Of Mice and Men - SECOND HAND

A mesmerizing literary debut novel of doubt, faith, and perseverance in the aftermath of a family tragedy—for fans of Me Before You, Little Bee, and Tell the Wolves I’m Home.
 
The Bradleys see the world as a place where miracles are possible, and where nothing is more important than family. This is their story.
 
It is the story of Ian Bradley—husband, father, math teacher, and Mormon bishop—and his unshakeable belief that everything will turn out all right if he can only endure to the end, like the pioneers did. It is the story of his wife, Claire, her lonely wait for a sign from God, and her desperate need for life to pause while she comes to terms with tragedy.
 
And it is the story of their children: sixteen-year-old Zippy, experiencing the throes of first love; cynical fourteen-year-old Al, who would rather play soccer than read the Book of Mormon; and seven-year-old Jacob, whose faith is bigger than a mustard seed—probably bigger than a toffee candy, he thinks—and which he’s planning to use to mend his broken family with a miracle.
 
Intensely moving, unexpectedly funny, and deeply observed, A Song for Issy Bradley explores the outer reaches of doubt and faith, and of a family trying to figure out how to carry on when the innermost workings of their world have broken apart.

Argen­tine author Marce­lo Bir­ma­jer uses his recur­ring char­ac­ter, Javier Mosan, to present a com­pli­cat­ed polit­i­cal tale with roots in his country’s trou­bled past. Mosan, a jour­nal­ist who does his best to avoid writ­ing sto­ries, spends a great deal of time indulging in sex­u­al fan­ta­sy. When his edi­tor asks him to inter­view Elias Traúm, an Argen­tinean who now lives in Israel, he thinks that it is just anoth­er rou­tine assign­ment. Traúm and two dead friends were known as the  “three mus­ke­teers” when they fought in the left-wing Per­o­nist guer­ril­la group, the Mon­toneros. Javier goes to the air­port to meet Traúm and ends up get­ting a severe beat­ing. Traúm is kid­napped. He is lat­er dumped by the side of the road and, Javier, relieved to learn that they both sur­vived, finds him­self drawn to the account of Traúm’s past despite orders from his edi­tor to drop the sto­ry. Read­ers who enjoyed Nathan Englander’s The Min­istry of Spe­cial Cas­es will find this com­pelling, too. It pro­vides insight into the world of Argentina’s Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty as well as a top-notch con­spir­a­cy plot.

In search of love, absolution, or forgiveness, Charles Boatman leaves the Fraser Valley of British Columbia and returns mysteriously to Vietnam, the country where he fought twenty-nine years earlier as a young, reluctant soldier. But his new encounters seem irreconcilable with his memories.

When he disappears, his daughter Ada, and her brother, Jon, travel to Vietnam, to the streets of Danang and beyond, to search for him. Their quest takes them into the heart of a country that is at once incomprehensible, impassive, and beautiful. Chasing her father’s shadow for weeks, following slim leads, Ada feels increasingly hopeless. Yet while Jon slips into the urban nightlife to avoid what he most fears, Ada finds herself growing closer to her missing father — and strong enough to forgive him and bear the heartbreaking truth of his long-kept secret.

Bergen’s marvellously drawn characters include Lieutenant Dat, the police officer who tries to seduce Ada by withholding information; the boy Yen, an orphan, who follows Ada and claims to be her guide; Jack Gouds, an American expatriate and self-styled missionary; his strong-willed and unhappy wife, Elaine, whose desperate encounters with Charles in the days before his disappearance will always haunt her; and Hoang Vu, the artist and philosopher who will teach Ada about the complexity of love and betrayal. We also come to learn about the reclusive author Dang Tho, whose famous wartime novel pulls at Charles in ways he can’t explain.

Moving between father and daughter, the present and the past, The Time in Between is a luminous, unforgettable novel about one family, two cultures, and a profound emotional journey in search of elusive answers.