My younger self gave his future self a present when he added this book to the library last year.
Identical twins Marion and Shiva – ShivaMarion – have a momentous birth and grow up in an Ethiopian hospital. A rift opens between the brothers sending them on different paths. This long novel brings in themes of history and humanity.
This is a fantastic read.

Margot is a 20 year old college student who has an affair with her professor and ends up pregnant. This dark comedy shows how she surmounts problems of finances, caring for a baby, and lack of support from mother and friends.
A very fun – though adult – read.

The Bee Sting is a beautifully written, tragic novel that follows the four members of an Irish family over a few months. At first it seems as though the tension flows from their failing VW dealership during a downturn in the economy; but slowly, step by step many other fissures appear.

Pigs in Heaven picks up a couple of years after The Bean Trees end. The novel works through the themes of motherhood and community – and their sometimes knotty conflicts between the two.

This is a powerful and subtle novel that intertwines two stories. At the heart is the relationship between Patricia and Charlene in 1963 Vietnam, and their efforts to help Vietnamese civilians. The narrative – told through correspondence between Patricia and Charlene’s now adult daughter Rainey – examines themes of duty, compassion, and the impact of war.