Written in 1892, one of Thomas Hardy's last novels. Tess of the d'Urbervilles expresses Hardy's critique of Victorian society through the eyes of Tess, a woman who just can't catch a break. A tragic, romantic, epic drama that highlights all of the hardships that Tess Durbeyfield must go through in her life. Poverty, death, heart-ache, and shame are sufferings quite common to Tess. What's compelling is the glimmers of sympathy, love, compassion, and friendship that are sprinkled throughout the text that give home to the reader just as it gives hope to Tess. Extremely gripping read, check out my full review by clicking the arrow on the right.

Emma Cline's first novel, a fictional story loosely based on the lead up to the Charles Manson murders in 1969. The novel won the Shirley Jackson Award for best novel in 2016 when it was published. The novel is a coming-of-age story that follows the life of Evie Boyd, a young girl from California in the 60's who feels lost in life and finds a purpose and a sense of familial comfort in the Manson cult, especially in the relationship that she creates with Suzanne. The novel analyze's and uncovers Evie's character just as it uncovers the gradual uneasiness and eventual horrors that are manifested by the Manson cult. A novel of great suspense, of restlessness, of trying desperately to understand and to fit in. I think everyone, as surprising as it may seem, can find pieces of themselves inside this novel... if they look long enough.

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