Review of The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

Rating - 4

 1926. Tom Sherbourne is a young lighthouse keeper on a remote island off Western Australia. The only inhabitants of Janus Rock, he and his wife, Isabel, live a quiet life, cocooned from the rest of the world.
The one April morning a boat washes ashore carrying a dead man and a crying infant - and the path of the couple's lives hits an unthinkable crossroads.
Only years later do they discover the devastating consequences of the decision they made that day - as the baby's real story unfolds...

Stedman has created a unique novel. . . unique in time, setting and circumstance. The choice made by Tom and Isabel sets them and their marriage on a path of no return and propels every reader to question his or her own ethical and moral values if faced with a similar dilemma. Highly recommended.

Review of Freeman by Leonard Pitts, Jr.

Rating - 5

The Civil War is just over. The slaves are free; the South vanquished. Sam, a runaway slave who escaped to the North years ago decides he must return to the South and find his wife, Tilda, whom he left behind. Tilda, sold to a harsh master who refuses to release his slaves, forces them to travel West with him where he doesn't have to follow federal law. Prudence, a wealthy abolitionist from Boston, decides to travel South to open a school to teach the newly freed slaves. Three journeys, unexpected outcomes, against almost insurmountable obstacles.
Pitts set his story in the South immediately after the Civil War. The newly freed slaves don't know what it means to be free and the Southerners can't recognize that they lost the war. I haven't read anything that takes place in this specific time period before. This is a compelling read, often difficult due to the cruelty of the times, but almost impossible to put down.

Review of Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

Rating - 4

At the age of 13, Maisie Dobbs procures a job as a housemaid in a nobleman's house. Maisie lived in near poverty with her father from the time her mother died when she was a young child. Although Maisie never went to school, she was a avid reader. One day her new employer finds her reading in his library and eventually discover that not only is Maisie a bright young woman, but she is exceptionally gifted. Her new employers decide to take Maisie under their wing and educate her. In her second year of college, war breaks out and Maisie decides to become a nurse and work on the battle front treating the wounded soldiers. When the war is over and Maisie returns to England, she decides that attending college is too frivolous and wants to something with her education. She starts her own business as a private investigator and her first case involves severely injured war veterans.

This is the first book in a series about Maisie Dobbs. I had a hard time putting this book down once I started reading it. The characters drawn the reader in immediately and at the end I needed to know more about Maisie and her life.  Highly recommended. Fans of the PBS TV show, Downton Abby, will really enjoy this book since it is set during the same time period and deals with the upper and lower class system prevalent in England at that time.

Review of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin

Rating - 4

Born a dwarf in the early 1800s, Lavinia Bump was part of a loving family and community. She constantly chafed against the limitations she had not only as a dwarf, but as a woman. Women were not typically educated in the 19th century, but Lavinia not only learned, but was a teacher for a period of time. Yearning to move beyond her restrictive environment, she took a job as an entertainer on a riverboat just prior to the Civil War. The man who "recruited" her was believed to be a family relative, but ultimately she became a member of a "freak" show and was all but sold into prostitution by her "cousin". She didn't let her narrow escape from the riverboat keep her from moving on. Eventually, she ended up as part of P.T. Barnum's show and circus. She met Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton), one of the best known and most-beloved performers in Barnum's show and married him. Lavinia and Charles had one of the most famous marriages of it's time, but it wasn't a love match. Together, they became one of Barnum's most popular performers. They traveled the world, had tea with the Queen of England and lived as part of high society in New York. P. T. Barnum was Lavinia's best friends and confidantes. He, alone, of everyone she knew thought the way she did and between the two of them the fame and fortune of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Thumb continued to grow, as did P.T. Barnum's.

Lavinia is a very strong character. She dearly loved her family, especially her younger sister, Minnie, who eventually became part of the troupe. She was very ambitious, though, and her career and fame was always first and foremost in her mind and in the decisions she made.

One of the most interesting features of this novel for me was the historical context. Benjamin did exhaustive research not only about Lavinia but also of the world in which she lived. I learned a lot about the Gilded Age, circus performing, and the life of a "small person" during a time when people paid to see "freaks" and were intolerant of anyone who is different.
This is a well-written book, full of history, romance, and performance.

Review of Annexed by Sharon Dogar

Rating = 5
Young Adult

The Diary of Anne Frank is a literary classic about a young Jewish girl's dreams and thoughts and fears during the two years she spent hiding in an office annex during the Holocaust. Annexed is the imagined story of life in the annex told from Peter's point of view.

Dogar used Anne Frank's diary to bring realism to the story and did extensive research on the Holocaust. As a stand-out young adult author, she is able to describe the thoughts and feelings of a teenage boy and what it must have been like living in such close quarters, knowing that he might never again live outside those walls. Told from two points of view, the reader experiences Peter's "present" as he lies dying in a concentration camp near the end of the war and his past, the two years of living in the annex. An epilogue details what happened to each of the annex residents after they were betrayed. This book will make you think and cry and want to go back and read Anne Frank's diary again. Absolutely a must read!!