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Abby is a counselor at a private high school. She's a single mother with a teenage son, Benjamin. Two female students appear to have committed suicide, though it's soon deemed murder. Abby is let go, despite. Benjamin is tenser than usual (he can be volatile) and of course she's worried he may be involved. A professor who taught her when she was getting her degree shows up and takes an apparently benevolent, very active interest in helping mother and son. He’s working on a book (What Boys Learn), and the more we learn about him, the uneasier we get. Abby's brother Ewan, a bad apple, is in prison; a terrible incident involving them both from the past haunts her, as does her fear that Benjamin is showing psychopathic traits like Ewan's. This is a scary book without redemption. It definitely held my interest.
Vilda, on the cusp of adolescence, loves her grandpa who herds reindeer and knows how to speak Sami. When he suddenly dies, she's bereft of his warm presence and the links to the culture she treasures. Her mother is Sami but speaks Swedish, as they do in Vilda's school. At grandpa's funeral, Vilda meets young Samuel who has Sami connections, and they forge a relationship after many false starts. Vilda gropes to define her identity as well as her burgeoning development. At last, she can claim a place in her indigenous community. This book is written for teens but is a profound and moving read for all ages. It evokes our country’s callous treatment of our own native peoples.
Three sisters, Cait, Alice and Maggie, are back together 20 years after their brother Topher was involved in a boating accident that claimed the life of his friend Daniel who lived next door. Topher went the way of the Irish Goodbye—suicide. His sisters arrive at their parents’ home, burdened by guilt and secrets. Cait reconnects with Daniel's brother, Alice faces an unplanned pregnancy that will derail her plans, and Maggie brings along her girlfriend, Isabel. Catholic stances on abortion and homosexuality create even more tensions. Eventually coming clean brings about some resolution on various fronts. A rich family drama.
Subtitled: From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins. China's one child policy drives the zigzag path that snatched Fangfang, a toddler, who ended up in Texas. The bamboo grove is where her mother surreptitiously gave birth to Fangfang and her twin, Shuangjie, renamed Esther by her adoptive parents. It took 16 years and lots of dogged detective work to enable the twins to meet in China. The greed and corruption in the name of "the law" is hideous, and the strategies that parents use to try and keep their children close are complex and, as we witness, very difficult to maintain. Demick is a highly skilled and dedicated journalist who weaves history, culture, and story into a mesmerizing reading experience.
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