Novels Now

Haunted by Barbara Haworth-Attard

Pages: 273
Ages: 14+
First Published: Aug. 18, 2009 (Canada only)
Genre: paranormal, thriller, mystery, magical realism
Rating: 4.5/5

First sentence:

Dee spread feed over the ground, calling, “chick, chick.”

Reason for Reading: I love a good ghost story.

Comments: Set in the Bruce Peninsula area of Ontario at the time that the soldier’s had returned home from WWI, Dee and her Grandmother live in a small cabin at the outskirts of a rural town. Grandmother is the town’s midwife and also the one people come to for “medicines” when they are sick. The town does have a doctor, has for some years and business isn’t what it used to be but some folks still would rather trade goods with Grandmother than pay cash to the doctor. Fourteen year-old Dee has been raised by Grandmother as her own mother ran off with a travelling show when Dee was only a few months old, her father is unknown. Otherwise the only special thing about Dee is that she sees dead people.

Her ‘gift’ which she keeps secret even from her Grandmother tests her endurance when a former friend of hers’ bones are found up on the mountain approximately four years old. Everyone thought she’d run away with a boy at the time and now people are remembering other girls who ‘disappeared’ in the past. It isn’t until a new girl is found dead that a Detective from Toronto is sent for to find this serial killer in their midst.

This is the first book I’ve read by Barbara Haworth-Attard, though she’s written many juvenile and YA novels. I highly enjoyed it. I found the serial killer mystery to be tightly written and fast paced with plenty of clues but not easy to figure out at all. I had it narrowed down to two suspects from the start but wavered between them for a while. I think the intended audience will have a great time with this mystery.

The supernatural element was an added bonus to an already strong straight-forward thriller plot. The spooky ghostly episodes certainly added to the sense of fear surrounding the plot. This brings about a second theme that runs through the book of Dee wondering why she sees these spirits and wonders about her Grandmother’s special gifts and why her mother ran away and has never come back. Overall, a very intricate plot that carries many threads and combines the paranormal with reality with the ease of an accomplished writer.

I enjoyed everything about this book. Dee is a fun character, fully developed, as is her Grandmother who has a hard shell that Dee occasionally cracks and sees underneath. The only thing I found disappointing is the stereotypical use of a mentally challenged character (which appeared to be downs syndrome to me), who was called “retard” by the nastier folks in town. This character is introduced first but as soon as the girl’s bones are found it’s obvious that stereotypically the “retard” is going to come under suspicion of the murders. I expected it from the get go. And indeed the author fell into that trap. It’s typical of the time period but something a little less obvious would have been more original.

Otherwise, I read this book throughout a day, thought it was a brilliant serial killer mystery for this age group and loved the paranormal aspect. Recommended!

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Pages: 371
First Published: Jun. 9, 2009
Genre: historical fantasy,
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

Peter Petford slipped a long wooden spoon into the simmering iron pot of lentils hanging over the fire and tried to push the worry from his stomach.

Reason for Reading: The Salem witch trials have always been a favourite reading topic of mine so this book obviously piqued my interest.
Comments: It’s summer break and Connie has just finished her orals for her PhD. She intends on spending the summer coming up with a dissertation topic but her mother has asked her to clean up the ancient family home (which Connie knew nothing of) so she can sell it. Connie says yes against her better judgement and ends up spending the summer in an early 18th century home with no electricity or phone. Upon her arrival she finds a mysterious key with the name Deliverance Dane attached and so begins her research which will take her back to the 1690s and the Salem witch trials as she follows through the 18th century history of mother and daughter passing along a book of utmost importance to the family. But Connie’s research also turns deadly as she falls in love with a young man who has a terrible accident and her research becomes obsessively important to a superior at school. Connie ultimately must face a shocking question when she is asked to ponder whether some of the Salem witches might actually have been real witches.

When I first started reading this book I had no idea it contained such a strong supernatural element. Fortunately, I love fantasy and to find the book delving into witch lore was a pleasant surprise on my part. I really enjoyed this book. It was a really fun read. The narrative switches back and forth from the past, 1690s and early 1700s, to Connie’s modern day 1991 and also includes her reading from journals and newspapers as she researches the past. Connie herself is a likable character whose straightforward, no-nonsense character is compromised when she meets up with events that challenge her beliefs. The two storylines, past and present, are easily connected and I enjoyed them both equally well, I just wish Deliverance Dane’s character had been given more background as she remains rather a vague character.

