Monday Mailbox - April 4th

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.  Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!
Created by Marcia at The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday, now has its own blog.  This month Passages to the Past is hosting.  Hop over and see what everyone else got this week (and don't forget to wallow in some of the glorious historical fiction featured there.)  I include not only print books I received but also books that arrived via the virtual E-book route.

The only print book arriving this week is the winner of the 2008 AWP Award for the Novel in Australia (Association of Writers and Writing Programs): The Paperbark Shoe by Goldie Goldbloom.  It may have been the only one, but it's one I really wanted. Thanks to Picador Book Club for the ARC.  Here's the blurb:

From 1941 to 1947, eighteen thousand Italian prisoners of war were sent to Australia. The Italian surrender that followed the downfall of Mussolini had created a novel circumstance: prisoners who theoretically were no longer enemies. Many of these exiles were sent to work on isolated farms, unguarded.

The Paperbark Shoe is the unforgettable story of Gin Boyle—an albino, a classically trained pianist, and a woman with a painful past. Disavowed by her wealthy stepfather, her unlikely savior is the farmer Mr. Toad—a little man with a taste for women's corsets. Together with their two children, they weather the hardship of rural life and the mockery of their neighbors. But with the arrival of two Italian prisoners of war, their lives are turned upside down. Thousands of miles from home, Antonio and John find themselves on Mr. and Mrs. Toad's farm, exiles in the company of exiles. The Paperbark Shoe is a remarkable novel about the far-reaching repercussions of war, the subtle violence of displacement, and what it means to live as a captive—in enemy country, and in one's own skin.

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Then via the Net Galley route, I received an e-galley of Kristen Gore's latest: Sweet Jiminy

Hyperion Books: Net Galley - Pub Date 4/26/11 From New York Times bestselling author Kristin Gore, comes a suspenseful new novel set in Mississippi that deftly explores race, family, and an unsolved murder.

In the throes of a quarter-life crisis, Jiminy Davis abruptly quits law school and flees Chicago for her grandmother Willa's farm in rural Mississippi. In search of peace and quiet, Jiminy instead stumbles upon more trouble and turmoil than she ever knew existed. She is shocked to discover there was once another Jiminy - the daughter of her grandmother's longtime housekeeper, Lyn - who was murdered along with Lyn's husband four decades earlier in a civil rights-era hate crime. With the help of Lyn's nephew Bo, Jiminy sets out to solve the long-ago murder, to the dismay of those who would prefer to let sleeping dogs lie.  In Sweet Jiminy, readers will find a lively and compelling story filled with authentic and genuine Southern characters.

Southern fiction is a favorite genre so this is at the top of my virtual pile.
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Courtesy of Barnes and Noble's Free Friday program for those of us lucky NOOK owners,  I got a copy of Gary Schmidt's Wednesday Wars.  His books are very popular in our library, not just with Young Adults, but with those of us who are more chronologically advantaged.  I haven't read this one yet, but must get to it soon before the grandchild beats me to it!  For those of you unfamiliar with this Newberry winner, here's a quick snapshot:

Seventh grader Holling Hoodhood has a tough year ahead of him. First of all, his teacher, Mrs. Baker, keeps giving him the evil eye. Second of all, the class bully keeps threatening to do Number 167 (and you don’t even want to know what Number 167 is). Third of all, his father keeps calling him ""the Son Who is Going to Inherit Hoodhood and Associates."" But things are changing in 1967, and while reciting his favorite curses from Shakespeare’s plays, Holling might just find the true meaning of his own story.