And then, of course, when Melina Marchetta releases a new novel.
Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil is out today!
Literally nothing beats a new Marchetta novel in terms of bookish excitement. And for those of you in our Boozy Book Club who are relatively new, this might even be YOUR FIRST Marchetta experience, so I’m going to give you a few ideas on how to handle what you are about to have happen to you.
You will experience something new
Melina Marchetta writes young adult fiction. She writes fantasy novels. She writes what’s probably considered new adult. And now she’s written an adult thriller. Sounds like the same old stuff you are used to reading, right? The thing is, nothing you’ve read in those genres is like what Melina Marchetta does with them. She’s a genre all to herself.
You will live with these characters for years
Marchetta has the uncanny ability to make her characters a part of your soul. They invade and take up space under your ribcage and nothing you can do will dislodge them. You won’t want them to leave you anyway, but you will find them indelible.
You will not get what you are expecting
Read the summary all you want, but this novel will not be what you think it’s going to be. In fact, you could probably read the first 100 pages and it will still surprise you in ways you never encountered before. She does that. She flips the script every time on what you think you are reading and what she actually puts on the page.
You will not be the same after
There’s a good theory out there that says all reading is transformative. And if we are talking about in the moment reading, yes. Your brain is elsewhere from your present reality. But Marchetta’s books do something else entirely. They change you long after reading. Change how you relate to your family, the way you love, your worldview.
You will cry
… duh. It’s Marchetta.
Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil is out today and it’s our main Boozy Book Club pick for October, so get to reading!
Bashir “Bish” Ortley is a London desk cop. Almost over it. Still not dealing with the death of his son years ago, as well as the break-up of his marriage.
Across the channel, a summer bus tour, carrying a group of English teenagers is subject to a deadly bomb attack, killing four of the passengers and injuring a handful of others. Bish’s daughter is one of those on board.
The suspect is 17 year old Violette LeBrac whose grandfather was responsible for a bombing that claimed the lives of dozens of people fourteen years ago; and whose mother, Noor, has been serving a life sentence for the part she was supposed to have played in the attack.
As Bish is dragged into the search for the missing Violette, he finds himself reluctantly working with Noor LeBrac and her younger brother, Jimmy Sarraf.
And the more he delves into the lives of the family he helped put away, the more Bish realizes that they may have got it wrong all those years ago, and that truth wears many colours. Especially when it comes to the teenagers on board the recent bus bombing. Including his daughter.
Tell the truth. Shame the devil. Bish can’t get Violette LeBrac’s words out of his head. But what he may get is some sort of peace with his own past as the worlds of those involved in two bombings, years apart, collide into the journey of his life.
Our Book Club chat will be Tuesday, November 1st at 10pm EST LIVE on YouTube, so mark your calendars and join us. If you haven’t read any of Melina Marchetta’s books yet, read this little primer about why I love them so much. Then get to reading! Jonah and Narnie and Will Trombal and Jimmy Hailer and Finnikin and Taylor and Isaboe and Quintana are waiting to meet you.
