sincerely swaim

Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon

Western Frontier, 1853: Naomi May never expected to be widowed at twenty. Eager to leave her grief behind, she sets off with her family for a life out West. On the trail, she forms an instant connection with John Lowry, a half-Pawnee man straddling two worlds and a stranger in both.

But life in a wagon train is fraught with hardship, fear, and death. Even as John and Naomi are drawn to each other, the trials of the journey and their disparate pasts work to keep them apart. When a horrific tragedy strikes, decimating Naomi’s family and separating her from John, the promises they made are all they have left.

I love stories of the westward expansion, I’ve always been drawn to the reasons people leave everything they’ve ever known to endure such hardships. Harmon’s storytelling and description of characters had me enamored with their personal dynamics as well as the physical demands of life in a wagon train. Harmon’s attention to and explanation of life for Native American tribes during that time is unmatched to anything I’ve read before. A great, well-rounded story inspired by heroes of that time.

Sadie by Courtney Summers

Colorado, Present Day: Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she’s been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water. When Mattie is found dead, Sadie’s entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister’s killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him.

This was a quick, 2-day read due in part to its mystery as well as the need I felt to find justice for these young girls. Summers uses an interesting technique to tell the full story by alternating between Sadie’s perspective and a podcast script focused on the search for Sadie.

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

Maine, 1962: A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.

In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.

Alternating character chapters was a great strategy for telling the story of Joe, Norma, and Ruthie. Peters’ writing was so strong that at times, it felt like I was watching a documentary or reading a diary depicting the intricacies of their lives. Peters allowed the characters thoughts and struggles to shine, making the book so compelling and the ending so rewarding.

Greenwood by Michael Christie

North America, 2034 – 1908:

It’s 2034 and Jake Greenwood is a storyteller and a liar, an overqualified tour guide babysitting ultra-rich vacationers in one of the world’s last remaining forests.

It’s 2008 and Liam Greenwood is a carpenter, fallen from a ladder and sprawled on his broken back, calling out from the concrete floor of an empty mansion.

It’s 1974 and Willow Greenwood is out of jail, free after being locked up for one of her endless series of environmental protests: attempts at atonement for the sins of her father’s once vast and violent timber empire.

It’s 1934 and Everett Greenwood is alone, as usual, in his maple syrup camp squat when he hears the cries of an abandoned infant and gets tangled up in the web of a crime that will cling to his family for decades.

And throughout, there are trees: thrumming a steady, silent pulse beneath Christie’s effortless sentences and working as a guiding metaphor for withering, weathering, and survival.

The structure of this book was such an intriguing element of the story. I loved being able to trace the Greenwood family lineage and gain deeper understanding of the family member’s and their motives.