Books Set in North America, Massena, New York, United States

The Accusation: Blood Libel in an American Town, by Edward Berenson (2019)

Read:  June 8, 2025

3 Stars

Books Set in North America; United States of America, New York, California, Washington State

Real Americans, by Rachel Khong (2024)

Read:  May 15, 2025

5 Stars

Books Set in Asia and North America: China, Taiwan and the United States

Peach Blossom Spring, by Melissa Fu (2022)

 

This novel of China spans from 1938 to roughly 2000 and follows three generations of the Dao family.  This is a novel of survival and strength throughout many adversities.  The novel begins with Meilin, a young widow with a young son, Renshu.  Meilin’s husband, Xiaowen, had gone missing in the second Sino-Japanese War between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan as a part of World War II.  Longwei, Xiaowen’s older brother, returned and promised to take care of Meilin and Renshu.  Because of the War, Meilin must constantly be on the move to stay away from the fighting.  Her most precious treasure is a scroll with a long, painted narrative.  She takes out the scroll and reads the stories to her son.  Ultimately, Meilin and Renshu escape to Taiwan and are befriended by another young mother with young children.  There are references to the political disputes between mainland China and Taiwan ~ which adds to Meilin’s worries.

 

The next portion of the novel focuses on Renshu.  He is a good student and is offered a scholarship to study in the United States.  Once in the United States, he is told to “Americanize” his name, and becomes known as Henry Dao.  His struggle is that of an immigrant to the United States.  He falls in love and marries an American woman and together they raise a daughter, Lily.  The final portion of the novel focuses on Lily and her struggles as a mixed-race child.  She is curious about her Chinese culture, but her father pushes her away and is not supportive.

 

Although the author said that the book is fiction, I can help but believe that she drew a great deal of the incidents in the novel from her family background.

 

Read:  May 27, 2024

 

4 Stars

Books Set in North America: New York City

The Hidden Palace, by Helene Wecker (2021)

 

The Hidden Palace picks up the characters from The Golem and the Jenni, but the reader need not have read the first book to enjoy this one.  This novel takes place eight years after the first novel has ended and begins around 1900.  There are several threads plots in this novel.  Chava, the Jewish golem, and Ahmad, the Arabian jinni, have gone their separate ways haven’t seen each other in years.  Sophia Winston, who became chilled following her affair with the jinni, has traveled to a desert Middle East to find a cure.  Anne is working as a laundress and raising her young son.  Interwoven into the lives of the characters, is a fair amount of history, as the world is on the brink of World War I.

 

Cheva realizes that as a golem, she never ages, while the people around her do.  She realized that she could no longer work in the bakery, so attends a nearby college and gets a degree in that allows her to teach cooking.  She reinvented herself as Charlotte Levy and landed a job at an orphanage academy.  After the jinni’s partner died, he holed up in the building and cut himself off from the rest of the community and spent his time constructing with steel.  Anne’s son landed a job as a Western Union messenger, which takes him around New York City.

 

While searching for a cure to her illness, Sophia encounteres a female jinni, whom she calls Dima.  Dima has been banished from her tribe and is searching for the jinni who can touch steel (Ahmad).  She promises Sophia a cure if she can bring her to Ahmad.  Meanwhile, back in New York, the reader meets Kreindel, a young girl who studies Hebrew with her rabbi and assists him in making Yessele, another golem to be her protector.

 

In addition to a beautiful story, the author also gives us a glimpse of life in the New York tenements at the turn of the last century.  I loved this book and look forward to other writings from this author.

 

Read:  May 3, 2023

 

4 Stars

 

 

Books Set in North America: United States, Washington, D.C.

The Spy Who Couldn’t Spell: The Dyslexic Traitor, an Unbreakable Code, and the FBI’s Hunt for America’s Stolen Secrets, by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee (2016)

In 2000, an informant provided the FBI with a package that contained a sample of confidential documents and pages of codes that, once deciphered, indicated that the writer was offering to sell United States top secret documents.  A clue as to the identity of the letter’s writer was the fact that many words were misspelled.  After an exhaustive search, the FBI identified the writer as Brian P. Regan, a disgruntled security specialist with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), who, realizing that he wasn’t getting a promotion, decided to supplement his income by selling classified intelligence to foreign countries.  His first target was Libya, before moving on to Iraq and China.

