FEEDBACK FROM MY READERS
Here are several titles my readers especially enjoyed this summer. Plus two mystery series they recommended that I didn’t know about. Fun!
SUMMER FAVORITES
Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark (Kathy & Alice)
Leaving Coy’s Hill by Katherine A. Sherbrooke (Sally)
Mercury Pictures Present by Anthony Marra (Claudia)
RECOMMENDED MYSTERY SERIES
English archaeology professor Ruth Galloway, whose expertise is bones, works with the police in a series by Elly Griffiths. First book is: The Crossing Places which I’ve now read and enjoyed. Set in a salt marsh, it’s atmospheric with myth and legends too. Now I’m into #2 in the series. (Thanks to Claudia for this suggestion.)
Commissaire Adamsberg is the detective in a French series by historian and archaeologist Fred Vargas. Her books were recommended to me by Ed, and I have the first one, The Chalk Circle Man, waiting on my Kindle. It was published in 1991, but only recently became available in English.
Both of these are long-running series with 9 titles in this series and fourteen in the Galloway one.
RECENT READING—LIBRARIANS & MORE MAINE
The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin
In the continuing spate of books about bookstores, libraries, and librarians, Madeline Martin’s entry, The Librarian Spy, is a gripping story that may haunt your dreams. Based on actual events with fictional characters inspired by real people, this novel of WWII is set simultaneously in Lisbon and Lyon. Although Portugal was neutral, refugees and spies were numerous and the Portuguese secret police to be feared.
Ava Harper, a rare book librarian at the Library of Congress is sent to Lisbon to work for the government collecting newspapers and magazines to be microfilmed and sent back to Washington. Her daily work is important, but seemingly routine until she becomes involved in trying to get refugees safe passage out of Europe to the States. Over in France, housewife Elaine, volunteers for a Resistance group printing and distributing anti-Nazi newspapers. These clandestine activities put her and her colleagues at frequent risk of arrest and imprisonment or worse. Unknown to each other, she and Ava exchange coded messages while working to assist those in danger.
Many of the characters are based on historical figures. And the IDC (Interdepartmental Committee for the Acquisition of Foreign Publications) for which Ava worked, was a real organization, but did not have any female operatives. Martin’s novel is a compelling addition to the literature about WWII. (~JWFarrington)
Vacationland by Meg Mitchell Moore
Consider this domestic novel a last gasp of summer. Louisa, a professor, is spending the summer with her three children at her parent’s house on the coast of Maine. She loves this place, and it has a strong hold on her emotions. While struggling to write a book on deadline, she must deal with her children’s various issues, her father’s declining health, and the fact that her husband seems content to stay back in Brooklyn working on his start-up.
Enter Kristie, a young woman with a sad past, lots of baggage, and a secret she wants to explore. Her interactions with Louisa and her family disrupt summer’s idyll. Both Kristie and Louisa must face the consequences of their own and others’ actions.
I thought this novel was excellent in its depiction of daily life with three active children, but, for me, Louisa was undisciplined and too whiny. I also enjoyed the setting near Camden and references to places I know. (~JWFarrington)
Note: Header photo is interior of Scuppernong Books in Greensboro.
