Windmill Point
Jim Stempel, 2016
Penmore Press
419 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781942756507
Summary
The American Civil War simply explodes to life in this stunning new novel by Civil War expert and novelist, Jim Stempel.
As best-selling author, Mark Waldman (Words Can Change Your Brain) writes: "Jim Stempel’s Windmill Point captures the dreadful fury and desperate humanity of the American Civil War with a power and immediacy few authors have been able to achieve."
Set in the late spring of 1864, Windmill Point is a gripping account that vividly brings to life two desperate weeks during the spring of 1864, when the resolution of the Civil War was balanced on a razor’s edge.
At the time, both North and South had legitimate reasons to conclude they were near victory. Ulysses S. Grant firmly believed that Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was only one great assault away from implosion, while Lee knew that the political will in the North to prosecute the war was on the verge of collapse.
Jim Stempel masterfully sets the stage for one of the most critical periods of the Civil War, contrasting the conversations of decision-making generals with chilling accounts of how ordinary soldiers of both armies fared in the mud, the thunder and the bloody fighting on the field of battle. The result is a stunning achievement.
As American author John Danielski writes, "Brutal yet sentimental, grandly sweeping yet highly intimate, this is a splendid book for those who truly wish to understand the great and terrible spectacle that was the American Civil War," while radio host and critic, Dr. Wesley Britton, writing for Book Pleasures states simply that "I can easily say that Windmill Point is now my favorite novel dealing with the War Between the States." (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1948
• Where—Westfield, New Jersey, USA
• Education—B.A., The Citadel
• Currently—lives in western Maryland
Personal
For some thirty-five years Jim has lived with his family at a country location overlooking the Blue Ridge in Western Maryland. His wife, Sandie, teaches physics and astronomy at nearby McDaniel College, while his three children—a daughter and two sons—have moved on to professional careers. An avid athlete for most of his life, Jim helped coach his children in baseball and basketball while they were young, while an active runner and handball player himself.
Writing Life
A student of the human condition, Jim is the author of seven books that include satire, psychological, scholarly works of historical nonfiction, and historical fiction. His novel Albemarle was nominated for the James Fenimore Cooper Prize in Historical Fiction. His articles have been featured in a wide range of literary journals including Concepts in Human Development, the New Times, and the History News Network. His literary website can be reached at www.jimstempelbooks.com
Jim began writing in college, was a member of the school literary society, and had his first short stories published in the college literary magazine. He then had a number of short works of fiction accepted by a range of literary journals before his first novel, a satire titled American Rain was published in 1992 to considerable critical praise. Booklist, for instance, called American Rain "wonderful reading and great for the heart," while the West Coast Review of Books gave it a Four Star rating and claimed "Lovers of political satire may consider this book a masterpiece because of Stempel’s sly wit and insight." Jim Cox, writing for the Midwest Book Review declared "Jim Stempel’s American Rain is one of the finest novels to emerge from small press publishing this year."
Stempel then turned his attention to the nonfiction topics of science, psychology, and spirituality in his 2001 analysis of modern, emerging spirituality titled When Beliefs Fail; A Psychology of Hope. Of Stempel’s analysis, Dr. Larry Dossey wrote "We are on the hinge of history with a new view of reality taking shape before our eyes. For a captivating glimpse of this emerging worldview, When Beliefs Fail is highly recommended, while Ken Wilber called it "a warm, lively, and altogether accessible introduction to the growth and development of human consciousness from birth to enlightenment."
The study of human growth and psychology led naturally to the conundrum of human warfare, which Jim addressed in his 2012 analysis titled The Nature of War; Origin and Evolution of Violent Conflict, which delved into the psychological origins of human violence and warfare. Writing for Choice: Current Reviews For Academic Libraries, D.M. Digrius suggested that The Nature of War "offers ripe fruit by which to contemplate humanity’s future," while American author, Mark Waldman (Words Can Change Your Brain) insisted that "This is the most intelligent, penetrating, and insightful study of human warfare I’ve ever read."
