At The Breakers
Sadieville, Ky., resident and author Mary Ann Taylor-Hall provides a story of innocence and its consequences, as well as love, its varying guises - and its consequences as well. Taylor-Hall's main character, 42-year-old Jo, flees her bungalow home in New Brunswick, N.J., after a violent attack by a man she had been seeing for months. Again disappointed in herself for her lack of judgment and the choices to which it brings her, she gathers her 13-year-old son and takes flight to the small coastal town of Sea Cove.
A small hotel there, the Breakers, is being renovated and she has begged the new owner to allow her to paint its numerous rooms in exchange for a room of her own. Shaken and scared, but determined and able, she accepts any responsibility the hotel offers and buries herself in its needs.
As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, so does her family, including her daughter, who was born when Jo was 14, another when she was 16, her distant and streetwise 18-year-old and a surprise guest whose presence intrigues and delights her. With the results of a number of her poor decisions gathered for the weekend, she tackles, as she always has, the challenges and worries her situation entails - including a magnetic draw to a local mechanic who works across the street from the Breakers. And as the small coastal hotel works on healing Jo, it draws her injured daughters in as well, allowing Jo to step back and re-evaluate her life and those of her children.
Taylor-Hall creates a cast of characters - Sea Grove locals, transient wanderers, talented loners and other assorted and very human individuals - who are undeniably wonderful, casting a party that the reader does not want to miss, despite the pain and loneliness that accompany them. And the reason is that along with that pain comes companionship, kindness, empathy and the opportunity for love in its varying forms.
Redemptive, full of hope and well worthy of the read, "At the Breakers" is Taylor-Hall's new novel, following the success of "Come and Go, Molly Snow." Her prose is as rhythmic and entrancing as the movements of the waves.
Rare Wildflowers of Kentucky
The cover of "Rare Wildflowers of Kentucky" is symbolic of the coming of spring, especially considering Lexington's winter of 2008. A black and hazy background gives birth to a colorful and delicate wildflower that defines the natural beauty of the Kentucky landscape.
Inside, an introduction to Kentucky's rare plants is accompanied by 220 full-color photos, organized according to habitat, as well as highlights of Kentucky's old growth forests, prairies and wetlands. The focus of all the efforts is conservation, as was the effort in an earlier book, "Kentucky's Last Great Places." Humans and all our activities are the primary reason for the decline in natural habitat and the loss of plants worldwide...The most serious threat to endangered species and the native flora, the authors begin the chapter titled "Reasons for Decline on Native Species."
Described in the book jacket as both a celebration and a call to action to save the plants that are a vital part of Kentucky's natural heritage, "Rare Wildflowers of Kentucky" can be appreciated for both its beauty and the importance and relevance of the message it sends. From coffee table to reference library, it is a treasure that hones in on Kentucky's uniqueness.