This month’s book picks by our Tomato reviewers explore themes of self-discovery, resilience, and navigating life’s complexities. Phyllis Haynes’ “How to Dance in the Chaos” inspires personal growth through reflective essays and poems. Miranda July’s “All Fours” is a daring and irreverent exploration of midlife turmoil, sexuality, and self-acceptance. Patti Callahan Henry’s “The Story She Left Behind” is a captivating novel weaving mystery, family, and legacy, as a woman uncovers the truth about her mother’s disappearance and confronts the past. Together, these books invite readers to reflect on identity, relationships, and the courage it takes to embrace change.

Impactful Essays and Thought-Provoking Questions

“How to Dance in the Chaos” by Phyllis Haynes is a thought-provoking collection of essays, stories, and poems that guide readers through self-discovery amidst a rapidly changing world. Drawing from her extensive career as a journalist and talk show host, Haynes shares insights on overcoming personal challenges by achieving alignment with oneself. The book emphasizes the importance of self-knowledge and recognizing our finest human qualities, especially in the face of technological and societal shifts2.

Readers have praised the book for its impactful essays and thought-provoking questions, which encourage reflection without offering overly simplified conclusions. The content is described as both insightful and accessible, making it a valuable resource for navigating life’s complexities. GET THE BOOK.

Read an excerpt.

~Cheryl Benton, The Three Tomatoes

A Novel You Will Love or Hate

All Fours, Miranda July’s second novel, kept popping up on the best books lists and I had to wait several months to borrow it from the library. The title alone had me curious, and rightfully so – it is what the narrator’s best friend, a sculptor, calls “the most stable position. Like a table.” And this is a tip off to the amount of graphic sex in the book.

The narrator is a semi-famous multi-talented woman in her mid-40s living in L.A. with her husband and young son. When she needs to be in New York for work, she decides on a solo road trip as a quest for freedom. Thirty minutes after leaving home, however, she pulls over in the suburb of Monrovia, where she meets a man named Davey who cleans her windows at a gas station. Inexplicably drawn to him, she takes a room in a nondescript hotel. This is when things get weird.

Our anonymous narrator is financing her trip with a windfall of $20,000 from a whiskey company that unexpectedly licenses one of her saucy sentences. Instead of driving cross-country, she blows it on re-doing Room 321 in lavish and idiosyncratic style, then begins an obsessive romance with Davey, who happens to be the decorator’s husband and who intends to remain true to her (in his own fashion).

After several weeks of unconsummated’ sex with Davey, however, she can no longer pretend to be traveling and must go home to figure out how to live the rest of her life that she – that any woman in midlife – has no map for. Left with a super-charged libido, she sublimates her desire for Davey into multiple other sexual relationships, roving across genders and generations. She thrives on pushing boundaries and exploring her limitless sexuality.

In All Fours, you come to understand that the main character’s real journey will not be on Route 66, but on the path to self-acceptance. July has captured the turmoil, discovery, and eventual freedom associated with midlife and menopause. She delivers it with a sense of the absurd and a tone of irreverence. You will either love it or hate it. GET THE BOOK.

~Joan Pagano, NYC, founder, Joan Pagano Fitness

A Captivating Novel of Mystery And Family

The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry, is inspired by the life of Barbara Newhall Follett, who wrote her novel, The House Without Windows at the age of twelve and disappeared without a trace.  I did not know anything about Newhall Follett or her book.  I was happy to learn about Newhall Follet and her story, as I am sure others will be too.

The story begins in 1927 when eight-year-old, Clara Harrington is devasted when she learns her mother has disappeared off the coast of South Carolina.  Her mother is a well-known author by the name of Browyn Newcastle Fordham.  Fordham had written a book in an invented languages the became a national sensation when she was twelve years old.  Clara and her father are heartbroken over the disappearance of her mother.  The hope of ever translating the sequel of her important piece of work feels impossible now.

Clara has become an illustrator by 1952 and is raising her daughter, Wynnie.  She is contacted by a stranger, Charlie Jameson from London telling her he has found a handwritten dictionary of her mother’s lost language.  Clara is skeptical about this claim by Jameson.  She does decide to travel to London, taking along her daughter with her.  They arrive during one of London’s most deadly natural disasters – the Great Smog.  With asthmatic, Wynnie in danger, they leave the city with Charlie Jameson.  They set out for his family’s home in the Lake District.  It is at Charlie’s family home that Clara must sum of the courage to find out the truth about her mother and the story she left behind.

Henry’s story is a captivating novel of mystery and family.  This book has it all-love, loss, legacy, family abandonment, found family and forgiveness.  This is a beautifully written book. The descriptions of the people and places will make you feel as if you were right there with them.  I loved this book, and it is a five-star read.  I can’t recommend this book enough. GET THE BOOK.

~Francene Katzen, Richmond, Viriginia, an advocate for parents with children with drug addictions