Books of the week of May 31
“Dark Night”
By Paige Shelton
As third in the Alaska Wild Series, Dark Night sheds some light on what happened to Beth’s father. Her mother, Mill, has found out where she was hiding and decided to come for a visit. Beth is happy to see Mill but also a little nervous because if Mill could find her, anyone else could, too. On the morning of Mill’s arrival, the local police are busy with a body of a known wife abuser that has been found right in the center of town. His wife was staying at the halfway house after their last fight and no one really suspects her. But there were noises the night before of doors closing, and Beth’s boots that were by the door were wet. At first, these things are explained away, but Beth starts waking up in weird places after sleepwalking. And then there was the blood that they found on her doorknob that Mill quickly wiped away. What was going on in this tiny little town covered in snow and perpetual darkness?
“Yellow Wife”
By Sadeqa Johnson
Pheby Delores Brown was born to the medicine woman and the Master of the Bell Plantation in Virginia in the mid-1800s. She was beloved by the Master’s sister, who taught her how to read and play piano. Pheby’s father has promised to free her and send her to school on her eighteenth birthday but dies before he can do that. With her fate in the hands of the Master’s wife, who hates Pheby, she is sold to the Jailer of the “Devil’s Half Acre” in Richmond. This is the place where slaves are brought to be tortured before they are sold. It is truly hell on earth and Pheby is forced to be the mistress of the devil. Now she must use her education and determination to outwit her captor in order to free her son and the love of her life before they are sent to the block. Based on true events of Lumpkin’s Jail in Richmond.
