The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

"What would you think of a postmistress who chose not to deliver the mail?"
"Don't tell me anymore...I'm hooked already."
           -from a conversation at the beginning of the book

I cannot say I loved The Postmistress but I did stick with it to the end so it must have had something going for it. I cared enough to want to know how it all turned out. I'm rating it a 2+.

The story is set in the early 1940's just before the U.S. becomes directly involved in WWII.  Iris is the postmistress in Franklin, Massachusetts, and though she is the title character she seems to take a secondary role to Frankie, a news journalist and radio broadcaster in London. Both women, in their own roles, are charged with delivering the news but each one finds reason to withhold a portion. I found Frankie's story more compelling as she had to deal with the experience of what was really going on in Europe and how to inform the American public, most of whom were in serious denial.

I found Ms. Blake's writing style to be a bit tedious at times and poetic at others. When I learned she had a Phd. in Victorian literature, that made a lot of sense. I especially liked this simile "...she imagined she could pull Time like taffy, stretching it longer and longer between her hands until the finest point had been reached..."

The book does address the theme of war and its impact in a very interesting way, even without the blood and gore.

A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith

"Perhaps animals are smarter than men, he thought, taking only what they need to live today, leaving something for tomorrow. Even the hated wolf kills only for food and only for immediate need. Maybe it is man who will eventually perish as he destroys the land and all that it offers, taking the animals down with him."
              -Zech's thoughts, from the novel

Patrick Smith's award-winning novel, A Land Remembered, is an amazing saga of the fictional MacIvey family through just over 100 years of Florida history.  It starts with dirt-poor Tobias MacIvey from Georgia trying to eke out a living collecting scrawny wild cattle and herding them to market. I'm not sure if there could have been a more difficult way to make a living since they had to fight weather, wolves, outlaws and a forbidding natural environment. Tobias eventually begins growing citrus, successfully until the big freezes of 1894 and 1895.  Later his son, Zech, carries on the family businesses. The novel ends with filthy-rich Sol MacIvey retiring to a cabin in the woods, disillusioned with all the so-called progress in South Florida.

As a pre-Disney resident of Central Florida and a docent at the Orange County (Florida) Regional History Center, I had plenty of background to relate to the story. There is a whole gallery in the History Center featuring Seminoles, Pioneers, Cattle Industry and Citrus. So many facts and concepts I have mentioned in countless tours came out in the novel: marshtackies, whips, catch dogs, chickees, frolic, Jacob Summerlin, the term "Cracker," to name a few, and that doesn't begin to cover other exhibits in other galleries where one learns about mosquitoes, sternwheelers, Henry Flagler and the railroad, Henry Ford's Model T, Timucuans, egrets and more.

I was struck by the female characters, women of Tobias, Zech and Sol. They were so loyal and hardy and brave. It is a good thing that I didn't live then! I cannot picture myself on a horse, herding cattle, facing rattlesnakes, cooking on an open fire or even a wood stove.  I would have a hard time living in Florida without air conditioning! I was impressed with the MacIvey's hired hands, as well. They worked so hard and seemed to be a part of the family.

A male friend who read A Land Remembered told me it reminded him of the Zane Greys he used to read. I know he meant that as praise. I have never read anything by Zane Grey and don't plan to but I did enjoy this novel, probably since historical fiction is my favorite genre and because of my involvement in Florida history. I give it a solid 5 rating. I would especially recommend this to folks interested in history and/or new residents in Florida.

I was absent for the meeting where this August book selection was discussed. Apparently the group loved the novel since the average rating was 4.9, one of the highest in our 5+ years! The refreshments offered included corn bread, coffee, apples and hard tack. Our group is SO creative!

I would welcome your comments!

The Shadow of Your Smile by Mary Higgins Clark

"Now that I remember spring

All the joy that love can bring

I will be remembering

The shadow of your smile."

                 from "The Shadow of Your Smile" by Williams, Mandel, Jones and Webster 

 

I chose this novel at the San Francisco airport because I had nothing left to read on the long flight home. It was an author I liked, in paperback and not quite as expensive as some others. I don't really like buying books these days unless they are something REALLY special. I am a library kind of girl. I actually had just finished another Clark novel a few days before.

 

Olivia Morrow, an 82-year-old woman who is dying, has a letter that reveals a secret about a nun who is being considered for beatification, Sister Catherine.

 

Monica Farrell is a noted pediatrician who finds out that Olivia's secret may involve her family. Before Olivia can share this information, she dies in her bed. Since she had a terminal illness, it seems a natural death at first, but the more that comes to light about the wealthy Gannon family and their benevolent foundation, the more suspicious her death seems. Skeletons in the Gannon closet lead to blackmail and at least two more deaths. Monica is in danger, as well.

 

This book is quite entertaining; definitely what I call a "page turner." There are so many characters, I took notes to keep them all straight. Anyone who enjoys a good mystery would like this novel, I think. I rate it a 4.

 

 

The Lost Years by Mary Higgins Clark

"Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away."

John 19:37-39

I have read a number of murder mysteries by  Mary Higgins Clark, often called the Queen of Suspense. They always provide some great entertainment---easy and enjoyable reads. I rate it a 4.

The plot of this one has to do with the discovery of a letter that may have been written by Jesus Christ to Joseph of Arimathea. Jonathan Lyons, a renowned Biblical scholar, is the one who comes across the ancient parchment, priceless if it can be authenticated. Early in the novel, he is found shot to death and the parchment is missing . His wife, Katherine, suffering with Alzheimers, is accused of his murder. It falls to daughter, Mariah, to clear her mother and find out what happened to the ancient document.

The Lost Years was a bit more historical than others of Clark's mysteries I have read and as far as I know, the title is not part of a song. I had recently attended a lecture and seen a TV documentary on the Dead Sea Scrolls, another exciting Biblical discovery, and found I could suspend my disbelief in the founding of this "Arimathea letter," all the while knowing Clark's story is fiction.