Summer Reading Round-Up

Summer… and I’m reading mostly novels. I love to browse the library shelves that offer new titles as well as reserve books I hear about.

Alice Hoffman’s The Dove Keepers, tells the story  of four women, who lived in 70 CE, on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. She brings to life the harrowing historical event where 900 Jews fought against Roman armies; only two women and five children survived.   Engaging.  

Simon Mawer’s Trapeze also mixes fact with fiction as he creates the adventures of Marian Sutro, who is based on the women trained by the British in World War II to be agents for the Special Operation Executive, a clandestine program designed to destroy property, not merely gather intelligence, mostly working in France.  Fascinating.  

Edge of Dark Water by Joe R. Landsale combines mystery and adventure.  When May Lynn’s body is found weighted down by a sewing machine in the Sabine River, her friends Sue Ellen, Jinx, and Terry decide they have to honor the dead girl’s dream—she might not have made it to Hollywood living, but they are determined to bring her ashes there.  Fast and fun.  

M.L. Stedman’s  The Light Between Oceans tugs at your emotions. I read this in less than three days. Set in Western Australia, Tom Sherbourne, returning from fighting in World War I, is sent to Janus Rock to man the lighthouse. His wife Isabel, longs for a child, having had two miscarriages and a stillbirth. When a boat spills up on the rocks, with a dead man and a crying two-month old baby girl, their lives change. Do they keep the baby or not?  Powerful.

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey retells Jane Eyre in 1950’s Britain. Not sure why I completed this one.  Stick to the original.  

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