In an arid lonely desert in Utah a man, a polygamist, and his three wives live in a very dilapidated house. When the story begins the man, Blake has been found brutally mutilated.
The story develops slowly as we meet the wives; they are all very different from each other and the only thing they really want is to please Blake.
As the investigation of Blake's death begins the wives are the only suspect. Which one killed him? I loved the way this story progresses as we meet the wives their stories and how they got here. We also find out a little of the Mormon rituals and religion.
I liked this story very much.

Patsy is the story of a Jamaican woman who Leaves her family and her 5 years old daughter Trudy-Ann (Tru) and travels to New York to follow the woman she has fallen in love with.
Patsy leaves Tru with her father Roy and Marva his wife; Tru never really adapts to living here, all she wants is her mother, but apart from her first Christmas when she received a card from her mother from New York it's been 10 years of silence.
Patsy's life in New York has been a total disappointment, her friend Cicely never described her actual life, and her letters were full of fancy, funny stories. When Patsy got there Cicely lived in a good side of town in some expensive Brownstones which belong to the man she married in order to get her citizenship. Marcus was his name and after a few days he kicked Patsy out. This is when Patsy's life became very difficult, no papers no money and no friends.
I found this story a little slow and drawn-out but good it opens our eyes to what the undocumented in this country go thru, and I wonder sometimes, is it worth it?

This book is a recompilation of a real part of this author's life making this story more touching and at times more gut-wrenching. When Heather gives birth and holds her baby for the first time, you feel with her the wonder and limitless love one feel for this tiny, perfect person. Ms Harpham has found the words to describe and make us feel with her this incredible part of nature. It is not all bliss and happiness however, shortly after Gracie's birth it is discovered that she has a blood disorder. The book follows Gracie, Heather, Brian and later Gabriel during their in and out of hospitals, the ultimate decision they eventually make which will cure or kill their daughter, The weight this puts on a marriage or partnership almost destroys them. I sometimes found this book a little slow and repetitive but all in all I found it a very good book

This is a beautifully written book about an intense love between two people of two different social classes who are forced apart to find each other again after 20 plus years, in one way it is actually a sad story which shows us even today that the world is full of prejudice and those that have a lot of money control everything including people's lives.

I don't like books written in the third person as this one is, however I did get used to it and enjoyed the telling from Henry's side and Margot's side which painted a complete picture of what happened all those years ago and what was going on now.

Tom Layne is a famous TV Journalist who has in several occasions covered the war in Slovenia, Croatia or Bosnia. This time he is in Sarajevo with Nick his camera man and Nina a local fixer and translator who he always calls. Tom in looking for a big story decides to leave Sarajevo and go to the mountains where the casualties of families torn apart is visible everywhere as a result of the siege but things don't turn out as Tom envisions when they encounter rebel forces. This is partly where this story begins taking us in an edge-of- your-seat ride into a world of conspiracy, backstabbing and double crossing with the Bosnia War as background and a race to find leaders Milosevic president of Serbia and most importantly his army general Ratko Mladie both accused of crimes against humanity.
Excellent book, I could not put it down. It is also a beautiful love story.

The story takes place at the beginning of the eighteen century in Dayan a frontier town in China.

The main character is Li Du a librarian and intellectual, a scholar who has been exiled from Beijing by the Emperor almost 5 years ago. Li Du has been traveling Jade Dragon Mountain looking for the pass/ridge that will take him out of China; the problem is that to get to the ridge he has to pass thru the town of Dayan. Having no choice once he is in Dayan he asks for directions to the Magistrate residence to present his travel documents fulfilling the conditions of his sentence to provide a record of his presence. Li Du does not plan to stay in the city once his papers are presented. He is taken to his cousin Magistrate Tulishen , who requires Li Du to stay a few days before the Emperor arrives so he can find out what he can about the foreigners, the Jesuits. The death of the oldest Jesuit Pieter causes all kinds of speculation as to the cause of the death if natural or murder.

This is the premise of this wonderful book full of intrigue, murder, politics, ambitions etc. The plot thickens more and more as you continue to read, making you want more, wishing you could read faster. Great book I loved it.

This is a strange story that left a lot of loose ends and unanswered questions when it finished.

The books in the town's library have some kind of virus that changes the stories in famous books, one of them being Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky but we never really find out why is this happening.
The literary society group is led by Laure White a famous writer of children's books one day she simply disappears and we never find out what happened to her.
The literary society group comprised of nine children of both sexes who grew up together and were very close friends don't talk to each other now that they are all grown up, why?

Ella the main character is a substitute teacher who has been interested in Laura White and her children's books for quite a while publishes a short story about this author in the local literary supplement, Laura White reads her short story, likes it and invites Ella to be part of the Literary society group making her the tenth member. This opens up a whole new investigation about a previous tenth member who disappears and is never mentioned again we never find out what really happened to this person, another loose end.

I read this book all the way to the end and was left with an unfinished feeling; it was as if the book was missing a complete section which was forgotten at the printer. Not a very good book, I would not recommend it to anyone.

