Delphi Public Library's Read Spot

With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:39:00 +0000

Olivene "Ollie" Love is thirteen years old and tired of living on the road. Her father, Rev. Everlasting Love, travels from one poor town to another in search of saving another lost soul. Ollie's four sisters and mother follow him in a small travel trailer, faithfully passing out fliers, putting up tents and recruiting people to attend the evening services. Ollie would love to attend school and stay long enough in a town to make friends. Her father's three day rule has always made that impossible. Until the hot summer in 1957 when the Love family pull into Binder, Arkansas. There Ollie meets Jimmy Koppel, whose mother, Virginia, is in jail for murdering his no-count, drunk father. Jimmy and Ollie become convinced that she is innocent, even though she has signed a confession admitting to the crime. But, can Ollie and Jimmy find the real murderer? Jimmy says, "You got a phone book? That'd be your list of suspects." Ollie and Jimmy search for clues, come up against many people in Binder who are bent of judging and jailing Virginia without a trial. Rev. Love joins them in their quest to find the true murderer. Will he break his three-day rule and give Ollie the chance to solve the mystery and settle down in this town? Tess Hilmo has written a warm story about a close-knit family who live simply and struggle to make their world a better place, one soul at a time. For readers age 10-14.

Compelled by Love

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:26:00 +0000

By Heidi Baker. Heidi and her husband, Roland, are missionaries in Mozambique, one of the poorest nations in the world. Compelled By Love is their story of learning to do the Beatitudes - daily - always. The Beatitudes, Roland rightly tells us, is the most watered down of the scriptures because we think they are impossible to meet. Heidi shows us different.

The Bakers are not self-righteous people, but humble. Why humble? Because they learned this kind of life from the very poor they take in, feed and love. They learned it from getting low, sitting in the gutter with them, going to the dumps where the desperate scavage for whatever they may find. And God shows up in these low places.

This book, Heidi says, was written for the church in the West, however, because we mistakenly think we are so rich. She says this: "You see, where I live, (Mozambique) the poor know they are poor; they know thay are sick and hurting; and so they come and give their lives to Jesus by the hundreds every week around the country. But in your nation, (the West) your poor do not know they are poor, and your sick do not really know thay are sick unless they are dying of a disease and no one can help them. They look confident, and they appear as if they are together. But maybe they are not."

Do you want to make difference in your world, here in the West? Heidi will show you it is that smile, that hug, that loving the one in front of you, that we all can do if we but will, that transforms lives. But read the book; Heidi's story is amazing.

LOST DECEMBER by Richard Paul Evans

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:39:00 +0000

From the bestselling author of The Christmas Box and The Walk series comes an inspiring modern retelling of the story of the prodigal son.

When Luke Crisp graduates from business school, his father, CEO and co-founder of Fortune 500 Crisp's Copy Centers, is ready to share some good news: he wants to turn the family business business over to his son. But Luke has other plans. Taking control of his trust fund, Luke leaves home to pusue a life of reckless indulgence.

But when his funds run out, so do his friends. Humbled, alone, and too ashamed to ask his father for help. Luke secretly takes a lowly job at one of his father's copy centers. Then he falls in love with a struggling single mother and begins to understand the greatest source of personal joy.

Lost December is Richard Paul Evan's modern-day version of the biblical story of the prodigal son, a powerful tale of redemption, hope, and the true meaning of love.

Life by Keith Richards and James Fox

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:36:00 +0000

Life

by Keith Richards and James Fox

In the simplest terms, Keith Richard is a rock 'n roll icon and after reading his autobiography, I'm even more convinced.

A story of life... his life... touching upon such topics as how he handled fame, personal relationships including love interests and those he created with the members of the Stones, and his struggle to overcome his addiction to heroin.

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:30:00 +0000

While at a library conference in 2007 I picked up a galley copy of Hillary Jordan’s novel ‘Mudbound’. On the trip home, I devoured this beautifully written debut novel and looked forward to reading more from this promising author. Just a few days ago I saw Jordan’s newest book, ‘When She Woke’ on the shelf and seeing it prompted me to give you a little nudge in her direction.

Mudbound tells the story of Henry McAllen who brings his city-bred wife Laura to live in a desolate cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta. The year is 1946 and WW II war-weary soldiers are just starting to come home, hoping to resume a life on the farms where they grew up. Henry’s brother Jamie returns to help his older sibling along with Ronsel Jackson, the eldest son of a black sharecropper who lives on the McAllen farm.

