Our 2019 Christmas Meeting at the Six Burner Bistro

Submitted by Ann Sevigny

Once again a great luncheon meeting at Six Burner Cafe.   We wish you all could have been there.  

We discussed the book and while the topic was sad, we agreed that the author's detail and research were excellent.  She told the story of these brave women who fought under extremely difficult circumstances to change laws to protect the workers.   And they succeeded!!!!!

On to happier notes.   Thanks Judy for the extra cakes, and Roz for the flashlights, and Kathy for the lovely bookmarks.  What a group!!  

We had our Yankee Swap and are looking forward to most of the books recycling through the group.

During our discussion Kathy suggested an excellent book for additional reading --  The Moment of Lift:  How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates

Kindle addition is available on Amazon for $2.99. 

The book chosen for February discussion is:    Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Next Meeting:          January 26, 2020

Place:                      Stephanie has volunteered to host

Book to discuss:      Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

New List:                 Ann F will submit list for March Mtg. 

                                Ann has volunteered to host the March Mtg.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS.  LOVE YOU ALL.  

Ann S's suggestions for February Book

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (soon to be a Hulu limited series)

The Richardson family lives in Shaker Heights, Ohio, everything is planned from the layout of the roads, colors of the houses, and successful lives its residents will go on to lead.  No one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.  Mia Warren, an artist and single mother, arrives with her daughter and rents a house from the Richardsons. Their lives will merge with those of the Richardson’s.

When family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle divides the town with Mia and Elena on opposing sides.  Elena wants to uncover Mia's mysterious past. Her obsession comes at unexpected and devastating costs.  The book explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, the pull of motherhood, and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.

Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts

Seventeen-year-old, 7 months pregnant Novalee Nation was heading for California with her boyfriend. Now she is stranded at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, OK, with just $7.77 in change. Novalee is about to discover hidden treasures in this small town--a group of down-to-earth, deeply caring people willing to help a homeless, jobless girl living secretly in a Wal-Mart. From Bible-thumping blue-haired Sister Thelma to Forney Hull the eccentric town librarian who hides his feelings behind his world of books, it puts a human face on the look-alike trailer parks and malls of America’s small towns. It will make you believe in the strength of friendship, the goodness of down-to-earth people, and the healing power of love. And it will make you laugh and cry every step of the way. It takes you on a moving, funny, and unforgettable journey to . . . Where the Heart Is.

The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin

In 1975, a clique of Manhattan socialites discover that Truman Capote revealed their dirtiest laundry to the world in a story published in Esquire—a real-life event. Capote’s Swans are the beautiful, stylish, wealthy and envied women of New York.  Bill Paley (CBS head) offered film producer David Selznick a ride on his private plane, and Selznick asked if he could bring his friend, Truman.  Paley, a friend of Eisenhower, assumed it was President Truman not Truman Capote.  So begins the story as Melanie Benjamin reimagines the glittering friendships Capote cultivated. She focuses on the bond between Capote and the great beauty Babe Paley; Slim Keith, a cool, well-married blonde; Pamela Churchill, ex-wife of Winston’s son and future wife of Slim’s husband, Leland; and Lee Radziwill, sister of Jackie Kennedy.   Her fact-based narrative captures the era’s juiciest scandals. 

The Stars Are Fire by Anita Shreve

 

In October 1947, after a long drought, fires break out all along the Maine coast from Bar Harbor to Kittery and are soon racing out of control.  Five months pregnant, Grace Holland is left alone to protect her two toddlers when her husband, Gene, joins the volunteer firefighters. Along with her best friend, Rosie, and Rosie's two young children, Grace watches helplessly as their houses burn to the ground, the flames finally forcing them all into the ocean as a last resort. They spend the night frantically protecting their children and in the morning find their lives forever changed: homeless, penniless, awaiting news of their husbands' fate, and left to face an uncertain future in a town that no longer exists. In the midst of this devastating loss, Grace discovers glorious new freedoms--joys and triumphs she could never have expected her narrow life with Gene could contain--and her spirit soars. Then the unthinkable happens and Grace's bravery is tested as never before.

