Nancy and Plum by Betty McDonald, for the #1952Club

It is Christmas Eve, and Nancy and Plum are alone at Mrs. Monday’s Boarding Home in so-called Heavenly Valley, while Mrs. M, her spoiled niece, Marybelle, and the other orphans are enjoying the holiday in the city.  When the sisters dash outside to watch some merry sleighs go by, they are accidentally locked out of the house on a very cold night. But Nancy and Plum are intrepid: they take refuge in the barn, find a lantern, play with some kittens, crank the stove in the harness room so they can roast some potatoes they extract from the root cellar, and play imaginary games about having a family. They are stunned to find an empty box from their Uncle John, showing that although he left the girls at this boarding house years ago, he has sent gifts they never received.

Ladies' Bane by Patricia Wentworth, for the #1952Club

It’s time for the 1952 Club, featuring books published that year and hosted this week by Simon at Stuck in a Book and Karen at Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings. The inimitable Miss Maud Silver, along with a young woman fighting for her sister’s happiness, are featured in my first selection, Ladies’ Bane.

The Denehurst Secret Service by Gwendoline Courtney

A school story that contains a mystery and is also an evacuation story – who could ask for anything more, as my friend Fred Astaire would say . . .

Mrs. Sherbourne has news for her two teenage daughters, Elaine and Moira. She is sending them to Denehurst, a boarding school in Cornwall, because London in war time is dangerous and their father needs to concentrate on his Foreign Office work. The girls are mildly indignant because they want to do their bit but cheer up when their cousin, Captain Deryk Holroyd, says he might need their help from school. He asks them to conceal their fluency in German, where the family spent three years.

Northern Spy by Flynn Berry

One day, Tessa, a producer for a weekly political radio program at the Belfast office of the BBC, looks casually at a nearby television monitor and freezes when she sees her sister Marian:

She is standing with two men outside a petrol station, by a row of fuel pumps. Her ambulance must have been sent out to a call, though for some reason she isn’t wearing her uniform.

“The police are appealing for witnesses after an armed robbery in Templepatrick,” says the closed caption. A ringing starts in my ears. Only Marian’s face is in view of the security camera, the two men are turned away . . . .

Marian has something in her hands. She is leaning down and pulling it toward her. It takes me a moment to understand what I’m watching, as her hair and then her face seem to disappear. When she straightens, she’s wearing a black ski mask.

Baby Island by Carol Ryrie Brink, for the #1937Club

Title: Baby Island
Author: Carol Ryrie Brink
Illustrator: Helen Sewell
Publication: Macmillan, hardcover, 1937
Genre: Juvenile fiction

Description: Twelve-year-old Mary Wallace and her younger sister Jean are on their way to Australia from San Francisco to join their father, who has been managing a ranch there for the past two years. Mary and Jean have long been devoted to other people’s babies and entertain themselves by playing with those on the ship.

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Title: Tom Lake
Author: Ann Patchett
Publication: HarperCollins, hardcover, 2023
Genre: Fiction
Setting: Michigan

Description: During the pandemic, Lara’s adult children came home, as many did, and as her daughters help out with the family business, they ask her to tell them about her long-ago relationship with famous actor Peter Duke.

The Puritan Princess by Miranda Malins

Title: The Puritan Princess
Author: Miranda Malins
Publication: Orion, paperback, originally published in 2020
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: 17th-century 

Description: When Oliver Cromwell is declared Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland, his large family joins him at court in London, and Cromwell’s two unmarried daughters become prospects for political alliances.

Watch Us Shine by Marisa de los Santos

Title: Watch Us Shine
Author: Marisa de los Santos
Publication: William Morrow, hardcover, 2023
Genre: Fiction
Setting: Present day with flashbacks

Description: When her mother is badly injured in an accident, Cornelia Brown drops everything to be with her parents in Virginia.

"New" D.E. Stevensons from Furrowed Middlebrow

Scott at Furrowed Middlebrow published eleven “new” D. E. Stevenson books this month, some of which I had read from the library but a few I had never read at all, including the two below, which is very exciting. Each of these reprints includes an autobiographical essay from 1950 by Stevenson, originally created as promotional material for her novel Music in the Hills (which was also reprinted recently and is one of my favorites).

The Musgraves (1960)

The Musgraves are another DES family consisting of an attractive widow and three daughters, who have enough money for a servant or two but still need to be careful of expenses.

The Christmas Party by Karen Swan

Title: The Christmas Party
Author: Karen Swan
Publication: Pan Books, paperback, 2019
Genre: Fiction/Romance
Setting: Present-day Ireland

Description: When their father dies unexpectedly, sisters Ottilie (Ottie), Philippa (Pip), and Wilhelmina (Willow) are devastated, and the way he left the estate causes even more angst.

