BOOKSHELF
March Books
FICTION The Great Passion, by James Runcie In 1727, Stefan Silbermann is a grief-stricken 13-year-old, struggling with the death of his mother and his removal to a school in distant Leipzig. Despite his father’s insistence that he try not to think of his mother too much, Stefan is haunted by her absence, and to make matters worse, he’s bullied by his new classmates. But when the school’s cantor, Johann Sebastian Bach, takes notice of his new pupil’s beautiful singing voice, Stefan’s life is permanently changed. A meditation on grief and music, The Great Passion is an imaginative tour de force. How Strange a Season, by Megan Mayhew Bergman With flawless intuition and depth, Bergman presents an unforgettable story collection featuring women seeking self, identity, independence and control of their circumstances. Each page crackles with life: A recently separated woman fills a huge terrarium with endangered flowers to establish a small world only she can control in an attempt to heal her broken heart; a competitive swimmer negotiates over which days she will fulfill her wifely duties, and which days she will keep for herself; a peach farmer wonders if her orchard will survive a drought; and, generations of a family in South Carolina struggle with fidelity and their cruel past, some clinging to old ways and others painfully carving new paths. Bergman’s provocative prose asks the questions: What are we leaving behind for our descendants to hold, and what price will they pay for our mistakes? Sunflowers Beneath the Snow, by Teri M. Brown When Ivanna opens the door to uniformed officers, her tranquil life is torn to pieces, leaving behind a broken woman who must learn to endure cold, starvation and the memories of a man who died in the The Art & Soul of the Sandhills
act of betrayal. Using her thrift, ingenuity and a bit of luck, she finds a way to survive in Soviet Ukraine, along with her daughter, Yevtsye. The question remains: Will she be strong enough to withstand her daughter’s deceit and the eventual downfall of the nation she has devoted her life to? NONFICTION The Other Dr. Gilmer: Two Men, a Murder, and an Unlikely Fight for Justice, by Benjamin Gilmer In a powerful true story expanding on one of the most popular This American Life episodes of all time, a rural physician learns that a former doctor at his clinic committed a shocking crime, leading him to uncover an undiagnosed mental health crisis in our broken prison system. When family physician Dr. Benjamin Gilmer began working at the Cane Creek clinic in rural North Carolina, he was following in the footsteps of a man with the same last name. His predecessor, Dr. Vince Gilmer, was beloved by his patients and community — right up until the shocking moment when he strangled his ailing father and then returned to the clinic for a regular day of work. Poor Richard's Women: Deborah Read Franklin and the Other Women Behind the Founding Father, by Nancy Rubin Stuart In a vivid portrait of the women who loved, nurtured and defended the thrifty inventor-statesman of the American Revolution, Poor Richard’s Women reveals the long-neglected voices of the women behind Benjamin Franklin, America’s famous scientist and Founding Father who loved and lost during his lifelong struggle between passion and prudence. What emerges from Stuart’s pen is a colorful and poignant portrait of women in the age of revolution. PineStraw
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