PAY THE DEVIL by Jack Higgins

FIC/PBK
HIGGINS

As the Civil War is ending, Confederate Colonel Clay Fitzgerald learns he has inherited a fortune and estate from an Irish uncle. Weary of war, the Colonel and his black aide and friend, Josh, set off to claim this inheritance. Despite his wish to remain neutral, Clay is shocked by the English government's treatment of the Irish. He cannot help but become involved in the resistance. The colonel also falls in love with the sympathetic daughter of an English landlord.
The tale of Colonel Fitzgerald's adventures, while at times melodramatic, will appeal to t hose with an interest in history, particularly Irish history, and to readers wanting action and a plot that moves briskly.

THE SIXTEEN PLEASURES by Robert Hellenga

FIC

HELLENGA

Margot Harrington is on leave from her job as a book conservator at the Newberry Library. She has volunteered to help Florence, Italy after the flood of 1967. A convent has found a unique book of Renaissance erotica. They would like Margot to help them sell the item-discreetly.

The book, The Sixteen Pleasures, becomes the adventure that Margot has been looking for. She finds romance and professional fulfillment, and herself.

A wonderful book with lots of details about the rare book trade.

EYE OF THE NEEDLE by Ken Follett

pbk.
FOLLETT, K.

Eye of the Needle is a terrific spy/espionage/romance, appropriate for men and women readers, because unlike many espionage writers, Follett is savvy enough to create admirable, sympathetic female characters.

Die Nadel (the Needle) is a cold calculating German spy, quick to kill and utterly ruthless. He is sent to a remote British island in order to determine whether the Allies are planning an invasion from that point. His boat is wrecked, and he is taken in by David and Lucy Rose, a young couple with a small child. David is paralyzed from an accident that occurred on their wedding day, and consequently become embittered and hateful. Lucy is valiant, but love-starved. The end is thrilling and one is left wondering - was it lover or part of the game?

GRANGE HOUSE by Sarah Blake

FIC

BLA

Though Maisie has always spent her summers in Maine at Grange House, the summer of 1898, when Maisie is seventeen, is different. The girl's parents are pushing her toward marriage, and the owner of Grange House, Miss Grange, hopes Maisie will have the mysterious "gift." She tries to show Maisie some of the Grange family history, real or imagined.

A terrible accident, however, kills Maisie's father, prompting Maisie to write about him after she returns home. On receiving Maisie's biography of her father, Miss Grange sends Maisie her own diaries.

Only when Maisie and her mother return to Grange House can Maisie sort fact from fiction and learn who she herself is and who she wants to be. This very Victorian telling of Maisie's story should appeal to women and girls who enjoy a Gothic atmosphere, beautiful detailed writing, and complex characterization.

INDEPENDENCE DAY by Richard Ford

FIC
FOR

Not to be confused with the movie, this novel won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize. The main character, Frank Bascombe, spends a contemplative Fourth of July weekend. He is a realtor trying to find housing for some difficult customers, a man dealing with women problems-- his ex-wife and current girlfriend-and a father, treating his son to a trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Somehow this well-intentioned fellow ends up in the hospital.

This decent and bewildered man is gradually, inevitably and humorously wrenched out of his private existence to a new awareness of the world and people around him.

A LESSON BEFORE DYING by Earnest Gaines

FIC

GAINES

Jefferson, a poor and uneducated black man, was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now he is in jail, convicted of murder. Jefferson's godmother does not want him to go to the electric chair like the ignorant hog is white lawyer says he is, so Grant Wiggins, the black schoolteacher, is under pressure to visit Jefferson. Grant's job is to make Jefferson a man before he is executed.

Grant Wiggins worried that he is not making a difference in the lives of his students. How he will make a difference in Jefferson's life in the short time he has Grant has no idea. He does know that the sheriff and Mr. Giteau, for whom most of the black people in the Quarter work, want him to fail. They do everything they canto take away the teacher's dignity. Grant Wiggins succeeds in a way he could never have foreseen, however, teaching not only Jefferson, but himself, a lesson before dying.

BEE SEASON by Myla Goldberg

FIC
GOLDBERG

Eliza Naumann, usually an indifferent student, wins the 5th grade spelling bee, surprising her somewhat dysfunctional family and herself.
There are many themes in this amazing book, including parents' expectations of their children, mental illness, and the search for God.

A surprising twist in the plot will have readers going back in the text to search for clues.

COLD MOUNTAIN by Charles Frazier

FIC
FRAZIER

A love story and adventure featuring Inman, a wounded Confederate soldier who walks out of a hospital ward, tired of war and senseless killing. He begins a long journey to see Ada, his sweetheart. Ada too has seen some hard times since her father's death. She has not a clue as to making the farm work and seems destined for failure until the arrival of Ruby.

