William Klaber turned letters and documents about an obscure woman from his hometown's past into an interesting first-person narrative. Because I didn't pay close attention to the advanced description of the book, I was a bit surprised by the focus on Lucy's sexual awakening/orientation. Given the historical facts upon which the story was based, however, I think Mr. Klaber did an admirable job of telling the tale of a very unusual woman for her time. The book kept my interest, but I don't know that I would go out of my way to recommend that others read it unless they have a specific interest in what life was like for a lesbian long before society was willing to acknowledge, let alone begin to accept, their presence in society.

I was captured by Amy Hatvany's story right from the start, and devoured her book quickly. The author did an excellent job of making me empathize with each of the three main characters - her style is very reminiscent of Jodi Picoult's, but there weren't the plot twists that I associate with Picoult. I think this would be an excellent book for a book club to read and discuss. My only complaint is that I would have liked the author to continue the story a bit further than she did. Overall though, I highly recommend Safe With Me.

Kay Bratt tells the story of a Chinese man and his wife who have chosen to stand by their principles and show love and compassion to girls who have been abandoned, without regard for their own impoverished circumstances. Although it is set in the context of Mao's "cultural revolution" and its aftermath, the lessons this story teaches are valuable in all societies, political environments, and religions.

I enjoyed the story and was interested to learn details about what an impact Mao's policies have had in the mindset of modern-day Chinese. I found the characters to be a little too "representative" for my taste- while each was interesting, it seemed like the author was trying a bit too hard to give each character qualities that could represent a particular group of people (physically disabled or altruistic government official, e.g.) rather than really making me feel that they were a real individual. Even so, I found the book entertaining and believe that it has a message that everyone needs to hear.

"The Sisterhood" tells the tale of an isolated order of nuns in Spain and how it may be connected to an orphan found in the aftermath of a hurricane on the Pacific Coast of South America. The story jumps back and forth between the 1500's and the present day, drawing you into the lives of both the medieval nuns and the orphan, and making you anxious to discover the secrets they are keeping.

The book concentrates much more on the story of the nuns during the time of the Inquisition than on the present day, and that was fine with me. I really enjoyed the history and thought the author did an excellent job creating believable characters that I wanted to learn more about. The way the author ties the intertwining stories together is a bit over-the-top toward the very end of the book, but I still enjoyed it immensely. I'm planning to visit Spain next year and now I'm even more excited for my trip - I'd like to visit some of the areas described in the story.

Others have described this book as a "thriller" and a "novel about clashing cultures and painful histories", and I would agree. I enjoyed the author's flashback approach to explaining the main character's (Ranjit) back story and felt it helped to build suspense. I thought the author did a great job evoking time and place in India, Martha's Vineyard and Boston - lots of little details that drew me into the story and made me feel part of it. The plot was engaging and held my interest until the last page. My only complaint is that I had some difficulty in the middle of the story believing the way that Ranjit assumed that the Senator's wife would help him and be interested in his problem, although it was clarified in the end. Overall, an excellent, engaging debut!

Overall I enjoyed this book, but I was disappointed with the last quarter of it. My attention was immediately captured and drawn into the stories of Elm and Gabriel and I enjoyed the "insider's" look at the world of fine art. However, I expected there to be a better intertwining of the two main characters' lives and actions and felt that the ending was very dissatisfying. The author's level of detail and the complexity of the characters' emotions and motivations noticeably dwindled as the story came to a close - it almost seemed that she ran out of ideas and was in a hurry to finish the book. The moral and ethical questions raised in the plot would make this a good book for a group to discuss.