Laura makes a noble attempt to make the Delta her home but finds it difficult with no indoor plumbing or electricity. The isolation and the primitive conditions where Laura must raise 2 young children becomes an everyday struggle for her and she fears for her sanity and her children’s safety. When the relentless rains come, the waters rise over the only accessible road and the family becomes stranded in a quagmire of mud, emotional tension and ingrained racial bigotry. The combination of these difficulties lead to gruesome and fateful consequences in a novel that brings a deluge of interesting characters and a convincing sense of place.
This book is filled with fully formed characters and beautiful prose. In fact it earned the Bellwether Prize for Fiction, awarded biennially to a first literary novel that addresses issues of social justice. If you are looking for a tidy and sweet read, this is not it. But if you are longing for a page turner that brings you face to face with a story wrought with tension and memorable characters, this could be it.

What Would You Do?

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:31:00 +0000

Scott Spencer's beautiful tale, Man in the Woods, is the story of a quiet, gentle, responsible man, who in one chance encounter in the woods, commits a crime--a violent crime--with no one to witness it except a dog he takes home and names Shep. He did a very wrong thing--but for a right reason. (I can't tell you more without giving away a core piece of the story!) What would you do if this happened to you? If you thought you could absolutely get away with it? Could you live with it? Paul thought he could, and in the moments immediately after the incident, he panics and feels he has no choice. But he bears this terrible burden, and it dramatically affects his life with his lover Kate and her daughter Ruby. He is not a religious man, but he is a thoughtful, considerate one, and the guilt is overwhelming. Spencer is so elegant about telling a story and detailing his characters. He must be an animal-lover, because he did a great job portraying Shep, who has withstood abuse and cruelty and yet retains a sweet and loving disposition. The book is suspenseful, because you don't know whether Paul will be found out. And by the end, you sincerely hope he won't be.

Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:53:00 +0000

On a stormy winter night, two strangers wait for a flight at the Salt Lake City airport. Ashley Knox is an attractive, successful writer, who is flying East for her much anticipated wedding. Dr. Ben Payne has just wrapped up a medical conference and is also eager to return home to Jacksonville, FL for a slate of surgeries he has scheduled for the following day. When the last outgoing flight is canceled due to a broken do-icer and a forthcoming storm, Ben finds a charter plane that can take him around the storm and drop him in Denver to catch a connection. And when the pilot says the single engine prop plane can fit one more, if barely, Ben offers the seat to Ashley knowing that she needs to get back just as urgently. And then the unthinkable happens. The pilot has a heart attack mid-flight and the plane crashes into the High Uintas Wilderness--one of the largest stretches of harsh and remote land in the United States.

Ben, who has broken ribs and Ashley, who suffers a terrible leg fracture, along with the pilot's dog are faced with an incredibly harrowing battle to survive. Fortunately, Ben is a medical professional and avid climber (and in a lucky break, has his gear from a climb earlier in the week). With little hope for rescue, he must nurse Ashley back to health and figure out how they are going to get off the mountain, where the temperature hovers in the teens. Meanwhile, Ashley soon realizes that the very private Ben has some serious emotional wounds to heal as well. He explains to Ashley that he is separated from his beloved wife, but in a long standing tradition, he faithfully records messages for her on his voice recorder reflecting on their love affair. As Ashley eavesdrops on Ben's tender words to his estranged wife she comes to fear that when it come to her own love story, she's just settling. And what's more: she begins to realize that the man she is really attracted to, that man she may love, is Ben.

As the days on the mountains become weeks, their survival becomes increasingly perilous. How will they make it out the wilderness and if they do, how will this experience change them forever?

Both a tender and page-turning read, The Mountain Between Us will reaffirm your belief in the power of love to sustain us.

THE CHRISTMAS NOTE By Donna VanLiere

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:21:00 +0000

The story is about Gretchen Daniel, a lonely military mom of two children who moves into a condo to be closer to her mother. She soon encounters a neighbor, Melissa McCreay, who seems distant and likes to keep to herself. The landlord comes over to Gretchen's house looking for Melissa who wasn't at home. He asks Gretchen to tell her new neighbor that her mother has recently passed away. After telling Melissa the news, Gretchen feels compelled to help this unfriendly individual she recently met even though she knows Melissa doesn't want any help.

They find a half witten letter from Melissa's mother while cleaning out her apartment and this letter lets Melissa know that she was adopted. Melissa now begins a search for her family, allows a friendship with Gretchen to develop, and discovers she has a sister and a brother. Neither Melissa or Gretchen has any idea of the twists and turns they will face as their lives become intertwined. This is a story full of laughter, discovery, healing, and forgiveness.

