Trophy House by Anne Bernays – 4/20 Books of Summer

Dannie Faber has a comfortable life as a children’s book illustrator; her children are adults and she splits her time between affluent Belmont, MA and Cape Cod, which she prefers. Her husband Tom teaches at MIT and joins her at the Cape, which is her happy place, when he can. When she isn’t working, she has local friends, including Raymie, with whom to gossip about neighbors who don’t fit in. Primary among these is a millionaire who is building an enormous, hideous house less than half a mile from the Fabers.

Six Degrees of Separation - from All Fours to The Wonder Test

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where it ends up. This month’s starting point is All Fours by Miranda July (2024).

Date with a Career by Jan Nickerson

Like many of the books I enjoyed growing up, Date with a Career is about a girl starting school in a new place; however, it is also about her determination to become a fashion designer. Saphronia Adams has spent most of her life in Manhattan with her mother, a successful actress, but now her mother is performing in Australia, so Saphronia has is spending her senior year in New England with the grandmother for whom she was named. 

Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane – 12/20 Books of Summer

Mary Pat Fennessy lives in public housing in South Boston, working as a health aide at a nursing home, trying to pay her bills and worrying about her children. Her son died of a drug overdose after coming back from Vietnam. Her daughter Jules is going into her senior year of high school, hanging out all night with teens her mother distrusts.

Happy Landings: Emilie Loring’s Life, Writing, and Wisdom by Patti Bender

Title: Happy Landings: Emilie Loring’s Life, Writing, and Wisdom
Author: Patti Bender
Publication: City Point Press, hardcover, 2023
Genre: Biography/Literary Criticism
Setting: Massachusetts and Maine

Patti Bender has created a biography of Boston-born writer Emilie Loring that is part labor of love and part interpretive narrative, describing a life story that was rich in friendship, idealism, and dedication to family – all of which were revealed in her books.

The Concord Free Public Library in December

Concord, Massachusetts in December is an attractive place and I was in the mood to visit on Saturday, particularly because the library was having a book sale. 

The lobby/great room is decorated for the holidays

I’m Deborah Sampson by Patricia Clapp

Title: I’m Deborah Sampson
Author: Patricia Clapp
Publication: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., hardcover, 1977
Genre: Juvenile historical fiction
Setting: 18th century Massachusetts and New York

Description: In this historical novel about Deborah Sampson, the Massachusetts native who famously disguised herself as a man to fight in the Revolutionary War, Clapp provides a convincing background for Sampson’s decision to enlist and her ability to carry out such an improbable undertaking.

The Bound Girl by Nan Denker, set in Colonial Boston

Title: The Bound Girl
Author: Nan Denker
Publication: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, hardcover, 1957
Genre: Juvenile Historical Fiction
Setting: Colonial Massachusetts, 1712

Description: Félicie Charreau fled France with her father, an affluent textile merchant, and uncle when the persecution of Huguenots under Louis XIV became too intense for them to ignore. But when her father dies on the voyage and her uncle hears there are French agents waiting to arrest him in Boston, he slips away and the kindly sea captain promises to place the girl with a good family.

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

Title: Things You Save in a Fire
Author: Katherine Center
Publication: St. Martin’s Press, hardcover, 2019
Genre: Fiction
Setting: Present-day Massachusetts

Description: Cassie Hanwell is a firefighter who has fought for and earned the respect of her peers. Yet she has never forgotten the worst day of her life: her 16th birthday when her mother, Diana, walked out on the family.

Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte - a deaf girl reveals the blindness of others

Title: Show Me a Sign
Author:  Ann Clare LeZotte

Publication: Scholastic Press, hardcover, 2020

Genre: Young Adult/Historical Fiction

Setting: Massachusetts, 1805

Plot: Mary Lambert has grown up on Martha’s Vineyard in a community that has consisted of deaf and hearing individuals for generations. Mary is deaf but has never felt isolated because nearly everyone she knows uses sign language.  However, lately, she has felt sad and lonely; her family is still grieving the unexpected loss of her older brother George, and Mary’s grief is intensified by her belief she caused his accident.   When a researcher comes to the Island to investigate the Island’s deaf culture, he assumes she is not intelligent and it is the first time Mary has been treated as having a disability.  When he decides to use her as an experiment, Mary must rely on her own skills to save herself.

