An older girl doesn't remember when her grandma's hair was as black as a crow, but she cherishes the lock of it in her grandma's scrapbook. Pictures, wisps of her own baby hair, a flower, and a shell all hold the power of memory. Each precious item tells a story and becomes a living legacy as the girl shares the story of her grandma's scrapbook. With a majestic grace we are reminded that with loss comes sorrow, but memory offers comfort and joy.

The beauty of the illustrations underscores the beauty of the message in GRANDMA'S SCRAPBOOK. Illustrator Maureen Hyde brings her love of classical art to bear with her own fluid style, creating illustrations that look and feel like snapshots out of time yet are rich with intensity and emotion. Likewise, Josephine Nobisso pens a poignant tale of memory and joy captured in the pages of a scrapbook and shared through generations. Children will warm to this poignant tale, wishing to create their own scrapbook of priceless memories. Destined to become a classic, GRANDMA'S SCRAPBOOK comes very highly recommended.

Grandma's Scrapbook is the companion book to Josephine Nobisso's Grandpa Loved. In this gentle, tender story, a girl looks back on all the wonderful summers she spent with her grandmother. Grandma has made remembering easy, because she kept a special scrapbook of their times together..."Grandma started that scrapbook because I was once too young to remember, and because one day, I may get too old to remember." Maureen Hyde's beautiful, detailed artwork enhances the story with just the right expressive touch. And, even though we find out that Grandma has died at the end of the book, the story is not maudlin, but uplifting and told with honesty, wisdom and much love.

I told my mom that I wanted to tell everybody that I love Grandma's Scrapbook and that they should read it! I sent one to my grandma.

If "sleeping with the head facing magnetic north" sounds like helpful beauty advice to you, then this book is for you. One of the problems is this book tries to be everything. About 100 pages focus on beauty, 25 on hair and the rest of the book is about stuff that I would consider marginally related to beauty. If I wanted to learn about diets, exercise plans or meditating, I'd be buying whole books on those topics, not a beauty bible. Also, when authors start talking about colonic irrigation and bust enhancing creams, they start to lose a little credibility.

Another problem is the date of the book, 1996. How many of the products reviewed are still around 4 years later? How many have the same formulations? Due to the book being written/published in the UK, some products reviewed aren't readily available here, and conversely, some US products aren't available there and were excluded.

I give it 3 stars for the first 100 pages or so, which really do have nice pictures and illustrations, and very well-written instructions. I just wish the whole book had been like the first 100 pages. I also bought Stephanie Seymour's book and found that to be much more practical and meaty. If you like more of a scientific approach to things, you probably won't be thrilled with this book.

This book is sheer quality. Everything about it is top notch. An absolute mass of information, intelligently delivered and inspiring in its approach. DON'T buy anything else. I am an Oxford University lecturer and demand and expect real substance to any book I buy. So rarely is this the case with Health and Beauty literature. But this one really makes the grade.

This book is the best beauty book Ive ever read. The authors give the top products, top budget buys, and top natural choices in each section. They even included a directory of where to find the products. There is so much relevant information in this book. It truly is a beauty bible!

I do like this tarot deck. A lot of effort was put into the major arcana cards as they are very well drawn. The colors used are a bit different from most of the decks that I have seen and really seem to suit the cards meaning. The minor arcana cards are nice and are quite different from any that I have seen before. All have rather large numbers on them and the symbol of their suit. There is also a bit of a picture or a artistic background to reflect the mood of the card. Each card is also labeled with the meaning of the card which is good for the beginner, but is perhaps too resticting as a card can have several meanings. It is a very nice deck and is a good addition to anyones collection.

As a frequent Tarot reader for young people, I find myself having to give the meanings for cards to the participants over and over again. But that stopped just as soon as I discovered the Gill Tarot. I've worn out two decks of Gill Tarot cards, and am now on my third deck.

The pictures of both the Major and Minor Arcana are very beautiful and colorful. The backs contain a Tree of Life and the symbols for it. A great deal of the symbolism that inspired these cards comes directly from classical religious literature.

