In spite of the rather unwieldy title, “I Thought You Said this Would Work,” by Ann Garvin, is a story that drives home the idea that love is what connects us whether it’s our love for our partners, our friends, our family, our children, or our animal companions. Love is a universal truth, and love can make us move mountains—or at least attempt to—if someone we love needs that done.
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Their names were Berdis Baldwin, Louise Little, and Alberta King. The percentage of Americans who might recognize those three names is approximately zero. But their lives, struggles, and accomplishments are every bit as important as those of the people we generally acknowledge as American heroes. And that is why Anna Malaika Tubbs’ detailed account of their lives is so significant and timely. Her study, “The Three Mothers,” shines a brilliant light on the influence these three women exerted in the lives of their sons — James Baldwin, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
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In “It Had to Be You,” Georgia Clark doesn’t just give us one romantic tale; she provides us with five different stories, all woven together beautifully, of love lost, love found, and love deferred. They all center around Liv Goldenhorn, whose husband and business partner Eliot, has a heart attack in the arms of another woman. To make matters even worse, he leaves his half of their wedding planning business to this “other” woman. Savannah, from Kentucky, shows up in their New York office, which also happens to be the home Liv shares with her young son, to claim her share. We are privy to Liv’s grief and her anger at learning how Eliot betrayed her. We also are there as she moves past her grief to try to resurrect her business with the help of Savannah.
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Parents often passionately and truthfully declare that they would give their lives for their children. We’d sacrifice our lives and exchange them gladly to make sure that our children survive. In “While Paris Slept” by Ruth Druart, during the French occupation of Paris, a woman on her way to a concentration camp gives her newborn infant to a stranger, hoping against hope that the act will save the life of her son. Sometimes such decisions lead to unintended consequences.
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In this action-packed middle grade scifi adventure, “Last Gate of the Emperor,” by Kwame Mbalia and Prince Joel Makonnen, a young adventurous boy with a mischievous streak a mile wide ditches school to play an augmented reality game to try to win money to make his and his uncle’s life a bit easier. He and his Uncle Moti live on Addis Prime, and they have moved often and struggled to survive on the many jobs that Uncle Moti can get. Yared doesn’t know what happened to his parents, and his uncle tells him stories about civilizations under attack and trains him in sword play and battle strategies. It’s certainly a strange life, and Yared is determined to make it better by winning big in the game.
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