Our latest First Impressions feature, The Gifts by Liz Hyder, serves up historical fiction with a supernatural twist — in this fantastical story, women are growing wings in Victorian England.

The BookBrowse book club is discussing a Depression-era novel with its own unique turn: Lynda Rutledge's West with Giraffes follows two extraordinary creatures bound for the San Diego Zoo.

Meanwhile, our Editor's Choice pick, Laura Spence-Ash's Beyond That, the Sea, depicts the realistic but dazzling journey of a young girl evacuated from London during World War II.

You can also read our interview with librarian Giovanna Fiorino-Iannace about her ESL book club, and tackle a new Wordplay!

With best wishes,

Davina Morgan-Witts

BookBrowse Publisher

Each month, we share books with BookBrowse members to read and review. Here are their opinions on one recently released title.

"In Victorian England, women are mysteriously growing wings; large, angel-like wings. This 'miracle' causes an uproar in London, and the lives of an ambitious surgeon, his artist wife, a budding journalist, and two affected women are changed forever. I was drawn into this book from the very first page. The writing is perfect - Liz Hyder pulls you in until you feel as though you are experiencing everything firsthand. Then her writing has the story racing along so you feel you don't have time to put it down or you will miss something. It's also a book that stays with you long after you've finished it because there is so much to think about: women's roles in Victorian England, Victorian medicine and science, religion, the nature of talents and gifts. I've been recommending it to many reading friends. An excellent choice for book clubs." - Renee T. (Seward, PA)

"There are no wasted words, no characters that are not pivotal to the story. All leading to a finale the reader does not see coming. You are rewarded with a vision that surpasses all expectations." - Lydia M. (Richland, OR)

"Ultimately this is a book about strength and courage. The courage to face life as it happens and to forge your own path using the gifts you have been given. These women use their wings, art, and curiosity as their guides. I loved it." - Susan L. (Alexandria, VA)

It's 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. What follows is a twelve-day road trip in a custom truck to deliver Southern California's first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy Woodrow. Inspired by true events, the tale weaves real-life figures with fictional ones, including the world's first female zoo director, a crusty old man with a past, a young female photographer with a secret, and assorted reprobates as spotty as the giraffes.

"I loved the characters, Woody, the 'Old Man' and Red. I really liked that it was based on real events. I have recommended this book to several people." - cls1230

"I really enjoyed the book...The characters were very well developed and I could feel for each one of them and what they were dealing with during the Depression era. The author covered so many themes; from poverty, racism, animal cruelty, circus vs, zoos, and coming of age and death. And did it very well. I would and have recommended this book." - reene

"A compelling story that takes you through the highs and lows of a pretty fantastic journey during a tough era in American history." - jjbryant

"It's been three days since the ship slowly pulled out of New York Harbor, since she watched her family get smaller and smaller. For one brief moment, she had held them in her palms before they disappeared." In Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash, Beatrix Thompson, 11 years old in 1940, arrives in a strangely idyllic America so different from her homeland across the Atlantic that it seems like an entirely different world. Her parents will continue living in London, waiting with bated breath for bombs to fall each night. Meanwhile, she is here, safe and sound on the East Coast but feeling utterly alone — that is, until she is collected by the Gregorys, the family with whom she has been assigned to live. Mr. Gregory is a schoolteacher; Mrs. Gregory is an effervescent, gregarious homemaker raising two boisterous boys: William, two years older than Beatrix, and Gerald, two years younger. Beatrix soon finds herself in a golden, sunlit meadow of protected childhood.

Life seems to dangle, frozen, and each moment is perfectly captured by Spence-Ash, whose incredibly compelling descriptive narrative opens brief windows into the characters' lives... continued

During World War II, the constant threat of German bombs falling on London and other key cities forced many English families to make an incredibly painful choice: whether to keep their children with them in this dangerous area or to separate from them, sending them away to places where they could hopefully live more safely and normally. Known as Operation Pied Piper, the evacuation of people from the cities, mostly children, started in September of 1939 and is estimated to have involved the relocation of almost 3.75 million residents. Many of the most famous portrayals of evacuees being relocated remain within England. In Crooked Heart, for example, Noel Bostock is sent to a suburb of London for his safety. Similarly, in perhaps the most famous literary example, the Penvensie siblings of The Chronicles of Narnia go to a professor's countryside home. In Laura Spence-Ash's debut novel, Beyond That, the Sea, however, Beatrix Thompson travels for two weeks by steamship to Massachusetts to live with an American family.

Locations further afield where evacuees were sent included not only the United States but also Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. ... continued

Giovanna Fiorino-Iannace joins us from Harrison Public Library in New York to discuss her English as a Second Language book club that attracts participants from far and wide.

The ESL Book Club (English as a Second Language) started in January 2018 to meet the needs of the community. There's great interest in our English classes in Westchester County, but very few ESL Book Clubs currently in place. Over the years, we’ve had people join the group from many countries, including Japan, Korea, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Taiwan, Ecuador, Mexico, and Afghanistan. ... continued

Solve our Wordplay puzzle to reveal a well-known expression, and be entered to win a one-year membership to BookBrowse!

The answer to the last Wordplay: H I A Handsome D

Meaning: Good deeds are more important than good looks.

The earliest known reference to the sentiment expressed in this proverb is in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath" (c.1387) one of the stories/poems in his most famous work, The Canterbury Tales.

Looke who that is moost vertuous alway,

Pryvee and apert, and moost entendeth ay

To do the gentil dedes that he kan,

Taak hym for the grettest gentil man.

Which poetryintranslation renders into modern English as:

Look for the most virtuous man always,

In private and public, who sees his way

To doing the noblest deeds that he can,

There will you find the greatest gentleman. ... continued