Celia returns home to confess her new truth and to talk with the other girls who were there that day.  As she talks with them she learns that they all remember seeing the car and that no one believes what she remembers about Djuna falling into a hole.  She does learn more about her friendship with Djuna and some of the bullying that they had done to one of the girls who wanted to be their friend.  Celia’s family and her boyfriend are able to open up with her about things that have been under the surface and unsaid for a long time.  The book ends without knowing if Celia is able to move forward in her life after addressing these issues in her past.

This was a very interesting book and a fast read.  I found myself liking Celia even after learning about some of the horrible bullying that she took part in as a young girl.  It brought back memories of how mean children can be to each other and how serious small things seem.  I wanted to know what the real version of the truth was, and I was thankful that the author included a short page at the end telling what happened.

Rose meets a fortune teller who tells her that she needs to choose either herself or her husband, that one of them must die for the other to live.  Rose heeds this to some extent and works up the courage to leave, going on a cross country journey to find her mother and discover more of her history.  Her husband is following behind trying to find her.

I liked this book.  I thought that it was a quick entertaining read and that it also addressed a serious issue.  Rose gave a real glimpse of what it might be like to be in an abusive marriage and the process that a person would have to go through before deciding to leave.  I will definitely look for more by this author.

Elizabeth and James, her mother and step-father, try to figure out what Rosie is truly doing and how best to parent her.  Rosie is an expert liar, or at least is full of half-truths about where she is going and what she is doing.  She has two good friends who she does everything with and always feels not quite good enough when she compares herself to them.  Rosie uses both prescription and hard drugs and is very good at disguising it.  She justifies it to herself that she gets good grades and works part time so she can’t really have a problem.  Elizabeth is a recovering alcoholic and she is working hard at taking care of herself as well as taking care of Rosie.

I didn’t necessarily think that the plot was exceptional in this book.  However the language that Ann Lamott uses is just beautiful.  She has a quick wit and says things that just feel so true that it helps to make the book a good one.  At one point Elizabeth describes Rosie as her “outside heart” which I just loved.  Overall I thought it was good book and I was happy that I read it.  It made me want to go back and re-read Rosie and Crooked Little Heart.

The Help takes place in the early 1960s in Jackson Mississippi.  The story is told through three different narrators with three very distinct voices and perspectives.  Skeeter is a young white woman who has just graduated from college and is hoping to pursue a career in writing or journalism.  She did not get married during college as many of her friends did and is looking to find a way to start her career.  Skeeter is part of the Women’s League and plays bridge with her best friends, Elizabeth and Hilly, yet she yearns to do something more real.  Elizabeth and Hilly both are young married women with young children and are learning how to manage a home.

Aibileen is Miss Elizabeth’s maid.  She takes care of the home and takes care of Mae Mobley, Elizabeth’s child.  She is in her late 40s, early 50s and says that she has raised a total of 17 children in her different jobs.  Her own son was killed about two years before and she is still grieving this loss.  Aibileen mentions to Skeeter at one point that her son had started writing about what it was like working for a white man and this gives Skeeter an idea to interview the maids in Jackson about what it is like to be in their shoes.  The good and the bad.  This is a daring and dangerous idea and every maid who participates risks their jobs, their lives, their homes.

Minny is the third narrator, and Aibileen’s best friend.  She has been fired from numerous jobs as a maid because she is a woman who speaks her mind and this does not agree with many of her employers.  After her last job, with Hilly’s mother, Hilly has spread rumors that she stole which made it almost impossible to find a new job.  Aibileen helps her find one with a white woman who is an outcast from the rest of the women in town and who seems unaware of how maids are usually treated.

Skeeter writes the stories of many of the maids in town and works to publish their side in an anonymous way to protect their safety.  While doing this she explores her own history, thoughts and life in relation to how she grew up and what she was taught to believe.  I feel like this summary I am writing does not even begin to give the book justice.  The relationships were so strong and the characters so real.  I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen next and my heart went out to many of the people in the book.  I can’t recommend this book enough.

The Treverton family comes to British East Africa with different dreams.  Val Treverton buys 5000 acres to establish a great coffee farm.  He builds a beautiful estate and tries to capture the wealth and luxury that he experienced in England in an even greater scale in Kenya.  While he is primarily interested in himself, he is a likable character.  His wife Rose fades into the background for the majority of the story.  She likes to be fairly isolated and keeps to herself in a eucalyptus glade.  Val’s sister Dr. Grace Treverton comes to develop a medical mission to bring medicine and healing to Africans.

Mama Wachera is a medicine woman who lived on the Trevertons land.  After Val shows complete disregard for her traditions and the beliefs of her people she puts a curse on his family until the white people are gone from the land and it falls back to those who originally owned it.  After a time of prosperity, this curse seems to play itself out as tragedy falls upon the Treverton family.

The Trevertons remain as Dr. Grace expands her mission and works hard to build relationships with the Kenyan people.  She works to educate and provide health care and bravely challenges traditions that cause harm.  Dr. Grace ends up raising the next two generations of Trevertons and shows strength and wisdom through it all.  Mama Wachera also raises generations of children and in a parallel way shows strength.  I appreciated that this book very much celebrated strong women.