Bettina's Book Tagging Game

Finishing School: Further Studies in Schoolgirl Literature is primarily a group for literary analysis and general discussion of children's books.   This week, my friend Bettina posed a tagging game, asking for a book:

1. Containing a map?

I found several, and chose a book that was my mother’s before it was mine, At the Sign of the Golden Anchor by Ruth Langland Holberg (1947), set in Gloucester, Massachusetts, about an hour away from me.  The map is of Annisquam Harbor (Massachusetts), 1812.

2. With a Sunday School prize plate?

This took me much longer to find than I had expected!   Long Barrow by Gwendoline Courtney (1950) finally yielded a book plate – Nancy MacIntosh earned it for good attendance in 1956-57.   One can’t help wondering why they didn’t give her a more recently published book!  They must have been big Courtney fans like me.  I think Gill Bilski found this for me.

3. Showing defiant girl on the cover?

I think this heroine, a Paul Revere wannabe, looks pretty defiant in Midnight Rider by Joan Hiatt Harlow (2005).

4. With a character or place with your name?

Constance by Patricia Clapp is an old favorite.   She was a real person who sailed on the Mayflower and this book was Runner-up for the National Book Award for Children's Literature in 1969.

5. Which is a Puffin paperback?

I have quite a few but the first one I found was Thursday by Catherine Storr (1972). This is about a troubled teenager who disappears and Bee, his only friend, who tries to find him.  I am a bigger fan of her Marianne Dreams.

Three of these books are set in Massachusetts which is fun but unintended!

Helen Keller's Teacher by Margaret Davidson #1965Club

This is my final entry in the #1965Club, which collected reviews of books published in 1965.

Who else remembers this iconic cover?

Massachusetts Election Haiku

Question 1

Better access to
Nurses is preferred until
Fear of high costs equals No


Question 2

Repeal Citizens
United so Koch Brothers
Can’t buy elections


Question 3

Discrimination
Is wrong when based on gender
Or any other time

or

Discrimination
(Gender-based identity)
Must be prevented

(Q3 needs work: the longer words are a challenge)


Early Voting

Early voting’s great
But even Nate Silver lacks
Knowledge who will win


Voting

Why don’t people vote?
When so many fought so hard
For the privilege

On Election Day
The Bay State will lead the way
Repudiating Trump

Will you vote today?
Send a message to DC
That hate won't prevail

Man in the White House
Is more appalling each day
Not my President

Politics is grim
Root root root for the Red Sox
Escape ‘till November


Midterms

If the Midterms fail
To send the needed message
We’ll feel even worse





It's harder than it looks!   Anyone want to join in?

The Witch of Willow Hall (Book Review)

Title: The Witch of Willow Hall

Author: Hester Fox

Publication: Graydon House, trade paperback, October 2018

Genre: Historical Fiction

Setting: Massachusetts, 1821

Plot: In the wake of a scandal, the Montrose family and their three daughters—Catherine, Lydia and Emeline—flee Boston for their new country home, Willow Hall. Mr. Montrose is a prominent businessman and is busy with new ventures while the women in the family have little to do but squabble.  The estate seems sleepy and idyllic, but a subtle menace creeps into the atmosphere, remnants of a dark history that call to Lydia and her younger sister, Emeline.

All three daughters will be irrevocably changed by what follows, and Lydia will be forced to draw on a power she never knew she possessed if she wants to protect those she loves. For Willow Hall’s secrets will rise, in the end, for good or for evil . . .  Audience: Fans of dark and haunting books such as The Widow’s House and Imaginary Girls

