Readers and Writers: New Minnesota fiction and nonfiction for your summer reading

Jun. 13—We all want to be outside having fun in summer, unless there's a heat wave, but there's still plenty of quiet time for reading. Here's a look at new Minnesota fiction and nonfiction that will be a perfect complement to an adult beverage of your choice. We'll start with three authors who will read this week.

"Lizzie & Dante" by Mary Bly (Dial Press, $27)

Falling in love with an Italian chef who loves you. Lots of sweet love-making. A 12-year-old who wants a mother desperately. Talk of Shakespeare, James Wright and Romeo and Juliet. A group of people who create a family. Also food and wine and the heat of the Italian sun.

All of this comes together in Mary Bly's tender/delightful "Lizze & Dante."

It's not surprising this is a thinking person's romance, since Bly writes Regency romances as Eloisa James. So she had a built-in following of readers eager for her first novel published under her own name. Bly has some 6 million books and e-books in print in 28 languages. Twenty-four were bestsellers. In her professional life she's a Shakespeare scholar and professor at Fordham University in New York.

If Bly's name sounds familiar it's because she's the daughter of Robert Bly, internationally known poet and translator, and the late writer and ethicist Carol Bly. Mary grew up on the family farm in Madison, Minn., where poets and writers visited all the time.

The story is set on Elba, the island off the Italian coast where Napoleon was imprisoned. It is one of the author's favorite places.

Lizzie Delford has been invited to spend time on the island with her best friend Grey, with whom she grew up in foster care, and his lover Rohan, an actor obsessed with making a different sort of film out of "Romeo and Juliet." Lizzie is a Shakespeare professor and she is supposed to be Rohan's consultant. Also in the cast is Rohan's old friend Ruby, a makeup artist who doesn't take life very seriously.

What nobody except Grey knows is that Lizzie has stage-three cancer and is going to refuse an operation that is her last hope for recovery. She's given everything away in anticipation of death, right down to the soap under the kitchen sink. She's also sworn off sex and singing, even though she has a beautiful voice.

One day a scruffy dog leaps onto Lizzie's beach chair, followed by a teenager named Etta. Then Lizzie meets Dante, Etta's father, who owns a restaurant on the island that is popular with the rich, beautiful people who arrive on big yachts. Dante's everything every woman wants in a man: kind, considerate, terrific in bed, and soon madly in love with Lizzie. He is so in love he breaks one of his rules — no substitutions on the menu at his restaurant. For Lizzie he makes hamburgers and fries.

And then there's Etta, who's been around the yacht people her whole life. She's desperate for a mother and can't wait for Lizzie and her father to get together permanently. Lizzie loves them both, but is it fair to keep her secret from them? Would it be better for all of them to have a few carefree months together or should she reveal her cancer and put these people she loves through the messy final months of her life?

A big hunk of one chapter centers on Joseph, an old poet who sometimes lives on his nephew's yacht. Joseph's reading a poet named James Wright and Lizzie thinks she remembers something about the guy. Joseph brings up Wright's poem "Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm." This is straight out of Mary Bly's life. When Wright was teaching at the University of Minnesota he spent weekends at the Bly farm, where he wrote one of his most famous poems.

In a YouTube video about the book, Bly says it's important to her to look at how Italians think about life — food, wine, living, loving. "I was raised by two workaholics" she says of her childhood, so different from the laid-back Italian way of life. She and her Italian husband, Alessandro Vettori, have two children and live in New York. But they spend a lot of time in Italy.

Bly was able to write about the hard parts of cancer because she was turning 50 when she was diagnosed, just a couple of weeks after her mother died. She and her husband sold their house and cars and took the kids out of school to spend a year in Paris. That inspired her book "Paris in Love."

Bly will virtually discuss 'Lizzie & Dante" at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 17, presented by Magers & Quinn. She will be in conversation with Karen White, bestselling author of more than 25 novels, including "The Night the Lights Went Out." Free. Live-streamed on the store's Facebook page and YouTube channel.

"Lemons in the Garden of Love" by Ames Sheldon (She Writes Press, $16)

As the Supreme Court moves closer to taking on cases challenging Roe v. Wade, Ames Sheldon looks at the hard-fought battles to provide safe abortion and contraception to women at the turn of the 20th century.

In the book, Cassie Lyman is seeking a topic for her doctoral dissertation in women's history at the University of Minnesota when she finds a trove of diaries and letters left behind by fictional Kate Easton, founder of the Birth Control League of Massachusetts in 1916. The novel was inspired by the author's great-grandaunt, Blanche Ames Ames.

