This month we are reviewing the book The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
When Harold Fry leaves his house one morning to post a letter, with his wife vacuuming upstairs, he has no idea that he is about to walk from one end of the country to the other.

He has no hiking boots or map, let alone a compass, waterproof jacket or mobile phone.

All he knows is that he must keep walking.

To save someone else’s life.

Reviews
“I really enjoyed reading this book; I finished it in two sittings. At first, I didn’t have much empathy for either character. Harold’s sudden abandonment of his wife seemed very selfish, and Maureen was a bitterly unhappy woman taking out her unresolved anger on her husband. But as the novel progresses, details of their past are revealed and they grow as people, and you begin to see hope for them as a couple. ” – Review by Melissa

“Unusual and intriguing story about the reflections and regrets of one’s life. A simple introspective adventure with surprises around every corner.  Thoroughly enjoyed reading about Harold and the interesting people he meets along his journey that culminates with an unpredicted ending.” – Review by Janice

“I was pleasantly surprised by this book. At first Harold and his wife seem so unhappy and uninteresting both as people and as a couple, but as Harold embarks on his journey you learn about their past and how they got to such a place. They both begin to reflect and rethink about their past actions and to find hope for their future. I found myself cheering for them both.” – Review by Kelly

Book of the Month
Every month we will be featuring a new book to be showcased in our Book of the Month. Staff members and friends will be reading the book and posting their reviews. We’d love to hear what you thought of these books as well. Post your comments and let us know.

This month we are reviewing the book My Mother’s Secret by J.L.Witterick

My Mother’s Secret by J.L.Witterick
Franciszka and her daughter Helena, are unlikely heroines. They are simple people who mind their own business and don’t stand out from the crowd…until 1939, when crisis strikes. The Nazis invade Poland and start to persecute Jews. Providing shelter to Jews has become a death sentence, and yet Franciszka and Helena do exactly that. In their tiny two-room house in Sokal, they cleverly hide a Jewish family in a loft above their pigsty, a Jewish doctor with his wife and son in a  makeshift cellar under the kitchen floorboards, and a defecting German soldier in the attic – each party completely unknown to the others. For everyone to survive, Franciszka will have to outsmart her neighbors and the German commander.

Told simply and succinctly from four different perspectives – all under one roof – My Mother’s Secret is a testament to the kindness, courage, and generosity of ordinary people who choose to be extraordinary.

Reviews
“My Mother’s Secret is a story about the bravery and compassion of a woman and her daughter during the holocaust. Although a short book, this book is poignant and amazingly powerful. Based on a true story, it is inspiring to learn that during this dark time during the world war 2, love and nobility existed. It was definitely a good read.” – Review by Maria

“Given the story content, I thought this would be a difficult one to read.  On the contrary.  It was an easy, yet inspiring and poignant read that actually uplifted me.  Those who were going through so much suffering, gave what little they had, despite persecution and the threat of death.  In a time of ugliness and hatred, compassion and kindness was not obliterated.” – Review by Susie

“It’s like many short stories that merge into one at the end. Although it is a touching story of the bravery and generosity of some people, I found that the chapters were too short and the stories were bouncing back and forth too often. Because the chapters were so short, it was difficult to pick up the story line before it went to the next story line. There could have been better descriptions/build up of the characters so that the reader can have more empathy for them.” – Review by Janice

Book of the Month
Every month we will be featuring a new book to be showcased in our Book of the Month. Staff members and friends will be reading the book and posting their reviews. We’d love to hear what you thought of these books as well. Post your comments and let us know.

This month we are reviewing the book The Harem Midwife by Roberta Rich

The Harem Midwife by Roberta Rich
Hannah and Isaac return in this riveting and suspenseful sequel to the #1 national bestseller The Midwife of Venice. Hannah and Isaac Levi, Venetians in exile, embark on a new life in Constantinople. Isaac runs a silk workshop, while Hannah, the best midwife in all of Constantinople, plies her trade in the opulent palace of sultan Murat III, where she tends to the women of his lively and infamous harem. One night, Hannah is unexpectedly summoned to the palace. She is asked to examine Leah, a shockingly beautiful Jewish peasant girl who has been abducted from her village and purchased by the sultan’s harem. The sultan favours her as his next conquest and wants her to produce his heir, but Leah wants only to escape. Will Hannah lie and risk her life to protect this young girl, or will she perform her duty as imperial midwife?

Reviews
“The Harem Midwife, sequel to The Midwife of Venice, follows protagonist Hannah to her new home in Constantinople. After being summoned to the Imperial Harem, she must decide whether to risk her own safety to help a young slave girl.
I found the book to be an easy read, and found the historical aspects of life in the Ottoman Empire to be interesting. However, the story was quite implausible at times, and I didn’t really find myself rooting for our heroine. I would recommend it as a very light, casual read.” – Review by Melissa

“The Harem Wife is a sequel to Midwife of Venice by Canadian author Roberta Rich.  It continues on with the story of Hannah a Jewish midwife and her husband Isaac.  In this book they have moved to Constantinople and Hannah is sometimes called to work in the palace of Sultan Murat III.   The book has a number of twists and turns and is very interesting for the true historical information that is included as part of the fictional story.” – Review by Carolynn

“I liked the book and thought it was well written.  I found it suspenseful and sad at times but also inspiring when you see some of the choices the main character has to make.  I also really liked getting a glimpse of what it would be like living in that time and culture, even if it may have been a bit farfetched at times. Overall a good read.” – review by Sharlie

Book of the Month
Every month we will be featuring a new book to be showcased in our Book of the Month. Staff members and friends will be reading the book and posting their reviews. We’d love to hear what you thought of these books as well. Post your comments and let us know.

