Jarrett’s Summer Travel and Book Recommendations
This summer, my wife, Janine, and I took our first trip without the kids since becoming parents. We made a long overdue visit to Mexico City, and it was absolutely fantastic! For seven straight days, we ate incredible meals (it is, without a doubt, the best food city I have ever visited), wandered through fascinating neighborhoods, watched World Cup soccer in the square, read novels, took a street-food tour, and attended an incredible cooking class focused on local cuisine and culinary traditions. And, yes, of course, there were a couple of obligatory museum stops along the way. We would not have changed a thing, and if you have not already been, I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Now, before you feel too sorry for the poor little kids we left behind, please know that they had some pretty amazing adventures of their own. After graduating from high school, our daughter, Kayla, spent three weeks traveling through Italy, Spain, and Portugal with her friends, before she starts at UC Santa Barbara in the fall. Our son, Julian, who will soon be a junior at Berkeley High School (Juice the Jackets!), spent a week in Lake Tahoe with four of his best friends, fishing, backpacking, mountain biking, jet skiing, wakeboarding, and cliff jumping over the Fourth of July. Or, as I like to call it, “The Fourth-O-Julian!” So, while we missed them (I am not sure how much they missed us), neither of them was exactly sitting at home feeling sorry for themselves.
During our trip, including the flights (and of course delays) to and from Mexico City, I managed to read three books, something I have not done in quite a while, and enjoyed each of them very much. So, I thought I would share these with you, just in case you are looking for something good to read as summer comes to a close.
The first is a fast-moving World War II story about a remarkable real woman. The second explores friendship, family, race, and belonging in the American South, and the third is a quiet and beautifully written reflection on love, memory, and happiness.
Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon
My business partner, Gavin, gave me Code Name Hélène, and it quickly became a family favorite. By now, almost everyone in my family and circle of close friends has read and loved it.
The novel tells the extraordinary true story of Nancy Wake, one of the most decorated women of World War II. It begins with Nancy working as an Australian journalist in Paris and reporting on the growing threat of fascism in Europe. After Germany invades France, she becomes involved in the French Resistance, assuming multiple identities while helping people escape the Nazis and supporting the Allied effort.
Nancy is what makes the book so memorable. She is brave, sharp, funny, glamorous, and seemingly fearless, but she is never presented as perfect. She takes enormous risks, makes difficult choices, and lives with constant danger. She feels both larger than life and entirely human.
The novel also follows Nancy’s relationship with her husband, Henri Fiocca. Their marriage gives the story additional emotional weight and illustrates the painful personal sacrifices that often accompanied wartime courage.
This was the most suspenseful and fast-moving of the three books. If you enjoy World War II fiction, espionage, romance, strong female characters, or stories based on real people, this is a great choice.
Kin by Tayari Jones
Kin tells the story of Annie and Vernice, two motherless girls growing up together in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, during the Jim Crow era. They share a powerful bond from childhood, but their lives gradually begin moving in different directions.
Annie is searching for answers about her mother and her place in the world. Vernice, also known as Niecy, is shaped by loss, ambition, and a desire to pursue opportunities beyond their hometown. Their friendship endures, but it is complicated by family secrets, social expectations, and the very different paths available to them.
What I found especially compelling was the complexity of their relationship. Tayari Jones shows how love, loyalty, resentment, disappointment, and longing can all coexist. The novel also considers how family extends beyond blood and how a friendship can become one of the greatest influences on who a person becomes.
The American South is more than a backdrop to the story. The history of Jim Crow, the expectations placed on Black women, and differences in class and opportunity all affect the characters and the choices they make. Yet the story remains personal, focusing on two women trying to understand where they came from and who they are able to become.
If you enjoy character-driven novels about friendship, family, race, identity, and belonging, I think you will appreciate this one. It would also be an excellent book club selection because the characters and their decisions leave plenty to discuss.
This Is Happiness by Niall Williams
This Is Happiness takes place in the small Irish village of Faha during the 1950s. Noel Crowe, the novel’s narrator, looks back on a formative period in his youth, when electricity is about to reach the village and bring the modern world into a place that has long seemed untouched by time.
Noel is staying with his grandparents when a lodger named Christy arrives. Christy has come to help with the electrification project, but, as it turns out, he also has a more personal reason for being in Faha. As the village prepares for change, Noel begins learning about first love, lost love, regret, faith, and the ways people carry the past with them.
This is a quieter and more reflective book than the other two. It is not driven by a fast-moving plot. Instead, it draws you in through its language, atmosphere, humor, and wisdom. Niall Williams makes ordinary experiences, such as a conversation in a kitchen, a walk through the village, an old story, or a remembered romance, feel deeply meaningful.
More than anything, the book made me think about how much our lives change over time and how easy it is to overlook the importance of ordinary moments while we are living them. It offers a lovely reminder that happiness is often found not in dramatic events, but in the people, places, and everyday experiences we may only fully appreciate later.
If you enjoy warm, beautifully written stories about love, community, and memory, I highly recommend this one. It is a book to savor rather than rush through.
Each of these books offers something entirely different. Code Name Hélène is gripping and fast-moving, Kin is thoughtful and emotionally layered, and This Is Happiness is slower, more poetic, and deeply reflective.
I thoroughly enjoyed all three, and if you read any of them, or have a recent favorite of your own, I would love to hear what you think.
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