October 27, 2019 Meeting at Diane’s house

RiverRun Book Club Meeting - October 2019

Thanks Diane for Hosting, it was a great place to enjoy food, wine, and good company on this rainy Sunday.  To those who couldn’t be there – we missed you, and you missed possibly the first meeting of the RiverRun Book Club where discussion never strayed from the actual book. Luckily Mary Jo was still here for one more meeting.  The book we read from her suggestions was “A Piece of the World”.   At that first question “who liked the book?” all hands were raised.

Although classified as historical fiction, the author’s research into the actual lives of these people made it more reality than not.  While the narrative between characters is the author’s imagination, it gave us an image of Christina’s relationships with family, Walton, and Wyeth.  In life Christina was known to have a sharp tongue and was perversely independent.  What could her life have been if her parents had allowed her to continue schooling, if Walton had not abandoned her?  Did her pride in refusing help (although doctors at that time could not have helped her) and refusing to leave her home ruin Alvaro’s chance for happiness?

We shared some comments of Wyeth’s on the house and Christina. MJ shared Wyeth’s pictures Christina’s and paintings of the house.  Good discussion MJ, we will miss you much.

1.  Book chosen from Stephanie’s suggestions for Jan. discussion

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

2.  Christmas Luncheon

December 15, 12:30  -   Six Burner Café

Book to discuss:  Radium Girls by Kate Moore

Yankee Swap will be new or gently used book

3.  Ann F has offered to host the February 2020 Meeting.

4.  Business: 

There are now 15 active members and only 11 meetings per year.  

People have requested a specific month they would like to have for their discussion.

Is there anyone who would like to be taken off the 2020 list for submitting suggestions?  

Are there any suggestions as to how to accommodate specific month requests?

Attached is the list as it now stands. 

Stephanie's Suggestions for our January Book

Jewel by Bret Lott – January 19, 1999 by Bret Lott; 368 pgs.

The year is 1943 and life is good for Jewel Hilburn, her husband, Leston, and their five children. Although there's a war on, the Mississippi economy is booming, providing plenty of business for the hardworking family. And even the news that eldest son James has enlisted is mitigated by the fact that Jewel, now pushing 40, is pregnant with one last child. Her joy is slightly clouded, however, when her childhood friend Cathedral arrives at the door with a troubling prophecy: "I say unto you that the baby you be carrying be yo' hardship, be yo' test in this world. This be my prophesying unto you, Miss Jewel."
When the child is finally born, it seems that Cathedral's prediction was empty: the baby appears normal in every way. As the months go by, however, Jewel becomes increasingly afraid that something is wrong with little Brenda Kay--she doesn't cry, she doesn't roll over, she's hardly ever awake. Eventually husband and wife take the baby to the doctor and are informed that she is a "Mongolian Idiot," not expected to live past the age of 2. Jewel angrily rebuffs the doctor's suggestion that they institutionalize Brenda Kay. Instead the Hilburns shoulder the burdens--and discover the unexpected joys--of living with a Down's syndrome child.

Tara Road by Maeve Binchy | Jan 1, 1998; 502 pgs.

Ria lived on Tara Road in Dublin with her dashing husband, Danny, and their two children. She fully believed she was happily married, right up until the day Danny told her he was leaving her to be with his young, pregnant girlfriend. By a chance phone call, Ria meets Marilyn, a woman from New England unable to come to terms with her only son’s death and now separated from her husband. The two women exchange houses for the summer with extraordinary consequences, each learning that the other has a deep secret that can never be revealed.

Drawn into lifestyles vastly differing from their own, at first each resents the news of how well the other is getting on. Ria seems to have become quite a hostess, entertaining half the neighborhood, which at first irritates the reserved and withdrawn Marilyn, a woman who has always guarded her privacy. Marilyn seems to have become bosom friends with Ria’s children, as well as with Colm, a handsome restaurateur, whom Ria has begun to miss terribly. At the end of the summer, the women at last meet face-to-face. Having learned a great deal, about themselves and about each other, they find that they have become, firmly and forever, good friends.

