Book Whisperer Linda Sullivan is reminding us to remember history so we don’t repeat it with two thought-provoking novels: Sarah’s Key and Mother and Other Liars.
Linda’s first recommendation for the week, Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, is a fictionalized version of the 1942 Vel’ d’Hiv in Paris when thousands of Jewish families were deported to concentration camps.
Linda reminds us what a horrible time this was in our world’s history, but the story is one we should revisit so as not to repeat it. She says, “Don’t let this scare you away!”
Tatiana de Rosnay was born near Paris to a French scientist father with an ancestry of painters and actors. Being raised in Paris, she moved to Boston, then to England where she earned her bachelor’s in English. After returning to France, she began writing novels with Sarah’s Key being her first novel written in English. The novel sold over 400, 000 copies worldwide.
This week’s second recommendation, Mothers and Other Liars, has a gripping plot: a woman finds an abandoned baby at a rest stop and decides to raise the child as her own.
Linda finished this book and passed it to a friend the same evening. She suggested it to two other friends by the next morning. She says of the book, “Moms, it isn’t an easy read, but it is worth it. Tough decisions! How far will you go for your child?”
Mothers and Other Liars is the only novel by Amy Bourret. Her declining health prevented further writing pursuits. She died of lupus in 2015.
Author Bourret was born in Denver but attended schools in Utah, Kansas and Texas before enrolling in Texas Tech University and then graduating from Yale Law School. In school and in her own law practice, she did pro bono work for child advocacy organizations. From a young age, Bourret wrote about lost children, a recurring theme in her work, when she retired from her law practice to become a writer.
Remember: Knox County Online Library to search for Linda’s recommendations each week.
All of us have a story and I want to tell yours! Send them to susan@knoxtntoday.com