I’ve recently read three popular novels that lived up to their hype, in that they compelled me to neglect my husband and my responsibilities. I wanted to read them more than I wanted to do chores or sleep.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng starts with the climax of the story, then gives us the back story little by little until we truly understand how the character was compelled to do what she did. The book centers around teenager Pearl Warren and her single mother, Mia, a photographer/artist. They’ve lived a nomadic, hand-to-mouth lifestyle, but thought maybe now they could put down roots.

But it’s also the story of the well-to-do Richardson family, with professional parents and four children. They become the Warrens’ landlords, and Mrs. Richardson insists on helping Mia by hiring her as a part-time cook and cleaning lady for the family. Son Moody becomes Pearl’s first friend, and when Pearl meets his sister, Lexie, they also become best friends.

The descriptions of Mia’s creative process held me enthralled. Also, the relationship that grows between Mia and the Richardsons’ youngest daughter, the troubled Izzy, fascinated me. Mia is the first person to really see Izzy, have compassion for her, and suggest some life strategies for her (though they may not have been the most positive strategies).

This is a story that appeals to me as an adult, but could also be enjoyable for mature young adult readers. My reservation for young readers is that there is a lot of sexual activity among the characters, especially for Lexie, a senior in high school, and Pearl, who’s only a freshman.

It’s a story about secrets, about love, about friendship, about betrayal.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. If you’ve read other books by Mandel, you probably know that some of her characters make appearances in more than one book. Sea of Tranquility is no exception; some characters from The Glass Hotel figure in this quirky time travel novel.

The events in this book happen in 1912, 1918, 1990, 2008, 2020, 2203, and 2401, though not chronologically. Pandemics happen, and also moon colonies. But mostly this book details the investigation by the Time Institute of a mysterious anomaly in the space/time continuum and agents who break the rules while traveling back in time.

I don’t read a lot of science fiction. I am flabbergasted that someone could come up with a story line like this. I was mystified all the way though, but in the end, it mostly made some kind of sense. Sea of Tranquility is the fourth of Mandel’s books that I’ve read. She has become one of my favorite writers, and I must read all of her books.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I did not see the 2022 movie, but all the chatter about it made me buy the novel.

Kya Clark’s family lived isolated in the North Carolina coastal marshes. She was the youngest of five children. When she was six, her Ma fled from her abusive husband. One by one, her much older siblings also left the home, until Kya was left alone with her neglectful alcoholic father, who frequently disappeared for days at a time.

She goes to school for one day, but it doesn’t go well. She realizes she can’t go to school, because then she’ll be put into a foster home. She learns to evade the Child Services people. She’s really not welcome in town, where people consider her a dirty marsh rat, not fit for polite company.

For a period of time, Pa doesn’t drink, and life goes well for them. Kya cleans the house and teaches herself how to cook from her memories of Ma in the kitchen. Pa takes Kya fishing with him. She daydreams that her Ma will come back and the three of them will have an idyllic life together in the marsh. A letter comes from Ma; Pa reads it, burns it, and leaves. When he comes back days later, his sobriety is over, and Ma never does come home.

And when Kya’s ten, Pa doesn’t return from one of his absences.

Kya discovers she can gather mussels and smoke fish she’s caught and sell them to Jumpin’, the man who runs a little store on the wharf. Then she can use the money to buy everything she needs from his store. Jumpin’ and his wife Mabel help Kya to get by, teaching her how to plant and care for a garden, making sure she has clothes suitable for her needs.

A boy she met out on the water becomes a good friend to her, offering her gifts of interesting feathers, teaching her how to read. She teaches herself to draw and paint the birds and insects, flora and fauna of the marsh. Tate introduces her to poetry, and eventually she becomes proficient at writing, and some of her poems are accepted for publication, as well as books.

A young man, well-respected in the town, falls from the fire tower to his death. The investigators suspect foul play, and the young woman who grew up wild in the marsh, Kya, becomes their prime suspect. She’s eventually arrested, but she’s acquitted at trial. She ultimately becomes Tate’s common law wife and they live out their days alone in the marsh.

Author Delia Owens is a wildlife biologist who spent a lifetime doing research in Africa. She is the co-author with Mark Owens of three volumes of nonfiction: Secrets of the Savanna, The Eye of the Elephant, and Cry of the Kalahari. In Where the Crawdads Sing, her vivid descriptions make the marsh one of the characters of the story. Her use of words is nothing short of beautiful. As for the mystery, I was guessing (wrong) through to the very end of the book.

All three of these books transported me into their worlds. Isn’t that exactly what we want a book of fiction to do for us? I heartily recommend them all. They’re available through the ARHtistic License Bookshop.