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Hope Davis to play Hillary Clinton
'Supercon' pays tribute to creators of Superman
Malcolm X Abram: Rosanne Cash coming back to Kent Stage
'Bruno' quickly goes out of style in one-note film
Parents, teens won't love 'Beth Cooper'
Now showing - Movies week of July 9
Family Views - "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs;' 'Public Enemies'
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Akron police investigate teen mob attack on family
Woman, 75, charged with beating fawn to death
Akron woman found dead at Brimfield Township store
Man shot outside his Akron home during robbery attempt
Man shot in back near Akron park
Suspect sought in Portage Path bar robbery
Tragic day puts man on path to be Pinnacle owner
Blogs:
Pets:
Dogs' Bark: Not fair! Study shows pups get jealous
The Heldenfiles:
Who Will Get the Michael Media Treatment Next?
Patrick McManamon:
More on Varejao
Akron Zips:
Opponent outlook: Kent State
Browns Bulletin:
Quick thought on Browns rookies
Tribe Matters:
Wedge challenges relievers
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth test showed marijuana
Kent State Sports:
Men's Basketball Scheduling update
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Andy’s Signed According to ESPN
All Da King's Men:
Does Medicare Have Lower Administrative Costs ?
Blog of Mass Destruction:
CIA Did Mislead Congress
Akron Law Café:
Breaking Story: CIA Lied to Congress about Secret Program
Varsity Letters:
East basketball update
See Jane Style:
Oh Baby!
Car Chase:
Where do We Go from Here?
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Closings….Not the Good Kind!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Margy inquires-when is a Taste of Hudson?
Sound Check:
LeVert II live performance Saturday night — "Dedication" album due July 13,
HRLite House:
DDI One of Best Places to Work
Akron Gamer:
First 24 'Guitar Hero 5' songs announced
Published on Sunday, Jan 04, 2009
Doctor at Hull-House
Karen J. Hasley, the Cuyahoga Falls author whose Laramie Series of novels already has yielded two rewarding entries about women living in 19th- and early 20th-century Wyoming who use good sense and self-reliance to make homes and families for themselves, continues to impress with a sparkling new book.
Where Home Is brings along the heart from Lily's Sister and Waiting for Hope to the story of Katherine Davis, a young doctor who has just graduated from Kansas Medical School. She's thinking about returning to her Wyoming home and practicing there, when an opportunity comes along: One of her professors offers her a yearlong posting at the famous Hull-House, where social worker Jane Addams works among Chicago's poor and immigrants.
Katherine accepts and soon is at work helping bewildered new mothers, destitute women and even a prostitute who has been beaten by her customer. She befriends an abused girl with a promising soprano voice, and accompanies Addams to a ball where they chat up rich potential sponsors. There she meets Douglas Gallagher, who begins squiring her around. What follows could be a conventional love story, but not in Hasley's capable hands.
Katherine, of course, is independent-minded, but not just ''contrary'' for the purposes of conflict in the story. Douglas is generous and attentive, but doesn't seem to ''get'' her; his reckless brother is more perceptive. A visit from Katherine's parents and the end of her Hull-House assignment help her realize what she really wants. The conclusion is tear-inducing, but feels heartfelt, not manipulated, and the historical references are spot-on.
Where Home Is (338 pages, softcover) costs $14.95 from online retailers.
A truly racy book
If an erotic novel is set in the world of stock-car drivers, would you call it a racy book? The answer is found in Flat-Out Sexy by Erin McCarthy of Westlake, in which Tamara, a nice mom whose husband was killed in a track accident, meets a hot young driver who escorts her to the finish line. Many times.
At first, they decide, their relationship will be secret and just for fun. Then her kids get sick, and Elec comes by to help out. Does he have dad potential? What about the pit-row Annie who keeps e-mailing him naughty photos of herself? And Tamara's father-in-law, who bears a grudge against Elec's family?
Flat-Out Sexy is flat-out for adults only. The 291-page softcover costs $14 from Berkley Sensation, a division of Penguin.
American canonized
My Friendship With Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton by Mary Hilaire (Sally) Tavenner of Lorain tells of the author's interest in the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonized.
Tavenner, who had been a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Syracuse (N.Y.) convent, became fascinated with the story of Seton, born in 1774 and married to a man who became ill and went to Italy for an unsuccessful health treatment. She converted to Catholicism there and returned to America.
Tavenner became an expert on Seton's life, was in Rome for her canonization in 1975 and advised producers on a 1980 television movie about the saint. She left the convent in 1984 and earned a doctorate in reading and language arts. She also has written a book about the Lorain writer Helen Steiner Rice.
My Friendship With Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton (103 pages, softcover) costs $15.99 from http://www.xlibris.com.
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Event
At Borders (3737 W. Market St., Fairlawn), Robert Spirko will sign his spy thriller The Palestine Conspiracy, 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Correction
In last week's column about the best books of 2008, I incorrectly stated that Prisoner Prince author Olga B. Kurtz is from Silver Lake. She lives in Firestone Park.
— Barbara McIntyre
Special to the Beacon Journal
Send information about books of local interest to Lynne Sherwin, Features Department, Akron Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309 or lsherwin@thebeaconjournal.com. Event notices should be sent at least two weeks in advance.
Get the full article here.
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