Molly Chenault

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On the Shelf: Exiles

Sep 28, 2024 | emporiagazette.com | Jane Harper |Molly Chenault

“Exiles” by Jane Harper, Flatiron Books, 2023, $27.99. Federal Investigator Aaron Falk is on his way to a small town deep in Southern Australian wine country for the christening of an old friend’s baby. But mystery follows him, even on vacation. This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of Kim Gillespie’s disappearance. One year ago, at a busy town festival on a warm spring night, Kim safely tucked her sleeping baby into her stroller, then vanished into the crowd. No one has seen her since.
On the Shelf: 'Pack Light'

Jun 30, 2024 | emporiagazette.com | Molly Chenault

Reviewed by Molly Chenault“Pack Light: A Journey to Find Myself” by Shilletha Curtis, Andscape Books, 2024, $27.99. This memoir will trace Shilletha’s thru-hike from Georgia to Maine as she decided to confront the roots of her trauma. Growing up, Curtis suffered from a fractured family life, bullying at school, indifferent teachers, and abuse from people she trusted. Then she discovered the Appalachian Trail, which she successfully hiked in 2021.
On the Shelf: Gator Country

Apr 27, 2024 | emporiagazette.com | Rebecca Renner |Molly Chenault

Review by Molly Chenault“Gator Country” by Rebecca Renner, Flatiron Books, 2023, $22.99. To catch a Florida Man, you have to become one, and that’s what Officer Jeff Babauta did. As his ponytailed, whiskey-soaked alter ego, he established Sunshine Alligator Farm. His goal? Infiltrate the shady world of illegal poachers in the Florida Everglades in order to protect the natural world. A head-spinning adventure soon unfolds.
On the Shelf: 'Our Wives Under the Sea'

Mar 24, 2024 | emporiagazette.com | Julia Armfield |Molly Chenault

Review by Molly Chenault“Our Wives Under the Sea” by Julia Armfield, Flatiron Books, 2022, $32.38. Leah is changed. A marine biologist, she left for a routine expedition months earlier, only this time her submarine sank to the sea floor. When she finally surfaces and returns home, her wife Miri knows that something is wrong. Barely eating and lost in her thoughts, Leah rotates between rooms in their apartment, running the taps morning and night.
On the Shelf: 'The Spectacular'

Mar 2, 2024 | emporiagazette.com | Fiona Davis |Molly Chenault

Reviewed by Molly Chenault“The Spectacular” by Fiona Davis, Dutton, 2023, $28.00. New York City, 1956: Nineteen-year-old Marion Brooks knows she should be happy. Her high school sweetheart is about to propose and sweep her off to the life everyone has always expected they’d have together: a quiet house in the suburbs, Marion staying home to raise their future children. But instead, Marion finds herself feeling trapped.
On the Shelf: 'Bunny'

Dec 2, 2023 | emporiagazette.com | Mona Awad |Molly Chenault

Reviewed by Molly Chenault“Bunny” by Mona Awad, Penguin Books, 2020, $18. Samantha Heather Mackey couldn’t be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England’s Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination to that of most people, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort--a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other “Bunny,” and seem to move and speak as one.
On the Shelf: 'Wow, No Thank You'

Oct 21, 2023 | emporiagazette.com | Samantha Irby |Molly Chenault

Reviewed by Molly Chenault“Wow, No Thank You” by Samantha Irby, Vintage, 2020, $17.00. Irby is 40, and increasingly uncomfortable in her own skin despite what Inspirational Instagram Infographics have promised her.
On the Shelf: 'Scorched Grace'

Sep 2, 2023 | emporiagazette.com | Margot Douaihy |Molly Chenault |Gillian Flynn Books

Review by Molly Chenault“Scorched Grace” by Margot Douaihy, Gillian Flynn Books, 2023, $27.95. When Saint Sebastian’s School becomes the target of a shocking arson spree, the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and their surrounding New Orleans community are thrust into chaos. Patience is a virtue, but punk rocker turned nun Sister Holiday isn’t satisfied to just wait around for officials to return her home and sanctuary to its former peace, instead deciding to unveil the mysterious attacker herself.
On the Shelf: "Fellowship Point"

Aug 19, 2023 | emporiagazette.com | Marysue Rucci Books |Molly Chenault

Review by Molly Chenault“Fellowship Point” by Alice Elliott Dark, Marysue Rucci Books, 2022, $28.99. Celebrated children’s book author Agnes Lee is determined to secure her legacy — to complete what she knows will be the final volume of her pseudonymously written Franklin Square novels; and even more consuming, to permanently protect the peninsula of majestic coast in Maine known as Fellowship Point.
On the Shelf: "Witch King"

Jul 29, 2023 | emporiagazette.com | Martha Wells |Molly Chenault

Reviewed by Molly Chenault“Witch King” by Martha Wells, Tordotcom, 2023, $28.99. After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well. But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence?