BookBrowse Highlights
Hello Readers!
This week, we bring you a video interview with Kayla Rae Whitaker, author of the ‘80s-spanning family drama Returns and Exchanges.
Meanwhile, our book club members discuss The Vanishing Place by Zoë Rankin, a complex literary mystery that unfolds in the New Zealand bush, and in Editor’s Choice, we cover Stephanie Soileau’s debut Should the Waters Take Us, following a wide cast of characters in Southern Louisiana during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Accompanying our review of Furious Violet by Sarai Walker, about a true crime writer and daughter of a famous poet who finds herself in strange circumstances, we have another “beyond the book” article for you on Sylvia Plath (after our summer backlist coverage of The Bell Jar), and, in this case, her daughter Frieda Hughes.
Plus, explore more in our Thrillers category and see who this year’s Hugo Award winners are!
Thanks for reading,
The BookBrowse Team
Interview with Kayla Rae Whitaker
Book Club Discussions
Discussions are open to all! If you’d like to participate, you can do so by creating an account here. Please note that discussions can contain spoilers.
The Vanishing Place by Zoë Rankin
From the Jacket
Growing up with her younger siblings in the unforgiving New Zealand bush, Effie believed their parents had cut them off from civilization because they loved Nature. She never suspected that their reasons might be more menacing. After witnessing a terrifying episode of violence, she escaped the wilderness to forge a life for herself halfway across the globe.
Now, when she learns the only witness to a murder is a little girl who looks just like her, Effie is compelled to return to the scene of her troubled childhood, where the secrets of her upbringing and the terrors of her past come rushing back to the surface.
From the Discussion
“Since the environment is important to this book, Jane Harper comes to mind and those who enjoy her books as I do would like this one.” —Janine_S
“The Vanishing Place is a suspenseful story that kept me engaged to the end. I usually don’t read thrillers because they can be dark, and this story had some very dark parts, but I wanted to learn more about the characters and how the story would be resolved.” —Patricia_Williams
“I like how the author went back and forth with the plot and frankly, I was shocked how it all tied together.” —Kay
Editor’s Choice
Should the Waters Take Us by Stephanie Soileau
Stephanie Soileau's debut novel, Should the Waters Take Us, centers around three generations of a Cajun family living in the bayous of Southern Louisiana. Thirty-eight-year-old Boy Broussard is living hand-to-mouth, squatting in a broken-down trailer on land owned by his great-aunt Rosa and her husband Jacot. There's no love lost between Boy and Jacot, who has long sought to evict his nephew-in-law (Boy just ignores the orders). The situation becomes more complicated when Boy suddenly becomes responsible for his twelve-year-old daughter and Rosa, dying of cancer, insists the land go to Boy on her passing—a final request Jacot doesn't wish to honor.
Meanwhile, as these family dynamics play out, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster occurs, causing the largest marine oil spill in history and devastating the Gulf Coast economy and environment. … continued
Review by Kim Kovacs
Beyond the Book
Sylvia Plath and Frieda Hughes
In Furious Violet by Sarai Walker, the titular character's mother, Juliet, was a depressed poet who felt stifled by motherhood and became a literary icon after her suicide. There are obvious parallels to the life of Sylvia Plath, the celebrated writer and young mother who died by suicide in 1963. Plath was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for a previously unpublished poetry collection, and many see her novel, The Bell Jar, as an iconic work of twentieth century feminist literature.
Like Juliet, Plath had a daughter, the artist and writer Frieda Hughes. And like Violet, Hughes appears to have a complex relationship with her mother's legacy. … continued
Article by Jillian Bell
Thrillers
Furious Violet by Sarai Walker, appearing in our latest e-zine issue, is just one of nearly 500 recommended books in our Thrillers category, which features engaging and pulse-pounding suspense of all stripes, from irreverent and beach-readable to serious and socially relevant, and everything overlapping and in between.
This is one of 100+ themed categories available to BookBrowse members.
Non-members can enjoy a limited version of our category lists.
2026 Hugo Award Winners
Considered the most prestigious awards in science fiction, the Hugo Awards are determined by votes and nominations from members of the World Science Fiction Society. This year’s award for Best Novel goes to The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow, and the award for Best Novella to The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar. Check out our Awards page for more on these books.