The plot itself is on the predictable side. I had several things figured out at the start of the book and always seemed to be one step ahead of the plot but, nevertheless, I did still enjoy the whole story and read the book eagerly. I also found Ms. Howe’s idea of a Christian witch rather fascinating and entertaining. A unique mythology of witchcraft blended with excellently researched Puritan New England. This will be enjoyed by fans of historical fantasy.

Pages: 341
Ages: 10+
First Published: Jul. 7, 2009
Genre: YA, historical fantasy
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

Marco Polo glared at the menacing knight standing at the other end of his family’s trophy room.

Reason for Reading: An historical fantasy featuring Marco Polo is an ideal theme to tickle my fancy. 

Comments: 16yo Marco Polo’s father, Niccolo, has been kidnapped on his last exploration and through a rather round about way Marco, along with his best friend Amelio (son of the family servant), journey to Constantinople, where they will start a rescue mission. Traveling across Asia, through the desert, into the Unknown Lands where Marco is being followed by the minions of a sorcerer who has harnessed so much evil power that he may no longer be human. These are then the early unrecorded adventures of Marco Polo.

This was a riveting read and caught me from the first chapter. Very well written, the language and dialogue flow naturally and I often enjoyed scenes simply because of the writing. Impressive for a first novel. Sometimes books create pictures in your mind as you read, and for me this was such a one. Best described as an Indiana Jones-type plot we have adventure after adventure all over the Asian continent, from small market towns to travel across the burning desert to the courts of Kublai Khan. Swordplay abounds wherever they are. Throw in the magical element of the East, sorcerers, the reverence of dragons, the elementals, and we have a plot that doesn’t stop. I really enjoyed the mixture of historical content, the Asian aspects with the fantasy elements.

With the book being plot driven this does cause characterization to suffer. Most characters are not fully realized except for Marco, whom I felt had a well developed character. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the other characters but just wanted to know more about them and care for them more. While the book is wrapped up nicely and seems to be a stand-alone, there is a feel to it that this may be the first in a series. Amazon seems to think is labeling it as “The Adventures of Marco Polo” but I can find no official information. Guess, we’ll just have to wait and see! If another book does come out, will I read it? You betcha!

Oracles of Delphi Keep by Victoria Laurie
Book One

Pages: 552
Ages: 10+
First Published: May 26, 2009
Genre: children, fantasy
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

Ian Wigby sat on his cot, staring at the raging storm just beyond his window.

Reason for Reading: The jacket flap simply intrigued me. The book sounded right up my alley.
Comments: Set in the 1930’s along the White Cliffs of Dover atop of which stands an old castle and its keep. In that keep is an orphanage run by the earl, who owns the property and the land. It is here that orphans Ian and Theodosia (Theo) have lived most of their lives. Now 13 and 10 respectively they spend a lot of their time secretly exploring the caves within the cliffs (a most forbidden activity ) until one day they discover a silver box that contains an ancient prophecy that will forever change who they thought they were. As they turn to leave the cave they are chased by a hellhound and now that the evil forces are after them they have only one path to follow to save themselves, the children at the orphanage and perhaps the world.

What an intricate, deep plot to follow! I admit it took a bit of getting into as their were so many things going on and stories being told that I started to get lost a bit but I went with the flow and soon enough understood the different angles. This book has it all: ancient Greek mythology (though the author takes liberties with real names creating her own ancient-ancient mythology), Druid oracles, Phonecian relics, evil sorcerers and hellhounds. Starting off in England and veering off into Morocco this is an adventure as well as a mythological-steeped tale. Part of the book has a very ancient fantasy lore feel then in another part it went all Indiana Jones. There are quite a lot of different types of action happening here, not to mention the orphanage moments which have that boarding school feel that is so popular. You certainly don’t get bored!

