by Penelope Lively |
REVIEWED BY ANNE LESLIE
FICTION
When 77-year-old retired literature teacher Charlotte Rainsford gets mugged, more than her own life changes course. The crime also affects her middle-aged daughter Rose, who's struggling in a safe yet tedious marriage; Rose's employer Lord Henry Peters, a pompous academic; his niece Marion, a decorator involved in a shallow affair with a married man; and Anton, an Eastern European immigrant with a joie de vivre as unquenchable as his determination to learn English. Each character wrestles with the incident's repercussions; as one cure for her discomfort, Charlotte distracts herself with the papers, finding solace in the banality of the daily news: "Everything going on regardless, the helter-skelter of the historical process, and in the grand scheme of things you yourself are neither here nor there." With grace, wit and wisdom, Booker Prize winner Lively has crafted a highly readable tale about fates intersecting amid the chaos of modern life.
MWF
Seeking BFF
by Rachel Bertsche |
REVIEWED BY LISA KAY GREISSINGER
MEMOIR
When New York journalist Rachel moved to Chicago, her best friends were suddenly miles away. In MWF she chronicles the year's worth of weekly friend-dates she arranged, hoping to fill the void. This charming, funny chronicle of an "experiment in extreme friending" explores the bonds between women-and the idea that the world is peopled with potential BFFs.
Believing the Lie
by Elizabeth George |
REVIEWED BY ELLEN SHAPIRO
FICTION
George, who is American but writes mysteries as British as Marmite, has some classic chestnuts in her 17th Inspector Lynley novel: a fog-enshrouded manor house, a wealthy family awash in secrets, a suspicious drowning in their boathouse. As Lynley grapples with a web of deceit, once again George creates a dense, twisty plot with characters who reveal the sad spectrum of human dereliction.
A Chance in the World
by Steve Pemberton |
REVIEWED BY CAROLINE LEAVITT
MEMOIR
Walgreens exec Pemberton survived a lot as a kid: Taken from his mother at the age of 3 and placed with a foster family, he describes unspeakable abuses and endured a beating so severe he had to be hospitalized. With a passion for books and a drive to learn, Pemberton triumphed against the odds, going to college, finding love and building a highly successful career. Yet, still haunted by his past, he went in search of his roots, discovering the brutal, thwarted lives of his birth parents and finding siblings he never knew he had. Though sometimes a bit too earnest, Pemberton never gives in to self-pity. His incredible courage inspires.
THE LITTLE RUSSIAN
by Susan Sherman
Set during the Russian pogroms, Sherman's debut traces one upper class woman's shifting fortunes.
BREAKING AND ENTERING
by Eileen Pollack
Moving to rural Michigan in an effort to save their marriage, a California couple encounter new challenges.
THE CROWN
by Nancy Bilyeau
When her cousin is condemned to death by King Henry VIII, daring young nun Joanna risks everything to be by her side.
Last year Washington state teen Gaby Rodriguez made headlines after faking a pregnancy for a school assignment. In a new memoir, she reveals what the eye-opening experiment taught her.
HOW SHE CAME UP WITH IT
With a mom and three sisters who were teen parents, Gaby, now 18 and a freshman at Pasco, Wash.'s Columbia Basin College, "saw them struggle with stereotypes," she says. "I wanted to do a project that would teach me and my classmates something about that."
PULLING IT OFF
After getting permission from her mom, principal and boyfriend, Gaby began padding her belly; in the final months she wore a homemade baby bump. Despite her stellar 3.8 GPA, classmates treated her with less respect, saying she "wouldn't graduate and go to college."
THE BIG REVEAL
Six months later, Gaby shed her belly before the student body. Afterward a teen mom at school said, "Thank you for showing people what we go through." Says Gaby: "It was an amazing feeling."
