Reminiscing about Books #5

Well, 2011 brought quite a revolution to my reading life when my husband gave me a Kindle! I was not interested at first. (Some of my regular readers may remember that I wrote many blogs about how digital reading causes us to read less deeply), but I finally succumbed because I could carry dozens of books with me when I travelled and because my favorite genre, literary classics, was almost always free. 

Anyway, my Kindle opened the door to discovering some lesser-known vintage authors such as O. Douglas, Ralph Henry Barbour, and C.N. Williamson, whom I have thoroughly enjoyed when in need of light, clean reading that is not dumbed-down. (I wrote two posts on favorite titles here and here.)

I was introduced to three wonderful new-to-me authors in 2011: Jon Hassler (review of Green Journey), Joseph Crosby Lincoln (review of Fair Harbor) and Maurice LeBlanc (review of The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin). 

It was also the year I first read the first two Lord of the Rings books. Truly, you are never quite the same after reading them. 

A good year for literary riches!

Blessings,

Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge

Green DolphinStreet is the story of two sisters who live in the Channel Islands in the mid-1800s. Marguerite and Marianne couldn’t be more different. Marguerite (like her name "daisy") is cheerful and carefree, ready to drink in whatever joys life has to offer. Marianne is less beautiful and much less easily pleased. But she has a thirst for knowledge and for experiences that make her sturdier and more dependable in times of trouble.

Her parents were much exercised over this brain of Marianne’s and were doing their best to repress it within ladylike proportions. But Marrianne wouldn’t be interested in sensible things like crewel work and water-color painting and duet playing on the pianoforte with her little sister Marguerite, even though she did all these things superlatively well. That was the trouble with Marianne, she did them too well, and her restless intellect reached out beyond them to things like mathematics and the politics of the Island parliament, farming, fishing, and sailing, knowledge that was neither attractive nor necessary in a woman and would add nothing whatever to her chances of attracting a suitable husband…

Marianne and Marguerite fall in love with the same young man, William Ozanne. I can’t tell you which one he chooses, but I can say that this novel is no fluffy romance. Instead it’s about the high cost of loving. The original title was “Green Dolphin Country,” which was more appropriate because each character in the book is yearning to find their own “country”, the place where they feel most at home. Some look for this in the love of another person. Others seek it in adventurous places. But all of them learn that this longed-for fulfillment comes at a very high price – death to self. Elizabeth Goudge is a master at this type of story. She writes of flawed people who through their disappointments learn to love in richer ways. Self-giving love is the key to finding their “country,” their native soil.

Goudge is not only a master of writing deeply, she also writes beautifully. Here is a description of the Mother Abess’ room in a convent: In spite of its austerity the room was not cold. It was very beautiful in its simplicity, and Marguerite within the flushed white walls felt as though she were inside a mother-of-pearl shell.

And this description of a loving kiss: It neither promised nor gave security, it was rather a dedication of themselves in comradeship to the danger and pain of living.

I started this book carefully noting passages that I wanted to highlight here on my blog, but ditched that as soon as I became engrossed in the story. When I came down to earth near the end of the book, I finally stopped to underline many beautiful paragraphs. By that time, I didn’t care if I ever blogged about this book or not. I was just glad to have experienced it. My copy is almost 500 pages long so it’s not an easy read, but if you like a well-told story, you’ll be glad to make the effort.

 Blessings,

Set in Silver by C.N. Williamson

I thought I knew all the vintage authors worth reading, but thanks to a friend at Goodreads, I discovered the Williamson writing team. Charles (1859-1920) was a “motoring journalist” at a time when it was still a novelty to own a car. His wife, Alice, turned his travelogues into romance novels, which explains why much of the stories are embedded in facts about quaint, historic English towns.

Set in Silver is a far-fetched comedy of errors that was perfectly delightful. It’s a love story in two senses. First, it’s the tale of a man who comes back to England after many years and rediscovers his passion for the country of his birth. Second, it is the traditional yarn of boy-meets-girl.

