unreliable narrators

a large tree trunk

The Witch Elm

By Tana French
Star Rating
★★★

Rated by Hilary S.
Aug 25, 2021

In this stand alone mystery, Toby Hennessey suffers a severe beating during a break in to his apartment. He provides care to his dying uncle while he recuperates from his injuries, reminiscing and reliving the best parts of his salad days. The first third of the book is taken up with getting to know more about Toby & his family relationships, mainly his two cousins, Susana and Leon, and his Uncle Hugo.  The discovery of a skull inside the ancient elm tree in Hugo's garden interrupts the idyllic setting and moments of the Ivy House. Toby's head injuries makes him an unreliable narrator, trying

Jamie & Aaron - Flume - London Theatre (Topeka) 9.17.2011

The Wives

By Tarryn Fisher

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Apr 29, 2020

The Wives should come with a warning. Settle in, silence your phone, and have some snacks handy. Because once you get into this story, you won't want to stop reading.

By all accounts, Thursday has a great life. A job she loves, a gorgeous apartment, and a loving, devoted husband. There's only one catch - she only sees her husband one day a week because she shares him with two other wives. Her husband is a polygamist, having been raised in an ultra conservative Mormon family. Thursday knew this when she married him, of course, but lately it seems to be bothering her more and more. None of the

Travel Writing

By Peter Ferry
Star Rating
★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Jun 22, 2016

I was immediately charmed by Ferry’s first chapter, which begins “Sometimes I try to show my students the power of the story by telling them one.” He then continues to do so, complete with Princess Bride-esque interruptions by his students.

One night while driving home, Ferry drives alongside and behind a woman who can’t quite keep her car on the road. Before he can decide what, if any, action he should take, she crashes and dies. Obsession ensues, as Ferry embarks on an amateur investigation into her death. He attends her funeral, tracks down her friends, and intercepts medical reports. Or

We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson


Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Aug 3, 2011

Is there a fiction genre called "cozy horror"? There should be: Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived In The Castle deserves a category of its own. On the surface it is a story about two sisters who live an idyllic, almost fairy-tale existence in their ancestral mansion with their senile, wheelchair-bound Uncle Julian. Constance Blackwood, the older sister, tends to the uncle and grows most of their food in her garden, while Merricat, her younger sister, makes trips on foot to the village for library books and groceries, spending the rest of her time wandering the woods and meadows that