Author: whatcathyreadnext

#EarthDay24 – Land Marks: A Novel by Maryann Lesert @shewritespress

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Today is Earth Day. First held in 1970 by Earthday.org it’s described as ‘the largest civic event on Earth, activating billions across 192 countries to safeguard our planet and fight for a brighter future’. It seems appropriate, therefore, to feature a novel which has environmental activism at its heart.

Land Marks by Maryann Lesert was published by She Writes Press on 16th April 2024. It’s described as ‘suspenseful, poignant, and galvanizing’ and ‘a tribute to the waterways that connect us, the land that sustains us, and the moments that inspire us to rise up together to say, “No more!”

About the Book

Book cover of Land Marks: A Novel by Maryann Lesert

Once you’ve experienced the devastation of fracking, nothing but stopping it makes sense. After a year of well site visits and protests, four college student activists become determined to protect the people and the places they love.

In the river-crossed northwoods of Michigan, Kate, Brett, Sonya, and Mark, mentored by their former professor Rebecca, keep watch as North American Energy (NorA) connects a corridor of frack well sites deep in the state forests. When NorA expands in unexpected directions and their awful, bigger plan becomes clear, the action begins.

As grassroots activists gather and prepare to stop NorA’s dangerous superfrac, stresses other than the fracturing of the bedrock appear. Sonya is arrested, Rebecca reveals her hidden past, and the one person who knows both women’s stories arrives in camp. Love and solidarity want to win, even if most showdowns with Big Oil don’t end well for those who take a stand.

Format: Paperback (288 pages) Publisher: She Writes Press
Publication date: 16th April 2024 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Find Land Marks on Goodreads

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About the Author

Author Maryann Lesert

Maryann Lesert writes about people and place in equal measure. Her first novel, Base Ten (Feminist Press, 2009) followed an astrophysicist’s quest for self among Lake Michigan’s forested dunes and the stars. Her current novel, Land Marks, is based on two years of boots-on-well-sites research on fracking in the state forests. Her plays have been published by New Issues (2008) and in Smith & Kraus’s Best Ten Minute series. Her articles have appeared in EcoWatch and In These Times, and she is a regular presenter on art and activism. Maryann lives in west Michigan, where she teaches creative writing and writes by the big lake. (Photo/bio: Goodreads author page)

Connect with Maryann
Website | Facebook

My Week in Books – 21st April 2024

whatcathyreadnext

My Week in Books

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Monday – I shared review of Sweetness in the Skin by Ishi Robinson, a coming-of-age story set in Jamaica. 

Tuesday – I went off-piste for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday with a list of Books I’ve Read That Have Won Literary Prizes.

Wednesday – As always WWW Wednesday is a weekly opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to take a peek at what others are reading. 

Thursday – I shared my Q&A with Gary Corbin about his latest crime novel, Under the Banner of Valor, which will be published on 7th May 2024. 

Friday – I published my review of historical novel, The Paris Peacemakers by Flora Johnston, as part of the blog tour.

Saturday – I shared my review of A Better Place by Stephen Daisley, one of the books on the longlist for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.

New arrivals

Verve Books tote bag with copies of The War Widow by Tara Moss and The Damages by Genevieve ScottTwo souvenirs from the Verve Books book bloggers event on 17th April.

The War Widow by Tara Moss (Verve Books)

WWII may be over, but journalist Billie Walker’s search for a missing young man will plunge her right back into the danger and drama she thought she’d left behind in Europe.

It’s 1946, and though war correspondent Billie Walker is happy to finally be back home in glamorous Sydney, for her the heady postwar days are tarnished by the loss of her father and the disappearance of her husband, Jack. To make matters worse, newspapers are now sidelining her reporting talents to prioritise jobs for returning soldiers.

Determined to take control of her future, she reopens her late father’s private investigation agency, and, slowly, the women of Sydney come knocking. At first, Billie’s work consists of tailing cheating husbands. But when a young man goes missing, Billie finds herself on a dangerous new trail that will lead her to the highest levels of Sydney society, and down into its underworld. As the risk mounts, Billie realises that there is much more than one man’s life at stake. Though the war was won, it is far from over. 

The Damages by Genevieve Scott (Verve Books)

What I remember best about that week in January is trying to keep track of all the lies I told…

1997. Ontario has been hit by a days-long, life-endangering ice storm, and on Regis University campus, with classes cancelled, the students are partying. In the midst of it all, eighteen-year-old Ros’s roommate Megan goes missing. As a panicked search ensues, Ros is blamed for not keeping a closer eye on Megan, and the incident casts a shadow over the next two decades of her life.

2020. Ros’s former partner, Lukas, the father of her eleven-year-old son, is accused of a sexual assault. The accusation brings new details of an old story to light, forcing Ros to revisit a dark moment from her past. Ros must take a hard look not only at the father of her child, but also at her own mistakes, her own trauma, and at the supposedly liberal period she grew up in.

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Spotlight: Land Marks by Maryann Lesert
  • Book Review: James by Percival Everett
  • Book Review: Mania by Lionel Shriver