This month we are reviewing the book The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison

The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
Jodi and Todd are at a bad place in their marriage. Much is at stake, including the affluent life they lead in their beautiful waterfront condo in Chicago, as she, the killer, and he, the victim, rush haplessly toward the main event. He is a committed cheater. She lives and breathes denial. He exists in dual worlds. She likes to settle scores. He decides to play for keeps. She has nothing left to lose. Told in alternating voices, The Silent Wife is about a marriage in the throes of dissolution, a couple headed for catastrophe, concessions that can’t be made, and promises that won’t be kept.

Reviews
“I found this book a little difficult to get into, but after the first couple of chapters I was hooked. I enjoyed the development of the characters and I thought the story line was engaging and even provided a bit of a twist at the end. I would recommend this book.” – Review by Shelley

“The Silent Wife was a great read. Initially it grabbed me with the depiction of what seemed a somewhat ‘typical’ 20 year relationship and the slow demise of it. The author develops the characters by writing the chapters from his perspective and hers. It was interesting to read the way long term couples learn to keep a relationship together by turning a blind eye to their partner’s alternate life and who they really are so they can maintain a facade to the public and maintain the status quo. But ultimately when people make choices they have to learn to live with the consequences of their actions. The book kept me up late at night, it was a good page turner! I would recommend it.” – Review by Maureen

“For the most part, I was angry at Jodi for her composure and confidence during the falling apart of her common law marriage. But at the same time, I also respected her, which made it very frustrating. As her ‘husband’ Todd spirals out of control, my contempt for him turned to pity as he makes his own bed. This book is a well written emotionally charged page turner. I enjoyed the twists and turns, particularly the ones at the end.” – Review by Susie

Book of the Month
Every month we will be featuring a new book to be showcased in our Book of the Month. Staff members and friends will be reading the book and posting their reviews. We’d love to hear what you thought of these books as well. Post your comments and let us know.

This month we are reviewing the book A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout & Sara Corbett

A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout & Sara Corbett
At the age of nineteen, Amanda Lindhout moved from her hardscrabble hometown to the big city and worked as a cocktail waitress, saving her tips so she could travel the globe. Aspiring to understand the world and live a significant life, she backpacked through Latin America, Laos, Bangladesh, and India, and went on to Sudan, Syria, and Pakistan. In war-ridden Afghanistant and Iraq, she carved out a fledgling career as a reporter. And then, in August 2008, she traveled to Somalia – “the most dangerous place on earth” – to report on the fighting there. On her fourth day in the country, she and her photojournalist companion were abducted.
A House in the Sky illuminates the psychology, motivations, and desperate extremism of Lindhout’s young guards and the men in charge of them. Kept in chains and subjected to horrific abuse, she survives by imagining herself in a “house in the sky”, finding strength and hope in the power of her own mind. Her story is a moving testament to the power of compassion and forgiveness.

Reviews
“I found this story to be a great read. The strength and determination Amanda demonstrates throughout her harrowing ordeal is truly amazing. This is a story told from a unique perspective and while, at times it is devastating; there are many opportunities throughout the book where I found myself reflecting on how fortunate we are to live in North America and to have all the freedoms we so easily take for granted. I would definitely recommend this book.” – Review by Shelley

“A riveting true story of a young Canadian woman’s love of exotic travel that startlingly leads to a harrowing imprisonment in Somalia, ‘the most dangerous place on earth’. Her fearlessness, courage and will to survive captured me from start to end.” – Review by Eva

Book of the Month
Every month we will be featuring a new book to be showcased in our Book of the Month. Staff members and friends will be reading the book and posting their reviews. We’d love to hear what you thought of these books as well. Post your comments and let us know.

This month we are reviewing the book Open House by Elizabeth Berg. Now available at London Drugs for 30% off our everyday low price.

Open House by Elizabeth Berg
In this superb novel by the beloved author of Talk Before Sleep, The Pull of the Moon, and Until the Real Thing Comes Along, a woman re-creates her life after divorce by opening up her house and her heart.
Samantha’s husband has left her, and after a spree of overcharging at Tiffany’s, she settles down to reconstruct a life for herself and her eleven-year-old son. Her eccentric mother tries to help by fixing her up with dates, but a more pressing problem is money. To meet her mortgage payments, Sam decides to take in boarders. The first is an older woman who offers sage advice and sorely needed comfort; the second, a maladjusted student, is not quite so helpful. A new friend, King, an untraditional man, suggests that Samantha get out, get going, get work. But her real work is this: In order to emerge from grief and the past, she has to learn how to make her own happiness. In order to really see people, she has to look within her heart. And in order to know who she is, she has to remember–and reclaim–the person she used to be, long before she became someone else in an effort to save her marriage. Open House is a love story about what can blossom between a man and a woman, and within a woman herself.

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Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott In a moment of self-absorption, Clara Purdy’s life takes a sharp left turn when she crashes into a beat-up car carrying an itinerant family of six. The Gage family had been travelling to a new life in Fort McMurray, but bruises on the mother, Lorraine, prove to be late-stage cancer rather than remnants of the accident. Recognizing their need as her responsibility, Clara tries to do the right thing and moves the children, husband, and horrible grandmother into her own house–then has to cope with the consequences of practical goodness.

What, exactly, does it mean to be good? When is sacrifice merely selfishness? What do we owe in this life and what do we deserve? Marina Endicott looks at life and death through the compassionate lens of a born novelist: being good, being at fault, and finding some balance on the precipice.

“I found the characters in this book a little hard to relate to. They were either so good that people walked all over them or they were terribly selfish and cruel. I found myself hoping that one of the bad characters would get caught or face some kind of repercussions for their actions. I did really enjoy the storyline. The idea of all these people coming together to help one another out and becoming a family among themselves made for a nice story.”  – Kelly