09.01.09
The Day the Falls Stood Still
Title: The Day the Falls Stood Still
Author: Cathy Marie Buchanan
Publisher: Voice, August 2009
Summary: This is a sweeping historical romance set in the Niagara Falls area of Canada during the early 20th century. Bess Heath has just finished her junior year at an exclusive private school when she discovers that life at home has changed dramatically. Her father has lost his job and has been drinking the days away, her mother is working as a seamstress to keep food on the table, and Bess’ older sister, Isabel, is suffering from depression as a result of her broken engagement. As Bess tries to keep Isabel from wasting away and her family from falling apart, she falls in love with Tom Cole. Tom is the grandson of the famous river man and local legend Fergus Cole. Bess’ parents, however, do not approve of Tom and force the pair into a clandestine relationship.
The Day the Falls Stood Still gives the reader a glimpse of the beauty and history of Niagara Falls during a period when, for a few opportunistic men, respect for the falls was lost and the race to harness its energy begun. This is a captivating story with wonderful characters in a beautiful setting. You may even find yourself wanting to take a trip up north to experience the majesty of the falls in person.
Who will like this book? Fans of historical fiction, romance, or if you want a light, quick read.
Recommended by: Sue, Circulation Coordinator
06.03.09
The Heretic’s Daughter
Title: The Heretic’s Daughter
Author: Kathleen Kent
Publisher: Little, Brown; September 2008
Summary: Young Sarah Carrier has a tense relationship with her bold and opinionated mother, Martha. When she is sent to live with her aunt, cousins, and charismatic uncle during an outbreak of the plague, she wishes never to return to her parent’s household and backbreaking farm life. A family dispute over inherited land is soon overshadowed by an even larger threat to those who do not toe the line of Puritan conformity. The gossip about witches in the neighboring town of Salem soon escalates beyond any reason, and soon enough Martha Carrier is named a witch by the courts. Before she is arrested, she must ask Sarah, only 10 years old, to do the unthinkable.
Illuminating the horrifying nature of the trials, and the atrocious conditions those accused were forced to live in, The Heretic’s Wife is historical fiction at it’s best. You will read this engrossing debut novel, written by a descendant of the Carrier family, in no time at all.
Who will like this book?: People who like intense historical fiction or who are interested in the Salem Witch Trials.
If you like this, try this: The Minister’s Daughter by Julie Hearn. A mystery set in modern-day Salem, The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry.
Recommended by: Nicole, Teen Librarian
05.20.09
The Vagrants
Title: The Vagrants
Author: Yiyun Li
Publisher: Random House, February 2009
Summary: The Vagrants takes place in the town of Muddy River in China during the late 1970s. The focus of the story is the execution of Gu Shan as a counterrevolutionary and the effect that her death has on various members of her community. Some of these residents were victims of Gu Shan during her days as a Red Guard and are excited about the upcoming denunciation ceremony and her execution. Others realize this is another injustice. The reader is introduced to several characters but what they have most in common is the oppression they suffer at the hands of their communist government. This is a tragic story but well worth reading.
Who will like this book? Readers who like historical fiction.
Recommended by: Sue, Circulation Coordinator
05.13.09
Water Ghosts
Title: Water Ghosts
Author: Shawna Yang Ryan
Publisher: Penguin Press, April 2009
Summary: According to Chinese superstition, those who die by drowning will seek the living to take their place.
It’s 1928 and the residents of Locke, California and the surrounding towns are getting ready for the Dragon Boat Festival. All is going smoothly until an unknown boat drifts to shore. The boat is carrying three bedraggled Chinese women and seems to have come out of nowhere. One of the women is Ming Wai, the wife that Richard Fong left behind in China several years ago. Richard is now the manager of a successful gambling parlor in Locke and was never able to return to China for his wife. While Ming Wai was languishing in China, Richard was living comfortably as a bachelor in California, complete with his own prostitute.Most of the townspeople are confused about the arrival of the three women but Poppy See, the brothel madam is suspicious. Poppy is a seer and had a premonition of bodies washing ashore before the women arrived. Now strange things are happening to the town and the people living there.