Jim Stempel is also considered an authority on the Eastern campaigns of the American Civil War. His articles on the topic have appeared in North & South, Military History Now, and the History News Network. He has authored two nonfiction books on the Civil War (The Battle of Glendale; The Day the South Nearly Won The Civil War, and The CSS Albemarle and William Cushing), along with the historical fiction work titled Albemarle. Stempel’s Civil War works are routinely praised. Of Glendale, for instance, critic Hank Demond, writing for the Not Too Late Show wrote that "The suspense is bone-rattling and the storyline chilling. That’s why us history buffs salivate over books like this. You learn the realities of battle while your imagination runs wild." Likewise, the Lone Star Book Review gave The CSS Albemarle a "Wow!" rating, and exclaimed "This is a very exciting naval story and will hold the reader’s attention through-out." Jim’s latest Civil War novel, Windmill Point, was released by Penmore Press in late March, 2016. (From the author.)
Book Reviews
Stempel takes us inside the minds of field commanders, such as George Armstrong Custer, as well as snipers, artillery officers, cavalry riders, and simple grunts. We come to know many of these soldiers very well as they endure the heat, homesickness, and exhaustion of war. Stempel paints the shifting settings with the sounds and smells of what is happening on the frontline, in the camps, and in the tents of the commanding officers. We hear the clang of canteens and smell the cooking fires, at least when there are rations to cook. We see the impact of devastating artillery barrages, cringe at deadly blunders, and experience the resulting carnage on the fields. .I can easily say Windmill Point is now my favorite novel dealing with the War Between the States.
Dr. Wesley Britton – Book Pleasures
Stempel’s approach may be similar to Shaara’s, but he is a much better wordsmith than Shaara. His prose has the evocative power of Bruce Catton and Shelby Foote. His battle descriptions are brutal, gritty, and compelling. You almost feel compelled to duck as you read. You can hear the boom of cannons, smell the gun smoke, and feel the ground vibrating from the feet of thousands of soldiers..Brutal, yet sentimental, grandly sweeping, yet highly intimate, this is a splendid book for those who truly wish to understand the great and terrible spectacle that was the American Civil War.
John Danielski - Author, Active’s Measure
Jim Stempel’s Windmill Point captures the dreadful fury and desperate humanity of the American Civil War with a power and immediacy few authors have been able to achieve. I recommend it highly for anyone interested in a vivid portrayal of that violent crucible from which our modern society ultimately emerged.
Mark Robert Waldman - Executive MBA Faculty, Loyola Marymount and Author of Words Can Change Your Brain
Jim Stempel, quite masterly, allows you to gaze out from the eyes of the great generals and what is going through their minds as well as ordinary soldiers. Jim paints such vivid evocative pictures, that I felt that I was advancing to the enemy lines with the threat of artillery and gunpowder flaying my nostrils, my ears twitching as men were felled beside men, the screams of the dying and the thump as the regiments marched and charged over hallowed ground.. I want to thank Jim for educating me about a battle I did not know about and for nourishing the love that I have for the people of America and its history.
English Author, David Cook, The Soldier’s Chronicles
Discussion Questions
1.Windmill Point begins with the convergence of both Federal and Confederate armies on a point east of Richmond, Va. What is the name of that point, and why did both sides consider it to be of considerable strategic importance?
2. Wyman White was a member of the 2nd US Sharpshooters. What test did White have to pass in order to qualify for the Sharpshooters?
3. How did Cold Harbor get its name, and what did the name signify?
4. One June 3, 1864 the Army of the Potomac assaulted the Confederate works at Cold Harbor and was violently repulsed. This assault had been delayed for twenty-four hours, allowing the Confederates crucial extra hours to improve their defenses. What had caused the Federals to delay?
5. Ulysses S. Grant was able to closely monitor the Federal assault at Cold Harbor while well behind the lines at a specially erected central command post. What technological innovation made this possible?
