Lia is gone but she's left a 21/2 year old toddler behind. Teo was babysitting Joel when Lia was discovered and so by default he becomes his temporary guardian. But what does a 30 year old bachelor know about taking care of a kid in diapers who speaks his own private toddler language? Not much, as it turns out. What does Teo want to learn about taking care of said child? Not much, either. No one seems to know who Joel's father is so therefore finding him is problematic. For the time being child services think Joel is in good hands--Lia trusted Teo to baby sit after all, Teo is stable with a good job from which he can get leave, and has a home with his father, Vic, for the duration. He can go back to his London flat when either Joel's family or a foster family can be found for him. Preferably, Jewish since Joel and Lia were Jewish. Teo doesn't practice but his father a Scot Catholic, widowed from a Jewish wife, has been active in the local synagogue.
Teo is surrounded by his old group of school friends to which Lia belonged -the only female. His best friend, Ben, is rich, unemployed and lives in a mansion that has been his since his 18th birthday. Whenever Teo came home he fell right back into the care-free card playing, drinking, partying, clubbing lifestyle they've shared since they emerged from childhood. Their relationship is old and fraught with the stresses that familiarity and established roles that over time have developed. Ben is the star, the leader, the jock and Teo is the shorter, quieter, steadier follower. He is also the one of the group that has broken free of the hometown--he's moved to London and only comes home once a month to visit his sick father, Vic. A toddler certainly changes the dynamic.
I loved the book because, despite the circumstances, a child alters everything about the life led by its caretaker before its arrival. It is funny, having had a child, to see the situation from the aspect of a male in charge. Though people think women are born knowing exactly how to raise children that isn't true. What is true, however, is that women from early on are more involved with children--younger siblings, cousins, and as teens babies for whom we babysit, then as we get older our friends' or older siblings new babies--we just are around them all the time and usually are interested in them even in their earliest stages. Men just don't pay that much attention and so if they find themselves in charge, they are really at sea. To see Vic attempt to make up for what he sees as shortcomings in his role as Teo's father, and Teo try to determine how much TV is acceptable and Ben try to avoid the whole situation is fun but serious, too.
In the end, since everyone cares about Joel and wants him to be safe and happy all three of them figure it out and somehow a new life develops for them all.
Interwoven with the questions of parenting are also the concepts of faith, jew vs jewishness and the process of maturing from our foot in adulthood 20's into 30 year olds with a touch of awareness of one's future.
One of the characters, new to the community,is the young rabbi, Sybil. Her affluent family considers themselves to have assimilated in the English community and are upset at her choice of career. This was only mentioned in passing but it was an idea that was a bit jarring, especially in the present time with the worldwide problems in nations finding themselves dealing with an influx of immigrants. She, too, as the religious leader becomes involved in the question of what to do with Joel. Also, being close in age to both Teo and Ben, she becomes involved in their relationship as well.
Closing the book brings with it a sense of satisfaction that the characters are on a path of success leading to lives filled with possibility.

I found this book a true delight.

Sometimes when a book has alternating time lines the story becomes confusing and the reader loses track of where they are in time. Woods handles the switching very well and smoothly.

In 2011 a young woman grieving her failed marriage impetuously boards a plane for Ireland instead of heading home to her parents for rest, recovery and reevaluation. What she finds there is a small village of caring and interesting people. And, in one of her walking excursions a diary of a young girl, who 100 years ago dwelt in the same cottage in which she is staying.

Sarah finds herself engrossed in the tale of Anna, the daughter of the farmer who lived in the small cottage Sarah is now inhabiting. Anna too is suffering a grief of her own that she finds herself not sharing but that is a driving force in her life. Both women become involved with the men who will help them start to sort the pain and move forward through it. For Sarah, it is the local conservation officer, Oran. He and his wife and daughter had once lived in the cottage, too. But his wife died young and he could not remain there once she was gone. He has a daughter, Hazel, a young teen who is quite fascinated by Sarah, the American from New York by way of Boston.

