I loved it!

I was so into The White Mary by Kira Salak that I felt I just needed to share my joy with as many people as possible. Luckily I have a blog that allows me to do just that. An adventure story set in the jungles of New Guinea, The White Mary is a story about Marika Vecera, international journalist. Her job has taken her to places all over the world where unspeakable suffering and violence have occurred. And although every time Marika escapes with her life, it is evident that she has been losing pieces of herself during each traumatic experience. Enter Seb, a psychologist and a perfect male character. I say perfect because he and Marika play off each other so well. His kindness and strength pulls out Marika’s belief in joy, but at the same time, her insecurities about the state of the world. She is so scared to face happiness (yes, happiness) that she rejects Seb’s love and sets off on a crazy journey to find her mentor, Robert Lewis. Marika knows Robert Lewis apparently committed suicide, but a note from a missionary in New Guinea leads her to believe Lewis faked his own death. Although it’s a long shot, Marika begins her journey through an unforgiving jungle. Throughout the story, we get flashbacks of her relationship with Seb, and the events in her career that changed her life. Does she find Lewis at the end of her journey? You seriously have to read it to find out, but I found that wasn’t the reason this book propelled me forward. Like with some books, where the plot description on the cover makes me want to see what happens, The White Mary itself did that for me. I wanted to see if Marika was alright in the end. I found her likable despite her stubbornness, and I don’t think that’s an easy thing to do. I totally loved in and will go so far as to say it was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

To that end, I must admit that MPL doesn’t own it. Alas, The White Mary was sitting on my shelf in my house. It was an advanced reader’s copy, and I must have picked it up a while ago because it’s two years old. But never fear, faithful readers, I have a solution!! Search Ohio!! Simply go to our catalog, and type in "The White Mary" into our catalog search box. When it shows that we don’t own it, click on the Search Ohio link. This will take you to another page where there will be multiple copies of this wonderful book for you to put on hold for yourself. Just follow the instructions (you’ll need your library card number handy). When the book comes in for you (yes, once you put the request in, we’ll have the book shipped to your local Mentor Public Library branch), come to the library to pick it up! Easy! Fun! Convenient! Try it out now!