The Story of the Forest is a lively, thought-provoking and poignant exploration of diaspora and identity from the point of view of strong women

The mash up of a Mexican western, a generational saga, and magical realism works extremely well at the hands of this talented author.

Ms. Allende focuses on children, and how policies of cruelty use them as pawns. Only the fact that good people have attempted to help them save those children

The author assured me that this book was a translation of an epic poem called Jayaparajaya, retold so a layman like myself could understand it.

While this is certainly not a history book, the lives of the women follow the national struggles (civil rights for example) which got national attention

When Frederick Merill leaves his wife Katharine and children to fight in WWII everything seems to be fine. however over the years Frederick starts to change

The making of a writer. Daniel Baciagalupo and his father flee a 1950’s New Hampshire logging town after Daniel accidentally killed his father’s lover.

In A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True the author fashions the tale in a fairytale like narrative spiced with European / Yiddish humor