Sheldon found many letters to and from Blanche in the Ames Collection at Smith College. "Attracting supporters to the Birth Control League of Massachusetts proved to be an uphill battle," Sheldon wrote in an interview that came with critics' copy of the book. But the league gained new life in 1928 when Dr. Antoinette Konikow was arrested for exhibiting contraceptive devices.

Blanche was a remarkable woman — a portrait artist, leader in the field of botanical illustration and developer of color theory and color charts. She was also an inventor who tried to invent new hair curlers. Her husband, Oakes Ames, was renamed Del for the novel and much of the narrative is driven by letters between husband and wife.

Ames Sheldon grew up in Minnesota. She was a newspaper reporter, office manager, grant writer and development officer for a variety of nonprofits, including Minnesota Historical Society and the Minneapolis Public Library. She will host a virtual conversation about historical fiction at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 16, with Mary Logue, award-winning author of murder mysteries including "The Streel." Presented by SubText Books. Go to: subtextbooks.com/events.

"Wolf Kill" by Cary J. Griffith (Adventure Publications, $16.95)

This involving, fast-paced mystery with a wolf-loving protagonist seemed familiar to me as I raced through to its a satisfying conclusion. Turns out I was right. "Wolf Kill" is a re-edit (by Mary Logue) of Griffith's 2013 thriller "Wolves," which introduced Sam Rivers, field agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver. That first edition was a Minnesota Book Award finalist.

Sam hasn't returned to his hometown of Defiance, located just south of the Canadian border, in 20 years. He left home with broken ribs and a black eye after his abusive father tried to kill him. Now the old man has committed suicide, and Sam has some loose ends to tie up, including money his kind mother helped him hide in her house. The old man, a lawyer, has been the subject of investigations into his business dealings, including bilking old ladies, and his considerable wealth goes to his unsavory friends who own a cabin far out in the wilderness.

Wolves are deep in Sam's family history. After his great-grandfather was killed by a wolf, his grandfather and father killed more than 400 animals in revenge, wiping out packs for miles around.

Sam is asked by the local sheriff, who has his own secret, to investigate a wolf kill of calves on property owned by one of his father's friends. Sam, who has always had an affinity for and understanding of wolves, has never seen this kind of kill and it arouses his suspicions about where the animals came from. Wolves killing livestock is a touchy subject among farmers in the country and Sam and the sheriff want to keep this incident quiet.

Sam is a nice guy and the secondary characters are fully realized, including a woman newspaper reporter who was his mother's best friend. And the bad guys are really hateful. The author, who also wrote "Gunflint Burning: Fire in the Boundary Waters," sets his story in the deepest part of winter on the Iron Range, and his writing is so vivid the reader wants to bundle up and enjoy the beauty of the landscape, even at 20 below zero.

Griffith will virtually launch his thriller at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 16, via Zoom, presented by Next Chapter Booksellers. To register go to: nextchapterbooksellers.com.

Here are more books to keep you company this summer

"The Bombay Prince" by Sujata Massey — Perveen Mistry, the only woman lawyer in Bombay in 1921, walks into a deathscene when the body of an 18-year-old college student is found in a garden. What happened to her isn't known because everyone was in viewing stands waiting to see Edward, Prince of Wales, pass by during his tour of India. (The prince would later give up the throne to marry American Wallis Simpson.)

The dead woman had consulted Perveen a few days earlier, asking about whether she should participate in activities of a group demanding independence from Britain. Perveen feels some responsibility and she signs on as the family's lawyer. In this police procedural, Perveen and the victim are also suspect because they are Parsis, the Zoroastrian religious minority that is viewed as too close to the British by the independence fighters.

Perveen sees many clues that convince her the young woman's death was not an accident and there are lots of suspects, including several college faculty members and fellow students.

Based on a real woman, Perveen is an interesting character because she has to walk a tightrope professionally and personally. When she's representing her clients at the inquest she has to be sure she stands up for them but does not alienate the judge and male lawyers. Privately, she was an abused wife who was allowed to separate from her husband but cannot remarry. Neither wife nor widow, she tries not to be attracted to Colin, a government employee she worked with in her second adventure "The Satapur Moonstone."

Massey, who grew up in St. Paul and lives in Baltimore, Md., won five awards for this series 2018 debut, "The Widows of Malabar Hill," including Mystery Writers of America Mary Higgins Clark award.

