Forgivness

Today is Global Forgiveness Day.  Here are ten novels that feature the theme of forgiveness.

All the Winters After by Sere Prince Halverson - Kachemak Winkel's mother used to tell him that Alaska doesn't forgive mistakes. A lot of mistakes where made the day she died in a plane crash with Kache's father and brother-- and Kache still feels responsible. He fled Alaska for good, but now his aunt Snag insists on his return. Returning to his family's cabin in the woods, he finds smoke rising from the chimney and a mysterious Russian woman hiding from her own troubled past. Nadia has stayed there, afraid and utterly isolated, for ten years. Together, can they find forgiveness?

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane - Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope are two NYPD rookies assigned to the same Bronx precinct in 1973. They aren't close friends on the job, but end up living next door to each other outside the city. What goes on behind closed doors in both houses--the loneliness of Francis's wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian's wife, Anne, sets the stage for the stunning events to come. Ask Again, Yes by award-winning author Mary Beth Keane, is a beautifully moving exploration of the friendship and love that blossoms between Francis's youngest daughter, Kate, and Brian's son, Peter, who are born six months apart. In the spring of Kate and Peter's eighth grade year a violent event divides the neighbors, the Stanhopes are forced to move away, and the children are forbidden to have any further contact. But Kate and Peter find a way back to each other, and their relationship is tested by the echoes from their past.

The Civilized World by Susi Wyss - When Adjoa leaves Ghana to find work in the Ivory Coast, she hopes that one day she'll return home to open a beauty parlor. Her dream comes true, though not before she suffers a devastating loss--one that will haunt her for years, and one that also deeply affects Janice, an American aid worker who no longer feels she has a place to call home. But the bustling Precious Brother Salon is not just the "cleanest, friendliest, and most welcoming in the city." It's also where locals catch up on their gossip; where Comfort, an imperious busybody, can complain about her American daughter-in-law, Linda; and where Adjoa can get a fresh start on life--or so she thinks, until Janice moves to Ghana and unexpectedly stumbles upon the salon.
At once deeply moving and utterly charming,The Civilized World follows five women as they face meddling mothers-in-law, unfaithful partners, and the lingering aftereffects of racism, only to learn that their cultural differences are outweighed by their common bond as women. With vibrant prose, Susi Wyss explores what it means to need forgiveness--and what it means to forgive.

The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha -  Irene and Nate Stanley are living a quiet and contented life with their two children, Bliss and Shep, on their family farm in southern Illinois when Nate suddenly announces he's been offered a job as a deputy sheriff in Oregon. Irene does not want to uproot her family and has deep misgivings. They are just settling into their life in Oregon's high desert when 15-year-old Shep is shot and killed during an apparent robbery in their home. The murderer is caught and sentenced to death. Irene copes by waiting, week by week, for Daniel Robbin's execution and the justice she feels she and her family deserve. Ultimately, faced with a growing sense that Robbin's death will not stop her pain, Irene takes the extraordinary and clandestine step of reaching out to her son's killer, and the two forge an unlikely connection.

The Fifteen Wonders of Daniel Green by Erica Boyce - Daniel travels through America's countryside, creating astonishing crop circles that leave communities mystified. But when a dying Vermont corn farmer hires Daniel in an effort to breathe new life into the town he loves, Daniel is drawn into a community struggling to stitch itself back together. For once he is forced to stand still, and face the past he's been running from all this years. For fans of Phaedra Patrick and Fredrick Backman, this astonishing debut explores the healing power of forgiveness, the quirky definition of family, and the realization that home is not the walls you build but the people you choose to build them with. 

The Heart Mender by Andy Andrews - Saddened and unable to abandon her resentment toward the Nazi war machine that took her husband's life, the young and attractive Helen Mason is living a bitter, lonely existence. Betrayed and left for dead, German U-boat officer Lt. Josef Landermann washes ashore in a sleepy town along the northern gulf coast, looking to Helen for survival.
The Heart Mender is a story of life, loss, and reconciliation, reminding us of the power of forgiveness and the universal healing experience of letting go.

If You Only Knew by Kristan Higgins - Letting go of her ex-husband is harder than wedding-dress designer Jenny Tate expected...especially since his new wife wants to be Jenny's new best friend. Sensing this isn't exactly helping her achieve closure, Jenny trades the Manhattan skyline for her hometown up the Hudson, where she'll start her own business and bask in her sister Rachel's picture-perfect family life...and maybe even find a little romance of her own with Leo, her downstairs neighbor, a guy who's utterly irresistible and annoyingly distant at the same time. Rachel's idyllic marriage, however, is imploding after she discovers her husband sexting with a colleague. She always thought she'd walk away in this situation, but her triplet daughters have her reconsidering her stance on adultery, much to Jenny's surprise. Rachel points to their parents' perfect marriage as a shining example of patience and forgiveness; but to protect her sister, Jenny may have to tarnish that memory-and their relationship--and reveal a family secret she's been keeping since childhood. Both Rachel and Jenny will have to come to terms with the past and the present and find a way to get what they want most of all. 

The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar - An experienced psychologist, Maggie carefully maintains emotional distance from her patients. But when she meets a young Indian woman who tried to kill herself, her professional detachment disintegrates. Cut off from her family in India, Lakshmi is desperately lonely and trapped in a loveless marriage to a domineering man who limits her world to their small restaurant and grocery store.
Moved by her plight, Maggie treats Lakshmi in her home office for free, quickly realizing that the despondent woman doesn’t need a shrink; she needs a friend. Determined to empower Lakshmi as a woman who feels valued in her own right, Maggie abandons protocol, and soon doctor and patient have become close friends.
But while their relationship is deeply affectionate, it is also warped by conflicting expectations. When Maggie and Lakshmi open up and share long-buried secrets, the revelations will jeopardize their close bond, shake their faith in each other, and force them to confront painful choices.

Sweet Forgiveness by Lori Nelson Spielman -  Hannah Farr is a popular daytime television host with a charismatic boyfriend. She has much to be thankful for-except for a past she'd do anything to forget. Just as a rival station comes calling, Hannah's ratings take a dangerous dip. Her producer complains that she's not opening up to her audience, and her friend insists that the problem extends to her personal life. One person Hannah can't ask for advice is her mother, to whom she hasn't spoken since her high-school graduation. Only one woman seems to have the answer: Fiona Knowles. Creator of the Forgiveness Stones, a concept that's sweeping the nation, she's urging everyone to forgive and to seek forgiveness. As events conspire to ensure the fiercely private Hannah's most public participation, she must risk the life she's earned. Is her mother's love, and the glimmers of a future she never could have imagined, worth the price? 

Where Hope Begins by Catherine West - In the aftermath of her husband's act of adultery and abandonment, Savannah must finally face the ghosts that haunt her and discover for herself whether authentic faith, grace, and ultimate healing really do exist. When her husband of twenty-one years leaves her, Savannah Barrington believes she's lost almost everything she's ever loved. With her daughter in college and her son in boarding school, Savannah retreats to her parents' lake house in the Berkshires, where hope and healing come in the form of an old woman's wisdom, a little girl's laughter, a touch of magic, and a handsome man who's willing to risk his own heart to prove she's still worth loving. But when her husband asks to reconcile, Savannah is faced with the hardest challenge of all: Forgiving the unforgivable. Somehow she must find freedom from the chains of their past and move forward, or face an unknown future without him.