A Ghost of Childhood Past

In Jeffrey Ford’s latest novel, The Shadow Year, a young boy’s life is forever changed when his schoolmate disappears and he and his brother decide to investigate the strange going-ons in their small town.
With shades of Stephen King and Ray Bradbury, Ford brings to life the nameless narrator’s loving, funny but dysfunctional family that [...]

How a liar tells the truth

Early one day in 1984, three twelve-year olds set off into the local woods. Late that night, only one is found – mute, with blood on his socks and no memory of what happened. Twenty years later, he’s a detective for the Dublin police and still remembers nothing. When he and his partner [...]

Good Grief is right!

Recently widowed Sophie Stanton suffers a gradual meltdown after her husband of three years, Ethan, dies of cancer. With the help of friends (old and new), family (including her mother-in-law!), a new city and job, she begins to see the light at the end of the tunnel. By helping those whose around her who, in [...]

Accidently winning the lottery?

In Judy Baer’s Million Dollar Dilemma, preacher’s daughter Cassia mistakenly contributes five dollars to an office lottery pool and they actually win! Cassia, who is does not believe in gambling, has a crisis of faith. All her plans are in disarray and she must figure out what God has planned for her life. [...]

The Coulter story continues…

Large animal veterinarian Tucker Coulter meets Samantha Harrigan when they both come to the aid of an abused horse at a county rodeo in Sun Kissed by Catherine Anderson.  Samantha, a horse breeder and trainer with four older brothers, needs Tucker’s help as an enemy from her past threatens her farm.  I like how the author brings her characters to [...]

There’s more than one kind of ghost story.

Memories prove just as haunting as ghosts in The Keep, an imaginative but creepy novel by Jennifer Egan.
In castles, the keep was the inner stronghold – the last place of refuge when defending a castle. It proves an apt metaphor as the novel’s characters try to keep the past and their mistakes from destroying [...]

Little Women and (their father) March – Two novels

The Pulitzer Prize winning novel March by Geraldine Brooks, paired with a re-reading of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, is a rewarding dual selection for book discussion groups. March is Mr. March, the father of sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, who leaves home to volunteer as a Union chaplain the Civil War. His [...]