A retired older widower in England is cleaning out his wife's closet a year after her death (he can finally face it) and finds a charm bracelet he never knew existed. Based on various clues from the charms and from the people he speaks with/meets, he discovered his wife had an interesting life before they met. He thinks he doesn't want to know some of this but learns a great deal (especially about himself and some about his daughter). Like some older people, he's set in his ways but it really is a tender story. For anyone who enjoyed Major Pettigrew and Harold Fry.

The narrator of the book is an Atlanta family lawyer practicing in a high-end practice, mostly on outrageous expensive divorces. She also does pro bono work for young women who've had bad starts in life (because she herself spent time in a group home while her mother was in jail). She herself had a very irregular, nomadic life with a careless, new-age-y single mom The story begins with her mother, from whom she is estranged and about whom she feels guilty, dying and suddenly there may be a brother and more -- with many flashbacks to her fractured childhood. Credibility is sometimes strained but it's worth the read.

A parallel tale about a young woman in England during WWII who falls in love with an American soldier, even though she is married to a vicar who does not love her. In present-day London, a young woman singer has run away from her cruel boyfriend and finds (in an unused house she's broken into for a place to stay) letters from the soldier, including his most recent one. The story is laconic at first, but picks up and becomes intriguing, heart-breaking, and joyful. Supporting characters are pitch perfect. Depiction of civilian life during WWII is very good as are reminders of how constrained a woman's life used to be. Not entirely sure about the title; not sure who is "lost" although we know what was lost. Very enjoyable.

This was a good mystery about lack of memory due to trauma. A young woman was attacked years ago and her attacker is released from jail. Suddenly another woman is attacked in a similar manner and killed. The chapters are told in alternating chapters by the first woman and the one who died. Was it the person who was originally convicted or someone else? One narrator knows what happened (but doesn't let on for a long time) and the other is trying to piece it together. Well done but not heart-racing taut. For those who liked BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP.

This deceptively calm novel is told in alternating voices -- by Nina, painter with a comfortable life, and Emma, a slightly younger former professional trying to cope with life with very young children. Nina knows Emma from many years ago and gets to know her again, but Emma is unaware of the connection. They become more acquainted, slowly, and each time it's obvious that Nina is not the nice new friend Emma thinks she is. As you get closer to the end, you know something is sneaking up on you as you become more aware of true sociopathy. The end leaves you jangled and wondering why: why no one knew, why such bad feelings. A lovely subtle and seemingly quiet thriller. For fans of S.J. Watson and Rosamund Lupton.

While the family in this very readable novel would be considered dysfunctional, there are characters to like, even as they struggle. No one really addresses the mental health issues of the hippie hoarding mother and her infantile, selfish ways; the fascinating parts are each family member's decision about to how to live his or her own life as a reaction. What characters do or not do is frustrating, but it was a compelling read. Makes me want to read her other novels.

The story is told in the alternating voices of a well-off but badly treated wife, her daughter who has had a liver transplant, and the mother of the child who died and whose liver was transplanted. It's more realistic in the telling than one would think. The real suspense -- apart from whether the characters will all know the identity of each other -- is whether the abused wife and her daughter can escape the home they've grown to hate. The different voices were well done, especially the teenagers. A good read about finding happiness again.

Although Martin Fletcher says he does not write Holocaust novels, this really is one. It's also a story of why Jewish Holocaust survivors would actually go back home to live in Germany. A man survives a camp and goes back home to Heidelberg -- because it was home and also to avenge the death of his brother who died at the hands of a guard from their hometown. He starts to make a life for himself and meets a Jewish woman who has also come to town to find her husband. It's a very readable story about how and why people choose to live on, and there's suspense around what will happen to that guard. The historical aspects are compelling and it's an uplifting story in all respects.

A London woman very close to the end of her childbearing years still cannot forget her stillborn child from 8 years ago and is not sure whether she wants to keep trying IVF, as her husband wants. Then a stranger tells her that her child is alive. The news sends her into an obsessive hunt of trying to find the truth (good or bad) and trying to know whom to trust. An excellent page turner for readers of Rosamund Lupton, S. J. Watson, etc.

