Teaser Tuesday: From the Dead by John Herrick

The pain sharpened. Jesse rocked back and forth, not in comfort but in anguish, while he convulsed on the floor in terror. As he writhed in torture, he crouched low into fetal position. In a torrent, sodium-laden tears burst from his eyes and pattered on the floor.
~~~Page 114

Title: From the Dead
Author: John Herrick
ISBN: 9780982147016
Publisher: SegueBlue/2010
Pages: 375

Jesse leaves home at the age of eighteen years for Hollywood. His father is a preacher and Jesse can't measure up to him. But Jesse doesn't get the break he craves. He ends up doing roles as extra and works for a photographer. His relationship with Jada, whom he had met as soon as he arrived there has become a burden for both of them. Yet he is unable to break it. One day it all crashes down around him. He tries to end it all...

When he comes out of death's door, he realizes he has too go back home to Ohio. To reconcile with his father and his long lost love and then discovers another secret, that he has had a son all these years. When his son gets sick, he knows the only way he can save his son's life, is by giving up on his own. 

There is not much of a suspense in this book,yet it keeps us engrossed in it. We feel for Jesse, his sister, his father, his lost love and his son, Drew. Jesse gets a second chance but he is prepared to give it up all, for his son. Somehow this book touches us. There is happiness, sadness and hope, mercy too, in every page. I would say, it is a good debut. 

Sunday Salon: Remedies by Kate Ledger

Title: Remedies
Author: Kate Ledger
ISBN: 9780425234488
Publisher: Berkeley Books/2010
Pages: 384

After a LONG time, I finished a novel. And it feels good.

Remedies is set in Baltimore, where Simon Bears is practicing Doctor and his wife Emily is a partner in a Public Relations firm. They have a 13-year-old daughter, Jamie.  On the surface everything seems to be going great for them. However, time has stood still for them since they lost their infant son 15 years ago. They are in a mode of denial about their relationship. And Jamie too is living under the shadow of her dead sibling, Caleb.

Simon Bears treats Chronic patients by trying to relieve their pain. Then he stumbles upon something which seems to be working for relieving the persistent pain. He knows it is a major breakthrough. He also pursues unusual interests. Emily is totally dissatisfied with her life and when she meets an old lover, she knows she wants out. Jamie deals with her pain in her own way. Each one them seem to be unaware of the other's problems. 

Remedies speaks about pain. Of the body, the heart and the mind. And can one or all of it be cured? Kate Ledger has tackled that very well. The dilemma a modern couple goes through. Or they way they are unable to communicate with each other. And also that, it spills over to their daughter. 

Kate has tried to deal with these issues but somehow Simon and Emily seem out of the reader's reach. And Emily's relationship with Jamie, was something, I could connect with. No mother leaves her own child to her own devices the Emily does. Yet I will say, Kate Ledger knows that a broken marriage can't be resolved that easily. Not unless both make an effort. Despite some hiccups, she writes well. I will look out for her next novel.  

A-Z Wednesday: The Journey of Om by Chandru Bhojwani

Title: The Journey of Om
Author: Chandru Bhojwani
ISBN: 9788122310917
Publisher: Cedar Books/2010
Pages: 287

When Om's girlfriend betrays him, he is devastated. His whole world falls apart around him and he is unable to cope. It takes a toll on him physically as well emotionally. Getting drunk seems to be the only option. He is on the verge of becoming an alcoholic.

In desperation Om turns to his friends, Mona and Arun. They do try to help him but they too have their own set of problems. And each one has to deal with it alone. All this time, Om is pining for Preeti, unable to let go of his thoughts about her.

The Journey of Om actually speaks about everyone's journey. Each one of us has gone through heart breaks, at times feeling we can't recover from it. It touches us at some level. Om can't get over Preeti, Mona desperately wants to marry and settle down, Arun too betrays Rakhi, the girl he loves, in a fit of rage and drunken bout. Here we see Om's conflict, to support his friend or tell Rakhi, all about Arun's betrayal. Om, Mona, Arun and Jim's lives are all tied up in some way or the other. How does Om cope? For that matter, Mona and Arun?

I liked Bhojwani's way of writing. His prose is very readable. The chapters go back and forth but I didn't have any problem about continuity. He has shown the complex and conflicting emotions flitting in our mind very well. The pace is good too, and the ending....well, it is on the reader to think what he wants. With wit, great narration and told in simplistic language, everyone one will connect with the characters. So much so that I wanted to hurl the book at one point. Because I felt the author is a voyeur of our minds!

