Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate, 342 pages

"Before We Were Yours" has been on my to-be-read list for quite a while and I am so happy that I finally got to it.  This is a fictionalized account of a family of seven children who were victims of the Tennessee Children's Home Society.  The society was real and was supposed to be a wonderful system of orphanages for children, when in fact, it was a horrible place that stole children and sold them for profit.

This is one of those books that I occasionally had to put down because I just needed a break from the heartbreak.  It was also one of those books I struggled to put down because it was such a well-written and compelling story and I wanted to know what happened next.

This one definitely puts the reader through the ringer but it is so worth it.

The Substitute by Nicole Lundrigan 399 pgs.

The Substitute switches back and forth between two narrators, an unknown psychopath in the making, and Warren, a socially awkward, issue laden, substitute teacher who loses his job when they find a body in his back yard. I wanted to wipe my hands of both, I really did, but I couldn’t. Maybe because the author does such a great job fleshing out the characters that it doesn’t take much to understand why they are the way they are. Or maybe because the darker side of me might have done the same had I been in the same predicament. Or maybe even, it was all the twists and turns that kept me constantly guessing who the narrator was and who done it. Hard to say. Either way, I didn’t want to put it down.

The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley 316 pages

Ada and her brother Jamie life in a tiny flat in London with their mother.  It is right before WWII is really getting going, Hitler is threatening Europe, but hasn't invaded yet.  Ada, who is 10, has never stepped foot outside her flat.  Her mother forbids it, saying that Ada is a disgrace because of her club foot.  She is horribly abusive to both children, especially Ada.  When children are evacuated out of London, Ada forces herself to leave the only room she's ever known.  She and Jamie end up with Susan in a smaller village by the sea.  Ada falls in love with the resident pony, Butter and learns that she has much more to offer the world than simply sitting by a window and wishing for better.  This was a heartbreaking book, you kept wanting to tell Ada that she was misunderstanding, that she was not bad or stupid, but the book never cheated.  It was told from Ada's perspective, which added the majority of heartbreak to the story.  I cannot recommend this book highly enough.  I absolutely loved it!  It is a nominee for the Mark Twain Award this year.  I listened to it on audio read by Jayne Entwistle, who did a wonderful job bringing so much warmth and believable voice to all the characters.

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family & Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance, 272 pages

I started this book thinking I know Hillbillies and their experiences because I had my own grandmother called Mamaw.  My dad was the oldest of seven, and the only one of his siblings to leave North Carolina.  But I did not live the life that J.D. Vance experienced.  I wasn't even exposed to it when visiting my family in North Carolina.

This is a book about broken families and a broken society that our government isn't able to fix, and is perhaps, making worse.  It goes a long way to explaining how our new president got elected.

How do we make the American Dream real and attainable for all Americans?  How do we heal broken families and break the cycle of poverty, abuse and lack of education?  Until we find those answers as a country and society, I fear we will continue to be divided.

The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce D. Perry and Maia Szalavitz, 288pages

The full title of this book is "The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook--What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing."

I approached this book with trepidation.  I am not a fan of true crime or horror but I am happy to say this truly was a book of hope.  I wanted to read (listen) to this book because my Rotary Club is getting ready to work with a local elementary school whose teachers and staff all plan to read this.  Students who have adverse childhood experiences don't learn or behave like students who have a happy and stable home life. 

We all need appropriate love and interaction from birth and some families are not equipped to provide that.  In order to help traumatized children succeed and thrive, they need adults who can step in and be supportive and love them even when they are acting out.  That's a tall order, but this book explains why and how caring adults can impact lives.

The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell 309 pages

Marnie and her younger sister Nellie live in a housing estate in Glasgow. Their parents have disappeared. Which isn’t really a problem for the girls, they like it like that. Marnie only has to make it through the year without anyone knowing to avoid going into foster care and being separated from her sister. If it were not for Social Services, a long lost relative recently found, a drug dealer who wants his money back and an odd assortment of wacky characters, the girls lives wouldn’t seem nearly so bleak.

But then an elderly neighbor with issues of his own and inexplicably, a Russian mobster on the run, reach out to the girls and once again hope is on the horizon and just maybe everything will work out.

The Death of Bees is a beautifully written, achingly sad, raw at times, hilariously funny and always hopeful, read in one sitting, book. I absolutely loved it!

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, 460 pages

This is the second time I've had the pleasure of reading this book.  Two of the library's book clubs are reading it this year so I read it again for the Downtown Library book club.

"Big Little Lies" revolves around three women, all of whom have kindergartners at Pirriwee Public School.   Jane is new in town and is a 26 year old single mother.  Madeline just turned 40 and is happily married to her second husband.  She has three children and a huge grudge against her first husband, who deserted her when her now 14 year old daughter was 3 weeks old.  Celeste is also near 40, has identical twin boys and seemingly has the perfect marriage and life.

A quite large calamity happens at the school's trivia night and the novel reveals the build up to that night and what happened afterwards.  Ohhh, this was fun and serious and suspenseful and wonderful.  Three words: Perfect Summer Read.

