1) The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune: I have to admit that I had a hard time getting into this book. But others had highly recommended it, so I stuck with it and was very glad that I had. It is a magical type story about forty-year-old Linus Baker, a Case Worker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. Linus was suddenly assigned to investigate the Marsyas Island Orphanage to determine if it should remain open or not. Six children are living there along with a headmaster and a few other staff. The children are considered dangerous and Linus felt quite over his head with this assignment. However, as time went on, he began to see and understand both the children and staff and long-held secrets came to light. It is quite a charming story!
2) Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio: This was recommended to me by one of my swimming classmates! it was quite good. A "blackberry winter" snowstorm hit Seattle on May 1st in 2010. Reporter Claire Aldridge was assigned to cover the story of this storm and the storm that hit Seattle on the same day in 1933. Trying to find some kind of angle for a story, Clairer discovered that a working woman had left her child one evening on the night of the story in 1933, and the child disappeared. She began digging into the story hoping to find some resolution for the ending and began uncovering clues for the unsolved abduction. It was a good read!
3) Three Sisters by Heather Morris: this is the third book in a series by the author. She also wrote The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka's Journey. This book is about three Slovakian sisters who had promised their father that they would always take care of each other. After a time all three of the sisters ended up together in Auschwitz and then were sent on a death march in the freezing winter. The story follows their survival and goes on to follow their lives into old age. The book is based on the true story of the Meller sisters. A fascinating story of love and resilience.
4) The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin: This is a very interesting fictional story of Mary. In this story, Mary never believed that her son Jesus was the Son of God and that there had been no point in His death. She lived alone in her old age, refusing to work with the collaborators of the Gospels, living with guilt and regret from her actions the day that Jesus died. I didn't find the story offensive at all, but just an interesting, different take on a story that we really don't know much about.
5) My Name Is Eva by Suzanne Goldring: This story was a different take on WWII stories. It was about an old woman in a nursing facility who feigned memory loss and dementia in order to not be held accountable for things she had done during the war. Her husband had been killed and she decided to find the man responsible for his mission and make him pay. She worked in Germany with prisoners returning after the war helping them with relocations, etc. And bided her time. It wasn't the best-written book I've read, but the story itself was good.