"The Secrets of Us" by Lucinda Berry — Foster sisters Krystal and Nichole have always been there for each other, so when Nichole is committed to a psychiatric hospital after trying to kill her husband, Krystal drops everything to defend her. Krystal starts asking questions, and her investigation leads to the sisters' dark shared past, a tragedy and a well-guarded lie. The author, a Hamline University alum, has a doctorate in clinical psychology specializing in trauma and children. She is assistant Director of Evidence-based Practice at UCLA's National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.

"Shoulder Season" by Christina Clancy — In the summer of 1961, 19-year-old Sherri Taylor, newly orphaned, takes a job at the Playboy resort in Lake Geneva, Wis., where she gets an education in the joys of sisterhood, the thrill of financial independence, the magic of first love and the highs and lows of life on the edge. But she ends up in a romantic triangle and a tragedy that haunts her for the next 40 years. The author lives in Madison, Wis.

"The Sower" by Rob Jung — Private detective Ronni Brilliant, a transgender former Marine MP, struggles with the prospect that her client, Hamilton Blethen, may be the killer in a cold-case murder. Blethen, charged with selling a forgery of The Reaper, a famous painting by a Spanish artist, fires Brilliant, adding to her suspicions.. Ronni searches for Blethen's estranged mother and her search ends at a Boston media magnate who is in a crazed quest for political power.

SPORTS/OUTDOORS/ENVIRONMENT

"Bald Eagles: The Ultimate Raptors" written and photographed by Stan Tekiela — Naturalist, wildlife photographer and writer Tekiela, who has written more than 175 field guides, portrays these amazing raptors in his new coffeetable book, with lots of photos and text drawn from detailed research and personal observations that provide information about every aspect of the birds' lives.

"Loon Lessons: Uncommon Encounters With the Great Northern Diver" by James D. Paruk — The nature of the common loon, from biology to behavior, from one of the world's foremost observers of the waterbird beloved by Minnesotans.

"The Pride of Minnesota: The Twins in the Turbulent 1960s" by Thom Henninger — After an uneven 1964 season, the Twins set themselves up for a turnaround that would last the rest of the decade. In 1969, manager Billy Martin, Rod Carew and Harmon Killebrew led the Twins to the American League Championship.

"Ron Schara's Minnesota: Mostly True Tales of Life Outdoors" — Schara wrote for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and shared his adventures on the popular "Minnesota Bound" TV show accompanied by his black lab, Raven. In this collection he offers wisdom from the tree stand and shares the memorable achievements of other outdoorsmen and women. He even waxes poetic in My Fishy Poem.

"Skiing into the Bright Open: My Solo Journey to the South Pole" by Liv Arnesen, translated by Roland Huntford, foreword by Ann Bancroft — Norwegian's memoir of being the first known woman to ski unsupported to the South Pole.

MEMOIR

"WATERSHED: Attending to Body and Earth in Distress" by Ranae Lenor Hanson — A memoir of illness (Type 1 Diabetes) and an exploration of what the world would be if we tended to an ailing ecosystem as the author learned to care for herself in the throes of a chronic medical condition. A memoir of illness and health, a contemplation of the surrounding natural world in distress, and a reflection on the ways these come together in personal, local, and global opportunities for healing. The book's currents carry readers to threatened mangrove swamps in Saudi Arabia, drought-stricken Ethiopia and rocks bearing ancient messages above crooked rivers in northern Minnesota.

"Wisdom and Nonsense: My Adventures as a Train Rider and Hobo Queen" by Julianna Porrazzo-Ray ("Minneapolis Jewel") — In 1979, at the age of 30, Julianna Porrazzo gave herself the hobo moniker Minneapolis Jewel and hopped her first freight train to Britt, Iowa, to attend the National Hobo Convention. She would take this trip every year for the next 40 ears, becoming part of the hobo family, and being elected Queen of the Hobos five times. The story of her train rides, hobo friendships, adventure, marriage and tragedy.

"Sparked" edited by Walter R. Jacobs, Wendy Thompson Taiwo and Amy August — Reflections on the murder of George Floyd and the uprisings that followed and on racism in Minnesota, as told by former and current residents. Brings together the perspectives of social science professors and other academics who work or have worked in this state who reflect on racial dynamics in the Twin Cities.

"Self, Divided" by John Medeiros — In 1995 the author and his identical twin brother participated in a gene therapy study in which the HIV positive twin was infused with genes from the HIV negative twin. Medeiros' memoir details a time in our recent history when the world had to reckon with the emergence of a seemingly undefeatable virus. Winner of the Howling Bird Press nonfiction prize. The press is an imprint of Augsburg University's Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program.