Written in the first person by 6 narrators in alternating chapters, this novel tells the story of an intersex 16-year-old boy who lives in an Oxford suburb. His life, which is very comfortable, is shattered by someone close to him. His life appears to be golden to people who are not dear to him but everything starts to break apart and it doesn't help that his dad (who is decent) is running for MP. The most well-done aspect is the narrators sound true to the characters; the little brother especially. Extremely appealing to people who like stories about families, gender issues, and teenagers (good and bad). Sounds far fetched but it's in fact very compelling and hard to put down.

A story of a young couple who have inherited a house and move to North Yorkshire, a place where the husband spent a little time in his youth. (The place itself seems also to be a character in the book.) He disappears one day and the book covers the wife's determined plan one year later to find out what happened. It's a subtle but mesmerizing story that's hard to put down. You will want to read it in one sitting, as you're slyly pulled in, somehow knowing there's something dark somewhere. I loved it. If you enjoyed Rosamund Lupton's SISTER and AFTERWARDS, you'll enjoy this one.

KING PEGGY is a warm, delightful book. As has been pointed out, it will appeal to the fans of the No 1 Ladies Detective series. It's enjoyable to learn about modern life in Ghana and Africa, and about the foibles and strengths of various people, some of whom can be called "characters." While a little overly descriptive, that was in fact a calming attribute and was never boring. It is a compelling read, as you want to find out how and when Peggy will solve her may problems.

A very enlightening story of an innocent young woman exposed to privilege but against her will. Can be enjoyed by anyone interested in the place of girls and women in pre-WWII and in the Cultural Revolution that follows. Enjoyable but heartbreaking as well. Oddly, though, flowers per se as a theme seems a bit inchoate but it didn't detract.

The best part of this book revolving around wives of soldiers going overseas during WWII was in-depth understanding of the women. The issues of army wives following husbands from camp to camp was unknown to me, especially the strong feelings people had about it. However, I felt as though I had pages missing from the end of the book. There seemed to be no resolution or decisions made or at least statements about accepting one's life. The characters started out interesting and ended up one dimensional. A good read but the end was flat.

This is a very hard-to-put-down story about a young British woman living and working in NYC who goes back to London when her younger sister goes missing. She tries to find out what happened and why. The story is believable although almost no one believes the older sister's views about what the younger sister did or would have done. As the older sister starts to look into her sister's life, she begins believing/trusting no one, as does the reader. It's told as a letter to the missing sister, with some back and forth in the timeline. The story is beautifully paced, giving the reader clues a little bit at a time. As enjoyable and well done as the mystery was, equally compelling were heart-breaking moments of the bond between sisters.

This is the story of three young adult siblings who were orphaned in childhood. Their individual personalities and life events are engaging enough, but the plot seemed a little soap opera-ish (but who doesn't like a little of that?). The parts where their parents are watching and commenting from heaven seemed saccharine and contrived (even if you like that concept). Not everyone has a fascinating life but -- while I wanted to know what would happen at the end -- it all seemed a little one dimensional. Only one or two brief moments were truly tender.

Aphasia literally means "no speech," but neurologists define it as a "language disorder." This nicely conveys the disorder to some lives that bilingual aphasia creates for several people.

From a traumatic brain injury, a successful young Shanghai businessman loses his ability to speak/write in his dominant, but second, language (Chinese) while being able to speak his first language, English (bilingual aphasia). Truculent at first to work on his rehabilitation, he improbably changes toward those who speak English and those who don't. His relationship with his wife was confounding but fascinating, and I wondered: Were they becoming the people they always were, deep down? And does the American neurologist, an authority but a naive person, help at all?

A fascinating but clear-eyed view of contemporary Shanghai (the heat, food, ex-pat community, buildings) as well as the flawed people making mistakes and the others observing them.

Very enjoyable and compelling insights into an amazing city and its people. A good "you are there" feeling -- enough to make you talk to the characters to say, "Aw, stop, don't do that.."

Carolyn Parkhurst has done it again: She's written a very disconcerting book (Dogs of Babel was very upsetting) that bothers me but I couldn't stop reading. I had to finish it! The central character, a novelist, has just finished her last book -- a book with the endings to all her previous novels changed. As a lover of fiction, I found this unacceptable. Yet I wanted to see what she would write and then I found myself trying to decide which ending I liked better. All this is scattered through the story of her son, a rock musician, accused of murder. The mysteries of who did the murder, why mother and son were estranged, and why she wanted to change endings makes you realize that Ms. Parkhurst is very talented. This book is for mystery lovers, and also perfect for those who cares about fiction and what it says about the writer.