Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain

From 1933 until 1973, the Eugenics Board of North Carolina, sterilized, with or without permission, over 7000 individuals. Maybe many were like the Ivy of the story. She lives with her increasingly ill grandmother and beautiful but mentally challenged 16 year old sister who does not know that she was sterilized after she gave birth to her son two years ago.  They live in a ramshackle home provided by the owner of the tobacco farm where they live and work.  They rely on the benefits coordinated by Jane, a brand new social worker.  When Jane learns that Ivy is also scheduled for a secret sterilization, a practice she questions, she sets in motion events that quickly spin out of control.  It is a story of class, race and above all choice.  All sides of the issues come to play providing great fodder for discussion.

The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

In this very 19th century Northwest story, young William Tallmadge finds himself the soul caretaker for an fruit orchard in the foothills of the Washington Cascades.  His solitary life is interrupted by the appearance of two young girls -  both almost feral in their behavior and both obviously pregnant.  His attempts to care for the girls draw the three together in a life story that is both tragic and full of human kindness.  As they move in and out of each others lives, it may be the child that is born, Angelene, that most affects the course of William's life but never can he stray far from the pull of the orchard.

The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

Vivian began life as Niamh, the oldest daughter of an Irish Immigrant family in the 1920's.  A series of unfortunate events finds her on one of the orphan trains heading west from New York City.  Eighty some years later she "hires" Molly to help her clear the boxes in her attic.  Molly has been passed from one foster home to another.  Her Goth facade is designed to keep people away so the many good-byes in her life will be less painful.  After trying to steal a copy of Jane Eyre from the local library she finds herself working off her community service hours with Vivian.  As the boxes are opened, their stories are revealed in alternating chapters.  Separated by generations, they share many of the same challenging life experiences and show the same determination to overcome them. As Molly's task draws to an end, Vivian shares a secret that will send both of them on an unexpected and virtual journey.  I was soooooooo happy that the book ended like it did.

The Midwife by Jennifer Worth

Those of you who watched the first season on PBS will recognize most of the stories in this memoir.  The TV version made more of the romantic story line but softened the abject poverty of the 1950's well detailed in the book.  One thing I never really thought much about was how devastated London was in WWII and the consequences that had on housing not to mention the fatherless families left behind.  Chummy is just as delightful in the book version as is Sister Monica Joan.  Even the familiar parts were fun to read.

Buster Midnight's Cafe by Sandra Dallas

I can't get enough of the strong quirky female characters in Dallas' novels.  This one is no different.  Effa Commander, Whippy Bird and May Anna Kovaks have been friends since they met as young girls in the dusty mining community of Butte, Montana at the dawn of the 20th century.  Even though May Anna recreates herself as Marion Street and goes on to Hollywood stardom in the 1940's, it is their friendship that drives the story.  Effa shares their stories as young women, wives and mothers that are both tragic and oh so funny.  Buster's unwavering love for May Anna leads to events that Effa Commander knows have long been misunderstood and she intends to set the record straight.  The voices of the "Unholy trio" are classic rural homespun - sarcastic and loyal and wise.  They make you wish you could claim friends like these, ones who have known you for all the versions of your life.  Oh and there is the "who dunnit" element to Effa Commander's story that leaves you wondering just how far we would go for love or friendship.

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

In 1791, Lavinia, an orphaned Irish immigrant, finds herself in the kitchen house of a Virginia plantation.  The slaves who live there become her family in this story where the notion of family is challenged in every way imaginable.  Lavinia shares the narration of the story with Belle, whose slave mother died when she was young and whose father is the master of the big house. From the very first chapter, which is dated 1810, the reader is forced to address the sense of impending doom.  Yet in the kitchen house there is such caring in the face of such horrible abuse.  As the notions of race and insanity and isolation play out in this complicated ancestry, the reader is drawn into a world where the rules are clear but the reality blurred.  As each evil victory prevails, each opportunity for good is missed,  there is a sense of fatalism that can only be overcome by the powerful need for these strong wonderful characters to win in the end. 

