ADRIENNE'S PICKS

In this fictionalized account of real events, a female wolf named Marta, along with her young family, sets out on an epic journey to return to their home hunting grounds in Montana after they are mistakenly relocated by a group of naturalists. Told believably from Marta's point of view, the story takes the reader deep into a wolf's world, as Marta's determination to protect her pups and find their way home takes her on adventures that are by turns heart warming, perilous, and ultimately tragic.

Nine Parts of Desire:the Hidden World of Islamic Women
by Geraldine Brooks

An intimate portrait of the lives of modern Muslim women reveals how male pride and power have distorted the message of Islam to justify the subjugation of women and how a feminism of sorts has flowered in spite of repression.

In a multidimensional, intricately wrought narrative, Myla Goldberg leads us back to Boston in the early part of the twentieth century and into two completely captivating worlds. One is that of Lydia, an Irish American shopgirl with bigger aspirations than your average young woman from South Boston. She seems to be well on her way to the life she has dreamed of when she marries Henry Wickett, a shy medical student and the scion of a Boston Brahmin family. However, soon after their wedding, Henry abruptly quits medical school to create a mail-order patent medicine called Wickett's Remedy, and just as Lydia begins to adjust to her husband's new vocation, the infamous Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918 begins its deadly sweep across the world, irrevocably changing their lives. In a world turned almost unrecognizable by swift and sudden tragedy, Lydia finds herself working as a nurse in an experimental ward dedicated to understanding the raging epidemic, through the use of human subjects. Meanwhile, a parallel narrative explores the world of QD Soda, the illegitimate offspring of Wickett's Remedy, stolen away by Henry Wickett's one-time business partner Quentin Driscoll, who goes about transforming it into a soft drink empire. Throughout the novel we hear from a chorus of other voices who offer a running commentary from the book's margins, playing off the ongoing narrative and cleverly illuminating the slippery interplay of perception and memory.

In 1772, on the eve of the American Revolution, Jamie Fraser is asked by the governor to help protect the colonies for King and Crown, but, thanks to his time-traveling twentieth-century wife, Claire, Jamie is aware of the ultimate result of the rebellion.

If you enjoyed this book, you should try Lord John & the Pirate Matter also by Diana Gabaldon. 

The "memoirs" of one of Japan's most celebrated geishas describes how, in 1929, as a little girl, she is sold into slavery; her efforts to learn the arts of the geisha; the impact of World War II; and her struggle to reinvent herself to win the man she loves.

If you enjoyed this book, you should try The Family by Mario Puzo. 

The Circus Fire
by Stuart O'Nan

The acclaimed novelist turns to nonfiction, vividly chronicling the disastrous Hartford circus fire of 1944, a tragedy that claimed 167 lives and changed the history of the city.  

If you enjoyed this book, you should try Worlds Afire by Paul B. Janeczko.