The author explored Regan’s childhood.  He was from a working-class family and was a bit of an odd duck.  In school, he was often the butt of jokes.  He learned early on that cheating helped him move on with his life.  By cheating on the entrance exams, he enlisted in the military as a non-commissioned officer.  He had a talent for cracking codes, which landed him a job with the NRO.

After marrying and beginning a family, he soon found himself heavily in debt.  Hence, his scheme to sell America’s secrets to foreign powers.  For this amateur, this proved to be more difficult than he imagined.  He copied numerous top secret and confidential papers and buried them throughout federal properties.  He encrypted the location of these papers with a complex code.  These buried documents were to provide him with insurance in the event that he was ever caught.

Regan sent numerous coded letters to foreign powers with the offer to sell secrets, but none of his contact took his bait.

The author provided a brief history on code and encryption, dating back thousands of years.

This was a fascinating book and a true-life thriller.

Read:  January 13, 2023

4 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States

Dava Shastri’s Last Day, by Kirthana Ramisetti (2021)

Dava Shastri is 70 years old and has a terminal illness.  She is an extremely wealthy businesswoman who had created a foundation to help kickstart careers for people less fortunate.  All her adult life, she has been very controlling, especially of her own children who are involved with her businesses.

The novel begins in 2044.  She has controlled every aspect of her life, including a doctor-assisted death.  Shortly before Christmas, she summoned her four children, their significant others, and her grandchildren to her estate on a private island.  They arrived just as a news leak reports Dava’s death.  Dava had assumed that reports of her death would also focus on her good works.  Instead, secrets of her past are brought forth.  Secrets that she must now confront, both to herself and her family.

Although the events surrounding Dava’s death take place in the future, much of the story recounts Dava’s life and her relationships with her family and friends.  Dribs and drabs of Dava’s past life are revealed, as well as the turbulent relationship of her family.

Sadly, for me, none of the characters were particularly likable.  Families squabble.  Sibling fight.

I was on a nine-hour plane flight, so this book was a distraction.

Read: November 27, 2022

3 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States, Newton, Massachusetts

Defending Jacob, by William Landay (2012)

Defending Jacob is a courtroom drama that centers around 14-year-old Jacob Barber who has been accused of murdering a classmate who bullied him.  The reader sees the story unfold through the eyes of Andrew Barber, Jacob’s father.

Andrew Barber is the First Assistant District Attorney in Boston.  As such, he was the first attorney called to the scene of the crime.  Andy, as he is known, works with the police on the initial investigation.  Has the First Assistant, he has the option to take case himself, or pass it on to another ADA.  He initially takes the case, and he focuses in on a suspect who is a known pedophile.

Suspicion, however, soon turns towards Jacob.  One of Jacob’s friend’s posts an incriminating statement of Facebook suggesting that “everyone” knows that Jacob committed the crime and he owned a knife, much like murder weapon.  Later Jacob’s fingerprint is found on the victim’s clothing.  Circumstantial evidence seems to pile up against Jacob.  Andy must be recused from the case and his former protégée, Neal Logiudice, takes over.

Jacob’s defense attorney must prepare for all possible defenses.  He looks into the family’s past for inherited violence.  For several generations, the men in Andy’s family have exhibited extreme acts of violence.  Andy never knew his father, Bloody Billy, who is serving a life sentence in prison.  Andy never shared this fact with his wife, but now he must.  This revelation blindsides Laurie, Andy’s wife, and she begins to question whether her son, Jacob, might actually be predisposed to violence and could have committed this brutal murder.

I enjoyed the courtroom scenes.  They were very true to life in a criminal trial.  The novel fell apart at the end with several events coming together that didn’t make sense.

Spoiler Alert:  Andy finally visited his father in prison and his father later arranges, unbeknownst to Andy, to have a hitman “protect” Jacob.  The hitman ultimately tracks down the pedophile, has him draft a confession, then hangs him.  Thus, Jacob, is a free man as the case against him is dismissed.  The family then goes on vacation, where Jacob meets a young girl named Hope.  The two connect, but when she goes missing, Laurie suspects her son might have something to do with her disappearance.  The novel ends with Laurie driving her car over a cliff and Jacob is killed.

