Travail and Triumph by Michael Phillips and Judith Petta

★★★★

A House Divided by Michael Phillips and Judith Pella

★★★★

The Crown and the Crucible by Michael Phillips and Judith Pella

★★★★★

"Though most said there was not a word of truth to it, country peasants in Russia were always fond of turning whatever they could into a fairy-tale."

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niggenegger

★★★

"Listen, sometimes when you finally find out, you realize that you were much better off not knowing."

The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant

★★★

"One night, alone in her Dogtown bed, Judy finally admitted to herself that she had been in love with Cornelius.  'In love' precisely as it was described in the novels and poems she had read with Martha; love as a kind of sweet madness that colored everything."

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

★★★

"It had been a good day, all things considered.  I had managed rather well on my own.  I opened Grandfather's Bible.  That is what it would be like when I had my own shop, or when I traveled abroad.  I would always read before sleeping.  One day, I'd be so rich I would have a library full of novels to choose from.  But I would always end the evening with a Bible passage."

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

★★★★★

"I wanted this one to be different.  I wanted to give a sense of the people of the book, the different hands that made it, used it, protected it."