Fiction Five: Expeditions of discovery

From lush wooden landscapes to post-apocalyptic deserts these new novels are a blend of science fiction and fantasy, historical and modern, heart-warming and thought-provoking that explore the journey within and without.

Pearly Everlasting by Tammy Armstrong

A girl and a bear raised as siblings lead a story about familial bonds in this atmospheric novel set during the Great Depression.

When a cook in a logging camp brings an orphaned baby bear home to his family, they name the cub Bruno and raise him alongside his newborn daughter, Pearly. Pearly’s family and the community of woodsmen accept the young bear and bring him into their camp.

After a new camp supervisor who is less accepting of Bruno arrives, the tight-knit community begins to unravel. When the supervisor is found dead, Bruno is blamed and sold to a trader. Pearly, now a teenager, sets off on a solo journey through the forest to rescue him. She’ll traverse more than 50 miles of snow and ice, confronting others who are fearful of her way of life, to explore what it really means to be family to a bear.

"Enchanting . . . . The adventure brims with folklore and superstition, as Pearly musters the courage to overcome her fears, and there are many lighthearted moments, such as when Pearly convinces Bruno to climb into the backseat of a car. This gentle story is sure to win Armstrong new fans.” — Publishers Weekly

The Secret War of Julia Child by Diana R. Chambers

Years before cooking or Paris made her famous, Julia McWilliams worked for America’s first espionage agency. From her Pasadena roots through her time as a file clerk in DC, to her experiences in the Office of Strategic Services, The Secret War of Julia Child takes readers on a trek to the Far East. It is there, on the remote frontlines of Asia, that McWilliams finds adventure, direction and love with mapmaker Paul Child.

"A compelling story with an unexpected (and thoroughly delightful) heroine—Julia Child, who served with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS, the precursor to the CIA) during World War II. Chambers paints a vivid portrait of the tall, awkward Julia, who volunteers for a post in India, becomes involved in secret intelligence cases across Southeast Asia and China, and meets her future husband Paul Child. With riveting twists and turns, the novel’s not only a vivid exploration of a lesser-known chapter in the life of one of America’s most beloved personalities, it’s also an impeccably researched roller-coaster ride, with spies, danger, deception, heroics, and romance." — Susan Elia MacNeal, New York Times bestselling author

"…Chambers’s gripping novel unveils another dimension to Julia. In this fictionalized account of Child’s real-life work with OSS during World War II, Chambers humanizes Julia and manages to make her even more remarkable. You’ll fall in love with Julia all over again, and with this tantalizing novel." — Nina Schuyler, award-winning author of The Translator

How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? by Anna Montague

Most days, Magda is fine. She has her routines, her anxious therapy patients and her longtime colleagues. She’s mourning the recent loss of her best friend, Sara, as she sorts through the last of Sara’s possessions. Magda is fine.

But while going through Sara’s journal, Magda discovers her friend’s plans for a road trip they would take together in celebration of Magda’s upcoming 70th birthday. Magda decides to make the cross-country journey, with Sara’s urn in tow. Along the way she encounters a cast of memorable characters, challenging her own perceptions and the truths about her friendship with Sara.

“At once tender and hilarious, How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? is a beautifully written and moving novel of loss and new beginnings.” — Jonas Jonasson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

“A road trip novel with a tremendous amount of heart - I ached along with the characters, rooted for them, wished them all the best. Truly a novel that asks you to consider the winding, secret path to love that sits lodged in every person's breast. Anna Montague has written something bright and lovely here, a novel that is above all quietly beautiful.” — Kristen Arnett, author of With Teeth and Mostly Dead Things

The Ancients by John Larison

This is a post-apocalyptic narrative about human resilience, hope and the way we care for the planet.

A young boy and his older sisters find themselves suddenly alone with dwindling food supplies. They set out across a treacherous wilderness in search of the last of their people.

Down the coast, raiders deliver the children's mother, along with the rest of their human cargo, to the last port city of a waning empire. Determined to reunite with her family, she plots her escape while her fellow captives plan open revolt.

At the center of this crumbling city, a young scholar inherits his father's position of privilege, along with the burden of his debts. As the empire's elite prepare to flee to new utopia across the sea, he must decide where his allegiance lies.

With a rapidly changing climate shifting the sands beneath their feet, these three paths converge in a struggle for the future of humanity. Who will inherit what remains and who gets to tell its story?

“This richly imagined journey into a dystopian future is at once cautionary and provocative, inviting us to heed the lessons of the Ancients.” — Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass

“This is a moving and expansive tale illuminating the emotional range of the human spirit. Larison’s lyrical writing will hook readers of plot-driven literary fiction.” — Booklist, Starred Review

The Woodsmoke Women’s Book of Spells by Rachel Greenlaw

Carrie Morgan has been haunted by her decision 10 years earlier to run from the mountain town of Woodsmoke. She tries to forget her family’s legacy as she drifts throughout Europe. But the Morgan women have always been able to harness the power of the mountains surrounding the town, and their spells –and curses – are sewn into the soil. An old tale blankets the town, about a stranger who appears as the first snow falls and who disappears without a trace as the frost thaws in spring, leaving behind a broken heart.

When her grandmother dies, Carrie returns, certain she will only be there for one winter. She meets Matthieu as the temperature dips, a newcomer who offers to help. Before long, and despite the old stories, Carrie finds herself falling for the charming stranger. But when the frost thaws in spring, Matthieu goes missing.

Carrie is convinced he’s real and he’s in danger. As she fights her way across the mountains to find him, she must confront all the reasons she left Woodsmoke and decide whether the place she’s spent the last decade running from is the home she’s been searching for.

“The Woodsmoke Women’s Book of Spells' captivated me from the very first page. It reminds me of why I love writing and why I love reading. It’s magical and grounding at the same time, otherworldly and natural. I absolutely treasured it from beginning to end.” — Cecelia Ahern, New York Times bestselling author