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The Perfect Marriage by Kimberla Lawson Roby
F ROBY, K.
The Perfect Marriage tells the story of Denise and Derek Shaw, who have been married for 15 years. They have a daughter, successful careers and a fairy tale life in Chicago. The story takes us through their lives of addiction, which starts out with recreational drug usage and escalates to the point of them losing everything. This was a realistic portrayal of families living with addiction. We are shown that family is what matters, not material things. – Anita Robinson
The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate
F WINGATE, L.
This is the first book that I have read by Lisa Wingate. It was a very good read, capturing two lives from different periods and intertwining the past with the present. Both ladies experience loneliness and hurt. The concept of using letters to her father (God) and a prayer box really touched my heart. – Anita Hasty-Speed
The Queen of Palmara by Minrose Gwin
F GWIN, M.
This is simply the best novel I have read in a long while; the writing is amazing and story compelling. I don’t know how I missed it. This would be my “You Must Read This” novel of 2013. Set in 1963 in a small town in Mississippi, Gwin's story follows a young girl who lives with her mother, the town’s alcoholic “cake lady,” and her father, who sells insurance to African Americans. The mother, raised in a progressive − for the town − family, despises her husband’s afterhours activities with the KKK and often warns the black community when danger is afoot. The divisions of the community by class and race are portrayed in brilliant detail. All the characters are very real and none are stereotyped, black or white, male or female, young or old. Viewed through the eyes of a child, this pivotal time in our country’s history is made very real with its gut wrenching violence and white blindness. – Joanne Abel