Sworn Sword by James Aitcheson FIC Ait

Three years after the Battle of Hastings (where William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy defeated Harold Godwineson, English King, for control of England), the Normans are defeated in a rout by the rebel English at Durham.  Killed there is Robert de Commines, the sword lord of Tancred a Dinant.  Bereft at the loss of his lord and father-figure, Tancred flees to York.  While recovering from a battle wound he attracts the attention of the Earl of York.  When the rebels threaten York, the Earl asks Tancred to escort his wife and daughter to the safety of London - and from there his priest on a further mission to Wilton to deliver a message.  Even as Tancred and his fellow knights flee the city with their charges in tow, York is under siege and the fate of the Earl is unknown.

In the days and weeks that follow Tancred becomes increasingly suspicious of the reasons for his journey beyond London.  Whom can he trust?  What is the real reason behind his trip?  And, most of all, will he and his fellow knights be able to complete their charge and make it back to London in time to join King William and his troops as they begin their relief of York to rescue the Earl?

This is an action-packed novel filled with details of life in 1069.  Battles are realistically described - and there are many battles!  Tancred, while an experienced knight, isn't necessarily a good leader but his growth is apparent throughout the novel.  Women, though few in what is essentially a war novel, are present and their role seems accurate to the times - relegated to the background but necessary.  Even the English people are seen as what they were - a conquered people living in fear and distrust of their conquerors.

I have only a few complaints:

1.      Harold Godwineson (whom my family claims, without proof, as a distant relative) is always referred to as a "usurper and betrayer".

2.      In order to be historically accurate, the author uses old English names for current cities.  Eoferwic, for example, instead of York.  Frequent references to the index in the front were necessary.

3.      The author is only 28-years-old.

This is the first of a trilogy and I look forward to reading the sequels - and many other books by this author.

The Little Way of Ruthie Leming by Rod Dreher 070.92 Dre

 

The title continues as such: "A Southern Girl, a Small Town and the Secret of a Good Life".  On the surface this appeared to be the story of a young woman who loses her battle with cancer but who fights it all the way to the end with the support of her hometown.  And this is true.  But it is so much more than that.  Dreher could not wait to escape St. Francisville, Louisiana when he was a young man.  A town with a population of around 1700 certainly wasn't for him.  He went off to bigger and better things.  Eventually he marries and has children.  He would go home for visits but that was always enough.  On the other hand his sister, Ruthie, loved her hometown.  She married her childhood sweetheart, they had three daughters and she taught school.  Her life was rather perfect until she fell ill.  Throughout the book there are many visits to the past which explain (or try to) the relationship between Dreher and his sister.  Families always have a lot of complexities but most of us decide to ignore them after we have left home - it is just easier that way.  In the end Dreher and his wife decide to move back to this little town and finish raising their three children in the place from which Dreher always want to escape.  It is interesting how he came to that decision.  (You may want some Kleenex close during parts of this book -  one reviewer referred to it as "Steel Magnolias" for a new generation!)

The Execution of Noa P. Singleton by Elizabeth L. Silver FIC Sil

I listened to the audiobook of the novel and I really enjoyed it - it was not your typical story.  Noa P. Singleton  has been tried and found guilty of the murder of another young woman.  During her trial she never tried to help her lawyer to defend her, nor did she take the stand in her own defense.  Found guilty, she has spent ten years waiting to be executed.  Noa still does nothing to help herself.  Then suddenly there appears someone who is interested in stopping Noa's life from being taken.  That isn't very unusual, it happens all the time in death cases.  As it turns out the lawyer, Marlene Dixon, is the mother of Noa's victim.  All of a sudden she doesn't want the death penalty to be carried out.  She is a well-known lawyer and she plans to do anything necessary to get the Governor to commute the sentence.  In return she wants the story of why her daughter died.  What led up to this senseless killing?  Noa hasn't told anyone the story.  Does Marlene deserve to find out the truth?  An intriguing story that had me guessing until the end what was going to happen.   

