Everything On It by Shel Silverstein: I’m trying to spend a bit of time each week with some of the random books on my shelves that aren’t fiction — such as children’s books, coffee table/art books, and other books that I enjoy looking at but wouldn’t necessarily read cover to cover. I’m glad I finally opened up this poetry collection. Some of the poems are clever and funny, some didn’t appeal to me… but overall, it was an enjoyable way to spend a few minutes every day!
Also in children’s books, I picked up these two books at the library during my last visit and read them over the weekend. It was nice to finally experience both, after hearing about them for years:
Pop culture & TV:
I’m on a movie theater roll, after months and months of never viewing anything I couldn’t watch from the comfort of my couch. This week, I went to see Six: The Musical, filmed live in London. I’m so glad I did! I’d seen the show on Broadway already, and it was really great to get another chance to enjoy it (without having to pay Broadway prices).
Not to imply that I didn’t fit in plenty of viewing from my couch as well! I finished watching Every Year After on Prime Video, which I mainly enjoyed… although it probably goes without saying that the book is much, much better.
Next up for me: My Brilliant Career (Netflix), adapted from the Australian classic by Miles Franklin, which I read recently as one of my Classics Club Spin books!
Fresh Catch:
Two new books this week:
The paperback of Atmosphere is so pretty — I love how the colors blend over onto the edges. The other book is a manga version of Emma by Jane Austen! I saw it in a bookstore while on vacation last month and regretted not buying it, so I ended up finding a used copy online. I’m not really a manga reader… but how could I resist?
Plus, two new bookish tote bags! One is a new design from Bookshop.org, and I already love it. The other is a prize for participating in our library’s Summer Stride program. I love that adults get rewarded for summer reading, and not just kids!
What will I be reading during the coming week?
Currently in my hands:
Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel: I needed something lighter after reading a very heavy book all week, so I’m just starting this book… which has a premise that sounds bonkers. I’m only a few chapters in, but I like it!
Now playing via audiobook:
The Mother-Daughter Book Club by Susan Patterson and James Patterson: I stumbled across this book while looking for a new audiobook on Libby… and since I needed a “book about a book club” for a reading challenge, I decided to give it a try.
Ongoing reads:
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe: My book group’s classic read. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 73%. Coming up this week: Volume 3, chapters 12 and 13.
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier: My spin book! Here’s my post about the results. This is my 2nd spin in a row to land on a du Maurier book… and I’m very happy about it. The due date is October 4th… which means I probably won’t start just yet, so I’ll leave it here as a reminder until I’m ready to dive in.
Earlier in the week, I shared a post with my list of books for the newest Classics Club Spin challenge (see it here), and today, this spin’s number was announced. (For those keeping track, it’s CCSpin #45, and for me personally, #17!)
Hosted by The Classics Club blog, the Classics Club Spin is a reading adventure where participants come up with a list of classics they’d like to read, number them 1 to 20, and then read the book that corresponds to the “spin” number that comes up.
For CCSpin #45, the lucky number is:
And that means I’ll be reading:
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier Published 1936
Synopsis:
The coachman tried to warn her away from the ruined, forbidding place on the rainswept Cornish coast. But young Mary Yellan chose instead to honor her mother’s dying request that she join her frightened Aunt Patience and huge, hulking Uncle Joss Merlyn at Jamaica Inn.
From her first glimpse on that raw November eve, she could sense the inn’s dark power. But never did Mary dream that she would become hopelessly ensnared in the vile, villainous schemes being hatched within its crumbling walls—or that a handsome, mysterious stranger would so incite her passions… tempting her to love a man whom she dares not trust.
That’s two Daphne du Maurier books in a row for my Classics Club spins, and I couldn’t be happier! Granted, I would have been excited to read any of the books on my list… but after being completely enthralled by Frenchman’s Creek, I was eager to explore more of this author’s books, so this is a terrific spin result for me!
What do you think of my spin book this time around?
