Before it gets too hot, let’s get a cup of tea, settle into a comfortable chair and pick something from the pile of new books coming in May. Here are three titles I particularly liked.
Maisie Dobbs returns in The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear. It’s 1932 and Maisie continues to take on investigations with her intrepid business cohort, Billy Beale. The memories of The Great War are still very fresh in the minds all, when a wealthy couple from Boston request Maisie’s help after the remains of their son and his squadron are recently found in a field in France. Evidence from an autopsy, letters sent from a mystery woman, a brutal attack and huge changes in Maisie’s personal life provide a very satisfying read.
My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira offers us the chance to live through days, months and years of the Civil War with a heroine who doesn’t carry a gun or pretend to be a soldier. Mary Sutter wants nothing more in this world than to be a doctor, a surgeon specifically. She cannot enter any medical schools and the midwifery skills she has learned from her mother will only take her so far. As the war begins, Mary leaves her home in New York for the war and the possibility of serving as a nurse in Washington, D.C. She makes her own opportunities amid the appalling conditions of the battlefields and hospitals. All five senses will be tested in My Name is Mary Sutter.
Do you remember reading The Virgin of Small Plains? Author Nancy Pickard brings us back to small- town sensibilities and a twenty year-old mystery that is about to re-ignite the anger of Rose, Kansas, in The Scent of Rain and Lightning. The Lindner family, wealthy and well-liked, is cornerstones of the community. Their four grown and growing sons are typical boys who live life to the fullest within the embrace of friends and family. In 1986, the oldest Linder son is murdered and his young wife disappears leaving their five-year old daughter to be reared by grandparents and uncles. The originally convicted ex-employee is brought back to town for a new trial, and his now grown son is his lawyer. The question is who committed the crime? This is a story of many victims.
Here’s a special treat for everyone who enjoys fiction. The Texas Library Association has just released the 2010 Lariat List. The list brings together 25 titles of fiction for adults who are looking for books that are “a pleasure to read”. It really does have something for everyone!
Enjoy!
Janet |