Anna and Her Daughters, a story about sisters by D.E. Stevenson

Title: Anna and Her Daughters
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Publication: Ulverscroft hardcover, originally published 1958
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 20th century London and Scotland

Description: When Anna’s husband dies unexpectedly, leaving very little money, she decides to retrench by moving to a cottage in rural Scotland with her three daughters.

Sun in the Morning by Elizabeth Cadell - a novel based on her youth in India

Title: Sun in the Morning
Author: Elizabeth Cadell
Publication: Thorndike Press, large print paperback, 1978 (originally published in 1950)
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: India, early 20th century

Description: The narrator and her two older sisters live with their father in one of five houses on Minto Lane in Calcutta, 1913.

Her Last Holiday by C.L. Taylor

Title: Her Last Holiday
Author: C.L. Taylor
Publication: Avon, trade paperback, 2021
Genre: Suspense

Description: You go on a retreat to be healed. You don’t expect to die. But two years ago, Fran’s sister Jenna disappeared on a wellness retreat in the Mediterranean that went terribly wrong.

Long Bright River by Liz Moore – a dark mystery about twisted sisters

Title: Long Bright River
Author: Liz Moore

Publication: Riverhead (Putnam), hardcover, 2020 

Genre: Mystery 

Description: Mickey Fitzpatrick is a Philadelphia policewoman who likes her job and whose only stress should be whether the babysitter for her 4-year-old son turns up on time. Yet, while they haven’t spoken for years, she worries constantly about her younger sister Kacey, a drug addict who turns to prostitution when she needs money for her addiction, right on Mickey’s neighborhood beat.

The Marrying Kind by Elizabeth Cadell

Title: The Marrying Kind
Author: Elizabeth Cadell
Publication: William Morrow, hardcover, 1980
Genre: Fiction

US edition

Description: Laura and Jess Seton are sisters in their 20s who had an unconventional upbringing but remain very close.  Laura has chosen to stay in Crossford, the small and sometimes inaccessible town they mostly grew up in, while Jess prefers, London, 60 miles to the north, where she has dabbled in many careers – and apparently quite a few men as well.  When the story begins, Jess is concerned their charming artist father Claude may have embroiled himself in some kind of shady predicament with a painting, and visits Laura to warn her that  Finch Falconer who bought the Setons’ original home nearby is also involved.

Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Title: Fighting Words
Author:  Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Publication: Dial/Penguin, hardcover, 2020

Genre: Fiction/Middle School

Plot: Delicious Roberts, known as Della, is a feisty but vulnerable fourth grader whose mother is incarcerated, but has always had her older sister Suki to take care of her.  Yet she is used to being self-reliant, and she’s had to be because the adults in her world don’t understand what she is dealing with. Her teacher assigns family trees although she must know Della is in foster care and doesn’t have the type of family situation that is remotely sharable.  She and Suki lost everything they owned when they ran away from their mother’s former boyfriend and he burned all their belongings.  Now Suki, who has always been Della’s rock, is acting erratically and the girls have started squabbling for the first time.  When Suki tries to commit suicide, it is up to Della to take control and help her sister get help.

A Sister's Courage, historical fiction set in Britain during World War II

Title: A Sister’s Courage, Victory Sisters #1
Author: Molly Green
Publication: Avon, Paperback, 2020
Genre: Historical Fiction

Plot: This is the beginning of a trilogy about three English sisters determined to do their bit in World War II.  Raine Linfoot, the eldest sister, living in Kent just before WWII, is captivated by aviation and is determined to learn how to fly. Her father supports her dream but tries to appease Raine’s French-born mother who is more traditional and would prefer her daughters focus on pretty clothes and young men (and clearly has a Hidden Sorrow from her Past). Raine’s sisters have goals of their own: Suzanne is musical and Ronnie loves animals and being outside. Although gifted academically, Raine leaves school when she secures a clerical job at a nearby airbase and manages to score flying lessons from good-natured pilot Doug White.

She's the Worst by Lauren Spieller

Title: She’s The Worst
Author: Lauren Spieller
Publication: Simon & Schuster, hardcover, September 2019
Genre: YA

Plot: Sisters April and Jenn haven’t been close in years. Jenn’s too busy with school, the family antique shop, and her boyfriend, and April would rather play soccer and hang out with the boy next door.

But when April notices her older sister is sad about staying home for college, she decides to do something about it. The girls set off to revive a pact they made as kids: spend an epic day exploring the greatest hits of their childhood and all that Los Angeles has to offer.

