Zeitoun

Eggers, Dave. Zeitoun. 2009. (976.335 Egger.D & CD 976.335 Egger.D)

Come hell or high water, Abdulrahman Zeitoun is determined to wait out Hurricane Katrina in his New Orleans home so that he can immediately tend to the anticipated damage. His wife Kathy and their children evacuate to Baton Rouge. Both hell and high water do come, and Zeitoun (as he is frequently called) confronts the aftermath of the hurricane from the rooftop of his home, a second hand canoe, and finally, from a place where the system utterly fails him. He experiences the best and worst our country has to offer, and though he sees New Orleans at its darkest moment, this is a quintessentially American story about the contradictions at the heart of Zeitoun’s adopted land, and his reconciliation of hope with devastation and profound beauty with a stew of sewage, death and destruction. This unforgettable true story is some of Eggers's finest storytelling. (Christie CS, Adult/YA Services)

Sarah's Key

Rosnay, Tatiana de. Sarah's Key. 2007. (Fiction Rosna.T & CD Fiction Rosna.T & eAudiobook)

Afraid of the soldiers shouting and beating on her door one July day in Paris of 1942, ten-year-old Sarah locks her younger brother in their secret hiding place in their apartment, turns the key and carefully places it in her pocket, promising to return and fetch him later. That very key, Sarah’s key, sends profound reverberations across continents and throughout several families, locking and unlocking hearts and secrets. The story alternates between the events of the Vel’ d’Hiv roundup in 1942, Paris, and Paris of 2002.  Expatriate Julia, an American-born journalist who has been living and working in Paris for 18 years, plunges into her latest assignment in which she must research and write about the roundup of Jews who are taken to the stadium Vélodrome d'Hiver. As Julia delves deeper into the horrifying truths and cover-ups by French soldiers, she discovers a connection that links her irrevocably to Sarah's story. This gripping and heart-wrenching novel is impossible to put down. (Christie CS, Adult/YA Services)

The Visitation

Reidy, Sue. The Visitation. 1996. (Fiction Reidy.S) 

It’s 1966 and in the large, devoutly Catholic Flynn family, the two eldest girls, Theresa and Catherine, don’t spend their time playing with dolls or playing house. Even an exciting round of cops and robbers is not their cup of tea. No, the Flynn girls play a game called Martyrs and Suffering Virgins. They act out the lives and agonized deaths of their favorite saints: Teresa of Avila, Agatha, Joan, and Lucy among others, and they dream of a day when they, too, will join the ranks of the holy and blessed women. But a surprise appearance of the Virgin Mary in their scruffy backyard where she asks them to deliver a letter to the Pope on the importance of contraception throws a huge monkey wrench in their plans for sainthood. First of all, they wonder what the heck is contraception. Mary does not elaborate, nor does their overworked, continuously pregnant mom. Mrs. Flynn offers a vague answer about stopping babies and the standard you’re-too-young-to-understand speech. Of course, Mr. Flynn is not approachable—he’s strict, repressed, and likely to fly off the handle cuffing ears right and left if any of his children so much as look unfocused during the nightly family rosary session.

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Blame

Huneven, Michelle. Blame. 2009 (Fiction Hunev.M)

Patsy MacLemoore is a fun yet reckless young history professor who wakes up in jail after one drunken night, accused of hitting and killing a mother and daughter in her own driveway. Remembering nothing, she resolves to be good, to make herself useful to others and balance wrong with right. Years later, after serving time in prison and adjusting to a new life around AA, she receives a shocking phone call from a friend that causes her to reassess everything.  This is a wonderfully rich and absorbing tale of transformation by an award-winning writer. (Susan R., Reader's Services)