Cover courtesy of kingsolver.com

“I set myself a reading challenge every year, and in this peculiar year it’s 100 books. I’m at 41.

“One of the most memorable books of 2020 so far for me was Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Lacuna,” which came out in 2009. I don’t know why it took me so long to get to it. I love all her books, but this was the best. It did what all great fiction does — take me out of my everyday (and rather anxious) world and transport me to others. Shepherd Harrison, the protagonist, is a kind of Zelig in that his life touches those of some towering figures — Leon Trotsky, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo among them.

“I highly recommend this beautifully written, absorbing novel full of history, color and heart.” —Alice Persons, Editor and Publisher of Moon Pie Press for poetry in Westbrook