Bookreporter.com Bets On...

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

April 2013

Christina Baker Kline’s latest novel, ORPHAN TRAIN, introduces readers to Vivian Daly, a now-90-year-old woman who has had a chaotic past --- from her difficult childhood in Ireland to her turbulent adulthood Midwest. This story specifically documents the “orphan trains” that transported more than 200,000 orphaned, abandoned and homeless children to the Midwest for indentured servitude. Those of you who read THE CHAPERONE, another Bookreporter.com Bets On selection, will remember that its plot touched on the orphan trains. It left me wanting to hear more about it, which made this book even more of a delight. Christina did very extensive research, which authenticates her characters.

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Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

April 2013

In ORDINARY GRACE, William Kent Krueger departs from his Cork O’Connor series with a stand-alone title, and it is a winner. Set in New Bremen, a small town in Minnesota in 1961 during what we know as “The Kennedy Years,” this coming-of-age story is beautifully told in a style that reminds me of some of my favorite Southern writers, which is interesting since Krueger is Midwestern through and through. The prose wraps around you, and suddenly you look up and wonder where you are as the writing has been so vivid and clear that your sense of place has been redefined.

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Life After Life by Jill McCorkle

March 2013

Jill McCorkle’s LIFE AFTER LIFE, her first novel in 17 years, is something to celebrate. Set in the Pine Haven retirement center, the cast of characters --- and they are all characters --- touched me as I came to know each of them. Their “stories” meant even more as I learned how they each connected with one another as the book unfolded with many “aha” moments. The residents, staff and neighbors of Pine Haven include a retired schoolteacher, a prominent  lawyer who is now fighting dementia, a woman who has moved there from Connecticut for reasons no one understands, a feisty young mother who runs the beauty shop, a hospice volunteer who sees her work as a calling, and a 12-year-old girl named Abby who sees the nursing home as her second home.

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The Paradise Guest House by Ellen Sussman

March 2013

Like many of you, I follow my favorite authors. Thus, when I saw that Ellen Sussman’s new book, THE PARADISE GUEST HOUSE, was coming out, I was eager to read an advance copy (I loved her 2011 title, FRENCH LESSONS). Here, Sussman sets her story in Bali. Jamie, who is an adventure guide, returns to Bali years after she was injured in the 2002 nightclub bombings. She longs to reconnect with Gabe, who rescued her that evening. I confess that while I remember these bombings, I had forgotten the details. The intertwining of that history along with their personal stories was so well handled here.

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Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler

March 2013

Before F. Scott Fitzgerald was a literary darling, he was a young World War I army lieutenant who fell hard for a spirited Southern belle named Zelda Sayre, who lived in Montgomery, Alabama. The life he and Zelda would lead together in New York, Long Island, Paris, Hollywood, and on the French Riviera made them legends even in their own time. Set amidst the glamour of the Jazz Age and the Lost Generation’s vivid world abroad, Z by Therese Anne Fowler brings Zelda and Scott’s romantic, tumultuous, extraordinary journey to life. It is one of the most highly anticipated books of the season; when I read it, I immediately saw why.

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The Obituary Writer by Ann Hood

March 2013

Looking at the cover of Ann Hood’s THE OBITUARY WRITER, I was not sure what to expect. I know that she is well known for her works THE KNITTING CIRCLE and THE RED THREAD, but this looked very different.  It opens in 1960 when the country is caught up in the Kennedy/Nixon election. Claire is a young mother who, along with her friends, idolizes Jackie O. Over dinner parties and cocktails, couples are caught up in the moment when the country feels young and vibrant and ready for a change. Young housewives are greeting their husbands as they come home from dinner, but as they move through their routines, they also are restless. And Claire’s restlessness prompts her to start an affair that unlocks parts of her that makes her feel alive. She also finds herself pregnant, which leads to new questions.

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Autobiography of Us by Aria Beth Sloss

February 2013

As it opens in Pasadena, California in the early ’60s, AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF US by Aria Beth Sloss starts as many stories do --- with two friends. One is quiet; the other is the new girl in town. Right from the beginning, Alex, the new girl, tells Becky that she has chosen her as her friend, seeing beyond the pretty popular girls to this shy one. From there, a bond is formed that will be tested and pushed, and stretched from one coast to the other, but will tie Alex and Becky, the very unlikely friends, together for decades. These girls do not want to become their mothers, who they see as trapped in their lives, but they are not sure how to break free to not become them.

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The Promise of Stardust by Priscille Sibley

February 2013

I enjoy reading novels that both entertain and pose an idea that makes me think. Priscille Sibley’s debut novel, THE PROMISE OF STARDUST, does just that. It is the story of a family torn apart by a medical crisis and the ethical dilemma that erupts from it. Matt Beaulieu and Elle McClure were childhood friends who grew up and got married. But after an accident leaves her with severe brain damage and no hope of recovery, Matt agrees to take her off life support until he finds out that she is pregnant. Not everyone believes it is possible to save the baby Elle is carrying, and some believe it is morally wrong to keep her on the ventilator because she has an advanced health care directive that states that she would never want extraordinary measures taken to extend her life.

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The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin

January 2013

When you think of Charles Lindbergh and his wife, Anne, what comes to mind first? I would bet it’s the kidnapping of their son. Next question: What else do you know about them as a couple? I would have been stumped. If asked what I knew about Lindbergh, I would talk about his historic flight. From there, I did not know his story. Thus reading THE AVIATOR’S WIFE by Melanie Benjamin was both an exploration and a treat.

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Margaret from Maine by Joseph Monninger

December 2012

MARGARET FROM MAINE by Joseph Monninger has at its heart a young mother who is raising her young son as her husband, who was gravely injured in war, lies in a coma at a local veterans hospital. Margaret visits her husband regularly where life is at a standstill and then goes back to their dairy farm to keep that going with her father-in-law. Her life is sedate, measured and full of responsibility. As she heads to Washington, D.C. for a ceremony honoring wounded soldiers, she is escorted by Charlie King. In Charlie she finds a new love, but is torn between these feelings and her commitment to her marriage vows. It’s both a wonderful love story and an impassioned look at the toll of war, the world of soldiers, and those who love them.

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