It’s 1948, and Irene Willard finds herself left at the doors of an old mansion-turned hospital. All women at this hospital, like her, have only ever experienced the heartbreak of lost pregnancy and are desperate to deliver to their husbands that gift of a child. Under the care of an enigmatic husband and wife duo of doctors, the women undergo experimental treatments that promise to bring their pregnancies to term. As Irene’s pregnancy progresses, strange things begin happening at the hospital. She will find herself doubting both her own sanity and everything she’s been promised by the doctors.
First of all, this book is not for everyone. It has a sleepy, ethereal style of prose. Irene is a frustrating main character, at first acerbic and cold. As we peel away her layers, it’s easier to see the depth of her discomfort with her given lot in life and the situation in which she finds herself. There are some compelling supernatural elements that contribute to Irene’s spiraling psychological state, or so it would seem at first. I feel like the build-up of the creep factor had promise. The setting helped usher this along. The symbolism of the unkempt garden as giver-of-life or bringer-of-death was certainly not lost on me. Though the uterus-shaped flower on the cover is a not-so-subtle clue of this as well.
What I appreciated most about this was the undercurrent of feminism and the psychology behind a woman’s worth being completely tied up in her ability to bear children. It’s 2024 and we still find ourselves in a time in which the powers at be wish to control what happens within a woman’s uterus. In that respect, this is a very timely book.
Unfortunately, I don’t feel that the end of this book did justice to the intended message. It’s hard to explain why I felt that way without giving too much away, but it would certainly be an interesting topic of discussion for book clubs. Novels like this are always up to reader interpretation, so it’s quite possible a different reader would take a completely different view. Thematically, this book is rich with symbolism, and it inspires a real feeling of dread throughout. Beams did a great job of making the house and garden a living, breathing character complete with a cancerous history that haunts the halls. It’s really quite a beautiful concept in hindsight, but I can’t say that reading this novel was explicitly enjoyable.
Overall, I really appreciate what this novel has to offer, but I don’t see it being on my list for a re-read.
Published April 9, 2024 by Doubleday. ISBN 9780385548182. Hardcover. 304 pages.
Are you one of those parents who has lots of anxiety over the effect technology is having on our kiddos, especially their obsessive need to have faces buried in tablets? Would you like even more stress and anxiety mixed with guilt over what you’ve allowed to happen? Then read this book. Ok, I’m sort of joking about that. I actually think this book presents some amazing points and amazing ideas for breaking the hold technology has on our kids, though I did have some issues with it. That being said, I want to make it clear that my response to this book is solely my opinion on the issue. I don’t wish to imply any one philosophy or style is correct or incorrect. We are all doing our best. Let’s get into it, shall we? 
Alexandra Quinlan has gone to great lengths to separate herself from the night that changed her life forever, the night her entire family was massacred leaving her the only survivor and the initial prime suspect. Ten years after the murders and after increasingly tumultuous years in which she fought to clear her name and get justice for the mistreatment she received by both law enforcement and the media, she now does some investigative work for a law firm. She’s changed both her name and her look, no longer recognizable as “Empty Eyes,” the name given to her by the media on the night of her family’s murder. When a particularly disturbing investigation leads her to clues regarding her own family’s still-unsolved murder, Alex finds herself back in the past reliving that awful night and pulling her into a dangerous world of secrets for which she may not be prepared. 
As usual, I have two books going. On audio, I’m listening to Tan Twan Eng’s The House of Doors, which is an interesting work of historical fiction primarily set in Malaysia between the years of 1911 and 1947. It features a fictionalized version of the writer, W. Somerset Maugham. So far, I’m really enjoying this one.
In hardback, I’ve basically just started a book with a gorgeous cover, a new novel by Rene Denfeld titled Sleeping Giants. It’s an intriguing mystery with some pretty dark themes, but I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve read so far. It’s a powerful narrative.
I have more audiobooks queued up at the moment than I can handle. I’m planning on first reading TJ Klune’s follow-up to the delightful The House on the Cerulean Sea that was just released this week. It is Somewhere Beyond the Sea, and I positively can’t wait! If you haven’t picked up the first in this series, I can’t recommend it enough. 
Just a warning, it’s going to be a very Charlie Donlea week up in here at A Librarian and Her Books because I inadvertently wound up reading two of his in a row thanks to him being a book club pick by one of our Read Between the Wines members. This one, The Girl Who Was Taken, was the one I chose independently without even realizing he’d also penned our book club choice.
This title takes the place of my Young Adult fantasy read for my reading challenge. I pretty much chose it at the library off the new YA shelf because the cover was so compelling. It’s not rare to find fiction based on folklore and mythology, but it is rare to find titles based on the mythology of the Pacific Islanders. In this novel, we follow Hanalei of Tamarind, once a revered lady from a royal family. When we meet her, she’s living in exile following the actions of her father who absconded from Tamarind with something important in order to save his daughter. After several years of scraping by to survive, she finds herself studying sea dragons. These majestic creatures are hunted by most, and their eggs, called dragonfruit, are richly sought for their magical properties. After encountering a group of dragons bearing dragonfruit, Hanalei finds herself back in Tamarind for the purpose of helping her childhood friend, Sam, obtain dragonfruit to save his mother who has been stuck in a permanent state of unconsciousness for the past 10 years. Together they will rekindle their old friendship and battle foes, both magical and human, on a quest to restore the future queen to her place on the throne. 
I’m pretty much always behind the times, as evidenced by the fact that this memoir was a Goodreads Choice Award nominee for best memoir and biography back in 2018. I’m surprised I hadn’t read it yet, because I’ve adored Sally Field for about as long as I can remember. Even as a kid, I could feel how authentic and human she seemed, and I fully grasped her range and skill as an actor as I grew and watched more of her films. In this memoir, she briefly touches on her acting roles, but it’s much more about the relationships that shaped her as a woman, an actor, and a mother. 
My reading selections have been a bit depressing lately. Honestly, they’ve been downright infuriating. You may not recognize the name of the author of this memoir, but you certainly know of her. We only knew her as Emily Doe in the rape trial that shook the nation back in 2015, a trial in which the sentence would anger millions and result in the subsequent recall of the Judge. Despite her victim impact statement going viral, her rapist was treated with compassion at the loss of his “potential.” She was seen as merely a body. This memoir is her way of reclaiming her story from those who would paint her as something she is not. For the purpose of this review, I’ll just refer to her attacker as what he is. I won’t say his name. You know who he is.
I spared you the full title of this book in the blog post title, as it’s a mouthful. In truth, the full title also includes the tagline, “The True Story of How Houston’s Deadliest Murderer Turned a Kid into a Killing Machine.” As with any other GOOD true crime title, this one aims to set aside the prevailing pieces of misinformation that have permeated the narrative over the years and set the record straight as to the true and, often, much less black and white reality. 
I initially found this book so intriguing because of the cover. Look at it, it’s utterly gorgeous and definitely exudes magic. However, I also initially had the fear that it might verge into the world of schmaltz, and I don’t really enjoy that, which is why I generally read outside of the romance genre. Having never read any other Moorman books, I had no idea what to expect. Overall, I wound up being pleasantly surprised despite having some issues.
A Librarian and Her Books 