6. After the Federal disaster at Cold Harbor, Grant found himself in a difficult strategic situation. If he withdrew and moved north he faced a problem, while if he moved south he faced another range of difficulties. What were the strategic difficulties that Grant was faced with?
7. After the violent repulse of the Federal Army at Cold Harbor, General Robert E. Lee had reason to believe that Grant’s Army of the Potomac might well be in a state of near mutiny. Why did Lee have reason to believe this?
8. What strategic ploy did Grant devise in order to greatly reduce Lee’s ability to detect a Federal withdrawal from Cold Harbor?
9. While Robert E. Lee had a healthy regard for the strength of the Federal Army, he also feared that the Confederate Army faced defeat by means of another “antagonist.” What was that other “antagonist”?
10. Ulysses Grant dispatched Phil Sheridan with a force of some 10,000 cavalrymen on a raid into Western Virginia. What did Grant hope to accomplish by means of Sheridan’s raid?
11. Lee realized that he might win the war if the morale of the Northern people faltered, but he also realized that he could not allow Grant to force the Confederate Army back across the James River. If that were to occur, Lee realized that the Confederacy would then face almost certain defeat. Why?
12. Grant’s scouts picked a location for crossing the James River that went from Wilcox’s Landing to Windmill Point. Why was that location chosen?
13. Grant’s chief-of-staff, Andrew Humphreys, suggested a tactical maneuver designed to hold the Confederate Army firmly in place while the Army of the Potomac escaped unmolested across the James River. What was that maneuver, and did it work?
14. Wade Hampton was able to prevent Grant from executing an important part of his grand design. What aspect of Grant’s design was foiled, and how did Hampton achieve that success?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
Rama’s Labyrinth
Sandra Wagner-Wright, 2015
Wagner-Wright Enterprises
546 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780996384513
Summary
A biographical historical novel about Pandita Ramabai, an Indian reformer based in Pune, India who rescued high caste child widows and famine victims.
Rama spent her childhood visiting Hindu shrines. She wanted a home. But no. The family wandered until death left Rama alone.
Twenty years old, erudite and womanly, Rama arrived in Calcutta. She met her husband and was content until death again destroyed her life.
A single parent, Rama crossed the water to England and the United States, educated herself, and returned to India a Christian. Ready to open a school for child widows, Rama faced prejudice. Could she be trusted?
At every point, Rama pushed against a labyrinth of isolating false starts. Engulfed by controversy, without resources, and determined to fight death, Rama built a home for famine victims. Would this be her labyrinth’s center or another dead end?
Author Bio
Sandra Wagner-Wright holds the doctoral degree in history and taught women’s and global history at the University of Hawai`i. Rama’s Labyrinth is her first work of historical fiction.
When she’s not researching or writing, Sandra enjoys travel, including trips to India, South Africa, and the Galapagos Islands. Sandra particularly likes writing about strong women who make a difference. She lives in Hilo, Hawai`i. (From the author.)
Visit the author's website.
Follow the author on Facebook.
Book Reviews
[A] thoroughly convincing dramatic take on a strand of Indian history rarely touched on in fiction.
Steve Donoghue - Historical Novel Society
Cleanly written, subtle in the treatment of intimacies, with excellent sensorial immediacy, Rama’s Labyrinth is a weekend’s engaging pursuit.
David Lloyd Sutton - San Francisco Book Review
Wagner-Wright’s novel is an informative exploration of one of history’s many forgotten heroines.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Characterize the members of Rama’s family. What do Anant Shastri, Laxmibai, Srinivas, and Krishna want? What keeps them from achieving their desires?
2. What do the first eight chapters reveal about a woman’s position in the family? Does she have any control over her life? Is there anything unusual about the women in Rama’s family?
3. What does it mean when Anant Shastri names Rama as a scholar? How does Rama’s family react? How does Rama’s life change?