I’ll be back to share my thoughts before October 4th!
Are you participating in this Classics Club Spin? If so, what book will you be reading?
Here’s my list of 20 titles for Classics Club Spin #44:
The House on the Strand by Daphne DuMaurier
Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir by R. A. Dick
This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
White Fang by Jack London
Anna and Her Daughters by D. E. Stevenson
Pied Piper by Nevil Shute
Eight Cousins / Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott
Pat of Silver Bush by L. M. Montgomery
Peony by Pearl Buck
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Frederica by Georgette Heyer
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Dear Hugo by Molly Clavering
Tevye the Dairymanand Motl the Cantor’s Son by Sholem Aleichem
Title: Kill the Beast Author: Serra Swift Narrator: Moira Quirk Publisher: Tor Books Publication date: October 14, 2025 Print length: 309 pages Audiobook length: 10 hours 40 minutes Genre: Fantasy Source: Library Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
The Witcher meets Howl’s Moving Castle in this debut original faerie tale of revenge, redemption, and friendship―for fans of T. Kingfisher, Naomi Novik, and cozy fantasy with a dash of gritty adventure.
The night Lyssa Cadogan’s brother was murdered by a faerie-made monster known as the Beast, she made him a promise: she would find a way to destroy the immortal creature and avenge his death. For thirteen years, she has been hunting faeries and the abominations they created. But in all that time, the one Beast she is most desperate to find has never resurfaced.
Until she meets Alderic Casimir de Laurent, a melodramatic dandy with a coin purse bigger than his brain. Somehow, he has found the monster’s lair, and―even more surprising―retrieved one of its claws. A claw Lyssa needs in order to forge a sword that can kill the Beast.
When the witch Ragnhild decrees that Alderic and Lyssa must gather the other ingredients to forge the weapon together, or else the spell will fail, Lyssa gets more than she bargained for. Alderic is ill-equipped for the task at hand, and almost guaranteed to get himself killed.
But as the two of them search for the materials that will be the Beast’s undoing, Alderic reveals hidden depths: dark secrets that he guards as carefully as Lyssa guards hers. Before long, and against Lyssa’s better judgment, they begin to forge a blooming friendship―one that will either lead to the culmination of Lyssa’s quest for vengeance, or spell doom for them both.
Kill the Beast is a creative, often blood-soaked fairy tale retelling… and given the title, it’s really no surprise to discover exactly which fairy tale we find ourselves immersed in.
In this tale of vengeance and redemption, Lyssa has a fearsome reputation as “the Butcher”, a brutal sword for hire who specializes in killing trolls, goblins, and other magical menaces. But beyond that, Lyssa’s true purpose is killing Hounds — faerie-made creatures whose bloodthirsty rampages lead to mass deaths, and who have a reputation for being unkillable.
Thirteen years earlier, Lyssa saw her beloved older brother slaughtered by a creature known as the Beast, and vowed to avenge him. Over the years, her blood oath has led to successful quest after successful quest, but her ultimate quarry — the Beast — has remained elusive. When she receives a letter from a rich nobleman offering to hire her, she’s skeptical, until she realizes that he also wants to see the Beast dead.
Alderic is not what she’d expected. Beyond the drunken dandy who seems to only care about outrageously gaudy clothing, she finds a man who has a vengeance goal of his own. When the witch who acts as both mentor and spell-creator for Lyssa pronounces that she’ll need to work with Alderic to kill the Beast if they’re to have any chance of success, she hates the idea, but has no choice. The only thing she’s wanted all these years is to kill the Beast, and she’ll put up with Alderic’s company if she must if that’s the only way to get it done.
As they gather the ingredients they’ll need to forge a powerful enough weapon to destroy the Beast, Lyssa starts to see Alderic’s hidden depths. After near misses and dangerous encounters, their goal is within reach, but devastating secrets threaten to derail it all before the end.
