When one reads UNDER THE WIDE AND STARRY SKY, one realizes that Nancy Horan has a gift of making the reader feel as though he is a part of the story, living with the characters as one of the family. In this book she draws the reader in as she tells the fictionalized story …more of Fanny van de Grift Osbourne who leaves her philandering husband and takes her children to Europe where she meets her future husband, the soon to be famous Robert Louis Stevenson, a sickly, bachelor ten years her junior, and the life they will eventually share together. After they married the two become like nomads because Louis's illness "pushed them around places they didn't want to go and pulled them out of places they loved."
The author draws you into the lives of two very dominant people, artists in their own way, who love fiercely, who circle the globe looking for and eventually finding a home where Louis can live without the illness which he has had from birth. She tells of the ups and downs of their lives before and after they eventually settle in Samoa where they live until Louis dies.
Horan has done extensive research and travel using parts of letters and biographies, For her story of the lives of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson.
I would recommend this book to libraries and book clubs because it is one which gives unusual insight into the lives of two famous people. (less)

Once We Were Brothers is the story of a survivor of World War II and war-torn Poland. It is told in segments as the protagonist relates his story to his attorney. It gives details of the Nazi invasion of a small town in Poland, a family who lives in the town, two boys who …more grew up together as brothers, in that family, and the different roles they play as adults. The talented author succeeds in a well-written novel, making the reader live the story. This reader was impressed with the historical accuracy of the setting and made me not want to put it down until it was finished. The author, Ronald H. Balson, is a well-traveled attorney, an educator and a writer who became interested in the small villages of Poland making him decide to write this novel.

Once We Were Brothers will make a great read for book clubs. (less)

The Imposter Bride is a story of a family. Lily Azerov has immigrated to Montreal to marry a man she doesn't know. He takes one look at her and refuses to marry her. His brother, Nathan, comes to apologize but on seeing Lily decides to marry her. They marry and live with …more his mother until he is financially able to afford an apartment.

The story is told alternately by Lily; her daughter, Ruthie, whom she leaves when Ruthie is three months old; and a third person. Ruthie is lovingly cared for by her father and Elka, Nathan's sister-in-law who becomes her surrogate mother, his mother Bella, and Elka's mother, Ida Pearl.

When Ruthie is six years old she receives a package containing a piece of quartz and a note in her mother's handwriting telling where and when she picked up the rock. For the first time Ruthie begins to wonder about the woman who is her mother. Over the years she receives more rocks and with each her curiosity grows: where is her mother and why is she sending her the rocks?

Of the large cast of characters, Lily and Ruthie are the most vividly formed. The author provides this cast of characters to help tell the story. Throughout the novel we want to know who Lily is, why did she take on another's identity, why did she leave, will Ruthie ever find her, and why did she send rocks to Ruthie?

The main themes of the story are loss and family relationships. It is the opinion of this reviewer that many plot elements and scenes could easily have been left out without taking away from the overall story. The author does, however, manage in the end to make sense of the characters and events.

I would recommend the book to book clubs, especially those made up of women. They would probably want to discuss Lily, and Elka, Ida Pearl and Bella to see what they really added to the story and what their backgrounds were. And they would probably want to empathize with Ruthie, take her character apart, literally, and putting it back together with a better understanding of her.

I enjoyed the book even though it wasn't easy skipping from one narrator to the next. I would recommend the book to libraries, book clubs, and friends. (less)