“Her Fearful Symmetry,” Audrey Niffenegger
This novel is Niffenegger’s second; you probably know her more for her first novel, “The Time Traveler’s Wife”. “Her Fearful Symmetry” is just as brilliant as her first, following the lives of two sets of twins, the mother(s) and the daughters. When the twins’ aunt dies (their mother’s twin sister), they find out that their aunt has left them her London apartment but forbidden her sister (their mother) to enter. They go to live in London and begin to unravel the messy past that that their aunt and mother have left to them. Intertwining history and the spiritual, “Her Fearful Symmetry” is kind of spooky, but not spooky enough to leave you feeling like you’ve seen a ghost.
“Jazz,” Toni Morrison
“Jazz” by Toni Morrison is actually the second historical novel in a set of three, which also includes “Beloved” and “Paradise”. I unknowingly read “Beloved” last year, and although the characters are not interlinked between the novels, the time periods follow each other so it does make sense to read them this way. Set in New York City in the 1920s, the book follows the story of Violet, who is coping with her husband’s infidelity and sequential murder of his lover. Taking us back to slavery and then to present-day racism, “Jazz” offers an intimate view into not only the struggles, but also the passion and love of African Americans.