The Major Arcana are enough like the standard Rider/Waite Tarot to be understandable to even a novice, but have enough symbolism to enchant the most dedicated readers. But it is the Minor Arana that stopped most of my questions from younger subjects. All of the Minor Arcana have a single word written on them to provide a basic meaning for that card. Although some may find this limiting, simple readings do not have to be an in depth look at the soul - just answers to simple questions. And the same level of symbolism is on all of the Minor Arcana - so if you want to "wing it" you can.

The 24 page booklet gives you the basics of those cards as well as a sample layout - and it's not a Celtic Cross either! It's a simplified "Tree of Life" layout that can add a great deal of richness and depth to a standard reading.

I find myself being drawn back to this deck over and over again from the ones I own. If you haven't seen it, it has one of my higher recommendations.

I have owned this Deck and used it for over 4 years. This is the most beautiful and awesome deck I have ever used or seen. Everyone I have done a reading for with this deck is so impressed by it's beauty. I actually ordered this deck as a gift for my Daughter in Law! She had never been exposed to TAROT and this really made an impression on her and her husband. If you want a deck that has beautiful artwork, is nontradtional and is easy to read, this is THE DECK for you!!! Enjoy the gifts of Tarot that the Gill Deck can bring to you!

The concept behind Tey's *The Singing Sands* immediately drew me in. A bit of poetry written on a newspaper leads the inspector to solve a crime that only he believes is indeed actually a crime. Yes, very interesting. However, once I started reading I found the pacing a little slow. Grant was far more introspective, more concerned with his own fears, than most mystery protagonists. Which was not, by any means, a bad thing. I just had to adjust my mindset a bit. Once I realized that this was not to be a typical solve it and feel good mystery, I found myself sinking in, slowly. Admittedly, it took me a couple of days after finishing the novel to appreciate it, to find it a satisfying read. But one thing has definitely come from reading *The Singing Sands*--I'm now looking forward to reading more Josephine Tey novels.

Because I have always adored The Daughter of Time, I recently spent a weekend with The Singing Sands, The Franchise Affair, and The Man in the Queue. Singing Sands I found compelling and satisfying in an old-fashioned way -- we get a deep, poetic examination of the hero's psychological journey and his Scottish surroundings. Fine irony and good jokes at the reader's expense made me enjoy this book even more.
DO read this Josephine Tey -- but, if you are wise, do not expect a similar treat from her first mystery, The Man in the Queue: the world of that book is too far away from ours.

This book is definitely my favourite of the Ins. Grant series. It is truly unfortunate that Ms. Tey was taken from us so young. Just think what she would have written! This book was published posthumously after her untimely death. It is as perfect a mystery as you will ever come across. In the book Grant is going on a holiday. On the train that he has taken to go to Scotland to visit friends, a young man is found dead in his room. It truly looked like misadventure, but something about it disturbed Grant and got him searching a trail that took him to the Hebrides, back to London, and to Marseilles. And what actually got him going on this impossible search were a few lines of poetry scrawled on a newspaper that the young victim had had with him before he died. Wonderful story!

It is little wonder that Chilean philosopher, John Baines, (literary pseudonym of Dario Salas
Sommer), has earned legendary status in South America and Europe. "Morals for the Twenty-first
Century," his latest writing, is a visionary work that could very well change the way the world is
perceived. In the time it took me to read this book, I saw 30 years of professional study in physics,
philosophy, and psychology totally re-configured.

John Baines creates one of the first truly integrative models of morality and physics. This precedent-setting paradigm, which Baines labels "Moral Physics", is not merely an advancement of great
importance in its own right; it is even more significant as model for a new school of scientific inquiry
that advances the theories of such revolutionary scientists as Carlo Rubbia, David Bohn, Fritz Popp, Erwin Schrodinger, and Karl Pribram.

