Canada

A unusual correspondence format gave the narrative of This Is How You Lose the Time War energy. Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone co-authored this novel, which was a little more romantic than the science-fiction I usually read. It was published by Jo Fletcher Books in 2019.

I had considered a French-Canadian novel but ultimately I wanted a break from very serious literature around state control, immigration and dispossession, themes that I seem to be reading a lot in 2022. I'm not sure this was as much of a departure as I imagined it would be, as control and war were central to the novel. The clue was in the title really.

While I enjoyed it I think I would have preferred an enduring friendship, a window into how you maintain communication with people who you hold common ground with in difficult times without the momentum of an affair. This riffed more on tormented Shakespearean love and if you enjoy that, this story is more yours than mine.