Reading Recommendations: The Heretic Queen, Heiress of Misfortune, Pharaohs Beloved, Michelle Moran.

The winds of change are blowing through Thebes. A devastating palace fire has killed the Eighteenth Dynasty's Royal family, all with the exception of Nefertari, the niece of the reviled former queen, Nefertiti. The girl's deceased family has been branded as heretical, and no one in Egypt will speak their names. A relic of a previous reign, Nefertari is pushed aside, an unimportant princess left to run wild in the palace. But this changes when she is taken under the wing of the Pharoah's aunt, then brought to the Temple of Hathor, where she is educated in a manner befitting a future Queen.

Soon Nefertari catches the eye of the Crown Prince, and despite her family's history, they fall in love and wish to marry. Yet all of Egypt opposes this union between the rising star of a new dynasty and the fading star of an old, heretical one. While political adversity set the country on edge, Nefertari becomes the wife of Ramesses the Great. Destined to be the most powerful Pharoah in Egypt, he is also the man who must confront the most famous exodus in history.

Sweeping in scope and meticulous in detail, The Heretic Queen is a novel of passion and power, heartbreak and redemption.

And, A Country Called Home , Kim Barnes.

It is 1960 when Thomas Deracotte and his pregnant wife, Helen, abandon a guaranteed future in uppercrust Connecticut and take off for a utopian adventure in the Idaho wilderness. They buy a farm sight unseen and find the buildings collapsed, and the fields in ruins. But they have a tent, a river full of fish, and acres overgrown with edible berries and dandelion greens. Helen learns to make coffee over a fire as they set about rebuilding the house. Though Thomas discovers he can't wield a hammer or an ax, there is a local boy, Manny, a sweet soul of eighteen without a family of his own, who agrees to manage the fields in exchange for room and board. Their optimism and desire carry them through the early days.

But the sudden, frightening birth of Thomas and Helen's daughter, Elise, changes something deep inside their marriage. And then, in the aftermath of a tragic accident to which only Manny bears witness, suspicion, anger, and regret come to haunt this shattered family. It is a legacy Elise will inherit and struggle with, until she ultimately finds a hope of her own.

In this novel, we are reminded what it means to be young and in love, to what lengths people will go to escape loneliness, and the redemption found in family.

And, one more beautiful coffee table sized book the reader will want to check out, most especially those planning on new drapes in the near future - The Complete Photo Guide to Window Treatments, Do-It-Yourself Draperies, Curtains, Valences, Swags, and Shades, Edited by Linda Neunbauer.

Fifty project step by step - measure the window and cut the fabric with confidence; sew any window treatment and get results you are proud of; install your treatments the professional way; and so much more.

See you at Rylander!