The Gendarme by Mark T. Mustian

Title: The Gendarme
Author: Mark T. Mustian
ISBN: 9780399156342
Publisher: Amy Enhorn Books/2010
Pages: 288

With a cover like that, which haunts the reader, The Gendarme, is a novel, one can't put down.

America. 1990s. It starts with dreams from an very old man, Emmett Conn, who thinks he was a gendarme, in the 1920s, who used to escort Armenians from Turkey. While doing so, he had met a young girl, Araxie and fallen in love with her. Emmett's dreams are so vivid that he thinks that they really happened. It turns out that he had been injured in the ensuing war and memory loss was one of the consequences. He had come over to US and started a new life.

However, his dreams tell him that he did a wrong by abandoning and forgetting all about Araxie. Now aftr seven decades, he knows he has to find her and ask for her forgiveness. Will he be able to do it? Why is it so important for him?

Via this novel, I learnt about the politics of Turkey in the early 1900s, its after effects, the unheard of genocide, about gendarmes, their various roles, the exodus, the Armenian connection. I also learnt about a world and a culture, that I know nohing about.

Love transcends time, countries, cultures and sustains, no matter what.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

Title: Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
Author: Beth Hoffman
ISBN: 978-0670021390
Publisher: Viking-Penguin/2010
Pages: 320 pages

In the midst of all the difficult reads, I found Saving CeeCee Honeycutt very refreshing.

CeeCee has a mother, who lives in her own world, and a father, who has no time for either of them. Instead of her mother looking after her, it is CeeCee who is taking care of her. Then one day, her mother is hit by a car and is dead. CeeCee is 12 years old and nowhere to go. Tootie Caldwell, an unknown great-aunt turns up, to take her away, her father is only too eager to let her go.

When both arrive in Savannah, CeeCee finds herself in the midst of love from so many women that she is kind of overwhelmed by it. Slowly she emerges from her haze of sadness and takes in all the love and affection and returning it in great measure.

The novel does start with CeeCee's troubled life. We feel for her and wish the best for her. Our wish comes true in the form of Tootie, who genuinely wants the best for the girl. Even in the sad moments, the novel is not depressing. It tackles the issues with wit, sometimes hilariously and the affection of large-hearted women. We also get to see a few eccentric characters who help in enhancing the novel.

The Tricking of Freya by Christina Sunley

Title: The Tricking of Freya
Author: Christina Sunley
ISBN: 9780312378776
Publisher: St. Martin Press/2009
Pages: 352

Told in the voice of Freya, we take a journey from Gimli, a village in Canada, to Iceland. She is writing all her thoughts, her experiences for her unknown cousin. She doesn't even know if her cousin is a male or a female. But she knows she has to write it all down for that person, whom intends to find out in her lifetime.

She and her mother have always lived in Connecticut. She speaks about her mother, Anna and her aunt Birdie, her grandmother, Sigga and various other relatives, Icelandic as well as Canadian. After Birdie dies on her 14th birthday and also when her mother dies, a few years later, she is not keen to visit Gimli again. But she does go back for her very old grandmother, who wants to preserve the family history.

Again we see Freya travelling from Gimli to Iceland to learn more about her cousin. And finally when she does learn the untold secrets, she can't believe how much injustice was done to herself, her volatile aunt and her gentle mother.

It starts with Freya being seven years old and takes us through more that two decades. We too are affected when we learn the enormity of Freya being tricked. With beautiful scenics and interesting characters, the reader is moved beyond words.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I liked the following words from the above reviewed book:

1) Kenning (page 3): Word-Meadow is a Kenning for tongue, "she explains. "And I suppose now you will want to know what a kenning is."

A kenning is a much-compressed form of metaphor, originally used in Anglo-Saxon and Norse poetry. In a kenning, an object is described in a two-word phrase, such as 'whale-road' for 'sea'. Some kennings can be more obscure than others, and then grow close to being a riddle.

2) Elskan (Page 6): "Come here, elskan, and kiss your rotten aunt."

Elskan is an icelandic word meaning, honey, sweetheart or darling

Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross

When David Pepin first dreamed of killing his wife, he didn't kill her himself. He dreamed convenient acts of God. At a picnic on the beach, a storm front moved in. David and Alice collected their chairs, blankets, and booze, and when the lightning flashed, David imagined his wife lit up, her skeleton distinctly visible as in a children's cartoon, Alice then collapsing into a smoking pile of ash.