4. How do Rama and her family members react and relate to the gods? Why do they participate in continuous pilgrimages?
5. Laxmibai makes her son Srinivas swear to protect and provide for his sisters. How will this affect his life? How will it affect Rama?
6. At Varanasi Rama overhears her father speaking to a former student. The student’s last words were Yeshu Khrista. What did Anant Shastri mean when he said, "Strange how belief can change and yet remain the same."
7. Upon investigation, Srinivas declares the Seven Floating Hills to be a fraud. How does this declaration affect Rama?
8. Compare the responses of Srinivas and Rama to the deaths of their family members. Why does Srinivas finally decide Rama can recite?
9. Srinivas tells Rama: "You’re like Father. Strong, committed, unwavering." Is he correct?
10. What was the purpose of Rama’s examination in Sanskrit, and how does her success change her life?
11. Rama tells her brother: "There is no escaping men’s desires." What do you think she meant?
12. What did you think of Rabindranath Tagore’s poem, "Unending Love"? What was Bipin trying to express to Rama?
13. After her brother’s death, Rama agrees to marry Bipin. How much of her decision is due to her promise to Srinivas, her affection for Bipin, and/or the fact that she had no family?
14. Rama encourages Reverend Allen to tell her about Christianity. Despite the fact she finds many aspects illogical, Rama is drawn to the religion. Why?
15. What issues does Rama face as a single parent? Could she have made other arrangements?
16. Why does Rama decide to go to England? How does she propose to support herself?
17. Why does Rama decide she and her daughter will be baptized? What does she actually believe?
18. Rama launches a public speaking tour in America. But first she sends Mano away. How does she justify sending her child back to Sister Geraldine?
19. What are some of the cultural difficulties Rama has in America?
20. As Rama leaves America to return to India, she wonders: “How many lives a person can live in one lifetime.” What does she mean?
21. What brings students to Rama’s school?
22. Do you think Rama was right in her decision to leave her door open so students could join/hear her prayers?
23. One in Pune, Rama begins a spiritual crisis. What do you think brought on her unhappiness and doubt? How does this affect the school?
24. Where does Rama take Judith on their tour of India? How does Rama react to being in Varanasi again? In Agra? Do you get a sense that Rama’s life is coming full circle?
25. Rama’ sends her daughter away for education, first to a local school and then to England. How does Mano respond? Do you think Rama thought through the decision to send Mano to England? If so, why does she transfer Mano to an American school?
26. As Rama moves away from Hinduism, does she become more or less like her father?
27. How does Rama orchestrate the atmosphere at Mukti before and after the Revival begins?
28. What is life like at Mukti, especially after the Revival begins? Does life at Mukti remind you of Rama’s experiences at Wantage convent and Cheltenham Ladies’ College?
29. After Mano completes her education, is there any change in the relationship with her mother? Is Mano becoming her own woman, or does she remain in Rama’s shadow? Is Mano like her mother?
30. Compare Rama’s reaction to Mano’s death to her reactions after other family members died.
31. Is Rama at peace when she dies? Does she have regrets? Has she achieved her destiny?
32. What sections of Rama’s Labyrinth resonated with you?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
The Crooked Heart of Mercy
Billie Livingston, 2016
HarperCollins
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062413772
Summary
Ben wakes up in a hospital with a hole in his head he can’t explain.
What he can remember he’d rather forget. Like how he’d spent nights as a limo driver for the wealthy and debauched . . . how he and his wife, Maggie, drifted apart in the wake of an unspeakable tragedy . . . how his little brother, Cola, got in over his head with loan sharks circling.
Maggie is alone. Again. With bills to pay and Ben in a psych ward, she must return to work. But who would hire her in the state she’s in?
And just as Maggie turns to her brother, Francis, the Internet explodes with a video of his latest escapade. The headline? Drunk Priest Propositions Cops.
