where the lost wander by Amy Harmon

Monopoly Book Challenge - Pennsylvania Avenue - a book which involves a trip of some kind.
Once Upon a Book Club - May 2020
Historical Fiction

The opening scene of this wonderful novel is positively gut-wrenching and the following chapters which lay out the characters and their travels along the Oregon Trail only make it more so. 

But reading the journey of the May family and John Lowry brings to life the difficulties of the Oregon Trail and highlights the amazing strength of the people of the time.

Summary from Goodreads: The Overland Trail, 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. John’s heritage gains them safe passage through hostile territory only to come between them as they seek to build a life together. When a horrific tragedy strikes, decimating Naomi’s family and separating her from John, the promises they made are all they have left. Ripped apart, they can’t turn back, they can’t go on, and they can’t let go. Both will have to make terrible sacrifices to find each other, save each other, and eventually…make peace with who they are.

Quotes: "I realize now that life is just a continual parting of the ways, some more painful than others."

All Is Not Forgotten - Wendy Walker                                                                                        ( New Author)
 

#2021Monopolychallenge - Venture Ave - Starts with "A"

Not at all what I was expecting.

The narrator is a therapist who is treating a young girl and her parents. The girl was violently raped by an unknown man and she is treated with drugs to have the memory of it erased. The therapist is also treating a soldier who had the same treatment for the trauma of war.

So instead of learning how Jenny deals with her "raging emotional memory"(from back of the book) and Jenny's parents struggles,  the egotistical therapist tells us how wonderful he is in his treatment of them all. Jenny, her dad, her mom and the soldier.  Also, if reading about rape is a trigger for anyone , do not read this book.  The violent and horrific rape is mentioned several times.

I will say that I did not see the end coming, the way it is written, I don't think anyone would.

Goodreads summary:

In the small, affluent town of Fairview, Connecticut everything seems picture perfect.

Until one night when young Jenny Kramer is attacked at a local party. In the hours immediately after, she is given a controversial drug to medically erase her memory of the violent assault. But, in the weeks and months that follow, as she heals from her physical wounds, and with no factual recall of the attack, Jenny struggles with her raging emotional memory. Her father, Tom, becomes obsessed with his inability to find her attacker and seek justice while her mother, Charlotte, prefers to pretend this horrific event did not touch her perfect country club world.

As they seek help for their daughter, the fault lines within their marriage and their close-knit community emerge from the shadows where they have been hidden for years, and the relentless quest to find the monster who invaded their town - or perhaps lives among them - drive this psychological thriller to a shocking and unexpected conclusion.

 

     The Yellow Wife - Sadeqa Johnson                                                                                               (HF)

2021monopolychallenge - New York Ave.-title starts with "Y"

An historical account of Lumpkin's Jail on the Devil's Half Acre in Richmond Va. and the "mistress" of the jail., A slave woman owner by the Jailer..  The jail was for runaway slaves or black men, women and children being put up for auction.

I always hate to say I have enjoyed a book about slavery because it was such a horrible time in our history, but I do enjoy reading a book that I makes me feel for the characters.  This is such a book.   I have visited the area of Devil's Half Acre so I was able to visualize this area. None of the buildings are standing but there is a plaque telling about the jail. 

   So an interesting read but I felt that the end was rushed.  I was left with questions. 

Goodreads:

A young female slave is sold to a married man who intends to start a family with her, even as he manages the particularly cruel estate, the Devil's Half Acre, where thousands of black people are beaten, broken, and sold.