In the Shadow of the Cypress, by Thomas Steinbeck (2010)

I love a book that teaches me something about history. Thomas Steinbeck's book weaves a great story of the history of the Chinese immigrants to California in the early 1900s. The story begins in 1906, in a small fishing village in California, where Chinese fisherman and their families live their lives almost completely apart from the mainstream residents.

When a 400-year-old Chinese imperial seal and plaque is uncovered beneath a fallen Cypress tree, the Chinese elders of the village want to keep the object in their village temple. The more powerful Chinese factions in nearby San Francisco learn about the artifact's existence and want them to be moved to their protection.

The artifacts are proof that the Chinese visited North America before any Europeans, but it's value to the fisherman goes much deeper and they fear it's loss will bring bad luck to the entire village.

The story of the missing artifacts becomes it's own mystery when, a century later, two young men try to unravel the tale and redisover the items that once stood in the middle betweenthe two groups.

No, I Don't Want to Join a Book Club, by Virginia Ironside

If you are a fan of British self-deprecating humour, you will love Virginia Ironside's latest book. As Marie Sharp girds her loins to hit the big Six-O, she is beside herself with glee at all the senior discounts coming her way. The downside is nonexistant, a status unlikely to change as she decides that sex always involves too many compromises, especially for the woman.

Marie's look back at her wild years in London during the 1960's and her look forward to impending grandmotherhood make this a wonderfully joyous read.

I highly recommend this book!

The Last Time I Saw You, by Elizabeth Berg [2010]

There's nothing quite as satfisfying as heading home for the weekend with the newest book by one of my favourite authors, Elizabeth Berg.

I was completely swept away into the narrative the author weaves amongst men and women who are about to embark on that dreaded ritual: The 40th high school reunion.

As always, Elizabeth's characters come alive through her storytelling. As we bear witness to a slice of their lives, we can relish the change to peek into each classmate's psyche as they reconnect to their past selves and the roles they each played back in high school. It is a time to reflect and measure one's life against the expectations of the past. Who has come out ahead, and what does "being a winner" mean anyway 40 years after the fact.

The Very Thought of You, by Rosie Alison

Rosie Alison's first novel (published by Alma Books, 2009) is amazingly mature read for a debut effort.

As part of mass emigration of London's children in 1939, we follow the life of eight-year-old Anna Sands who is sent off to the countryside to be safe from the impending bombing of the city. She arrives at an adhoc school hastily converted from a large private estate in Yorkshire. The patrons of the estate, Thomas and Elizabeth Ashton, provide a safe haven for the children who must cope with the loss of home and family. Anna quickly forms a special bond with Thomas Ashton and is drawn into the his life and the emotional turmoil of his marriage.

Alison's book captures the double-edge sword of lives turned upside down by World War II. For Anna's mother, her sincere heartbreak at sending her daughter away is offset by a new found freedom to be a single women in the heightened emotional times of a city under siege. For Thomas Ashton, the children arriving at his estate bring meaning and hope to a life left unfulfilled by the paralysis to his legs caused by an adult bout of Polio. How will these characters survive the war and who will emerge from the maelstrom and chaos? I strongly recommend this book for telling the story of evacuee children and for bringing her characters to life so vividly.

Remarkable Creatures, by Tracy Chevalier [2010]

Tracy Chevalier has a way of making history come alive. If you have read her earlier books, The Virgin Blue, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Falling Angels, The Lady and the Unicorn, and Burning Bright, you will probably enjoy this latest novelization of a non-fictional slice of history.

Set in Lyme Regis, England, in the mid 1800's the novel brings together two women from very different social positions. Mary Anning, born to an impoverished family, is a fossil hunter. Elizabeth Philpot, a middle-class spinster, exiled to the small town of Lyme with her two equally spinstered sisters, befriends Mary and they become unlikely partners in their quest and love of fossil remains.

In an age where women should be seen not heard, when women were counted only as useful as the dowry they could bring to a man, these two women set their sights on charting their own destinies. In real life, Mary Anning become a well-known name in the Royal Geological Society, and had many admirerers. The fame she garnered was tempered by the fact that she spent her entire life in relative poverty and was never formally acknowledged for her contributions to the understanding of our fossil history until long after her death.

Tracy Chevalier weaves a beautiful poignant story of two intelligent, curious women who tried to break the bounds of convention and be what they longed to be--fossil hunters and scientists!

Noah's Compass, by Anne Tyler (2009)

Are we who we are because we can remember our past, or are we who we are despite our recollections? Liam Pennywell, 61, and facing retirement from his school teacher career, is about to deal with the question.

When Liam loses memory of moving into his new apartment, his life is thrown for a turn. In trying to recover his memories, he finds his life, which has been quite solitary from estranged children and wives, is now filling up again as his family reaches out to him. When he meets a professional memory collector, Liam believes he's found a simple way to regain his past. Instead, his life is about to get very complicated!

Very well-written, this slice-of-life story of the singular Liam Pennywell is an easy read with some interesting themes and surprises.

Mr Wroe's Virgins, by Jane Rogers [1991]

Sometimes the plot of a story is enough to carry a reader along, and sometimes the excellence of the writing style is the strong point in a novel. In Jane Roger's book, we are graced with both attributes.

This is one of the most unique and well-written novels I have read in a while. Set in Great Britain in the 1830s, and based in part of the true life of the religious leader, Prophet Wroe, Roger's book begins with Mr Wroe's latest dream prophecy. Mr Wroe, a Christian Israelite, dreams that God has directed him to choose seven virgins from his flock who will come and live with him.

The seven women come from very different backgrounds and circumstances. Each chapter gives us more insight into the wives' earlier lives, their current circumstances and their hopes, if any, for the future. As the inner motivations of religion, sex, and power direct the outward lives of the women, each tries to find some meaning for their new role as one of the great prophet's wives.

Jane Rogers provides a wonderful peak at a time when the communal dreams of the Owen movement were on the rise, the labour movement was starting to organize weavers and spinners, and the world seemed poised on the brink of a new era, or as Prophet Wroe was claiming, the end of the World!