Alison Reads

In the 1850s, two teenage sisters are separated when one stays behind on a small Scottish island with her grandmother and the rest of the family emigrates to Canada. Their alternating stories are told in narrative poems which are intricately woven together. A note at the end describes the construction of the poems; however, the […]

Subtitled “the autobiography of a stray”, this book is told from a dog’s point of view. Squirrel describes her life, from her birth in a rotting shed to her old age. She experiences both hardships and love. The dog’s-eye perspective is interesting. It reminded me of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. A 2008 YRCA […]

Two children are raised by their father in rural New Mexico. They never leave their yard, never see TV, and are completely isolated from the modern world. When they are in their early twenties, Jimmy rebels and leaves home. Dorothea goes in search of him a year or so later when their father falls ill, […]

This is another book about a group of women who have nothing but knitting in common. They get together every Friday night and become close friends. Once of them gets a fatal illness and the others rally around. Competently written but nothing special.