Water Ghosts is a wonderfully written tale of love, loss, and the consequences of betrayal.
Who will like this book? Fans of historical fiction and mystery.
Recommended by: Sue, Circulation Coordinator
04.24.09
A Reliable Wife
Title: A Reliable Wife
Author: Robert Goolrick
Publisher: Algonquin, March 2009
Summary: Robert Goolrick resurrects the Gothic romance! This book is so dark, suspenseful, sensual, and scary that I’m not quite sure how to begin to explain it, accept to say that is absolutely fabulous. It’s 1907 Wisconsin, the dead of winter, and everything is dark, frozen, covered with snow. Ralph Truitt stands on the platform of the train station, awaiting the arrival of his new wife-to-be under the watchful eyes of practically everyone who lives in his small rural town (that is everyone who hasn’t gone murderously insane.) Catherine Land sits on the train, having answered Truitt’s ad in the newspaper, on her way to marry him. She says goodbye to her past, literally throwing the remnants of it out the window of the private railway car he has sent for her (yes, he’s that rich). We don’t know much, but we know that Catherine is definitely not who she’s pretending to be, and that’s only the beginning of all of the terrible secrets buried in this book.
Part DuMaurier, part Poe, part Bronte (and even a little bit part Stephen King), Goolrick has masterfully created a suspenseful tale that will leave you breathless, really. He writes for all of the senses, and brings us to a world that is simply tragic and utterly beautiful.
Recommended by: Mary, Branch Reference
04.01.09
Etta
Title: Etta
Author: Gerald Kolpan
Publisher: Ballantine Books, March 2009
Summary: Who was Etta Place? Historians know her as an elusive and beautiful member of the outlaw gang “The Wild Bunch”. She is also known for her legendary romance with the Sundance Kid. Etta’s true identity and her fate after the Sundance Kid’s death remain a mystery. Gerald Kolpan has imagined and written a life story for this enigmatic woman. Though this is a work of fiction, it is clear the author extensively researched the era and included details about a number of things-from the Pinkerton Agency to railroad food. This clever debut novel will transport you back in time to the not-so-wild west and life on the run as a fugitive member of The Wild Bunch.
Who will like this book? Fans of historical fiction.
Recommended by: Sue, Circulation Coordinator
02.02.09
The Whiskey Rebels
Title: The Whiskey Rebels
Author: David Liss
Publisher: Random House, September 2008
Summary: This is a great historical thriller that takes place soon after the Revolutionary War. It follows the lives of two strangers, Joan Maycott and Ethan Saunders, as they try to make a life for themselves in a new and unstable nation. At the center is Alexander Hamilton, Treasury Secretary, who has become the enemy of both Joan and Ethan.
Joan and her husband Andrew have sold all they own for the chance at a good life on the Western Pennsylvania frontier. Whiskey, not money, is the currency on the frontier and Andrew has developed a new method of distilling whiskey that is sure to make the Maycotts and their partners a very powerful force. That is, however, until Alexander Hamilton proposes a tax on whiskey that the whiskey producers cannot pay.
Ethan has a different reason for hating Hamilton. Ethan blames Hamilton for the false accusations of treason leveed against him during the war. Accusations that cost Ethan his reputation and his fiancee. The real question is how far will these two people go to exact revenge on their enemies. Though this is a historical novel, the references to the fragile economy and manipulation of the stock market is interesting and timely.
Who will like this book? Anyone who enjoys historical fiction.
Recommended by: Sue, Circulation Coordinator
01.30.09
Madonnas of Leningrad
Title: Madonnas of Leningrad
Author: Debra Dean
Publisher: William Morrow, 2006
Summary: First, thanks to Claudia Silk, our discussion leader of the Woods Book Group, for choosing this title because I don’t think I would have picked it up otherwise. How did I miss it when it first came out?!?