For Anna, it is a young American, as well. Harold Griffin-Krauss has come to Thornwood Village from Oxford where he is studying. He wishes to research the Celtic culture, particularly as it applies to magic, the little folk, superstition. He asks Anna to introduce him to the locals so he can gather their stories and experiences. For Anna, his interest helps her deal with her anxiety to contact the sister she has lost. For Sarah, the story of their exploits helps her to open her mind to the possibility of a future without guilt or sadness.

Hazel at one point quotes Roald Dahl--"Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." In their own ways both Sarah and Anna find magic. And while their future is not truly known at the end of the book, there is at least the promise of happiness and contentment.

Having thought the caste system has been outlawed in India, it was surprising to find this tale set in current time. Still, the system is so very confusing, not the basis necessarily, but the strange differences in economic situations that can exist in the various levels--a Brahmin, the highest caste can grow up with no money, starving, dependent upon others, while a Dalit, an untouchable can be quite affluent.

Besides the caste system there are differences in the culture of Muslim Indians and Hindu Indians that are very significant. A Hindu widow for example cannot remarry, is excluded from all celebrations etc while a Muslim woman has great freedom as a widow.

Both of these conditions are significant in the story but of greater importance is the position of women in society. Although they are eligible for loans that men are not, their husbands can steal those funds or the monies the women earn from any small business they might set up with the loans.

The men are not to be punished for women and their funds are the possessions of the husbands. Wives can be sexually molested or beaten--if by their husbands there is no punishment and not a great deal of punishment of men not their husbands. Needless to say many women are not content living this way. And sometimes these women take matters into their own hands..

One such woman is Geeta, whose husband disappeared five years before the book begins. His body has never been found but the villagers assume Geeta killed him. In general, she is a loner and is friendless. She does have some leadership qualities and so she has been allowed into one of the loan groups which meets once a month to pay the loan man. It is this group of women who are the focus of the story. As with any group, especially of women, there is jealousy, gossip, cliquish behavior, and in time murder and blackmail.

At times, convoluted and dangerous, at others hilariously inept, these women struggle to have a voice and self-determination that the culture and traditions of thousands of years has denied them. In the end, old resentments and past degradations and cruelty are sorted. The village is changed in most cases for the better and the women become a wonderful group of bonobos!

Meltzer and Mensch do it again-- they have produced an interesting, exciting and thoroughly researched report on a significant period in American history. Their writing and the use of short chapters made covering almost 400 pages of intrigue and chaos almost easy.

Imagine, if you will, Lincoln's assassination in Baltimore Md on his way to his first inauguration. Traveling from Springfield, Ill to Washington DC on a carefully planned route that covers the border States into the Northeast and then South through Maryland, rife with Southern sympathizers AFTER South Carolina has seceded, a plot to kill him becomes known to Allan Pinkerton and his agents.

Now, somehow, Lincoln must get through Baltimore safely but he has speaking obligations and ceremonies he is unwilling to vacate. How the development of the plot occurs, the investigation steps taken that reveals it and the tactics taken to avert it keeps the reader rapt until the moment of the inaugural speech. But, the authors don't stop there, though reader and they take a breath, before finishing up with the aftermath that leads to the actual assassination in Ford's theatre almost 4 1/2 years later.

The book rehashes old Hollywood scandals that have been thrown together and mixed up and written into a mishmash in which no actual scandal is left clearly. Even the purported author of the book, Edie O'Dare is a conglomeration of Louella Parsons ( Poppy?, although LP was the most feared woman in Hollywood at the time ) and Hedda Hopper--known for her extravagant hats, less than stellar movie career and being the mother of Perry Mason's assistant in the old TV show. A touch of Sheila Graham, another though lesser gossip columnist of the era, has been added to O'Dare's character. Graham's drunken screenwriter was her lover, F.Scott Fitzgerald not her brother, however.

It is to the point, that I, an 80 year old, would even be able to make these connections. And because these and other similarities to the real Hollywood characters of the pre-War and post-War era that it would seem the book is aimed to me and my generation. But, it is all old hat, old news and just boring--not even worth stopping to try to ID the real cast. As to the relationship between Charles and Hal, in today's world it would not even cause a second look. And, in today's world, I doubt the generations younger than mine would care about a book that really just reads like ancient gossip columns.

