Author: Jodi Picoult

I don’t know how she does it, but Jodi Picoult never disappoints. Race relations are the topic of this book and she has some great insights into the topic.

The book is told from the viewpoint of three main characters. Ruth is an African-American labour and delivery nurse, Turk is a white-supremacist whose child has died while under Ruth’s watch, and Kennedy is the lawyer assigned to Ruth when she is accused of murder.

Goodreads Rating ****

Author: Scarlett Savage

Three generations of women, all struggling in their own way. Suzanne has moved in with her mother, Ava, as she goes through the final settlement of her divorce. Ava likes to be the centre of the show and is attending AA meetings on a regular basis. Molly, Suzanne’s daughter, has come to visit before she starts her first year at Vassar. But Molly has brought along a friend, Brandon, and she has an important announcement for her mother and grandmother.

The story is pretty predictable, but amusing none-the-less.

Goodreads Rating * * *

Author: Lene Fogelberg

I zipped through this book in no time at all. Not because it was short, but because I couldn’t put it down. The book reads like a novel but it is the true-life tale of a woman’s battle with a heart condition that isn’t diagnosed until it is almost too late. She was diagnosed with a heart murmur when she was six but her mother was told it was nothing to worry about and they’d never have to have it checked again. All throughout her life the author knew there was something wrong but the doctors in Sweden always told her she was a hypochondriac. When her husband was transferred to the States the American doctors took her symptoms very seriously and she was in the final stages of congenital heart disease.

What was particularly astounding to me was the medical system in Sweden. She wasn’t allowed to pick her own clinic or her own doctor and it seemed like nothing was covered in any insurance plans. At the end of the book she says that new legislation has come into force that changes some of the restrictions she faced.

Goodreads Rating * * * *

Author: Anthony Doerr

I waited a long time to get my hands on this book. I would search the library listing and see it was available but by the time I made it to the library it would be gone again. I finally put my name on the Hold list and eventually it was my turn.

Werner is a young German orphan who is intrigued by the radio he has managed to build in the attic of the home he lives in. Marie-Laure is a young French girl who lives with her father in Paris. Marie-Laure is blind. As the war in Europe unfolds, Werner is forced into the army and Marie-Laure is forced to flee Paris with her father. Both characters wind up in the small seaside town of Saint-Malo.

The book is told in very short sections bouncing between the current day (under the heavy bombing of Saint-Malo) and the years when the two children were growing up. I thought I might not like the moving between the two storylines but it didn’t bother me at all once I got into the book. And I was particularly pleased as there was some follow-up to both of their stories after the war.

Goodreads Rating * * * *