Jackson’s book tells the story of Rose Mae Lolley’s whose judgment in men leaves something to be desired.  As the novel begins, her husband beats her in places that don’t show, and she’s made more trips to the emergency room than we can count.  Her mother left her father who beat her, but he substituted Rose Mae when she departed.  It sounds like a dismal tale, and, of course, parts of it are, but mostly it’s hopeful.  Eventually Rose Mae searches for her mother to understand why she left it.  You’ll remember Rose Mae for sure. Now in paperback!

In case you are brought to this book by the title, it is not a steamy romance.  Instead it is a retelling of the Donner Party disaster, pioneers caught in the mountains.  Burton retells it through the eyes of Tamsen Donner, George’s wife. The book is based on Burton’s research, but she acknowledges that most of the feeling level elements in the book are based on her imagination.  Her imagination creates Tamsen, a strong, independent woman who was the one who really was “impatient with desire” for adventure.  Needless to say, this adventure was not exactly what she pictured. She is memorable.  The people Burton imagines in all their humanity are mostly sympathetic characters.  It’s an interesting take on a horrific historical event. Now in paperback!

While Kwok gives us the classic immigrant story in some ways, it’s more complicated in others.  Kimberly Chang and her mother emigrate from Shanghai, dependent on her mother’s older sister who runs a factory and employs both of them.  Fortunately Kimberly is very bright, and eventually the school personnel recognize that and see to it that she gets some opportunities.  The fact that women have more choices now changes her story from the classic one.  Does she find love in the factory or move on?  Kimberly is memorable. Now in paperback! 

You will probably remember Gilbert for Eat, Pray, Love, Gilbert’s book about her methods of recovery from a painful divorce. This one is an interesting demonstration of her growth and change. She wants to live in the United States with her companion, Felipe, the man she met in Bali. He also has his business here. However, Homeland Security has other plans. No marriage, no companion.  Neither of them wanted to get married after painful divorces. She explores marriage across cultures as well as across history, measuring her responses against traditions. Her honesty and sense of humor added to my enjoyment of the book. Now in paperback!

Kingsolver takes us to Mexico and New England in this novel: from Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in 1929 to the House Un-American Activities Committee in the late 1950s. Harrison Shepherd is a rather lonely boy in Mexico, half-American and half-Mexican.  However, he finds a job making plaster for Diego Rivera’s huge murals in Mexico City as a teen-ager.  His contacts through Rivera included Leon Trotsky for whom he was a cook and secretary.  He kept notebooks about his life from the time he was an adolescent.  Violet Brown, later his secretary, is the one who preserved them and who comments at various points in the novel.  While the Mexican portion of the novel moved a bit slowly for me, the latter half was terrific, detailing his life in Ashville, NC.  Kingsolver again illuminates a portion of history as well as creating memorable characters.