1980s

Hot Desk

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Hot Desk by Laura Dickerman

This engaging dual timeline novel is set in the publishing world in New York City. Two young editors, Rebecca and Ben, work for rival publishers and reluctantly share a desk. They are both trying to meet with a literary legend’s widow for rights to publish a short story collection and one last novel. There are flashbacks to 1982. How is 1982 a historical time period already? Back then, Rebecca’s mom and her best friend Rose are interns at The East River Review, a journal published from the townhouse of the same literary legend, Edward David Adams, known as the Lion.

The book sections set in 1982 are chaotic, exhilarating, and full of secrets. Also, not very friendly for young women aspiring to be writers or editors. AIDS is not yet named, but definitely scary. 2022 is messy, but with situations such as hot desking, working remotely part-time, Zoom meetings where someone always needs prompting to unmute and large publishers buying smaller publishers. Rebecca helps her friend Stella run a dinner club with Rebecca’s charming grandmother, which is getting online buzz. Rebecca and Ben exchange cryptic heated texts, especially about a cactus on their shared desk that neither claims. An immersive read, this is an accomplished first novel.

Brenda

Atmosphere

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Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Read

It’s great when a popular new book lives up to the hype. Atmosphere is a thrilling ride, and a compulsive read. Joan Goodwin is an astronomer, a professor of physics and astronomy, when she applies to be a NASA astronaut at the beginning of the space shuttle program. She doesn’t get an interview the first time, but is selected for the second group of astronaut candidates, along with several other women. Her class of astronaut candidates includes pilot Hank, brilliant mission specialist Lydia, Griff, Donna, and Vanessa, an aeronautical engineer and pilot. Vanessa wants to fly a space shuttle, but only military pilots were eligible and, like almost all women pilots at the time, Vanessa was a commercial pilot.

A couple of the characters are inspired by NASA astronauts Sally Ride and Anna Fisher. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, kept her personal life very private until she died of cancer in 2012, then had her obituary include recognition of Tam Elizabeth O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years. Anna Fisher married another astronaut candidate, waited months to announce her pregnancy, went back to work the week after giving birth, and flew on space shuttle Discovery when her daughter was 15 months old. One female character in the book conceals a pregnancy, and another has a secret girlfriend, which could lose her the necessary security clearance to be assigned a shuttle mission.

The only really unlikable character in Atmosphere is Joan’s sister Barbara, who demands frequent backup from Joan to care for her daughter, Frances, and doesn’t come to her first launch. Fortunately, Frances and Joan are very close. Joan is challenged by motion sickness, but perseveres, goes into space, and later becomes a CapCom, communicating with astronauts from NASA’s Mission Control Center. As we learn at the beginning of the story, Joan is the CapCom when several members of her candidate class fly aboard the (fictional) shuttle Navigator, and all does not go well for their mission. Joan cares deeply about everyone on board, making the crisis even more challenging for her. Exciting and moving, this fast-paced thriller has a big heart. I’ve read Reid’s Malibu Rising, and appreciate how all of her novels are very distinct from each other.

Brenda

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern

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The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman

After her mother’s death, Augusta Stern’s Great Aunt Esther moves into the family apartment above their drugstore. Solomon Stern is the pharmacist, older sister Bess sells cosmetics, Irving Rivkin is the delivery boy, and Augusta is a cashier who learns about medicine and healing from her father and her aunt. Esther treats patients in the apartment with soup and herbs. The book title is a bit misleading, as neither Esther or Augusta makes a love elixir, although there is a bit of magical realism to Esther’s methods.

Set in Brooklyn in the early 1920s, and in south Florida in 1987, this is a heartfelt and enjoyable historical novel. It’s unusual in that the same main character is featured in both timelines. At almost 80, Augusta is still working as a hospital pharmacist, having altered her birthdate. She is finally ready to retire and her niece Jackie finds her an apartment at Rallentando Springs, a development for seniors, most of them Jewish, that includes a swimming pool and a book club. Augusta swims in the pool daily, and is stunned to meet Irving, who was her teenage sweetheart. She also encounters her late friend Evie’s handsome husband Nathaniel, who is not friendly with Irving. I appreciated that the seniors here are depicted as vibrant, active, and fairly healthy.

The author was inspired by the story of her husband’s great grandmother Goldie, a pharmacist, and by her father’s move to an assisted living residence in south Florida. Daily life in Prohibition era Brooklyn really comes to life and it was fun to read about the fashion trends of the 1980s. I found this book to be quite a good read, though her previous book, The Matchmaker’s Gift, is my favorite.

Brenda