Read:  December 23, 2021

3 Stars

Books Set in North America; United States

Fast Girls: The 1936 Women’s Olympic Team, by Elise Hooper (2020)

 

This is a novel that focuses on the lives of four young women athletes who competed to make the 1936 United States Olympic track team. The novel is based on the lives of Betty Robinson, Helen Stephens, Louise Stokes, and Tidye Pickett.  Each woman came from very different backgrounds and the author takes the reader back to their origin stories.

 

Running, and athletics in general, were not considered “suitable” for women at the time, and the Olympics Committee threatened to cancel future women’s events.  A strong lobby, however, kept women’s sports in the Olympics.

 

Betty Robinson was from the Chicago area and had competed in the 1928 Olympics at age 16.  While in high school, she caught the eye of the men’s track coach and was allowed to join the men’s track team.  From there, she ultimately qualified for the 1928 Olympic trials.  She had hoped to be able to compete in future Olympics, but a small plane accident in 1931 (although the story has the incident occurring in 1932), left her seriously injured.  She was not expected to live, but sheer will-power got her walking again.  Once she was walking again, her brother-in-law urged her to try running.

 

Helen Stephenson was from a small farming town in Missouri.  She was tall and gangly, and always felt like a misfit.  Her father was a poor farmer who wanted her to work and earn money for the family.  Her mother, however, had gone to college and wanted her daughter to gain an education.  Helen loved to run, and running was a way for her to be herself.

 

Louise Stokes was from a working-class Black family in Malden, Massachusetts.  She loved running but knew that she needed to help with her family’s finances.  Her church and her town, however, supported her ambition to run and provided her with the funds to join the Olympic team.  She faced discrimination but did become one of the earliest Black professional runners.

 

Tidye Pickett is the least developed character in this novel.  She, too, was a Black runner who made it to the 1936 Olympic team while fighting racism.

 

The novel also briefly delves into the politics of the 1936 Berlin Olympics.  The United States Olympic committee had debated whether or not to allow athletes to compete in the Games that were being held in Nazi Germany.  The decision to compete was close.  Some of the team members themselves, questioned whether or not they should participate in the games.

 

This is an interesting novel and the author tried to tackle such topics as feminism, racism and sexual identity.  The novel takes place when women’s sports is in its infancy and all of the women initially face obstacles intended to halt their competing for fears that it is unlady-like and will impair their ability to have children in the future.

 

I would classify this book as a Young Adult novel.  It is a book I would have really enjoyed as a junior high student.  It was an interesting look at the beginning of women’s track competitions.

 

Read:  October 16, 2021

 

3.5 Stars

 

Books Set in North America, United States, Seattle, Washington

Firefly Lane, by Kristen Hannah (2008)

 

This is a novel about a life-long friendship between two women who couldn’t be more different.  They became friends as young teens, when Tully Hart and her hippy mother, Cloud, moves into the house across the street from Kate Mularkey.  Although Kate and her mother have the normal teen mother-daughter struggles, she comes from a stable middle-class family.  Tully, on the other hand, lives mostly with her grandmother unless her mother floats into her life for brief periods.

 

Tully is a risk taker.  She decided early on that she was going to become a star reporter.  Nothing will stop in her way.  As teens, both girls were going to pursue that path, but that wasn’t the route that Kate wanted.  Kate knows that Tully always gets what she wants.  When both young women intern at the local television station, both are smitten by Johnny.

 

Sadly, this book is filled with cliches.  I quickly tired of the constant pop culture references beginning in the 1970s and continued throughout the length of the book, which ended around 2008.  The author constantly teases the reader into thinking that a rift will divide the friendship, and hints that the rift will be over Johnny.  The rift, which the reader knows is coming, is actually over another matter.

 

As Kate and Johnny’s daughter, Marah, becomes a teenager, she and Kate enter into their own teen-age mother/daughter struggle.  Marah turns to her “Aunt Tully”, who typically takes Marah’s side.  Hence the rift, which actually came about when Tully basically accused Kate of being an overprotective mother on live television.  After this event, the two women didn’t speak to each other for some unspecified years.

 

The point the author is trying to make is that in life, family is what matters most.  This comes only in the last 30 or so pages (and this is quite a long book).  As the book nears the end, we learn that Kate, who married Johnny after she became pregnant, has inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) and is dying.  She thinks that Tully is after Johnny but has reconciled with that thought.  Although Johnny had a one-night stand with Tully before he and Kate married, he was truly in love with Kate.

