Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com. – Barbara Ellis
‘Meeting New People,’ by Daniel M. Lavery (HarperCollins, 2026)
What woman among us hasn’t had a female friend “breakup” that seemingly came out of nowhere? One day you were besties and the next she’s ghosting you or, worse, taking up with another best friend who you two used to gossip about. It doesn’t matter if you’re a kid or a senior, the pain can be as bad as the ending of a romantic relationship. Fifty-something Barbara has just lost her ninth best friend and is determined to find number 10, a friend with whom she can share companionship for the rest of her life. Not the easiest person to get along with, Barbara reflects on the nature of best friendships and how this possibly could have gone wrong for her so many times. At this stage of her life, can she perhaps soften her ways and be the kind of friend she wishes to find in another person? Lavery has written a witty, often hilarious and painfully observant novel of one of life’s most rewarding yet bewildering experiences: having close friendships that we treasure yet too often cannot hold on to forever. — 3 stars (out of 4); Karen Goldie Hartman, Westminster
‘Keeper of My Kin,’ by Ada Ferrer (Scribner, 2026)
With this book, Ferrer — a Cuban-American history professor and winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in History for “Cuba: An American History” — is now also her family’s historian. The particulars of Ferrer’s family story truly represent the stories of exiles everywhere and those they left behind, writ large. She unearthed a treasure trove of family letters, opening her eyes to unknown truths about not only her own family, but also the realities of their lives in Cuba and in exile in the United States. Those letters form the basis of this nonfiction book, with a few historical and geopolitical details added for context, detailing her parents’ decision to leave Cuba, their struggles to create a new life in the U.S., and their enduring emotional bonds with Cuba and the people they left behind. Although the author’s voice is clear and personal throughout, she maintains the professional historian’s dispassionate distance, not weighing in on the immigration politics that pervade our airwaves today. — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
‘Angel Down,’ by Daniel Kraus (Atria, 2025)
Conman Cyril Bagger and four other World War I doughboys are ordered to “take care of” a shrieking soldier trapped in barbed wire at the Front, but the shrieker turns out to be an angel, leading to conflict among the men. Not for the faint of heart, this fever-dream of war is graphic and raw, but was impossible for me to retreat from. Kraus’ paean to peace is written in the most luxurious and loathsome language imaginable — in one very long and fractured sentence. The power and beauty together won this novel the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Despite the unappealing characters and the brutality, I’m glad I read this, as it engenders so much reflection. I was also glad when I finished. — 3 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, Parker
‘On Witness and Respair: Essays,’ by Jesmyn Ward (Scribner, 2026)
Ward is a two-time National Book Award winner, best known, perhaps, for her novel “Sing, Unburied, Sing.” This essay collection gathers her noteworthy nonfiction writings and a few speeches spanning the years 2008-2025. Ward dissects the Black experience in America, reflects on her own experience as a young Black girl growing up in poverty in southern Mississippi, lauds the writers who influenced her, and examines her own motivations as a writer. A frankly revealing and heart-grabbing collection. — 3 1/2 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
