OSL Library – The Intercom, March 2019

Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris is the OSL Library committee’s selection for the Winter One Church One Read title.

“Two Children for Sale.” The sign is a last resort. It sits on a farmhouse porch in 1931, but could be found anywhere in an era of breadlines, bank runs, and broken dreams. Any mother facing impossible choices could have written it.

For struggling reporter Ellis Reed, the gut-wrenching scene evokes memories of his family’s dark past. He snaps a photograph of the children, not meant for publication, but when it leads to his big break, the consequences are more devastating than he ever imagined.

At the paper, Lillian Palmer is haunted by her role in all that happened. She is far too familiar with the heartbreak of children deemed unwanted. As the bonds of motherhood are tested, she and Ellis must decide how much they are willing to risk to mend a fractured family.

Inspired by an actual newspaper photograph that stunned the nation, Sold on a Monday is a powerful novel of love, redemption, and the unexpected paths that bring us home.

Copies of the book are available for checkout in the Library; the discussion will be at 10:00 a.m. on March 24 in the Conference Room.

Second Saturday Movie
This month’s feature, on March 9, will be Unbroken, an epic drama that follows the incredible life of Olympian and WWII hero Louis “Louie” Zamperini (Jack O’Connell). When his Army Air Force bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, Zamperini and two other crewmembers survived on a foundering life raft for 47 days. The men faced thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, thirst, starvation, and enemy aircraft. Beyond the raft, they faced a trial even greater—they were caught by the Japanese navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini answered desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; and brutality with rebellion. (The follow-up movie Unbroken: Path to Redemption will be the April Second Saturday Movie.)

Make a day of it with the movie at 2:30 in the Holy Word Theatre, followed by worship at 5:00 in the Sanctuary, and dinner afterward in The Gathering Place!

New for Adults
True Places by Sonja Yoerg. A girl emerges from the woods, starved, ill, and alone…and collapses. Suzanne Blakemore hurtles along the highway, away from her overscheduled and completely normal life, and encounters the girl. As Suzanne rushes her to the hospital, she never imagines how the encounter will change her—a change she both fears and desperately needs.

Suzanne has the perfect house, a successful husband, and a thriving family. However, beneath the veneer of an ideal life, her daughter is rebelling, her son is withdrawing, her husband is oblivious to it all, and Suzanne is increasingly unsure of her place in the world. After her discovery of the ethereal 16-year-old, Iris, who has never experienced civilization, Suzanne is compelled to invite Iris into her family’s life and all its apparent privileges.

Iris has an independence, a love of solitude, and a discomfort with materialism that contrasts with everything the Blakemores stand for—qualities that awaken in Suzanne first a fascination, then a longing. Now Suzanne can’t help but wonder: Is she destined to save Iris, or is Iris the one who will save her?

Additional New Titles for Adults
• The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
• To the Moon and Back by Karen Kingsbury
• The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

New for Middle- and High-School Youth
Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott. Can you love someone you can never touch?

Stella Grant likes to be in control—even though her totally out of control lungs have sent her in and out of the hospital most of her life. At this point, what Stella needs to control most is keeping herself away from anyone or anything that might pass along an infection and jeopardize the possibility of a lung transplant. Five feet apart. No exceptions.

The only thing Will Newman wants to be in control of is getting out of this hospital. He couldn’t care less about his treatments, or a fancy new clinical drug trial. Soon, he’ll turn 18 and then he’ll be able to unplug all these machines and actually go see the world, not just its hospitals.

Will is exactly what Stella needs to stay away from. If he so much as breathes on Stella, she could lose her spot on the transplant list. Either one of them could die. The only way to stay alive is to stay apart. Suddenly five feet doesn’t feel like safety. It feels like punishment.

What if they could steal back just a little bit of the space their broken lungs have stolen from them? Would five feet apart really be so dangerous if it stops their hearts from breaking too?

Additional New Titles for Middle- and High-School
• Speechless by Adam P. Schmitt
• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
• Dog Diaries by James Patterson