Books Set in North America, New England

Something Wild, by Hanna Halperin (2021)

This novel is about domestic violence.

Sisters Tanya and Nessa Bloom are horrified to discover that their mother is in an abusive relationship with their stepfather.  Although their mother, Lorraine, has been with Jesse for over 16 years, the sisters haven’t lived at home for years.  When their mother and stepfather decide to move from Boston to rural New Hampshire, the sisters go to help with the move.

Almost as soon as the sisters arrive to help their mother, Jesse attempts to strangle Lorraine.  He is so violent that Lorraine is left with two bloodshot eyes.  Tanya, who works in the District Attorney’s Office in Boston, encourages her mother to file a restraining order against Jesse.  She does but fails to provide sufficient information in the form to give the judge cause to sign an order.  Jesse promises to reform, and even go to couple’s therapy with Lorraine.  Although Tanya fears the worst, Lorraine agrees to take Jesse back, because she loves him and believes that he can reform.

It was very well written, although a subplot involving the sisters as teenages seems a bit misplaced.

Read:  March 10, 2024

4 Stars

Books Set in North America: New Hampshire, United States

Mad Honey, by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan (2022)

 

Jodi Picoult’s book tackle timely social topics and Mad Honey is no different.  Her books also come with twists – some the reader may seem coming and others that come as a complete surprise.  This novel deals with both domestic violence and transgender issues.

 

The underlying theme of beekeeping and honey is, of course, a metaphor for life.  Mad Honey refers to the honey made from rhododendrons and mountain laurels.  The grayanotoxins from these flowers can make one very ill.  Mad honey is deceptive, because you believe it to be sweet, but not to be deadly.  It isn’t until after you become ill, that you realize the potency of the honey.

 

In this novel, high school senior Asher McAfee is living with his mother in northern New Hampshire.  They moved there when he was a young child after his mother left his abusive father.  His mother took over her family’s beekeeping operation following the death of her father.

 

In his final year of high school, he meets Lily Campanello, newly arrived from the west coast.  Like Asher, Lily is living with her single mother, having fled a troubled relationship with her father.  Lily has deep secrets and to keep these secrets, she lies about her past.  Some big lies, some small lies, and some lies of omission.

 

The novel goes back and forth in time.  The novel is told mostly in the voice of Asher’s mother Olivia, and in flashback, in Lily’s voice.

 

The book opens with Asher cradling the body of Lily at the bottom of the staircase in her home.  It appears they had a fight and Asher is charged with her murder.  Throughout the long trial, in which Asher’s uncle is the defense counsel, evidence is presented that could be interpreted to present a guilty verdict.  Mixed into the texture of the novel are tidbits about bees and honey.  I found these to be more interesting than the trial itself.

 

Read:  October 15, 2023

 

3 Stars

 

 

Books Set in North America, California, United States

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, by Robert Dugoni (2018)

Sam Hill was born with a rare genetic condition known as ocular albinism, which makes his eyes red.  His mother enrolled him into a Catholic Elementary School, Our Lady of Mercy, but the school initially rejected his application due to his eye condition.  The school feared that the other children would make fun of him.  They did.  They called him the Devil Boy, and Sam Hell.  It didn’t help that the school’s principal, Sister Beatrice, had it in for him and made him miserable.

Sam’s only school friends wer Ernie Cantwell, the only Black student at the school, and Michaela “Mickie” Kennedy, a rebel in her own right.

Sam’s mother is extremely devout and tells Sam that each of his trials and tribulations is a result of “God’s will.”  Sam endures the bullying from a classmate who comes from a home where violence rules.  Forty years later, he is confronted by the bully again and learns time has not taken the edge off his foe.

This is a novel about faith.  Although Sam loses the faith of his mother, his mother’s teachings comfort him throughout is life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

Read:  August 25, 2023

4.5 Stars

Books Set in the United States: California

Trail of Broken Wings, by Sejal Badani (2015)

This novel follows three sisters and their mother who come together after their father has fallen into a coma and is in the hospital.  Each of the women carries a terrible secret.  After emigrating to the United States with his wife and two daughters, the third daughter, Sonya is born.  From her earliest memories, Sonya was told that she was not wanted and should have been aborted.  The father becomes increasingly more abusive to his family.  His abuse, however, is never addressed and all the women in the family put forth a face to the public of a perfect family.  The oldest daughter, Marin, enters into an arranged marriage but has build a successful career where she carefully controls everyone  in her life.  Trisha, the middle daughter, seems to have the perfect life with a loving husband, but refused to have a child for fear she will become like her father.  Sonya pushes everyone away from her.  This novel tells of the aftermath of abuse.  It was wonderfully written.

5 Stars

Read: April 21, 2016

Books Set in the United States: Vermont

Secrets of Eden, by Chris Bohjalian (2010)

Another novel about domestic violence.  This book was much better than The Hurricane Sisters, however.

The novel follows the alleged murder-suicide of Alice and George Hayward from four different perspectives.

4 Stars

Read:  June 28, 2014

Books Set in the United States: South Carolina

The Hurricane Sisters, by Dorothy Benton Frank (2014)

This was a rather heavy handed novel about domestic violence.

3 Stars

Read: June 12, 2014