The truth behind what’s going on is much (MUCH!) more shocking to Lyssa than it will be to any reader who’s ever watched a certain Disney movie (although Disney was never as bloody as Kill the Beast!). Still, despite a revelation that really isn’t much of a surprise, it’s enthralling to see how the story gets there, what the complicated explanations and origins turn out to be, and to see how the entire plot comes together.
Lyssa is a bristly, argumentative, thoroughly aggressive character who seems to have never met a problem that she couldn’t punch or stab into submission. She’s tough to love, yet we can understand how deeply wounded she is underneath the hard exterior — so even while wishing she’d stop and listen more often, or learn to control her blood lust, it’s hard not to empathize as well. Her partnership with Alderic leads to comic moments as well as surprisingly tender ones. Their friendship is strange and strained, but rings true.
In terms of pacing, the plot sags for a while as Lyssa and Alderic journey from place to place collecting the items they’ll need for the spell to forge a sword with enough magical power to kill the Beast. There are some tense set pieces, but it’s a lot of figuring out what they need, where to find it, how to get it, and then going through some sort of challenging circumstances to make it happen. The story is much more engaging when the focus is on the characters, their personal struggles, and their secrets. Collecting bits of stuff… not so much.
By the final third, Lyssa and Alderic’s quest picks up in terms of intensity and interest level. As hard truths are revealed, we learn just how much is truly at stake for each of them, which makes the entire story feel more dramatic and dire. I appreciated the climactic scenes and the realizations that come — practically too late — as Lyssa finally is forced to reconsider everything she’s held on to since her brother’s death and choose a path forward that might not be what she’d envisioned all along.
The audiobook for Kill the Beast is narrated by Moira Quirk, who’s been a favorite ever since I first listened to her narration of Gail Carriger’s Finishing School and Custard Protocol series. She’s quite wonderful here, especially when it comes to imbuing Lyssa and Alderic with distinct voices, but also at making the action sequences spring to life.
Kill the Beast is much darker in tone than I originally expected, but that’s okay. It’s a fairly grim story, but there are some nice little moments here and there to add a touch of lightness too. With storytelling flair and terrific characters, this is an enjoyable, compelling tale, and I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.
Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.
First Lines Friday is a weekly feature for book lovers created by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? Here’s how to join in:
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
Finally… reveal the book!
Here are the opening lines from a book that’s been on my shelf… unread… for far too long:
I don’t like to start with an apology — there’s probably even a rule against it, like never ending a sentence with a preposition — but after reading over the thirty pages I’ve written so far, I feel like I have to. It’s about a certain word I keep using. I learned a lot of four-letter words from my mother and used them from an early age (as you will find out), but this is one with five letters.
So what’s the book?
Later by Stephen King Published 2021 248 pages
Synopsis:
The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine – as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave.
Later is Stephen King at his finest, a terrifying and touching story of innocence lost and the trials that test our sense of right and wrong. With echoes of King’s classic novel It, Later is a powerful, haunting, unforgettable exploration of what it takes to stand up to evil in all the faces it wears.
I bought a paperback copy of Later when it first came out, and it’s been on the shelf right above my desk ever since. Have you read it? And if not, does it sound like something you’d enjoy?
Hosted by The Classics Club blog, the Classics Club Spin is a reading adventure where participants come up with a list of classics they’d like to read, number them 1 to 20, and then read the book that corresponds to the “spin” number that comes up. This will be the Classics Club’s spin #45, and my 17th time participating!
Here are the dates and guidelines from the host blog:
On Sunday 16th August we’ll post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by the 4th October, 2026.
We’ll check in here on the 4th October to see who made it the whole way and finished their spin book!
What’s Next?
Go to your blog.
Pick twenty books that you’ve got left to read from your Classics Club List.
Post that list, numbered 1-20, on your blog before Sunday 16th August 2026.
We’ll announce a number from 1-20.
Read that book by 4th October.
