6 good books for a break during the holiday season

Take a break from the holiday season and escape with a good book, or cross a name off your holiday shopping list with one of these winning titles. Characters in these fictional tales are breaking free from family expectations and searching for love and meaning. Nonfiction works include a delightful memoir about aging well and the chronicle of a nautical disaster with modern-day relevance.

Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite

The Falodun women carry the burden of a generations-old affliction brought about by a jealous woman who cursed her husband’s second wife and her descendants to never find happiness with a man. In this Read with Jenna book club pick, the bestselling author of “My Sister, the Serial Killer” portrays the curse as a form of generational trauma inflicted on strong yet flawed Lagosian women: There’s Monife, whose star-crossed love story ended in her death; her devoted cousin Ebun, who gave birth to her daughter, Eniiyi, on the day Monife died; and Eniiyi, whose family believes she is the reincarnation of Monife, destined to the same tragic fate. But when Eniiyi saves a stranger from drowning and they fall in love, she refuses to bend to the specter of the hex, seeking to break the pattern of loss for good. (Doubleday)

Next Time Will Be Our Turn by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Arriving at a Michelin-starred restaurant for the Chen family’s Lunar New Year celebration, Izzy’s formidable grandmother, Magnolia, enters with a beautiful woman on her arm, introduces her as her girlfriend and shares a public kiss, shocking everyone, and intriguing Izzy, who has been confronting similar inclinations. Perhaps sensing her granddaughter’s struggle, Magnolia shares the story of her youth. At 16, Magnolia followed her older sister from Jakarta to Los Angeles. Both women were expected to find a rich husband, but her first true love was her best girlfriend. Spanning decades, Magnolia’s life story is filled with both heartache and hopefulness as she learns to live authentically and hopes the same for her granddaughter. (Berkley)

The Silver Book by Olivia Laing

Danilo Donati, an accomplished cinematic costume and production designer facing creative challenges with his latest project, has arrived in Venice “to sulk, magnificently,” when he spots Nicholas, an English student, intently sketching a church. Dani hires Nicholas as an apprentice, and the two become lovers, finding inspiration from each other among the artistic chaos of the 1970s Italian filmmaking scene. But Nicholas is harboring a secret, and during this period of sociopolitical upheaval, their passionate relationship sets in motion a chain of violent events that lead to the murder of Pier Paolo Pasolini, a film director with radical views. Laing’s vibrant depiction of both real and imagined events is a prescient exploration of the meaning of art in dangerous places. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

Some Bright Nowhere by Ann Packer

Eliot and Claire have sustained their happy marriage for nearly four decades, and despite Claire’s cancer diagnosis, Eliot has been grateful to be her loving caretaker as her disease progressed over years. As her final weeks approach, though, she makes a request that shatters Eliot’s world: Claire wants to spend her last days being cared for by her two best girlfriends instead of him. Shocked though he is, Eliot elects to honor her wishes. But his determination falters as he grapples with the painful realization that Claire has asked him to leave her to die in the care of others. Packer sketches the nuances of their love with a devastating sharpness, poignantly exploring the challenges of facing death with grace. (Harper)

Captain’s Dinner: A Shipwreck, An Act of Cannibalism, and a Murder Trial That Changed Legal History

by Adam Cohen

On its voyage from England to Australia in 1884, the yacht Mignonette encountered dangerous waves that capsized the ship and left its four occupants stranded on a lifeboat with little food and water. Adrift in the Atlantic Ocean for weeks, almost equidistant from South America and Africa, they faced a desperate choice — starvation or cannibalism. The decision to sacrifice their youngest passenger, an orphaned cabin boy, sustained them until rescuers arrived, at which point they were jailed and tried as murderers during a sensational trial. Part harrowing adventure story, part courtroom drama with far-reaching consequences, Cohen’s engaging historical account provides context for a legal quandary that has become a benchmark in the debate between utilitarianism and duty-based ethics. (Authors Equity, Nov. 18)

How to Cook a Coyote: The Joy of Old Age by Betty Fussell

At age 98, the celebrated food essayist shares her “coming-of-death story” in a feisty memoir that pays tribute to lessons learned and friendships forged during her adventurous life. Fussell describes her move from Manhattan to Casa Dorinda, a coastal California retirement community where she starts each day by greeting her liver in a Promethean gesture of gratitude. Her adventures with pals and loved ones of today — coyote hunting with her son, merriment at the Casa Breakfast Club table and beyond — lead to moving reminiscences of long-gone friends and lovers: the voice of her best-dressed friend, whom she hears whenever she selects an outfit; a pastoral summer spent with a lover in an Irish cottage. Both smart and accessible, Fussell’s savvy musings are a welcome portrait of her robust appetite for life. (Counterpoint, Dec. 2)