Six Wakes, Mur Lafferty

I am so excited about this book I'm posting even before I finish it, which I usually don't do, but this is EXACTLY what I love in SF: a mystery to be solved, a complex narrative that incorporates non-linear elements, an ethical/philosophical exploration of cloning. Brilliant! I can't wait to read more of Lafferty's work!

A Colony in a Nation, Chris Hayes

Tremendous. Eye-opening. I want to be a better human being after reading this.

Swallowcliffe Hall 1890: Polly's Story, Jennie Walters

I absolutely, thoroughly, totally enjoyed this YA novel about a young maid servant coming to work at a country manor. Walters knows her stuff inside and out and vividly recreates the world and a servant's experience. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the Swallowcliffe Hall series.

A Crimson Dawn, Janet MacLeod Trotter

This is one of those stories where the main characters endure so much that it starts to feel as if no happy ending can possibly make up for what they've been through. Possibly a bit melodramatic in places for my taste--I prefer mysteries--but I read it straight through and enjoyed it. I particularly liked that the story focuses on the domestic experience of World War I, which interests me. I'm simultaneously reading Catherine Bailey's Black Diamonds, and it was fascinating to get a fiction & non-fiction view of the (harrowing) turn-of-the-century experience of being part of a coal mining family.