By T. Greenwood

Greenwood had me reading late into the night, as the story of Harper Montgomery's life and past events are revealed bit by bit.  Montgomery, a young widower raising his daughter, Shelley, in the small Vermont town of Two Rivers in 1980, is still mourning the loss of his beloved wife, Betsy, in an accident 12 years before, when Shelley was just a baby.  A train derailment finds Harper, a railroad worker, rescuing a pregnant black teenager from the water.  This sets in motion a complex tale of guilt, remorse, revenge, and forgiveness. Greenwood holds our attention by alternating the train wreck in 1980 with flashbacks from 1968 that set the scene for the following events. The author portrays the turbulence of the civil rights era and Vietnam War protests, and the historical perspective is fascinating.  Book groups will want to consider it, and high school libraries may want to add this novel.   ~ Recommended by Gayle