The Weight of the Ice: The Northeast Ice Storm of 2008

by Dave Eisenstadter

While we've all spent the last year trying to forget the unprecedented ice storm of 2008, Dave Eisenstadter has been writing about it.

A Monadnock Ledger-Transcript reporter, Eisenstadter weaves more than 100 interviews into his first book, The Weight of the Ice. He shows us the power of the storm through the eyes of a taxi driver in Keene, a general store manager in Harrisville and local doctors in Peterborough, among dozens of others.

More than a million homes throughout the region lost power, many in New Hampshire. The storm caused $75 million in damage to the state's electrical system. It left roads impassable and school systems shut for weeks.

But all the destruction was no match for what Eisenstadter calls classic "Yankee Ingenuity." Through the voices of many others, he chronicles how lacking electricity, heat and food brought communities together.

One particular heartwarming story is that about a wedding in the Dublin Community Church. Tim O'Connell and Kirsten Opdyke were high school sweethearts at ConVal High School in Peterborough. Their lives went in separate directions for 25 years after graduation before they reconnected and decided to get married.

Opdyke said that not even a historic storm could stop their marriage - she had already waited long enough to be with O'Connell. With no heat or power, about 20 of their family and friends huddled in the church for the ceremony.

The temperature inside was 17 degrees.

Trent Spiner

Monitor staff

The Sultan's Seal

by Jenny White

Imagine an author with a gift for compelling plot lines, full of dark suspense and mysterious twists. Now imagine that the author has not only the talent to create absorbing characters, but also the scholarly background to craft truly authentic scenes of Istanbul during the last days of the Ottoman Empire.

This is Jenny White, a Boston University social anthropologist who has firmly established herself as an author of historical fiction with the Kamil Pasha novels - The Sultan's Seal, The Abyssinian Proof and the upcoming The Winter Thief.

Kamil Pasha is a dashing magistrate/prosecutor in late 19th century Istanbul, where there is murder, mayhem, smuggling of antiquities and more - all happening within the context of the Ottoman culture and its often less-than-smooth intersection with the British.

Kamil is captivating and complex - he raises orchids, chases suspects on horseback through Istanbul's back alleys, has an incisive mind and a heart that is vulnerable to both eastern and western beauty.

White provides enough action to keep the most restless reader engaged and enough detail to erase any doubt that she has walked these streets, contemplated the swirling Bosphorus in person, smelled the bread baking and the lamb roasting, and enjoys a profound comfort with all things Turkish. She leaves you with a deep affection for and an understanding of Kamil's world - and all the while you thought you were just enjoying a great read!

Chase Binder

Monitor contributor

The Sabbathday River

by Jean Haff Korelitz

There's been a murder in New Hampshire. Or has there?

That is the central question of The Sabbathday River by Jean Haff Korelitz, a novel set in the Upper Valley.

When a baby is found dead in a river in a rural New Hampshire town, suspicion quickly turns to Heather Pratt. The townspeople already see Heather as a woman of loose morals. She had an affair with a married man, and is not ashamed to be raising his child.

Heather denies her guilt. But the only people who believe her are two other "outsiders." Community organizer Naomi Roth moved to New Hampshire to empower the local women through a knitting collective. And defense attorney Judith Friedman came from New York to work in public defense. (next page »)