First I have two confessions to make. I am "reading" this book by listening to it on disc and I have not yet finished it. I have taken to only listing to audiobooks in my car, so I have become a bit of a critic about how they are read, or "performed." This one is fabulous. The setting is Martha's Vineyard in the mid-1600's. The narrator is a young girl named Bethia Mayfield who is the daughter of a farmer/preacher who has chosen to engage with the native Wampanoag tribe in ways that are not traditional for these British settlers. Bethia writes a diary in which she chronicles her day-to-day existence as well as her personal conflict about the role she is expected to play in that highly structured and religious society. Girls are not to be educated and are expected to assume the role of subservient wife and mother. Yet Bethia has a "quick mind" and takes on her own education. The core of the story revolves around Bethia's relationship with a Wampanoag boy she calls Caleb. Their friendship begins while they are children and Bethia keeps it a secret from her family that she and this boy are teaching one another their respective languages, details about the the local landscape and one another's spiritual traditions. The voice of Bethia both as written and performed has transported me back to another era. Nathanial Philbrick in his book Mayflower clarified the historical context of the relationship between the colonists and the settlers. Ms. Brooks is allowing me to drop back in time to witness a wonderful tale of a girl who lives her life in that context.

In this clever story Benioff blends humor and tragedy so artfully that I found myself vacillating seamlessly between laughter and shock. Benioff's two main characters are thrown together under oppressive circumstances of the siege of Leningrad. They are two young men who could not be more different from one another who, when faced with a common (and absurd) mission, quickly develop a meaningful relationship. A rapidly moving story combined with a cast of fascinating supporting characters left me to ponder how mankind can be so cruel and yet so resilient to the cruelty of others.