Blog Entries

Our story begins with Dr. Barry Laverty sitting on a train headed to Ballybucklebo, an Irish village populated with an interesting and quirky cast of characters. It is in this town that he will begin his medical career, working with Dr. Fingal O’Reilly as a general practitioner. Having the story set in the 1960s affords the reader a relatability with its references to the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and other very recognizable people and events. Each interaction with a new patient propels the story along, bringing the reader on a journey through this quaint town and its inhabitants.

Korede is the responsible sister, everything her sister Ayoola is not. Korede is practical, methodical, sensible, practical, and plain, while Ayoola is flighty and charming to everyone she meets. She also has the unfortunate habit of killing off her boyfriends, leaving Korede to help conceal her crimes and literally clean up the mess.

Enigmatic young genius Hideo Tanaka changes the world when he invents Warcross, a virtual reality gaming system used by millions of people worldwide. Emika is a tech-savvy hacker/bounty hunter in a near-future New York, trying to make rent money, when she hacks her way into a high-profile international virtual reality sporting event. Her prowess attracts Hideo’s attention, and he makes her a job offer. Someone nicknamed Zero has been disrupting Warcross code and Emika is hired to go undercover as a player in the Warcross tournament to identify the culprit.

Lori's life is a disappointment. Her college degree is useless, her job experience is laughable, her social life is in shambles, and her finances are nonexistent. She is burned out and jaded, nothing at all like "Aunt Dimity," the unflappable, ever-optimistic, fictional heroine of her late mother's bedtime stories.

A Place for Us is a deeply emotional novel told through the different viewpoints and perceptions of an Indian-American family. Author Fatima Mirza takes us through the struggles and personal turmoil that parents Rafiq and Layla endure as they search for ways to make their children's lives happy but still wholesome in their Muslim faith. As they look back on their lives, they find themselves coping with the decisions they had to make to keep their youngest and only boy, Amar, on the same religious path that they themselves have been on.