One thing I particularly liked was the unusual party of questers in this book. Usually one can assume in a book like this we’ll have a group of children with some boys and some girls. Ms. Laurie has created a very unique group. Here we have a party of six containing 1 girl and five males, also the group contains three children and three adults. There is a hierarchy of power. The adults expect the children to obey them as they look out for their safety yet the adults know that the children have a special connection to what is going on and know things instinctively that they don’t. The children often assert their power of intuition over the adults leading the way but they follow the authority respect (this is the 1930s, remember) and they also know the adults know much more than they do because they are educators. Everyone is friendly and gets along well with each other within these dynamics.

The party consists of an old professor of archaeology, two twin brothers who are schoolmasters at the orphanage and very educated, and Colin, a new boy who is undernourished and very skinny. He has a sense of comradery and bravery but sometimes his body just won’t let him follow through. Ian and Theo are the two main characters of the group. Ian is a typical boy, all about adventure. He actually wants to be an explorer when he grows up. Finding treasures in the wild and getting rich. Theo, who was given to him to look after as a sister when she arrived, is a unique character as well. I really like the way the author has portrayed her. She is a strong-willed girl and doesn’t let anyone walk over her but she is not pushy. Sometimes she is all for whatever adventure is going on but at other times she’ll find something too dangerous and will be scared and not want to do it. Sometimes girls are portrayed in books as supergirls who can do anything, I prefer this real life example of how girls are just like anybody else sometimes strong, sometimes scared and being scared doesn’t make you weak. Theo always keep face and she saves the day more than once just by being herself, faults and all.

A well-written book. Very long, with no pictures it will probably take kids a while to read but it is full of action and plot. This is not one of those 500 page books with 200 pages of filler; this is 500 pages of pure story. There is also quite a bit of violence; there are battles, people get killed, it is described briefly and is not pretty. Kids sensitive to that sort of thing may want to avoid this book. If you like your fantasy mixed with ancient history and mythology this will be your kind of book.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Historical Fiction
2009 Amy Einhorn Books
Finished on 3/25/09
Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding)

Product Description

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

About the Author

Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Alabama with a degree in English and Creative Writing, she moved to New York City, where she worked in magazine publishing and marketing for nine years. This is her first novel.

I was first drawn to the attractive cover art of this book and it quickly found its way to my stack of ARCs, but it wasn’t until I’d readKay and Tara’s lovely reviews that I decided the time was right to begin reading The Help. I’d been on quite a roll, reading winner after winner, and I trusted both recommendations, feeling confident I was in for another enjoyable book. And what a great book it turned out to be! The characters are fleshed out and memorable, the dialogue is convincingly believable, and I fell in love with Aibileen and Minny, often forgetting that they were characters in a novel.

Stockett is a terrific storyteller and should be very proud of her debut novel. Coming in at just under 450 pages, I almost wish it had been longer; I hated to leave these characters and longed to see what the future held in store for Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter after I turned that final page. I’ve been saying this a lot these past three months, but I simply couldn’t put this book down and often found myself thinking about the characters when I wasn’t reading. They invaded my mind and left a permanent mark on my soul. The setting and time period is one with which I am only vaguely familiar, having spent that portion of my very early childhood in Canada. We did not have maids, nor did we experience the ugly prejudices so rampant in the United States in the early sixties, and thus I cringed as I read passages such as this:

In a rare breeze, my copy of Life magazine flutters. Audrey Hepburn smiles on the cover, no sweat beading on her upper lip. I pick it up and finger the wrinkled pages, flip to the story on the Soviet Space Girl. I already know what’s on the next page. Behind her face is a picture of Carl Roberts, a colored schoolteacher from Pelahatchie, forty miles from here. “In April, Carl Roberts told Washington reporters what it means to be a black man in Mississippi, calling the governor ‘a pathetic man with the morals of a streetwalker.’ Roberts was found cattle-branded and hung from a pecan tree.”

