The Books I'm Reading Now
I'm reading Molly Aitken's historical fiction novel set in 13th-century Ireland, Bright I Burn; I'm listening to Among the Bros, Max Marshall's nonfiction investigative account of the intersections between Southern fraternity members and a multi-million-dollar interstate drug ring; and I'm listening to a suspenseful mystery about a missing young woman who reappears after two years, The Return of Ellie Black.
What are you reading these days, bookworms?
01 Bright I Burn by Molly Aitken
Molly Aitken's historical fiction Bright I Burn is based on the true story of the first woman in Ireland to be burned as a witch.
In 13th-century Ireland, Alice witnesses her mother's difficult domestic life and lack of autonomy, and she swears she will find a way to take more control of her own life.
Women in the 1200s aren't given much freedom, and she must wrest her power from her father, her husbands, and society. But a powerful woman is resented and feared, and threatening accusations begin to fly regarding how Alice earns so much money and how her deceased husbands met their maker.
I received a prepublication edition of this book, which was published September 10, courtesy of Knopf and NetGalley.
02 Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story by Max Marshall
Max Marshall's Among the Bros is a nonfiction peek into a multi-million-dollar drug ring and its many intersections with fraternities in the southeast.
By tracing the college lives of Mikey and Rob, friends at the College of Charleston, as they pledged fraternities and then carved out paths for themselves--Mikey dropped out, while Rob seemed to be a golden child--Marshall details the young men's increasingly dangerous and illegal choices and their involvement in an interstate drug ring.
Marshall links the drug ring to several deaths, a murder, and tragic stories of addiction, as well as shocking carelessness with human life, greed, intense foolishness, and hubris that ends up being the men's undoing.
I'm listening to Among the Bros as an audiobook.
03 The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean
Detective Chelsey Calhoun is shocked by the reappearance of Ellie Black, a young girl who's been missing for two years.
Chelsey is especially invested in the case, because her own sister Lydia went missing years earlier, before falling victim to her boyfriend's tragic murder-suicide.
While Chelsey is thrilled that Ellie is back, she's frustrated by Ellie's refusal to provide information that might lead the police to her captor. While Chelsey struggles to be patient with the young woman who is coping with layers of trauma, she realizes that Ellie's hiding something--and she may be putting her own life and the lives of others in danger.
I'm listening to The Return of Ellie Black as an audiobook.
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