According to the theory of Moral Physics, each phenomenon and every entity is neither a whole

nor a part, but both simultaneously. Whatever affects the tiniest particle affects the complete structure.
Respect for natural laws, empathy for ones fellow man, and concern for other life forms are not merely
adaptive traits that may help humanity survive. They are moral imperatives, grounded in physics, that
impose on us an evolutionary responsibility to develop superior states of consciousness capable of
manifesting the Divine spark within us.

It is perhaps Baines' intuitive way of looking at the universe with his scientist's eye and philosopher's heart, that allows him to explain abstract scientific concepts in straightforward, understandable terms. Whatever the source of this rare insight, (which he says he has had since birth) Baines is able to distill from complex nature its essential beauty and simplicity without sacrificing its underlying principles.

This new school of thought lies on the cutting-edge of a growing and provocative field; one that is certain to generate lively debate. This in no small measure accounts for Baines' work being accepted with such great enthusiasm, and to be fair, with considerable controversy. This book is a groundbreaking primer for universal truth seekers.

Morals for the 21st Century talks about a different kind of world. It reminds us not only that it is possible to be moral in this world but that it is beneficial to us to be that way. It reminds us that cutting corners with respect to our principals may have short term gains but generally results in costly payment down the road.

How many times do we hear or do we say: " What goes around comes around"? Well this book explains the commonly repeated maxim in profound detail.

Enjoy and Johnny be good!

PS For another great read, with equivalent inspiration, try The Secret Science by the same author, John Baines.

It is little wonder that Chilean philosopher, John Baines, (literary pseudonym of Dario Salas
Sommer), has earned legendary status in South America and Europe. "Morals for the Twenty-first
Century," his latest writing, is a visionary work that could very well change the way the world is
perceived. In the time it took me to read this book, I saw 30 years of professional study in physics,
philosophy, and psychology totally re-configured.

John Baines creates one of the first truly integrative models of morality and physics. This precedent-setting paradigm, which Baines labels "Moral Physics", is not merely an advancement of great
importance in its own right; it is even more significant as model for a new school of scientific inquiry
that advances the theories of such revolutionary scientists as Carlo Rubbia, David Bohn, Fritz Popp, Erwin Schrodinger, and Karl Pribram.

According to the theory of Moral Physics, each phenomenon and every entity is neither a whole
nor a part, but both simultaneously. Whatever affects the tiniest particle affects the complete structure.
Respect for natural laws, empathy for ones fellow man, and concern for other life forms are not merely
adaptive traits that may help humanity survive. They are moral imperatives, grounded in physics, that
impose on us an evolutionary responsibility to develop superior states of consciousness capable of
manifesting the Divine spark within us.

It is perhaps Baines' intuitive way of looking at the universe with his scientist's eye and philosopher's heart, that allows him to explain abstract scientific concepts in straightforward, understandable terms. Whatever the source of this rare insight, (which he says he has had since birth) Baines is able to distill from complex nature its essential beauty and simplicity without sacrificing its underlying principles.

This new school of thought lies on the cutting-edge of a growing and provocative field; one that is certain to generate lively debate. This in no small measure accounts for Baines' work being accepted with such great enthusiasm, and to be fair, with considerable controversy. This book is a groundbreaking primer for universal truth seekers. It was life altering for me, and I am convinced it will have a profound effect on anyone willing to explore this brave and bold new world.

Josephine Tey's 1949 THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR is frequently described as a mystery or a detective novel. In fact, it is nothing of the kind; it is instead a tale of the emotional tension and legal maneuvering that occurs in the wake of a highly publicized false accusation.

Elderly Mrs. Sharpe and her highly individualistic daughter Marion reside on the outskirts of a rural English community in a decaying mansion known as Franchise. Although considered eccentric by locals, they are tolerated--until an attractive schoolgirl named Betty Kane claims that she was kidnapped, beaten, and held prisoner by the Sharpes for a month. Betty Kane's story is convincing enough to draw both the interest of Scotland Yard and the national press, but Sharpe's solicitor recognizes her for what she is: a vicious creature eager to conceal her real activities from her unsuspecting family. And even as the press comes down hard on the side of the girl and the locals turn on the Sharpes, he sets out to expose Betty Kane before the world for the liar she is.