The Barrett House parlor

My Impressions: The premise of this book was interesting and it was certainly an atmospheric Halloween-season read as I flew from Boston to St. Louis yesterday but I couldn’t help thinking my mother’s verdict would have been: “Overwrought!” and I have to agree.  How many scandals can one family experience in a few months?  Rumors of incest, a broken engagement, mysterious sobs on the night, ghostly figures, a young lady carrying on improperly in public, another calling on a young man without a chaperon, a tragic death, an attempted suicide, a much-telegraphed pregnancy, a dramatic illness and recovery, blackmail – and that doesn’t even include finding out your ancestor is a witch or the many scandals in another character’s past (birds of a feather flock together).  I became weary of all the drama and it was not very convincing.   For example, if you know your sister is a liar and wants to hurt you, why would you believe anything she says that contradicts more reliable sources?  If you are being blackmailed, maybe it is time to stop hiding things from your father, who might be able to help (mine would have!), rather than trust someone already proven to be completely unreliable.  Perhaps better not have tossed so many elements together like a salad but woven them together more subtly or simply crafted the plot less extravagantly in the first place.

Barrett House, the inspiration for Willow Hall

The strength of the book was the depiction of the sisters’ menacing new home, Willow Hall.  It is not surprising to read that author Hester Fox based this on real-life Barrett House in New Ipswich, New Hampshire at which she interned long ago.  I liked that it had made such a lasting impression on her.   Fox writes with precision and careful research most of the time but a good editor would have replaced the jarring “like” with “as” and made a few other judicious replacements to maintain the 19th century feel.  

Source: I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and TLC Book Tours for review purposes. 

Review Tour:

September 24th: Moonlight Rendezvous

September 25th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

October 2nd: Jessicamap Reviews

October 3rd: A Dream Within a Dream

October 8th: Cheryl’s Book Nook – review and excerpt

October 10th:  Thoughts from a Highly Caffeinated Mind

October 11th: Broken Teepee

October 15th: Laura’s Reviews

October 16th: Booktimistic and @booktimistic

October 17th: @hotcocoareads

October 18th: @bookishmadeleine

October 19th: Books and Bindings

October 19th: @bookishconnoisseur

October 22nd: Really Into This

October 23rd: Fuelled by Fiction

October 24th: Katy’s Library and @katyslibrary

October 25th: Bookmark Lit

October 26th: Girls in Books and @girlsinbooks

November 3rd: The Lit Bitch

Split Rock (Book Review)

Title: Split Rock
Author: Holly Hodder Eger
Publication: Trade Paperback, Conzett Verlag, 2016
Genre: Fiction

Plot: After inheriting a home in Martha’s Vineyard from a beloved aunt, Annie Tucker brings her three children to the popular summer destination while her husband is traveling for work in Asia. Lonely and grieving for her aunt, Annie becomes dangerously preoccupied with memories of a teenage romance that ended badly. When the former beau appears in person, Annie wonders if she is being given another chance at love and whether she should make different choices this time.

The Fairy Tale Girl (Book Review)

Title: The Fairy Tale Girl
Author: Susan Branch
Publication: Illustrated Hardcover, Spring Street Publishing, November 2015
Genre: Memoir/Coming of Age (first of two books)

Plot: This is a charming and beautifully illustrated memoir from the very talented Susan Branch, following her from childhood through her first serious relationship and unhappy first marriage.  She captures the warmth of her family and friends, as well as her discovery of her artistic talent and her growth as an artist and writer.  She asks if your life reflects who you really are and reveals how she came to recognize she had lost part of her true self while married to someone who cared only about his own accomplishments.

Bellagrand (Book Review)

Title: Bellagrand       
Author: Paullina Simons

Publication: William Morrow, hardcover, March 2014

Genre: Historical Fiction   Setting: 20th century

 

Plot:  Bellagrand is a sequel to Sons of Liberty (which is likely a better starting point for new readers than this book) and written as a backstory to Simons’ bestselling trilogy, which begins with The Bronze Horseman.  In Sons of Liberty, blueblood and Harvard educated Harry Barrington met a beautiful Italian immigrant, Gina Attaviano.  They eloped prior to Bellagrand and, disowned by his wealthy Brahmin family and unable to hold a job, Harry continues and escalates his involvement in radical politics while Gina takes on the most menial jobs to support him and her infirm mother. 

The Game Resumes

thank you to cartoonist Victor Harville!