Evergreen, by Belva Plain

Having finished and enjoyed one Belva Plain book, I was eager to read another.

A great family saga, following Anna Friedman from her childhood in a 19th century Polish village through her immigration to America. Anna's life encompasses World Wars I and II, marriage, family, the depression, her husband's successful business, and many tragedies and joys.She lives to see grandchildren and a great granddaughter some fifty-odd years after her arrival.
Ever since her service as a maid in the Werner household, Anna has kept her attraction to the handsome young son of the family to herself, and after an incident several years later, she has even more devastating secrets to keep.

A Thousand Days in Venice, by Marlena de Blasi

Read and reviewed in May, 2012, given to another Bookcrosser

This caught my eye, perhaps because I am currently reading Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes and I have Italy on my mind. I hope it will be better than the usual "romance."

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It was better, much better and a book that I thoroughly enjoyed! The true story of a whirlwind romance, marriage and happy-ever-after between an American woman and an Italian man.

Fall On Your Knees, by Ann-Marie MacDonald

Read, reviewed, and released May-June, 2010

An Oprah's Book Club book

A hard-working young man determined to succeed in life unexpectedly fell for the 13-year-old daughter of a client, who climbed from her window and ran away with him. Married life is not what either of them expected, but they are trying to adjust to it and to each other. That's as far as I've gotten; it's a fascinating book!

It was a fascinating book - very hard to read due to difficult and unsettling subjects, but impossible to put down (for long anyway)! This is the saga of a dysfunctional family that encompasses everything, but in the end love and respect and forgiveness conquer.