In 1905, Irish immigrant Sophie Whalen, desperate to escape the squalid New York tenements, answers a newspaper ad to become the bride of Martin Hocking in “The Nature of Fragile Things” by Susan Meissner. Her new life in San Francisco seems almost idyllic; she particularly loves her new stepdaughter. But things begin to fall apart. First, a woman shows up looking for her husband James—and recognizes a picture of Martin as being the same man. Next, only hours later, the devastating San Francisco earthquake of 1906 hits, followed by a fire which burns her home. When Martin (or whoever he is) fails to return from his business trip, a federal marshal begins questioning Sophie.
What do you call the female equivalent of a comic buddy caper? Whatever it is, that’s the term to apply to “Hadley and Grace” by Suzanne Redfearn. Hadley is desperate to escape her abusive scumbag of a husband, Frank. Grace, Frank’s secretary, is also seeking to escape her life. The two women both end up in Frank’s office on the same night, each intending to steal his $1.9 million stash and hit the road. After some initial scuffling, they agree to join forces and together go on the run, children in tow, trying to escape their lives and pasts.
Quinn Hamilton loves New Year’s Day in “Same Time Next Year” by Sophie Cousens. He was born on that day in 1990 and bagged the cash prize for being the first baby born that year. Minnie Cooper hates New Year’s Day. She was born on the same day in the same hospital as Quinn, but the day has always gone horribly wrong for her. She blames it all on Quinn, whom she has never met, for edging her out on the prize money. On New Year’s Day 2020, having spent the night accidentally locked in a washroom, who should be the person to find and release her but Quinn? Quinn soon comes to the rescue a second time and it seems that Minnie may have a change of heart about the person she has always resented.
Bennett Driscoll is a once up-and-coming artist and happily married man. In “Super Host” by Kate Russo, his marriage is at an end, his art career is in the toilet, and his daughter is off to art school. To make ends meet, he now rents his house on AirBed and moves into his art studio out back. He gets by, and even enjoys the reviews of his house which give him Super Host status on AirBed, but it takes a series of three female guests in order for Bennett to “find himself” again.
“The Doctors Blackwell” by Janice Nimura is a joint biography of sisters Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell. In 1849, Elizabeth was the first woman to receive a medical degree from an American medical school. Emily is less well known but also followed in her sister’s footsteps as a doctor, and was perhaps more instrumental than Elizabeth in the success of their New York Infirmary.
