A Review of Unforgotten

The British television series Unforgotten stars Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar as DCI Cassie Stuart and DI Sunil “Sunny” Khan, two London police detectives working on complicated unsolved “cold” disappearance and murder cases.  The detectives find many suspects and must determine which of the suspects really killed the victims and what motivated the crimes.  The realistic depiction in Unforgotten goes beyond most murder mysteries and police procedurals to emphasize the devastating or healing effect that unearthing long-buried secrets can have on the families of the suspects, the victims, and the detectives.  Some of the suspects have completely shifted the focus of their lives since the crimes were committed.  For example, Lizzie Wilton (Ruth Sheen), who was part of a racist organization when she was young, is now a community worker who helps underprivileged youngsters of all races and is happily married to a man of Jamaican descent.  Cassie is a longtime widow, and her two adult children have left home.  Sunny is a single parent raising two teenaged daughters following his divorce from his wife. …

Continue ReadingA Review of Unforgotten

Review of the Middle-Grade Novel Worth by Alexandria LaFaye (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, 2004)

This historical novel set in the 1800s poses a challenging question:  how much is a child worth when differently abled or orphaned? Eleven-year-old Nathaniel “Nate” Peale helps his parents Gabriel and Mary Eva to farm their land in Nebraska.  He does not attend school.  Suddenly, his life changes when an accident during a storm badly breaks his leg, forcing Nate to limit his physical exertions.  Alienated and frustrated by his son’s permanent impairment, Gabe Peale adopts John Worth from the Orphan Train.  At first, Nate dislikes John, a city boy who replaces Nate for most farm work. Gabriel and Mary Eva decide to send Nate to school when he recuperates enough from his injury to walk.   Nate struggles to make up for lost time.  He learns to read much better and meets new friends, especially Anemone Cordimas, an immigrant girl from Greece, who loans him a book about Greek mythology that he loves. Nate reads these Greek myths to John, and they begin to bond.  Nate finds out that John’s whole family died in a…

Continue ReadingReview of the Middle-Grade Novel Worth by Alexandria LaFaye (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, 2004)

No more posts to load