~~Page 3

Title: Mr. Peanut
Author: Adam Ross
ISBN: 9780307270702
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf/2010
Pages: 335

When Alice is found dead, David is assumed to be murderer. After all he was always thinking of her death. Not exactly murdering her, but in numerous ways she should die. The two police detectives who are investigating the death, have their own marital relationship in shambles.

Ward Hastroll's wife Hannah has retreated into their bedroom and has not surfaced for the last few months. Hastroll is in his wits end how to communicate with her. Long time back, Sam Sheppard too had been a suspect for his wife Marilyn, death but was set free due to lack of enough evidence. He had left his medical practice to become a detective.

While investigating, these men go over their own marital relationships, which still confounds them. When a hit men Mobius is found linked to David Pepin, things get murkier. Everything seems to be pieces of different zigsaw puzzles, unconnected with each other. The best and worst of conjugal relationship is depicted here. The love going side by side with tenderness and ugliness, the affection along with hatred. The killing impulses with protectiveness, each aspect has been dwelt very delicately by the author.

In the beginning everything that goes might appear haphazard, unconnected and unrelated but it all falls into place, giving us a great novel. One of the best police procedurals I read in a long time and I couldn't put it down until I finished it. With this book, Adam Ross has arrived.

A book to be read by all those who are married, all those who are contemplating marriage and those aren't. I say, go for it!

The Wild Irish Sea by Loucinda McGary

Title: The Wild Irish Sea
Author: Loucinda McGary
ISBN: 9781402226717
Publisher: Sourcebooks/2010
Pages: 306

Amber O'Neill gets a telepathic message from her brother and she knows that he is in some kind of trouble. She has to reach him somehow so she rushes to the rocky shores of Ireland. She lands up at the doorstep of Kevin Hennessey, looking for a policeman. He is unable to drive away this dishevveled American female. He offers to help find her brother. However, no one is keen to own up seeing her brother anywhere in the vicinity. Amber and Kevin find themselves into battling out with smugglers. And also with their own attractions.

The telepathic link between the siblings is amazing. They have always been able to talk to each other in their minds. After arriving in Ireland, Amber finds that she can read other peoples mind too, including Kevin. Somehow he too can communicate with her telepathically, although he can't do it with anyone else. Kevin is not very keen on getting closer to her as he has his own demons to deal with. When they do get to Parker, Amber's brother, they also find a selkie prince. Will Parker survive his ordeal? And how did he land up in trouble, in the first place? Amber and Kevin have to find out the truth, in order to catch the smugglers.

The scenic beauty of Ireland, the connection between the characters and also with the seals along with underlying suspense help in keeping the reader engrossed. The romance portion does get steamy but in no way out of place.

A-Z Wednesday: What the Bayou Saw by Patti Lacy

Title: What the Bayou Saw
Author: Patti Lacy
ISBN: 978-0825429378
Publisher: Kregel Publications/2009
Pages: 336

Back Cover:

Since leaving Louisiana, Sally Stevens has held her childhood secrets at bay, smothering them in a sunny disposition and sugar-coated lies. No one, not even her husband Sam, has heard the truth about what happened when she was almost twelve years old.

Now a teacher in Illinois, Sally has nearly forgotten the past. But when one of her students is violently attacked, Sally's memories of segregation, a chain link fence, and a blood oath bubble to the surface like a dead body in a bayou. Lies continue to tumble from Sally's lips as she scrambles to gloss over harsh reality. Finally cornered by her deceit and nudged by the Holy Spirit, she resolves to face the truth, whatever the consequences.

My views:

Sally has all but forgotten her past. It all comes back when one of her student's is brutally raped. Now that student is a coloured one. Sally finds racial prejudices all around her in the investigations. No one wishes for a white man to be involved in the crime. Sally has her misgivings and does not how to handle it.

Her memories come to surface. She remembers her childhood friendship with a coloured girl, Ella Ward. And also the secret they both shared. No one was aware of their umlikeliest friendship. Sally had let down her friend by keeping her mouth shut, which had affected Ella's family.

Now this incident makes Sally question herself. And she knows, she has to stop her lies to get to the bottom of it irrespective of the consequences. And she has to redeem herself in her friend Ella's eyes.

The novel raises the age old issue of race. Sally and Ella become friends. Ella can go to any length for Sally but Sally doesn't. Ella had hoped that Sally would come out with the truth but Sally doesn't. Sally's silence destroys their friendship.

