Two's Company - set during the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg

Whe Claire Farrell left New York, heading south in her new convertible, it was ostensibly to visit her grandparents in Williamsburg, but really to pursue a handsome actor, Whit Bowdon, performing in summer theater. Whit is sophisticated and willing to do whatever it takes to advance his career, in contrast to Philip Young, a young architect boarding with the Farrells, who is focused on the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg – and enjoys teasing Claire about her lack of interest in history.

Cloth of Gold by Elswyth Thane for the #1929Club

Title: Riders of the Wind (1926) and Cloth of Gold (1929)
Author: Elswyth Thane
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 20th century

Description: Alexandra, the heroine of Riders of the Wind, married an older, distant cousin, Clement Marley, an authority on Asian art, when she was mourning the loss of her father and too young to know better. Her father was a world-famous explorer who died tragically in Africa when she was a teenager, and she has inherited his restless spirit and feels confined in London with her condescending husband who insists his meals be on time and disapproves of her walks in the fog.

Six Degrees of Separation: From Wolfe Island to The Children of Green Knowe

Australian author Lucy Treloar’s Wolfe Island, a dystopian novel set in Chesapeake Bay, is this month’s starting point for Six Degrees of Separation, which is organized by Kate.  It sounds interesting but due to a busy semester, I was not able to add it to this month’s reading.  It does seem unusual that an Australian author would set a book in Virginia (or Maryland!) and name her narrator Kitty Hawke, which is a play on a famous North Carolina coastal town.   Maybe I will understand her reasoning when I read the book!  I notice all my books this month are by women - unintentional but interesting.

 

My first book is Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry (1947).  Set on the Virginia coast like Wolfe Island, this is a famous children’s book, a runner-up for the Newbery Award, about the wild ponies on the island town of Chincoteague, Virginia.  I was not a big "horse book" reader but all of Henry's books were in my school and city libraries.