Books to Borrow Williamsburg Public Library Recommends

Author Deborah Willis begins her tales in the dark with “The Dark.” Best friends Andrea and Jess do everything together, including sharing a bunk and sneaking out every night at summer camp. They thought they were in love, but they also planned to meet boys to fall in love with that summer. When camp ended, they stayed friends and when summer camp began again, they made new best friends. Life went on. They got boyfriends; they grew up. Life is made of moments. Willis’ stories tend to focus on the moments. They are not all fairytales in the sense that they are true to real life.

One that seems more like a fairytale, is “The Passage Bird.” Shiri is young when the story begins. She lives with her father, mother, and brother and occasionally they receive a visit from the hawk man. Legend has it he turns little girls into birds. Sometimes he seems scary, but there is something alluring, too. After suffering a great loss, her family dynamic is different and she can’t handle the monotony and the pretending. A visit from the hawk man leads her to begin visiting him. She’s still fourteen, so maybe there’s a chance she can still be a bird. A raven, perhaps?

Some of the stories’ endings seem left to the reader’s imagination. Does Siri become a bird? “Girlfriend on Mars,” keeps us guessing as to whether the girlfriend really did go on her journey or is it her boyfriend’s drug-induced hallucinations that have us believing she lived a life-time in space before returning to him in a dream after death. Did she really come back without getting to go and they’ll go back to their life growing and selling from their apartment? For this one, you make the decision; which ending do you believe?

This book proves not to judge a book by its title nor its cover. Based on the cover with dark tree limbs over the nighttime sky, readers may expect tales sinister in nature. The title suggests love stories. Perhaps the tales contain a little of everything, since life contains a little of everything.

“Last One to Leave” is told in such an unusual way. As individual stories jump around, it can be difficult to follow at first. When everything comes together and everyone’s stories are clear, it’s the most beautiful story of love and life told in a short story format. The story of Havril and Sydney is a love story. It’s human. Meaningful. When he didn’t know what else to say, he told her to stay. She had.

Several of the thirteen stories have no definitive ending, leaving it up to the reader to decide the meaning of the last words from the author’s pen. The characters are realistic and resonate with everyday people. They may not all be love stories, but they will show how love ties our worlds together.