Book ~ "Maple Sugar Pie" (2017) Susan White

From Goodreads ~ "Maple Sugar Pie" is the story of Hazel Whitford and her family's past.  Told through old black and white photographs, we see the events that caused deep fractures in her family and her estrangement from her husband and all but one of her living children.

We also see the story through the eyes of Hazel's grandson Michael's wife Jennifer, who lived with the elderly Hazel for five years. After Hazel's death, Jen and Mike's future on the farm, and the small business Jen has started, could be in jeopardy. 

Jen plans a reunion for the Canada Day long weekend hoping to reunite the family and to gain title to the farm. But will the estranged family want to return and will they be able to come to terms with the pain the events of the past have caused? 

Hazel had gotten pregnant by a fella before he went off to World War II.  Concerned what people would think, her nasty mean father married her off to Sonny, a guy who worked on his farm in rural New Brunswick.  They ended up having a happy marriage and more children until tragedy struck.  After that, things were okay until something finally broke up the family for good.

Michael is Hazel's grandson.  His mother (Hazel's daughter) had committed suicide when he was young and he was placed into foster care.  Jennifer is his girlfriend and they are short of funds and need a place to stay.  They start to visit Hazel and persuade her to let them move in with her on the farm.  Rather than taking advantage of her, they fix up the farm, have four children (who Hazel dotes on) and Jen starts a business.

When Hazel passes away five years later, it's discovered that all her children are on the deed to the farm.  Jen hates to lose what she has built up if they have to leave the farm but more importantly she thinks it's time that Hazel's estranged children and father come back to the farm to deal with the past.

This is the third book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it.  I liked the story and writing style.  It isn't told in a linear way ... we go back and forth from today to the past but also through Hazel's children's recollections.  It is told in third person perspective in various voices.  As a head's up, there is swearing and some violence.

I look forward to reading other books by this author.

Book ~ "The Memory Chair" (2015) Susan White

From Goodreads ~ Thirteen-year-old Betony has always hated going to her cranky great-grandmother's house. It's old and stuffy and boring and the woodstove in the kitchen is always burning too hot. But her Gram doesn't have any other family living close by on the Kingston Peninsula so Betony ends up being dragged along all the time. 

She'd rather be pretty much anywhere … until one day Betony sits on her Gram's favourite chair. She is suddenly transported into the past and is experiencing her Gram's life as if it were in her own memory. At first Betony is excited and curious, and begins to develop a close relationship with Gram, even learning to cook and quilt. But after she has experienced a few more of her great-grandmother's memories, she realizes she is slowly uncovering a terrible, shameful family secret.

Thirteen-year-old Betony and her family live in a small town in New Brunswick.  Though she has a large extended family, there aren't many living around so her mom and dad take care of Ida (aka Gram), her 92-year-old maternal great-grandmother who lives on the family farm.  Gram is old-school, set in her ways and cranky and Betony doesn't look forward to having to visit her.

On one reluctant visit, Betony is having a snooze in Gram's favourite old chair and she has a weird dream of something that happened in Gram's life that is very vivid.  As it continues to happen on subsequent visits, Betony realizes that she is not dreaming ... she is experiencing Gram's memories.  Not only does Betony learn more about Gram and seeing a different side of her but she starts to look forward to going to her house to learn more, especially as Gram shares her love of quilting with her.  But as the memories continue, Betony discovers a family member she didn't know about and who no one has even spoken about and she is determined to find out why.

This is the second book I've read by this author and I liked it ... I liked the story and writing style.  It was a nice feel-good book.  Though I think the target audience is young adults, I didn't find the writing juvenile.  It is written in first person perspective in Betony's voice.

I look forward to reading other books by this author.

Book ~ "Ten Thousand Truths" (2012) Susan White

From Goodreads ~ Thirteen-year-old Rachel is bad news, or so her foster care worker tells her. She's been shuttled from one rotten foster family to another ever since her mother and brother died in a car accident five years ago, and she's running out of options. So when she gets caught shoplifting and is kicked out of her latest home, the only place left to send her is the last resort for kids like her; a farm in the middle of nowhere run by a disfigured recluse named Amelia Walton, whom Rachel names 'Warty' because of the strange lumps covering her face and neck. 

Rachel settles into life on the farm, losing herself in daily chores and Amelia's endless trivia and trying to forget her past and the secret she's holding inside. But when a letter arrives for her out of the blue, Rachel soon realizes that you can't hide from your past - or your future.

Five years ago Rachel's mother and younger brother were killed in a car accident.  With no other family except for her maternal grandmother who didn't want her, Rachel, then eight, was put into the foster care system.  She was bounced from one foster family to another because of behavioral issues.  When she is caught shoplifting, that's it ... she's sent to Amelia's farm in rural New Brunswick, considered the last resort.

Rachel isn't used to the respect and support that being with Amelia provides to her and the other three foster children living there so she's initially suspicious and keeps her guard up.  Stopping in on a regular basis and helping out are Zac and Jodie, former foster children of Amelia's.  Just when Rachel has settled in and is comfortable living on the farm, she receives a letter out of the blue from a family member she didn't know she had and didn't think cared about her.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it ... I liked the story and writing style.  It was a nice feel-good book.  Though I think the target audience is young adults, I didn't find the writing juvenile.  It is written in third person perspective in various voices including Rachel's and Amelia's.  I found the characters likable, even Rachel when she wasn't at her best behavior.

I look forward to reading other books by this author.