It’s difficult to write about this book without giving too much away. It’s also very difficult — painful, in fact — to write about the terrible attitudes of that time and place. I often found myself full of shame for some of the characters represented in this story, many of whom were ignorant and closed-minded. I will say that I enjoyed all the historical references (Medgar Evers, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., the March in Washington, D.C. etc.). I especially appreciated the manner in which Stockett dropped little bits of history into the narrative without it feeling like she was going down a list, checking off each historical tidbit as she incorporated it into her story. For example, Chapter 19 begins with the following:

It was 1963. The Space Age they’re calling it. A man has circled the earth in a rocketship. They’ve invented a pill so married women don’t have to get pregnant. A can of beer opens with a single finger instead of a can opener. Yet my parents’ house is still as hot as it was in 1899, the year Great-grandfather built it.

and

The summer rolls behind us like a hot tar spreader. Ever colored person in Jackson gets in front a whatever tee-vee set they can find, watches Martin Luther King stand in our nation’s capital and tell us he’s got a dream. I’m in the church basement watching. Our own Reverend Johnson went up there to march and I find myself scanning the crowd for his face. I can’t believe so many peoples is there–two-hundred-fifty thousand. And the ringer is, sixty thousand a them iswhite. “Mississippi and the word is two very different places,” the Deacon say and we all nod cause ain’t it the truth.

and

On the news, now Roger Sticker is reporting in front of the Jackson post office with the same stupid grin as the war reporter. “…this modern postal addressing system is called a Z-Z-ZIP code, that’s right, I said Z-Z-ZIP code, that’s five numbers to be written along the bottom of your envelope…”

Funny how you can take things for granted, believing they’ve been around forever and not just 45 years! I’d never not used a ZIP code when addressing a letter and had never stopped to think that there was in fact a time, not all that long ago, in which they didn’t exist.

Suffice it to say, this is a fabulous read. I think it has incredible depth and would be a great book club choice. There’s plenty to discuss and it could easily carry a meeting well into its second hour. And I love what the author says in her final words (Too Little, Too Late):

Like my feelings for Mississippi, my feelings for The Help conflict greatly. Regarding the lines between black and white women, I am afraid I have told too much. I was taught not to talk about such uncomfortable things, that it was tacky, impolite, they might hear us.

I am afraid I have told too little. Not just that life was so much worse for many black women working in the homes in Mississippi, but also that there was so much more love between white families and black domestics than I had the ink or time to portray.

What I am sure about is this: I don’t presume to think that I know what it really felt like to be a black woman in Mississippi, especially in the 1960s. I don’t think it is something any white woman on the other end of a black woman’s paycheck could ever truly understand. But trying to understand is vital to our humanity. In The Help there is one line that I truly prize:

This isn’t simply a great book for fans of historical fiction and book clubs; it’s an important work of literature that should be taught in history classes in high schools across America. Just as we should never forget the Holocaust, we should also never forget the despicable treatment of our fellow citizens.

Kudos, Kathryn! This is a superb story and one I’ll be anxious to recommend to friends and customers alike. I can’t wait to see what you have in store for us next!

Hand of Isis by Jo Graham

Pages: 508
First Published: Mar. 23, 2009
Genre: historical fantasy
Rating: 2.5/5

First sentence:

In twilight I approached the doors, and in twilight they stood open for me.

Comments: This is the story of Cleopatra told through the eyes of her sisterly handmaiden. Born just months apart, it is the story of three sisters, all of whom have the same Pharaoh as a father. One of them, had the first Queen as her mother while the other two were born from the Pharaoh’s harem. The two sisters of the harem are given to Cleopatra as handmaidens when they are five years old to be playmates for her and to attend studies with the princess who is a forgotten third daughter of the dead first Queen. The girls spend their childhood banished to a Temple Island and when they come back Cleopatra is the new Pharaoh. The book continues through the period of Julius Caesar, then Mark Anthony and finally the fateful death of Cleopatra and her two handmaidens by snakebite.

The book is told through the eyes of the youngest sister, Charmian, as she describes her life in relation to Cleopatra’s. The first part of the book when the sister’s are children growing up on the island together was good reading and a great start to the book. One got to know each of the three girls quite well, though of course Charmian’s character stood out the most. As the girl’s became adults and moved back to Alexandria, Charmain’s secondhand view of Cleopatra really filtered down her character and the third sister all but disappeared from the main plot making the story revolve around Charmain. This is unfortunate because at this time Charmain’s life becomes graphically s*xual and from this point on there are many elements of the book that didn’t appeal to me at all.

