Eerie

Father: bus driver, fanatical history buff obsessed with the "bog people"--how they lived, and more pertinently, how some of them died. Can be unpredictable and volatile.

Mother: meek, submissive, doesn't rock the boat.

Silvie (daughter): teenage, yet dutiful, having been taught it's the better option.

Professor: obvious history lover, being swept away by the experience.

Peter, Dan: university students on this field trip. Like having a good time.

Molly: university student who is free-spirited, rebellious, confident.

This experiemental foray into living as the ancients did in northern England begins to become all too real as present blurs into past. The clash of the Silvie's naivete and the worldliness of the university students is blush-inducing and powerful. As the tension builds and the two elder men begin to reenact scenes from centuries ago, one wonders if everyone will be the same when they return home. Or will they return at all?

Creepy.

Good Boy!

Thanks, Bruce, for this breath of fresh air. Sometimes we just need a book that takes us away and feels like a belly scratch, and this is it. Liam and his beloved three dogs--Riggs, an Australian shepherd, Luna, a Jack Russell and Archie, a doodle puppy-- all get separated through unfortunate circumstances. Will the strong herding instinct of Riggs save the day? Or is it too late? You'll have to read it to find out! And I would if I were you.

Besides the warm fuzzy aspect, this book really does make one think about how dogs see us, think about their days, etc. A great book all around.

Chilling

This thoughtful book taught me a lot about the nature of human trafficking and how we have all probably been beneficiaries of someone else's bad fortune. The author references historical patterns of such importation of people for hard labor, but unfortunately the practice didn't end with the opening of the railroad. Folks we probably pass on the street every day have been trafficked for labor, and are often caught in a hamster wheel, afraid to go to the authorities for obvious reasons. Very insightful and honestly, discouraging.