The characters are superficial and don't elicit any feelings in the reader at all--but then, Hollywood is and always was superficial and the public's real knowledge of any personal life of the members of the Biz has never changed. We know what will induce us to pay money to see the stars and anyone who doesn't toe the line finds that the publicity is less than career enhancing.

Loved this book especially since I read it while vacationing at the shore, where several days the weather was dirty--very atmospheric for the setting of the book. The sea, that is, not the Maine coast rather than the seas of the Southern Hemisphere. There is so much history in the book but couched in an engrossing story of seafaring men working on behalf of the Crown of England. A straightforward tale of international espionage turns into a tale of piracy, growth of a new nation, America and her navy, and the impressment of men into the British navy. There is name dropping--James Monroe is our Ambassador to the Court of St James. Napoleon is making dirty deals with Spain, supposedly neutral. Britain is trying to retain her rule of the seas. And all of the action revolves around Captain Thomas Grey, a marine in the Secret Service and his interaction with many men of various ranks and loyalties.
The author tosses in so much of the history of the time--the Elgin Marbles of Greece, the relationship between Beethoven and Haydn, the writing of the Eroica Symphony and its premier performance, the piratic empire of Jean LaFitte, the development of Dept. of Discovery that employed Lewis and Clarke, the building of sea-faring vessels. Oh, and the rules governing the original form of tennis, court tennis, which are mind-boggling! Not to mention the finer points, no pun intended, of the art of dueling with sabers.

There is so much interesting packed into this relatively small novel, that it is worthy of a second read to absorb it all. So much more than just a run of the mill tale of sea battles between sailing ships bearing huge, recoiling cannons, though there is a bit of that, too!

I'm going to have to find the other two Thomas Grey novels--I hope they take place before his interesting wife, Paulette, has died.

One of the most engrossing, interesting and stirring books I've ever read about the Second World War. Having been born in Washington DC in 1942 this is a particular chapter in American history that has fascinated me very much. There is no flamboyant language or overly dramatic flourishes to the writing and yet it is a fast and moving read. It is not a dry rendition of facts but rather a flowing narrative that is, at times, blood curdling in its bare and succinct description of genocide carried out coldly and in numbers beyond comprehension. At other times, it is an espionage saga with spies at every turn. And, at still other places, it is a political tale of three men---all intelligent, all powerful, all intent on controlling the Allied response to an enemy as intelligent and powerful as they. They are patriots to their countries but also defenders of freedom and though, not truly friends, they are determined to defeat without compromise or conditions the movement they see threatening to take over the entire world--Nazism. br /Never, however, have a read a book that gives as much insight into the man and his officers who are in charge of the danger. Their backgrounds and personalities are fascinating and their unstinting belief in a Master race and the threat of the Jews of the world is almost difficult to truly comprehend. Yet, at the same time, my mind kept seeing seeds of the same type of belief in today's world. Chilling and frightening to think that might be true.

Received a copy of this book to discuss on BookBrowse. Although the human story revolves around three young people and their interactions, the true story is about tradition and modernity.

One of the characters is Kai Schweigaard, the newly arrived, young, unmarried priest. Kai has been sent to the isolated village of Buntagen, Norway. It is his first assignment and he is eager to make a good impression and rise in the ranks of the Church. He has a fiancee back home and his success will allow him to marry and bring her to his side. The church in which he finds himself is too small for the congregation, is cold and drafty and totally dark and depressing. Indeed, at one of his first services, the snow falls through the roof onto the congregants and one of them, an elderly lady, literally freezes to death and is frozen to the wall upon which she had collapsed. Needless to say,one of Kai's plans involves building a new Church.

