The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter

Finished May 29
The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter by Hazel Gaynor

This historical fiction novel follows two women one hundred years apart. In 1838, in Northumberland along the coast of England, Grace Darling lives with her parents and younger brother in a lighthouse. Her father is a lighthouse keeper, and her brother will take on the role after him. Meanwhile Grace does a lot of the work of the lighthouse to assist. When a bad storm hits while her brother is on the mainland, and Grace spots a wreck on a nearby island, she and her father row out to save any survivors. One of the survivors is Sarah Dawson, who was on the ship headed to visit her brother George Emmerson, an artist. Grace has met George briefly, but felt a connection with him that surprised her.
Grace's role in the rescue brings her attention and notoriety, none of which she wants. She is compelled into answering letters, sitting for portraits and other unwanted tasks, until a local lord and his wife take her under their wing and protect her from some of the less savoury attentions.
In 1938, Matilda Emmerson is sent from England to Rhode Island to stay with a distant family member she's never heard of before, Harriet Flaherty, a lighthouse keeper. Matilda has become pregnant and her parents are trying to hide this from the society they move in.
Gradually Matilda and Harriet grow close and Harriet shares with her some of the family history, including that of the locket that Matilda wears around her neck, and the book of instructions on keeping a lighthouse.
I liked the parallels of the two women's stories, and the connections made over the years.

Comics for a Strange World

Finished May 25
Comics for a Strange World: a book of poorly drawn lines by Reza Farazmand

This collection of comics draws on the events of our strange world and makes them even more absurd. He takes a look at the world around him, and pulls out the funny, from technology to human relations. From interactions with animals to ennui.
I found myself laughing often at these. He truly has a gift for showing our world in all its craziness. From someone complimenting the grim reaper on his sense of style to a queen who talks to her candelabra, to ghosts actions and reactions, he finds the absurd and draws it.

Land Mammals and Sea Creatures

Finished May 24
Land Mammals and Sea Creatures by Jen Neale

This odd novel is set in a small community on the west coast of Canada. Julie Bird has returned to the town she grew up in to find everything slightly askew. Her father Marty, a war vet with a prosthesis and PTSD, seems more depressed and bent on self-destruction. A young woman making a living as a Jerry Lee Lewis impersonator seems to have a hold on him that Julie doesn't understand. When she begins to figure out who this woman is, and her relationship to Marty's past, she feels anger, but also fear for her dad.
When the three go for a boat trip, it culminates in the beaching and death of a blue whale, an event that casts a miasma, both real and nebulous over the town. More odd animals deaths continue to occur, some seem like suicide, and the relationship to animals here has many layers.
This is a story of a past that has a strong influence on the present, of the relationship between humans and their environment, and about a young woman coming to terms with the reality of death.

The Map That Leads to You

Finished May 22
The Map That Leads to You by J.P. Monninger

This romance novel follows three young women, newly graduated from college, as they embark on a summer trip through Europe. Heather is the main character here, and she travels with Amy, a rebellious, devil-may-care woman; and Constance, a serious-minded woman who is aiming to see as many saint-themed sites as she can.
As the book begins, they are on a train to Amsterdam, travelling overnight. A young man, Jack, asks Heather to hold his backpack for a moment as he makes himself a bed in the luggage rack, and the two begin a flirtation. Amy, meanwhile has hooked up with another guy who invites them to a party in Amsterdam the evening they arrive, and although Heather invites Jack, she's not really sure whether he'll arrive. Heather feels a connection to him that she hasn't felt with anyone before, and believes that he feels it as well.
This is a story of a young woman's first series love affair, one that goes beyond the physical, that challenges her in ways that are sometimes uncomfortable, and that scares her a little with how it makes her feel, and how it questions her future intentions. Around her, are the adventures of travel, the friendships, and the escapades and relationships of her two friends.