 

I read the book in its entirety.  If this had been the first book I read by Kristen Hannah, it would not have been inclined to read her other books.

 

Read:  October 10, 2021

 

3 Stars

Books Set in North America; United States, Baltimore, Maryland

A Patchwork Planet, by Anne Tyler (1998)

 

This novel is narrated by Barnaby Gaitlin, the black sheep of his wealthy family.  As a teenager, Barnaby and his friends got their kicks breaking onto other people’s homes.  Instead of going for the money and valuable objects, however, Barnaby liked to read people’s diaries and look at photos.  His antics eventually got him in trouble, and he was sent to a reform school.  His teenage past is told slowly through his memories as he moves forward in his life.

 

Barnaby works at manual labor at a company called Rent-a-Back.  His job mainly involves doing small chores for elderly clients.  Although he could work for his family Foundation, he prefers living a quiet life, albeit one with little money or future prospects.

 

He had a short-lived marriage, and now has a young daughter, who lives with her mother and stepfather.  Barnaby visits her once a month.  Because she lives in a different town, he must take a train to see her.  On one of his train trips, Barnaby meets Sofia Maynard, who is on the train on one of her regular visits to see her disagreeable mother.

 

When Sofia learns of Barnaby’s job, she arranges for him to do some small tasks for her Aunt Grace.  All goes well until Grace accuses Barnaby of stealing her lifesaving, which, because she doesn’t trust banks, she kept hidden in her flour bin.  Barnaby claimed he never touched it, but the accusation causes him to reevaluate his life.

 

I would call this a very quiet novel, but one in which the characters are interesting, and the reader wants to know how they navigate their lives.

 

Read:  October 2, 2021.  I first read this book on May 17, 1999.

 

4 Stars

 

Books Set in North America: the United States

How to Fight Anti-Semitism, by Bari Weiss (2019)

 

Antisemitism is on the rise in the United States.  In this book, journalist Bari Weiss provides a brief history of antisemitism in the Western world and how it has manifested itself throughout the years.  Antisemitism has many faces.   It displays itself very differently depending on one’s political bent.  Some displays of antisemitism are obvious and violent.  Other displays are more subtle.  I found the first part of this book to be all over the map, as the author wanted to include so much.

 

The last chapter of the book was the most informative and provided tools that American Jews must use to combat antisemitism.

 

Read:  July 17, 2021

 

3 Stars

 

Books Set in North America; United States, Washington, D.C.

The President’s Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity, by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy (2012)

 

The modern President’s Club began when Dwight David Eisenhower became President of the United States.  At the time, there were two living former Presidents: Herbert Hoover and Harry S Truman.  Although the two former Presidents had very different politics from Eisenhower, both were the only two people in the world who understood the pressures of being the leader of the free world.  They were there to provide support and advice to Eisenhower.

 

Since that time, former Presidents have made themselves available to the current President for support and advice.  Note, however, that this book was published in 2012, so only applied to presidents up to Barack Obama.  The former Presidents all knew that the most important aspect of American democracy was to protect the Office regardless of which individual held it.

 

Interestingly, there was some controversy regarding the vote count in the 1960 election.  John F Kennedy had won the election, but Richard Nixon believed (and there is evidence to support this contention), that votes in Illinois were skewed in favor of Kennedy.  Nixon was advised by the former Presidents not to contest the election to protect the legitimacy of the Presidency.

 

The role of former Presidents has been the background so as not to diminish the leadership of the current President.  Although egos and personalities can influence decisions, the authors provide anecdotes showing how presidents can warm up to, and become friends, with their successors.

 

This was an interesting and eye-opening account of the interaction of former Presidents with the current President, at least up until the 2016 election.  It makes one wonder how the immediate past President’s action may impact the Office in the future.

 

Read: Summer 2021

 

3 Stars

Books Set in Asia: Siberia, Russia and North America: New York, New York.