Astrid Henke, is a young unmarried member of the parish. She comes from an ancient, once wealthy farming family of the town. An ancestor, much to Astrid and her family's dismay took all of his money to purchase new bells for this Church in which Kai finds himself. That donation involved the melting of the ancestor's silver and its inclusion in the metal used to create what are known as the Schwesterglocken, or Sister Bells. These two bells are huge and loud and their sound is as much part of the town's life as the heartbeats of its individual residents. They hang in this ancient building, known as a stave church, which is built in an old and beloved style of the towns of Norway. There is no way that they would be able to fit into the design of a new modern Church.

Soon, Kai finds that his Stave church is considered to be unique and important to historians and architects from Germany, who offer to purchase it. Ecstatic at this influx of funds to help his build his new church, Kai readily enters into a contract and Gerhard Schnauer is sent to supervise the dismantling and marking of the pieces of the Stave church which will be razed and rebuilt in Germany. Gerhard, too, is young and unmarried.Astrid does not want the bells to go from the village-- both men want to please her--but how? The conflict and resolution is interesting in itself but, in my opinion, the star of the story is the Stave Church and the symbols and forms found within it.

All in all, a multifaceted historical novel with interesting characters, environment and conflicts.

A fictional imagining of Shakespeare's early life and marriage in Stratford-Upon-Avon. The focus, however, is not really upon him but rather the family in which he was raised and the young local woman who becomes his wife. Indeed, he is never mentioned by name and once married doesn't appear very often in the narrative. He is an absentee father, living, writing and acting in London as his wife and three children reside in a small home alongside his parent's home. The marriage is loving and warm despite the lengthy separation between the spouses, until the plague hits them and their young son, Hamnet succumbs at a young age. The impact of the loss on them and their families is devastating but seems to give rise to one of the most famous plays in English literature.

A most unusual read. The title brings to mind coastal beaches and sun-drenched romps in the surf. While there is some sandy beach and dunes and even a Lighthouse Festival, that is not the chief backdrop of this story at all. The Lighthouse does play a significant role in the telling but not at all in any usual way!

A young girl's mother has recently died and, not unexpectedly, she is devastated and unable to come to terms with her loss. Her father, too, has been thrown into the depths of grief. Their relationship has always been a bit strained, since he is a Detective in the State Police and has often been away either physically or emotionally from his family. Now, with both in such upheaval, there seems to be no way for them to connect and support each other. Her Uncle Jack, also a State Police Officer, convinces her father to take her to a small seashore town to help them to find a quiet place in which to work their way to peace.

And so Amy finds herself in a small hotel on Oregon's coast with a Lighthouse outside her window. While her father goes to the bar for a nightcap, she finds herself unable to sleep. Grabbing her father's sleeping pills she draws a bath and falls asleep as the tub fills. Suddenly, she is rudely awakened by a young man, who when passing her room, discovers the hall floor covered in water. He goes into the room to discover her. And so, the two central characters of the book meet for the first time.

Ryan, is the son of a ranch owner who lives about five miles outside town. He had come to the hotel bar for a drink as well. The Ranch is being foreclosed within days and his taking loans from the bank has brought this upon the family home. He hasn't told his father and so driven by guilt and anguish, he has tried to escape for a bit.

As Amy and Ryan get closer, sharing their secrets and their grief, it becomes apparent that Ryan has a bigger secret that even he is not fully aware of. What that secret is and how it will change the lives of both he and Amy as well as their fathers is an emotional ride of hope, love,despair and finally happiness.

And is totally unexpected and unlike any novel I've read before. Just wonderful.

The story of Carrot's early life in Alaska was so devastating that it was necessary to take a break from reading. At first, also, the moving back and forth in time was a difficult adjustment but once I decided that that really is the way we think back over our lives, memories in random order many times within an hour's time, it became easier. The pain and loneliness and emotional toll of Carrot's life is stunningly described. For the first time it has become clearer to me why people would choose to live this nomadic, emotionally distanced, seemingly unfettered life style. No number of springtime flowers or star-studded skies would ever compensate for a lack of love and emotional bonds and the need to dumpster dive to eat. How she managed to pull anything resembling a life worth living together is nothing short of miraculous.

