Notable Books

Irish Catholic cop Joe O’Brien grew up in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood. He married a local girl and with her raised four kids. When he’s 42, he blames stress for the strange anger outbursts and body twitches that bedevil him. As the symptoms worsen, his wife forces him to go to the doctor, who gives the scary news: Huntington’s disease. Genova depicts the devastating effects of this incurable, genetic disease and shows the ripple effects as the kids consider testing to discover if they harbor it. The pervasive R-rated language will deter some from reading this moving novel.

A Spool of Blue Thread

Red and Abby Whitshank are in their 70s and still living in Red’s childhood home, which Red’s father, Junior, built for a prominent Baltimore family. Leisurely, Tyler reveals how the Whitshanks ended up in the house. The story moves back and forth in time, peeling back layers of family history and lore. As Red and Abby become more frail, their four grown kids wrestle with how to keep them in the house and care for them. These questions expose jealousies and reveal more secrets. Tyler is a generous narrator, showing her characters weaknesses along with their strengths. Some obscenities.

Our Souls at Night

Kent Haruf’s final novel tells the story of elderly Addie Moore and Louis Waters, who have both been widowed for years. One day Addie asks Louis if he’d like to spend nights with her. He agrees and they begin a mostly platonic relationship: talking, holding hands, and sleeping side-by-side. Both decide to ignore small-town gossip, but ignoring their families’ disapproval proves harder. Haruf depicts two lonely people finding intimacy in conversation and shared activities. Though their marriages survived tragedy and betrayal, this less-demanding relationship proves weaker under stress. A few obscenities.

The Girl on the Train

Rachel is a sad alcoholic whose marriage broke up when her husband left her for Anna. Megan is a young wife who goes missing. The three women narrate this thriller in alternating chapters that go back and forth in time. When Rachel realizes she has seen something from the window of the train she rides each day, she brings her information to the police and later to Megan’s husband. But Rachel’s drunkenness, lies, and harassment of her ex-husband and Anna, make her an unreliable witness. This page-turner has some obscenities but shows why it became a bestseller.

Spotlight

Sally Lloyd-Jones, author of The Jesus Storybook Bible, has two new picture books out this spring. Bunny’s First Spring (Zondervan, 2015) views the changing seasons from a young bunny’s perspective. The world seems bright and beautiful until fall when it appears that it might be dying. Delightful illustrations accompany the simple story with a subtle Easter message about death preceding new birth. In The House That’s Your Home (Schwartz & Wade, 2015), Lloyd-Jones uses rhythmic text to describe a little girl’s world and the security of family: “A girl is a Daughter, And a boy is a Son, And a mommy is Your Mommy, And a daddy is Your Daddy, And you are a Family. Together. In the house that’s Your Home.” —S.O.