GOING HOME
After our wonderful week in Sweden, we enjoyed ten more days in Maine. The air was cool to chilly, there was an occasional stiff breeze, and we felt that fall had already arrived. We left behind our view of the ocean water, our favorite botanical garden, and good friends. At our last dinner, we tucked into one more lobster roll—lobster makes Maine Maine.
Back home in the Triangle Area, we had several days of constant rain, an unnamed tropical storm which flooded southeastern parts of the state, and then a return to sunshine and 80 degrees.
READING–WAR FICTION
AMERICAN CHARM AND DONUTS FOR SOLDIERS
Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea
One might rightfully query, do we need yet another historical novel about WWII? There are many good offerings out there. I too wondered, but I ended up being captivated and engrossed in Good Night, Irene.
Inspired by his mother’s experience in the Second World War, Mexican American poet and novelist Urrea focuses on the Red Cross clubmobiles, something I’d never seen referenced before. These vans or buses traveled around Germany and France and even to the UK where soldiers were based, serving up American warmth and charm along with coffee and donuts. Two young women, Irene from New York. and Dorothy from a Midwest farm sign up, not having an inkling of what they will see and experience in their tour of duty.
Irene is escaping an abusive fiancé, and Dorothy is in it for the adventure. With their vastly different backgrounds and life experience, they are an unlikely pair. But they become close friends and each other’s strong support amid challenging living conditions, occasional bombs, and the sounds and sights of battle.
Urrea is a wonderful wordsmith. His descriptions of battle conditions and these women’s travels and travails are punchy, graphic, and simultaneously mesmerizing and haunting. Named by NPR and others as one of the best books of the year (2023), it received high praise from critics and is well worth reading. Recommended! (~JWFarrington)
BRINGING THE LIBRARY TO CHILDREN
Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles
You may have noticed that libraries and librarians feature in recent fiction and nonfiction. Examples include The Personal Librarian about J. P. Morgan’s librarian, The Library Book (fire in the Los Angeles Public Library), That Librarian (dealing with book banning), and The Paris Library, also by this author.
Jessie Carson, nicknamed Kit, was a young New York children’s librarian, chafing under the constant correction of her work by her boss. In 1918, she applied and was accepted for a 2-year post to France to create children’s libraries in war torn Blérancourt in northern France. CARD (Le Comité américain pour les régions dévastees) was started by heiress Ann Morgan, daughter of J. P. Morgan. Young women, usually affluent ones, volunteered and were assigned to serve villages that had been destroyed. They lived not far from the front midst the noise of guns and the sight of injured soldiers.
With no intact library structure and no chance of one anytime soon, Kit and her compatriots improvised. They visited women and children camping in huts and other makeshift shelters bringing them food and provisions. Initially, Kit created a roving story hour taking books to the children, reading to them, and coaxing traumatized adults to sample a book.
Linking Kit’s experiences to the present day is Wendy Peterson, an archives librarian and aspiring writer who becomes intrigued by a newsletter published in 1918 from Blérancourt and the CARD project. Her determination leads her to dig deeper into the archives to ferret out the story of these women and Kit’s groundbreaking work in establishing an actual children’s library. (Note, in the France of that day, a library dedicated to children was a radical proposition.)
Charles’ work is refreshing; it unearths yet another aspect of wartime service. It’s a novel of relationships among colleagues, lofty goals, and coming-of-age, both for Kit Carson in the early 20th century and for Wendy Peterson in 1987. Midst the horrors of 1918, friendships are fostered, some goals realized, and strong support provided to these French communities. Thanks to my friend Alice for this recommendation! (~JWFarrington)
Note: Header photo of the Maine coast and all unattributed photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)
