Book Reviews - 2024
The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor. Historical Fiction, 2023
The unthinkable happens when Alice King chaperones children being evacuated to Canada during WW II, and takes the last lifeboat. Based on a true incident, this survival story shares where to find hope in desperate places.
The Tea Lady of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See, Fiction, 2017
Yi-lann is a Chinese tea farmer who kept her pregnancy a secret and places her child up for adoption. Covering two continents, Lisa See weaves an intricate story of identity loss and rediscovery amid cultural clash and family expectation.
An Altar in the World by Barbara Taylor Brown, Spiritual Formation, 2010
Barbara Taylor Brown believes that when we see the sacred everywhere, we become more aware of the presence of God. With personal examples and simple practices, she suggests that we can make an altar anywhere to enhance our intimacy with God.
The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West by David McCullough, Nonfiction, 2019
Pulitzer Prize winning historian, David McCullough, writes of the settlers who plowed and organized and fought to create the state of Ohio. This is story we need to remember every time we vote, go to a grocery store or enjoy choosing where to go to church.
All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore, Memoir, 2023
Beth Moore is brutally honest while infusing humor. Understanding how she survived childhood sexual abuse and still grew up with an unswerving belief in a God of love is nothing less than miracle. Add her husband’s PSTD and bi-polar diagnosis and more of survival than success.
Remembering Dresden by Dan Walsh, Suspense, 2016
Walsh builds a believable story for his Jack Turn character, a history professor working on his dissertation about the American bombing of Dresden. When Jack accidentally found a a journal written in German by an orphaned German soldier and gets it translate, he discovers is a mystery that will threaten his life and reveal secrets about a senator.
The Art of Gathering by Prya Parker, Nonfiction, 2020
I learned so much from this specialist about how to start and close a gathering, the responsibilities of a host and so much more. Prya Parker is a sought-after organizer of large company gatherings as well as celebratory gatherings. Her stories are fascinating and her principles eye-opening.
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, Fiction, 2023
Lara is headed for a successful acting career when a tennis accident sidelines her and moves Lara in other directions. She married gentle Joe who had inherited his family’s cherry orchard. When Lara decides to tell her daughters her “other” life story, something comes together for Lara about home and family that brings all the stability and identity she ever needed.
The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West by Sara Ackerman, Historical Fiction, 2024
Hawaiian born Sara Ackerman tells a dual story. Olivia West is a navigator in the 1920 12,400-mile Dole Air Race across the Pacific. The 1987 story features artist Wren Summers who inherits land in Hawaii with a mysterious 60-year-old plane in the barn. Both women face personal challenges and overcome them with courage and perseverance.
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Story by James McBride, Fiction, 2023
Jewish immigrants Moshe and Chona Ludlow own a grocery store on Chicken Hill in Pottstown, Pennsylvania where
Jews and African Americans share community in 1972. When childless Chona and her husband provide a safe home for an orphaned deaf black boy, their lives are more fulfilling and dangerous. The underlying story reminds us of the importance of community.
A Long Petal of the Sea: A Novel, by Isabel Allende, Historical Fiction, 2020
This book paints a story of loss and exile during Francisco Franco's regime in Spain. When Victor's brother is killed in the war leaving his wife, Roser, pregnant and destitute; Victor marries Rose to get her to safety. While they make it to Chile, it takes a long time and another war before they find each other. An epic story, it shares a story of how to find home, some, even if it isn’t where you started.
The Lost Daughters of Ukraine by Erin Litteken, Historical fiction, 2023
Based somewhat on the author’s family story when Russia invaded Ukraine in 1941, the book follows 3 women. Vika is a mother who must find her children. Liliya is a teenager conscripted for a work camp. Twelve-year-old Halya is alone in survival mode. Emotional and nail-biting, the story teaches how survival is a hope that power and cruelty cannot extinguish.
Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy, Fiction, 2024
Helen Cartwright returns to her childhood London village after losing her husband and son with nothing to live for. One winter night she “inherits” a tiny mouse who has taken refuge in her house. Thus begins a story, a relationship, and a new life for Helen. She names him Sipsworth and becomes dedicated to the mouse's survival which also becomes her own.
The Women: A Novel, by Kristin Hannah, Historical Fiction, 2024
This magnificent story lifts the untold story of the women who served as nurses but returned to a world that treated them as non-sufferers and worse. The story is richly layered, comprehensive, and haunting. It reminds us of the importance of life-saving friendships and how family sustains even when hiding their own brokenness.
Three Sisters by Heather Morris, Historical Fiction, 2022
From the same author of the Tattooist of Auschwitz, this haunting but hopeful story follows what three sisters went through at Auschwitz and afterwards. The story begin he night before their father died when he made his girls promise they would always take care of each other. The sweeping story (based on interviews of the real sisters) allows us to witness a perseverance that allowed each girl to save the core of their selves.
How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior, Fiction, 2020
Eccentric Veronica is 85 and alone. A documentary about the penguins in Antarctica intrigues her and prompts a plan to visit the research station for 3 weeks despite their ardent protest. An orphaned penguin, a medical emergency and a grandson she didn't know she had helps her learn how family and friendship is always worth living for.
Victoria by Daisy Goodwin, Historical Fiction, 2016
Alexandrina Victoria was almost eighteen when she became Queen of England in 1837. Daisy Goodwin delivers a rich and satisfying picture of the young queen including her relationship with her prime minister, the royal pressure to marry, and other's attempts to control her. When she meets Albert, she must decide if and how he fits into her life and whether that means marriage.
Finding Margaret Fuller by Allison Pataki, Historical Fiction, 2024
Margaret Fuller was a contemporary of transcendentalist writers Thoreau, Emerson, Hawthorne, and Alcott. However, I had never heard of Margaret Fuller, female journalist recruited by Horace Greely for his newspaper who also served as one of the first international correspondents. How she found her voice, the love of her life, and how it ended is inspiring and heartbreaking. This a story long overdue.
The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, Historical Fiction, 2023
Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary Bethune became friends in a focus to address racism. Chapters alternate between Eleanor’s perspective and Mary’s, often seeing the same event from two perspectives. What develops is a story of how two women, each with limited power, formed an alliance that began a shift in the fight against white supremacy and black oppression.
The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, Historical Fiction, 2023
Empress of the Nile by Lynne Olson, Nonfiction, 2023
Early Egyptologist, Christiane Desroches-Noblescourt. fought for the place of women in archaeology. She joined those who saved priceless Louvre art from the Nazis and took on the fight to move magnificent Egyptian temples, especially Abu Simbel, and safe them from destruction with the opening of the Aswan Dam. She was driven, intelligent, unstoppable, and intriguing and this book shares a remarkable story.
Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray, Historical Fiction, 2024
Frances Perkins is the longest-serving Secretary of Labor. She served in all three terms of Franklin D. Roosevelt. responsible for implementing much of the New Deal, crafting and negotiating the passing of Social Security. When her husband and later her only daughter were diagnosed with manic-depression, she continued to persevere. Inspiring and heart-tugging, this story will help you understand the cost one woman paid to make Social Security possible.