I’m prejudiced toward British writers and the Williamsons did not disappoint. The novel was loaded with literary references to Greek mythology, literary classics and the Bible. It was not Christian by any stretch of the imagination (Lionel’s sister is annoyingly religious), but if you know the Bible, the off-hand allusions to scriptural passages were often laugh-out-loud-funny. The frequent references to Arthurian legends were also a big plus for me. (It’s amazing to think that this “light” novel was written with the expectation that people would catch all these references, which they still did in 1909.)

Even though I could hardly put this book down, it took almost a week to read. It was 400 pages on my Kindle and I refused to skim over the descriptive passages (except for the last 40 pages when I just couldn’t wait a second longer to see how it was all going to turn out).

If you like a good vintage novel that is more lighthearted than sappy, this should do the trick. It had me smiling from start to finish. And it’s free for Kindle. 

Blessings,

The Priorsford Trilogy by O. Douglas

If you are looking for light-hearted (yet literary) domestic fiction, look no further than the writings of Anna Masterson Buchan (1877-1948). She was the sister of John Buchan (famous for his mystery novels), which may be why she used the pen name of O. Douglas.

Penny Plain - Of the eight novels I've read, this is still my favorite. Jean Jardine lives in a small town in Scotland and is bravely raising her three brothers on very little money and lots of love. Delightful references to books, mouthwatering descriptions of tea parties, and a fairy tale ending make this a delightful read. My extended review is here.

Pink Sugar - Kirsty Gilmour is another plucky heroine who is making the best of a tough situation. After the death of her only remaining parent, she moves to a small town in Scotland to begin life anew. A more detailed review is here. (At the time I am writing this post, Pink Sugar is $2.99 for kindle, but can be bought in a bundle of five Buchan novels for just 99 cents.)

Priorsford - Written ten years after Penny Plain, Priorsford doesn't have quite the same "joie de vivre" as the first book. I gave it only two stars, but now I'm wondering if that had something to do with how low-spirited my reading life was during the pandemic.

The House that is Our Own is not an official part of the Priorsford trilogy, but its protagonist travels to Priorsford and meets all the main characters of the previous books so it's a treat for fans of the Priorsford novels to get a glimpse of Jean Jardine twenty years into her marriage. My review is here. 

I am working my way through AMB's canon and look forward to reading the last four novels as well as her two biographical books, "Unforgettable, Unforgotten" and "Farewell to Priorsford." 

Blessings,

Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers

"Do you find it easy to get drunk on words?"

"So easy that, to tell you the truth, I am seldom perfectly sober." 

This is just one example of the rich dialogue between Lord Peter and Harriet Vane in their third novel together, Gaudy Night, which I enjoyed immensely.

A "Gaudy Night" is a kind of college reunion at the University of Oxford. While attending her ten year reunion, Harriet stumbles upon an obscene drawing and flushes it down the toilet in disgust. Later she learns that there have been a spate of similar incidents and is asked by the dean to stay on and help discover the culprit. 

In some ways the mystery is secondary to the main theme, which is the role of women in modern society. The story takes place in an environment where women have purposely chosen the single life in order to focus on academic pursuits, but within that environment, there are women who would rather be married. Sayers is definitely not advocating a "one size fits all" for women's roles. Harriet's own struggle with accepting Peter's proposals has to do with her fear of not being able to be fully herself while "tied down" to domestic life.  

Sayer's novels are not easy reads because of her frequent references to mythology, Shakespeare, etc. (A handy guide to many of them is found here.)  The closing lines are in Latin and I had to quickly google them to find out what had actually happened! There are several bewildering references to "Mr Jones of Jesus," who turned out to be a hypothetical rival to Wimsey's affections (a man from Jesus College in Wales). In spite of the befuddling quotations, Sayers is definitely worth the effort for her well-drawn characters and her thorough exploration of societal issues. 

Plus she's funny! I laughed out loud when one of her characters said, "It would have been such a bore to be the mother of morons." And again when Lord Peter was waxing eloquent on "How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks." After reading the lines Lord Peter added to her sonnet, Harriet, "went to bed thinking more about another person than about herself. This goes to prove that even minor poetry may have its practical uses." Ha!