The Nesting Dolls, by Alina Adams (2020)

 

The Nesting Dolls focuses on three Jewish women: Daria (from 1931 to 1942), Natasha (from 1970 to 1991) and Zoe (1991).  Daria is Zoe’s great-grandmother, who was born in Russia and married the talented musician, Edward Gordon.  They and their two young daughters were sent to Siberia for a minor infraction during the Stalin years.  The janitor, Adam, of their building was also deported to Siberia.  He had a reputation for having reported on his mother for her infractions, thus was feared.  He ostensibly was being deported for not having reported Daria’s family to the authorities.  In Siberian village, however, he was granted better quarters than most if its occupants.  Adam would come to play a vital and integral role in saving Daria’s family.

 

We then skip a generation to Natasha, Daria’s granddaughter.  The family was now living in Odessa.  Natasha had a brilliant mind for mathematics and was hoping to attend the prestigious Odessa University.  Sadly, the quota for Jews was filled and Natasha was giving failing marks on her entrance exams.  She had to settle for a mediocre school and was then given a job teaching math to junior high students.  Her childhood friend, Boris, had always been in love with her, but she took him for granted.  One day she met Dima, a refusenik, who convinced her that she could be instrumental in letting the outside world know about the atrocities going on in Russia.  Natasha fell in love with Dima, and soon finds herself pregnant.  Her only way out was to marry Boris who, while being seemingly apolitical, was able to gain passage out of the USSR.

 

Finally, we meet Zoe, Natasha’s granddaughter.  She was born in America but bears the burdens and guilt imposed upon her by her grandmother and great-grandmother.  Like them, she, too, has two men in her life and must choose between what she believes is best for her family and what is best for herself.

 

Each of the three women are encased in each other’s lives, much like the nesting dolls that Russia is famous for.  Life does not always give you want you think you want, but it just might give you what you need.

 

I loved this novel.  I really felt the characters come alive.  I also loved how the author skipped a gereration and focused on the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Daria, the initial character.

 

Read:  June 15, 2021

 

5 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States: Utah

The Glovemaker, by Ann Weisgarber (2019)

 

This is a beautiful novel about a small Mormon town in the late 1880s.  There are only a few families in the town of Junction.  The was built by families who were Mormon; but wanted to separate themselves from plural marriages.  Polygamy has been outlawed, however, some Mormons continued the practice.  Law enforcement officers would seek out families where there were multiple wives.  Thus, men with multiple wives would sometimes travel through Junction on their way to Floral Ranch, a hard to find place in the wastelands of Utah to hide from the law.

 

The novel focuses on Deborah, a glovemaker.  Her husband, Samuel, is a wheelwright who travels several months of the year.  He was due home in December, but by mid-January has not returned home.  It is a hard winter with many snowstorms so Deborah is alone.  Her house is on the edge of town, the first one that a visitor would encounter when entering Junction.

 

One day a stranger knocks on Deborah’s door.  It is odd for someone to be seeking refuge in Floral Ranch in the middle of winter, but Deborah allows the man to spend the night in her barn and the next morning, her neighbor Nels, agrees to lead the stranger to Floral Ranch.

 

Soon, a deputy from Tennessee is at Deborah’s door looking for the stranger.  His appearance in the town has ramifications that will impact the entire community.

 

The Mountain Meadows Massacre, which had happened about 30 years before the events of this novel, foreshadows the events of this book.  I had never heard of this massacre, but in 1857, between 120 and 140 members of a wagon train were killed in southern Utah.  Only 17 children survived the massacre.  The massacre was perpetrated by Mormons, but the Paiute Native Americans were initially used as scapegoats.  The novel explains the Massacre, so one need not have a full understanding of it to appreciate its significance.

 

Read:  June 8, 2021

 

5 Stars

Books Set in North America; Atlantic Ocean and United States, Massachusetts

The Perfect Storm, by Sebastian Junger (1997)

 

The Perfect Storm describes a terrible storm that took place in the north Atlantic Ocean in October 1991.  The convergence of several weather patterns formed a massive storm.  A large portion of the book focuses on the final voyage of the Andrea Gail, a fishing boat that left out of Gloucester, Massachusetts.  The boat and its crew of six disappeared.  Only later a few on deck debris, including fuel drums, were found either drifting in the ocean or ashore.

 

The book delves into the life of fishermen.  Fishing is a very hard industry.  The crew are out at sea for weeks at a time.  They are paid based upon their catch, which can be significant.  When ashore, however, the crew often go on benders and can go through their money very quickly.  The author introduces us to the crew of the Andrea Gail.  Two fisherman had planned to join the crew, but had a bad feeling and opted out at the last minute.  The captain found substitutes.  The author describes the technical mechanics of fishing and fishing boats, but in language that the lay person can understand.

