Man’s World

Charlotte Haldane
Radium Age
Softcover $19.95 (296pp)
978-0-262-54763-5
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon

A timely reissue of Charlotte Haldane’s brilliant 1926 dystopian novel, Man’s World is set in a future where individual desires are sacrificed for communal good, women’s roles are prescribed, and genetic makeup is determined by eugenics.

Christopher and Nicolette are siblings who share a deep friendship and a rebellious streak. Both chafe under the constraints of a world in which women are “vessels singled out for … propagation” and genetics are controlled to develop “just the sort of bees the hive need[s].” The civilization seems utopian: work and play are synonymous, art flourishes, science rules, war has been abolished, and “breeding grounds” are established in exquisite garden spots. But this seeming perfection has a dark side. Populations are controlled, communal life replaces family life, and there are strong undercurrents of racism, antisemitism, and homophobia. People are repelled by the haphazard and “dirty, bestial breeding of the past.”

In time, Nicolette must submit to becoming a breeder or be sterilized by an injection. Conflicted, she rejects her first mate, befriends revolutionaries and artists, and considers the calm life of a neuter. Ultimately, however, she conforms to her expected roles. Meanwhile, Christopher—who is idealistic, emotional, and gender-fluid—composes a magnificent symphony before he meets a tragic end evocative of Icarus.

A precursor to books such as The Handmaid’s Tale, the novel raises fascinating questions about liberty, independence, and women’s roles; the costs of achieving peace and order; and the search for meaning when the earth is “one great laboratory.” Philippa Levine’s introduction shares challenging insights into the work’s complexity and place in history.

Haunting, complex, profound, and relevant, Man’s World is a compelling novel that forwards intriguing commentary on questions of gender, race, and social order.

KRISTEN RABE (February 13, 2024)

The Last Zookeeper

Aaron Becker
Candlewick Press
Hardcover $18.99 (40pp)
978-1-5362-2768-0
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon

The master of wordless picture books returns with this moving retelling of Noah’s Ark that speaks to an uncertain future. Long-abandoned structures stretch up from the watery grave of a flooded world as a construction robot, NOA, cares for animals in a defunct zoo. With their makeshift home endangered by an incoming storm, NOA salvages materials for an ark and the found family sets off in search of safety across the endless sea.

DANIELLE BALLANTYNE (February 13, 2024)

French from the Market

Hillary Davis
Sheena Bates, photographer
Gibbs Smith
Hardcover $35.00 (224pp)
978-1-4236-6488-8
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon

Hillary Davis’s French from the Market is a toothsome cookbook full of robust flavors, sun-dappled photographs, and vibrant recipe introductions.

Familiarity with and affection for a French lifestyle “centered on food and the cycle of the seasons” are evident throughout the book, whose emphasis is on provincial home cooking grounded in traditional French cuisine. Its cozy, inventive recipes riff on standards, too, incorporating lighter flavors and different ingredient combinations and techniques. Herein, hummus is made from parsnips and hazelnuts; artichokes are simmered with mushrooms, wine, and vegetables; and asparagus is napped in a vibrant blood orange Maltaise sauce. Though the freshest produce and top-quality ingredients are paramount throughout, some recipes embrace shortcuts like canned beans, store-bought Boursin, microwaves, and the Instant Pot without sacrificing flavor or texture.

Fruits and vegetables are at the heart of this breezy and engaging text. They feature in a riot of colorful salads and sides but also swirl through most of the meat and fish recipes. They dominate as starters, main dishes, and desserts—in Spring Vegetable Ragout with Preserved Lemon Sauce and in an array of saucy roasted and poached fruit desserts. The tempting spotlight on root vegetables and greens encourages slipping more of these less popular vegetables into one’s market basket.

Sparkling photographs of prepared dishes, market scenes, landscapes, and beguiling bouquets of rhubarb and artichokes add to the allure. Davis’s food memories and confident, encouraging recipe introductions turn up the volume to this siren song of a cookbook—an inviting sampler of regional cuisine, from Normandy pork chops sauteed with apples and Calvados to Mediterranean Setoise-style Sausage-Stuffed Mussels.

French from the Market is a seductive cookbook that will convert readers into Francophiles and inspire almost everyone else to start composing menus and market lists.

RACHEL JAGARESKI (February 13, 2024)

Ephemia Rimaldi

Circus Performer Extraordinaire

Linda DeMeulemeester
Red Deer Press
Softcover $14.95 (180pp)
978-0-88995-729-9
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon

In Linda DeMeulemeester’s historical novel Ephemia Rimaldi, a lonely girl searches for her estranged father.

In Canada in the early 1900s, Effy dodges rotten tomatoes and insults on the streets of Toronto alongside her suffragist Aunt Ada. However, her protesting life is cut short when Ada passes away. The reading of Ada’s will reveals that a large share of her fortune was left in a trust for Effy to use for college. Only Phineas, Effy estranged father and a circus ringmaster, can release the money to her now. Determined to be free from her family’s clutches, Effy leaves to find Phineas’s circus and start a new life in Ontario.

Effy narrates, detailing her conversations with a bevy of new people during her trip. She is belittled and ignored by several. A girl tells her she is foolish for reading a book without a love story; a conductor criticizes her for traveling alone; circus men tell her that women shouldn’t ride bicycles. But despite the negative treatment she receives, her personal growth is unstoppable.

Effy’s perspective widens after she finds a place within the circus. At first, she is horrified by the flamboyant outfits that the circus performers wear, which exist in stark contrast to her own modest dresses. Still, she works on building a relationship with her father and the circus members. Soon, she comes to recognize that there is more to equality than the right to vote: the circus workers are treated poorly based on class, heritage, and their ambitions. They also deal with the small, dirty living conditions. Thus, Effy takes a stand to defend them.

Inside her father’s circus, a spirited girl fights for equality and the right to her inheritance in the historical novel Ephemia Rimaldi.

GRACE ROGERS (February 13, 2024)

Polar Vortex

A Family Memoir

Denise Dorrance
The Experiment
Softcover $19.95 (256pp)
978-1-61519-905-1
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon

Denise Dorrance’s graphic memoir Polar Vortex is about returning home to tend to her ailing, forgetful mother.

When her ninety-one-year-old mother Hilda falls at home, Dorrance races from England to Iowa to help. Her mother exhibits confusion and memory loss but also moments of complete lucidity. And though she’s a loving and responsible daughter, Dorrance also admits to longing for release from obligation and her troubled relationship with her California-based sister. Against the backdrop of a snowstorm, Dorrance grapples with childhood memories, medical insurance, and the question of what’s best for Hilda.

The hand-drawn art style allows for moments of whimsy: imagined meetings with celebrities including Dr. Ruth and Monty Hall; an actual meeting with a doctor whose resemblance to Ben Stiller is emphasized via cut-and-paste graphics of the actor. The most critical imaginary character is Death, who holds extended conversations with Dorrance while offering an end to her mother’s suffering. Inserts of actual letters and photographs magnify the book’s emotional effect, and the conclusion heightens the drama as Hilda’s fate is revealed.

Polar Vortex is an honest, affecting graphic memoir about a messy series of compromises and reconciliations accompanying end-of-life caregiving.

PETER DABBENE (February 13, 2024)

Barbara Hodge
March 14, 2024

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