Received a copy of this book to discuss on BookBrowse. I found it incredibly interesting for many reasons. As a pre-med grad and a teacher of Anatomy and Physiology for about 30 years the history of women in science and the restrictions on their opportunities to study and practice medicine, while not unfamiliar to me, was presented in a very personable way. It was very easy to identify with Nora and her interest in and fascination with the human body and its diseases. To have a mentor such as Dr Croft was such a gift to her. And yet, though she is as talented and bright as any male med student she could not legally apply her knowledge nor be certified to practice medicine. In this regard, Italy was far ahead of its time in being supportive of the life of a woman in a professional capacity, beyond the kitchen and nursery. That actually was a hallmark of Italian society well before the 19th century!
Besides the story of Nora and women's place in society, is the revelation of the rudimentary practice called medicine only a bit more than a century ago. Sometimes, we forget just how far the knowledge of the human body and its functions has come in a relatively short time. The conflict of egos among the men practicing is also interesting to learn. Though, truth be told, that hasn't change d much as evidenced by all the doctors, epidemiologists etc that have come out of the woodwork during this latest pandemic. Each of them sure of their positions and each of them happy to grandstand and proclaim them loudly--despite the confusion their cacophony has produced among the people of the world.
The characters are all very well drawn and the personality of each is easy to envision. From the housekeeper who is the only mother Nora has really known to the young doctors who find her appealing, each of them is three dimensional and relatable. Considering the story could have been bogged down in textbook style presentation of the experiments and surgeries and treatments described, it is a joy to say, none of it is boring or overly descriptive--just enough for reality but not so much to repel. Well done, ladies!

How delightful to read a book about mature women navigating changes in their lives.

Eve, single and an engineer, has been fired by the company in which she has worked most of her life. Through dedication to the work she rose through the ranks of men to a prominent administrative position only to be found redundant and unnecessary.

Sally, a married woman with grown children, has found her life in the suburbs boring and unsatisfying. She has decided to leave her husband and, when revealing this bit of news to her hairdresser, has found that most people find that unacceptable and her reasons trivial.

Both women find themselves walking the towpath along the side of a canal in opposite directions, but both headed home with no idea of what they are going to do now that their lives have changed so drastically. As they meet, alongside a narrowboat named Number One, they come to a halt at the sound of distress emanating from the seemingly empty vessel--but for the thing wailing so distressingly, of course. They look in the windows and doors --finding no easy means of entrance, Eve breaks the window in the door, opens it and is almost bowled over by dog racing by and off into the distance.

Approaching along the path is an irritated older woman, the owner of the boat. She has left to do errands and the dog, Noah, as usual raised a racket to bring attention to his desolation as being locked up for the duration. And, as usual, some helpful soul came along to release him or at least commiserate as they berated his mistress, Anastasia, for her inhumane treatment. And, as usual, once free, he took off for parts unknown--not worrying her in the least--he always returns.

Since the women are already aboard, Anastasia invites them for tea--sort of--and so begins the tale. A woman, sick possibly dying, needing someone to take her narrowboat through English canals to a man's shop for repairs and maintenance. Two women, strangers to her and to each other, at loose ends, knowing not what they want to do with the path of unknowns rising before them. And so, Eve and Sally embark on a weeks long voyage in more ways than one or even two or three, as Anastasia, too, remains behind to face her unknown future in the form of medical tests and possible surgery.

Noah returns and off they all go--meeting so many others along the canals, familiar to and with Anastasia--who is not easily known nor abided. As the narrowboat travels ups and down through the locks of the beautiful countryside and into tunnels long, dark and dank, so too the adventures of these women and others move slowly to a satisfying end.

Loved it so much, I'm off to find Meet Me at the Museum. Enjoy!

Come spend a day on the streets and in the bookstores and bars of Paris as four very different people try to capture what has been lost. An Armenian immigrant performing puppet shows for French children while narrating in Armenian. A wounded WW I vet searching for the infant lost with his wife in the flames of a burning Church. A failed artist trying to find the money to save his life. And a shy country woman serving as the confidante and caretaker of a hypochondriac, Marcel Proust. We follow them through the course of one day as they seek and, in the process, learn of their histories and the whys of the seeking. Engrossing as their stories are the city itself captivates the senses as the reader roams from place to place and observes the other residents of the City of Light. The story brings it all together at the one fateful night when all the seekers find themselves in the smoky, jazz-filled room of Le Chat Blanc.

