Category: Books for Adults

Mary Beth Latham is a happily married mother of three teenagers.  While her children go through the normal dramas of teenagers, they are generally healthy and well-adjusted.   When her talented daughter, Ruby, breaks up with her long-term boyfriend, Mary Beth is not overly alarmed until she is blindsided by an unspeakable act of violence.  Bereft, Mary Beth must cope with her grief and  regain a sense of meaning in her life.  Strong characters and beautiful prose make Anna Quindlen’s novel well worth your time.

Young Sarah Carrier lives in Puritan-dominated New England, in the late seventeenth century.  Sarah  sometimes doubts her mother’s affection for her. But, when her strong-willed mother and her siblings are targeted as witches by discontented,  hysterical neighbors and an uncle who holds a grudge against them,  she will learn of her mother’s deep love. This unconventional retelling of the Salem Witch trials, told from inside the inhumane jail where accused witches were held,  is a beautiful story of family love and a mother’s sacrifice amidst the horrors of intolerance and hatred. The inspiration for the book comes from the author’s own family history.

On Jack’s 5th birthday, Ma creates a celebration out of the meager resources available to her. She has lived in an 11′ by 11′ foot “room” for 7 years, since she was kidnapped and held by a sexual predator.  Jack’s whole life has been defined by the room and items doled out by “Old Nick.”  Although based on a terrifying premise, this is a story of courage, determination, and love.  Beautifully told in Jack’s words, this is a story of the great love of a mother for her child, creativity in the face of want, and the persistence of a woman in her fight for freedom from captivity.

Outlander is the first in a series of seven novels (with more coming!)  Hurtled back in time more than two hundred years to 1743 Scotland, World War II nurse Claire Randall finds herself caught in the midst of a world torn apart by violence, pestilence, and revolution.  Her application of 20th-century attitudes and medical knowledge to a more primitive time is fascinating; the history of the clans’ fight for independence is compelling; and the love that grows between Claire and young soldier Jamie Fraser is unforgettable.  The subsequent books continue their story, bringing them to Revolutionary War-era America. You’ll want to read it again and again!