by Danielle Christopher
The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay
When she was young Moth’s father smiled at her as he walked out the door. When she became a teenager her mother sold her as a servant to a wealthy woman in 1871.
The betrayals led Moth to Bowery, filled with thieves and prostitutes. She meets Miss Everett, the owner of a brothel known as “The Infant School”. Miss Everett caters to gentlemen who pay big bucks for clean companions, especially for young virgins like Moth.
Through the bond of friendship with a female physician, Moth learns to question the world around her. Her new friends fall prey to the myth of the ‘Virgin Cure’ - that deflowering can heal the incurable and tainted. She knows the law won’t protect her, society ignores her, and still she dreams of independence.
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
I had the pleasure of participating in the Yummy Mummy Club Book Twitter chat about this book about fiercely independent women during 70 CE. Hoffman draws on her passion for mythology, magic, and archaeology and her inimitable understanding of women.
In 70 CE, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of romans on a mountain in Masada. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic event, Hoffman writes a tale of four women whom had come to Masada by different means.
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Jake Epping, an English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, makes extra money teaching GED classes. When he asks his students to write about an event that changed their lives, one stuns him about a gory story of when a student’s dad came home and killed his mother and siblings with a sledgehammer. Jake goes to his friend, Al, who divulges a secret that his storeroom in the diner is a portal to the past, a specific day in 1958. It is Al’s obsession that convinces Jake to go through the portal to prevent the Kennedy assaination.
Time travel has never been so believable in this tale weaved by a masterful story teller.
The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson
In 1973 the Erickson family gathers for the wedding of their oldest daughter. Even as they celebrate, the dysfunction in the family appears. The bride wants to raise a family in her hometown as her brother plans his escape from the sidelines. The Erickson’s youngest daughter is intent to leave town but makes tragic choices that change the family bond forever.
Passionately told, although fiercely American, this story is vivid and relatable in moving forward in our pursuit of happiness.
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