Lost Roses

Finished May 20
Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly, read by Kathleen Gati, Tavia Gilbert, Karissa Vacker, and Catherine Taber

This novel is related to the author's earlier Lilac Girls, but happens in the generation earlier, around the first World War. One of the central characters here, Eliza Ferriday, is the mother of one of the main characters in Lilac Girls, Caroline Ferriday.  The story begins in 1914, with Eliza hosting a close friend that she met years before in Paris, Sofya Streshnavya. Sofya is a cousin of the Romanovs, and is married to an army officer. Her father is attached to the Treasury department of the government. Sofya's mother died a few years ago, and her father remarried, to a woman very conscious of status, class, behaviour, and material wealth. Sofya's younger sister Luba has an innovative and scientific mind and is enormously interested in astronomy. As the story begins, Sofya's baby, Max, arrives early, and in good health. Eliza is already a mother to Caroline, and while she loves her husband and daughter, she also loves to travel, and it has been arranged that she will travel back to Russia with Sofya and her family.
The story then jumps to Russia, with Eliza visiting St. Petersburg and visiting the many sites with her friend. The unrest has already begun though, and an incident during an evening to a gala at the Tsar's palace shows that clearly. Eliza makes it home safely, and Sofya's family soon after decides to go to their nearby country estate. There are already some signs of change there as well, and while the family settles in, there are incidents that arise to show what is happening in the world around them.
There is a woman living near the village by the estate that was once a member of court, but married a local man, since died, and now tells fortunes. She has a teenage daughter Varinka, whom she has taught as well as she can, including French and English, and the family hires Varinka as a nanny for young Max when their foreign nanny leaves.
The story really develops from here, showing the terrible extent of the revolution with some rebels bent on destruction and filled with hate for the upper class, while others recognize the individuals that also did good for the people whose lives intersected with theirs. Sofya's family undergoes many terrible things and she must draw on her underlying strength, and the love of her son, as well as her hope for help from her friend Eliza to survive. Varinka is already in a bad place, with the loss of her father placing her and her mother under the control of her father's former apprentice, and subject to his moods and angry actions. She is young and impressionable and doesn't always follow the guidance of her mother.
Eliza, back in the United States, is filled with worry about her friend, which she begins to put toward assisting other Russian refugees, particularly women and children. But she has issues in her personal life as well, with the health of her husband, the growing rift between her and her daughter, and the expectations of the society world she lives in.
This book has sadness and loss, but also hope. Some of my own family fled the area south of St. Petersburg following the Russian Revolution, so it was interesting to see this view of the times.
While drawing from real people and real events, the author clearly discusses in an afterword the sources for the characters that she has built here, showing the detailed research she has put toward this book.
I look forward to her next one, which goes back farther in the same family, centering on the U.S. Civil War.

Washing Off the Raccoon Eyes

Finished May 16
Washing Off the Raccoon Eyes by Margo LaPierre

This collection of poetry is divided into three parts. The title poem is the last in the book and looks at how we deal with failure and find a way to move on. The poems here are thought-provoking, drawing on the impulse to believe and disbelieve, to search for a solid base in our lives.
Many are inward looking, trying to figure out what one is feeling, how one reacts to the world, and how we define ourselves as much by that world as we do by the innermost part of ourselves.
I really enjoyed the poems here, finding myself reading one and then sitting back to think on it, sometimes lingering or rereading a certain section, and thinking about how I related to similar situations in my own life. Very good.

The McAvoy Sisters Book of Secrets

Finished May 15
The McAvoy Sisters Book of Secrets by Molly Fader

This story of two sisters begins with their mother Meredith. Meredith is supposed to be taking a nap, but she eludes the woman looking after her and is found walking down towards the spit with a flare gun. The police chief Garrett Singh is the one that finds her, confused and not entirely sure of her purpose. He asks if he should call her daughter, and she agrees, but he was referring to her younger daughter Delia, who lives in town with her husband Dan and two daughter, and she has him call her older daughter Lindy, who hasn't lived in town for nearly seventeen years.
Lindy is having a bit of a crisis in her life, losing her job, her boyfriend, and her place to live all in one blow, since one man is common to all. She's made a name for herself as a bartender and it won't be hard for her to get a new job, but she is suddenly finding her life less fulfilling. When she gets the call from Garrett and discovers that her mother had a stroke a little while ago, she immediately starts on her way.
Lindy didn't want to leave town all those years ago, but she felt she had no choice. Up until that point, Delia and Lindy had been very close, but something happened that drove them apart and made Lindy leave.
The book gradually reveals the story behind the sisters' estrangement, and what has happened in both their lives since then. Meredith plays a large role in the story, as does Delia's oldest daughter Brin, now a teenager. Brin's curiosity about the rift, about the secrets her parents and aunt have, and about her aunt in general all drive the story forward.
This is a story of secrets, not all of which are revealed to all the characters, and about family and small town life. There is lots going on her, from health to prejudice, from class divisions to fear of losing something precious. Small town life along the shores of lake Erie isn't necessarily simple.