The Thirteenth Tale -- October 9, 2007 by Diane Setterfield; 432 pgs.

Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchanting stories, has spent the past six decades penning a series of alternate lives for herself. Now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about her extraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret for so long. Calling on Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her own painful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. Margaret is mesmerized by the author's tale of gothic strangeness—featuring the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire. Together, Margaret and Vida confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.

Where the Crawdads Sing  – August 14, 2018 by Delia Owens; 384 pgs.

The story is set in the 1950s and revolves around a young woman named Kya Clark, who is from extremely rural North Carolina. Known by others as the Marsh Girl, she lives alone in nature—but the draw of other people, and specifically love, brings her into contact with the greater world. This novel has a mystery at its core, but it can be read on a variety of levels. There is great nature writing; there is coming of age; and there is literature. Crawdads is a story lovingly told—one that takes its time in developing its characters and setting, and in developing the story. You’ll want to relax and take your time as well, and when you’re done you will want to talk about it with another reader.

September 29, Meeting at Claire’s Breton Woods Condo

Submitted by Ann Sevigny

It was a beautiful day to meet at Claire’s in Bretton Woods,  always a treat to view the mountain in any season.  We enjoyed wonderful hors d’oeuvers, and deserts and thanks to Claire for treating us to what could be the last cookout of the season (sorry we forgot the potato salad).    

It was great to see that MJ could make this meeting and we got to meet our newest member Mary O’Brien – welcome Mary!  

Joy let us through the discussion on “A Fall of Marigolds” where the author tied in events from 1911, 2001, and 2011.  This Book was enjoyed by most, and specific parts such as Taryn’s life at Ellis Island were very interesting.  The detail describing what was experienced by those nearby as the towers fell was sad but illuminating. The main question discussed of course was whether Taryn should have told Andrew about his wife’s deceit.  Did making her also a jewel thief add anything to the plot?  We talked about Taryn’s and Clara’s feelings of guilt for the deaths of Kent and Edward. 

In the end Clara finds strength to locate Edward’s family and discover that he did share her feelings and is able to accept her love for Dr. Ethan.  Taryn finds that her husband did receive her text on 9/11 and replied that she should “be happy”.  These circumstances allow them to leave the “in-between” place and the book ends happily.  

1.  The Book Chosen for discussion in 

     December is (finally):

     The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

     Note:  There is no November Meeting

2.  Next Meeting:  October 27

     Place:  Diane will host the meeting

     For discussion:  A Piece of the World 

     by Christina Baker Kline

     Stephanie will submit suggestions for 

     January discussion

3.  Christmas Luncheon:  

     December 15, 2019 at 12:30 p.m.

     Six Burner Café in Plymouth

     Marilyn  will make the reservation

Roz’s Book Suggestions for November

Oaxaca Journal, by  Oliver Sacks, 159pp 2002 (hardcover national geographic edition)(available in Lincoln library, audible)

Dr. Sacks (1933-2015), a neurologist and well-known author, in 1999 took a 10 day trip with the American Fern Society to see, catalogue, and draw the large variety of ferns found in Oaxaca, Mexico. He kept  a journal of the trip and the book is the resultant description of Zapotec culture, amateur naturalists, edible insects, psychedelics, and especially of ferns. Dr. Sacks was fascinated with these primitive plants that have survived, with little change, for over 300 million years. Dr. John Mickel, the fern curator at the New York Botanical Garden, and well known author led the group. I took his semester long course on ferns and know several of the participants. That made the reading of this well written book even more compelling.

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women  by Kate Moore, 2017, 496 pages

The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War. Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night like industrious fireflies. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" are the luckiest alive — until they begin to fall mysteriously ill. But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women's cries of corruption. And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America's early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers' rights that will echo for centuries to come.