Okay, I know alcoholism is a disease BUT it is not an excuse for poor choices, self-indulgence and lack of responsibility. Nor, in my estimation, does it make meandering autobiographical stories written while drunk, stoned or both literature. One of the blurbs says the subject matter is " harrowing for women". Well, only if you've made the choices this woman makes.

Sure there are several stories that I liked but by and large I was impatient with the mindless literal bed-hopping ( sometimes with minors other times with friends of a husband who then become new husbands) and geographical meanderings of an irresponsible mother of four boys. Irresponsible in conceiving them and irresponsible in "rearing" them. Nice to know that by the time they had grown up she got sober and through some strange happenstance became a college professor of creative writing. Guess someone thought her writings were good, though they didn't get published until after she died.

Received a copy of this book from BookBrowse to discuss starting Dec 2.

Although it took me quite awhile, for me, to read it the snail's pace was not due to disinterest. Quite the contrary, I loved the book from the first chapter. Sciolino's interest in the River and its surroundings, its history, its people, its place in movies, music, art is so thorough that it is most rewarding to take it in by small mouthfuls, so as to prolong the enjoyment and also to digest the information. She starts at the very source of the river, a wide area of marshland fed my many underground springs until at last the water consolidates into one defined stream that begins its journey toward Paris. It is here that she spends most of her time--there is so much that connects the Seine ( sen NOT sane--it always drives me crazy to hear it mispronounced ) to Paris in reality and in people's minds. Yet, in time, like the river she moves on to Rouen, through the Normandy countryside and to Honfleur ( my favorite of all the towns I visited ) and even to Le Havre, literally the harbor. Here, though the Seine touches its western boundary, the focus of its inhabitants is not on the river but the sea.

I've not been back to the Seine in 30 years and from this book I can see that much has changed but even so, much is the same. I'm glad those locks were not on the bridges when I was there and happy that they are disappearing. If ever I return I hope that I can explore the part of the River before it reaches Paris from its source. And, naturally, to continue toward the sea through Rouen and Honfleur once more. Until then, I have Sciolino's book to keep me dreaming.

If you've been the return through her eyes is not perfect, being only vicarious, but enjoyable If you haven't been, she'll entice you to try to make the trip at least once.

At one point the author in discussing a painting mentions that a thin wash of gray can make the background recede more from the foreground. It was as though a thin wash of gray lay between the story and the reader. It felt as though everything was being told through the heavy grief of this guilt ridden widow. Yet, though unable to paint because of it, she sees vibrant color everywhere and mentions it endlessly, as though to show the reader just how many colors she can recite. For all the vibrancy and emotions this should have evoked it all remained bland--the words said there was excitement or foreboding or passion or anger and yet those things were not evoked in the reader. The most arousing moment was the one in which Coco sets the tree afire. It was hard to get through this book. The Women of Paris is much better if you want an idea of Paris before and during German Occupation.

Having read The Dry, I was really excited to receive the second installment of Harper's Falk series from BookBrowse to discuss on their website. I was not disappointed. Five women are selected to make a trek into the outback of Australia by their corporate employer in an effort to enhance workplace cooperation and morale. One of the five is one of the family who owns the company, the others hold various positions, from managers to subordinates. The object is to hike into the brushland in a very isolated area, make camp on three nights and rendezvous at a pick-up site by noon on Sunday for the 2 hour drive back to Melbourne. When the appointed hour is reached only four of the women arrive, they are exhausted, injured, bruised, bloodied and battered. The missing Alice is not a likeable woman but she is of special interest to Aaron Falk and his partner, since she has been working undercover for them to obtain important documents that will lead to the arrest of the principals of the company for money laundering and fraud.

So, where is Alice? Is she alive? Did she wander off when the group became disoriented and lost? Has she had an accident? Has she died or is she still out there, lost and victim of the elements? Each of the four women have a slightly different version of the four days spent isolated and frightened, without food or water and barely any protection from the cold and rain that they endured.