how to be a good wife by emma chapman FIC Cha

Another fascinating book, in my humble opinion!  The main character is Marta.  She has been married to Hector for a long time.  She doesn't even have much memory of what her life was like before she was with him.  The one thing she clearly remembers is the wedding and the book her mother-in-law gave her.  Being a good wife isn't always easy but Marta tries her best.  Her son, Kylan, has been her reason for living - but now he is off living his own life.  When Hector tells Marta that Kylan is coming home for the weekend her heart soars.....and then crashes when she finds out he is bringing his girlfriend home.  Marta is not in good shape to be welcoming a guest to her home.  Her dream had been for Kylan to come back home and take care of her.  With that plan in mind she had stopped swallowing the pills Hector insisted she take. We follow Marta as she goes through the frightening world of mental illness with her husband and son trying to help her .....or are they????  This is Ms. Chapman's first novel and I look forward to more. 

Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld FIC Sit

     

This was a very entertaining novel because it was a bit different.  Sisterland refers to the sign found in the bedroom of twins Kate and Vi when they were growing up.  They were both born with some psychic abilities which allows them to sense future events.  Sometimes that is good and sometimes not.  Vi loved the gift but Kate tried desperately to leave it behind when she went off to college.  Eventually the two sisters end up back in Saint Louis where they grew up.  Vi is working as a psychic and lives a life quite different from that of her twin.  Kate is married with two children.  She also spends a lot of time checking on her widowed father.  One night there is a small earthquake tremor.  It shook Kate up (pun intended).  Vi's reaction was a bit different.  She had one of her premonitions - this time it is of a big earthquake, a really big one.  She goes on TV to warn people and gives them a date for the event.  Kate's life will never be the same.  A great novel with interesting characters and some thought provoking moments.  There were interesting relationships -  between the sisters, between the sisters and their father and between Kate and her husband.

It is available here in the library, as an e-book or an audiobook. 

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan J Rio

Rick Riordan does it again with the fourth book in his Heroes of Olympus series. The earth goddess Gaea is stirring and releasing giants and monsters back into the world through the Doors of Death. The only way she can be stopped is by sealing the Doors of Death from both sides. The end of Book Three saw Percy and Annabeth plummeting into the underworld to make their way to that side of the doors, while the rest of the demigods on this quest make their way to Greece to find the location of the mortal side of the doors.

The story is fast-paced, the descriptions vivid, and the intensity of the plot is lightened by injections of humor in just the right places. Some of that humor is provided by the characters; some of it is just Riordan's excellent writing.

If you haven't read any of the books in this series, well, why not? Start with The Son of Neptune and work your way through. Because you will be captivated and won't want to quit reading, you will finish the first four well ahead of the scheduled October 2014 release of Book 5, The Blood of Olympus.

The Tilted World FIC Fra

The year was 1927, and it rained so much the Mississippi River flooded, the levees broke and whole towns washed away.  This little-remembered piece of American history is the backdrop to Tom Franklin & Beth Ann Fennelly’s novel “The Tilted World”.  

Prohibition is in full swing and so is the bootlegging business.  Dixie Clay is the best moonshiner in the county but despite the cash rolling in, life is not good for Dixie.  Her infant son has died, and she suspects her husband of killing two men (revenue agents sent to enforce prohibition).

Then one day she finds a stranger on her porch offering her an orphaned infant.  She takes it.

Undercover revenue agents Ted Ingersoll and Ham Johnson have been sent to Hobnob to find the missing agents and to discover the identity of the local bootlegger.  En route to Hobnob, they come upon an abandoned baby, the sole survivor of a deadly robbery gone wrong.  Ted, who himself was once a lonely orphan, can’t bring himself to leave the baby at an orphanage.  Instead, he asks around for someone who might want a baby and is directed to Dixie.

Unbeknownst to Ted, the woman he gives the baby is the bootlegger he's been searching for and her husband the man he's been sent to catch.   Dixie takes the baby without realizing that it's an undercover revenue agent standing on her porch - just a short distance from her hidden moonshine still.

Thus begins a love story between the revenue agent and the bootlegger.  Throw in a deranged flapper, a ruthless husband, a troubled uncle, saboteurs, murder, moonshine, and a rising Mississippi that threatens to wash everything away, and you have a fantastic story.

I have loved Tom Franklin’s books ever since reading "Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter" and this newest novel, which he wrote with his wife, vies for a spot on my all-time favorites list.