 Still Alice  by Lisa Genova, 2009, 353 pages

Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Fiercely independent, Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle and live in the moment, even as her sense of self is being stripped away. In turns heartbreaking, inspiring, and terrifying, Still Alice captures in remarkable detail what it’s like to literally lose your mind.

H IS FOR HAWK by HELEN MACDONALD, 2016, 320 pp (paperback ed.)

On the surface H is for Hawk is a falconry book chronicling the training of a Northern Goshawk, and yet it is so much more. It is a brilliantly written memoir of the darkest time in Helen Macdonald’s as she struggled to cope with the sudden death of her father, noted photographer, photo journalist Alisdair MacDonald. She spent a year training a northern goshawk in the wake of her father’s death. Having been a falconer for many years she purchased a young goshawk to help her through the grieving process. The story opens on Helen who is a protagonist as well as a falconer. She’s talking about how she loves birds. Specifically, she talks about the Goshawk, Known for being difficult to train, these savage birds have piqued her interest.

August 25, 2019 - Meeting at Celia's House

Thank you Celia for hosting and thanks for the article on how to make that great sandwich you served. 

We got our wine and filled our plates with appetizers including a tasty dish made from a mushroom picked by Marilyn.  It’s so fun when our food fits into the plot! 

The book discussed was The Inn At Lake Devine.  Everyone finished the book and found it a light read even though it is a serious topic.   Thanks Marilyn for the sheet translating the Yiddish words in the book (so many were familiar!).  Lori started off by asking for opinions from each of us.  We loved the young Natalie and her initiative in devising a way to stay at the Inn and her phone call to Mrs. Berry. 

The book covered various romances and a few tragedies - i.e. Robin's death and the closing of Inn due to mushroom poisoning.   Roz, our resident mycophagist, told us there is an antidote for mushroom poisoning.  The book gave no explanation as to why Mrs. Berry accepted only gentiles.  This led into discussion on prejudices and we had many questions on the history and traditions of Jews.  This took our conversation somewhat away from the content of the novel but it made for a very interesting meeting.

The Book chosen for discussion in October is:  

A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline

Diane has volunteered to host the October meeting.

Stephanie will submit reading list at the Oct. mtg

Next Meeting:

Sept. 29:     Claire's Bretton Woods Condo

Book:          A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner

Roz will submit reading list at the Sept. meeting

Mary Jo's Suggestions for our October Book

1.  An American Marriage by 

Tayari Jones-308 pages

published February 6, 2018

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. In this deft exploration of love, loyalty, race, justice, and both Black masculinity and Black womanhood in 21st century America, Jones achieves that most-elusive of all literary goals: the Great American Novel. 

2. Every Note Played by 

Lisa Genova-336 pages

published January 29, 2019

From neuroscientist and New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice comes a powerful exploration of regret, forgiveness, freedom, and what it means to be alive.
An accomplished concert pianist, Richard received standing ovations from audiences all over the world in awe of his rare combination of emotional resonance and flawless technique. Every finger of his hands was a finely calibrated instrument, dancing across the keys and striking each note with exacting precision. That was eight months ago.
Richard now has ALS, and his entire right arm is paralyzed. His fingers are impotent, still, devoid of possibility. The loss of his hand feels like a death, a loss of true love, a divorce—his divorce.
He knows his left arm will go next.
Three years ago, Karina removed their framed wedding picture from the living room wall and hung a mirror there instead. But she still hasn’t moved on. Karina is paralyzed by excuses and fear, stuck in an unfulfilling life as a piano teacher, afraid to pursue the path she abandoned as a young woman, blaming Richard and their failed marriage for all of it.
When Richard becomes increasingly paralyzed and is no longer able to live on his own, Karina becomes his reluctant caretaker. As Richard’s muscles, voice, and breath fade, both he and Karina try to reconcile their past before it’s too late.
Poignant and powerful, Every Note Played is a masterful exploration of redemption and what it means to find peace inside of forgiveness. 

