The God of Animals

Author: Kyle, Aryn.
Publication info: New York : Scribner, c2007.
ISBN: 9781416533245
ISBN: 1416533249
Description: 305 p. ; 24 cm.
Subject: Ranches--Fiction.
Subject: Colorado--Fiction.
Genre term: Bildungsromans.
"When her older sister runs away to marry a rodeo cowboy, Alice Winston is left to bear the brunt of her family's troubles - a depressed, bedridden mother; a reticent, overworked father; and a run-down horse ranch. As the hottest summer in fifteen years unfolds and bills pile up, Alice is torn between dreams of escaping the loneliness of her duty-filled life and a longing to help her father mend their family and the ranch." "To make ends meet, the Winston's board the pampered horses of rich neighbors, and for the first time Alice confronts the power and security that class and wealth provide. As her family and their well-being become intertwined with the lives of their clients, Alice is drawn into an adult world of secrets and hard truths, and soon discovers that people - including herself - can be cruel, can lie and cheat, and every once in awhile, can do something heartbreaking and selfless. Ultimately, Alice and her family must weather a devastating betrayal and a shocking, violent series of events that will test their love and prove the power of forgiveness."--BOOK JACKET.

Dream When You're Feeling Blue

Author: Berg, Elizabeth.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publication info: New York : Random House, 2007.
ISBN: 1400065100 (alk. paper)
Description: 276 p. 25 cm.
Subject: Sisters--Fiction.
Subject: World War, 1939-1945--United States--Fiction.
"Author Elizabeth Berg takes us to Chicago at the time of World War II in this story about three sisters, their lively Irish family, and the men they love." "As the novel opens, Kitty and Louise Heaney say good-bye to their boyfriends Julian and Michael, who are going to fight overseas. On the domestic front, meat is rationed, children participate in metal drives, and Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller play music that offers hope and lifts spirits. And the Heaney sisters sit at their kitchen table every evening to write letters - Louise to her fiance, Kitty to the man she wishes fervently would propose, and the third Heaney girl, Tish, to an ever changing group of men she meets at USO dances. In the letters the sisters send and receive are intimate glimpses of life both on the battlefront and at home. For Kitty, a confident, headstrong young woman, the departure of her boyfriend and the lessons she learns about love, resilience, and war will bring a surprise and uncover a secret, and will lead her to a radical action on behalf of those she loves that will change the Heaney family forever. The lifelong consequences of the choices the sisters make are at the heart of this superb novel about the power of love and the enduring strength of family."--BOOK JACKET.