 

The Andrea Gail went out near the end of the swordfishing season.  It was one of several boats in a fleet to venture out.  When out on the seas, fishing crews from various boats keep in contact with each other and often meet up to provide gear assistance.  The last communication from the Andrea Gail was at 6:00 p.m., on October 28.  The captain had promised to communication with another fishing boat at 11:00 that night.  The communication never occurred.  Due to several other miscommunications, it was days before people realized that the Andrea Gail was gone.

 

There were several other boats out in the Atlantic during this storm as well.  The author introduces the reader to these crews and their rescues.  This was a true adventure story as the reader learns of all the details that must go into an ocean rescue.  The reader meets those brave people who train for years to prepare for such rescues.

 

The Andrea Gail portion of the book was made into the movie also entitled to The Perfect Storm.

 

I loved this book.  It was a real page-turner.

 

Read:  May 22, 2021

 

5 Stars

Books Set in North America: Canada and United States, Boston, Massachusetts

The Arctic Fury, by Greer Macallister (2020)

 

In 1853, Lady Jane Franklin sought out Virginia Reeve, a young adventurer, to lead an expedition into the Arctic to find her husband’s missing ship, which was lost somewhere in the Arctic.  Virginia had earned a reputation leading expeditions across the United States as settlers began making the trek across the country.

 

Although she had never travel that far north, Virginia was experienced in traveling across the Rockies in winter weather.  Lady Franklin insisted that a team of resourceful women could accomplish what the teams of men had failed to do.  Virginia was to take 11 women with her, most of whom were preselected for her.  One woman, Caprice Collins, was a spoiled young woman from a wealthy Boston family.  Although Caprice had experience in hiking in the Alps, she had an attitude, and from the beginning, she clashed with Virginia.  She also insisted bringing her maid with her, so instead of the original twelve women, the party consisted of 13 women.

 

Not all of the women who set off on the adventure returned.  A year after the team set off on their travels, Virginia found herself on trial for the murder of Caprice.  Five of the survivors attend the trial to lend support to Virginia.  Virginia has insufficient counsel and the prosecutor seemingly has damning evidence.

 

The novel goes back and forth between the trial and the Arctic trek.  We do not learn a lot about many of the women on this trek, but their background stories are slowly revealed as the novel proceeds.  Lady Franklin made it clear to Virginia, that if the expedition was a success, Virginia would be handsomely rewarded.  If, however, it was unsuccessful, Lady Franklin would deny all knowledge of Virginia.  [Spoiler Alert:  Throughout the novel the author drops hints that Virginia was a part of the Donner Party.  We learn at the end of the novel that Lady Franklin feared that her husband and his crew met the same fate, and that her motive for the expedition was to hide any evidence of cannibalism.]

 

This novel is very loosely based on historical events.  Lady Jane Franklin really did pay for several excursions into the Arctic to search for her husband’s lost expedition, although she did not hire a team of women to make the trek.

 

I loved this book.  There were several twists and turns throughout and the novel held up to the very last page.  I think I have found a new favorite author!

 

Read:  April 27, 2021

 

5 Stars

Books Set in North America; United States, Massachusetts: Boston, Marblehead

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, by Katherine Howe (2009)

This novel takes place in Massachusetts primarily in 1991 and with interludes in the late 1692 during the infamous Salem witch trials.

 

The main character is Constance “Connie” Goodwin, a 20-something graduate student in colonial American history.  When the novel starts, Connie has just passed her oral exams and is in search of a solid research project.  Before settling on a dissertation topic, she is called to assist in the sale of her grandmother’s long-abandoned house in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

 

She must first clean up the house, and so decides to stay there for the summer.  The house has running water, but no electricity or telephone.  Remember, 1991 is before the age of cell-phones; so Connie is often in a phone booth calling on a pay phone!

 

One of the first things Connie comes across, is an old family Bible.  When she picks it up, she feels a strange electric charge and a key with the name Deliverance Dane.  Suddenly, Connie thinks that she has found her research topic.  She spends much of the summer tracking down this Deliverance Dane person, who, Connie discovers, had a “physick book”, which contained recipes for folk remedies, but might also have labeled its owner as a witch.

