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April 2015
   Carol's Latest Picks
Inside the O'Briens 
by Lisa Genova
Genova, a neuroscientist and author of the bestselling Still Alice and Left Neglected, brings readers a powerful novel that explores what Huntington's disease can do to a family.  The Irish Catholic O'Brien family consists of parents Joe and Rosie and their four adult children.  Joe, a 44-year-old Boston police officer, has always known and displayed discipline; but recently he realizes things are not as usual, at least not physically.  He begins experiencing stumbling, bizarre muscle spasms, and involuntary bursts of body movement.  He can't imagine why or explain the causes.  This can't be about age or his lack of strength can it?  Rosie finally gets Joe to agree to see a doctor and he finds that test results come back positive for Huntington's disease (HD), an affliction that can be passed on to his children through an inherited gene at a 50% possibility rate.  Genova's sensitive novel shares Joe's experiences dealing with his diagnosis and the reaction his children have when they learn of Joe's illness, and that they too may have inherited the gene for HD.  Will they decide to have blood tests and want to know the results?  They understand everyone eventually dies, but do they want to be told when and how.  HD is commonly a family disease due to its dominant inheritance.  This is a deeply emotional story giving the reader a compassionate awareness of what it feels like to live with HD.  Highly recommended.  (Gallery Books, $26.00).  Reviewed by Carol  
 
Yellow Crocus 
by Laila Ibrahim
In April 1837, 20-year-old Mattie was summoned from her slave quarters on the Wainwright's Virginia plantation, forced to leave her own infant son to become a house slave and wet-nurse to Mistress Ann's newborn daughter, Lisbeth.  The author takes the reader through the next two decades as a close relationship will shape the lives of both Lisbeth and Mattie.  Lisbeth finds loneliness in a privileged but distant life with her parents as she grows older and finds Mattie more like family than her own kin, bringing the two closer together.  But can this bond be without consequences?  A deeply moving tale where love follows the journey of two different women searching for freedom and dignity in a time of White vs. Black conflicted Southern feelings.  A warm and sentimental story recommended for book clubs.  I wish to thank a good customer for bringing this wonderful story to my attention.  (Last Union Publishing, $14.95).  Reviewed by Carol

Little Demon in the City of Light 
 by Steven Levingston
     In late 18th century France, a theory yet unproven, entered into a debate that questioned whether someone could be compelled through hypnosis to commit a crime violating their moral beliefs.  In July 1889, Toussaint-Augustin Gouffe, expecting to spend a delightful evening with young Gabrielle Bompard, was instead murdered--hanged--by her and her companion Michel Eyraud.  The body was then disposed of on a riverbank, only to be discovered days later in a gruesome state.  What followed was an international manhunt for those responsible for the crime and which became a drawn-out saga fueled by French and American newspaper reports impassioned by public opinion while a frustrated investigation and interrogation was carried out, rather typical in solving serious crimes during this time period in France?  Was Gabrielle "mesmerized" during the time of Gouffe's murder or was she a willing accomplice?  Will the court find the "little demon" and her lover guilty of this heinous crime or will it acquit them without showing substantial evidence.  For fans of historical true crime accounts such as The Devil in the White City and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, I highly recommend this well researched account of a stunning crime and the theory behind it.  (Anchor Books, $15.95).  Reviewed by Carol

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