The story itself is extremely credible, the characters remarkably well drawn, and Tey writes in a very elegant style that offers enough detail to perfectly capture the story, characters, and locales without overplaying into excess. A truly enjoyable work; recommended.

--GFT (Amazon Reviewer)--

THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR is an unusual detective novel. There is no murder; in fact, the question at the heart of the story is whether there is a crime at all. A young girl named Betty Kane accuses two women, Marion Sharpe and her mother, Mrs. Sharpe, of kidnapping her, beating her, and holding her prisoner at their house, the Franchise. The girl gives a damningly accurate description of the attic in which she was supposedly imprisoned. Inspector Grant makes the barest of appearances in this novel; instead, the detective reins are taken over by a lawyer named Robert Blair, who is convinced that the girl is lying.

Josephine Tey's novels are noted for their unconventional plots, and THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR is no exception. Unlike Christie, who usually withholds her revelations until the very end, Tey pieces the puzzle together step by step, allowing the reader to see the truth come together as the story progresses. And while the plot may lack the brilliance and ingenuity of Christie, it is clever and well-constructed.

THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR is more than just a mystery; it is an incredibly rich and satisfying novel. The characters are well-developed, the story is engaging, the writing is crisp and literate, and there is plenty of social commentary on English life in the early 1900s.

Josephine Tey is remarkable for the broad subject range of her books and for fine writing. A similarity in her books is that she writes about people with insecure identities. It begins as a story of kidnapping and assault and is improbable given the characteristics of the two women who live at The Franchise. Robert Blair, solicitor for Mrs. and Miss Sharpe, sees a look of triumph on the alleged victim's face when she manages to describe some luggage accurately. Robert's aunt feels that odd people live at The Franchise. The maid in the aunt's house is having a round of excessive religious enthusiasm Robert finds. Robert wonders whether his life is so placid that a stranger's jeopardy stirs him. The girl is a prosecuting counsel's dream of a victim. A tabloid then blows the matter wide open. An observer feels the Sharpes are incapable of insane conduct. The case is not sub judice and so the press is free to comment. The tabloid story actually supports a defense investigation since the girl's picture is published and anyone who knows something about her absence for a month may view it. It is discovered that the victim has a photographic memory. The victim's mother had gone dancing with officers during World War II. The girl did go bus-riding during her vaction. Robert determines that she could have seen the details of the house from the top of a double decker bus.

Jazz Cleopatra is a slim volume (269 pages of text, plus notes and bibliography) but clearly a well-researched and well-written one. Rose's extensive notes and bibliography give a samll idea of how much thinking went into the writing of the book, and indeed it has the feel of something which has been carefully considered.

It's worth emphasizing that the subtitle of the book is "Josephine Baker in Her Time". I stress the point because I think that the reader should expect that this is not so much a biography (although biography is an important element) as it is a contextual portrait. Rose spends a lot of time on Baker not just as a person, but as an icon and the book is often closer to cultural criticism than "true" biography.

This isn't a bad thing, necessarily, it's just that I was looking more for biography and probably more for personality and that's not what Rose had to offer.

I honestly must admit I was surprised - schocked in fact - with seriousness,love and depth this author approached a subject which would many consider lightweight.As a difference from many other celebrated biographers who are basically just listing recording dates,Rose goes into describing the atmosphere around Paris in 1920's,what a half nude black woman on the stage meant to european audience at the time,all of a sudden we have discussion about Picasso,Hitler,De Gaulle and the whole book is just simply fascinating.On many occasions there were clever observations about life - I find myself seriously thinking about my own life while reading a book about a person who doesnt have anything in common with me - its almost a biblical saga about a strong individual,a fighter and survivor in a world that objects to anybody who stands above the crowd.Baker could have just used her sex appeal to get rich and built herself from the poverty,instead she changed the world around her and used all her energy to spread humanity wherever she went (it made me think about Lennon lyrics:"you may say I'm a dreamer,but I'm not the only one").Rose doesn't just idolise Baker,there is a understanding that such a strong personality was as powerful to audience as overbearing to people close to her in private life,which seems to be a destiny of anybody with a big influence.
Instead of another entertainer-biography I stumbled upon serious and deep analysis of fascinating character,brave and honest,sensitive woman.Bravo!

