17-year-old Maggie Murphy, one of fourteen members from a small Irish village, set sail on "Titanic" on April 11, 1912 hoping to find a better life in America.  Her departure is bittersweet as her heart remains in Ireland with Seamus, her sweetheart she is leaving behind.  When this "unsinkable floating hotel" strikes an iceberg and begins to flounder, Maggie is one of the few passengers in steerage to survive.  When she wakes up alone in a New York hospital she vows never to speak of that fateful night again.  Seventy years later, after the death of her father, Grace Butler struggles to decide what to do with her life:  continue her education or drop out of college, breaking off her love relationship to return home and care for her sickly mother.  When circumstances lead Grace's great-grandmother Maggie to share the secret about "Titanic" she has hidden for almost a lifetime, Grace is given a new direction.  Gaynor's novel gives a fresh look at the sinking of this magnificent ship by setting the tragedy in the context of her characters' lives and the stark differences between first and third class passengers, their accommodations and the crew members assigned to their needs.  The author's storytelling is rich in historical detail with authentic engaging characters.  A heartfelt story readers will enjoy. Gaynor's novel Memory of Violets is another compelling story I highly recommend.  (Wm. Morrow, $14.99). 

Samantha Kofer is a young lawyer with a huge Wall Street law firm whose career is on the fast track when the 2008 recession hits causing the firm to down-size and she is furloughed.  She is offered the opportunity to work at a legal-aid clinic for a year without pay and with the chance she might get her old job back.  She moves to small-town Brady, Virginia in the heart of Appalachia and finds work at the town's legal-aid clinic as Mattie Wyatt teaches her to "help real people with real problems".  In the heart of coal country, large companies are strip-mining and making millions while destroying the land and lives of its population.  She becomes involved in cases where locals are fighting laws often broken, and rules and regulations are ignored by the company owners.  Samantha soon finds herself engulfed in litigation that turns deadly.  Can she cut the ties she has made in Brady, leaving families she has fought legal battles for and the colleague friends she has bonded with?  Job offers are beckoning her back to Manhattan, enticing her with earning big bucks, the likes she will never see if she stays in Brady.  Grisham's latest novel is full of surprises in a gripping thriller full of twists and turns.(Bantam, $16.99/Dell, $9.99).