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Reviews by Peggy A. (Fairfax, VA)

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Zig-Zag Boy: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood
by Tanya Frank
ZIG-ZAG BOY (2/7/2023)
From the first page this book caught my interest and never let go.

Tanya Frank tells how exhausting the journey is for both patient and caregiver to live with mental illness on a daily basis.

I would recommend ZIG-ZAG BOY to anguish terestrd in mental illness.
One's Company: A Novel
by Ashley Hutson
One's Company (5/2/2022)
Bonnie Lincoln is obsessed with a television show to the point that she wants to become the characters in the show.

Winning the lottery has given her the money to create a town exactly like the TV show and become each character. She is so obsessed with her project that she loses sight of reality to the point of madness.

To me, this book was very sad and depressing. Even though I wanted to and did finish reading this book I cannot recommend it to others .
Never Saw Me Coming: A Novel
by Vera Kurian
I Couldn't Put it Down Until the Last Page (6/22/2021)
"A psychopath is a person suffering from a serious mental disorder that causes them to commit violent or antisocial acts without any remorse."

A group of college students, previously diagnosed as psychopaths, join a clinical program to study their lack of emotions and feelings of guilt.

Lying, cheating and murders happen in this fast paced novel that I couldn't put down until the last page.

I would recommend this book to anyone who might be interested in the subject of mental illness.
The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman: A Novel
by Julietta Henderson
The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman (2/17/2021)
Norman Foreman is the 12 year old son of Sadie. He and his best friend Jax are working on a comedy act to participate in the yearly talent show Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Jax dies and Norman decides to take the act to the Festival on his own.

Sadie doesn't know who is Norman's father. Norman, Sadie and an elderly friend, Leonard, decide to search for his father while traveling to Edinburgh.

They have many adventures and mishaps during the trip. Norman gets a slot in the Festival, Sadie meets several men from her past and Leonard learns to cope with his wife's dementia.

In my opinion, I think young teenagers might enjoy this book more than I did.
At the Edge of the Haight
by Katherine Seligman
At the Edge of the Haight (10/2/2020)
Why would a young person choose to live as a homeless person?

At age 18 Maddy Donaldo went to San Francisco to live on the streets and parks of Haight/Ashbury. Along with others she met she begs for money and eats out of garbage cans. She sleeps in shelters, on the ground in the park, in abandoned houses or store doorways during summer heat and cold rainy winters.

I liked this book and would recommend it as an eye opener to the struggles of the homeless and how they deal with life; one day at a time.
Daughter of the Reich: A Novel
by Louise Fein
Daughter of the Reich (3/15/2020)
This page turning book is about a young German girl coming of age in the years leading up to WWII .

Hetty is the daughter of one of Hitler's high ranking officers. She is torn between her father's activities and what she hears and sees happening to the Jewish people in their town. "What is the truth? Who can she trust?" she asks herself. "What will happen to her Jewish friend Walter who saved her from drowning when they were children".

Although many books have been written on this subject; it was still quite emotional to me.

This novel was inspired by the author's family history. I would recommend these stories continue to be told so it not happen again. I especially recommend that our young people continue to hear and read how the world turned upside down during 1930s and 1940s.
The Women with Silver Wings: The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II
by Katherine Sharp Landdeck
The Women With Silver Wings (12/26/2019)
As the United States entered World War II, there were lots of women inspired to do whatever they could do to help our nation in this time of war.

A group of women pilots were invited to join the U. S. Army Air Forces as civilians. More than a thousand young women pilots volunteered to help ferry airplanes from factories to their needed locations.

This is the story of these courageous women, not eligible for combat, who did the work of men so that they could go into combat, and their lives after the war; even to their deaths.

This information is new to me and I found it very interesting. I would definitely recommend it to others.
The Yellow Bird Sings: A Novel
by Jennifer Rosner
The yellow bird sings (11/18/2019)
From the first page of this fast paced book I was drawn in to the courageous lives of a mother and daughter during WWII. I read this in one sitting.

I could actually feel the pain and suffering of a mother separating from her little girl so that she might live and the daughter going through the trauma because she did not understand why she was being separated.... and the mother trying to survive so that they will find each other again.

This was a powerful and emotion time in history that must be told so as we not forget what happened to an entire group of people.

I would recommend this book to bookstores and all public libraries.
Lady Clementine
by Marie Benedict
Lady Clementine (11/5/2019)
I really enjoyed reading about Winston and his wife, Clementine and their families. To me, the author presents their personalities in ways I would not have thought to be.

Some parts of the book became slow reading but it held my interest enough to finish the book.

This book has inspired me to read more about the Churchills and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to other readers of historical fiction.
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