Here we see Sally continue to lie at the drop of a hat. And it catches with her. When skeletons tumble out, she knows she has to tell the truth. It is pegged as a Christian fiction. That does not bother me as I feel that choosing rightous path is mandatory for everyone, irrespective of religion.

What is hidden in the Bayou is what we have to find out here.

A-Z Wednesday: Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell

Title: Under This Unbroken Sky
Author: Shandi Mitchell
ISBN: 9780297856580
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson/2009
Pages: 256

Book Blurb

Spring 1938. After nearly two years in prison for the crime of stealing his own grain, Ukrainian immigrant Teodor Mykolayenko is a free man. While he was gone, his wife, Maria; their five children; and his sister, Anna, struggled to survive on the harsh northern Canadian prairie, but now Teodor—a man who has overcome drought, starvation, and Stalin's purges—is determined to make a better life for them. As he tirelessly clears the untamed land, Teodor begins to heal himself and his children. But the family's hopes and newfound happiness are short-lived. Anna's rogue husband, the arrogant and scheming Stefan, unexpectedly returns, stirring up rancor and discord that will end in violence and tragedy.

My views:

Teodor Mykolayenko is a good man. He is a victim of circumstances. It is his brother in law, Stefan, who is solely responsible in destroying him. Teodor's wife wife is a woman of great inner strength and has kept her family intact by that only. Her determination on the face of adversity is admirable. Her eldest son, too is a source of strength for her. One man's greed can stop at nothing. Anna too knows that and yet is somehow compelled to stay with Stefan. Her relationship with the howling coyotes too is very disturbing, very vivid. The family can overcome nature, fire, other adversities but what can it do that comes within from home?

The descriptions of the Canadian prairie and of the rough, desolate farming conditions are as beautiful as they are striking. Each and every character is very well developed despite the complexities. Sophie, Ivan and the younger children are all so endearing. And we also love Anna. And her children. This is a book which is heart-breaking at times yet we are unable to put it down. More so because of the beautiful writing. It is so poetic at places. It also speaks of facing tribulations and/or giving in to it.

A-Z Wednesday: Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas

Title: Tallgrass
Author: Sandra Dallas
ISBN: 978-0312360191
Publisher: St. Martin's Press/2007
Pages: 320

Book Blurb:

During World War II, a family finds life turned upside-down when the government opens a Japanese internment camp in their small Colorado town. After a young girl is murdered, all eyes turn to the newcomers. Rennie has just turned thirteen, and until this time, life has been predictable and fair. But the winds of change are coming and with them, a shift in her perspective and a discovery of secrets that can destroy even the most sacred things.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My views:

Told in the voice of Rennie, Tallgrass takes us right into the middle of small Colorado town. When Japanese start arriving, people have mixed feelings. Most people don't want the Japanese there but they can't go against the Goverment. Anything goes wrong, the people at the camp are blamed. Only Rennie's family seems to sympathise with the Japanese. Her father hires a few Japanese men, to help with his beet farming and he too faces antagonism.

Rennie's sister has gone away and her brother has joined the army. o she turns to Japanese people for friendship. When things seem to have settled down a bit, a body of a young girl is found, all eyes turn to the internship camp. Rennie learns her lessons in the hard way. Nothing is what it seems, even her parents have kept some secrets from her.

Tallgrass coovers the dilemma in a young girl's mind, and the bigger picture of what is right or wrong. Did the government do the right thing by opening up internship camps for the Japanese people? I wasn't aware of this and this book made me look up more material on the subject.

Friday Find: Hold Up the Sky by Patricia Sprinkle

Title: Hold Up the Sky
Author: Patricia Sprinkle
ISBN: 9780451229144
Publisher: Penguin/New American Library/2010
Pages: 407

Four independent women come to be under roof, due to different circumstances. Except for Mamie, no one else is too fond of each other, even though Billie and Margaret are sisters.

Mamie has a serious heart problem and knows that she has not much longer to live. Yet she has a large heart to help out others. Billie's husband has left her, and she has to take care of her cerebral palsy daughter, Michelle. Margaret seems to have everything going for her but suddenly she is left with nothing. Emerita is an illegal immigrant, trying to make a life for herself. All of them get connected to each other. Initially none of them is ready to share their secrets but slowly they realise that sharing can only make their life better.

