Finished: The Wives (Fisher) A psychological kind-of thriller about a woman named Thursday who marries a man who already has two other wives. Well, not really, because his first wife divorces him when he meets Thursday. And, after Thursday miscarries their late term baby, he finds solace in another woman, who he proceeds to get pregnant. He tells Thursday that his first wife never wanted children, so he wanted children with her, therefore, they agreed that he could go back and forth between the two. After Thursday miscarries, he then adds the third "wife", even though they're not legally married...but now splits his time between the three. At least...that's what he tells Thursday. He also tells her that the other two wives are aware of the situation as well, so Thursday feels like they're all in the same boat loving this "amazing" man, Seth. When Thursday accidentally finds a receipt for the OBGYN in Seth's pocket, she suddenly knows the name of the third wife. They've never known each other's names. Against her better judgement, she googles the name and actually goes and meets the third wife, Heather, without telling her she is the second wife. Things spiral downhill from there after Seth finds out Thursday has spent time with Heather, and that Heather has confided that Seth has a temper. When Seth confronts Thursday, she had been about to confront him about bruises on Heather. She ends up falling and hitting her head and Seth has her taken to a psych ward, where he proceeds to tell the doctor she has had delusions before. He also tells Thursday when she wakes up that she's had delusions and a fantasy life ever since they traumatically lost their baby. It gets pretty convoluted not knowing who to believe...especially when wife number one, Regina, decides to take her revenge. It seems she NEVER agreed to any arrangement and Seth flat divorced her for Thursday because she wanted to focus on her career and not have children. It ends up pretty wacky and you still don't know who to believe...or whether to believe that Thursday really is mentally unstable, until the very end. :-) A pretty fast read, but not high on any favorite books list for me.

Finished: American Dirt (Cummins) Heartbreaking story of the grueling journey of a Mexican mother and her young son, Luca, as they flee the imminent danger of the cartel in Acapulco and attempt to migrate to the United States. Lydia works at a bookstore, and her husband is a journalist, who writes an expose about the local, very powerful, and very ruthless leader of the cartel in their area. When the cartel leader orders the execution of her entire family at her niece's Quinceanera, Lydia and Luca miraculously escape harm when they just happen to leave the party and go into the house so Luca can use the restroom. Sixteen of her family members lay slain in the courtyard, including her mother, her husband, her sister, nieces, and nephews. Without the time to grieve them for a single minute, Lydia throws some essentials into a backpack, takes her mother's purse that contains their family money, and runs with Luca. What ensues is their dangerous, horrific journey to the north....learning the ropes from other migrants...riding on tops of trains, putting their lives in the hands of a "coyote" to smuggle them across the border...constantly looking over their shoulders for the cartel to find them. Lydia and Luca meet two teenage sisters on the journey, and they become like family. Most of the other migrants are helpful as well, but there are always a few bad seeds in any good bunch that add to the terror of the journey. This is a beautifully written story, and one that hit very close to home in terms of current events, as Lydia and Luca witness the huge wall with barbwire fence, cameras and border patrol in  the cities along the border which prevent them from crossing over to the U.S. They hear first hand stories from people who have lived in the U.S. for years, but who have just recently been deported, while their children, who are American citizens, are permitted to stay behind. The plight of these people is brought to heart wrenching light in a powerfully written book.

Finished: The Tattooist of Auschwitz (Morris) The true story of a young Slovakian Jewish man, Lale, who is taken to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1942, where he spends three years doing whatever he can to survive. Since he speaks several languages, he is put to work by the SS as the person who tattoos the incoming prisoners.They call him Tatowierer. He gets a few special privileges, such as a bit of extra food, and much less harassment from the guards. He uses whatever he can to share  his extra food with his fellow prisoners. One day he looks up at the arm that is shoved in his face to tattoo, and it's a frightened young girl. Lale falls in love with her on the spot, and from that day on is determined to meet her. Her name is Gita, and she falls in love with Lale as well. They do everything they can to survive the tortures of the camp, including frightening encounters with the evil doctor, Mengele. The story goes on to detail the atrocities of the camps and explores how Lale and Gita survive, with the help of many of their fellow prisoners and friends, most of whom do not make it out alive. In 1945, as the Russian army gets closer and closer to the camps, the Germans begin rounding up prisoners and shooting them or marching them out to other camps. Gita is marched out with the other women and she and Lale are devastatingly separated. Lale makes his way out of the camp on a train as the camp basically falls apart. Gita manages to escape from the march with four other women and makes her way back to Slovakia. Lale is taken by the Russian army to once again use his language proficiency to help them procure women for their parties at night. He's given all the food and showers he needs, and a bedroom to stay in, however, he's always under armed guard when he's taken into town to talk to the women and give them money and jewels to come back to the Russian headquarters. When the Russians finally trust him and send him on his own, Lale takes more money and jewels than he needs and makes his escape. He also makes his way back to Slovakia. He searches and searches for Gita with no luck until one day a towns person suggests he triy the Red Cross lists where many former prisoners returning home are registering to find loved ones. Then, one day in the streets (it's not really explained if it's because of the Red Cross lists) Lale and Gita finally cross each other and fall into each other's arms. They are married and finally have the child they always wanted. It's with the help of this son that the author has written this true story of two survivors of the horrors of the Holocaust.

