book 106

alice hoffman's the probable future
i become extra-cranky when in the midst of a full-fledged cat allergy attack, and my mom has gotten pretty good at distracting me with books and knitting. knowing i have little patience for formulaic chick lit or mysteries, my mom gave me this, and though it wraps up quite neatly, i did enjoy it. it's about a long line of women in a small massachusetts town who all receive some bizarre gift when they turn 13--the ability to not feel pain, the ability to stay underwater for like 20 minutes, the ability to detect falsehoods, etc. now the latest little girl has received the gift to see someone's death, and when she foresees a violent murder, she tries to get her dad to intervene--and he of course becomes a suspect in the murder, meaning the girl has to be sent away to her mother's estranged mother for safekeeping, where she begins to discover the family history. actually, probably one of the reasons i liked it so much was the little girl's history nerd uncle, who's attempting to write a thesis on one of her forebears, and hangs out in the library looking at old journals a lot. hee.