Patricia has done well to get that point across. Women, all over the world know that bonding weith another female helps thm cope up with their problems. Independent to interdependence is the theme of the novel.

Friday Find: Never Let You Go by Erin Healy

Title: Never Let You Go
Author: Erin Healy
ISBN: 9781595547507
Publisher: Thomas Nelson/2010
Pages: 352

Molly is all that Lexi has. She can do anything for her daughter. Her husband had left them seven years' ago, without a single word. Even when he was with them, he was a drug addict, involved in seedy stuff, along with some disreputable characters. One day Warden, a drug dealer, comes back into her life, asking her to pay off Grant's old debts. Lexi is not aware of anything like that. She doesn't have that kind of money. Then Grant too re-enters her life, and wishes to see their daughter.

Lexi can't take all this. There is something in her past that she is not proud of and doesn't wish it to come out. But with Grant and Warden back in her life, each wanting a slice of her, she knows, she is in trouble. She doesn't know what to do and whom to turn too. It is not all, she can also feel supernatural elements, playing a part, affecting her equilibrium. And she has to deal with that.

After a while it ceases to matter if her past comes out or not. Only thing important is to save her daughter and for that she has to believe herself and chose the lesser of the two evils, between Grant and Warden.

Never Let You Go is a very well written book. The supernatural part doesn't seem out of place. Lexi doesn't fear anyone for herself but she fears for her daughter. That is a normal part being a parent. The prose is very good and the story line is very engrossing. I have not read anything else by Erin Healy, but I will.

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

Title: The Kitchen House
Author: Kathleen Grissom
ISBN: 978-1439153666
Publisher: Touchstone/2010
Pages: 368

Book Blurb:

In 1790, Lavinia, a seven-year-old Irish orphan with no memory of her past, arrives on a tobacco plantation where she is put to work as an indentured servant with the kitchen house slaves. Though she becomes deeply bonded to her new family, Lavinia is also slowly accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles opium addiction. As time passes she finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds and when loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare and lives are at risk. The Kitchen House is a tragic story of page-turning suspense, exploring the meaning of family, where love and loyalty prevail.

My views:

The premise interested me because of a white girl working as an indentured servant with black slaves. I had not read any other book on that. Lavinia has no memories other than random dreams of a family she had, before she was brought to the tobacco plantation by the owner, Captain Pyke. She is to be trained as servant under the care of Belle, who is the illegitimate daughter of the Captain. Lavinia and Belle develop a bonding over the years.

Told in alternate voices of Lavinia and Belle, we get deep insights into the lives of slaves, and their relationship with their masters. Belle's voice is logical, practical and she is not afraid to narrate the unpleasantness. Lavinia is emotional and wavers at times. I think that is normal as she is younger and has not found her footing in the initial few years. Lavinia is taken in by both the Pyke's family and the slaves working in the Kitchen House.

The Captain is seldom home and his wife, Martha, is sickly, mainly due to addiction to opium. A tragedy befalls, which makes Martha almost lose her mind. That's when we see Lavinia getting closer to her. She too comes to like Lavinia. When the Captain dies, Lavinia is sent to Martha's sister and here we see her getting some sort of education. However, Lavinia is always wishing to go back to the Tall Oaks, which she eventually does after marrying Captain Pyke's son, Marshall Pyke. When she discovers his drunkenness and infidelities, it is very late. Now the slaves are no longer the family she always had. She is torn apart by all this happenings.

Belle, despite being the Captain's daughter doesn't get her due. Infact she is brutally raped by Marshall, who thinks that she had always been his father's mistress. With other characters like Will Stephens, Mama Mae, which are essential for the development of the novel, we see the various dilemmas between the two worlds. The worlds, which can't be merged, no matter how hard one tries. Despite love, honour and so much more. And that is the tragedy.

Written in a interesting manner, this novel is fast paced and not something to be forgotten easily. I simply had to read it at one go.

Thanks to the author for the ARC.

Colony by Anne Rivers Siddons

Title: Colony
Author: Anne Rivers Siddons
ISBN: 9780061099700
Publisher: HarperTorch/1993
Pages: 640