This is the longest (and the most full of swearing) of the Wimsey novels I have read, but has by far the best dialogue and most endearing scenes. While I thoroughly enjoyed this book without the help of outside commentary, I greatly appreciated the insights shared on the Literary Life podcast (three episodes) that I listened to afterwards. Angelina and Cindy clarified a lot of details that I had not rightly understood, and showed what a genius Sayers was in weaving together every detail of the story. Angelina mentions that Sayer's essay "Are Women Human?" is the non-fiction version of this novel so now I need to get my hands on that.

Have you read Gaudy Night or Are Women Human? Any thoughts?

Blessings,

A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh (1895-1982) is considered one of the queens of the golden age of detective fiction. Born in New Zealand, she passed her time between NZ and England. She was interested in the arts, especially theater, and helped run a handicraft store in London in the 1930’s. Around this time she wrote her first murder mystery, A Man Lay Dead, the first of 32 books including Inspector Roderick Alleyn.

Honestly, the book did not grab me at first. The murder takes place at a country house party and it was difficult keeping all the guests straight, particularly when they are sometimes referred to by their surnames (Mrs. Wilde) and at other times by their first names (Marjorie). But once the murder occurred, I was invested enough to sort them all out and enjoy Alleyn’s careful detective work. The real culprit took me by surprise which is always a sign of good detective fiction.  

I enjoy British novels for their literary references and Alleyn throws out random quotes that had me scurrying to find their source (Julius Caesar and Just So Stories!) Then there is the dry humor that creeps up on you unaware like the first sentence of chapter four: Nobody got up very early at Frantock on Sunday mornings. Nigel, wandering down to breakfast at half-past nine, found himself alone with the sausages.

I paid special attention to descriptions of the inspector knowing that Marsh would continue to develop his persona in the following novels. He was very tall and lean, his hair was dark, and his eyes grey with corners that turned down. They looked as if they would smile easily, but his mouth didn’t. Later there is a hint that he comes from a wealthy background and that he began in the Diplomatic Service and for private reasons became a policeman. I can’t wait to find out more about him. Marsh looked back on this novel as one of her worst, which can only mean that the sequels will be better. (I actually liked it just fine, although there is mild swearing throughout.)

Anybody else familiar with this author?

Blessings,

The Betsy-Tacy Books by Maud Hart Lovelace

I started the Betsy-Tacy series in 2014, but stopped with the fourth book. I adored these stories about three little girls at the turn of the 20th century. In Book One (Betsy-Tacy), the two friends meet at a birthday party. In Betsy-Tacy and Tib, they incorporate a new friend into their circle. Betsy and Tacy are the dreamers and Tib is the practical one who good-naturedly goes along with their shenanigans. In Book Three, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill and befriend a Syrian girl; they learn about prejudice, patriotism and religious persecution (a lovely, painless way to introduce these subjects to young children.) Book Four, Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, was a delight with its literary references and parental wisdom. Betsy is an aspiring writer, but is writing trash (modeled after Victorian sensation novels). Instead of condemning her, her father gives her a library card and lunch money so that she can spend all day Saturday in town, reading the classics. Her trips to town open up a new world to her.

One of my goals for 2022 was to finish the series and I was glad to be able to get the books via digital download from my library. Books Four to Eight (Heaven to Betsy, Betsy in Spite of Herself, Betsy was a Junior, and Betsy and Joe) cover each year of high school. I have to admit, I did not enjoy them as much as the first four because Betsy was so boy crazy. This spills over into Book Nine, Betsy and the Great World. Happily, she comes to her senses in Book Ten, Betsy's Wedding, which was a fantastic conclusion to the series.

Throughout the series, Lovelace draws a lovely picture of small-town girls, the simple pleasures they pursue, their growing pains and, above all, their enduring friendship. I especially appreciate how Lovelace portrayed the girls as normal (not sickeningly sweet) and how she incorporated their hard-earned life lessons without ever being preachy. 

Highly recommended. (Even with the high school episodes!)

Blessings,

What I Read in January and February

We've had a crazy two months, and I'm finally sitting down to record my reading streak. Because we both had the Omicron variety of Covid in January, we were flat on our backs with nothing to do but read. Hallelujah! Then in February we took several trips that enabled us to read for hours in busses and airplanes. Although I didn't have much time at my computer, I gloried in the reading time and will simply list what I was able to read: My favorites are in bold type.