Then April learns that Jenn has been keeping a secret that could rip their family—and their feuding parents—apart. With only one day to set things right, the sisters must decide if their relationship is worth saving, or if the truth will tear them apart for good.

Giveaway: Win one of two finished copies (8/28-9/16/19, US only) here: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Favorite Quotes: April: “Maybe I was listening,” I tell Jenn, “but it’s only because you were so sneaky.” When she doesn’t stop glaring at me, I add, “I could barely hear anyway.”

April: “Jenn started talking about how she wanted to go away to college even though she’d only just graduated from middle school. Back then she wanted to go to Michigan or Illinois or something, which I remember thinking was really far. Like, why not go to Antarctica while you’re at it? But then she got very serious all of a sudden, and said we should promise each other that in four years, when she was leaving for college, we’d spend the entire day together. Just us. To, you know, say goodbye. So we did a pinkie swear . . . and that was it.”

April: Nate’s voice sneaks its way into the back of my mind. Don’t assume the worst. This might work out if you give it a chance. I take a deep breath, and try my best to put my faith into Nate’s imaginary advice. Tomorrow is going to be good. Better than good. It’s going to be great. I’m going to get my sister back. I just have to give her – give us – a chance.

Jenn: I don’t know what surprises me more. That April remembered the pact we made as kids, or that she actually wanted to do it.

Jenn: I know April’s mad, but even though she doesn’t understand why I did what I did, surely she can see how important this is to me. How badly I need to get away. How sick I am of being in charge of everything, how much I hate constantly taking care of Mom and Dad, how sometimes my life here makes me want to scream –

Jenn: Except there's also another possibility.  They could listen.  If that happens, then they'll know the truth.  They'll be forced to start it in the face and grapple not only with how they've been making me feel, but how dysfunctional things are between them.  I know that's the whole point of telling them - to clear the air so we can fix things.  But sitting here, watching them make dinner, I'm not sure I can do it.  I've spent so long keeping the peace between them.  If I shatter it now and everything falls apart, it'll be my fault.

Author Lauren Spieller (Dave Cross Photography)

My Impressions: This is a very readable and convincing story, which explores the complications of family over slightly more than a day.  Jenn and April are about as different as sisters can be, and Spieller captures the dynamics of sibling relationships, the miscommunications and distorted memories of the same events, as well as how good intentions can go awry. It was particularly poignant how some of April’s recollections of things she had done with Jenn were incomplete: for example, the Ferris Wheel ride that April remembered as magical had actually ended with her vomiting on her sister. As the sisters grew apart in adolescence, there were faults on both sides.  There wasn't much romance (two very unsatisfactory male characters offset by a very sweet boy next door) but it was refreshing to have the focus of a YA book be on the family relationships.

The sisters in my family were all more like Jenn than April, organized, academically focused, and goal-oriented, so I identified more with Jenn and was exasperated with her parents. I was impressed that Jenn filled out all the financial aid forms for Stanford on her own. Jenn’s and April’s parents were over the top awful. Ignoring their inability to stop arguing in front of their children and customers, their poor business skills, their neglect of April and insensitivity to Jenn, they lack any kind of thought for their children’s future. Even if they had good reasons to insist that Jenn stay close to home for college (and finances could have been one of them), the idea that someone should turn down Stanford to attend community college seemed absurd.   (It's also implausible that Jenn could have gotten so close to college move-in day without having paid her room and board - I hate loose ends like this.)

Purchase Links: IndieBound * Barnes & Noble * Amazon * iTunes * Book Depository

Off the Blog: It is Labor Day weekend and I am filling out my Summer Reading Bingo card. Aren’t you glad summer reading isn’t just for children?

Source: I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and the Fantastic Flying Book Club for review purposes. You can visit other stops on the tour and read the reviews by clicking here.

The Daughter's Tale by Armando Lucas Correa - and Giveaway

Title: The Daughter’s Tale
Author: Armando Lucas Correa
Publication: Atria, hardcover, May 2019 (translated from Spanish)
Genre: Historical Fiction

Plot: Berlin, 1939. Amanda Sternberg and her husband, Julius, dreamed of blissful summers spent by the lake at Wannsee and unlimited opportunities for their children. But that all falls apart when the family bookshop is destroyed and Julius is sent to a concentration camp. Now, desperate to flee Nazi Germany and preserve what’s left of her family, Amanda heads toward the south of France with her two young daughters—only to arrive with one. In Haute-Vienne, their freedom is short-lived, and soon she and her eldest daughter are forced into a labor camp, where Amanda must once again make an impossible sacrifice.

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