Matt has lost two wives under suspicious circumstances in As Long As We Both Shall Live by JoAnn Chaney. Is he (not to mention his wives) just really unlucky, or is there a connection? Things are not as they seem.
In Good Riddance by Elinor Lipman, Daphne throws away a 1968 yearbook which had belonged to her deceased mother. June was a newly minted teacher and yearbook advisor that year, and has since attended every class reunion. The yearbook is heavily annotated with sometimes snarky comments about class members. Its retrieved from the trash by nosy neighbor Geneva, a would-be documentary filmmaker whos convinced the stories waiting to be uncovered from the Class of 1968 will make a dandy film. The reluctant Daphne agrees to go with Geneva to the next class reunion, mainly to try to do damage control.
Nadia waited 10 years to get a visa to emigrate from the Ukraine to the United States, only to find that only she is allowed, not her 20-year-old daughter Larissa. In Mother Country by Irina Reyn, she is alone in New York, barely eking out a living and still trying, seven years later, to get permission for Larissa to join her. The two keep in touch by Skype and text, but their relationship is strained. Nervously watching from afar Vladimir Putins designs on Crimea, and Larissas inability to have a reliable supply of the insulin she needs, she crafts a plan to reunite with her daughter.
The Orphan of Salt Winds by Elizabeth Brooks is a Gothic tale being likened to Daphne DuMaurier or even Charlotte Bronte. It begins with 86-year old Virginia taking a walk into the salt marsh beside her English home, Salt Winds. Shes found something she interprets as a sign to bring her life to an end in the marsh, but encounters a teenage girl who seems to have ties to Virginias past. The narrative then shifts back to show the 10-year Virginia as an orphan being adopted and brought to Salt Winds on the eve of World War II. When a German aviator crashes in the marsh, it sets off a sequence of events leading to a tragedy which haunts Virginia the rest of her life.
Actor Gary Sinise has written a memoir titled Grateful American. While telling his own story, the particular emphasis is how he came to focus on service to American troops and veterans. The experiences he had beginning with the character Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump led him to tour with the USO and form a foundation to help veterans. The book is currently number five on the New York Times best seller list.
