I had a book in mind to review for Valentine’s Day, but was hesitant to reveal the choice to my mentor and fellow reviewer Jeff Minick. Would it fit his idea of what a Valentine’s Day book should be? 

In the year 2020, we lived with a pandemic and a hotly contested presidential race. Strong feelings made their appearance, frustration and anger among them.

With the winter season upon me, I couldn’t help but seek out a book to fit my longing for cold snow. I settled on a reread: “Kristin Lavransdatter” (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, 2005, 1,168 pages).

For those of you who don’t know her, Julia Nunnally Duncan is an award-winning freelance writer and author of 11 books of nonfiction, fiction and poetry who is a native of Western North Carolina whose hometown is Marion.

In 1933 Germany, headmistress Anna Essinger was ordered by the newly-elected Nazi party to fly a Nazi flag above her school.

The Covid pandemic has produced many new books with many of them addressing the current situation in which we humans find ourselves and the pressing issues that we need to address.

Ron Rash’s new novel “The Caretaker” (Doubleday, 2023, 252 pgs.) is much different than his previous novels.