Madonnas of Leningradis the story of Marina Buriakov and the memories that make up her lifetime. In the present day, she is an 82 year old woman, getting ready to take a trip with her family to attend her granddaughter’s wedding, which should be a joyous occasion. But Marina is slowly sinking into the abyss that is Alzheimer’s disease, making everyday tasks so difficult. And as her present slips away, the memories from her past become quite vivid, pulling her back to relive them. The author does a beautiful job of taking the reader into that time, bringing war-torn Russia to life. Marina is a docent at the State Hermitage Museum during the siege of Leningrad in the second World War, and it is part of her job to help stow away the priceless treasures of the museum to keep them safe from destruction and theft. Many workers and their families take refuge in the building’s basement, and to pass the time, Marina and a fellow worker walk through the empty rooms, creating a “memory palace,” envisioning the canvases that once occupied the now-empty frames.
This debut novel by Debra Dean is a work of art itself. Beautiful and poignant, it reminds us that our memories truly are treasures. For more on Madonnas of Leningrad, listen to our podcast of Debra Dean’s call in to the Woods Book Club.
Who will like this book?: Anyone with an interest in art history, World War II fiction, and/or family drama.
If you like this, try this: Remembering the Bonesby Frances Itani. The Siege by Helen Dumore.
Recommended by: Mary, Reference Librarian
11.20.08
Complete Stories
Title: The Complete Stories
Author: Flannery O’Connor
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1971
Summary: When I travel, I like to read books written by authors from that part of the world. So, on a recent trip to Savannah, I finally picked up A Good Man is Hard to Find, a book that had been on my ‘to-read’ list for ages. That book is contained within this larger collection of all the O’Connor’s short stories. While her career was relatively short, Flannery O’Connor was a highly-regarded master of the Southern Gothic: the scenery is dripping with humidity and the haunted characters all struggle as they are forced to face the darkness in their twisted souls.
Some of the tales are downright terrifying and some, like The River and A Stroke of Good Fortune end in a shocking, unpredictable turn of events. Almost all have characters coming to a not-so-pleasant realization about their place in the world. These are not happy stories, but the writing is so mesmerizing that you will find yourself rereading each turn of phrase. Don’t wait as long as I did to pick up this American classic!
Who will like this book: Fans of short stories, regional fiction, and darker themes. People who like their books a little twisted.
If you like this, try this:Other great Southern Gothic authors include Truman Capote, Carson McCullers and Tennessee Williams. Flannery O’Connor: A Life by Jean W. Cash.
Recommended by: Nicole, Teen Librarian
10.20.08
Serena
Title: Serena
Author: Ron Rash
Publisher: Ecco, October 2008
Summary: Have you ever read a book that is so good, you just don’t understand how the author isn’t more well-known? For me, that book was the astonishing One Foot in Eden by Ron Rash. This talented author’s words are so devastatingly beautiful that they make you stop and re-read the same sentence over and over again. His latest book, like his previous efforts, is set in Appalachia, this time in the Western North Carolina’s logging fields of the late 1920s. It is there we meet Pemberton, the owner of a lumber company racing to clean out the forest before he loses his land to a planned National Park, and his wife, Serena.
Pemberton is an ambitious man, and Serena is more than his equal. Her unrelenting drive allows no questioning, and certainly no opposition. The violence and danger of life in a lumber camp is mirrored by the treacherous actions of Serena, who may be the most memorable female villain since Lady Macbeth. This fabulous book opens a window into a forgotten past, and will resonate with historical fiction fans, as well as readers who enjoy a good thriller.
Who will like this book? Fans of regional fiction. People who enjoy thrillers that aren’t procedural or formulaic.
If you like this, try this: One Foot in Eden and The World Made Straight, both by Ron Rash.
Recommended by: Nicole, Teen Librarian