I’m always excited when a new spin rolls around! For spin #45, I’ll be sticking with my interest in 20th century fiction, so that’s mainly how I’ve focused my list. Where will the spin take me this time? We’ll find out in a few days!
Here’s my list of 20 classics for the next Classics Club Spin:
The House on the Strand by Daphne DuMaurier
Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir by R. A. Dick
This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
White Fang by Jack London
Anna and Her Daughters by D. E. Stevenson
Pied Piper by Nevil Shute
Eight Cousins / Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott
Pat of Silver Bush by L. M. Montgomery
Peony by Pearl Buck
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Frederica by Georgette Heyer
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Dear Hugo by Molly Clavering
Tevye the Dairymanand Motl the Cantor’s Son by Sholem Aleichem
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon
Under the Rainbow by Susan Scarlett
Wish me luck! I’ll be back on August 16th to reveal my spin result!
Title: The Amateur Author: Chris Bohjalian Publisher: Doubleday Books Publication date: August 4, 2026 Length: 336 pages Genre: Contemporary fiction Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Midwives and The Flight Attendant: When a young woman, a golf prodigy, kills a caddy with a stray ball at the country club, the investigation of this freak accident reveals a dark and shocking tale of secret affairs, predatory men, and a teenager on trial.
1978: It is the first Thursday in August and temperatures are flirting with ninety when Mira Winston, eighteen years old, drives a golf ball from her tee toward the practice net near the clubhouse and caddy shack. The golf ball, weighing 1.6 ounces, tears through the net, traveling 150 miles per hour, and slams, with sickening force, into the temple of a high school junior named Kenny Foster, rupturing an artery and unleashing a torrent of blood. Kenny brings his hand to the side of his head, then topples onto his side. He’s dead before the ambulance even arrives.
In the wake of this terrible accident—and everyone, at first, agrees it was an accident—Mira looks for comfort in all the wrong places: In her lover, Theo Catton, a married man three decades her senior. In her mother, a well-kept woman with secrets of her own. In the dead caddy’s little sisters, girls bewildered by grief. But when the investigators look more closely at the torn net, when a detective recalls Mira’s history of recklessness, and when Kenny’s father spies Mira with her married lover, the affluent and mannered community turns on this once-promising young woman. A gripping story that takes the reader from the sun-soaked greens of a tony Westchester country club to the fluorescent-lit stand of a county courtroom, The Amateur asks: What happens when one small moment—a swing, a ball, a piece of string—changes the course of an entire life?
In prolific author Chris Bohjalian’s newest novel — his 26th! — the focus in on what seems to be a random accident. One August day in 1978, talented golfer Mira Winston, soon to depart for her freshman year at Yale, hits a golf ball at the practice net, as she does hundreds of time every week. But this time, the ball goes through the net and slams into the skull of a caddy — Kenny Foster, Mira’s high school classmate — killing him instantly.
The Amateur unfolds as Mira tells her story from a distance of decades. As we learn, Mira has become a successful author and is now writing her memoir, looking back on this turning point in her teens and revealing the secrets and traumas that have shaped her into the person she is today. And what secrets she has to tell!
Known — unfairly — for her temper, Mira is a golf prodigy who is so good that she routinely plays with the adult men at her country club, the only way she’s actually challenged. Is having a teen girl spend that much time with middle aged, highly privileged men good for her? It may help her golf game, but as we learn, it brings Mira into the orbit of predatory men who see her as fair game. At age 15, Mira begins an affair with a man thirty years her senior… and as Mira reminds us, her impulsive, needy teen brain doesn’t quite grasp that he’s a predator, not a lover.
Within her suburban Westchester home, Mira’s older brother is nicknamed “the Pinnacle” by her parents. She’ll never live up to him, that’s for sure… and meanwhile, Mira makes sure to water down her parents’ liquor bottles so their three or four nightly cocktails won’t be quite as potent as they could be. Mira has friends and does well at school, but she’s clearly a girl who lacks emotional support as well as any sort of internal or external restraint.
