I passed up this book several times thinking it may be too "dark" for my tastes. On a whim I picked it up and read the first 10 or so pages. I instantly feel in love with plucky little Briony. This is the story of a young girl who worships her older sister and ultimately destroys their relationship due to a misplaced need to protect her. Can she ever atone for her mistake?

I had the honor of seeing Pat Conroy and Doug Marlette together at a book festival in Durham, NC a few years ago. The deep friendship and humor between these two men was clearly tangible. I was already very familiar with Conroy (love his books) but didn't really much about Marlette. He talked about his book “The Bridge” and the next day I picked it up. Being a North Carolina native I really enjoyed his description of life in the south during the 1930’s. But especially his telling the story about the mill strikes and the injury and death of many of the people that stood up against low paying sweatshop dead-end jobs. This is a multi-faceted lively read about the politics and oppressiveness of small (southern) town America. I actually spoke with Doug Marlette about him attending our Book Club meeting but alas our schedules at the time did not mesh. Since his untimely and tragic death earlier this year, his books have become even more special to me.