Review: "What resonated with me was the ripple effect of your past can have. This story is about a Malaya family's life during the Japanese Occupation during WWII. But it's also about a mother, her choices, and the consequences she and her family must live with and overcome. Cecily is a housewife, bored with her life as a mother and wife, and seeking a way to have a more meaningful life. She believes the Japanese propaganda that promotes the idea of "Asia for Asians," and that promises liberation from British colonial rule. This makes her vulnerable and susceptible to the charms of General Fujiwara - and allows him to recruit her as a spy..... More

Book Summary: In this "espionage-laden family epic" (Vanity Fair), an ordinary housewife becomes an unlikely spy-and her dark secrets will test even the most unbreakable ties. Malaya, 1945. Cecily Alcantara's family is in terrible danger: her fifteen-year-old son, Abel, has disappeared, and her youngest daughter, Jasmin, is confined in a basement to prevent being pressed into service at the comfort stations. Her eldest daughter Jujube, who works at a tea house frequented by drunk Japanese soldiers, becomes angrier by the day.More

Review: Husbands and Lovers is the perfect book for you to escape into the pages of a book. It's about love, destiny, and facing the decisions made in the past. This love story uses dual timelines, present-day New England and Cario 1951. There are plenty of secrets to figure out and some surprising revelations. I loved this book's historical details and the primarily likable characters.... More

Book Summmary: "New England, 2022. Three years ago, single mother Mallory Dunne received the telephone call every parent dreads-her ten-year-old son, Sam, had been airlifted from summer camp with acute poisoning from a toxic death cap mushroom, leaving him fighting for his life. Now, searching for the donor kidney that will give her son a chance for a normal life, .... More

Review: "I can't imagine a relative stealing my fortune and me not saying anything. Yet, it happens again and again in this story. Marguerite is an orphan and heir to her family's considerable wealth - yet when her uncle, her guardian, squanders it on exploratory adventures and personal pursuits- she is bound by tradition and her place in society (she is female) to say nothing. It really drives home how past generations of women had so little control over their own lives - being totally ... More

Praise: "Allegra Goodman's latest novel is a feminist castaway tale about love, faith, and self-actualization."-Time, "Most Anticipated Books of 2025"

"A work of tremendous imagination that draws on harrowing historical records to spin a story of self-determination, courage and faith."-The New York Times Book Review

"Goodman writes with fluid beauty, deep empathy, and an emotional undertow that pulls you in and holds you from the first page to the last."-Kirkus Reviews, starred review More