Josephine Baker was a unique entertainer, we all know, but she was also an amazing woman off stage.

This fascinating biography satisfies not only the interests of musicians and jazz fans but also those readers interested in Black history and the lives of remarkable women. I read it twice, I loved it so much. Good sense of mid 20th century Paris, and other details really do come alive.

We received this book as a present and it really creeped me out. The illustrations and relief paper were overwhelmed by the vapid story. The animals attempt to be profound in an atheistic manner. The story achieves nothingness perfectly!

I'm 11 years old and will read it to a group of 1st graders at my school. I really liked the book especially all the colors against a white background and bumpy texture of the pages. The pictures are great too. It shows how each of the animals gave gifts to make a Christmas Tree for them to share. I think the 1st graders will really like it, I did!

Caroline Repchuck has written a christmas fable for all religions, races or creeds. It is simple in it's form, but abundant in it's sence of wonder. Our 2 year old daughter insists on constant rereadings of it. It has become a real family favourite, and quickly takes on the characteristics of something much older and wiser than most modern childrens books. Buy it. Yes there is a serious tone, but speaking it aloud makes one feel like a wise old inuit shaman passing pearls of infinate and ancient wizdom down to his loved ones. A classic, and beautifully illustrated too.

Dr. Wright has some good views on the abuse and misuse of the terrible drug "Ritalin". She also shows how there is more to treating children with behavioral problems then simply giving them drugs. What I didn't like was that she still condones the use of stimulants for treating children who have been labelled with "ADHD". Drugs like Ritalin treat only the symptoms. They do not get to the root of the problem, and therefore, only work while the person is under the influence of these drugs. These are the same drugs that are sold on the streets and refered to as speed. Do you realy think we should be giving them to our children? I don't think so! If you really want to learn about treating behavioral problems, hyperativity, hypoglycemia, allergies, poor nutrition, learning differences, and other symptoms that are commonly misdiagnosed as "ADHD", please read "NO MORE RITALIN", by Dr. Mary Ann Block. After over a year of my own research on my daughters problems, I have found Dr. Block's book to be an invaluable asset. She shows how perscription drugs are big bussiness, and how they make big money off of us at our childrens expense. She helps you to solve the problems by getting to the root of the problem, not just covering the symptoms. "Do We Need Ritalin", is a good start, but "No More Ritalin" takes us all the way to healing our children into healthy and produtive adults, with out turning them into drug addicts!

I am writing this review with the intention of encouraging a much-needed re-print of this excellent little book. I have been recommending it to parents, school counsellors and teachers since it first appeared, and was shocked to hear it has become unavailabe. I have read a great number of books about ADHD, and Dr. Wright's is one of the clearest and most comprehensive works of its kind. In an easily-readable and empathetic FAQ form, she describes ADHD and its sufferers, and presents scientifically serious arguments for a global, multimodal treatment approach, explaining the use and rationale of Ritalin and other treatments, including various other medications as well as psychotherapeutic and psychosocial interventions. Dr. Wright has distilled her encyclopedic knowledge and obviously vast experience into a useful guide primarily intended for the parents of children with ADHD, but it should also be on the "must" list of all who have any responsibilities in the raising, care and education of all children and adolescents. The only change I would have wished for would be the title. A better one would have been, perhaps: ADHD AND ITS TREATMENT - WHY RITALIN AND WHY MORE. In closing, it is worthy of note that Dr. Wright, whose book was published in 1997, was already working within the framework described and implied by two excellent review articles in the current volume of the New England Journal of Medicine (1999, 340:40-46 and 780-788).