January

1) The Corner Shop by Elizabeth Cadell (my first title by this author, reviewed here)

2) Six Centuries of Great Poetry (took three months to finish!)

3) Trollope: An Autobiography (audiobook)

4) Galusha the Magnificent by Joseph Crosby Lincoln, one of my favorite vintage authors

5) Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour - a pro-Palestinian look at the nation of Israel. I'm reading it in conjunction with the Literary Life Podcast where we are supposed to be reading two books from different viewpoints.

6) A Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare (audio with Lit Life group)

7) Far From the Madding Crowd - Hardy

8) Have His Carcase - Dorothy Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey #7)

9) Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries - Martin Edwards

10) Restoring Beauty: The Good, the True, and the Beautiful in the Writings of C.S. Lewis - Markos

February

1) ESV Journaling Bible (the end of a two-year reading plan)

2) The Purgatorio - Dante (with the #100daysofdante group)

3) Heaven to Betsy - Lovelace (book #5 in Betsy-Tacy series)

4) Betsy in Spite of Herself (book #6)

5) Betsy was a Junior (#7)

6) Betsy and Joe (#8)

7) Betsy and the Great World (#9) - I disliked Betsy in this one!

8) The Water Babies - Charles Kingsley, a Victorian morality tale

9) The Five Red Herrings - Sayers

10) The Gathering Table - Kathryn Springer, Christian fiction that I listened to on audio

Don't know when I'll ever be blessed with so much down time again, but I certainly enjoyed it!

Blessings,

What I Read and Watched in October

I usually have three or four books going at the same time, but for the second half of October, I had six, which made it impossible to finish anything. Earlier in the month I read The Day of Small Things and Jane's Parlor by O. Douglas, which I did not enjoy as much as the first book in the series (The Proper Place). I got these quite cheaply for my Kindle and am not sure why there are no longer links to them at Amazon. (The best Douglas novel, Penny Plain, by the way, is always free.) I read Helen Keller's The Story of My Life while listening along on YouTube. Thomas Ramundo's The Prayer Life You've Always Wanted was simple, but encouraging. 

The books I'm presently reading at a snail's pace are: (1) Dante's Inferno, (2) Six Centuries of Great Poetry, (3) Mansfield Park (audiobook), (4) C.S. Lewis' Letters (Vol II), (5) Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome, and (6) Christian Faith in the Old Testament by Cockerill. 

We watched Blue Miracle with Dennis Quaid (2021) and Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson (1995). For some odd reason I love stories of unrequited love and enjoyed suffering along with Colonel Brandon! Come to think of it, that may be why I love most of Jane Austen's novels. Anyone else suffer from that malady?

Blessings,

What I Read and Watched in May

Another exceptionally busy (but fulfilling) month meant I could barely fit in time for reading: Fahrenheit 451 was a great re-read along with the Literary Life podcast group. All the rest were new-to-me titles. Spring Magic by D.E. Stevenson was a nice, light novel. Miss Plum and Miss Penny by D.E. Smith was another pleasant vintage novel. It had a few brilliant moments, but I rarely engaged with any of the characters. Unfortunately, I've become quite attached to the folks who live in Thrush Green (12 novels by Miss Read), and no other villagers seem to match up.

I finished up with two non-fiction books: Dorothy Sayers' Mind of the Maker and a book in Portuguese for my theology class (Introdução à Teologia Armínio-Wesleyana by Vinicius Couto), which was excellent. 

I squeezed in a movie each week: Three Hallmark mysteries (Dating is Murder and Murder, With Love, which are Hailey Dean Mysteries, and The Peach Cobbler Mystery - from the Murder, She Baked series). My husband I also watched the newest episodes of The Chosen, season two. 

Blessings,

Pink Sugar by O. Douglas

Pink Sugar is the third book in the Priorsford series by O. Douglas (pseudonym of Anna Masterson Buchan). Although I didn't like the second book very much, this one harkened back to the style and charm of Book One (Penny Plain) because of its rich vocabulary and many literary references (Shakespeare, the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, the Brontës, Chesterton, Dickens, etc.)

I was enchanted with this light novel of Kirsty Gilmour and her bravery in tackling new goals and projects after the death of her stepmother. At thirty she considers herself a spinster and plans to spend her life investing in other people. 