These two families interact time and again.  Throughout these interactions it is clear that they both have a love for Kenya and have different ideas about what is best for the country.  Kenya changes during the Mau Mau uprising and the fight for independence.  However the images and descriptions of the spirit of Kenya seem the same.  Part of my enjoyment of this book were the images of a place that I would love to see.  I also liked that it contained history, romance and strong characters.  There were parts that I read quickly through but for the most part I enjoyed the story and was interested in what would happen next.  I will need to look for more books by Barbara Wood.

The story goes back in forth between the present time as Framboise starts a popular restaurant out of her farm using recipes and techniques taught to her by her mother.  Her mother had left her a book filled with recipes and her thoughts and journal entries mixed in.  As Framboise starts to read through her mothers thoughts she too begins to remember what took place when she was nine years old.

Framboise had an older brother and sister.  She found out that they were trading information to the Germans in order to receive treats such as chocolate and magazines.  Framboise becomes charmed with one of the German soldiers and she also begins to share knowledge of other villagers.  The children reassure each other that nothing really comes of this information that they give because they are, after all, children and who really believes children.  However even in their conversation with each other you can sense the concern that they do not truly understand what they are doing and they know that they don’t understand it.  Their father has been killed in the war and all three of them form a special attachment to Tomas who is their main contact for trading information for goods.  Their mother is a hard worker who is very strict and stern.  She suffers terrible migraines, particularly if she smells any oranges, and Framboise uses this against her in order for the children to have hours of freedom.

Eventually something happens to a soldier and in retaliation the Germans kill ten civilians from the village.  The blame of the villagers dying is put on Framboise mother and her household.  They leave and Framboise tries to hide who she is to pretty much anyone that she knows.  This works until family members find out about her mother’s journal and begin to do what they can to find out what they can about their history.

This was a fast moving book that was beautifully written.  I loved the images of fruit and food and how that was tied in with the story.

The book starts with Mikael, a financial journalist, losing a libel suit in court.  He is trying to figure out what to do with himself as he fears his reputation is now tainted and he knows he has several months in jail ahead of him.  Henrik Vanger is a wealthy retired businessman who hires Mikael at a large salary to spend a year living in the Vanger family compound where his niece, Harriet, went missing many years ago.  Mikael is to write a biography on the family but also to review the disappearance case in one last effort to figure out what happened.  Mikael agrees mainly because Henrik also promises information against the person who Mikael lost the libel suit against.

Mikael ends up being fascinated by the project and by the characters that he meets in the Vanger family.  He ends up hiring Lisbeth, a young woman (with a dragon tattoo) who does thorough research on just about anyone, to assist him and she too becomes very involved in the mystery of what happened to Harriet.  Many people in the Vanger family want the research to stop due to different personal reasons and Mikael begins to be threatened.

This book moved very quickly once I got into it.  The first chapter or two were a little slow, but once I got past that I couldn’t wait to find out what happened.  One of the main themes in this book was violence against women.  I was interested to learn that the original title to this book was Men Who Hate Women.  I liked that Lisbeth was a strong prominent part of this book.   There are two more books in this trilogy and I can’t wait to read what happens next.

Janie is surrounded by support.  Her neighbor, Shelly, helps her with her finances.  Janie’s Aunt Jude and cousin Cormac play central roles that keep her going and helping with the kids when she needs it.  Janie was not very involved in the church at the time of the accident yet  Father Jake makes weekly visits that Janie at first resents and then comes to count on.

As life goes on Janie is surprised by one last gift her husband had arranged for her before his death.  He had met with a contractor, Tug, to build a screened in porch.  Tug works on this project throughout the summer bringing joy to five-year old Dylan with his power tools and bringing friendship to Janie.

There are many touching moments in this book that pull on your heart.  I have a young baby right now and it was hard for me to even read about someone with a young baby losing their husband.  Janie often makes comments in the book about how it’s Rice Krispies for dinner and that is completely believable for me.  Janie has to cope with a lot of firsts as she learns to make decisions again on her own and as she works to trust the world that has hurt her.  I really liked this book even though there were times when it brought me to tears.

Over thirty years later Ruth is a writer and she is working on her own novel.  She is upset with her father after finding him in an awkward situation and she has been reunited with Eddie after many many years.  Eddie still carries a torch for Ruth’s mother and tends to date older women who remind him of her.  Ruth goes to Amsterdam primarily to research a book but also as an escape from her family and relationship troubles.

Every character in this book is unique and interesting.  I liked that almost all of the main characters were writers and how their stories play a part in the overall book.  Many of the characters are fairly dysfunctional yet they are still likable and you want the best for them.  The reader is only given a glimpse at the life of the Coles prior to their sons deaths but it did strike me how such a tragedy can change a whole family as people grieve and react in different ways.

Very quickly the press swarms Kathryn and Mattie as the airline investigates whether the crash was an accident or not.  As the investigation goes on Kathryn learns more and more about a secret life that Jack had, one that devastates her as much, if not more than the actual crash does.

I enjoyed this book even though when I read I always put myself in the position of the main character and it is so hard to imagine the emotions that you would feel with a life changing knock on the door, or phone call to tell you that your loved one has died.  It is even harder to imagine that the person that you put so much trust in has betrayed you so dramatically.  This is a page turner and every book I have read by Anita Shreve, I have read because I enjoyed this one so much.