On My Wishlist #8

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where you can list all the books that you desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming.

Walking Through Shadows by Bev Marshall:

When the body of seventeen-year-old Sheila Barnes is found on Lloyd Cotton's dairy farm in 1941, nearly all the citizens of the quiet town of Zebulon, Mississippi, feel the effects of her murder. But those most deeply affected by the tragedy include her young husband, Stoney, and the Cotton family, who took Sheila in and grew to love and respect her.

Though badly abused by her father, labeled “slow-witted,” and burdened with a physical deformity, Sheila approaches life with a natural, cheerful optimism and an unwavering belief in the healing powers of magic. She quickly becomes the Best Friend of eleven–year–old Annette Cotton, and subtly charms and changes those around her, proving to many that true wisdom often comes from unlikely places.

Marshall has created a page–turner of stunning lyrical beauty that is impossible to forget. At the heart of this literary murder mystery is the powerful truth that love conquers all—even death.

Huck by Janet Elder:

In the tradition of Dewey, A Lion Called Christian, and Homer’s Odyssey, HUCK is an unforgettable true story of a lost puppy and a family who learned a valuable lesson about tenacity, faith, and the generosity of strangers.

This story begins with a little boy’s dream. Janet Elder’s son Michael was about four when he began begging for a dog. His relentless campaign went on for years. At one point, when Michael was about seven years old, there was even a PowerPoint presentation entitled, “My Dog,” with headings like “A Childhood Without a Dog is a Sad Thing.” Janet almost caved, but then thought about the impracticalities and the logistics--their city apartment, her and her husband Rich’s demanding jobs, their need to get away. So as much as she hated having a heartbroken boy on her hands, she remained steadfast: no dog. What makes her reconsider her long-standing position on a family dog is a breast cancer diagnosis.

Worried about the toll the illness would take on eleven-year-old Michael and Rich, Janet decides the anticipation and excitement over the arrival of a new puppy would be the perfect antidote to the strain on the family of months of treatments for her illness. The prospect of a new puppy would be an affirmation of life, a powerful talisman for them all.

On Thanksgiving weekend, shortly after the treatments were completed, they bring home a sweet, mischievous, red-haired, toy poodle, they name Huck, who quickly and conclusively wins everyone’s heart.

A few months later, the family ventures south to attend the Yankees’ spring training and enjoy a much-needed vacation, leaving Huck for the first time with Janet’s sister in Ramsey, New Jersey. Barely twenty-four hours into their trip, Janet gets a dreaded phone call. Huck has slipped through the backyard fence and run away. Broken hearted and frantic, the family races home to begin a search for little Huck. It’s a race against time, for Huck, lost in an area he is entirely unfamiliar with, faces the threat of bears, coyotes, raccoons, swamps, freezing temperatures, rain, and fast cars on curvy roads. Moved by the family’s plight, strangers – from school children to the police lieutenant -- join the search.

As the days pass, finding a small puppy in a densely wooded area in freezing and rainy weather proves to be an incredible test. Buoyed by grit, the open arms of strangers, and faith, the family soldiers on. Touching and warm-hearted, HUCK is a page-turning, heart-stopping story about resilience, the kindness of strangers, and determination. It is a story about hope, a story the reader will neither put down nor forget.


The Last Talk with Lola Faye by Thomas H. Cook:

Middling historian Lucas Page visits St. Louis to give a sparsely attended reading—nothing out of the ordinary. Except among the yawning attendees is someone he did not expect: Lola Faye Gilroy, the “other woman” he has long blamed for his father’s murder decades earlier.

Reluctantly, Luke joins Lola Faye for a drink. As one drink turns into several, these two battered souls relive, from their different perspectives, the most searing experience of their lives. Slowly but surely, the hotel bar dissolves around them and they are transported back to the tiny southern town where this defining moment—a violent crime of passion—is turned in the light once more to reveal flaws in the old answers. As it turns out, there is much Luke doesn’t know. And what he doesn’t know can hurt him. Trapped in an increasingly intense emotional exchange, and with no place to go save back into his own dark past, Luke struggles to gain control of an ever more threatening conversation, to discover why Lola Faye has come and what she is after—before it is too late.

What's on YOUR wishlist this week?