Of all the books about medical things that I have read this is the best by far. Dr. Wright's advice should be must reading for anyone with ADHD as well as families, close friends, and those who are simply interested in that subject.

Review by Jillian Abbott

Nowhere Else On Earth by Josephine Humphreys is an historical novel with equal emphasis on history and fiction.
In terms of history, the book stays close to known facts. But Humphreys doesn't stop there. In inventing a first person memoir, she creates a subjective, indeed, feminine, history. "Mine is only a single and limited testimony, one woman's version. . ."
There is mischief in her narrator, the curious Rhoda Strong. She is game even to examine and question the true nature of history, racial prejudice and scapegoating, all described in such a way as to render today's incidences of ethnic violence comprehensible: ". . . it wasn't an English that sliced him . . . [it was] his own neighbor! . . . We were neighbor against neighbor."
In fictional terms the characters and events are portrayed with grace, subtly, and depth. Gaps in the story are filled by citing period newspapers. Yet there is an irony here as when, after drawing considerably from the press, Rhoda points out the divergence between the life she actually leads and the one portrayed by the media.
But in creating this personal history, Humphreys is again playing with us. What is the line between the personal and the political?
In the Prologue, supposedly written on November 3, 1890, the feisty and wise Rhoda sets out her intentions and hopes for her narrative and outlines her view on the nature of history, stating that nobody will ever be able to render the story of Scuffletown complete and objective, "just as a soldier can never describe a whole battle - only his piece of it . . ."
In choosing the words, "us and our times" to refer to her story, Humphreys is telling us this is a political work, as much about the society that denied the Scuffletown Indians justice, as it is about one particular Indian woman.
Rhoda is a Lowrie by blood and marriage, and "the Lowries are Indians. The whole place is Indian. And that's the answer to who we are."
But is it? Dr. McCabe, a member of the Scottish Confederate overclass, isn't so sure. He studies Rhoda and her people, measures their heads, and invasively probes their origins. By the second half of the book McCabe is sure there is more to the Lowries than anyone suspects.
As the true origin of the Scuffletown Indians dawns on McCabe, the Civil War is almost over. It is a desperate lawless time. To the Scottish Confederates, the source of their defeat, and all that has gone wrong in their lives, is clear. Their demise is not the result of Union soldiers or their own bad ideas; rather, it is the Lowries and Scuffletown who are responsible.
Again Humphreys uses subjective truth to make her point. McTeer, the brutal Deputy Sheriff and a leader of lynch mobs, spells out why the Lowries are guilty, and even how they differ from respectable white folks: "The noble morals is bred out. Your makeup is what they call bestial . . ."
Using simple prose Humphreys evokes the times in hauntingly powerful images. As the Civil War drags towards its end, and as the defensive gang formed by Rhoda's husband, Henry, nearly matches the Confederate whites in brutality, Scuffletown can't even manage to fill its belly. The inhabitants have neither food nor money, which hardly matters because the stores have no food to sell. Desperation pervades: "There was gunfire every night, everywhere, and just about every farmer's watch dog was shot. Some were eaten."
Yet despite the harsh times, Rhoda is a woman with a great capacity for love, and it is her love for Scuffletown and its people that motivates her. After all, for Rhoda, there is, Nowhere Else On Earth.

In 1864 Scuffletown, many mixed-breed descendants of the native Lumbee Indian Tribe laboriously toil at the turpentine business. The group is extremely poor but work hard to help their families survive. Living nearby are wealthy and powerful Scottish plantation owners who still own black slaves. As the Civil War winds down, the residents of Scuffletown struggle with the Home Guard that conscripts their young males into building for the Confederacy. The Union soldiers are as ugly to town residents. The townsfolk want the war to go away so they can move on with their lives.

For defying the Confederacy, local citizen Henry Lowrie and some other men hide in the nearby swamps to escape his fellow Carolinians wrath. Eventually, Henry turns to robbery to survive and ultimately is accused of murder. As Henry makes love with teenager Rhoda Strong, his gentle father is hung as retribution for Henry's actions. He seeks revenge, but finds time to marry his beloved Rhoda before fleeing from the area during Reconstruction.

