Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book: Trail of Broken Wings Author: Sejal Badani ISBN: 9781477822081 Publisher: Lake Union Type of book: India, Asian-Americans, abuse, South Asian female/American male, sisterhood, mother and daughter relationship, California, rape, 2000s, immigration, multicultural, travel, photography, perfection, game, competition, father Year it was published: 2015 Summary: When her father falls into a coma, Indian American photographer Sonya reluctantly returns to the family she’d fled years before. Since she left home, Sonya has lived on the run, free of any ties, while her soft-spoken sister, Trisha, has created a perfect suburban life, and her ambitious sister, Marin, has built her own successful career. But as these women come together, their various methods of coping with a terrifying history can no longer hold their memories at bay. Buried secrets rise to the surface as their father—the victim of humiliating racism and perpetrator of horrible violence—remains...

Title of the book: Out from the Underworld Author:  Heather Siegel Publisher: Greenpoint Press Publishing Date: 2015 ISBN: 978-0-9906194-0-6 Summary: Heather Siegel was six years old when her mother disappeared, sending her father into a tailspin that took Heather and her siblings down with him—from a comfortable suburban home to a barely habitable basement apartment, a dark world they soon found themselves fighting to return to from the exile of foster care, then fighting even harder to escape. Forty years later, Heather Siegel tells the remarkable story of how she and her siblings, Jaz and Greg, banded together to find out what happened to their mother and fight their way Out from the Underworld with nothing but their wits, determination, unbreakable bonds and gifts for humor and compassion to sustain them. A wrenching, inspiring story filled with heartbreak, hope and love, Out from the Underworld will move you to laughter and tears. Author Info: (From iRead B...

Name of Book: Moonlight on Butternut Lake Author: Mary McNear ISBN: 978-0-06-228318-4 Publisher: William Morrow Part of a Series: Butternut Lake Trilogy Type of book: Minnesota, contemporary romance, abuse, running away, caretaker, summer season, attraction, previous characters, college, nursing aspirations, friendships, 2000s Year it was published: 2015 Summary: From the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Up at Butternut Lake comes the third novel in the Butternut Lake series—a dazzling story of two wounded souls seizing a second chance at life and love On the run from her abusive husband, Mila Jones flees Minneapolis for the safety and serenity of Butternut Lake. Ready to forge a new life, Mila’s position as home health aide to Reid Ford is more than a job. It’s a chance at a fresh start. Though her sullen patient seems determined to make her quit, she refuses to give up on him. Haunted by the car accident that nearly killed him, Reid ...

Name of Book: The Mapmaker's Children Author: Sarah McCoy ISBN: 978-0-385-34890-4 Publisher: Crown Publishers Type of book: West Virginia, abolition, legacy, slavery, Civil War, infertility and struggles, family, relationships, small town, John Brown and his family, 1859-1865, adoption, 2014, sacrifices Year it was published: 2015 Summary: When Sarah Brown, daughter of abolitionist John Brown, realizes that her artistic talents may be able to help save the lives of slaves fleeing north, she becomes one of the Underground Railroad’s leading mapmakers, taking her cues from the slave code quilts and hiding her maps within her paintings. She boldly embraces this calling after being told the shocking news that she can’t bear children, but as the country steers toward bloody civil war, Sarah faces difficult sacrifices that could put all she loves in peril.    Eden, a modern woman desperate to conceive a child with her husband, moves to an old house in the suburb...

Name of Book: Mesabi Pioneers Author: Russell Hill and Jeffrey Smith ISBN: 978-0-9906591-0-5 Publisher: Lempi Publishing and Jeffrey Smith Type of book: Minessota, Twin Cities, immigrants from Finland Native Americans, 1890s, iron, hardship, women, daily life Year it was published: 2014 Summary: Here is the highly readable account of one of the remarkable achievements of the 19th century: how a remote tree-covered area of northern Minnesota became America's greatest source of iron ore. It is 1891. An improbable team of American businessmen and European immigrants hunt for iron ore in a formidable expanse of dense pine forest. Fighting isolation, harsh winters, and mosquito-infested summers, they find it. What follows is an extraordinary tale of both personal and technological achievement. Mesabi Pioneer s brings the pursuit of iron ore to vivid life, illuminating the men and women mostly forgotten by history, who built an industry, carved towns from trees, and cr...

Name of Book: Teresa of the New World Author: Sharman Apt Russell ISBN: 978-1-63158-042-0 Publisher: Yucca Publishing Type of book: half Native American/Half Spanish girl, plague, flu, earth, nature, shape changing, Conquistadors, 1536-1540s, silent, communicating with animals, blend in, American Southwest, Native American and European relationships , journey Year it was published: 2015 Summary: In 1528, the real-life conquistador Cabeza de Vaca shipwrecked in the New World where he lived for eight years as a slave, trader, and shaman. In this lyrical weaving of history and myth, the adventurer takes his young daughter Teresa from her home in Texas to walk westward into the setting sun, their travels accompanied by miracles--visions and prophecies. But when Teresa reaches the outposts of New Spain, life is not what her father had promised. As a kitchen servant in the household of a Spanish official, Teresa grows up estranged from the magic she knew as a child, wh...