Here We Are. American Dreams, American Nightmares. AArti Namdev ShaShahani. 2019. ISBN 9781250204752.  An Indian family finds it way eventually to America.  They start to build a better life following the American dream getting green cards and working to citizenship. Through a serious of misadventure and  poor legal advice the father gets on the wrong side of immigration and lives in a perpetual state of fear of deportation. His daughter  (a NYTimes journalist) details the trials and tribulations of the many years  and what they went through. Its also a story being played out throughout  America still.  Very human story that will bring the people involved to the fore.

Iran: Make Love Not War. Mary Jane Walker. 2019 ISBN 978047349160.  A concise and breezy trip through modern Iran.  The author is quite the adventure hound in the nothing ventured , nothing gained style.  She traveled mostly alone and met many helpful Iranians along the way. She has an eye for art and architecture and seems able to talk to pretty well anyone.  Her colour photos are worth the book. After reading this travelogue you will come away with a sense as to what the average Iranian thinks. As well, she finds that the locals are quite unlike and detached from the Muslim leaders, leaders who appear paranoid at being overthrown like they did to the Shah.  Locals are just folks getting by and apart from fearing for their future, you would feel quite at home with them.  This is also a short history lessons on Persia and Persian kings. The descriptions of the cities and architecture is also well done.  Your heart goes out to the mismanagement of water and top level corruption which imposes hardship on the locals.

Washington Black. Esi Edugyan. 2018. ISBN 9781847659972.  The author traces the life of a young Negro slave in the Bahamas and his  brutal life as well as travels with a young master. The slave , Washington Black has a talent for drawing and finds himself in many difficult and interesting situations as he follows ( and tracks down)  his young master to the US, Arctic, Maritime, London, Amsterdam,  and eventually Morocco.  The tough life and his love is illustrated and he does not get beaten down. My only question is that there is no real ending.  Still the book is compelling reading

The Lost Girls of Paris. Pam Jenoff. 2019. ISBN 139781460398760.   Twelve female agents of the SOE (UK) are deployed to France in the months preceding D Day.  The author uses another woman in New York just after the end of the war who starts to find out what happened to these women. You walk through their lives and families, their training and then a series of adventures in France leading up to their betrayal in The UK, then capture and execution by the Nazis. Clear, concise and gripping this is a fine tale.

Bristol shops

A Man Called Ove. Fredrik Backman. 2014. ISBN 1476738031.  A grumpy curmudgeon and how his life is turned upside down with new neighbours moving in. He is not social, is principled and helps others despite his leanings.  His Swedishness is evident and the humour is dry and timeless. Recommed this as a great holiday laugh.