Reading Lists

Carry the One

By Carol Anshaw
The lives of a young group of wedding guests are changed when the car in which they were driving to go home from the wedding crashed into a young girl and she dies. Each of the group deals with this tragedy in various ways-from one who ends up writing a song based on the crash and makes money, to another who can never atone enough for the guilt he carried-even though it was his girlfriend, and not him, who crashed the car. From 1983, to the present, we watch as the one who was killed is never far from the thoughts of each guest.

The Good Daughters

By Joyce Maynard
Two young girls are born on the same day in a small New Hampshire town, and they share a connection that does not become clear until the end of the book. The author weaves a lovely tale of the struggles of two girls to grow into women, find partners and become ready to accept the challenges that started the day they were born.

House on Oyster Street

By Heidi Jon Schmidt
Charlotte moves her family from New York City to a small town on Cape Cod when her husband inherits the family home. She wants a chance to slow down her life and reconnect with her husband and 3 year old daughter. Although not everything goes as planned and Charlotte struggles to be accepted by the long time residents, she finds out just what is most important to her. Written by a 25 year resident of Cape Cod, the authors love and knowledge of this area shines through.

Language of Flowers

By Vanessa Diffenbaugh
In this debut novel, we meet Victoria on the day she is "emancipated" from the group home where she has lived until she became 18. The only skill Victoria has is her connection to flowers-she knows their meanings, can arrange them, and is in some way able to change the lives of the people whose flowers she arranges. Now, she just needs to arrange her own life; make amends for something she did in the past that is so painful she wishes to forget it and cannot, and she needs to find a way to love herself so she can accept love from others and move on.

Maine

By J. Courtney Sullivan
Three generations of Kelleher women have to function as a family whether they like it or not at the family's beachfront property one summer in Maine. Each carries burdens from the past, and each has to work at moving ahead. This is not a heavy read, but an entertaining one, good for reading on the beach (in Maine or otherwise) or inside on a rainy summer day or on a day that is just too hot to even try to be outdoors.

Red Garden

By Alice Hoffman
This is a collection of stories around the theme of a mysterious "red garden." Alice Hoffman often writes with a bit of the "supernatural," and this falls into that category. Each chapter is a story that can stand on its own, and the chapters are in chronological order spanning 300 years in the town of Blackwell, Massachusetts. You will not soon forget the wonderful characters created by Hoffman-and you will never think of Johnny Appleseed in quite the same way after you read this book!

A Reliable Wife

By Robert Goolrick
Rich, lonely widower Ralph Truitt advertises for a mail order bride-all he wants is "a reliable wife." When the woman whom he chooses arrives, is she the reliable wife he is looking for? For one thing, the photo she sent is not her. This woman has stepped off the train with a plan, little knowing that Ralph is way ahead of her. There are several twists and turns, but in the end, you may find yourself hoping that two people who may not have been very good in the past, can have a future better than their present or their past.

Say Her Name

By Francisco Goldman
This is a fictional account of what really happened to the author and the love of his life, Aura. They had a brilliant love affair, culminating in marriage, and then Aura hit a freak wave while body surfing, and died from her injuries. Somehow, Francisco has to go on. I believe this was written to both memorialize Aura and to help Francisco make sense of the senseless. It is heartbreaking, and beautiful to read.

Sister

By Rosamund Lupton
This is a debut novel, by a writer of suspense, who is someone to watch out for. Beatrice refuses to believe that her sister, Tess, has committed suicide in London, even though her unmarried sister had just given birth to a stillborn child. Beatrice risks her relationship with her fiancee to come to London and do her own investigative work. This is a good read, since you probably won't be able to put all the pieces together until the end of the book. A very satisfying mystery by a new author.