Judas Child by Carol O'Connell

Fifteen years ago, Rogue Kendall's twin sister was abducted and murdered on Christmas Day, and her killer was caught and prosecuted. Now Rogue is a police officer in his hometown, and the abductions have happened again. The first abducted girl is used to lure a friend, the real target, out into the open. The "Judas child" is killed, while the second girl is kept alive until Christmas Day. Rogue has only three days until Christmas. Can he find the killer and at least one of the little girls before then? Will he be able to overcome his memories of his own sister's abduction to do so?

After a slow start, Judas Child quickly picks up the pace turning into a eerie, creepy thriller. There is a large cast of characters to keep in order: police, town politicians, psychologists, family members and others. But the story told from the perspective of Gwen Hubble, one of the abducted girls, and her interactions with her best friend, Sadie Green, is what will keep readers captivated and rooting for them not only to survive but also triumph over their captor. Carol O'Connell adds a slight paranormal edge to Judas Child similar to her Kathleen Mallory mystery series.

Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin

Tessa Cartwright tries to live a normal, typical existence, creating art and picking up her 14-year-old daughter from volleyball practice. Unfortunately, Tessa has not had a typical past; she was one of four murder victims, called the Black-Eyed Susans, as they were found dumped in a ditch of flowers nearly twenty years ago. Tessa was the only survivor of the Susans and now the convicted serial killer is up for execution, causing the media to take interest once again. To make matters worse, Tessa has found black-eyed susans planted underneath her bedroom window and at past residences over the years. She was never able to identify the killer as she lost part of her memory and was blind for months after her rescue. Feeling guilty for possibly putting an innocent man in prison, Tessa teams up with a lawyer and a forensic scientist to try and unravel the mystery of who the other three Susans are and to unravel Tessa's memories before the execution date.

Told from the alternating perspectives of the now adult Tessa and the then traumatized 16-year-old Tessie, the reader slowly uncovers what happened to her all those years ago and the time leading up to the trial. There is a constant creepiness as the clues and riddles build throughout the book. The shocking final twist makes this tale a fantastic read for suspense and thriller lovers who enjoy unpredictable endings.

Lighter Than My Shadow by Katie Green

Green tackles some very tough personal struggles, and she does so beautifully, rendering empathy from the reader rather than pity. The majority of her memoir concerns eating disorders: first anorexia and then bulimia. But she also covers her changing relationship with family, friends, even therapists, for better and worse as she is coming of age. Less noticeable but equally important, Green shows how timid she was, allowing others to dictate her future education and career path. Eventually, she took a chance to follow her dreams. These are all heavy topics, especially the eating disorders and abuse, but Green keeps fighting no matter how frustrated she becomes that there is no final solution or easy fix for her problems. This determination and hope is a powerful message and will resonate with readers who have gone through similar struggles.

The artwork is alternately intricate and sparse, but this allows for periods of greater reflection, pondering what Green has learned and what may be to come without an overabundance of detail to bog the reader down. The coloring, various tones of gray and black, are a wonderful, less obvious play on the title and the personal shadows that plague Green's life. As for the book, it's hefty, and the paper weight is thick and textured, making this an even richer book for the tactile reader. Lighter Than My Shadow is highly suggested for readers who love graphic memoirs or for those who have faced comparable issues. Appropriate for adult and young adult audiences.

Daughters of the Dragon by William Andrews

Daughters of the Dragon is a novel about a Korean woman during World War II. I was pulled into the story from the first page due in large part to the book’s subtitle: “a comfort woman’s story”. When I was in school, I, like everyone else, heard many horrifying accounts of World War II. However, I had never heard of “comfort women” until this book. They were young women who were forced into prostitution for the Japanese soldiers. They were raped and beaten, and many died as a result of this treatment. To this day, there is controversy regarding this topic.

               
This story attempts to tell one of these women’s tales. Her name is Ja-hee, and she was 14 years old when she and her sister received a summons to go to a shoe factory to help in the Japanese war effort. When they arrived, there was no shoe factory. They had been duped. Instead, day after day, they were raped by dozens of men. If they resisted, they were beaten. If they became pregnant, they were forced to have an abortion, which killed many of them.

               
Without a doubt, this is a tough story to read, but while I found it be heartbreaking, I also found it fascinating. Not only did I learn more about World War II, but I also learned more about Korea after the war. While this is a historical novel, it spurred me on to want to learn more about the facts behind the fiction. I’d recommend giving this book a try, especially if you too have never heard about this aspect of World War II.

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

Teenage sweethearts, Enza and Ciro meet in the Italian Alps but are quickly separated. Ciro is banished from his village after discovering a scandal with a local priest and travels to New York to apprentice with a shoemaker. Enza also leaves Italy for New York with her father to create a future for their financially challenged family. Unknowingly living within blocks of one another, both Ciro and Enza begin new lives apart until a chance meeting allows them to be together once again. Unfortunately, Ciro has already enlisted for WWI and unwillingly leaves Enza after their short lived reunion. While Ciro is off fighting battles, Enza dedicates herself to her work and becomes a renowned seamstress for the Metropolitan Opera House, poised to become an even bigger success. Then Ciro returns from the war, and both are resolved never to leave each other again.

With lush depictions of life in the Italian Alps to the cramped quarters of New York, Trigiani is adept at immersing the reader into the lives of her star-crossed protagonists. The romantic tension is a constant ebb as Ciro and Enza seem fated to be together but obstacles to their happiness arise keeping them apart. Fortunately, both characters are entirely likable and reading about their lives apart is still a joy. Historical fiction fans will savor this epic tale of love and loss as well as other books by Trigiani.

J. M. W. Turner by Peter Ackroyd

Mike Leigh's movie, Mr.Turner, premiered just last year. It's a film about the career of the great British Romanticist landscape painter, J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851). The critics praised it but many viewers were challenged by the central performance (Turner was gruff and lacking in social skills), the chronology of his life (did the story cover five years or twenty?), and the length of the movie (2 1/2 hours). It's a beautiful piece of filmmaking and it made me more curious about the artist. 

I knew of Turner's paintings but not much about his life, so I went to the library shelves and discovered Peter Ackroyd's J. M. W. Turner, the second biography in the author's Brief Lives series. It's all of 160 pages, but it tells the full story.  (Leigh tells us that his movie only focuses on the final twenty-five years of Turner's life.)

So, who was Turner? He was the son of a barber/wigmaker and, due to the mother's mental instability, the father who raised him. His talent for art was recognized early and at the age of fifteen his work was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art. By the time he was in his early twenties he had begun to focus on landscape and particularly maritime studies. He was as accomplished with watercolor as he was with oil. Fortunately, he had the support of some well-heeled patrons and he was a good businessman. Financial success gave him independence and that independence gave him the freedom to be more experimental. Turner's expressionist studies in light, color, and atmosphere were unmatched in his time and these works predate the Impressionists by decades.

If you are curious, the Ackroyd Brief Lives biography is a good place to start. The library has many additional books that reproduce his art including J. M. W. Turner: Painting Set Free (2014), the exhibition catalog for a show that has traveled from the Tate (London) to the Getty (Los Angeles) and is now on view at the Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco.

And then there is Mr.Turner, Mike Leigh's movie, also available for loan from the library.