Rosalie's Suggestions

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
by Helen Simonson
384 pages

Synopsis: The major of the title is a widower who has just lost his brother. Major Pettigrew slowly develops an extremely correct yet warm friendship with Mrs. Ali, a widow who runs the local convenience store and shares his love of reading.

England is not an easily welcoming place for those seen as outsiders. Mrs. Ali is part of a Pakistani family and
the pressures of Pakistani family life are sensitively portrayed, with Mrs. Ali torn between her family, especially her controlling brother-in-law, and the freedom the broader, liberal society of Britain has to offer.

That love can overcome cultural barriers is no new theme, but it’s presented here with great sensitivity and delicacy. We want this couple to find romance — and they do. We want the major to survive the machinations of his obnoxious son — and he does. “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” is refreshing in its optimism and its faith in the transformative possibilities of courtesy and kindness. Although pitched toward those wanting a gentle read, it also slides a powerful moral message into the interstices of village politics and conventions.

The Forgotten Garden
by Kate Mornon
370 pages

Synopsis: After her grandmother Nell's death, Cassandra learns that Nell wasn't who she thought she was. It turns out that Nell had been raised by a couple who found her on the dock after she had been abandoned on the boat that had carried her from England to Australia at the age of four. Nell had attempted to research her own heritage, but the sudden appearance of Cassandra in her life prevented her from putting all the pieces together. Cassandra takes it upon herself to solve the mystery for her grandmother once and for all. The story weaves back and forth between three generations -- Cassandra in 2005, Nell in 1975, and the two women in Cornwall who are the key to the puzzle in the early years of the twentieth century

Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust
by Immaculee Ilibagazia
219 pages

Synopsis: In 1994, Rwandan native Ilibagiza was 22 years old and home from college to spend Easter with her devout Catholic family when the death of Rwanda's Hutu president sparked a three-month slaughter of nearly one million ethnic Tutsis. She survived by hiding in a Hutu pastor's tiny bathroom with seven other women for 91 cramped, terrifying days. The account of her experience cuts two ways: her description of the evil that was perpetrated, including the brutal murders of her family members, is devastating, yet the story of her unquenchable faith and connection to God throughout the ordeal uplifts and inspires. It was during those endless hours that Immaculee discovered the power of prayer, eventually shedding her fear of death and forging a profound and lasting relationship with God. She emerged from her bathroom hideout having unwavering trust in God. She did everything she could, then trusted him to help her find a job, later to find a husband, and eventually to seek out and forgive her family‛s killers. Her story is inspiring.