The Radiant Dark by Alexandra Oliva. New York: SJP LIT, 2026. 416 pages. ****
Oliva has written a multigenerational novel starting in 1980 and ending in 2138. Carol and her husband have had their first child and her life as a new mother is a lonely one. Life is somewhat predictable until "something flashes in the sky." What was that? Her husband and others get caught up in far-fetched explanations and conspiracy theories. The flickering eventually is determined to be communication from life on exoplanet, Ross128. Those other beings are 11 light years away in their communication and some humans fear what they don't understand.
Well-written with an interesting premise, a message from another planet that takes 11 light years to get here - should we answer, ignore, or create a way to defend ourselves. If we respond, what should we say and who gets to decide the message? Motherhood is never an easy path, lacking clear direction, support, and understanding. Carol and her scientific daughter do not speak the same language, and Carol eventually finds the love and acceptance she seeks with her new husband and the light teachings of Hector Thomas. One of my favorite quotes from the book is "Every trial is an opportunity to grow. If you cannot see the light in a situation, try to feel it. Feel for the warmth. And if you cannot feel it, then perhaps it's your turn to provide it."
Following Carol and her family through the years, we are reminded how we are different and alike. Not my usual genre (speculative fiction), I did enjoy it and read it in two days. Sympathetic to Carol's struggle with her dysfunctional family and at the same time, it was easy to be critical from a distance. More multigenerational than science fiction, however, the story has broad appeal. What if there is life out there watching us from afar? Some people can't agree as to whether we landed on the moon and tensions run high around that discussion. This is a novel that will make you think and question what would you do?
From Amazon
Alexandra Oliva was born and raised in the mountains of upstate New York and is the author of The Radiant Dark, Forget Me Not, and The Last One. A first-generation college graduate, she earned a BA in history from Yale University and an MFA in creative writing from The New School. She currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family.
For more information: https://www.alexandraoliva.com
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In this crazy world on the news every night, I became obsessed with the Monks walking for Peace from Texas to DC. https://dhammacetiya.com/walk-for-peace/.
My Quilt Guild is having a Quilt Show and has asked for Mini Raffle Quilts to auction so I decided to combine my fascination with creating a mini that others' may like to purchase tickets to win.
Cherrywood jumped on the bandwagon and offered a fat quarter bundle in the color way of the monk's garments.
The colors are gorgeous!
I decided to face it instead of a binding. Not a pretty back, however, I like the look for the front of the wall hanging.
Tickets for raffle quilts will be available at the Brandywine Valley Quilters Show- May 29 - 31, 2026
UPDATED - Hanging in the Show, don't know who the winner was - I hope it was you!
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Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng. New York:Penguin Press, 2022. 335 pages. *****
Chosen as the One Book, One Philadelphia for 2026!
https://www.phillyvoice.com/one-book-one-philadelphia-2026-our-missing-hearts/
https://billypenn.com/2026/02/26/one-book-one-philly-2026-celeste-ng-our-missing-hearts/
Published in 2022, Ng's story bears a striking resemblance to what's happening today. Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives with his father, a former Linguist who now shelves books in a university library. His father's job provides housing, so he and Bird live in a university dormitory. Bird misses his mother and questions where she is and knows better than to ask anyone, his father has cautioned him about drawing attention to himself. Living under The Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act (PACT) PACT keeps American citizens safe from foreign influences and allows children to be removed from parents who are unfit or unpatriotic. Bird's mother leaves them to protect them from government interference since she is a poet of Asian descent who participates in the resistance and is considered a traitor. Bird is determined to find her after trying to connect through books she read him and by reading her poetry. He's not surprised but disappointed when visiting the library, he discovers that her books have been removed. Bird begins his journey by following the clues he thinks his mother has left him like breadcrumbs to lead the way.
Ng has a style of writing that engages and empowers the reader. The author drew inspiration from real life events and things that she thought might become reality. That in and of itself is chilling, the events that Bird's family experiences are happening today and her insight into the fear felt by the parents and the children who are removed and sometimes never to be found again. Some of the reviews are critical and it is an uncomfortable book to read. A reminder of Fred Rogers’ famous quote about finding hope during difficult times is: "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping'". This is a novel of hope and love even when society seems judgmental and hopeless. This is a thought-provoking novel and a great discussion one for Book Clubs. I will be thinking about it and recommending it for a long time, no surprise as to why Philadelphia chose it for 2026.
Celeste Ng is an American writer and novelist. Celeste grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Shaker Heights, Ohio. She graduated from Harvard University and earned an MFA from the University of Michigan (now the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan). Her fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, and many other publications, and she is a recipient of the Pushcart Prize, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among other honors. For more information - https://www.celesteng.com
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We Burned So Bright by T.J. Klune. Tor Books, 2026. 176 pages. *****
How would you react if you knew the end of the world is coming? A black hole is coming for Earth and in a month everything and everyone they’ve ever known will be gone. Don and Rodney, an older gay couple, are on a mission before they run out of time. They buy a used RV and travel the back roads from Maine to Washington State to take care of some unfinished business before it’s all over. Why did they wait so long?
On their travels, they meet people who are dealing with the news in their own way - celebrating life, ending lives so their loved ones won't suffer, waiting in place, making new friends, acceptance, and hitting the road to beat death.
Once started, you will want to finish it in one sitting. Klune captures the contradiction in life - worrying about the future while enjoying the present. The description of what happens when weightlessness begins and they feel lighter; aches and pains disappear is golden. He balances the uncertainty of the end with love and friendship. A great discussion book, perfect for Book Clubs that are open to new ideas and possibilities.
TJ KLUNE is the #1 New York Times and #1 USA Today bestselling, Lambda Literary Award–winning author of The House in the Cerulean Sea, Under the Whispering Door, In the Lives of Puppets, the Green Creek Series for adults, the Extraordinaries Series for teens, and more. Being queer himself, Klune believes it's important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive queer representation in stories.
For more info, click here.
Additional books by Klune:
I received an ARC to review.
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An Ordinary Sort of Evil: A Rip Through Time Novel (Rip Through Time Novels Book 5) by Kelley Armstrong. Minotaur Books, 320 pages. 2026. ****
From Amazon - "Late one night, Gray and Mallory are summoned urgently to the home of Lady Adler, a patron of Gray’s undertaking business, and they assume there's been a death in the household. But instead, they arrive in the midst of a seance with a ghost demanding Gray's presence. The ghost is Lady Adler's former maid, who had gone missing but now requests that Gray investigate her murder. Although Gray and Mallory are skeptical, they agree to look into the matter, whether she's dead or alive. But unsure if there's been a murder or not, unable to call out the medium as a fraud, and concerned for the fate of the young maid, Gray and Mallory are once again drawn into a mystery much more puzzling--and more dangerous--than it first seems."
I love this series-- mystery, time travel, romance, ghosts, it has it all! Armstrong is a master at setting the scene, Victorian Scotland. Seances and summoning the dead was popular during that time and skepticism was rampant as to how mediums were able to do so. Mallory and Gray are becoming close and how they are going to manage a romance across time remains to be seen. I am fascinated by the norms of society and the research her novels require. Thoroughly enjoyable, I look forward to the next one!
From her website - Kelley Armstrong believes experience is the best teacher, though she’s been told this shouldn’t apply to writing her murder scenes. To craft her books, she has studied aikido, archery and fencing. She sucks at all of them. She has also crawled through very shallow cave systems and climbed half a mountain before chickening out. She is however an expert coffee drinker and a true connoisseur of chocolate-chip cookies. For more info, click here.
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