Francis is an unlikely priest with a drinking problem and little interest in celibacy. A third DUI, a looming court date. . . . When Maggie takes him in, he knows he may be down to his last chance. And his best shot at healing might lay in helping Maggie and Ben reconnect—against all odds. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—November 23, 1965
• Where—Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
• Education—N/A
• AWards—Danuta Gleed Literary Award; CBC Bookie Award
• Currently—lives in Vancourer, British Columbia
Billie Livingston is a Canadian novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Livingston grew up in Toronto and Vancouver, British Columbia. She lives in Vancouver and is married to American actor Tim Kelleher.
Her critically acclaimed first novel, Going Down Swinging (2000), was followed by The Chick at the Back of the Church (2001), a poetry book that was shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award.
Her second novel, Cease to Blush (2006), was chosen as one of the year's best books by The Globe and Mail, January Magazine, and The Tyee. Her novel, One Good Hustle (2012), was long-listed for the 2012 Giller Prize and selected by the Globe and Mail, January Magazine, and Toronto's Now Magazine as one of the year's best books.
Livingston's short story collection, Greedy Little Eyes (2010), was cited by the Globe and Mail as one of 2010's best books and by the Georgia Straight as one of the fifteen most outstanding books of the year. In 2011 Greedy Little Eyes won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award for Best Short Story Collection as well as the CBC's Bookie Award.
In 2013, her story, "The Trouble with Marlene," was made into the 2014 feature film, Sitting on the Edge of Marlene, directed by Ana Valine, and starring Suzanne Clement, Paloma Kwiatkowski, and Callum Keith Rennie.
In addition to publications in journals and magazines around the world, Livingston's poetry has appeared in textbooks and on public transit through the TransLink "Poetry in Transit" program. She has received fellowships from The Banff Centre, MacDowell Colony, Escape to Create (Seaside, Florida), Ucross Foundation and Omi International Arts Center. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 5/12/2016 .)
Book Reviews
Livingston avoids cliché and caricature, and is able to investigate the necessity of belief in all its forms without descending into the didactic. She has a real knack for voice, bouncing back and forth... gracefully and believably. Further her light-handed investigation of religion and its place in our lives – especially in crisis – is wholly refreshing and open-hearted.
Toronto Globe and Mail
In , her stellar fourth novel... Livingston immediately sets up a pressing question: can these lostThe Crooked Heart of Mercy souls overcome their tragedy and, if so, how? Tender, quirky, and sporadically quite comic, her answer is fruitful as well as a delight to follow. Emotional but not sentimental and sharp without being cynical, the story maintains an impressive balance.
Vancouver Sun
Jarring, poignant and laced with a brand of dark humour, the book turns the accidental death of a child into a meditation on grief and recovery. In Livingston’s searing story, recovery, tenuous as it often is, is hard-earned, a glimpse, with no guarantees, of the price to be paid for renewal…. full of surprises; its well-drawn characters, their close-to-the-edge dilemmas, the ways in which they seek an elusive recuperation, are sharply depicted.
London Free Press
Although you will be deeply discomfited, you will also be amply rewarded....Most importantly, by taking often overused and amorphous terms such as ‘forgiveness’ and ‘spirituality’ and bringing them down to earth, Livingston allows Ben and Maggie to come to a stumbling understanding of what it means to survive day to day, transcend terrible trauma, and to eventually regain the capacity to give and receive love.
Toronto Star
The Crooked Heart of Mercy is brave stuff featuring a trio of characters rarely seen or described so well as Ben, his wife Maggie and her drinkin’ brother, a priest named Francis... How each comes to deal (and heal) is the stuff of this indelible novel, one that lingers in the mind long after the last page is turned.
Sun Times
Courageously renegade (and hilarious) ....The Crooked Heart of Mercy is a gem. Much like a big sis who prepares a young’n for the harsh world, Livingston swiftly kicks the legs out from under you, then catches you in her arms.
Washington Independent Review
Forgiveness—and the attendant notions of grace and mercy—are central to the novel, and to the author’s own attitude, which is steeped in empathy for fallen and fallible characters...This, beyond the laughter and the tears, is what seems to be motivating Livingston, both as an author and a human being: the sense of compassion that needs to endure if we are to survive the world’s depredations.