Inman's trip back to his true love is long and treacherous, filled with solitude and savagery. Like Ada, Inman acquires the courage and tenacity to reach the end of his goal.

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME by Mark Haddon

FIC

HADDON

Christopher Boone is an exceptional 15-year. He is blessed with a genius for math and an exceptionally logical mind, but is autistic and has no understanding of human emotions. As the narrator of this story his world begins to fall apart after finding the neighbor's dog impaled by a garden fork. He makes it his mission to find the murderer, modeling his investigation after his favorite character, Sherlock Holmes. Christopher embarks upon a journey that forces him to deal with his parents' divorce and his father's lies. The novel, told in the format of a murder mystery, is the honest and sometimes funny account of what might go on in the mind of an autistic child.

ELLEN FOSTER by Kaye Gibbons

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GIBBONS
Ellen's heart-wrenching descriptions of life in her very dysfunctional family would make unbearably depressing reading if they were not interspersed with revelations of her present life with her delightful new foster family.
Until she arrived at her "new mother's" home, Ellen had suffered the suicide of her mother, threats of murder, sexual abuse, and a variety of dreadful homes.
Her only respite was a brief stint living with her art teacher and visits to her African American friend's family. Fortunately, Ellen's sturdy good sense and strong spirit carry her through to a decent life.

GODS IN ALABAMA by Joshilyn Jackson

FIC

JACKSON

Arlene Fleet is a graduate student living in Chicago. For reasons unbeknownst to the reader. Arlene had left home in Alabama at the age of eighteen, and promised God to never return, to remain celibate and to never tell a lie.

She has been able to keep her promises until her African-American boyfriend wants to accompany her to Alabama to meet her lily-white family. Arlene would rather die. Not only is Arlene reluctant to introduce him to her crazy and bigoted family, but she has a deep dark secret that threatens to come out. Arlene finds she is no longer able to keep her promises.

EVENTIDE by Kent Haruf

FIC

HARUF

In the previous novel Plainsong the bachelor McPheran brothers taken in pregnant teenager Victoria Rubido. When she at last delivers her baby, the brothers are enthralled. In this sequel Victoria and baby move away from the small town of Holt, Colorado, leaving the brothers alone again.

Other Holt residents come into their lives. Raymond meets Rose Tyler, a social worker. Through her he becomes aware of the Betty and Luther Wallace and their two children who live in a trailer on the edge of town. When Betty's uncle moves in, he beats the children and the parents, weak and dispirited, do nothing to stop the abuse. Enter Rose and the brothers.

Other sad situations touch the lives of Holt's residents, including the McPheran household itself. The novel ends, leaving a sense of more to be told.

WHEN MADELINE WAS YOUNG by Jane Hamilton

FIC
HAMILTON

This novel is set in 1950's Chicago with Aaron and Julia McIver and their two children, Timothy (Mac) and Louise. What sets their family apart is the presence of Madeline who has the mental capacity of a seven-year-old since a bicycle accident left her with a traumatic brain injury. Mac gradually becomes aware that Madeline, his adult "sister," is actually his father''s first wife.

Mac tells the story looking back from middle age and a life spent in medicine. Preparing to attend the funeral of a cousin's son, killed in combat, Mac reflects on the complexities and tensions, the relationships, rivalries and regrets within his own family.

This is a fascinating book about a family dynamic that is intriguing and unusual.

MIDWIVES by Chris Bohjalian

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BOHJALIAN,C.

Vermont midwife Sybil Danforth performs an emergency Caesarian to save a baby's life when the mother, Charlotte Bedford, dies during a difficult labor in her home, unable to get to a hospital because of an ice storm.

In the aftermath a question arises: Was Charlotte Bedford really dead when Sybil performed the caesarean? Midwives is a gripping story of the ensuing trial from the point of view of Sybil's 14-year old daughter.

CRAZY IN ALABAMA by Mark Childress

FIC
CHILDRESS, M.

Peter Joseph, a successful screenwriter, remembers the summer of 1965 when he lived in Alabama and was known as Peejoe. His Aunt Lucille goes crazy and kills her husband and takes off for Hollywood. Back in Alabama, everyone else goes crazy as integration hits Peejoe's town and violence follows.

A good story with eccentric characters and a surprise ending.

BARCHESTER TOWERS by Anthony Trollope

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TRO

To the modern reader, this Victorian novel is reminiscent of those of Barbara Pym with its keen interest in the lives and foibles of the Anglican clergy. It is also full of humor and romance and characters who remain fresh and real after 150 years.