The Dovekeepers

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:32:00 +0000

Over five years in the writing,
The Dovekeepers is Alice Hoffman’s most ambitious and mesmerizing novel, a tour de force of imagination and research, set in ancient Israel.
In 70 C.E., nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic and iconic event, Hoffman’s novel is a spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path. Yael’s mother died in childbirth, and her father, an expert assassin, never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker’s wife, watched the horrifically brutal murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her young grandsons, rendered mute by what they have witnessed. Aziza is a warrior’s daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless rider and an expert marksman who finds passion with a fellow soldier. Shirah, born in Alexandria, is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with uncanny insight and power.
The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets—about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love. The Dovekeepers is Alice Hoffman’s masterpiece.
Amazon review.

Crossing the Tracks by Barbara Stuber

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:34:00 +0000

It's 1926 in Achinson, Missouri and fifteen-year-old Iris feels like a shadow in her own home. Her mother died of tuberculosis when she was five and since then, her father has remained distant from her and has poured himself into his shoe store. Iris doesn't seem to fit anywhere in his life. Her father decides to send her away for the summer to be the companion of Dr. Nesbitt's elderly mother in rural Wellsford while he goes to Kansas City to open up a new shoe store in that booming town with his new fiance, Celeste. Iris and Mrs. Nesbitt soon learn they have much in common; they are both mourning lost loved ones in their lives, Iris her mother and Mrs. Nesbitt her other son Morris. Together they learn to " dust off the memories" and a deep friendship forms between them. Dr. Nesbitt is kind, calm, understanding and teaches Iris to drive his Model-T so that she may take Mr. Nesbitt on errands. Iris feels welcomed in their home but misses the companionship of her best friend from back home, Leroy. Cecil, the Nesbitt's tenant farmer, and his daughter Dot, who does their laundry every week, are disturbing elements in Iris' life. Cecil is menacing and makes Iris feel very uncomfortable when he is around. Dot is prickly and antagonistic to Iris. Dot says her mother, Pansy, has "passed on". Mrs. Nesbitt says Pansy has merely left Cecil and run away unable to stand living with Cecil any longer. When tragedy happens, Iris must look inside herself and find the courage, cunning and will it will take to stop this evil man from destroying his daughter's life. Warm and humorous, this story tells how one girl discovers her inner strength and beauty and ultimately finds new hope, a new home and love.

Growing Up Amish

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:47:00 +0000

This story, by Ira Wagler, is a page turner from start to finish. Not only is it insightful into the Amish lifestyle, but it is a worthy and true account of a young man on a pursuit to finding himself and finding God. The story begins with 17 year old Ira Wagler, stealing out of the house at 2 a.m., leaving behind his family, and the Amish way of life. Ira eventually returns, but again leaves only to return again, and again and again. His experiences with the English and his turmoil and guilt with the Amish reveal a restless spirit and inner tug-of-war.

An honest account of a life reaching for that peace that puts a heart at rest. You'll grow to love Ira Wagler and want to know more about him!

Don't go into the woods!

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 11:22:00 +0000

Those Across the River

Christopher Buehlman

When Frank Nichols inherits his family's old estate in Whitbrow, a rural Southern town in Georgia, he packs up his mistress Dora and moves to the country. His plans are to write a book about his family history and to make an attempt at moving past the haunted memories of his involvement in the Great War.

Frank and Dora soon discover that the townsfolk of Whitbrow have some particularly odd traditions, such as sending sacrificial pigs across the river and into a nearby woods. When the couple sit in on a town meeting and influence the vote regarding the sacrifice, the horror begins to slowly descend on the town and it's inhabitants.

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:26:00 +0000

A Stolen Life is a memoir by Jaycee Dugard who was normal kid until the summer of 1991 when she was abducted. For eighteen years she was a prisoner. She was an object for someone to use and abuse. For eighteen years she was not allowed to speak her own name.
Her life was stolen one ordinary Monday morning as she was walking up the hill to catch the school bus in June 1991. She was coming to the part of the hill at which she had been taught to cross to the other side by Carl (her step-father) and her mom who had decided this was the best place to stand and wait for the school bus. As Jaycee is walking she heards a car behind her, she looks back expecting the car to pass but to her surprise the car pulls up beside her. The driver (Phillip Garrido) rolls down his window and leans slightly out of his car and starts to ask her for directions. His hand shoots out of the window so fast she barely registers that he has something black in his hand. Jaycee hears a crackling sound and she feels paralyzed. She tries to get away but can only scoot away to the bushes at the side of the road. Jaycee's life will suddenly change not for the better. For eighteen years she was a prisoner. She was an object for someone to use and abuse.
Jaycee's story is refresing in that it's written by her, and not from a co-author. Much of the book are pages and pages taken from the actual journal entries she wrote while in her backyard prison.
On August 26, 2009, Jaycee took back her name. She doesn't think of herself as a victim. She survived to tell her story.