 

3. A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline-352 pages-published February 21, 2017

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the smash bestseller Orphan Train, a stunning and atmospheric novel of friendship, passion, and art, inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s mysterious and iconic painting Christina’s World.
"Later he told me that he’d been afraid to show me the painting. He thought I wouldn’t like the way he portrayed me: dragging myself across the field, fingers clutching dirt, my legs twisted behind. The arid moonscape of wheatgrass and timothy. That dilapidated house in the distance, looming up like a secret that won’t stay hidden." 
To Christina Olson, the entire world was her family’s remote farm in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine. Born in the home her family had lived in for generations, and increasingly incapacitated by illness, Christina seemed destined for a small life. Instead, for more than twenty years, she was host and inspiration for the artist Andrew Wyeth, and became the subject of one of the best known American paintings of the twentieth century.
As she did in her beloved smash bestseller Orphan Train, Christina Baker Kline interweaves fact and fiction in a powerful novel that illuminates a little-known part of America’s history. Bringing into focus the flesh-and-blood woman behind the portrait, she vividly imagines the life of a woman with a complicated relationship to her family and her past, and a special bond with one of our greatest modern artists.
Told in evocative and lucid prose, A Piece of the World is a story about the burdens and blessings of family history, and how artist and muse can come together to forge a new and timeless legacy.

4. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah-435 p.

published February 6, 2018

Alaska, 1974.
Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.
For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.
Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.
Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown
At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources.
But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.
In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska―a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.

5. Clock Dance by Anne Tyler-292 p.

published July 10, 2018

A bewitching new novel of family and self-discovery from the best-selling, award-winning author of A Spool of Blue Thread.
Willa Drake can count on one hand the defining moments of her life. In 1967, she is a schoolgirl coping with her mother's sudden disappearance. In 1977, she is a college coed considering a marriage proposal. In 1997, she is a young widow trying to piece her life back together. And in 2017, she yearns to be a grandmother, yet the prospect is dimming. So, when Willa receives a phone call from a stranger, telling her that her son's ex-girlfriend has been shot, she drops everything and flies across the country to Baltimore. The impulsive decision to look after this woman and her nine-year-old daughter will lead Willa into uncharted territory--surrounded by eccentric neighbors, plunged into the rituals that make a community a family, and forced to find solace in unexpected places. A bittersweet, probing novel of hope and grief, fulfillment and renewal, Clock Dance gives us Anne Tyler at the height of her powers.

July 2019 Meeting hosted by Marilyn and Diane at Millbrook Pond

July 2019 Meeting Review:

Thanks to Marilyn and Diane the annual Meeting on the Pond made for a beautifully enjoyable day.  We all appreciate the work that goes into setting it up.

Kathy led the dialogue on What She Left Behind.    There was some discussion re Izzy’s foster care, her cutting, the bullying and her eventual visit with her mother which leads to her finding the truth behind her mother’s incarceration.  

The majority of conversation however was about Clara and the sad circumstances of that period which enabled women to be locked up without proven cause.  Again, as we have such a wonderful group of women with such diverse experiences, we were able to hear from some who were directly involved in psychiatric hospital care.   The 1984 release of patients from those facilities was a major failure done without providing any help for many of those who had spent their lives institutionalized.  

We did get back to Clara and the book and it was a happy ending as she reunites with her daughter.  This was a book that, while not liked by all, was able to reach us emotionally.

