Family bonds are tested under extraordinary circumstances in several of the excellent books spotlighted in today's newsletter. Brightly Shining by Norwegian author Ingvild Rishøi "radiates hope and goodness" around the bond of young sisters observing the Christmas holiday amid the instability created by their father's alcoholism; and Julia Armfield's Private Rites "is as mesmerizing as it is cathartic" in its depiction of three grown sisters surviving a near future drowning in rain; while Sister Snake is "a fabulously subversive, snarkily insightful" fantasy about ancient serpents living as modern humans. Plus, Sarah Everett's "stellar middle-grade novel" The Shape of Lost Things follows an introverted tween who is still healing and finding "her place in a new, blended" household when her brother suddenly returns after his abduction four years earlier.
And in The Writer's Life, children's authors Andrea Curtis and Sid Sharp consider the "different winding paths" their books take on "surprisingly parallel journeys" through big environmental issues related to climate change.