What a story! This is about an amazing set of women in the Victorian age, each trying to become who they really are in terms of their gifts and talents, in a world that wants to narrowly confine the roles of women and how they may be.

Hyder's use of "angels" , these "gifts from God", as a tool to exaggerate the unbelievable rules of "ownership" of women at that time is brilliant. Her protagonists are diverse, as are the antagonists, and it is amazing that most have no knowledge of the others.

Once you get used to the short chapters that move quickly from person to person, the story flies along. It was fun to read and also thoughtful. I loved it, and look forward to what she will write in the future.

This story starts with a young toddler being stolen in the midst of the night, and who then grows up in the forests of Poland with an older woman who is wise in the ways of the forest and who protects and teaches the girl, Yona.

I have spent a large amount of my life living in forests, and one of the things that struck me is how the author gave credence to the knowing, the intuition, that springs from such time mostly alone and living there. This is huge in this story, as the holocaust is happening and many are fleeing to the forests, not knowing how to survive. This is about Yona, an innocent in the world of people, and her intersection with them during one of the most horrific periods of history. Group dynamics, especially in the case of survival is very tough. And here is where Yona meets and talks to other people for the first time, lives with others for the first time, falls in love, and takes on the responsibility for all of them as they hide in the forest.

The author does very well with the deep thinking and the process that Yona goes through. The different characters and groups, are very vivid and real, as is Yona's deep inner thinking and processing.

This was a non-stopper of a read for me. I really liked it and read it in two sittings holding my attention the whole time. I liked that this story came from the hiding in the forests, and that it mostly stayed there as the central place of the story.

Auntie Poldi and the SIcilian Lions by Mario Giordano was a delightful read. It was like listening to to a far-fetched story of a not-so-distant relative by an Uncle who "loved" a good story and who could embellish with ease.

Auntie Poldi would have been my favored aunt: large, generous, boisterous with her life and agency, and a bit sneaky on the side! She was just settling in to her new home in Sicily, when her handyman seemed to have disappeared. This turns her inner detective on, and her true self emerges as she starts investigating neighbors and odd occurrences, and generally makes herself well known in her small community, finding friends and more! This is a light, enjoyable, and amusing story.

This is a beautiful and brilliantly written story. Beneath this story of Victorian England, and the adventures of Cora as she plunges out into the world, lies the exploration of relationships. The author explores the idea of different types of friendships using everyone, and weaves a beautiful story of change, betrayal, and its impact on others and the self. She exquisitely renders the joys, the uncertainties and the underlying internal dialogues that accompany these friendships making this a multi-layered and very interesting read.
I think it could be a great book group read. It is masterfully written and it is one I will read again.

This was a hard yet compelling book to read. I wanted to stop reading it a couple of times, yet, the story is about such a different part of our culture, the part so affected by drugs and poverty and survival, I knew that I wanted to finish it, to hear what the author wanted to convey.

I am glad I did.

This story is about a young girl, who lives in such a dysfunctional system, she rarely speaks, and will not eat with others. She believes herself to be "dirty". It is about a young man, who accepts her as she is, and will do anything to make her life as "normal" as possible. This is about what "trust" looks like. What "love " looks like. And it's about what "family" can mean and look like to those who live on the periphery of love.
This is a brave story to tell. One that brushes up against what most would consider "immoral" and "indecent" behavior.
It was hard to read emotionally, and I am glad I did.

I enjoyed this book immensely. The author took the research notes a friend gave him, on a long -ago neighbor, flushed them out, filled in with his imagination, and the end result being this great historical fiction piece of the mid1800's that gives voice to an unusual young woman.
The author did an amazing job of being sensitive to the character of Lucy Ann as she decides to leave the world of being noticed as a woman, to her longer journey of being noticed as a man. This developing feminism, and her strong sense of what she believed was right is very well conceived and created by the author.
There were times I was sticky with anticipation, as the truth of her emotional self became able to dig deeper and to allow for this emerging person to confront the world in many ways. The emotional/mental strain that she endured was truly amazing, yet she persevered, though in a very sad way by the end of the story.
There is much to confront and chew on here. it should make great conversation!

I am a forever fan of Chief Inspector Gamache. His thoughtfulness, and his respect for humanity won me over from the very first book.

In this ninth mystery by Louise Penny, How the Light gets In, we find that Gamache has been disempowered by his superiors, by gutting his department of all those who were trained and worked for him, with others who have no respect for Gamache or for the department they work in. Gamache keenly feels that his superiors are up to no good, and has been trying to unravel what is really going on. Because of the Christmas season, he is handed a case that is out of his jurisdiction. What looked like a possible suicide, becomes much more, and it takes Gamache to weave all the small pieces of this case with what is happening at the highest levels of his work.
This tale returns to Three Pines, where his friends do what it takes to help him even though they have no idea of what is truly at stake.

It is gripping, edge of your seat, storytelling, so give yourself time, as you won't want to put it down.

I love the idea of what the writer was creating with this story. Three women who leave London to become missionaries in Kashgar. Each of them with their own "agenda" as to why they were really going. I found some characters not very well developed, and the writing fairly bland, especially in the earlier part of the book. I also felt that the description of the different cultures were not fully realized, though the emotional intent was. It felt like this story is still in rough form, though with great potential if fleshed out more. I do like the counter story of modern day London, and the woman who gets left this estate with no idea of the connection to her. And the growing romance between the modern protagonist and an immigrant from Yemen was to me a delightful set of circumstance that unknowingly reverberated with her families past.
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. It feels undone.

This is an unusual storyline. It is a love story that takes place during "the troubles" of the 60's-70's. Yet it also spans through several lifetimes for many of the characters, as they recognize each other from past lives. I laughed, I was horrified, and I was mad at the American protagonists for their inflexible intellect. The idea of reincarnation as a given for this Irish crowd created a very interesting twist as the author used the past events as a way of looking at the present and the friendships and interactions between the different characters.
The story was pretty compelling, and what stands out for me is how much was done for the love of each other and for their country. There were so many twists and turns in the action in both the present and the past, I had to keep reading to keep it all together in my head. It left me really hoping that the two main characters would find each other in this lifetime.

WOW! I sure like the concept of the story and how the author was developing it. I did find that the characters and the dialogue were not developed enough to make it truly captivating for me. It seemed like a very quick, fast forward sketched out trip. The historical stops were intriguing but becoming tiresome. I hope the author keeps writing more books as I Iove that she has such a wonderful way of viewing a story.

This story is a love song to the meaning of Family, what it is like to raise an adopted child ... the unspoken questions, the murky unknowns, the pushing ahead because you have to, and that glorious binder called love. Wrecker, an adorable 3 yr old, is separated from his birth-mom, and after a few trials in some different places, lands with an uncle who is pretty unable to care for him at that point, but has this amazing set of odd neighbors who live together just next door, who take him in. It is this extended family, and their different styles and personalities, and the different ways of giving love that allows Wrecker to be the best he can be. I loved all the characters. Time flies by, and he is 20 at the end, ready to fly the coop, but perfect as a young man, ready for the world. I didn't want to put it down.