Quill and Quire
Billie Livingston may be Canada's best-kept literary secret. Her books are consistently fascinating, witty, gut-wrenching reads and The Crooked Heart of Mercy just might be her best yet. It brings to life an unforgettable cast of characters... Don't miss it if: You've ever found comfort in the last person you expected.
W Dish
An intricate meditation on grief and forgiveness.... How individuals fail and succeed in their efforts to be caring remains Livingston’s enduring theme.
Georgia Straight
The key to Billie Livingston's fiction is its potent emotional core. She always makes sure you can empathize with her characters, who are often troubled souls searching for personal connection or, in the case of her newest book, reconnection.... Livingston brings these emotional crises to life, never resorting to cliches.... [D]iving into the author’s emotional vortex is a powerful experience.
NOW (Toronto)
From award-winning Canadian novelist Livingston, this is a beautiful and insightful paean to the human spirit and how it can heal.
Booklist
[A]n achingly fragile portrait of two battered and bruised people....[but] Livingston beautifully teases out the bitter humor needed to endure the long shadows of grief. These hearts heal with scar tissue.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. "How do you fill a hole? If you take from the whole to fill a hole, is anything made whole?" How do Ben’s words reflect the themes of trauma and recovery in the novel?
2. Both Ben and Maggie feel extremely guilty over Frankie’s death. How do they deal with this guilt in their everyday lives?
3. Given that Maggie shows disdain for religion many times during the novel, why do you think she turns to the church in her times of need? (For instance, when it concerns her son.)
4. Why did the author choose to have the narrative jump back and forth between different time lines and events? How does this serve the novel and how would it be different if it read chronologically?
5. Why does Lucy find such solace in the United Church of Spiritualism? Why does this bother Maggie?
6. According to psychologists, dissociation from reality is a coping mechanism for dealing with extreme stress or grief and can manifest in different ways. In what ways do Ben and Maggie each dissociate?
7. Do you think that Ben’s dissociation existed before his self-injury and hospital stay? When and why do you think it started?
8. Does Francis feel guilt regarding his sexual orientation or is he comfortable with who he is? Where do you think his tendency toward substance abuse originated?
9. In what ways does the author use the narrative voice to connect the reader to Ben’s experience? Do you think that Ben is a more or a less reliable narrator when he is outside of his own body?
10. How are the themes of religion and spirituality explored in the novel? Discuss the differences between the characters who are more religious and those who are more spiritual.
11. The chapters of the novel alternate between the narratives of Maggie and Ben. The time lines of their respective narratives do not coincide until one of the very last chapters. How do you think this relates to the development of the characters and their relationship?
12. Ben and Cola each have very complicated relationships with their father. Do you think they love him or do they simply feel obligated toward him? Why?
13. How do Ben and Maggie each figure out that they need each other to heal from their emotional trauma? Did Dr. Lambert play any part in Ben’s recovery?
14. How does Ben’s view of the physical world change when he comes out of his dissociative state? How does his attitude change? Why do you think this is?
15. At the end of the novel, are Ben and Maggie finally "made whole"?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Saving Sophie
Ronald H. Balson, 2015
St. Martin's Press
448 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250065858
Summary
A powerful story of the lengths a father will go through to protect his daughter and an action-packed thriller that will take you on an unforgettable journey of murder and deception, testing the bonds of family and love.
Jack Sommers was just an ordinary attorney from Chicago. That is, until his wife passed away, his young daughter was kidnapped, and he became the main suspect in an $88 million dollar embezzlement case.
Now, Jack is on the run, hoping to avoid the feds long enough to rescue his daughter, Sophie, from her maternal grandfather, a suspected terrorist in Palestine.
With the help of the investigative team who first appeared in Once We Were Brothers, Liam and Catherine, and a new CIA operative, a secret mission is launched to not only rescue Sophie, but also to thwart a major terrorist attack in Hebron.