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake: A Novel

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:36:00 +0000

Every June the Moses clan gathers on a sprawling Arkansas farm owned by Calla and John Moses. Married for years, with adult children and grandchildren, the couple live a separate existence in the rambling old farmhouse. Calla runs a self serve grocery in the front of the house while John runs an all-night bar out the back. For most family members, the return 'home' is just a quick trip down the road but for Samuel Lake and his wife Willadee, the trek is a sacrifice and one that Samuel does not embrace. With their three children in tow, they make the long trip from what ever small church Samuel is currently serving as minister. The Lake children look upon the reunion as an escape - a week-long reprieve from the expectations of being 'preacher's kids'. This particular summer, Eleven-year-old Swan Lake and her brothers find their visit extended when, during the reunion, John Moses dies and Samuel finds that he has been relieved of his church appointment. The family stays on and in the coming weeks and months they mutually discover much about this place, their family and Samuel's true calling. It is Swan Lake who cleverly lays out the events in Jenny Wingfield's beautiful debut novel. Wingfield's characters are complex, quirky and wonderful people to spend some quality time and who make you wish that you were part of their clan.

The Keeper of Lost Things

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:30:00 +0000

Written by Jussi Adler-Olsen, Denmark's premier crime author, this is a fun, fast read. It's the first of his new series featuring Department Q. When detective Carl Morck arrives at a crime scene, shots ring out and one of his partners is killed and the other completely paralyzed. Carl is also shot abut blames himself for his team's condition.

After he recovers from his wound, Carl is selected to be the head of the new Department Q. He is allowed to hire an assistant/cleaner and a Muslim named Assad is hired by "those in charge". Assad is a thoughly likeable character who is a jack of all trades and very interested in crime.

Department Q is assigned cold cases of which there are many. Carl who is suffering from PTSD is content at first to sit, drink coffee and do nothing. But finally a case peaks his interest. Five years earlier a beautiful up and coming politician disappeared from a ferry while traveling with her brain damaged brother. This case is so cold that is seems unlikely to be solved. But when Carl and Assad finally work together, they prove to be a top notch team.

Of the new crop of Scandinavian mysteries, this one is an easy fast read with great characters and a victim to root for. I can hardly wait til the next book comes out.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:01:00 +0000

With fall being back to school season for many, it's the perfect time for those of us who are no longer students to pursue reading one of the classics that we may have missed in our own student days. The Delphi Morning Book Club is reading Emma, by Jane Austen, this month. In some ways, Emma is like other Austen books in that it focuses on courtship and marriage, social status and manners. But this book's heroine, Emma, is a bit different from Ms. Austen's typical main character. Emma is financially secure and not really interested in marriage for herself--she doesn't need a man for her financial support, which puts her in an enviable position. Emma, however, is interested in marriage when it comes to other couples. She sees herself as a matchmaker, protector, and counselor for a young girl, Harriet Smith, who in turn idolizes her. The entire book is about misinterpretations and misunderstanding concerning who wants to, who should, and who is able to marry whom. It's quite amazing that a book first published in 1816 could be so funny and appealing to modern readers. We have multiple copies of Emma available. Stop by the library to pick one up, and retreat to the 19th century for a while.

Theodore Boone: The Abduction

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 15:12:00 +0000

Theodore Boone is back! When author John Grisham introduced the "Kid Lawyer" last year he suggested that he intended to write a series of juvenile books featuring the 13 year old legal whiz. His purpose; open up his main genre to a younger audience. The pay off: another generation of readers to get turned on to the likes of The Firm & The Pelican Brief as they get older. Perhaps he's onto something.

In this episode, Theo's girlfriend & classmate, April Finnemore, is missing. The entire town of Strattenburg turns out to look for her & is turned upside down as information begins to surface. Distant relative & general reprobate Jack Leeper has coincidentally escaped from prison in California, has been seem in Strattenburg, & has been known to correspond with the eight-grader. Police find in him a perfect suspect. Theo's Uncle Ike offers another choice for the eight-grade boys to focus on: April's rarely seem, washed out musician father.