Crash & Burn by Lisa Gardner, 400 Pages

Oh boy, I love Lisa Gardner's books.  This is the 3rd book featuring private investigator Tessa Leone.  It may be billed as a Tessa Leone book, but it more prominently  features her now-boyfriend New Hampshire Sheriff Department Sergeant Wyatt Foster.  Besides working hard on a case he is also struggling to get Tessa's 9-year old daughter Sophie to warm up to him.

One thing I like so much about Lisa Gardner's books is that while she writes many different series, featuring different characters, those characters often pop up in her other books.  Boston Detective D.D. Warren has a cameo here.

Okay, on to the story.  Nicky Frank crashes her car in a deep ravine.  She is desperate to get help for Vero so crawls to the top of the hill through rain and mud and flags down a motorist.  But who is Nicky and who is Vero?  That's what Wyatt works to unravel after he is called to the scene.  This is a top notch thriller.

Not My Father's Son: A Memoir by Alan Cumming, 304 pages

"Not My Father's Son" is a memoir by actor Alan Cumming.  I listened to it, which was great because it was read by Alan Cumming.  What a voice.

The memoir alternates between "Then" which is Cumming's childhood and "Now" which was 2010, when he appeared on the BBC genealogy show "Who Do You Think You Are."  The show focused on the mystery of Cumming's maternal grandfather, Tom Darling, who was a decorated WWII veteran, who never returned to his family after the war.

At the same time the BBC show was in production, Alan was dealing with a more recent family secret regarding his abusive father.  This is a book of pain and more importantly recovery.  I highly recommend this book.

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling, 503 pages

“A Casual Vacancy” is J.K. Rowling’s first adult fiction novel. The story is set in the small town of Pagford. It is a beautiful town where many of its residents feel it is their ordained birthright to control and preserve its heavenly beauty. Unfortunately, if you happen to be the less than blessed in this small town, beware, because it is the poor that has the local parish council in an uproar.

The story begins with Barry Fairbrother dying. Barry had held a seat on the parish council and was a champion for the less fortunate. With his death, there is a fear that the council will have the power to pass a vote to separate the town of Pagford from what is known as the Fields. The Fields would be similar to what we would call public assistance housing. Get rid of the responsibility of the residents of the Fields, and the town will be saved from the savages that many on the council believe live there. 

But the fighting in this small town doesn’t just revolve around the parish council, no, in this story you become a fly on the wall of all of the varied residents of Pagford. You will find a battle for power festering behind every door, be you rich or poor.

Although the story did start out slow, I was glad I stuck with it to the end. Rowling’s does a beautiful job with character and setting detail. The ending was not what I had expected, which I always enjoy. And Krystal, a teenager who lives in the Fields, will always be one of those characters I will never forget.  I felt Rowling’s challenges the reader to question their views on what makes a town beautiful. Is a town beautiful because of its buildings and natural splendor, or is the true beauty found among the diverse residences that live on both sides of the track? 

Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen 256 pages

Cole Matthews is being sent to a remote island off the coast of South Alaska. Cole is to stay on the island for a year as a banishment that was handed down by Circle Justice, an alternative to jail.

Peter Driscal is an innocent boy who turned Cole in after hearing that he robbed a hardware store. When Cole found out what Peter had done, Cole beats up Peter.

Garvey, Cole’s parole officer gets the ball rolling for Circle Justice and comes up with the idea of banishment. He tries to help Cole, so that both Cole and Peter may heal.

Touching Spirit Bear follows Cole as he learns that there are consequences in life that he has to live with. Will Cole and Peter be able to come to terms with the abuse that both boys have had to deal with? Can they heal?

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, 416 pages

I am going to hazard a guess that this is Fannie Flagg's most famous book.  I have known about this book for years, along with the movie, but somehow had missed reading it and watching the movie.  It's always been somewhere on my "to be read" list and now I've got it done.

The story begins in 1980 with 48 year old Evelyn, meeting old Mrs. Threadgoode at a nursing home.  Evelyn is premenopausal and extremely unhappy.  Mrs. Threadgoode loves to talk and tells Evelyn all about Whistle Stop, a railroad town that mostly disappeared when the railroad pulled out.  With the help of Mrs. Threadgoode, Evelyn begins to find her way to happiness.

The story goes back to the 1900s through the 1960's telling the story of the Threadgoode family in Whistlestop and Idgie and Ruth in particular, who ran the Whistle Stop Cafe.  The story is full of southern charm and the book even includes recipes at the end, including you guessed it - Fried Green Tomatoes.

The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin 259 Pages

The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin follows the story of Matt and his younger sisters, Callie and Emmy.  The story is written as a long letter from Matt to Emmy.  Matt recounts the story of their abusive mother, the various men in her life, their father Ben and the man named Murdoch.  It is a sad tale, but one full of hope and promise.  While Matt and his sisters struggle to survive, salvation has arrived with the meeting of Murdoch.  How can this man, who only dated his mother for a few short months, have such a profound impact on Matt?  Their lives change drastically when their mother totally loses control.  A great story with a happy ending....believe it or not.