But will being caught in the crossfires of the Palestine-Israeli conflict keep their team from accomplishing the task at hand, or can they overcome the odds and save countless lives, including their own?(From the publisher.)
Once we Were Brothers (2009) is the prequel to Saving Sophie.
Author Bio
Ronald H. Balson is an attorney practicing with the firm of Stone, Pogrund and Korey in Chicago. The demands of his trial practice have taken him into courts across the United States and into international venues.
An adjunct professor of business law at the University of Chicago for twenty-five years, he now lectures on trial advocacy in federal trial bar courses.
Travels to Warsaw and southern Poland in connection with a complex telecommunications case inspired his first novel, Once We Were Brothers. His second novel, a sequel, Saving Sophie, was published in 2015. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Chicago PI Liam Taggart and his fiancee, lawyer Catherine Lockhart, investigate an act of embezzlement complicated by links to a child kidnapping and terrorist activity in Hebron, Israel.... Balson succeeds in illuminating the personal side of the Middle Eastern conflict through his deeply human, psychologically credible characters.
Publishers Weekly
A Chicago lawyer resorts to embezzlement and negotiation with terrorists after his daughter is kidnapped.... After wading through lengthy chunks of superfluous background exposition, including trial and deposition transcripts, readers may not care how the puzzle is ultimately resolved. Complex where it should be simple and vice versa.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. How did Jack confront the conflict between his legal and moral principles and his desperate need to rescue his daughter? Was Jack too quick to trust people? Was that his character flaw?
2. Having washed his hands of Aline, why was al-Zahani so possessive of Sophie, the child of the union he despised?
3. Do you fault Jack for overruling the judge and giving the al-Zahanis liberal visitation? Would you have done the same?
4. What do you think would have become of Sophie had she not been rescued?
5. How did Arif al-Zahani perceive and process Sophie's exclusion from Jamila's playgroup?
6. What do you think drove Liam and Catherine to suspect a lack of commitment? Do you think there was a moment of indecisiveness?
7. Given the history of the region and how many times the land has changed hands, what is your feeling about al-Zahani and his group's claims for exclusive possession of the country as "Sons of Canaan"?
8. When it came time, at the critical moment, do you think al-Zahani was prepared to sacrifice Sophie?
9. Does the prospect of fame and wealth of a professional basketball career create a surreal world of impossible expectations for young athletes? Are you critical of Violet McCord?
10. What would you do with a child who shows gifted talents? Does the lure of success encourage parental exploitation?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
Girls on Fire
Robin Wasserman, 2016
HarperCollins
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062415486
Summary
On Halloween, 1991, a popular high school basketball star ventures into the woods near Battle Creek, Pennsylvania, and disappears.
Three days later, he’s found with a bullet in his head and a gun in his hand—a discovery that sends tremors through this conservative community, already unnerved by growing rumors of Satanic worship in the region.
In the wake of this incident, bright but lonely Hannah Dexter is befriended by Lacey Champlain, a dark-eyed, Cobain-worshiping bad influence in lip gloss and Doc Martens. The charismatic, seductive Lacey forges a fast, intimate bond with the impressionable Dex, making her over in her own image and unleashing a fierce defiance that neither girl expected.
But as Lacey gradually lures Dex away from her safe life into a feverish spiral of obsession, rebellion, and ever greater risk, an unwelcome figure appears on the horizon—and Lacey’s secret history collides with Dex’s worst nightmare.
By turns a shocking story of love and violence and an addictive portrait of the intoxication of female friendship, set against the unsettled backdrop of a town gripped by moral panic, Girls on Fire is an unflinching and unforgettable snapshot of girlhood: girls lost and found, girls strong and weak, girls who burn bright and brighter—and some who flicker away. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—May 31, 1978
• Where—near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
• Education—Bachelor's, Harvard University; Master's, University of California, LA
• Currently—lives in Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Robin Wasserman is an American young adult novelist. Her first adult book, Girls on Fire, was published in 2016.
