An Invisible Thread, by Laura Schroff

In this true story, Laura Schroff befriends a homeless boy, Maurice, and he gradually becomes central to her life. We asked whether we would have had the courage to act as Laura did. We acknowledged that we would have considered the "what if"s and "why"s and "oh no"s of bringing such a boy—and his family— into our lives. Schroff did it with only minimal hesitation and with a wholehearted welcome, and she faced a stunning learning curve she shares with the reader. 

Maurice lives within feet of Laura's comfortable apartment in midtown Manhattan, but they might as well have been in different countries. Laura even has to teach Maurice how to blow his nose because he has never done it, and she ends up making him school lunches in a plain brown paper bag so he can fit in with the kids at school. 

Laura is honest about how her relationship with Maurice eventually foundered as she tried to build a life with a new husband, and her backstory helps explain why she might have taken the chances she did with Maurice and also defines her need to have a child of her own. 

The writing is a bit weak—Schroff wrote the book with friend and colleague Alex Tresniowski,  which may have reduced some of the immediacy and power of the memoir. It is an easy read, though.—Pat Prijatel

How The Light Gets In, by Louise Penny

The sleepy, scenic village of Three Pines, just hours from Montreal, seems

like an unlikely setting for murder and intrigue. But the tiny, secluded

village has seen its share of both.

The town square is ringed with older, well kept homes, a theater, and

combination library and cozy, welcoming bistro, which is a gathering place

for villagers. The book's unforgettable, main characters are friends and

frequent bistro visitors who come in from the cold Canadian winter to enjoy

hot coffee, or wine, excellent food and lively discussions around the large

stone fireplace.

Ruth is a grumpy, outspoken retired, award-winning poet whose constant

companion is a duck. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Montreal

Police Department and his wife recently joined the group since moving to

Three Pines. Myrna the bookstore owner, mothers quirky but sweet bistro

owners Gabriel and Olivier. She is worried about her missing friend,

Constance. The elderly Constance carefully guards the secret that she is

the last survivor of the famous Ouellette quintriplets, whose birth and early

life caused an international media frenzy for years. And no one has ever

seen the inside of Constance's home until the morning she is found

murdered and they discover that she has used the walls of her home as

canvases for her strange, beautiful paintings.

The Inspector begins discovering connections between Constance's

murder, the unexplained nearby murder of a young woman, and corruption

and evil-doing in his own police department. The secrets go deeper and

become more intertwined, threatening Inspector Gamache, the police

department and the village itself. Penny skillfully twists and turns her plot

and her characters, tugging the reader into the lives of the villagers and the

intrigue surrounding them.

How the Light Gets In is nine in a series of 10 Inspector Gamache books by Louise Penny. All are set in the village of Three Pines.—by Gail Stilwill

March, by Geraldine Brooks

Anyone who has read Louisa Mae Alcott's Little Women will likely remember the vague, background figure of the father of the four little women.  For most of that book, he was far from home fighting the Civil War.  In this Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Geraldine Books brings him to life, calling him only "March," the family's last name.

She paints March as a strong believer in the Union cause, but he is too idealistic and totally unprepared for the horrors of the war he is about to become involved in. The story follows March as he leaves behind his family and heads off to join the Union troops as a Chaplin.

But before leaving, and without consulting his wife, Marmee, he gives nearly all of the family's fortune away to support the losing cause of John Brown, leaving his family to live on the very edge of poverty, barely surviving and only with the reluctant help of the family's Aunt March.

Behind the lines of the battlefield, March comes face to face with violence, suffering, and the unexpected cruelty and racism of both Northerners and Southerners.  His faith in himself and in his religious and political convictions are mightily tested. But his letters to his family are intentionally evasive and cheerful, never revealing the challenges and discouragement he faces daily.  March becomes attached to a field hospital where he is faced with violence and horrible suffering which he is powerless to prevent.

He re-unites with Grace, a beautiful, well-educated Black nurse who he met years ago while working as a peddler, selling his wares to various Connecticut plantations.  When his sexual indiscretion with Grace becomes known, March is sent to a plantation where recently freed slaves are able to earn money.  But while he struggles with his duties as a Chaplin, he becomes seriously ill from the horrors he has experienced, his guilt and total disillusionment.  Marmee is sent for and eventually is able to bring him home from the Washington hospital, a sick, broken man, and an invalid.  His belief in himself is shattered.  He is a changed man. 

Then we learn the behind-the-scenes story of Marmee, the strong, outspoken and loving mother who kept her family together during their wartime struggles.  She is both enraged and deeply hurt when she learns of March's indiscretion.  His actions have driven a wedge between Marmee and March.  Marmee is again left to struggle with keeping her family together and nursing her invalid husband. — by Gail Stilwill.

Chameleon Days: An American Childhood in Ethiopia, by Tim Bascom

Tim Bascom’s memoir of his childhood in Ethiopia is fascinating and beautifully written. It begins when three-year-old Tim and his two brothers were uprooted from their Kansas home and taken to Ethiopia by their missionary parents. Because Tim's father is a doctor, the family first lived near an established missionary hospital. There is much to see and explore in this new and strange world and Tim's visual memories are clear and colorful.

But when Jonathon, the oldest of the brothers, is sent to a faraway boarding school, both Jonathon and Tim are saddened and frightened. Jonathon is just six and is not at all happy to go. Tim reluctantly follows him when he is seven. They see their family during summers and on very rare visits. It is a difficult challenge for the young boys to be so far from their parents and younger brother in a strange country and for such a long time. But the family’s strong and loving ties helped them through it. The boys came to understand their parents' strong commitment to the people they came to help and work among.

Tim's childhood memories are amazingly clear. He finds a chameleon in a poinsettia tree and is fascinated by the little reptile and its abilities to change its color to blend in with its environment. He watches the chameleon’s two large eyes focus simultaneously on two completely different directions— a perfect symbol for the complex demands of missionary children: One "eye" watching desperately for a way to fit into the strange culture and know and understand the Ethiopians while realizing they will never truly belong; the other "eye" never losing sight of the American life they left behind.

Tim's recollections of his childhood and his surroundings in Ethiopia are narrated with delightful color and wonder. Tim helps us see his pet chameleon crawling cautiously along his finger, eyes swiveling in different directions; Tim's hiding place and observatory high in an avocado tree; the view of his world from behind the large leaves of a hibiscus tree; the frightening cries of hyenas just outside his bedroom window; and the banquet he and his family attended for Emperor Haile Selassie. As time passes the country becomes full of political unrest and rising turbulence, putting the lives of the missionaries at risk and finally leading to Selassie’s overthrow and the rise to power of brutal Marxist-Leninist regime.

It's time for the family to return to Kansas. They leave with disappointment and reluctance, but return periodically for brief stays.

Books, Brews and Banter was privileged to have Tim Bascom and his wife Cathleen, the former dean of the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul, come to discuss his book and answer our questions. It was both fun and enlightening to hear about his childhood in Ethiopia from the author himself.—by Gail Stilwill

Note: Many of us are looking forward to reading Tim's second book, Running to the Fire.