Forget Me Not

Finished March 21

Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham

This standalone psychological suspense follows Claire Campbell as she returns to her mother's home in small town South Carolina. She returns because her father has called her and told her that her mother broke her leg and could use some help. 

Over twenty years earlier, Claire's older sister Natalie, eighteen at the time, disappeared and while her body was never found, her blood was found on a shirt in a man's car and he was convicted of the crime. Claire always wondered what happened, and since her sister's room is basically untouched, she pokes around and finds a cardboard box of photographs. Some were from the summer job at a small winery that Natalie worked at earlier in the summer, some were of their family, and there was one of the man with the car. 

Claire's mom tells her she doesn't need her, and Claire is tempted to go back to New York, but she's recently quit her newspaper job and gone freelance, and hasn't been doing well, so doesn't have much finances. She's also sublet her place to someone. So instead she decides to try to find the winery Natalie worked at, and she does. But the Galloway winery is no longer open to the public, and the man she encounters wonders why she's there. On a whim, she agrees to work there for a month, earning some money, getting a place to stay, and maybe learning more about her sister. 

But then she finds a diary, that seems to be by the quiet woman married to the winery owner, and she is intrigued by what she reads. A story that both captivates her and scares her. The young man who she first met is friendly and she begins to feel at ease with him, but not so much the owner, who she finds a little creepy. There is no phone reception there, but she does manage to email a former co-worker back home about where she is and what she's doing. She finds, that while the work is physically strenuous, it is satisfying and calming. But the suspicions grow, as she learns more from the diary, and from other research she does, and she finds that she may not be acting as 'under the radar' as she thinks.

This book is eerie and creepy, as we learn along with Claire what's been going on out here and with the people she's met. Who can she trust, and what does her mother have to do with it all?

The Cat, the Lady, and the Liar

Finished October 25

The Cat, the Lady and the Liar by Leann Sweeney

This is a book in the Cats in Trouble mystery series. Jillian Hart is a quilter who specializes in quilts for or featuring cats. She is also involved in a local cat rescue in her town of Mercy, South Carolina. She has been asked by the rescue director to discreetly look into the owner of a cat recently found near a highway. The owner is a wealthy woman in the neighbouring town of Woodcrest, Ritaestelle Longworth. When Jillian goes to Ritaestelle's house and talks to her assistant, she finds that things are not right, and when Ritaestelle shows up a Jillian's house later that same day looking for help, Jillian is only too happy to assist. 

Both women are old school polite, following established social protocols for behaviour and expectations. They are also both good hostesses and good women at heart and want to do what's right by the people around them. Jillian is a relatively recent widow, who is in the early stages of a new relationship with a man who is also a security specialist. Ritaestelle lives with two cousins, her sister-in-law, and her nephew and has a multitude of ties to her community. With rumours circulating about her mental state, and possible shoplifting and minor theft charges placed against her, Ritaestelle is looking to clear her name, and find out who might be setting her up and why. Taking refuge at Jillian's house for a time, along with her cat Isis, she cooperates fully with Jillian to figure it out. 

A cosy mystery with lots of cats present and showing their unique personalities. 

A Perfect Escape

Finished September 18

A Perfect Escape by M.L. Jameson

Megan Thomas knew soon after she got married that she'd made a mistake, but it took years for her to figure out how to leave. Megan married a man who seemed to love her, but her really wanted to control her. Now he is planning a political career and she knows that she has to leave as his threats are getting more serious and his violence is escalating. 

She's found another woman in his circle willing to help her, and chosen her time carefully. She knows that she has to leave Chicago as he has too many eyes there. Megan thought about going to the home she grew up in, one she inherited when her grandmother died, but fears it is too obvious, so she runs southeast instead. She rents a house in the off-season on the Carolina coast and begins more long-term plans.

But when the owner of the house shows up unexpectedly, both Megan and him find themselves with feelings that they hadn't planned for.

Smyth Parker has also chosen badly in marriage. He has let the responsibilities he inherited be taken on by others and and let others believe he is someone he is not. He doesn't need more complications in his life, and Megan is definitely a complication. But he can see that she is running from something, and he can't shake the feeling of wanting to protect her. 

As they both gradually open up to each other, they must also deal with their pasts rather than running from them. 

This novel has some different plot lines, and characters that engaged with me. I found myself easily caught up in the story, and hoping for an end that boded a better future. There is lots going on, and it kept me totally engaged. 

