Even though Wives and Daughters is considered her masterpiece, I liked this Gaskell novel better. It is set in a fictionalized industrial Manchester and looks at the conflicts between agrarian and industrial England in the 19th century through the characters of Margaret Hale and John Thornton.
Obasan, Joy Kagawa
A fictionalized memoir of one girl's experiences during World War II in Canada. Beautifully written. I think Kagawa herself was left with an aunt while her mother made a trip to Japan, and while she was gone, war broke out and she couldn't return. This was the first novel to address the issue of interment camps for the Japanese during the war.
And Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
I found this at the thrift store and now need an excuse to read it! Written in 1937, it's the story of a Southern black woman and considered a must-read in the canon of African-American literature.
(You can click on the titles for links to Amazon.com reviews...)
