*** July 2011 Newsletter Pick ***

I love it when a first-time novelist can knock me, a seasoned reader, completely out of the water with a gorgeously written and immensely satisfying gem of a story. That is exactly what singer/songwriter Josh Ritter has done with his novel Bright's Passage. I just love this book! Ritter is a first-rate lyricist and an incredible storyteller. I was enthralled by his tale of a young soldier, Henry Bright, returning from World War I, determined to leave behind all the tragedies he experienced there. But shortly after making it back to his home in the Appalachian mountains and to his young wife, he loses her in childbirth, leaving him with an infant son to care for. Henry then discovers that when he returned from the war front, he wasn't entirely alone. A guardian angel, who speaks to him through his horse, is now very much a part of his life. It is this "guardian horse" that leads the way as Henry and his baby boy flee their home -- with Henry's villainous father-in-law, who believes Henry to be at fault for his daughter's death, in pursuit.

Though short in length, this novel is not at all short in creativity or vision. As Henry's story unfolds, Ritter knows exactly how to draw out the reader's own imagination, alternating between Henry's journey with his son through the foothills of Appalachia, his recollection of being in the trenches during the war, and his own scattered childhood memories. What is the meaning behind Henry's myth-like quest for survival? Perhaps it's just a beautifully written story, a ballad of sorts, leaving each reader to make of it whatever they wish. Regardless, this is truly an enchanting, thoroughly entertaining novel that should appeal to those young or old, male or female -- anyone who likes to read for the sheer pleasure of it.

*** May 2011 Newsletter Pick ***

Alice Hoffman is one of my top five authors. I've read almost all of her work, including her young adult novels, and The Red Garden is definitely one of her best. In fact, the first chapter of The Red Garden is probably the most haunting, magical piece of hers I've ever read. It sets the stage for this wondrous novel that follows the lives and loves of a small town in Massachusetts from when it is first settled in the 18th century through modern times. Hoffman does her magic that I love so well, weaving in a few common threads that appear in each generation of the town of Blackwell. There was always, of course, the garden with the red soil that sometimes turns its vegetation "scarlet" or "crimson." There were always eels, and bears, and the strong compulsion of the female characters to seek solitude, escape by running away, even find a peace and tranquility when sleeping out of doors alone, with no fear of the bears. The "apparition" of a young girl in a blue dress, haunting the banks of the river full of eels, also appears through the many generations. Yet with all these common threads, each chapter holds its own magic, its special singularity, making The Red Garden a book that may keep you up till the wee hours of the morning. Beautiful!