Tag: domestic fiction

Update

The Aftermath of Giving Up

Tiffany Renee Harmon

Merry (Almost) Christmas! It occurred to me today that I had a story come out in October and I completely forgot to post a link. “The Aftermath of Giving Up” is a story I wrote a long time ago as an undergrad. It actually won an award in UC’s English department and was the story that got me into grad school, which was validating at the time, but it has taken 6 years to actually find it a publisher (which was substantially less validating). While it is dark, it’s also a huge departure from my usual style – it’s slower, domestic realism. I’m so grateful for The Scarlet Leaf Review for giving this story a home.

abandoned ancient antique architecture
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays!

-Tiffany

Book Review

Book Review: The Days of Abandonment

Tiffany Renee Harmon

I know this makes me sound like a major nerd, but I actually have a favorite publishing company: Europa Editions. Europa publishes tons of international books that have been translated into English. I’ve found so many gems from this publishing company, but recently I read one that I just had to share: The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante.

77810

Elena Ferrante is an Italian author who is most known for being notoriously private. Her true identity has never been revealed, although there is plenty of speculation online as to who she might be. She is known most for her four-book Neapolitan series. The Days of Abandonment is one of her earlier works, but I thought it was an absolutely fantastic exploration of a crumbling relationship.

The Days of Abandonment follows a woman who is blindsided by her husband as he leaves her. In this short book (it’s only 188 pages), you can track her grief – from denial to emptiness to acceptance. This is one of the most emotionally raw books I’ve ever read, but it worked. I could see some complain that it is overly sentimental, but I disagree. I think that Ferrante has depicted the genuine emotion that comes from this situation. This is a hyper-realistic story that really touches on the psyche of the abandoned. Here, you can see how the whole family has to deal with this unexpected change. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for carefully crafted domestic literary fiction.

Book Review

Book Review: A Secret History of Witches 

Tiffany Renee Harmon

Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I think growing up with the Harry Potter series made it so that I love things with a bit of magic in my fiction. I love secret castles or witches or fairies or anything like that. So, I was excited to be able to read an advanced copy of A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan.

33785695

This book was much different than I expected. It was a lot less fantastical than I had hoped, but it was still fantastic. This book explored a whole family of female witches and has different sections that focus on specific women. It is much more of a character study than a work of fantasy, but it was very thought-provoking and well-written.

I don’t want to give too much away of the plot, but I did love that there is a theme of magic always coming with a price. In this book, actions definitely have consequences. These witches are very complicated and much different from one another. That was one of the best things about the book – each character felt very fleshed out and unique. Also, even the characters that were unlikable were still engaging because I wanted to understand them. Overall, this was a great character-driven book that focused on many domestic issues. I would absolutely recommend it to people who like slower-moving character-driven books. There’s a lot of great stuff in here to think about when it comes to the human psyche. However, if you’re looking for a quick, exciting, magical romp – this one probably isn’t for you.