Today Show Pick a Top Ten Book Sense 76

On Monday, January 13, NBC News' Today Show announced that the seventh selection of its monthly "Today Book Club" is Crow Lake by Mary Lawson (Delta trade paperback, 0385337639; Dial hardcover, 038533611X). The title was a Top Ten 2002 March/April Book Sense 76 pick. Mary Higgins Clark, who appeared on the popular morning show with Lawson, chose the book.

Lawson's debut novel, set in northern Ontario, details the story of the orphaned Kate Morrison, now 26 years old and a distinguished zoologist. When Kate is invited to her brother Matt's son's birthday party, she must deal with memories of her and her family's tragic life in rural Crow Lake and come to terms with her past.

In nominating the book for the 76, Mary Kay Watson of Sister Wolf Books in Dorset, Minnesota, said, "I love this book. Lawson's writing moves seamlessly between past and present in the telling of a family torn apart by circumstance and mended by love and valor. It has everything that makes a great story: love, pathos, humor, suspense, and a strong sense of place."

For more on the Today Book Club, click here.