I like Sara Paretsky's writing ~ she is best known for her series featuring V. I. Warshawski, a female PI in Chicago ~ along with interesting story-lines, the recurring theme in each book of that series is morality and humanity ~
Bleeding Kansas is not part of that series ~ it's a multi-generational family saga, telling the story of 3 families which [from the book cover] "... have coexisted for more than 150 years ... Once allies in the fight against slavery, today the [families] disagree on every subject, from organic farming to the war in Iraq, but above all on religion." ~ Parentsky uses a mix of historical fact and fiction ~ but what really sold me on reading this book was the Chicago Tribune review, which said in part: "Paretsky's heroes are deeply flawed and deeply human ... Paretsky's preoccupations remain very much the same in this work as in her Warshawski novels: how greed and hypocrisy hide behind socially sanctioned institutions and beliefs, including big business and organized religion; and how the antidote to hatred and violence is kindness and common sense ... Paretsky makes a convincing case that these are universal truths. Big city, small town, it makes no difference. Evil - and goodness - are everywhere."
I'm only about 75 pages into the almost 600 pages, but so far it is definitely living up to the reviews ~
Sooz
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