Six Degrees of Separation – from Life of M to The Night of Fear

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start with the same book, add six more, and see where it ends up. This month, Kate suggested Life of M by Rachel Cusk, which sounds like a fictionalized character assassination of actress Natalie Portman, although it does not mention her name. I have not read it but feel I should stick up for my fellow alumna. I suspect my father would have used one of his favorite words, “Gratuitous!”

First Degree

Cusk was born in Saskatchewan, Canada, which is where my favorite book in September, Bird’s Eye View by Elinor Florence, starts out, just as WWII is beginning. Heroine Rose falls in love not just with one but two pilots, with some intriguing war work in between.  A new paperback edition is coming out in November.

Second Degree

Cusk now lives in Paris and probably wants people associate her with France rather than her worthy (but not glamorous) home province, which is known for its sweeping prairies. A prairie well known to most readers is the third in the series, Little House on the Prairie (1935) – did you know that book is set in Kansas? It follows the family's journey by covered wagon to the Kansas prairie. The Ingalls settled on land that was still legally Osage Nation Indian Territory.

Third Degree

The Ingalls ultimately have to leave Kansas when the U.S. government orders settlers to vacate their lands (Pa’s luck is always bad – don’t get me started on the grasshoppers)(the current government would not have returned it to the Native Americans but probably would have given it to their rich friends for data centers). Another popular series set in Kansas, some 40 years later, begins with Those Miller Girls by Alberta Miller Constant (1965), in which Lou Emma and Maddy’s escapades involve the forgetfulness of their professor father and their desire to have a mother.

Fourth Degree

In Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (1985), set in the late 19th century, Anna and her younger brother, Caleb, are also looking for a new mother for their widowed father. Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton from Maine responds to their advertisement for a mail-order bride and comes to stay on their farm in the Midwest but misses the ocean. Will she stay to become part of their family? This book won the Newbery Medal in 1986 but I always wish it were longer.

Fifth Degree

Another book that features Maine is The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring (2023). This is the first book in a trilogy that I found so compelling I chose it for my book group this month. I hope they like it – there is nothing worse than the moment in one’s book group discussion when someone says accusingly, “Who chose this book?” On the other hand, some of our best discussions take place when there are different points of view on a book.

Sixth Degree

Dalton is not just a fictional town in Maine but also an author. The Night of Fear by Moray Dalton (1931) is one of the lesser-known Golden Age of Mysteries reprinted by Dean Street. It is set at a holiday house party in the country where – surprise – one of the guests is murdered . . . .

So my journey this month took me from Western Canada to Kansas and nearby prairie to Maine and finally England. Did you play 6 Degrees this month? Please share your chain!

Next month (November 7, 2026), Kate says start with a novella that’s on our reading list.  Not sure I have any novellas on my TBR - any suggestions?