Jo Graham’s first book Black Ships was stellar (you can read my review here) and I was disappointed not to have enjoyed this one very much. The fantasy element of the book, while not being much in the way of fantasy was quite intriguing. The book starts with Charmain being dead as she enters the Egyptian Underworld to have her heart weighed on the scales against a feather. Here she meets Thoth and Isis and other Egyptians gods. Essentially the book is her telling her life story to the gods to see whether the goodness in her heart outweighs the evil. Every so often during the novel we would switch back to these interludes of Charmian in the Underworld.

Unfortunately, the graphic s*xual nature of the book and the elements therein were too much for my own conservative nature and I can not recommend the book. However others have enjoyed the book and you can find some positive reviews at these blogs:

Fyrefly’s Book Blog
Holley’s House
Tanzanite’s Shelf and Stuff

The Vagrants by Yiyun Li

Pages: 337
First Published: Feb. 3, 2009
Genre: literary fiction, historical fiction
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

The day started before sunrise, on March 21, 1979, when Teacher Gu woke up and found his wife sobbing quietly into her blanket.

Comments: This book is a story of ordinary Chinese citizens in 1979, China. A year in which people are still getting used to the Communist regime after the break-up of the Cultural Revolution. Those who were staunch Red Guards during the rule Mao have been take care of and anyone still harbouring those or any feelings other than communism are antirevolutionists. The book opens upon the day that the Gu’s daughter, Shan, now 28 after spending 10 years in prison for her actions during the rule of Mao is to be executed for her writings found in her diary in her cell.

The story is mostly one of the characters who knew Gu Shan, those affected by either her life or her death, and those who live upon her street. It is a story of the horrors of political indoctrination, crimes against the people, ordinary people trying to live their lives, and of love. Love, both gone sour from years of hardship and burning romance between two very unlikely people.

What a beautiful book! Very well written, continuously moving from one character’s experiences to an other’s. A slow-paced plot, the book encompasses only one year, but
a moving look into the minds of various Chinese mindsets from traditional superstition to staunch communist to fierce activists. I loved every one of the eclectic characters but especially Nini and Bashi, two young people who slowly become more and more the main focus as the book progresses.

I love reading about China and this brief period of the seventies is one that, historically, I haven’t read of before. I found it fascinating as well as tragic and heart-wrenching. While slow-paced as mentioned above, it is not a slow read and I found myself turning pages as fast as I could. By no means a happy story but a dark and heart-rending one with glimpses of hope.

This is the author’s first novel, having previously published an award winning collection of short stories, and I most certainly will be keeping an eye out for her next one. Highly recommended especially to those who enjoy character driven novels.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Pages: 541
First Published: Feb. 3, 2009
Genre: fiction
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

After eight months spent in the obscurity of our mother’s womb, my brother, Shiva, and I came into the world in the late afternoon of the twentieth of September in the year of grace 1954.

Comments: This epic family saga spans through the 1950s to present time and travels from Ethiopia to America and back again. A brilliant tale that starts off with an Indian nun working as a nurse in Ethiopia surprisingly going into labour with complications. Her twin sons are delivered alive but she dies on the table and the white doctor who is assumed to be the father refuses to look at the boys and leaves the Mission Hospital never to return again. This, then, is the story of the twins, Marion and Shiva, told through the eyes of Marion, the first born. The story of how they were as one person together until the day that betrayal over a woman tore them apart. An intense story that centres around medicine as the doctors and nurses try to help the poor of Ethiopia but also spans the history of this country from an autonomous monarchy through two coups, and a Marxist regime.

An absolutely brilliant book that I could not put down. Once I started I kept on reading like there was no tomorrow. The characters that populate this book are immensely genuine and eclectic from the twins, to their adoptive doctor parents, to the servants, the Matron and finally the collection of Indian doctors working together in America. A loving family and community from a mixture of cultures (white, Indian and Ethiopian) that combine Catholicism with Hinduism, live together through shocking event after shocking event.

A real page turner. An epic story that is a joy to read. An unfamiliar setting and a focus on medicine both captivated me and a truly heart-wrenching story of love and betrayal that continues to surprise you at every turn. Truly wonderful, this is a book that will stay with me. Highly recommended!

The Bleeding Dusk by Colleen Gleason
The Gardella Vampire Chronicles, Book 3

Pages: 346
First Published: Feb. 2008
Genre: paranormal romance, historical fiction
Rating: 3.5/5

First sentence:

The lair of the Queen of the Vampires was tucked away in the snowy mountain range of Muntii Fagaras.

