Fiction

avatar picture, though I can't quite make out what it is. Looks a bit like a little green hedgehog!

Last night, I finished reading the beautifully written In Open Spaces by Russell Rowland.

Set in the vast and unforgiving prairie of eastern Montana from 1916 to 1946, In Open Spaces is the compelling story of the Arbuckle brothers:

George
A rising baseball star who mysteriously drowns in the river

Jack
A World War I veteran who abandons his family only to return to reclaim the family ranch

Bob
The youngest brother, whose marriage to Helen creates a fault line between him and the rest of his family

Blake
A shrewd, observant man burdened with growing suspicions of Jack's role in his brother's death

With breathtaking descriptions of the Montana landscape, Russell Rowland masterfully weaves a fascinating tale of the psychological wars that can rip a family apart...and, ultimately, the redemption that can bring them back together.

There is a sequel, The Watershed Years, which I hope the library has.

I have downloaded Church of Marvels by Lesley Parry after reading a nice review of it in Book Page.

What do two twin sisters who star in a Coney Island sideshow, a woman whose mother-in-law may have had her committed to an insane asylum, and a sanitation worker who finds an orphaned baby girl while completing his rounds one night have in common? The question sounds like the set up to a rather ghoulish joke, and yet untangling this mystery forms the basis of Leslie Parry’s dazzling debut.

After having a copy of Book Page hand delivered to me every month for many, many years by my librarian sister, I found myself missing it when she retired and moved in with me last year. I didn't realize that one could have an individual subscription to this periodical until today, so I've ordered my own subscription. It will be nice having it once again. There is also the online version which is much like the print version, but I much prefer it in print.
http://bookpage.com/

Happy reading in 2016!!