Action begins with the first sentence of the book: "The Abduction of April Finnemore took place in the dead of night...."& continues page after page. Young adult readers will enjoy it; intermediate readers will, too. In fact, Grisham fans of all ages will like the fast paced stories featuring Theo Boone. Can not wait for the next story starring the whiz teen-aged lawyer.

Ten Thousand Saints and a Few Flawed People

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:54:00 +0000

Eleanor Henderson's debut novel, Ten Thousand Saints, is a take on two unusual families living in Vermont and New York in the late 1980s whose lives become linked forever. We first meet Jude and Teddy, 16-year-old high school buddies who seem to spend much of their time getting high or figuring out how to get high. But don't judge the book just by that fact. We know from the beginning that Teddy will die from an overdose at the end of the day (New Year's Eve, 1987). After that occurs, the rest of the book is the story about how the survivors go on. Jude's adoptive parents are divorced, and his dad has moved to New York. His girlfriend's daughter comes to town on New Year's Eve and initiates the chain of events that leads to Teddy's death, and Jude's subsequent move to New York to live with his father. Another family member key to the story is Johnny, Teddy's older brother, a New York tattoo artist who Teddy and Jude had idolized. Jude soon takes up with Johnny and his friends, who are "straight edge," meaning no drugs, alcohol, meat, or sex. Are you thinking right now that this book is not for you? Well, I understand, because I was hesitant of the subject matter, too. But let me tell you that Henderson so skillfully devises her characters that I came to empathize and understand them, even though I didn't relate at all to their actions. She delves into issues such as tattooing, heavy metal music, music raves (at which people slam into each other as a form of dancing), straight-edge lifestyles, homosexuality, teenage pregnancy, and drug addiction--all big issues in and of themselves--with an approach that is nonjudgmental but cuts to the chase. I learned a lot about lifestyles that are completely foreign from my own and watched these characters live and learn and grow from it. Isn't that what a great novel should do? Read it, and I believe you won't be disappointed.

Keeper by Kathi Appelt

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:39:00 +0000

10 year old Keeper has messed everything up this time! She burned the special Crab Gumbo that Signe was preparing for their Blue Moon celebration which spoiled Dogie's two-word proposal song he was going to sing to Signe tonight, and then she broke the special flower that only blooms during the Blue Moon and now everyone was mad, mad, mad! All because she had heard the crabs talking to her! Now Keeper and her dog, B.D. (Best Dog), are on their way to the sandbar in a small boat looking for her mermaid mother, Meggie Marie, and hoping that she might grant her wish. Keeper needs some magic tonight, and maybe the Meggie Marie will make her wish come true. But when the rip current takes her farther and farther out into the rough waters of the Gulf of Mexico, panic sets in and the fairy tales that lured her out there go tumbling into the waves. Maybe the Blue Moon isn't magic and maybe the sandbar won't sparkle with mermaids and maybe Keeper may drift farther and farther away from the only family she knows and loves. But flying above them is their friend Captain, the seagull, and just maybe he can let everyone know where Keeper and B.D. are! This book will sweep readers away into a world where mermaids swim in the waves and 10 year old girls learn the true meaning of love. This book is on the JFic shelf in the Children's Room. Check it out!

The Dry Grass of August

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:44:00 +0000

The Dry Grass of August, By Anna Jean Mayhew, tells the simple story of thirteen-year old Jubie Watts, a privileged white Southern teen whose eyes will soon be opened to the racism of the 1950s.

Jubie leaves Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family for a Florida vacation. The year is 1954. Crammed into the car along with Jubie are her three siblings, her mother, and the family's black maid, Mary Luther. Jubie can't help but take note of the anti-integration signs they pass, and the racial tension that builds as they journey further south. When the trip takes a shocking turn, Jubie is faced with deciding where her own convictions lie.

This novel is many things: well-written, enjoyable, bearing a story line and well developed characters that live on long after the final chapter is laid aside, better than The Help, and finally, effective to remind us (shock us) of a time not so long ago. Glad I read it!