 

The book was a fun read, but fell apart near the end.  I did find the author’s spelling attempt at the Boston accent to be annoying and unnecessary.

 

Read:  April 13, 2021

 

3 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States, Mississippi

A Spark of Light, by Jodi Picoult (2018)

 

I have read several novels by Jodi Picoult.  She selects often controversial topics and explores various sides of the issue without lecturing or telling the reader the “right” answer.  This book, that explores an abortion clinic is no exception.  What is unique about this novel is that it takes place in one day, but it told backwards, one hour at a time.  (We do learn the backstories of the characters as the layers of each person is slowly peeled back.)

 

As is true in many states, laws have been enacted that severely restrict a woman’s ability to procure a safe and legal abortion.  This novel takes place in the only such center available in Mississippi.  As soon becomes clear, the Center, as it is called, also provides a plethora of health and reproductive services for women.  This book was carefully researched and is grounded in fact from both sides of the issue.

 

The novel begins when a gunman enters the Center and begins shooting, immediately killing the receptionist.  The women in the Center at the time of the shooting are there for various reasons.  Wren is a 15-year old girl who talked her Aunt Bex into taking her there for birth control pills; Joy needed an abortion; and 68-year-old Olive was there for women’s health care.  Janine is a “spy”, pretending to need an abortion in the hopes that she can capture incriminating evidence “proving” that women are coerced into getting an abortion.

 

George, the gunman, had just learned that his daughter had an abortion and wants to take revenge on the Center.  As has happened throughout the country, there have been a number of shootings at women’s health clinics.  In the afterward to the book, the author provides a summary of much of her research.

 

This is one of Picoult’s best novels.

 

Read:  February 21, 2021

 

4 Stars

Books Set in North America, United States, Virginia

Miracle Creek, by Angie Kim (2019)

 

This novel is part courtroom drama, part mystery.  Pak and Young Yoo and their daughter Mary, are South Korean immigrants.  They immigrated to the United States in hopes of providing their teenaged daughter a good education.  For visa reasons, Young Yoo and Mary arrived several years before Pak could join them.  Once the family is together, they find themselves in rural Virginia in a town called Miracle Creek.

 

Pak was able to get a license to run a private hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) center.  The therapy claimed to provide treatment for a variety of illnesses and conditions, including autism and infertility.  The HBOT chamber is a refurbished submarine that can accommodate several patients in one “dive.”

 

The novel opens with a fire at the facility, in which two of the people chamber were killed, and several others seriously wounded.  The mother of the 8-year-old autistic child who died in the fire is the prime suspect.  Usually, the mothers would enter the chamber with their children, but on this day, Elizabeth, opted not to participate.

 

Elizabeth’s demeanor in the courtroom certainly makes her look suspect, and as witnesses testify, her guilt seems clear.  But as the trial continues, the author peels back the stories and motives of the Yoos and the other families who were in the chamber on the day of the fire.  Each person has his/her own reasons for keeping secrets.

 

This was a quick read as a novel, but ultimately, I was left unsatisfied.  There were still too many issues that were raised in the book, that were left unanswered.  As Chekhov noted: If in Act One you have a pistol hanging on the wall, then it must fire in the last act.

 

Read: February 2, 2021

 

3 Stars

Books Set in the North America: United States

ExUs, by Josephus IV (2014)

 

This is a cautionary tale of what could happen.  The book was written in 2014, but the events happened in the “future”, which was shortly after 2017.  The United States Congress enacted the Victims Law of 2017, which ostensibly gave an advantage to minorities.  Its impact, however, largely targeted Jews.  As more and more restrictions were placed on American Jews, they found themselves without jobs, property and the ability to travel.  Technology had advanced so that a mere pinprick could determine one’s ethnic status.  People who never knew they were Jewish but had one Jewish grandparent were suddenly ostracized.

 

The novel is narrated by a young computer hacker.  He was offered a job sponsored by the NSA that was designed to build security walls within that agency.  He was given high clearance, so was also able to view extensive files, where he realized that the government was backing an Exodus of Jews from the United States.

 

This is a very fast read, but has a lot of food for thought.

 

Read: January 27, 2021

 

4 Stars