~~~~~~~~~~

Book Blurb:
When Maude Chambliss first arrives at Retreat, the seasonal home of her husband's aristocratic family, she is a nineteen-year-old bride fresh from South Carolina's Low Country. Among the patrician men and women who reside in the summer colony on the coast of Maine, her gypsy-like beauty and impulsive behavior immediately brand her an outsider. She, as well as everyone else, is certain she will never fit in. And of course, she doesn't...at first.

But over the many summers she spends there, Maude comes to cherish life in the colony, as she does the people who share it with her. There is her husband Peter, consumed with a darkness of spirit; her adored but dangerously fragile children; her domineering mother-in-law, who teaches her that it is the women who posses the strength to keep the colony intact; and Maine native Micah Willis, who is ultimately Maude's truest friend.

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My views:

Colony spans 70 years and we see it with the eyes of Maude. When she arrives in Retreat, Maine, her mother-in-law doesn't accept her at all. Although her husband loves her, but he is a weak man who goes out to sail whenever the going gets tough. Amy Potter becomes her best friend but her husband is a lecherous man.

Peter is strangly distant of his own two children, who turn out to be somewhat sick. Over the years, Maude, with the help of her mother-in-law develops a strength of character, and is able to ndure anything, which includes sending one of her children to a sanitorium, and also a death of a grand child.

It all comes to a head when, Elizabeth, Amy Potters' daughter returns. She had almost been banished. Peter is strangly protective of her and Maude can't understand why. Maude finds an ally in Micah Willis, whose strength helps her to cope. Her deepening affection for him also shakes her out of her long-hidden feelings.

Although the book kind of drags at places, I still found the prose very poetic and that made me go one, not to forrget Maude's determination. Before this I had read King's Oak and liked it too. I will definitely check out more of Siddons novels.

A-Z Wednesday: Open Country by Kaki Warner

"You heard he was rich, is that it?" he accused, still pacing. "And now that he's hurt, you're just bidding your time until he dies so you can get your hands on his money. Jesus, what kind of woman are you?"
~Page 38

Title: Open Country
Author: Kaki Warner
ISBN: 978-0425234303
Publisher: Berkley Trade/2010
Pages: 448

Second of the Blood Rose trilogy, Open Country is as good as Pieces of Sky. This is about the second Wilkins brother, Hank. Set in the old New Mexico city, this is a fine piece of historical fiction. Hank is seriously injured in a train accident. Molly McFarlane is desperate to provide for her late sister's children. She has to save them from their step father. She marries Hank assuming he would be dead soon and she would get his insurance settlement. However, Hank survives and obviously does not remember either the train accident or marrying her. Still he takes her to his ranch. The Wilkins family accept her and her wards soon enough and Hank to falls in love with her and those kids.

And then Hank remembers everything. What with Molly's past looming large and the children too hiding something, Hank seems to get more than his fair share of troubles. Yet he knows he has to protect them all. Open Country stands alone and one gets involved with the Wilkins family soon. It is a fairly easy read and finishes fast. It is well wortyh it for all those who like to read about family sagas.

Thanks to Kaki, for this Uncorrected Proof of the novel.

Teaser Tuesdays: Tomorrow River by Lesley Kagen

"Pay Attention." Grampa taps the back of my head, hard. "Sam Moody's been arrested for murderin' your mother in the first degree."

~Page 274

Title: Tomorrow River
Author: Lesley Kagen

ISBN: 9780525951544

Publisher: Dutton/2010

Pages: 342

I like books about twins. Tomorrow River is one such book. Based in Virginia, the Blue Ridge Mountains as its backdrop, it also has beautiful atmospheric feel to it.

Shenandoah and Woody Charmody, both 13, are twins. Their mother has disappeared and they are trying to cope with that. Their father, a well known Judge, too seems to have changed, for the worse. He doesn't want them to mix with anyone else and virtually keeps them prisoners. Woody has not spoken a single word since their mother disappeared.

Shenny kind of takes care of her twin, who tags along with her. It appears that their father is going to remarry and Shenny knows she has to find her mother's whereabouts. Woody is no help and anyone she tries to talk to, considers her just a kid. The fact is no one wants to get in the bad side of their father.

Yet Shenny is determined to find out the truth. With the help of their coloured housekeeper she embarks for the same. And plunges right to family secrets, which have been very well guarded. When she faces Woody's secret, she can't believe that it is her twin , who has been protecting her all along, not she.

