This is a feature where I share what books I’m looking forward to. So, here we go!
Light and Air by Mindy Nichols Wendell
Expected Publication: 2 Jan 2024
Summary (taken from Goodreads):
It’s 1935, and tuberculosis is ravaging the nation. Everyone is afraid of this deadly respiratory illness. But what happens when you actually have it?
When Halle and her mother both come down with TB, they are shunned—and then they are sent to the J.N. Adam Tuberculosis far from home, far from family, far from the world.
Tucked away in the woods of upstate New York, the hospital is a closed and quiet place. But it is not, Halle learns, a prison. Free of her worried and difficult father for the first time in her life, she slowly discovers joy, family, and the healing power of honey on the children’s ward, where the girls on the floor become her confidantes and sisters. But when Mama suffers a lung hemorrhage, their entire future—and recovery—is thrown into question….
Light and Air deals tenderly and insightfully with isolation, quarantine, found family, and illness. Set in the fully realized world of a 1930s hospital, it offers a tender glimpse into a historical epidemic that has become more relatable than ever due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As Halle tries to warm her father’s coldness and learns to trust the girls and women of the hospital, and as she and her mother battle a disease that once paralyzed the country, a profound message of strength, hope, and healing emerges.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
This is a great way for kids to be able to handle their feelings around the COVID epidemic and draw parallels between what happened historically with TB and what happened in their lifetimes. TB is also not eradicated from our world, so learning more about how it used to be treated and how we currently treat it would also be a great learning experience. I think this book has a lot to offer.
Disturbing the Water by Peter Wise
Expected Publication: 31 Oct 2023
Summary (taken from Goodreads):
All alone in wild, remote places… obsessively pursuing their quarry in the fading light… is it any wonder so many anglers claim to have witnessed ghosts? In a change from the usual haunted houses and gothic go-to’s, these original tales of tragedy, redemption and the unexpected feature a variety of watery realms, including a Highland river, an Irish lough, a North American wilderness, a Cornish seascape, long-lost carp lakes, and a Ukrainian water source with magical properties. There are echoes of real history thrown in for good measure, including the English Civil War, the Second World War and even a Victorian serial killer. So prepare for some chills at the water’s edge… and beyond it.
I just love ghost stories, even if I can’t read them at night without scaring myself. This book sounds perfect for Halloween vibes.
That Pinson Girl by Gerry Wilson
Expected Publication: 6 Feb 2024
Summary (taken from Goodreads):
In a bleak Mississippi farmhouse in 1918, Leona Pinson gives birth to an illegitimate son whose father she refuses to name, but who will, she is convinced, return from the war to rescue her from a hardscrabble life with a distant mother, a dangerous brother, and a dwarf aunt. When, instead, her lover returns with a wife in tow, her dreams are shattered. As her brother’s violence escalates and her aunt flees, Leona must rely on the help of Luther Biggs, the son of Leona’ s grandfather and one of his former slaves, to protect her child. Told against the backdrop of the deprivation of World War I, the tragedies of the influenza epidemic, and the burden of generations of betrayal, That Pinson Girl unfolds in lyrical, unflinching prose, engaging the timeless issues of racism, sexism, and poverty.
This sounds like it’s going to be A LOT of drama but also hopefully have some heartwarming moments. I’m looking forward to this.
Purple People Readers 