Boys Don't Knit (in public) by T.S. Easton

  Boys Don't Knit (in public) by T.S. Easton.
                              Feiwel and Friends, 2015.  Young adult fiction.


Ben Fletcher, age 17, lives in England and seems like a typical youth with angst, mates who goad and tease him, and a family that sometimes embarrasses him. When he gets into a spot of trouble and has to do community service and find a hobby to fill his time with productive efforts, he is faced with a class in auto repair which his dad teaches, pottery which sounds messy and not fun, basic computers which he already knows, and knitting which Ben thinks is taught by the gorgeous Jessica Swallow. So he signs up for knitting, but finds Miss Swallow is not the teacher after all and he is stuck. By some miracle, though, Ben finds he actually is a fast knitter and can "see" the patterns in his head after only a little study. He tells his mother, a travelling magician, about his class, but begs her to keep it from his father who will think Ben's sexual preferences have something to do with his class choice. (No way!) How Ben manages to keep the secrets, do his community service of  helping an elderly neighbour clean out her shed (and finds great knitting supplies!),  and be chosen to complete in a junior all England knitting competition, is a funny, wise, and entertaining romp. At all, his friends and family come together to support him and Ben finds more people are on his side than he ever imagined. 
(The knitting references are right on target. The only hiccup is that the author mentions knitting a "quilted blanket". Quilting implies three layers sewn together: a backing, a batting or wadding, and a top. You can knit a blanket, but not a quilt. Here's hoping Ben takes up quilting in another episode!)

Belle Cora by Philip Margulies

 Belle Cora by Philip Margulies. Doubleday, 2014. Adult fiction.


    Arabella Godwin is born into a wealthy family in the East in the early 1830's. By 1840, as a young girl, she and her brother Lewis are shipped to extended family who live on a farm and virtually abandoned there. This epic novel tells how the two ended up in Gold Rush California. Belle has fallen in love with Jeptha Talbot who becomes a preacher, but their road to life in California is both rocky and exciting.  Twice married, she bears a son who never really knows his mother.
    The story is written as though it were Belle's memoir and tells how she ended up as the best known madam in San Francisco and married to handsome gambler Charley Cora. Finally, one day she vanishes. But, did she?  Full of  details about the growing city of San Francisco, this tale is a tribute to how one woman dealt with tragedy, trouble, poverty and extreme wealth, and became a businesswoman in a man's world.

Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan

  Under the Wide and Starry Sky: A Novel by Nancy Horan. 2013, Large print edition. Random House. Adult Fiction.


     In this wonderfully descriptive historical fiction novel, Nancy Horan brings to life Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife Fanny van de Grift Osbourne. Fanny's life before meeting Stevenson is full. From the gold fields to San Francisco to Belgium, Fanny has lived large. With three children and a not so upstanding husband, she leaves with the children and nanny to study art in Europe. Nothing turns out as she hoped. Later, in France, she meets the ten years younger than she Stevenson. While he falls in love with Fanny almost instantly, she is much more hesitant about the young writer. Their lives are definitely roller coaster material with his frequent illnesses and her struggles to free herself from a husband, from expectations about women and from the unexpected lives that her children live. A wild ride, this tale will keep readers going and provide much satisfaction in providing details about the many places they lived, how they survived the hard times, and how his family finally accepted Fanny.