Comments: As the third book in the series it is difficult to summarize the plot without spoilers so I will keep it brief. Victoria (and the rest of the gang) are on the trail of a demon who has evil plans and Beauregard has also become more of a threat making Sebastian torn between his loyalties.

Honestly, I found this entry in the series quite a bit slower than the first two. The pacing of the first half was slow and the romance was a bit much for me. Victoria’s swaying between yearning and anger does become tiresome after a while. Plus, with all the romance we were rewarded with only one, rather lame, sex scene.

Halfway through, the pace does pick up and the danger and intrigue take over the plot. It was at this point I felt the book more worthy of the first two installments. And if there is anything Colleen Gleason can do: it is to deliver a totally unexpected and devastating ending. The last several chapters I just couldn’t read fast enough. I wanted to turn the pages faster than I could read them which made the book a worthwhile read and of course, I must now read the next installment which will be published next month, August, (I believe) to find out what happens next.

July, 2005. It was the summer of her Chevette, of J.P. and letting her hair grow. The last summer, the best summer, the summer they’d dreamed of since eighth grade, the high and pride of being seniors lingering , an extension of their best year. She and Nina and Elise, the Three Amigos. In the fall they were gone, off to college, where she hoped, a long and steady effort, she might become someone else, a private, independent person, someone not from Kingsville at all. -From Songs for the Missing, page 1-

In the summer of her 18th year, Kim Larsen disappears without a trace - leaving behind friends and family who are bewildered and hurting. This is not an unusual story. It is a story we see every day in America - the young women filled with potential disappearing into the darkness of uncertainty. Many are never found. Many are found murdered or raped. It is an old story. Stewart O’Nan, with his refined and elegant prose, takes this story and makes it unforgettable.

Songs for the Missing is about those left behind. It is about relationships and expectations and faith and the very human need to know why and where. The characters in this beautifully written novel include Kim’s mother Fran, her sister Lindsey (only 15 when Kim goes missing), her father Ed, and friends - J.P., Elise and Nina. Each character deals with Kim’s disappearance differently, and as the months rolls into years they each come to terms with it in their own unique way. My heart felt broken by Ed - the father who searches relentlessly for the daughter he could not keep safe and who wishes for her to come to him in his dreams.

One reason he didn’t take the pill was that he longed for a dream of Kim. He didn’t expect her to tell him what had happened, he just wanted to see her again, to be in her presence as if she were alive and none of this had happened. Every night he went to bed hoping she’d come to him. Every morning he was disappointed. -From Songs for the Missing-

This novel touched my heart, especially because of my own involvement with Search and Rescue. O’Nan got it perfectly when he describes the searches, the role of law enforcement and the nearly unbearable hope of the lost one’s family which permeates every search. As the novel unfolds, I found myself immersed in the emotions of the characters, hoping they would find Kim and come to a resolution.

O’Nan has written a tender, sensitive and all too real novel about what happens when a loved one disappears. Highly recommended.

Black Ships by Jo Graham

Pages: 411
Finished: Mar. 10, 2008
Reason for Reading: Review copy.
First Published: Mar. 10, 2008
Genre: historical fantasy
Rating: 5/5

First Sentence:

You must know that, despite all else I am, I am of the People.

Comments: Set in approximately 1200 BC along the coast of the Mediterranean from Egypt to Italy this tale is a retelling of Virgil’s Aenid from the viewpoint of Gull, a young woman who is the Sybil, oracle of the Lady of the Dead, as she accompanies Aeneas on his journey to find a new home for their People. The first words that come to mind as I think about this book are lyrical and haunting. The writing is lyrical, the tale is woven around the reader as you are drawn into the very fabric of this haunting tale. I just loved everything about this book. Each time I picked up the book it felt magical. I wanted to be there forever. The characters are wonderful and so real. There is nothing more satisfying to a reader than to have characters that tug at your emotions. As I read the closing pages of this book, I wept. My tears flowed and my heart ached. And I’ll tell you, it has been a long time since a book made me cry. A beautiful, wonderful book. Highly recommended.