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is renamed QualityLand. There, all people
are named after their parents’ professions,
have social media feeds specially created
by corporations, and are assigned levels
from 1 to 100, which dictate which part-
ners they can match with, which jobs they
can have, and so on. Peter Jobless is a low-
level metal recycling scrapper who, one
day, receives a delivery from TheShop that
he didn’t order—not unusual in itself, as
TheShop anticipates all desires (its motto
is “We know what you want”)—but more
importantly, that he doesn’t want. Aided
by the defective robots living under his
shop that he saved from the scrapper,
Peter embarks on a journey to return his
unwanted delivery. Peter’s quest unfolds
against the backdrop of a presidential
election, where voters can choose between
a maximally intelligent, socialist-minded
robot programmed for objectivity, and a
celebrity right-wing chef, prone to con-
tradicting himself in the same sentence.
No need to guess who’s leading the polls.
Sharp and biting, the most implausible
aspect of Kling’s novel is the relative note
of optimism that ends it. This is spot-on
satire. (Jan.)
Westering Women
Sandra Dallas. St. Martin’s, $26.99 (336p)
ISBN 978-1-250-23966-2
The entertaining latest from Dallas
(Some Place to Call Home) focuses on a
motley group of women who form a bond
traveling to California on the Overland
Trail. In 1852 Chicago, Maggie sees a
notice posted by a minister offering to
lead “moral” women to the western mines
of Goosetown in order to find husbands.
Having been abused by her husband,
Maggie sees the chance for a better life for
herself and her four-year-old daughter,
Clara. She’s encouraged to join by Mary, a
kind and capable woman who becomes
one of her closest friends and a leader on
the trail. After Mary concocts a story to
help her bypass the requirements, Maggie
sets off on a taxing journey during which
the women are plagued by disease, attacks
from Native warriors, and other hardships
that bring them together. As trust grows,
the others reveal their own agendas for
having joined, such as a search for a sib-
ling and a hidden pregnancy. The women
learn to shoot, move their wagons through
arduous routes, and fight off threats.
There’s not much nuance in the way the
villains are portrayed, but readers will
enjoy this modern take on the journey
West that’s rife with girl power. (Jan.)Lady Clementine
Marie Benedict. Sourcebooks Landmark,
$26.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-4926-6690-5
Benedict (The Other Einstein) delivers a
winning fictionalized biography of
Clementine Churchill, the wife of Winston
Churchill. The personality of Clementine
reverberates in
this intimate,
first-person
account of the
loving 57-year
marriage of the
two political
dynamos.
Winston—or as
Clementine
called him,
Pug—is
known by history for the turbulence of his
career in the British government until its
zenith as prime minister during WWII.
Winston’s bombastic personality made it
difficult for him to listen to advisers, but
Clementine had his ear and counseled him
on everything from speech writing to
military decisions and national policies,
and helped make advancements in the
women’s suffrage movement. The profound
pressure on a politically active mother of
four in the early 20th century sometimes
takes its toll on Clementine, but she per-
severes. The story moves swiftly as the
couple sways in and out of favor, receiving
death threats when the 1915 Battle of
Dardanelles, when Winston was First Lord
of the Admiralty, costs tens of thousands
of lives, and then hearing roars of approvalfor triumphant orations during WWII.
Accurate era descriptions add to the realism
of the story, and Benedict reveals the
connection between Clementine’s
grounded energy and her thoughtful
influence throughout times of war and
peace. It’s an intriguing novel, and the
focus on the heroic counsel of a woman
that has national and international impacts
will resonate in the present day. (Jan.)The Peppermint Tea Chronicles:
A 44 Scotland Street Novel
Alexander McCall Smith. Anchor, $15.95
trade paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-9848-9781-7
In Smith’s meandering 13th 44 Scotland
Street novel (after 2017’s A Time of Love and
Tartan), the latest personal developments
among the residents of the Edinburgh
street will strike many as ho-hum: a child’s
acquisition of a pet dog, a battle with a
bureaucracy over disposing of a dead
animal, and a coffee shop owner’s fears for
her business’s future. Cat lovers will be
taken aback by an anthropomorphized
projection of the life of a dead feline, which,
in order to make a pseudo-profound point
about its finder’s worldview, suggests that
the cat couldn’t have had an attachment to
anything or anyone beyond its own life.
Others may find odd one character’s atti-
tude that only men can have a sentimental
attachment to old clothing. Readers will
struggle to care about the child and the
coffee shop owner and how their personal
stories play out. The author’s usual charm
and humor aren’t enough to redeem a tale
without a dominant or memorable story
line. Fans of Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective
series will be disappointed. Agent: Robin
Straus, Robin Straus Agency. (Dec.)Gold Digger: The Remarkable
Baby Doe Tabor
Rebecca Rosenberg. Lion Heart, $15.99
(318p) ISBN 978-0-578-42779-9
Rosenberg’s exceptional fictionalized
portrait of Baby Doe Tabor encompasses
her years of triumph and turmoil during
Colorado’s early statehood. NewlywedDanny Adams
Anisa Alabastro
Vicki Borah Bloom
Kristin Centorcelli
Arvyn Cerézo
Oline H. Cogdill
Lynda Brill Comerford
Hannah DeCampJohn DiBello
Kate Dunn
Maya Fleischmann
Suzanne Fox
Shaenon Garrity
Daphne Grab
Sara Grochowski
Patricia GuyKatrina Niidas Holm
Marc Igler
Mary M. Jones
Michael M. Jones
Cheryl Klein
Kendra Korte
Patty MacDonald
Stephanie MadewellChloe Maveal
Peter McPherson
Sarah Mirk
Sally Morgan
Elizabeth Morse
Julie Naughton
Eric Norton
Nathalie op de BeeckBen Perry
Leonard Picker
Antonia Saxon
Nibedita Sen
Erin Talbert
Tonia Thompson
Kathy Weeks
Erica WetterWendy Werris
Monica Whitebread
Sarah YungOur Reviewers▲