Most of the story takes place in Sri Lanka, an island off the south coast of India. Nayomi Munaweera 's prose is so incredibly beautiful that one can visually be transported to stand under the shade of the mango tree or feel the rolling waves of the ocean under your feet. The story is about two families Yasodhara and her Sinhalese family and Saraswathi and her Tamil family. It all takes place just before and during the bloody Civil War between these two divided groups. I struggled at first because of all the similar but different names but after a while I could not read fast enough, it started with young romance while we followed the 2 families thru the ethnic and political tensions which resulted into the Civil War, and the descriptions of some of the horrors that we inflict upon one another when differences have escalated into brutality and hate. We also learn of the love between family members, their daily rituals, the foods they eat but most of all the humanity of the women in this story. What a gorgeous book, parts of it so heartbreaking I could not control the tears that would flow from my eyes and blurred my reading. When I finished this book I could not put it down so I have started reading it again, better the second time around.

What a wonderfully human book, it pulls at the heartstrings. This book is about Anna, Tobias and Freya, their new born daughter. Her brain didn't develop properly; she'll be physically and mentally handicapped. It's their journey of coping, learning the everyday requirements of feeding, bathing, nurturing and loving this child against their better judgment with no hope of Freya's improvement through the years. It is as Anna says "Love is the earth that holds our roots in place. Without it, there's nothing to keep us from falling over".

It is the triumph of love over the unexpected difficulties of life.

This is the story of military families in Hawaii just after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. The book is written from the point of view of the mother April and the daughter Marty who is 5 years old and doesn't really understand the consequences of war and why her father does not come home for weekends and holidays, she feels abandoned by her deployed Army officer father.

April, and Marty with hundreds of other women and children, are evacuated from the ruins of Pearl Harbor and sent into a brave new world, in their case to Boston to Marty's grandparents. Everything is new to her and even snowflakes frighten her as she thinks "the Japs are here in Boston and they're throwing something bad and white down out of the sky." April's view is more a day to day waiting for the war to be over and the men to come home not knowing when that would be. This is a story of mothers and daughters, their hopes and fears and the devastation of war. The Lion in the Lei Shop is an imaginary fabrication that torments Marty's sleep causing her screaming nightmares.

This is a wonderful story beautifully written.

This fantastic novel will have your brain working overtime; Jeffrey Small's writing reminds me of Dan Brown with all the intrigue, the thrills and surprising conclusion. This is a compelling story of scientists, modern technology and the search for mystical sensations and the meaning of God. It is perfectly balanced and fast paced.

"Women in the late 1800's were expected to marry at a young age and portray herself as a delicate individual, weak and helpless. Her opinion was not to be expressed publicly, at least not in the presence of men." The protagonist, Trudy, wants more excitement in her life and instead of marrying the son of her parents closes friends she maries Oskar and enigmatic, ambitious man who takes a job at the edge of the earth, a remote lighthouse on the wild coast of California. This book is an easy read; it keeps you wanting to know what happens next. I feel that the characters could have been more developed but all in all it was an enjoyable book. The setting reminds me of another book I just read the light between oceans also about a couple that takes a job at a remote lighthouse.

The story takes place in New Hyde mental hospital in Queens, NY where Pepper is taken after an altercation with undercover police even thought he does not belong there; Pepper realizes that he is now locked in a mental hospital. The first friendly face that comes to greet him is Dorry a long time patient who feels a friendly face should be the first thing anyone sees as she gives Pepper a tour of his new home. Many of the mayor players are very well developed giving us a look at the treatment of mental patients. I loved this book I had a hard time putting it down and when I did the characters remained with me.

I read The Healing in two sittings it is a fascinating story of plantation life at the beginning of the Civil War. Granada, a slave newborn child whom the plantation mistress takes from the slave mother to fill-in her grief over the lost of her own child, is raised in the big house as the mistress pet; then there is Polly, the Healer, whom Master Satterfield has paid quite a bit of money to acquire and heal his sick slaves from a mysterious plague sweeping thru his plantation. When we are introduced to Polly we learn that she has the gift of healing both body and soul, she is the only one who dares stand up to the boss and while she is healing she is also planting ideas of freedom and escape. Polly recognizes “the gift” in Granada and requests her as an apprentice; this begins a battle of wills between Polly and Granada. All the characters are well developed; we feel their pain and their joy and become part of their every day’s life. I loved this book and highly recommend it.

The story is told as a letter from Feng, the main character, to the daughter she abandoned at birth, thru flash backs we learn the story of her arranged marriage to the Sang family whose humiliations and cruelty turn Feng into a bitter, revengeful woman. All the flowers in Shanghai is full of tradition to not “ lose face” half way thru the story we are shown bits of Chairman Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution and the birth of the People’s Republic of China and some of the terror of his regime.
Feng is hard to love after her transformation from a sweet, quiet girl into a mean spirited, bitter and regretful woman. Book clubs will love this book; analyzing Feng should lead to great discussions