The Girls of August

Finished June 24
The Girls of August by Anne River Siddons, read by Kate Reading

This is a story of friendship. Maddy, Rachel, Barbara, and Melinda used to get together every summer for a week at the ocean. The first year, Melinda wasn't part of the group as Teddy's first wife, a wealthy socialite hosted the party. Now they haven't met for three years, ever since Melinda was killed in a car accident, when Teddy was driving. The others haven't completely forgiven Teddy. When the women first met, their husband's were interns, on their way to beginning their own medical practices. Maddy was a schoolteacher, volunteering at the hospital to get out of the house.
Now, twenty-odd years into their friendship, Teddy has remarried, and convinces the women to let his new wife host the get-together at her family home on an island off the South Carolina coast. There are a couple of catches. One is that Teddy's new wife Baby is younger, much younger, only twenty-two herself. The other is that logistics mean that this year the get-together will be for two weeks, not one.
Maddy is intrigued by the island. She knows that Dan's family had a home on the island before she met him, one that was lost in a hurricane and never replaced. Dan doesn't talk about the island much. The women have had different life experiences, despite their friendship. Maddy quit teaching a few years back after she and Dan weren't able to have children. She couldn't face seeing other people's every day. She became a sought-after caterer, and grew close to her niece, now readying for college in the fall. Melinda and Teddy didn't have children either, but both Barbara and Rachel did.
As the vacation begins, Maddy tries to run interference between her friends and Baby, as their resentment of the younger woman grows. There is a fair chunk of bad behaviour going on here, with the older woman treating Baby like an empty-headed arm-candy trophy-wife, married for her sex appeal. Baby holds onto politeness for a lot longer than I think I would, but sulks and loses her temper a few times too.
It was interesting to watch as the women deal with their issues, learn more about each other, and about Baby's relationship with the island's locals, and deal with the unfortunate events that the time on the island bring them.
This is a novel of getting past first impressions and pre-conceived notions. A novel of friendship and love.

Before We Were Yours

Finished May 3
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

This novel is inspired by real events. The general historical story is true, but the characters in this book are not. However what happened to the historical characters here really happened to people and is a part of history that needs to be brought to light.
This novel has two timelines. One begins in 1939 and takes place mostly in Tennessee. It is the story of a poor family, who lived on a riverboat. Rill is the oldest child in the family and the narrator, and as her story begins, her mother Queenie is in labour. The labour is a difficult one, and the midwife says that it is beyond her skills. As Rill convinces her father Briney to take her mother to the hospital, she is left in charge of her younger siblings: Camellia, Fern, Lark, and her toddler brother Gabion. This family is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the children end up being taken from the boat under false pretences, and brought to an orphanage. Because most of this family is blond, they are more highly prized than some of their fellow victims.
As we see the terrible actions and conditions at the orphanage, and learn of the tactics involved, we understand and Rill, try as hard as she can, will not be able to keep her family together.
The true story of the society woman Georgia Tann, and her children's homes, which was supported by those in power for years, and had assistance from social agencies and lawmakers, is a terrible one. Hundreds of children were taken from their homes, and communities. Some were taken walking to school, some from their homes directly, but all were taken to group homes where they were abused, fed inadequately, and separated from their siblings. Many had loving parents that had no chance to recover their children against the powerful woman who had stolen them.
As Rill tries to fight for her siblings, and another young boy taken at the same time, she learns fear and distrust, and yearns for her river life.
In the present, another young woman, Avery Stafford, a lawyer and daughter of a senator in South Carolina, is home to support her father who is fighting a cancer diagnosis, and accusations of other types. Avery also takes the opportunity to visit her grandmother Judy, who has been placed in a secure care home as dementia gradually takes away her knowledge of the world around her. After a chance encounter with another nursing home resident, Avery begins to dig into both that woman's past and her own grandmother's to find out what connects the two.
This is a story that brings another sad historical experience to light, in a way that lets the reader experience the heartache and loss that these victims dealt with.
Highly recommended.