I liked Shenny and Woody too, who doesn't speak a word. Their father comes out somewhat evil, although Shenny can't see it. With a surprising ending, this novel was a pleasure to read. I had to keep on reading to know what is going to happen. The starkness and darkness merges yet there is light at the end. A beautiful book, well worth the effort.

Thanks to the author, for my copy.

TSS: The Journey Home by Michael Baron

Title: The Journey Home
Author: Michael Baron
ISBN: 9780981956862
Publisher: Mass Market Paperback/2010
Pages: 176

The Journey Home takes the reader into a journey of three people who are totally unconnected. Joseph comes out of sleep and doesn't remember who he is. Yet he can feel his wife calling out to him and has to go to her although he doesn't know where and how. He meets Will, a 17-year-old boy, who offers him to take Joseph anywhere he wants to go.

Warren seems to have lost his mother to Alzheimer's. He has a lot of personal problems, what with a lost job and being in midst of a divorce. Still he knows that he has to coax his mother out of it. He takes pains and cooks for her, her own recipes over the years.

Antoinette, Warren's mother, in her lucid moments, only wants to lie in bed and dream of her husband to come to her.

All these characters are lost in their own ways and have to find a way to come into terms with themselves. They have find their comfort zones, their safe havens. THe reader gets totally involved with their thought processes. THese seemingly unconnected people somehow come together, finding peace at last.

It is a very short novel, seems a bit slow at times but it makes the reader think. Baron has done a good job with the ending. And the best part of the book, are the recipes, and the cooking by Warren, which he does out of love for his mother. Each ones, feelings, desires, pains have been brought forward very well.

Teaser Tuesdays: In the Wake of Boatman by Jonathon Scott Fuqua

"He should crack his little boy's neck as gently as possible. It would be like saving two lives."
~Page 1

Title: in the wake of the boatman
Author: Jonathon Scott Fuqua
ISBN: 978-1890862428
Publisher: Bancroft Press/2008
Pages: 320

Right from his birth, Puttnum Douglas Steward, is considered no good by his father. He is ignored and faces antagonism at every step. He always seeks attention ut his father has closed his mind and thinks Puttnam is non-existent for him. The boy struggles to prove himself to his father but for no avail. Then he gets into University of Virginia on an ROTC scholarship. His life changes. There he has a fling with his cadet commandent. He also experiments with cross dressing and finds that it is what he is.

In this novel, Putt has a lot of dilemmas: father/son conflict, homosexuality, transsexuality, war, alcoholism, death, loneliness, friendship, and romantic anguish. This novel wholly embolds its ambitious scope, including the ambiguity and loose ends that are part of any complex personalty. Putt is a complicated yet so very real protagonist with enough emotional courage to bind together the deeply conflicting issues depicted in the novel.

In the Wake of the Boatman is well written, filled with poetic prose. The novel contains a nuanced and worthy portrait of a life struggling towards fulfillment. Putt pulls off the book all by himself.

The Language of Secrets by Dianne Dixon

Title: The Language of Secrets
Author: Dianne Dixon
ISBN: 9780385530637
Publisher: Doubleday/2010
Pages: 258

What does one do when one discovers that the life one is having shouldn't be happening as one has been dead for a long time now? How would you feel if you found out you had tombstone for youself? Justin faces it and doesn't know how it came about. He is very much alive, has a good job, a beautiful wife and a toddler son.

All his memories are somewhat disjointed and he only remembers an address in California. He has come back to it to find it being occupied by strangers. No one knows him at all. One of his sisters slams her door on his face. Now he has to find out about that tombstone of his. When he starts unravelling the past, he finds a betrayal unheard off. By a father, which in a way breaks apart a mother's heart. Not to forget the little boy.

The book goes back and forth from 2006 to the early 70s. From his point of view to his mother's. Told poignantly, it is a man's search for his identity and facing the painful past. Although Justin never gets to know his mother, the reader feels her pain, her sadness and the life she led without her son. It touches us at places that we can't fathom.

This novel breaks our heart at places. Justin might have had a very painful childhood but he managed to do good for himself. This books takes us on his journey to find himself, his family, his past and only then he can come back to his present.

I recommend this to everyone who wants to explore issues beyond the normal. I simply couldn't put it down.

Thanks to the author for the Bound Galley.