Wasserman grew up outside of Philadelphia and graduated from Harvard University and UCLA. Before she was an author she was an associate editor at a children's book publisher. She is currently living in Brooklyn, New York. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 5/11/2016.)
Visit the author's website.
Book Reviews
Part murder mystery, part love story, this page-turner explores the dark side of the all-consuming friendship between a wide-eyed good girl and a grunge-worshipping rebel.
Cosmopolitan
An intense whirlwind of love, violence, and obsession in a small town.
Redbook
Robin Wasserman may be known for her YA novels, but her foray into the adult genre is well worth your time
InStyle
Girls on Fire is an enthralling, gritty, and altogether unpredictable read that holds nothing back.... You will be utterly riveted.
BuzzFeed
With its narrative witchcraft, conjures up the ghost of the decade [the 90s] to full effect.
Flavorwire
A chilling mix-tape of love, girl crushes, secrets, and revenge… Read it on vacation; read it on the train; read it at the beach; read it at a campfire just about to burn out—but don’t miss it.
Ploughshares
[O]verwrought if intermittently powerful.... Wasserman attempts to imbue her keenly observed junior Thelma and Louise with broader social resonance about girlhood and empowerment, but for many readers the take-home message may instead be that not all unhappy lives prove compelling
Publishers Weekly
[E]xplores the fraught relationship between two teenage girls.... Although her subject matter is bleak, Wasserman writes with knowing clarity about teenage friendship and the emotional land mines of high school. Recommended for fans of Megan Abbott. —Amy Hoseth, Colorado State Univ. Lib., Fort Collins
Library Journal
The story unfolds as a maddening tease, with shocking events waiting around every corner-and an ending that will leave readers stunned.
Booklist
Successful YA novelist Wasserman makes her adult debut with this edgy portrayal of a passionate, obsessive female friendship set in the grunge era ("9 Women to Watch in 2016").
BookPage
Girls behaving very, very badly.... Reading this overstuffed and overwrought book is, more often than not, as tiresome as paging through a high school diary. The fact that it's set in the 1990s doesn't help.... Simultaneously overwhelming and underwhelming.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, use our generic mystery questions.)
GENERIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Mystery / Crime / Suspense Thrillers
1. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they flat, one-dimensional heroes and villains?
2. What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you begin to piece together what happened?
3. Good crime writers embed hidden clues in plain sight, slipping them in casually, almost in passing. Did you pick them out, or were you...clueless? Once you've finished the book, go back to locate the clues hidden in plain sight. How skillful was the author in burying them?
4. Good crime writers also tease us with red-herrings—false clues—to purposely lead readers astray? Does your author try to throw you off track? If so, were you tripped up?
5. Talk about the twists & turns—those surprising plot developments that throw everything you think you've figured out into disarray.
- Do they enhance the story, add complexity, and build suspense?
- Are they plausible or implausible?
- Do they feel forced and gratuitous—inserted merely to extend the story?
6. Does the author ratchet up the suspense? Did you find yourself anxious—quickly turning pages to learn what happened? A what point does the suspense start to build? Where does it climax...then perhaps start rising again?
7. A good ending is essential in any mystery or crime thriller: it should ease up on tension, answer questions, and tidy up loose ends. Does the ending accomplish those goals?
- Is the conclusion probable or believable?
- Is it organic, growing out of clues previously laid out by the author (see Question 3)?
- Or does the ending come out of the blue, feeling forced or tacked-on?
- Perhaps it's too predictable.
- Can you envision a different or better ending?
8. Are there certain passages in the book—ideas, descriptions, or dialogue—that you found interesting or revealing...or that somehow struck you? What lines, if any, made you stop and think?
9. Overall, does the book satisfy? Does it live up to the standards of a good crime story or suspense thriller? Why or why not?
(Generic Mystery Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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