Stolen Lives

By Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi

At the age of 5, Malika Oufkir, eldest daughter of General Oufkir, was adopted by King Muhammad V of Morocco and sent to live in the palace as part of the royal court. There she led a life of unimaginable privilege and luxury alongside the king's own daughter. King Hassan II ascended the throne following Muhammad V's death, and in 1972 General Oufkir was found guilty of treason after staging a coup against the new regime, and was summarily executed. Immediately afterward, Malika, her mother, and her five siblings were arrested and imprisoned, despite having no prior knowledge of the coup attempt.

They were first held in an abandoned fort, where they ate moderately well and were allowed to keep some of their fine clothing and books. Conditions steadily deteriorated, and the family was eventually transferred to a remote desert prison, where they suffered a decade of solitary confinement, torture, starvation, and the complete absence of sunlight. Oufkir's horrifying descriptions of the conditions are mesmerizing, particularly when contrasted with her earlier life in the royal court, and many graphic images will long haunt readers. Finally, teetering on the edge of madness and aware that they had been left to die, Oufkir and her siblings managed to tunnel out using their bare hands and teaspoons, only to be caught days later. Her account of their final flight to freedom makes for breathtaking reading.

Outlander

By Diana Gabaldon

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon -- when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach -- an "outlander" -- in a Scotland torn by war and raiding Highland clans in the year of our Lord . . . 1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into intrigues and dangers that may threaten her life . . . and shatter her heart. For here she meets James Frazer, a gallant young Scots warrior, and becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire . . . and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives. ~~ back cover

Gabaldon is another great storyteller snatching us into her page turner novel of history, love, and adventure. She paints her characters so well they become very real. You know their thoughts, feelings, and motives. You feel their pain and joy. Claire is strong, educated, and feisty. Jamie epitomizes the mythical man -- a fierce protector, strong, confident, witty, warm, capable of expressing himself emotionally, with a flair for intimacy :)

Claire questions the morality of loving two very different men separated by centuries and whether she should use her education and knowledge of history to save people she has come to love. What impact would her choices make on the present and the future? Her own life? We know what Doc of Back to the Future says in Part I "Must not do anything to upset the space time continuum" and then in Part III he resigned with, "I figured, what the hell."

Note: This does contain sexual content.

John Adams

By David McCullough

Left to his own devices, John Adams might have lived out his days as a Massachusetts country lawyer, devoted to his family and friends. As it was, events swiftly overtook him, and Adams--who, David McCullough writes, was "not a man of the world" and not fond of politics--came to greatness as the second president of the United States, and one of the most distinguished of a generation of revolutionary leaders. He found reason to dislike sectarian wrangling even more in the aftermath of war, when Federalist and anti-Federalist factions vied bitterly for power, introducing scandal into an administration beset by other difficulties--including pirates on the high seas, conflict with France and England, and all the public controversy attendant in building a nation.

Overshadowed by the lustrous presidents Washington and Jefferson, who bracketed his tenure in office, Adams emerges from McCullough's brilliant biography as a truly heroic figure--not only for his significant role in the American Revolution but also for maintaining his personal integrity in its strife-filled aftermath. McCullough spends much of his narrative examining the troubled friendship between Adams and Jefferson, who had in common a love for books and ideas but differed on almost every other imaginable point. Reading his pages, it is easy to imagine the two as alter egos. (Strangely, both died on the same day, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.) But McCullough also considers Adams in his own light, and the portrait that emerges is altogether fascinating. ~~ Amazon

These is my Words

By Nancy E. Turner

The classic adventure of one courageous woman's life and struggles in the Arizona Territories in the late nineteenth century . . . Winner of the Arizona Author Award and Finalist of the Willa Cather Literary Award.

"Jack and Sarah are as delicious a couple as Rhett and Scarlett. The three-hankie ending to their long love affair will definitely make you give a damn." ~~ USA Today

"Clear, at times lyrical prose . . . providing vivid, colorful characters and historically accurate backdrop." ~~ Washington Post

A moving, exciting, and heartfelt American saga inspired by the author's own family memoirs, these words belong to Sarah Prine, a woman of spirit and fire who forges a full and remarkable existence in a harsh, unfamiliar frontier. Scrupulously recording her steps down the path Providence has set her upon -- from child to determined young adult to loving mother -- she shares the turbulent events, both joyous and tragic, that molded her, and recalls the enduring love with cavalry officer Captain Jack Elliot that gave her strength and purpose. ~~ back cover

Sarah, who longingly wants to be more beautiful, refined, and religious like her sister-in-law, just possesses too much grit and spitfire and can out shoot any man. Qualities needed and well used in surviving the rugged frontier. Indian raids are a constant fear and threat.

One serendipitous event of traveling on the wagon trek was the acquisition of a large stash of books which set Sarah on the path of learnin'. Secondly, was the watchful care of Captain Elliot -- a man so fierce one minute and so gentle the next. Sarah couldn't decide if was a scoundrel or gentleman.

Check out Nancy Turner's website to see the other two books in this saga.

City of Thieves

By David Benioff

Author and screenwriter Benioff follows up The 25th Hour with this hard-to-put-down novel based on his grandfather's stories about surviving WWII in Russia. Having elected to stay in Leningrad during the siege, 17-year-old Lev Beniov is caught looting a German paratrooper's corpse. The penalty for this infraction (and many others) is execution. But when Colonel Grechko confronts Lev and Kolya, a Russian army deserter also facing execution, he spares them on the condition that they acquire a dozen eggs for the colonel's daughter's wedding cake.

Their mission exposes them to the most ghoulish acts of the starved populace and takes them behind enemy lines to the Russian countryside. There, Lev and Kolya take on an even more daring objective: to kill the commander of the local occupying German forces. A wry and sympathetic observer of the devastation around him, Lev is an engaging and self-deprecating narrator who finds unexpected reserves of courage at the crucial moment and forms an unlikely friendship with Kolya, a flamboyant ladies' man who is coolly reckless in the face of danger.

Benioff blends tense adventure, a bittersweet coming-of-age and an oddly touching buddy narrative to craft a smart crowd-pleaser. ~~ Amazon