The book chosen for September discussion (with the deciding vote of Mary Jo even tho we missed her presence) is:

               A FALL OF MARIGOLDS 

               by Susan Meissner

Next Meeting:

Aug. 25:    Celia’s           

Book:        The Inn at Lake Devine 

                   by Elinor Lipman

Sept. 29:  Claire’s Bretton Woods

Oct. 27:    Diane has volunteered to Host

Submit on         ​Discuss on

MaryJo……..    Aug. 2019……….Oct. 2019

Roz………….   Sept. 2019……… Dec. 2019

Stephanie…..   Oct. 2019………..Jan. 2020

Ann F……….   Dec. 2019……….Feb. 2020

Ann S………..  Jan. 2020………...Mar. 2020

Carol ………..   Feb. 2020……….Apr. 2020

Celia ………...  Mar. 2020………..May 2020

Claire ……….   Apr. 2020………..June 2020

Diane ……….   May 2020………..July 2020

Joy …….. …...  June 2020……….Aug. 2020

Judy …………  July 2020………..Sept. 2020

Kathy D………  Aug. 2020……….Oct. 2020

Kathy Z………  Sept. 2020……….Dec. 2020

Lori ………….   Oct. 2020………..Jan. 2021

Marilyn ………  Dec. 2020……….Feb. 2021

This is the schedule alphabetically by first name as we have usually done it.

People not here for submittal date can always send by email.

Celia, I realize this is not good for you, maybe Claire or Diane can exchange with you – it’s still a long time away.

Kathy Z, thanks for your note, looks like if you swap with Judy it will work out fine.

Claire, Joy, Kathy D, and Ann S will be in Scotland for the July 2020 Meeting.

Joy's Suggestions for our September Book

Book Club Selections for September 2019

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women, by Kate Moore, 2017, 496 pages

The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War. Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night like industrious fireflies. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" are the luckiest alive — until they begin to fall mysteriously ill. But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women's cries of corruption. And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America's early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers' rights that will echo for centuries to come.

(A tie for last Month)

The Woman in the Window, by A.J. Finn, 2018, 464 pages

Anna Fox lives alone – a recluse in her NY city home, an agoraphobic, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking too much wine, watching old movies, recalling happier times, and spying on her neighbors. Then the Russells move into the house across the way. The perfect family. But when Anna gazes out her window one night, she sees something she shouldn’t and her world begins to crumble. From an alcoholic’s mind? What is Real and What is imagined? Who is in danger? A thriller!

An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones, 2018, 321 pages

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.

This stirring love story is a profoundly insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look deep into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward—with hope and pain—into the future.

A Fall of Marigolds, by Susan Meissner, 2014, 399 pages

A beautiful scarf connects two women touched by tragedy in this compelling, emotional novel.
September 1911. On Ellis Island in New York Harbor, nurse Clara Wood cannot face returning to Manhattan, where the man she loved fell to his death in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Then, while caring for a fevered immigrant whose own loss mirrors hers, she becomes intrigued by a name embroidered onto the scarf he carries...and finds herself caught in a dilemma that compels her to confront the truth about the assumptions she’s made. What she learns could devastate her—or free her.
September 2011. On Manhattan’s Upper West Side, widow Taryn Michaels has convinced herself that she is living fully, working in a charming specialty fabric store and raising her daughter alone. Then a long-lost photograph appears in a national magazine, and she is forced to relive the terrible day her husband died in the collapse of the World Trade Towers...the same day a stranger reached out and saved her. But a chance reconnection and a century-old scarf may open Taryn’s eyes to the larger forces at work in her life.

The Letter by Kathryn Hughes, 2015, pages 200+

Every so often a love story comes along to remind us that sometimes, in our darkest hour, hope shines a candle to light our way.

Tina Craig longs to escape her violent husband. She works all the hours God sends to save up enough money to leave him, also volunteering in a charity shop to avoid her unhappy home. Whilst going through the pockets of a second-hand suit, she comes across an old letter, the envelope firmly sealed and unfranked. Tina opens the letter and reads it - a decision that will alter the course of her life for ever...

Billy Stirling knows he has been a fool, but hopes he can put things right. On 4th September 1939 he sits down to write the letter he hopes will change his future. It does - in more ways than he can ever imagine...

The Letter tells the story of two women, born decades apart, whose paths are destined to cross and how one woman's devastation leads to the other's salvation.