Two orphans' stories from different generations intertwine as they clean the elderly woman’s attic and memories from the boxes and trunks unlock the stories of her life when she was sent on one of the country’s Orphan Trains in the 1920’s. Niamh tells her story as a 91 year-old woman to the young foster teenager, whose story parallels Niamh's and the two find a strong bond through their shared connection. An uplifting story of perseverance and hope.
Joyland by Stephen King
The story about a heart-broken college student in the 1970’s who gets away from New England and takes a job in North Carolina at a seaside amusement park called “Joyland” with a dark past. There he enters a new world that alters his life forever. The beginning of the book reads like a memoir and later develops into a murder mystery. Actually it’s a lot of things: part love story, part coming of age, part ghost story. One of Stephen King’s “softer” novels without the elements of horror as his others. Entertaining all the way through.
The Art Forger: A Novel by B.A. Shapiro
A fictionalized account of the still unsolved 1990 art heist from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston which included masterpieces of Rembrandt, Vermeer and Degas. The story centers on Claire, young artist who is extremely talented but caught up in unfortunate circumstances and shunned by the art community. She makes a living, copying great paintings for a reproduction company.
When a well known gallery owner approaches her about reproducing a famous work in exchange for a show of her own work, she hesitantly agrees. The work she has been asked to reproduce is one of Degas's paintings stolen from the Gardner. Or is it?
An intriguing look at the world of art and the techniques used by the old masters as well as the methods employed by those who forge their works.
Where'd You Go, Bernadette?: A Novel by Maria Semple
A laugh-out loud story with a lot of heart. A once famous architect, Bernadette Fox, who has become an agoraphobic recluse in recent years, disappears the day before her family is about to take a trip to Antarctica. Eighth-grade daughter Bee goes on the hunt for her mother by gathering all kinds of documents from and about her mother in hopes of finding her. The story views Bernadette through the eyes of the many people who know her based on narrative, emails, faxes. conversations, and letters. The book is full of satire as it targets corporate culture, Microsoft Corp. specifically as well as social climbing and life in Seattle.
One Summer, America 1927 by Bill Bryson
Bryson makes history come alive as he shows us that 1927 was a transformational time in American history from cultural clashes, new technologies, politics, and inventions which changed not only America's future but the world as well.
He focuses on prominent individuals and their accomplishments such as Charles Lindbergh, Calvin Coolidge, Henry Ford to Al Capone, Bryson’s wit and masterful storytelling makes for a fun, entertaining and lively narrative.
