Patricia S

Starting literally with breaking glass, Carolyn Wall, continues the metaphor throughout her haunting and compelling novel, Sweeping up Glass. Olivia Cross is figuratively sweeping up the glass of her confusing past and struggling present as the novel builds to a shattering climax. This story of tragedies, many types of love, and final triumph is one of the best I have read in a long time. Haunted by the wolves' howl, I was sorry to see it end, and I intend to recommend it for my book club after it comes out in August.

Night Navigation is a powerful novel from an accomplished first novelist. Writing in the alternating voices of the mother, Del, and her 32 year old son Mark, Howard adds to reader involvement. I was pulled into the skillfully drawn maternal co-dependency, which is part of most mother-child relationships. The author’s writing style of short, choppy sentences in the Mark sections echoes his manic mind state. Having a daughter who is bi-polar and alcohol and drug dependent, the manipulation of the addict is well known to me.

Though this at first seems a dark novel, there are instances of humor which lighten the drama and make the characters and situations real. Her use of imagery, the careful filling of the coffee pot, the struggle with the bats, Mark’s paranoia about crows, all rise to symbolic significance and add depth to the novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed Night Navigation, and am looking forward to the author’s second novel.

From the first paragraph of the prologue, Elissa Elliott’s novel Eve grabbed me and did not let me go until the end. Even then the story and the world of Eve, Adam, Cain, Abel, Naava, Aya, Dara, and Jarden haunted me for days to come. This is a beautiful and powerful first novel. Elliott’s choice of words and language are unique and gripping. This is the story we have always wondered about, and Elissa Elliott’s imagination has filled in the blanks and created an Eve who is a many sided woman, often loving and generous and often whiny and full of blame for others. It is Aya, the second daughter, who, because of her position in the family, is able to show us all of the other characters clearly.



I was reminded of The Poisonwood Bible with the multiple women’s viewpoint while reading this story. Elliott is a talented new novelist and I will watch for other novels from her in the future. In the meantime I will hold on to this novel to reread at my leisure.

Written in the narrative voice of a young woman coming of age in Denmark during the German occupation, To Siberia is written in varying shades of gray, which overpower the story at times. The narrator jumps from past to present and from Denmark to Norway with little warning which makes the story hard to follow occasionally. However, the book is rich in description, which occasionally overpowers the plot.