Two Souls Indivisible: The Friendship That Saved Two POWs in Vietnam

by James S. Hirsch

This is the true story of a friendship that became legendary between two fighter pilots in a Northern Vietnamese POW camp which the inmates called the Zoo.  One prisoner, Fred Cherry, is one of the first black air force fighter pilot officers and the first black officer captured by the Vietnamese.  The other, Porter Halyburton, is a Navy pilot from the south, who at first couldn't believe that the black man could be a fighter pilot.  The Vietnamese put them in the same cell, believing that the racial barrier would torture the two. 
When Halyburton first saw Cherry, he was badly injured.  One arm, which was damaged in the plane crash, hung limp from his shoulder socket, he needed badly to bathe, and he could hardly walk.  Cherry was sure he would soon die.  Halyburton was also in bad emotional shape due to the daily interrogations and torture sessions, as well as being isolated from anyone for months.  He was taken to Cherry's cell, and told to "take care of him".  Both men had their doubts about each other.  One believing that other was a typical southern racist and the other not believing that his cell mate could possibly be a superior officer.  Halyburton began taking care of Cherry and helped him to bath, walked him around the cell to try and bring him "back to life", demanded that the guards give him medical attention, and often sacrificed his own meek rations so Cherry might gain weight. 

Meanwhile, on the home front, Cherry's wife had moved on with another man, had a new baby, and told Cherry's children that he was dead even though she knew he was alive.  Also, she squandered away almost all of his pay from the air force. $122,098.13 of the $147,184.00 that he had earned. 

Halyburton's wife and child remained faithful although he was thought dead and even had a memorial service in his absence.  After six years, she found out that he was alive and we share her mixed emotions, happiness and fear for husband.  She also plays a huge role in the American battle to bring the POWs home. 
In the end the two men tearfully admit that they had saved each other's lives.

I believe this is a really awesome, well researched book.  Hats off to James S. Hirsch for this story.  He has shown us how racial diversity can be overcome by sheer human kindness.  The book was published in 2004 by the Houghton Mifflin Company.

Black Creek Crossing

Black Creek Crossing by John Saul

Thirteen-year-old Angel Sullivan has always been shunned by other kids, teased and taunted because of her appearance and strange ways.  Then Angel's family moves to Roundtree, Massachusetts.  They are told from the beginning that all kinds of wierd things have happened in the little old house on Black Creek Road, but the lure of a new start for Angel's family beckons and they make the move anyway.  But when Angel is shunned even by her new classmates, she falls deeper into depression.  Until she meets Seth Baker, a fellow outcast.  The two become fast friends, but are constantly harrassed by the other kids as well as their own parents.  The two begin to  research the house and discover that a man had murdered his wife and daughter there.  And every other family who moved into the house hear voices, see visions, and many murders had taken place.  Angel and Seth are led to the basement of the house by a mysterious black cat where they find a very old book of witchcraft and begin to make potions against their enemies.  But once they had begun, there was no turning back.  The spirits of Black Creek Crossing had a hold on them.  And the day of reckoning comes. 

John Saul is the author of the national bestseller Midnight Voices, which I will definitely have to read after having read Black Creek Crossing.  This book was a fast paced page turner and actually gave me a nightmare on the first night that I was reading it!  My nightmare was totally unrelated but I'm positive that it was stemmed from the book.  It has all the classic haunts such as the black cat, the old cemetery with the mysterious big oak tree, witchcraft, and ghosts.  The book was published in 2004 and is a Ballantine Book by the Random House Publishing Group.  Go get it right away, you won't be sorry!

 

Autumn Reads

Having just finished off Maid Marian by Elsa Watson, a novel of Sherwood Forest with all the old beloved characters such as Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlett, Clym O' the wood, Queen Eleanor of Aquitane, King Richard the Lionheart, and the Sheriff of Nottingham, I have a To Be Read pile in the works that I think are appropriate for the new season:   

The Haunted Abbot by Peter Tremayne   -    a tale of Ancient Ireland                   

Black Creek Crossing by John Saul         -     Supernatural Suspense    

Blood Kin by Henry Chapell              -     A haunting novel of early Texas

I'm excited about these autumn reads and will review each book soon!  Often, I get on theme kicks with my reading and lately it has been 18th and 19th centuries, such as westerns(Larry McMurtry is one of my favorites), early English History(The Dress Lodger), Civil War era(Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier), as well as American Indian novels.  But since the new season has arrived, I have more drawn to the supernatural and the new bestsellers.  Happy Reading.

 

Maid Marian

Maid Marian by Elsa Watson

As an infant, Marian is orphaned and heiress to great lands and fortunes.  She is married off at the age of five to a young nobleman, Lord Hugh of Sencaster.  The marriage joins her inheritance to his and vastly enriches his family.  When she is seventeen, Lord Hugh, whom she hasn't seen in years, mysteriously dies.  Now an unmarried widow, she becomes a ward of the King, who is off on crusade and cannot be bothered with such matters at home.  The Queen, Eleanor of Aquitane, takes it upon herself to marry Marian off, therefore the new husband would pledge his loyalty and silver to King Richard.  Marian knows she is irrelevant in the decision and is determined to stop this marriage.  She seeks out the help of the famous Robin Hood, Saxon outlaw of Sherwood Forest.  Of course, the outlaw, turns out to be not a bad person, but likeable, noble, and handsome.  She devises a plan for Robin and his merry men to intercept a letter from the Queen, which tells Lord Hugh's mother, Lady Pernelle, that Marian is to marry Hugh's younger brother Stephen.  Once married, her land becomes theirs and she could be easily disposed of.  Just before the wedding, during her pre-wedding confessional, Robin dressed as a priest, whisks her out of the castle lands and back to Sherwood Forest, where she begins an outlaw life and the two fall deeply in love.  Queen Eleanor believes Marian to be dead and Robin Hood and his outlaws help her regain her fortune and expose the treachery of her enemies. 

I have read many versions of Robin Hood and Lady Marian, and I found this particular version to be as good if not better than the others. I love to read of the middle ages and cultures of peoples of those times.  This book was published by Crown Publishers in New York and copyrighted in 2004.   I've written a review of other versions of Maid Marian in my archives.  See---->Lady of the Forest and its sequel Lady of Sherwood.