The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew

Thirteen year old Jubie is the object of her Dad's fury and relies on the comfort of the families "girl", Mary.    Jubie's family thinks being nice to Mary, even providing an indoor bathroom "just for her", makes them superior to the racist world around them.  A disastrous trip through the south with Mary along highlights the horrors of the Jim Crow south in 1954.  With Jubie as the narrator we explore a society whose rules are just waiting for the clarity of youth to challenge them. This book doesn't have the heft of The Help but will appeal to the same readers.  Although this wasn't written for young adults, the youthfulness of the narrator and the content of the story makes it very appropriate for that age group.

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

Six voices tell this story of post WWII Jim Crow South. Two soldiers, one black, one white, return from the war changed by having served in Europe. They have seen a life that could be and have little tolerance for the culture waiting for them in this small town. Jamie is the brother of the land owner of a piece of land that is often cut off from the town by flooding rivers. Ronsel is the son of one of the sharecroppers helping to work that land. Insights into the sharecropper relationship may be a new to the reader but the disastrous consequences of the friendship between the two men is unfortunately all too familiar. Given recent events, one wonders we will forever be trapped by our racist past.

The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt

In his usual journalistic style (Midnight in the Garden of Good an Evil), Berendt gives us a back door view of contemporary Venice. A recent National Geographic article referred to the fact that the real population of Venice is dwindling as it becomes more of a tourist destination than a livable city. Add to that reality, a shadow of corruption and all the challenges of living in 17th century architecture. His story begins with the 1996 fire that destroyed the Fenice Opera House. As he researches the cause of the fire as well as the campaign to rebuild, there is a lot of name dropping and considerable attention paid to important individuals who called Venice home like Ezra Pound. If you have ever been to Venice, it is such a step back in time. It is hard to think about anything but winding strolls over medieval bridges to gilded squares - but that is not the Venice here.

The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg

There is nothing new in the fact the Berg's book deals with relationships or that the family in question is dysfunctional. The interesting part of this story is the realization that people can live in the same family and experience that family life so differently. Middle sister Caroline has always tended toward the high drama. At a family gathering she challenges her older sister and younger brother to remember their life as children the same sad way she does. They don't - but as the information mounts, they wonder why. Now as adults, they must figure out how to go forth in the present with their history so profoundly altered.

Heart in the Right Place by Carolyn Jourdan

Carolyn Jourdan was a high profile lawyer in Washington D.C. for various Senate commissions. With access to the pulse of the national government, she has even learned how to keep her smile and not squint when flashbulbs exploded all around her. When her mother has a heart attack, she is called back to her home in Appalacian Tennesee. She is forced to temporarily replace her mother as the receptionist in the office where her father has been a country doctor since before she was born. As weeks turn into months, we meet a host of neighbors and friends who depend on the wisdom and the generosity of Dr. Jourdan. Some stories are sad and some are fascinating but all require Carolyn to recognize the critical role her father plays in this community. When it becomes clear that her mother will not be able to return to the office, Carolyn must decide where in this world she can really make a difference.

Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

Walls first memoir shared her childhood in an eccentric somewhat dysfunctional family. This is the life of her maternal grandmother and what a life. Her story begins in the branches of a cottonwood tree, saving her younger brother and sister from a flash flood and the excitement hardly slows down from there. She is eight when she becomes a gifted breaker of horses and by fifteen is the teacher in a one room school. She is independent, fearless, and a saver of S&H green stamps. Once married to a bigamist, she finally finds a love based on mutual respect. An outstanding teacher most of her life, she cannot keep her daughter from making the questionable decision to marry the man who would create a life inside The Glass Castle. Walls has captured perfectly the voice of her grandmother but because it is all second hand, she calls this a true-life novel. Surely this is the memoir her grandmother would have loved to write if her busy exciting life had provided the opportunity.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

What a delightful story! So very English. A romance that chooses the moral high ground instead of the emotionally absurd. I loved the Major. He is charming - proper but not prudish; confident but not arrogant; witty but not oafish; and able to turn a phrase that would win the heart of any self respecting female - which of course is what I suppose makes this romantic fiction. Alas