Girls in Trucks

Finished February 10
Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch

This novel follows Sarah Walters, as she grows into a teenager in South Carolina, and then finds her way to college in the North and a life in New York City. Sarah is a Camellia Society debutante because her mother was a Camellia Society debutante. Sarah forms friendships with three other girls in her year, first as they learn ballroom dancing and then as they come out as debutantes. Only one of these friendships is what Sarah considers close, but she finds that despite not talking for long periods of time, these are friendships for life.
In her high school summers, she and her friend Charlotte hang out with local boys who drive trucks, go to the beach, and have fun. Sarah's older sister Eloise is at Yale, making life-changing decisions. When Sarah picks her college, she also goes north, to a small college. Some chapters in the book, such as North, her first description of college are written in third person, talking about Sarah as "the girl" yet describing her thoughts and reactions to her new environment. Others are very much first person as Sarah talks about her life.
After college when she moves to New York City with her friend Charlotte, we see her relationships with other women and with men, but less about her work. This is a personal story, and there are often jumps between time periods, as we find ourselves reading about a later time in her life.
An interesting read.

The Invention of Wings

Finished July 9
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd, read by Jenna Lamia and Adepero Oduye

This novel is based on the real lives of two sisters during the early 1800s. The sisters are Sarah and Angelina Grimké some of the first women to fight for abolition and women's rights. The novel begins on Sarah's eleventh birthday in 1803 in her home in Charleston, South Carolina. Her mother marks the occasion by a move from the nursery to having her own bedroom as well as the gift of a slave girl, Hetty, who is ten.
Sarah is appalled at the idea of owning a slave, but her efforts to free Hetty are stifled. As the novel continues over the next thirty-five years, the narrative moves back and forth between Sarah and Hetty. Hetty is the name that the owners have given this slave girl, but Handful is the name that her mother has given her and the one she uses for herself. Because of the girls' similar ages, and Sarah's attitude towards slavery, the girls grow closer than normal for an owner and a slave. The Grimké household treats slaves better than many, but still has many instances of cruelty. It is one of these instances that is linked to Sarah's intermittent speech issues.
Kidd mingles the real facts of Sarah and Angelina's lives and the world they lived in, with the invented life of Hetty and her experiences, to create a story that is enlightening and emotive.
Sarah experiences love, loss, betrayal, frustration, embarrassment, and triumph over this time, but never loses sight of her promise to Hetty's mother Charlotte to do what she can to free Hetty. Hetty undergoes love, loss, torture, and happiness in her life, always striving for the right to do as she chooses.
The interactions between the two are nicely done, with Hetty always more grounded in the practical and the confident than Sarah. She often supports Sarah emotionally when Sarah becomes despondent. Sarah, and her sister Angelina, support Hetty in different ways, with material goods, permissions, and the gift of literacy.

Where the River Runs

Finished September 5
Where the River Runs by Patti Callahan Henry

Apparently I gave this book to my mother a while back (although I have no memory of that) and while I am visiting she suggested I read it. It is set mostly in South Carolina Lowcountry, and the main character, Meridy Dresden, grew up in this area. A tragedy happened at a graduation party the summer after Meridy's senior year and her parents sent her away to her grandparents for the summer. She went on to university as planned, and met a wonderful man, got married and had a son. She now lives in Atlanta.
Her visits home have been brief and limited to visiting relatives. When she returns to talk to her old family housekeeper about the Gullah culture for a curriculum she is writing for her son's private school, she finds that there are issues from that night years ago that she hasn't dealt with. She is horrified to find that the community is pressuring an old friend to cough up the money to rebuild the Keeper's Cottage that was destroyed by fire that night. She knows that he doesn't bear the responsibility for its destruction and is determined to help raise the money in another way.
In her efforts to do this, she is forced to face the past and admit to her own role that night, finally grieve for the friend that she lost and reconnect with the self that she buried years before. Along the way, she finds that she has tried so hard to be the perfect wife and earn the love her husband has given her, that she hasn't been herself, and isn't sure who that is anymore. I think this is something many women can relate to and is at the heart of this novel. A very interesting read.

The Water is Wide

Finished February 21
The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy
I became interested in reading this book after reading Pat Conroy's recent memoir of his life. The book talks about the months in 1969 and 1970 that Conroy taught at a small black school on Yamacraw Island, South Carolina.
Conroy was appalled at the lack of knowledge of the students (grade 5 to grade 8) that he was responsible for. Many could not read, or do simple math. They lacked knowledge of geography, history, and science. Conroy had taught high school before and so was not prepared with all the tools to teach younger children. He relied on his instincts and used ingenuity to find ways to engage the children, enrich their learning experience and fight for their right to a decent education. He encountered racism, apathy, and indifferent. He was not always wise or prudent in his fight and it ended with him being fired and never teaching again. But it taught him a great deal.
I found it a very interesting memoir of a specific period with a specific situation and hope that it boded a new beginning to educational change in that county.