Finished: The Testaments (Atwood) The much awaited sequel to The Handmaid's Tale was excellent, and a satisfying read if you've been wondering what happened after the end of the first book. You might have to brush up on that book before reading this one to remember the different characters. If you watched the series on TV, then you will be pretty much in tune with all the characters! This recap will have major spoilers, so I really suggest you not read past this point if you're going to read the book. The book was hard to put down and so well written. It's told from the viewpoints of three main characters, whose identities you figure out rather quickly. However, the different time periods that the story is told in may throw you at first, as you think they're all being told at the same time. I never thought I'd enjoy a book where one of the main narrators was Aunt Lydia! However, her back story was tragic, as are all of the women's back stories in the Gilead world. She survived and made herself into what she was, which rather seemed like a monster both in the first book and in the series. She did that to ensure her own safety. What is stunning in The Testaments is that she's actually working from deep inside, from her position of power, to bring down Gilead! Her machinations are deft and always ten steps ahead of the man in charge, Commander Judd. The other two narrators are girls when we meet them, and one is about 16 and the other about 23 as their identities are revealed. They are giving testaments to their own life stories, again, both tragic in the Gilead world and the Gilead-influenced Canadian world. They end up being the two daughters of June, otherwise known as Offred. Her oldest daughter, whose name is now Agnes, loves the mother who has raised her, and believes her story that she "rescued" Agnes from terrible people, chose her from all the other children, and ran with her to safety from the forest. Agnes has no memory of her real parents, but comes to know her story as she gains access to the genealogy trees of all the handmaids in Gilead. Agnes refuses to get married when she's 14, threatens to take her own life, and begs the Aunts to take her into their charge where she will become an Aunt herself. Aunt Lydia agrees. Meanwhile, baby Nicole, who had been rescued from Gilead by her mother, has also grown up with parents who are not really hers. She is now known as Daisy. They have loved her and protected her, but they have also been deeply working for the Mayday organization which helps women and children escape from Gilead. When they are murdered on what Daisy thinks is her 16th birthday, Daisy is spirited away by a good friend of her mother's, Ada. Ada moves her around and finally explains to her that she's the baby Nicole that all the children of Canada have learned about in school...the famous baby who was rescued from Gilead that Gilead has been searching for for years. Her real mother gave her up as an infant to protect her, but has kept her eye on her all these years. As it turns out, the only place to keep Daisy safe is Gilead itself! Ada and the Mayday organization have been in touch with their deep cover mole (who we all know is Aunt Lydia) and Aunt Lydia says she will be able to blow the entire Gilead operation apart if they can send her baby Nicole to help with the cause. So, Daisy is smuggled back IN to Gilead, and put under Aunt Lydia's charge. When Aunt Lydia finally explains to Daisy and Agnes that they are actually sisters, both daughters of a handmaid who'd been quite a rebel, they agree to transport all Aunt Lydia's knowledge of the evil doings of Gilead back over the border to Canada with a microchip implanted in Daisy's arm. Of course, the trip back is very suspenseful, but the sisters finally make it, and are embraced by their real mother at the hospital. Gilead is brought down by these brave women (and a handful of men). The last we see of Aunt Lydia, there is loud knocking on her door and we assume she is arrested. We don't witness her demise, but she had been ready to give her life for the cause. This was such a good book and a great wrap up of the stories of these characters. It might also be nice, though, to see another book that explores exactly what June was doing all that time.....though we may see more of that in the TV series!