Illuminations  -  Mary Sharratt
                             
                           Historical Fiction

This book is based on the life of Hildegard von , a woman from the 1100's.  At the young age of 8, her mother 'gave' Hildegard to the church to become a companion to a 'holy' (or maybe just plain mad) women.  They were both walled up inside of a 2 cell prison.

Hildegard was called an anchorite and stayed within the confines of this cell for 30 years when she was able to ' escape' when the holy woman died.

Because Hildegard has 'visions', she is considered a visionary and a 'sinful daughter of Eve' and accused of heresy.

It was an interesting but difficult time in women's history. As usual, Mary Sharratt writes an interesting and insightful book about women's history.
                         

                          Delicate Little Birds
                               Lauren Groff

                                 "G" Author


This is a collection of 9 short stories.  I read 4 of them before I stopped reading.  I guess I am just not a fan of short stories.

So I don't feel I can give a good review since I did not read all of the stories and the ones I did read,  well I just didn't "Get"  all of them.  

If you like short stories,  give this author a try & let me know what I missed by not reading all of the stories.   I did read her novel, "Monsters  of  Templeton", strange but good.

Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo

New Author

Yuck!  Typical suspense thriller, but with some pretty gruesome crimes!!  I wasn't surprised to discover who the killer was, but I did like the protagonist, Kate Burkholder and I did find myself holding my breath and reading faster at the climatic ending.

The novel's location is in a small Amish community in Ohio, so it was neat to read the fictional story in towns similar to those near my hometown of Madison, OH.