This is a beautifully story. It is set in 1930’s in Pottstown, Pennsylvania in a dilapidated neighborhood called Chicken Hil. Jewish immigrants and Afro Americans live there together.

The story starts in 1972 when a skeleton is found in an old well along with a mezuzah . Whose body did this skeleton belong to and what happened?

This book has a cast of characters which I felt at times was hard to keep up with.
The heart of the story is Chona a Jewish woman who owns the Heaven and Earth Grocery store. She encourages her husband to have black performances at his theater for the black people to enjoy. This community gets along very well with one another.
This is a compelling story of race, ethics and a strong sense of community. These people stood together when things went wrong and helped one another
Very well written book.

This is the story of three generations of very strong women. This is a complicated story, the characters are well developed each with their own story to tell. Is a thought-provoking novel that will get you thinking about motherhood. Would you follow the path? Perfect book for book clubs.

Lila Is abandoned by her mother who is put into an institution when Lila is a young child. She is left in the care of her abusive father and grandmother.
Later, she is told by her father that her mother has died. Lila never saw her mother after she was institutionalized.
Lila becomes a journalist. She marries her college sweetheart, and has three children. She wants a career, and is not around much for her children. Grace, her youngest child resents this very much and wishes she would spend more time at home. Grace writes a book about her mother and investigates about what happened to her grandmother Zelda.

This is a beautifully written book about family dynamics. It is at times humorous and emotional. Highly recommended.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House for this invitation to read this arc copy of this book. I truly enjoyed it.

I haven’t read many books by Rhys Bowen but this one was very intriguing. It is very well written in two time lines. A tale of mystery, suspense and secrets that kept me turning the pages.

1968 London, Liz Houghton is a newspaper reporter, when a young girl goes missing.
This could be her big chance of getting back to the newsroom after being assigned as an obituary writer. Her roommate Melissa is a police officer. If she could just get the scoop she could redeem herself. She follows Melissa to the village Tydeham, which was requisitioned by the military during WWII and left in ruins.
They discover that during this time children were evacuated from this area. Three children also went missing. One was murdered, the other two were never found.
Is there a connection to the current case? While walking through the ruins Liz has memories of being in this village before. But why, she never lived near this place.
She questions her parents but they have no answers. Liz needs to seek the truth.
I love this multilayered story filled with mystery and suspense that kept me guessing. This was a very enjoyable read. I look forward to reading more novels by Rhys Bowen.

This book is inspired by the real diary of midwife Martha Ballard in the 18th century in Hallowell, Maine. She kept a diary of recorded births and deaths and daily activities.
In 1789 Martha as a trained midwife is summoned to examine a body and determine cause of death, of a body found in the frozen Kennebec River. She determines that the body was battered and bruised with broken bones and a mark around the neck. She proclaims that this body was murdered. As she is doing her examination she is dismissed by a doctor. His opinion of the death of Joshua Burgess is accidental drowning.

There is a trial that takes place which Martha must attend but only in the presence of her husband. Martha’s diary has notes of a rape that the deceased may have been involved. Women had no real say in anything then. Martha wanted to seek the truth and find justice no matter what.

Martha’s story is intriguingly woven. It is a gripping tale filled with historical facts and fiction. This is a book you will not be able to put down.
Highly recommended.

The author notes at the end of the book are not to be missed.
Also: Martha Ballard is the great aunt of Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross. She is also the great-great grandmother of Mary Hobart one of the first female physicians.

This is a heartwarming story of Woody Nickle’s adventure. He is now 105 years old and is writing about his adventure when he was 17. There was a hurricane in 1938 in the north east. Giraffes were on board a ship to be transported to the San Diego zoo. Two giraffes survived this horrific voyage.

This book is fictional tale based on a true event. There are very interesting characters as they travel the Lee Highway from town to town from New York to California. The giraffes were welcomed by the people in each town as newspapers, documented their arrival.
This is a wonderful story that will stay with you for a very long time.

Highly recommended.

Another wonderful novel from Susan Meissner. This book is about a topic I knew little about, Eugenics. It was shocking to discover during WWII what Hitler was doing to the young children and to realize that this was happening in the U.S.
This novel was written in two story lines.

Rosie California, 1930’s . Rosie was a young girl who lived in a home on a vineyard with her parents until their sudden death. Celine and Truman owned the vineyard and took her in giving a job as a maid. Rosie had a special gift as did her mother of seeing colors in her mind when words were spoken. Her mother told Rosie never to tell anyone about her gift. All went well until Rosie at the age of seventeen became pregnant. Rosie is forced to leave the vineyard and becomes institutionalized because of her gift. She fights to keep her baby and to leave this horrid place.

Helen sister of Truman has lived in Europe all through WWII. She was living in Vienna and saw first hand what Hitler was doing. When she returns to the U. S. She discovers what happened to Rosie and tries to find her and what happened to the baby.

A captivating story.