NOWHERE ELSE ON EARTH is an incredible accomplishment that showcases the talent of Josephine Humphreys. Rhoda narrates the story line as she looks back over the years to the havoc caused by the Civil War and the Reconstruction on her indigent people. The characters are fully developed especially the interrelationships in which race rules even amidst the Northern Army. The insightful plot provides a unique look at the Civil War that allows readers to grasp the torment yet valor of a small group under siege from all sides. Ms. Humphreys uses historical facts to bring to life a People during an era when the rights of a small minority are trampled.

Harriet Klausner

Set in the swampy, piney backwoods of North Carolina at the close of the Civil War in 1864, Josephine Humphreys' passionate, beautifully written novel evokes a time of struggle and helplessness in a proud insular community whose members trace their ancestry back to the Indians. Derisively dubbed Scuffletown by its "mack" neighbors (Scottish farmers mostly), known as "the settlement" to its inhabitants, the area subsists on turpentine manufacture, which has come to a halt with the war.

Narrator Rhoda Strong recalls those days of upheaval, tragedy and love from the vantagepoint of her middle years. She was 16, daughter of a stalwart Scuffletown woman and an outsider, a Scot, weaned from drinking by his wife and subject to bouts of depression.

As the story opens, Rhoda's mother, Cee, keeps the family inside their one-room, windowless ("because Cee said we're only inside at night and what good is a window then? Just one more thing to lock up.") cabin in the heat of summer to protect them, especially Rhoda's two brothers, from the Home Guard. The Home Guard is made up of "mack" neighbors, determined to spare their own boys by conscripting Scuffletown youth for forced labor at the Confederate forts and salt works.

It's a lawless time in the backcountry and the sadistic head of the Home Guard rules with impunity. After he kills two boys who escaped from the work gangs, Scuffletown's young men take to the woods, under the leadership of Henry Berry Lowrie, a charismatic, focused young man admired by the whole community, secretly loved by Rhoda.

But Cee is adamantly against the match, though she believes Henry "could turn out to be the best we've got. The best we've ever seen." This naturally confuses Rhoda, but her mother explains: "You want an ordinary man with a little flaw. A hurt, a weakness somewhere. Then you can be a helpmeet, and you'll have a bond. That's a man who'll give you some security, in return for what you give him. But what could you do for a man like Henry? What does he need that only you could provide? Nothing."

Cee also worries that Henry's leadership, a boon when times are good, could tear apart the community if he meets the violence they suffer with violence of his own. But since when does a girl ever take her mother's advice on a husband?

Scuffletown doesn't much care who wins the war. They take in deserting or wounded soldiers from both sides, hoping for peace to let them get back to farming, resurrect the turpentine business and maybe build a school.

But eventually Sherman's March brushes Scuffletown, incidentally disrupting the Home Guard's final murdering rampage. But the rampage's aftermath makes Henry a permanent outlaw with a price on his head, leaving Rhoda waiting.

"The first part of my life was over, and the second had not begun. I was drifting and waiting, and even though I had kept myself busy, inside the carcass of a chicken or rolling dough or running out a line of stitches so tiny I couldn't even see them, I felt deeply idle, stopped cold in the middle of my life." Her life resumes but its momentum is largely out of her hands, as her mother had warned.

This is a novel of human forces grown beyond human control - violence breeding violence, feeding on pride, duplicity and vengeance. Though events are tragic, told in Rhoda's voice, it's not tragedy. Humphreys' characters come alive in Rhoda's telling. Their eccentricities, strengths and best moments, even their foibles and weaknesses, call upon her deep affections. Each is an individual; together they form a vital force.

Humphreys' ("Dreams of Sleep," "Rich in Love") writing is rich, earthy and eloquent, permeated with the rhythms of the Deep South. She delivers a clear, compelling story and Rhoda Strong is a winning, vibrant heroine. A wise and romantic novel.