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    		•  April paperback releases offer good choices for reading groups

    REVIEWS BY JULIE HALE

    Cover The Mermaid Chair
    Kidd's follow-up to her bestseller, The Secret Life of Bees, is a poignant and beautifully composed novel about a woman's transformative experience at middle age. Atlanta housewife Jessie Sullivan finds herself face to face with the past when a strange family emergency occurs. After her mother, Nellie, cuts off her own finger, Jessie leaves her husband and daughter in Georgia to look after her. Traveling to Egret Island off the South Carolina coast, where she grew up, Jessie tends to Nellie, who—33 years after the fact—is still haunted by the death of her husband. On Egret Island, Jessie begins to reconsider her life, from her marriage to the staid, sensible Hugh, to her growing need for independence. Personal fulfillment becomes an issue for Jessie when she meets Brother Thomas, a gentle lawyer who has decided to become a Benedictine monk. Jessie finds herself increasingly attracted to Thomas, and as her time on Egret Island progresses, it becomes a search for identity and fulfillment, a spiritual quest that changes her life forever. Kidd writes with sensitivity and insight about family, marriage and the female quest for satisfaction. She also skillfully weaves elements of religion and myth into the novel, to produce a work that's especially rich and mature. A reading group guide is included in the book.

    Cover Lipstick Jihad
    A reporter for Time who worked in Tehran from 2000-2001, Moaveni writes perceptively in her latest book about what it's like to be a permanent outsider, forever caught between two cultures. Raised in California, she is the child of Iranian exiles. As a youngster, she is privately obsessed with the country her parents fled when the Islamic Revolution took place. Refusing to smile or smoke in public, she adapts the habits of an idealized Iran, which she perceives as a mythical paradise, a country of artistic and intellectual ferment. In 2000, she travels to Tehran to work as a journalist and find out for herself what the country is really like. Although she mixes well with other Iranians, she is viewed as an outsider and—because she isn't married—a curiosity. The struggle of Iranian women is a point of focus for the author, who comes to view their cautious steps towards a more liberal lifestyle as a sort of "jihad." Moaveni is a skilled writer and thoughtful observer, and she presents a fascinating look at daily life in a country that elicits both love and hate from its inhabitants. Offering all the background readers could hope for from such a book, she provides a wonderful synthesis of viewpoints, perspectives and customs—the conclusions of a traveler who isn't quite sure where home is. A reading group guide is included in the book.

    Cover The Hummingbird's Daughter
    Acclaimed Latino author Urrea has created a wonderfully detailed historical novel based on the life of Teresita, the Saint of Cabora. Born in 1873, Teresita has an impoverished upbringing. Her mother is a 14-year-old Indian girl; her father, a wealthy rancher, comes from the Mexico-Arizona border. Raised by an aunt who abuses and neglects her, Teresita nevertheless learns how to read and becomes an expert rider, and she possesses healing powers that give her the reputation of a "chosen child." A local medicine woman takes her on as a student of sorts, and eventually, her rancher-father, Don Tomás Urrea brings her into his home. But hardship follows Teresita, who is raped at the age of 16, after which she falls into a coma and seems to die. In the middle of her own wake, incredibly enough, she rises up in her coffin, most definitely alive. Even as thousands of pilgrims flock to see her, the Catholic Church brands her as a heretic. Believed to have inspired an Indian rebellion against Mexico, Teresita—only 19—later receives a sentence of execution. Urrea realistically depicts the dirt-poor existence of Mexican farmers and their faith in this beloved saint, who happened to be his great-aunt. Mixing elements of magical realism, folklore, and history, he has created a rich and vivid portrait of the Southwest in the late 1800s. A reading group guide is included in the book.


    Has your club recently read an excellent book that sparked good group discussion? If so, BookPage would like to hear about it. Contact us at reading@bookpage.com with a description of the book and the reasons for your recommendation. We'll pass the top choices along to our readers.

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