Elizabeth L. Silver

Elizabeth Silver and her husband, Amir, were alarmed when their six-week old daughter, Abby, started vomiting and seizing. They took her to Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, and at first, the tests came back negative. However, a scan eventually revealed that Abby had bleeding in her brain. Silver describes her panic, guilt (although she had done nothing wrong), and fear that her baby's ability to function would be compromised. In addition, she and Amir endured a lengthy interrogation about whether they had hit, dropped, or shaken their infant.

"The Tincture of Time" is "an amalgamation of how [Silver] coped with Abby's hospitalization and rehabilitation." She emphasizes how difficult it is to wait for information—"the answers were comforting, available, and effortlessly clear, until they were not." She received insensitive, albeit, well-meaning advice, and stood by, exhausted and wrung out, while her precious child was prodded and probed in the Newborn and Infant Critical Care Unit.

Although this is an affecting and poignant memoir, it requires quite a bit of patience, since the author goes off on a number of tangents that are loosely tied to her central themes. She writes about the Malaysia Airlines disaster; unreliability of eyewitness testimony; the groundbreaking ideas of such luminaries as Hippocrates, Heisenberg, and Montessori; and whether medicine is an art, science, or both. Furthermore, she touches on her childhood; work as a lawyer and novelist; questions of faith and religion; and how she and Amir stayed sane while they were sick with worry. Mothers and fathers who undergo similar ordeals will appreciate Elizabeth Silver's perceptive observations. She expresses—using lyrical prose and literary references--the agony of distraught parents whose children struggle with serious illnesses and face an uncertain future.… (more)

“It’s funny how undressed a smile can make you feel.”
― Elizabeth L. Silver, The Execution of Noa P. Singleton

I found this book to be outstanding and an easy five stars.

Noah P Singleton is on death row awaiting execution. Her crime? Murder.

Nobody knows why Noa murdered and people want answers..especially the mother of the female victim, Sarah. When the victim's mother comes to visit Noa in jail she offers her a deal. She will work to get the death penalty off the table if Noah tells her the truth about what happened and why she murdered her daughter.

I found this book impossible to put down. The story was so unique. It also raises questions and issues about the Death Penalty. But most of all I was drawn in so deeply to Noah's story.

For readers complaining about the way Noah speaks..one has to remember she has been in jail for years. She has somewhat of a flat affect and that comes through. Added to that, she is a death row inmate and alot of the book takes place with her speaking from a prison cell. I was able to get over that issue quickly but then again we all like different books. I found this to be an outstanding and heartbreaking read.

I look forward to reading more from this author.… (more)

I received this book from netgalley.com

What a book. I found myself rooting for Noa the entire time and really despising the victim's mother. Even with the knowledge that Noa is a murderer, I still found myself really hoping that Oliver could help her get out of jail. I loved how the relationships developed and though I am usually one who roots for a happily ever after ending, I think the author did a great job with the plot and character development. I think the last time I hated a character as much as the victim's mother was when I read Gone Girl. Definitely some twists I wasn't expecting and then of course some others I figured out. Overall, a great book and a quick read.… (more)