The Correspondent: A Novel, Virginia Evans

When many, many people recommend a book to me, I’m hesitant; is this going to be a book for me or popular fluff that might be fun but not necessarily for me? The Correspondent is the real deal. Smart, intelligent, wise, funny, and above all, very well written. Sybil van Antwerp, a retired lawyer, writes letters every day, where we meet fully-developed fictional characters as well as real ones, like Joan Didion, Salman Rushdie, Ann Patchett, and Kazuo Ishiguro. Syb, as her friends call her, is in her 70s (though the author is considerably younger), no stranger to grief, or to the bewilderment of modern life's crazy turns. One of my favorite characters is Harry Landy, a young teenager. He’s bright, weird, and bullied at school. Harry doesn’t like his new psychiatrist who has bad breath and makes him feel more weird than he really is. Sybil must step in. When Sybil’s brother Felix was bullied at school she wrote him a letter pretending to be the Vice President of the United States, threatening to put him in prison if he didn’t leave Felix alone. Syb tells Harry about an article in the Wall Street Journal where an artist "lives by a saying, which is: 'F_ck the haters.' That is a filthy word; however the sentiment in such forceful simplicity is rather catching.” And that’s why Syb is so much fun. In the course of the novel the author touches on so many books she has read, loved and didn’t like, it makes a great reading list for you. Tip: put 84 Charing Cross Road at the top of your list to read or reread.

My daughter Ronit recommends: Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe, Matti Friedman

Like many, I learned about Hannah Szenes while I was in high school. Everyone admired the young woman that secretly parachuted back into Europe during World War II to fight the Nazis. After reading Out of the Sky, I am even more in awe of her daring, strength of spirit, and determination. Using thousands of original documents including letters, memoirs, and previously classified records, Friedman tells the story of brave and extraordinary adults who set out to save Jews and fight Hitler. It reads like fiction, but knowing it is true makes it all the more powerful. These heroes were not larger than life; they were regular people who chose courage over fear and action over silence.

Carey recommends: The Infamous Gilberts: A Novel, Angela Tomaski

An intimate look at a specific time and place in British history through the events and inhabitants of a once great estate,Thornwalk. Nestled in the English countryside, the once grand, now crumbling estate has been sold to a luxury chain of hotels who will renovate and update the property. From World War II to the present, the novel features the lives of five fatherless children, Lydia, Hugo, Annabel, Jeremy, and Rosalind, through a loving tour of the estate by a neighbour, Maximus, who saw it all unfold. As we tour the house, Maximus points out little charred marks and other defects in the house. Through these oddities we hear some of the most scandalous and decadent behavior of the last inhabitants of Thornwalk, The Infamous Gilberts. This is a spellbinding story of 60 years of privilege, madness, violence, and other dysfunctional selfish behavior that make up a truly modern gothic tale.