Mudbound
by Hillary Jordan.

Jordan won the 2006 Bellwether Prize for Mudbound, her first novel. The prize was founded by Barbara Kingsolver to reward books of conscience, social responsibility, and literary merit. In addition to meeting all of the above qualifications, Jordan has written a story filled with characters as real and compelling as anyone we know.

It is 1946 in the Mississippi Delta, where Memphis-bred Laura McAllan is struggling to adjust to farm life, rear her daughters with a modicum of manners and gentility, and be the wife her land-loving husband, Henry, wants her to be. It is an uphill battle every day. Things started badly when Henry's trusting nature resulted in the family being done out of a nice house in town, thus relegating them to a shack on their property. In addition, Henry's father, Pappy, a sour, mean-spirited devil of a man, moves in with them.

The real heart of the story, however, is the friendship between Jamie, Henry's too-charming brother, and Ronsel Jackson, son of sharecroppers who live on the McAllan farm. They have both returned from the war changed men: Jamie has developed a deep love for alcohol and has recurring nightmares; Ronsel, after fighting valiantly for his country and being seen as a man by the world outside the South, is now back to being just another black "boy."

Told in alternating chapters by Laura, Henry, Jamie, Ronsel, and his parents, Florence and Hap, the story unfolds with a chilling inevitability. Jordan's writing and perfect control of the material lift it from being another "ain't-it-awful" tale to a heart-rending story of deep, mindless prejudice and cruelty. This eminently readable and enjoyable story is a worthy recipient of Kingsolver's prize and others as well.

The Reserve
by Russell Banks

Nothing is too daunting to be explored by Russell Banks, whether it is the Abolitionist John Brown in "Cloudsplitter" or the tale of two families' intersection, one from Haiti and one from New Hampshire, in "Continental Drift;" or the four narrators in "The Sweet Hereafter," the poignant story of the aftermath of a school bus accident. In "The Reserve," Banks has taken on madness, class privilege, a famous artist/illustrator loosely based on Rockwell Kent; Hubert St. Germain, an Adirondack guide; the final flight of the Hindenburg, Spanish Fascists and a dark family secret. From these disparate elements he has woven a story that absolutely will not let you go.

The Reserve is an Adirondack redoubt owned and occupied by the affluent and influential; hoi polloi need not apply. Vanessa Cole, beautiful and arrogant, twice married and divorced socialite and adopted daughter of the doctor who perfected the lobotomy, is a calculating seductress, manipulative, spoiled and certifiable. She and her mother and father are at Ridgeview, their piece of The Reserve, on a fateful fourth of July evening when Vanessa meets Jordan Groves, the artist who has just done a Howard Hughes imitation and landed on the lake in his seaplane, which is against all the Rules. He is handsome, dashing, a womanizer - all of these can be forgiven, but he is also, heaven forfend, a Liberal, perhaps even a Communist! That meeting, and her father's death from a heart attack the same night set in train a series of events out of which Banks creates a mesmerizing story of people who have acted without consequences all of their lives suddenly facing responsibility for their actions.

The agent of their comeuppance is Hubert St. Germain, the plain man with the fancy name. He is way over his head when he becomes complicit with Jordan and Vanessa in covering up the accidental death of Vanessa's mother. What precedes her death is no accident, however. His attack of conscience changes the status quo forever. The characters Banks has created are rich, deep and multi-dimensional; their motivations absolutely believable given the context of their lives. The Hindenburg and the Spanish Fascists? That would be telling. This novel is Banks at his best, which is very good indeed.

A Fraction of The Whole
by Steve Toltz

Hold on tight because you are about to ride a juggernaut of words, where things will go by very quickly and you better pay attention. Martin Dean and his son, Jasper, are together in this picaresque adventure, ranging from Australia to Paris to Thailand. "Together" might be putting a too happy face on it. They really don't like each other much, even though they are the mirror image of one another in most respects. Jasper's origins and upbringing are unconventional at best.

Steve Toltz's startling debut novel is a non-stop, politically incorrect diatribe about - for and against - religion, politics, relationships, sex, marriage, work, play, children, sleep, friends, art, labyrinths, schemes and dreams. Jasper, in his twenties and in jail, starts the story by trying to set down his life with his certifiably paranoid father, Martin. He defers to Martin in the telling, so nothing is left out. While Jasper is a teenager, Martin manages a strip club, working for the enigmatic Eddie, enters a mental hospital and finally dupes the doctors into believing that he is sane; develops a scheme which will make everyone in Australia a millionaire, runs for office - and wins.

Two recurring themes are Martin's rebellion against living in the shadow of his deceased master criminal brother, Terry, and the ongoing love triangle among Terry, Martin and Caroline Potts. If people would just stop asking him about his brother, he would be able to get on with his own life. Maybe. If there were another woman in the world he could love besides Caroline...who knows what might have happened?

The real pleasure in reading this book is the pace and the language. While there is a narrative thread, what Toltz has done masterfully is have his way with every aspect of modern life. He racks 'em up and knocks 'em down with a laser wit, a fine turn of phrase and a devastatingly funny outlook on everything human.

The House on Fortune Street
by Margot Livesey

In four ingeniously linked stories, Margot Livesey has created a literary “Rashomon,” where events are seen in retrospect, from different points of view. Added to the multiple persectives, Livesey pays subtle and clever homage to literary figures as well.

Dara McLeod is the centerpiece of the novel, along with her friend, Abigail, who inherits the house where both girls live for a time. They met at University and, despite their vast differences, struck up a lasting friendship, of sorts. Dara is now a therapist, with small capacity for realistic judgment or self-reflection; Abigail, an actress who takes what she wants and never looks back.

In the first segment, Sean Wyman, Abigail’s boyfriend, is an earnest student of Keats who has fallen under Abigail’s spell, leaving his wife, stuck in his work, and finally, the recipient of a disturbing letter which changes his life with Abigail. In the second section, Dara’s childhood is explored. Her father has a smarmy but no-touching attraction to little girls,`a la Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll). He takes an inappropriate picture of one of Dara’s friends and is banished from his family when his wife sees it. Dara meets a violinist, Edward, in part three, falls madly in love with him, ignoring the fact that he is still living with his ex girlfriend and that they have a child together. Faint echoes of Jane Eyre here. In fairness to Dara, Edward does keep insisting that he will leave his current arrangement when…, and Dara believes him. The last part, told by Abigail, is filled with references to Great Expectations.

We know Dara’s endgame at the conclusion of part one, and by the end of the novel, everything fits. Subtle and/or startling revelations are made, couched in Livesey’s clever use of stories written long ago, interlaced with the contemporary lives of Dara, Abigail, Sean and Edward. It all comes together once we know what depths of self-deception, disloyalty and disregard for the feelings of others this quartet is capable of. Four people, four stories, adding up to one pithy and elegantly written novel.