Fiction Five: From one generation to the next

Throughout history, stories have been carried from generation to generation, strengthening and changing ever so slightly as new players are introduced and figures of the past become icons. Each of the novels in this month’s Fiction Five explores this idea of generational tales, spanning decades and even centuries to complete the story.

Bitter Honey by Lolá Ákínmádé

In the 1970s Nancy is drawn away from the warmth of Gambia by a scholarship that delivers her to the cold of Sweden. When her friendship with the charismatic Lars blossoms into something more, she thinks she may have finally found her place. But there's more to Lars than his charming persona. Nancy is about to discover the danger of being drawn into his world.

Thirty years later Nancy’s daughter Tina has had her taste of fame as Sweeden's sweetheart pop princess. Beneath her glittery facade, Tina is desperate to discover who she really is. Her mother seems desperate to keep the past under wraps. Will an unexpected figure help open the door?

Spanning four decades, three continents and a lifetime of secrets, Bitter Honey is a story of mothers, daughters and the value of forging your own path.

“Lọlá Ákínmádé Åkerström crafts sharply written and deeply moving characters, raising brutal questions and steering clear of easy answers.”  – Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Atmosphere

Deeper than the Ocean by Mirta Ojito

One hundred years after the shipwreck of the Valbanera, known to history as the “poor man’s Titanic,” Mara Denis gets an assignment to report on the Canary Islands. She has been told her ancestors lived there before moving to Cuba. Mara discovers the grandmother her mother cherished was listed among the dead of the Valbanera, years before Mara’s mother was even born.

This fateful twist changes everything Mara thought she knew about her family and herself, sending her on a quest to find the truth about her family. Who was this woman she had claimed as a great-grandmother? And where did she come from?

“A heartfelt tale of family secrets, impossible choices, and the search for one’s true identity … shimmers with hope born from the ashes of a complicated past.” – Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names

Cursed Daughters by Oyinkam Braithwaite

When Ebun gives birth to her daughter Eniiyi on the day they bury her cousin Monife, there is no denying the startling resemblance between the child and the dead woman. So begins the belief that Eniiyi is the actual reincarnation of Monife, fated to follow in her footsteps in all ways including that tragic end.

There is also the matter of the family curse: “No man will call your house his home. And if they try, they will not have peace...” This has been handed down from generation to generation, breaking hearts and causing three generations of abandoned women to live under the same roof. 

When Eniiyi falls in love with the handsome boy she saves from drowning, she can no longer run from her family’s history. Is she destined to live out the habitual story of love and heartbreak? Or can she break the pattern once and for all?

“Charming and wonderfully unpredictable . . . A portrait of human flailing for closure, for the answers to all of our mysteries . . . a rising literary star.” – Matthew Jackson, BookPage

As Many Souls as Stars by Natasha Siegel

1592 – Cybil Harding is a First Daughter. Cursed to bring disaster to those around her. She is trapped in a house with a mother paralyzed by grief and a father willing to sacrifice everything in pursuit of magic.

Miriam Richter is a creature of shadow. Forged by the dark arts many years ago. She is doomed to solitude for eternity, killing mortals and consuming their souls for sustenance. Everything changes when she meets Cybil, whose soul shines with a light so bright she must claim it for herself. Miriam offers a bargain: she will grant Cybil reincarnation in exchange for her soul.

Thus begins a dance across centuries as Miriam seeks Cybil in every lifetime to claim her prize. As they circle one another, drawn together inescapably as light and dark, the bond forged between them grows stronger. In their battle for dominance only one of them can win, but perhaps they can’t survive without each other.

"Siegel’s historical scene-setting stays vivid and impressive as the periods change, and the tension-filled dynamic between the leads keeps the pages turning. Fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue will be enthralled." – Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Lightbreakers by Aja Gabel

Maya is an artist obsessed with the nature of beauty. Noah is a quantum physicist preoccupied by the mysteries of the universe. They found in each other a shared curiosity about the world. But beneath the surface of their happy marriage is the tale of Serena, the lost child Noah had with his ex-wife, Eileen.

One day Noah gets a call from an eccentric billionaire, asking him to participate in a clandestine project aiming to unravel the secrets of time and consciousness. The couple agrees to relocate to the Janus Lab, deep in the desert, where Noah finds himself drawn into a dangerous kind of time-travel that could result in seeing Serena again.

As Noah delves into this groundbreaking, fringe work, his past begins to overtake him. And when Eileen joins the project, Maya embarks on a journey back to her own past. Maya's journey takes her to Japan, to her family, and to a formative lover who once shattered her heart. As Noah, Maya and Eileen grapple with the balance between holding on and letting go, new information emerges that the Janus Lab might not be exactly what it seems.

"A magisterial and moving novel about love and grief that is somehow unsentimental and yet extraordinarily tender...Lightbreakers is complex, startling, and impossibly alive." – Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here