The Women by Kristin Hannah

The Women by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Janet, my librarian friend, for purchasing this gut wrenching read I could not put down. Frances is an idealistic Catholic girl who wants to follow her brother into the Vietnam War, she is a nurse and becomes a very good one, in horrific conditions but with the support of nurse friends and doctors. This is a must read - research is lengthy with many sources provided and experts/war personnel. I will be thinking of the characters, the country of Vietnam and its people, and the veterans who went into the war, gave their life and the veterans who returned to no fanfare, just derision, and had to "find" their way. Highly recommended!

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The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Cara McBrien for giving me this book to read! I really enjoyed all the daughters & Afong Moy as I read about their lives, romances, hardships and issues dealing with trauma, bias, and secrets. The theory of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance was so new to me and I will certainly be reading more- especially the book in the afterward that Jamie Ford has listed 1st in recommended reading. I have a copy of that book and I purchased it (The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.) based on Tara Smith's recommendation! This is a fierce read, this Chinese family and their daughters is explored as well as anti-Chinese bias in America, resulting in a must read!

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The Island by Elin Hilderbrand

The Island by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this wonderful beach read about 4 women, Birdie, her daughter Chess and Tate (opposites in every way) and Birdie's sister, India who converge on their summer home in Tuckernut Island after 13 years. Oh the plot, the drama, the suspense, and the real humanity of family with secrets. Another great character was Barrett, he has some history with both daughters and I enjoyed him as a character who did not fit into the business world, never went to college, but was crushed on by almost all of these ladies and many others on the island. A great story of love lost and found, grief, anger, and the importance of family and love.

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The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner

The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Many thanks to my sister in law, Donna Gola for recommending such a great book! I listened to this amazing audiobook narrated by Alana Kerr Collins & Jason Culp and could not stop as the reader is swept into Sophie's life and hardships. Sophie is Irish and living miserably in a NY tenement when she answers a mail order bride ad place by a Martin Hocking. Sophie ran from Ireland and now runs to California marrying a man she does not know but he has told her he is a widower and has a young daughter, Kat. She meets and marries him a few hours later and settles into life in a nice home with a husband who travels selling insurance (Martin barely provides any information about his job and travels) and a daughter who does not speak (why?). Sophie falls in love with Kat and spends all her time coaxing her to daughter to speak. The day before the famous 1906 San Francisco Earthquake hits, Sophie's life is thrown into chaos with the arrival of a pregnant woman on her steps. Such a great historical fiction novel about the fierce love of women, the bonds of friendship, and the mess of marriages. Highly recommended!

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Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold

Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book for #BitAboutBooks Spring Reading Challenge because the book has a Color in the title. Wow, this YA retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood story was nail biting. Bisou is a young girl who is raised by her grandmother after her mother is brutally murdered and it is not until one fateful night with a wolf chasing Bisou that her world changes. I loved how Arnold used female characters coming together and working together as a strong force for women. A great retelling!

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Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce

Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read and loved this illuminating book as part of my Albright College Zoom book discussion. The connecting stories of Margery Benson and Enid Pretty together searching for a gold beetle across the world in New Caledonia (outside Australia) during the aftermath of the war in the 1950s was a journey for both women, utterly opposite in every way. Yet both women change and grow as they travel, run away from their secrets in London, and strike out to prove they can find/make a new life on an expedition. Rachel Joyce's well developed characterization of the many women in this book is authentic and suspenseful as women who have predetermined roles and those who strike out and create new roles. Also important is the author interview of Margery and Enid at the end of the book and Joyce's acknowledgments. A must read that will warm your heart at the enduring love that friendship garners.

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