The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash
Six days a week, in rural North Carolina in 1929, Ella May
Wiggins, mother of four, makes a two-mile trip to American Mill No. 2 where she
works a night shift earning nine dollars for a 72-hour week. The mill is a prime target for burgeoning
union activities with the promise of better working conditions and better pay;
Ella May is all for unionizing, but at what cost to her family, friends, and
community? Seventy-five years later,
Ella May’s daughter Lilly writes her nephew telling the story of his courageous
grandmother, revealing the events that led up to one fateful night in 1929 that
changed everything. Other voices weave
in and out, telling Ella May’s story, a story based on actual people and
events, and the origins of the American Labor Movement in this soulful novel
with gorgeous prose and carefully drawn characters, belying the sorrow and
tragedy it relates. A www.libraryreads.org/ pick for October.
The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
This prequel to Practical
Magic takes readers back a generation to the 1950’s and 1960’s when the
three Owens children are born and raised in New York City, warned by their
mother Susanna to charges her children to stay away from her hometown in
Massachusetts, avoid moonlight, Ouija Boards, red shoes, Downtown Manhattan,
and never fall in love. Franny, Jet, and
Vincent know they are different from other children, but don’t realize there
family, especially women, have been cursed since 1620 when their ancestor was
accused of being a witch because she loved the wrong man. Franny, the eldest, is the most brooding with
her pale skin and shocking red hair; Jet is the beauty and can intuit what
others are thinking; Vincent, more of a free spirit, has been doing his own
thing since he was born. When Franny
turns seventeen she is summoned by her aunt Isabelle to come to the Owens’s
home town. She brings her brother and
sister, setting each on a dangerous course, courses that will change their
lives and the lives of those they love.
There is something magical about the way Alice Hoffman writes, as she
guides these three siblings from childhood to adulthood, as they learn to live,
and to love and above all, be true to themselves.
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
Daphne Parrish is leading the perfect life: or so Amber thinks. Daphne is pretty enough, has a lovely house
on the Connecticut shore, is married to billionaire Jackson Parrish who seems
to adore her, and has two bright young daughters. And Amber wants her life, or at least her
husband. Amber finds a way to insinuate
herself into Daphne’s life by claiming she, like Daphne, had a sister who died
of Cystic Fibrosis, first being part of a fund raiser for the CF foundation
Daphne started and runs, and then by becoming the best friend Daphne so
desperately needs, all the while plotting to become the next Mrs. Parrish,
leaving Daphne and her two daughters out in the cold. Little by little, Amber works her way into
Jackson Parrish’s life, first as his assistant at work and then in his bed, all
the while not knowing the terrible secret Daphne harbors, and not knowing that
Daphne in turn knows the dirty secret Amber has been hiding, two secrets that
will ruin everything for both women if they let them. Written by sisters, this
intricately plotted book has characters as despicable as they come and
characters who will be sympathized with even though they seem to have it
all. Fast-paced, the narrative propels
this book forward toward one final “gotcha”.
The Dirty Book Club by Lisi Harrison
M.J. Stark thinks she has it all: she’s about to be appointed
editor-in-chief at her dream job at a New York City magazine and a gorgeous
doctor for a boyfriend, though he does live on the West Coast. When her
promotion doesn’t happen exactly as planned, M.J. takes off for Pearl Beach,
California, convincing herself and others that she has given up her career to
live with her true love Dan. M.J. finds
herself at loose ends in California and becomes friendly with Dan’s next-door
neighbor Gloria, who readers know was part of a Dirty Book Club fifty years
before. When Gloria’s husband dies
unexpectedly, she jets off to Paris to fulfill the promise the club members
made to each other to live in Paris together when they were all single. Each of the original (and only) four members
of the Dirty Book Club have chosen a young woman to take her place in the club
and M.J. finds herself invited to be a member along with Addie, the wild one of
the group, Jules, the romantic, and Britt, the hard-working mother and wife who
doesn’t realize what is going on under her own roof. The four women are as different as oil and
water and have no real interest in getting to know each other or in keeping the
club together, but little by little, each grudgingly realizes they need a
change in their life and begin to confide in one another and learn to be honest
with each other and themselves. Readers
see M.J. as the main protagonist work through why she left New York and came to
California, and what she must do in order to be true to herself and her
dreams. Harrison’s first adult novel
sometimes has a high school mean girl feel to it, and the only insight readers get into the
original women of the DBC is through letters each left in specific books, but
overall is a breezy, fast-paced read with a certain amount of appeal.
The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey
Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock is a born police officer
and working in her hometown of Smithson in Australia gives her an edge, as she
knows a lot of the history and secrets of the residents. She is not as disciplined in her personal
life, however, living with the father of her young son, resisting his requests
to get married, and carrying on an affair with her married partner Felix. Rosalind Ryan, an English teacher at the
school where she taught English and drama, and that she attended with Gemma, is
found floating in the lake, her body surrounded with red roses, on the night after
her triumphant production of her retelling of Romeo and Juliet. The town is stunned, and no one can believe
Rose was murdered, but her death opens up long repressed memories for Gemma and
she is forced to revisit her high school years to try and learn what she is
missing, the events and actions that might have lead up to this ten years
later. Gemma’s past and present are
about to collide in unexpected ways as she must struggle to finally come to
terms with her ex-boyfriend’s suicide, the mess she and Felix are making of
their personal lives, and uncover Rose’s secrets, past and present, to solve
her murder, in this taut debut novel with a complex, yet sympathetic
protagonist.
If You Knew My Sister by Michelle Adams
Irini Harringford’s parents gave her away to live with her
aunt and uncle when she was three-years-old though she has never been told
why. Irini has tried to live a normal
life, is now a doctor, and has tried not to worry about why she was given away
instead of her older sister Elle. Irini
and Elle were never close, either as sisters or cousins, though Elle has
appeared at different times throughout Irini’s life, mostly causing trouble for
Irini, though it seems at the time Elle has come to her rescue. After six years, Irini thinks she has
exercised Elle from her life when she gets a phone call from Elle that their
mother has died and Irini should come to Scotland for the funeral. Hoping to put her past to bed once and for
all, Irini makes the journey but realizes that her sister still has a hold over
Irini and she finds herself drawn back into her family’s history of secrets and
lies, and becomes determined to find the truth about why she was given away,
even though it is much more complicated and twisted than she ever
imagined. The tension builds as Irini’s
past is slowly revealed, culminating in a secret few will have seen coming.
Odd Child Out
by Gilly Macmillan
Noah Sadler
has lived with childhood cancer for most of his life. In and out of treatments, when he is finally
able to return to school he feels like an outsider except for Abdi Mahad, a
Somali immigrant, who immediately befriends him and the two become best
friends. Now, the night of Noah’s
father’s controversial photography exhibit, Noah is found floating unconscious
in Bristol’s Feeder Canal, Abdi the only witness and Abdi appears to be in
shock and isn’t, or can’, tell anyone what happened. Detective Inspector Jim Clemo, just back from
leave after his last tragic case, is assigned to investigate what looks like a
terrible accident. As Clemo
investigates, he sees the incident is not as cut and dried as it looks, and learns
there may be a deeper connection to Edward Sadler’s latest photo exhibit of
refugee camps than anyone suspected. Two
families are in pain, over the potential loss of Noah and over the tragedy of
Abdi being with him at the time of the accident and the loss of his best
friend. Accusations begin tearing apart the
community, making each family face truths they were not ready to reveal to
anyone, including themselves, but must do in order to heal. This heartbreaking novel is satisfying on
many levels: a well-paced mystery, psychological suspense, and empathetic
characters in impossible situations facing impossible dilemmas.
