One of the best ways to temper the heaviness of a book dealing with hard subjects is the judicious use of humor.  Cynthia Ruchti is a new author to me (forgive my stupidity, won't you?) but the brilliant use of humor to open this novel set up a beautiful way to see the personality of a character before her world was turned upside down--genius.

Facing the Dawn should be on every women's fiction lover's "next to read" list or at the top of the tottering TBR piles.