SILVER GIRL By Elin Hilderbrand

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 20:35:00 +0000

Getting away to Nantucket island to visit her one-time best friend may be just what Meredith Martin Delinn's needs. Meredith and her boys hae been living the "high life" for many years. Meredith's husband, Freddy, was one of those wonderful guys on Wall Street that got caught by the SEC making off with his clients' money and dragged his wife and family down with him. Freddy is now sitting in jail and his sons and wife are also under investigation. Merdith with little money left contacts her friend, Constance Fluke. Their friendship fizzled out when Constance and her husband took out their money with Freddy a fews years ago.

Connie has her own troubles for her husband, an architect, died of cancer and now her only daughter is no longer speaking with her. Connie and Meredith try to mend their relationship after Meredith moves in with her at Nantucket Island. Many themes present themselves in this novel--Greed, Betrayal, and Deceit. All three were ruining many lives. As you read this book, you will start to ask yourself: Do I really know the people I have in my life relationships? Hopefully we do.

The Talk-Funny Girl

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:12:00 +0000

The Talk-Funny Girl by Roland Merullo

Seventeen-year-old Marjorie Richards is frightened. Teenage girls have gone missing in her rural New Hampshire town, never to be seen alive again. But her fear that she harbors runs deeper than what is currently making the headlines. She lives in constant worry and fear at home as well.

Marjorie's parents live deep in isolation from normal society. So isolated that they've developed their own dialect, which they've passed onto their daughter. They have also fallen under the seduction of a sadistic cult leader who has his own ideas about how to discipline sinners.

After being sent out on a job search (the check that her father receives each month for a fake back injury isn't covering their monthly expenses), failing and then being physically abused by her family's minister, a kind aunt steps in and finds Marjorie work with a young man who is building a cathedral in town, stone by stone.

As Marjorie learns and develops the skill of working with stone, her self-confidence develops as well and she soon realizes that hope does exist and that she can eventually break free from a life of torment and bleakness.

The Goodbye Quilt by Susan Wiggs

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 20:31:00 +0000

Susan Wiggs writes straight from the heart about the bonds between mother and daughter.

The Goodbye Quilt is the perfect read for any woman who's had to let go of someone special.

Linda Davis's local fabric shop is a place where women gather to share their creations: quilts commemorating important events in their lives. Wedding quilts, baby quilts, memorial quilts - each is bound tight with dreams, hopes and yearning.

Now, as her only child readies for college, Linda is torn between excitement for Molly and heartache for herself. Who will she be when she is no longer needed in her role as mom? What will become of her days? Of her marriage?

Mother and daughter decide to share one last adventure together-a cross-country road trip to move Molly into her dorm. As they wend their way through the heart of the country, Linda stitches together the scraps that make up Molly's young life. And in the quilting of each bit of fabric-the hem of a christening gown, a snippet from a Halloween costume-Linda discovers that the memories of a shared journey can come together in a way that will keep them both warm in the years to come.

Save Me by Lisa Scottoline

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:49:00 +0000

Nobody could have foreseen what would happen the day that Rose McKenna volunteers as a lunch mom in the cafeteria of her daughter's elementary school. Rose dose it to keep a discreet eye on her third grader, Melly, a sweet, if shy, child who was born with a facial birthmark that has become her won personal bull's-eye. Melly has been targeted by the mean girl at their new school & gets bullied every day, placing Rose in a no-win position familiar to parents everywhere: Do we step in to protect our children when they need us or does that make things worse?

When the bully starts to tease Melly yet again, Rose is about to leap into action - but right then, that unthinkable happens, Rose finds herself in a nightmare, faced with an emergency decision that no mother should ever have to make. What she decides in that split second derails Rose's life & jeopardizes everyone she holds dear, until she takes matters into her own hands & lays her life on the line to save her child, her family, her marriage and herself.

A Matter of Faith

noreply@blogger.com (Library Staff) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:41:00 +0000

Jennifer Haigh's new novel, Faith, is further proof of her amazing talent. Faith looks at one family and examines their faith in God, family, and the world through the lens of a scandal that has become all too familiar in the last few years. The narrator, Sheila, leads us through the story of how Arthur, her brother and a Catholic priest, is accused of inappropriate sexual activity with a young boy. All through the book, we accompany Sheila, Arthur, and their brother Mike on this journey through their childhood and subsequent years, seeing Arthur as the family knows him and also as the world views him. Sheila and Mike are sometimes at cross-purposes, and their faith in Arthur tips and sways throughout. The reader is taken along on this emotional ride and allowed to speculate on the truth until the final pages. The book is heartbreaking, sensitive, and somewhat critical of the Catholic heirarchy, but readers of all faiths will enjoy it.