While Harper keeps the rescue teams and various law enforcement officers busy in the search and takes us along with them, she also cleverly, with short asides, takes us on the journey with the women, revealing to us, gradually the interpersonal relationships and dynamics among the women, as well as some of their personal history and family situations. As the dire situation of being lost and unable to communicate for help deteriorates, so too do the tempers and human considerations of the women. At the end, what happened to Alice is both shocking and yet, not totally unexpected.

A page turner and read, by me, in one day--nothing was more important than finding Alice and knowing her fate.

A page turner as two young girls grow from toddler to college graduates. One in Korea, the other in America--the cultures so different and yet periods of their lives--grade school, middle school --so similar in ways. Dealing with the personal adjustments to forming friendships, discovering boys, girlish competitions, differing relationships with parental figures, music, dancing, clothing styles. But the differences, too--multigenerational home in Korea, only child in America. Poverty in Korea, overabundance in America. The strength of tradition and culture in Korea, the loss of even language in America. The author alternates chapters --first in Korea, the next in the States.

She uses not only political and world events to chart time, but also pop culture--Elvis, Almaden wine (do they still make that?), the mashed potato and the twist, Dick Clark's TV show.

Although the differences between the two countries and the political situation in Korea are clearly expressed in the earlier chapters, it is not until Inja, at 15, is finally able to come to the States and reunite with parents she knows only through photographs and letters, that the reality of the situation becomes clear.

Miran, the girl raised in the US doesn't even speak Korean, She has difficulty with her Oriental appearance but American upbringing that leaves her feeling somehow a person who doesn't know who she is, Inja, in the meantime, is overwhelmed by the luxuriousness into which she finds herself and by the grief she feels at leaving the only family and home she has ever known.

How the two grow close and how they begin to understand themselves and their shared family history is the strongest part of the book and yet it could not have its impact without having their lives before detailed.

This is a book that will stay with you long after the last page. Did your Dad have a wristwatch with a face that glowed in the dark? Mine did. Did your family have an alarm clock with glow in the dark hands--we had two. I wonder where they are now. I remember my fascination with those hands that had such a pretty green glow when everything else in the house was dark and were such a nice light turquoise in the light of day. I remember my Dad telling me about radium that made them glow and how a few years before I was born it was discovered that the young women who used to paint those hands got sick from the paint. Westclox was still making the clocks and the watches were still available so apparently it was safe now for them to be made. br /I forgot all about those things until I noticed a book called The Radium Girls had just been published and, further, Book Browse, to which I belong, was making it available to read for discussion. I applied and received the copy I just finished. It seems that, though the products were still being made and sold by the hundreds or more, back in the '50's when we owned them and Dad spoke of the findings, there was a lot more to the story of what was happening to those girls.br /The story aroused so many feelings as I read, disbelief at the callousness of the companies and the legal system. Wait, first disbelief at the illnesses that befell the dial painters, then disbelief at the companies and their executives and the lack of legal recourse for the victims. As time went on the disbelief turned to anger and heartbreak and tears of frustration. br /Two places saw the manufacture of dials--Orange, New Jersey and Ottawa, Illinois. Imagine the further disbelief when the girls in Orange won some sort of legal justice, with incredible strings attached and the girls in Ottawa were assured by THEIR employer that what happened there could not occur in Illinois. Yet, fourteen years later, another group of women found themselves in the same legal quagmire. Eventually, a triumph of sorts came and has had an effect on the present legal recourse of workers against employers. br /Still, the reader is left with sorrow, sadness, frustration but an abiding admiration for two groups of women and their spouses, children and other relatives and friends, who, though horribly ill, crippled and living with an unavoidable death sentence , fought, sometimes to their last breath for themselves and those who would follow them to the grave.br /Wait til you read the epilog--the story isn't over yet. And the tale just won't go away as you close the book and put it on a shelf. Just devastating. Especially, since this sort of thing continues--think asbestos, tobacco, opioids. And, I wonder, marijuana?