Triumphant Stories

Try these books if you're looking for:

• Historical books (fiction and nonfiction)
• Stories about the strength of the human spirit

The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
By Jamie Ford
F FORD
When artifacts from Japanese families sent to internment camps during World War II are uncovered during renovations at Seattle's Panama Hotel, Henry Lee embarks on a personal quest that leads to memories of growing up Chinese in a city rife with anti-Japanese sentiment and of Keiko, a Japanese girl whose love transcended cultures and generations.

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
By Jung Chang
951.05 CHA
Chang recounts the evocative, unsettling, and consistently gripping story of how three generations of women in her family fared in the political maelstrom of China during the 20th century.

Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind
By Suzanne Fisher Staples
YA F STAPLES
When eleven-year old Shabanu, the daughter of a nomad in the Cholistan Desert of present-day Pakistan, is pledg ed in marriage to an older man whose money will bring prestige to the family, she must either accept the decision, as is the custom, or risk the consequences of defying her father's wishes.

Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up under the Shadow of Saddam
By Zainab Salbi
BIOGRAPHY SALBI
Salbi had an unusual childhood: her secular, educated parents, part of Iraq's elite society, were trapped in Saddam Hussein's extended circle, and she grew up spending weekends at a house "Amo" Hussein purchased for her family. Naively enjoying the perks at first, she grew up to realize that the socioeconomic privilege came at extraordinary personal cost. Salbi calmly but frankly looks back on those years, cataloging her growing awareness of the terrible hold Hussein had on her family.

Killer Angels
By Michael Shaara
F SHAARA
The late Shaara's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (1974) concerns the battle of Gettysburg and was the basis for the 1993 film Gettysburg. The events immediately before and during the battle are seen through the eyes of Confederate Generals Lee, Longstreet, and Armistead and Federal General Buford, Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain, and a host of others. The author's ability to convey the thoughts of men in war as well as their confusion-the so-called "fog of battle"-is outstanding.