The golf accident leads to a chain of events that completely derails Mira’s life. She immediately swears off golf and Yale, and her warped sense of internal logic (something she refers to as Mira Land) leads her to believe that her killing of Kenny is karmic payback for her affair with Theo Catton. When the affair is revealed and then a dispute with the country club golf pro comes to light, questions arise about just what Mira might or might not have done. And while at first her lawyer father assures her that she has nothing to worry about from a legal standpoint, that proves to be untrue. A civil case against the club and the net manufacturer leads to a criminal case against Mira herself. And while Mira, narrating the story, makes it clear that she didn’t do the things she’s accused of, we can easily see how the circumstances — and the sexist prejudices of the time — make her history and her supposed sins support the charges against her.
It’s both fascinating and disturbing to spend time inside Mira’s head for the duration of this story. As adult Mira recounts these pivotal events from her earlier life, it’s clear that she has spent decades coming to terms with what happened and the guilt and trauma she’s carried with her ever since. A post from the author describes Mira as his id and Kenny as his superego, and the idea of Mira as pure id really rings true. She’s impulsive, intelligent but not always smart, and give in to destructive urges for escape, release, or relief, even when she must know that her choices aren’t helping her.
At the same time, the community and era in which Mira lives set her up, again and again, for the worst possible outcomes. Yes, she’s the daughter of a wealthy family with a country club membership — and the elitism inherent in this works against her in the trial scenes, where jury sympathy naturally flows toward the club’s employees rather than the members who complain or demand. But also, she’s just barely an adult, and was in fact a minor when she was seduced by Theo. She remembers being a willing participant — but she was a young girl preyed upon by a much older man, and not of age or in any way truly capable of consent. And yet, in the eyes of the community, and even people she meets later who hear rumors, she’s the person responsible for breaking up a marriage and ruining the lives of the children whose parents divorced. The degree of blame and scorn leveled at Mira is awful, but sadly not terribly shocking, especially in the context of the late 1970s.
I did wonder about the court case and whether the charges against Mira could or would actually have come to trial, much less whether someone in this situation would have ever been criminally charged in the first place. Of course, I have no legal expertise and it’s entirely possible that this is realistic — but I did often find myself saying “really???” while seeing how the legal and criminal aspects developed throughout the book.
The Amateur is fast-paced and absorbing. Mira is a unique character, and her take on events from her past as well as her recounting of her life at the point in which she’s writing her memoir never follows an easy or expected path. It’s amusing to note that Mira’s bestselling novels include books about a flight attendant and a midwife, and to see conversational references to a sleepwalker and a lioness. (IYKYK… but check out the list of Chris Bohjalian books!)
Chris Bohjalian’s books are must-reads for me, and while I still need to get to some of his earliest novels, I don’t think I’ve missed a new release of his in the past 15 years. In terms of personal preferences, I do love his books with historical settings (such as The Jackal’s Mistress, The Lioness, and Hour of the Witch) more than his more contemporary or thriller-focused books… but that’s only by comparison — I’ve never not enjoyed any of this author’s books.
I raced through The Amateur and found it a compelling, thought-provoking read. Mira’s voice is a stand-out! Beyond the hard-driving plot, there’s plenty here to stop and ponder, and I can see this book making a terrific book group pick. Highly recommended.
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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books I Was Reading On This Day Over the Last Ten Years, with the prompt: … the idea is to share what you were reading on August 11th of 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016.
I love this concept! What fun to look back at past years and see what books were in my hands! Based on my Goodreads history, I was able to get a pretty good idea of what books I was reading at this time for each of the last 10 Augusts.
So many years of reading… so many great memories! I’d completely forgotten about some of these — it’s nice to get a reminder, and to see the variety of genres and topics I’ve read over these last ten summers.
What memorable books have you read over the last decade of Augusts?
If you posted a TTT list this week, please share your link!
