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A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci
By: Max Richmond
10/18/24

I got A Calamity of Souls for my birthday about two months ago, and I originally used it to fall asleep because the book has a relatively slow start. However, the pace picks up after the second lawyer of the story is introduced, and it keeps

this pace throughout the rest of the book. The main plot of this legal thriller follows two lawyers trying

to defend a black man accused of murdering the prestigious white Randolph family. As the book says

on page 58, “In Freeman County [Virginia, 1968] it didn’t get much easier than convicting a black man

in a court of law, particularly one so obliging as to be at the scene of the crime.” 

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The author, David Baldacci, certainly did his research in order to provide an accurate courtroom

experience, and he does a fantastic job of introducing how different legal terms and systems work

without directly explaining them, allowing the reader to understand what’s happening in the

courtroom without giving unnecessary explanations or requiring the reader to have a law degree.

There are multiple subplots about other types of division such as nationality, social class, and

learning speed. Since the story is set a year after the Loving v. Virginia legalized marriage between

races, it also tackles how these divisions affect relationships. In addition to all of this, the

novel discusses how war and disease can permanently affect people.

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A Calamity of Souls is overall a great book and an amazing introduction to legal thrillers if you’re looking for a

new genre. I sincerely recommend that you pick up this book. It is 477 pages long and was a ten-hour read in total for me, but it will most likely be a twelve-hour read for you. This book is around $30.00 USD for a hardcover copy, but there are fifteen copies at the Rochester Hills Public Library if you don’t want to spend any money. I would like to mention that the book does contain mentions of violence, guns, cigarettes, abuse, and it has some swearing. I would place this book at TV-14 if it was a movie or show, so if you don’t want to read something like this, I recommend looking at our "All Ages" section.

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Uprising by Jennifer A. Nielsen
By: Maya Lovria
10/04/24

Lidia, a twelve-year-old girl, stands outside her grandfather’s house as Nazi planes fly overhead. A bomb that is dropped nearby leads to her, her parents, and her brother, Ryszard deciding to return to their house in Warsaw. The damage caused by the bombing is shocking for Lidia, but her house is still standing. When they reach their house, her father, afraid of more bombings of Warsaw, tells her and her mother to wait in the shelter near it. Meanwhile, he and Ryszard collect essentials from it.

 

Soon after, Lidia’s father leaves to join the Polish army and fight back against the Nazis. Shortly after that, the rest of Lidia’s family are joined by their former maid and her mother, who are Jewish and need a place to stay. Lidia and the rest are able to move back into the damaged house now that Poland is occupied fully by the Nazis. Over time, Lidia starts fighting back by attending a secret school and smuggling food to the Jewish people being held in the Warsaw Ghetto. As she gets older, she finds out about her brother’s involvement in a resistance against the Nazis and she wants to do more.

 

Lidia joins, and starts out running messages for the resistance. Eventually her tasks become more and more dangerous. Does she have what it takes?

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Uprising is based on the true story of Lidia Durr Zakrewski, who really did join a resistance as a teenager. She was aged down by a few years in the book, but many characters in the book either were real people or were based on one or more real people in her life. Lidia was a messenger for the entirety of the Warsaw Uprising and ended up earning the Polish Cross of Valour.

 

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading historical fiction or just who likes a good book.

I enjoyed reading Uprising a lot and hope that if anyone reading this article decides to give it a try, they like it

too.


 

About the Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen

 

Jennifer A. Nielsen lives in Utah where she was born and raised. She has written many fiction books, such

as the Ascendance series (The False Prince, The Runaway King, The Shadow Throne, The Captive Kingdom,

and The Shattered Castle), and many historical fiction works including: Uprising, Iceberg and Words on Fire.

 

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Sources:

 

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