Having lived only in hotels as she traveled the world, Kirsty wants life at its simplest: a little plain house in an old-fashioned garden with plain meals and no smart servants. On hearing her desire to buy a small cottage and "live for others," her friend Blanche responds drily: My dear, I'm afraid you think now that you are free and in Scotland that the millennium has come. It hasn't. People can be just as selfish and tiresome and ungrateful in Muirburn as in any other place. [Your cottage], charming as it is, won't be a serpentless Eden. Don't expect too much and don't try to do too much for people... I don't believe, she said darkly, 'that people like being lived for.'

Previously Kirsty had served a demanding and spoiled parent, but in her new life she gladly gives of herself to take care of an elderly aunt and three motherless children. Her desire to help others (her "pink sugar" attitude is that everyone should be happy) occasionally gets her into trouble. These troubles keep the book from becoming too saccharine. The well-to-do vicar and his wife who care too much about keeping up appearances, the handsome poor vicar with his unhappy sister, the darling governess, the down-to-earth author of "pleasant fiction" and the surly landlord are just a few of the characters who keep the story interesting.

The Scottish brogue can be a challenge, but it's delightful when you make the effort to decipher it. "Gleg as a hawk" means alert. To "fash oneself" is to trouble yourself. "She was sweir to gang' an' blythe to come back," means she was disinclined to go, but eager to return.

Charming from start to finish.

Blessings,

Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie

I continue to plow through my favorite series of 2020. Unlike the other two Tommy and Tuppence novels, which were based on a single crime, this one is a series of short stories involving the detective agency that the Beresfords set up in the first novel, The Secret Adversary. I think that makes it perfect for reading aloud since each crime is solved in two or three chapters. 

I am a fan of vintage literature so I loved Agatha Christie's nod to dozens of other mystery writers from the "golden age of detective fiction". In almost every chapter of Partners in Crime, Tommy decides which of these detectives he will try to imitate. Will it be Sherlock Holmes (by Arthur Conan Doyle), Father Brown (by G.K. Chesterton), Inspector Howard (by A.E.W. Mason) or Inspector French (by Freeman Wills Crofts)? She even pokes fun at her own creation, Hercule Poirot and his "little gray cells." I enjoyed the humor in that and it also made me want to investigate the dozen or so authors she mentioned who I haven't yet read - especially the story "The Old Man in the Corner" by Baroness Orczy (of Scarlet Pimpernel fame.)

Solving the mysteries is fun, but the real reason I enjoy these books is because of  the playful, affectionate banter between the protagonists. I highly recommend listening to this series. This book, Partners in Crime, is narrated by Hugh Fraser on YouTube.

If you prefer reading, I found all five novels for $1.99.

Blessings,

Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery

Emily of New Moon was a lovely surprise in a month when I've been suffering from reading doldrums.

The book was written in 1923 and tells the story of newly-orphaned Emily Starr who must move in with unfriendly relatives. (The Murrays had rejected her mother when she eloped with Emily's father.) In book one of the trilogy, she learns to love her new home and to grow into a brave and thoughtful young woman.

Where do I start to sing her praises? Emily has a perfect mixture of pluck and insecurity that make her endearing. She pours out her heart in long, poignant letters to her deceased father that are mixed with honest questions about life's hardships and observations about the people around her. Some of her observations made me laugh out
loud.

Emily has the gift of wonder. It had always seemed to Emily, ever since she could remember, that she was very, very near to a world of wonderful beauty. Between it and herself hung only a thin curtain; she could never draw the curtain aside - but sometimes, just for a moment, a wind fluttered it and then it was if she caught a glimpse of the enchanting realm beyond - only a glimpse - and heard a note of unearthly music..... And always, when the flash came to her, Emily felt that life was a wonderful, mysterious thing of persistent beauty.

The book is chock-full beautiful descriptions: Winter came with its beautiful bare-limbed trees, and soft pearl-grey skies that were slashed with rifts of gold in the afternoon, and cleared to a jewelled pageantry of stars over the wide white hills and valleys of New Moon. Or the description of the tin man, whose wagon is covered with pans that flash back the sunlight so dazzingly that Old Kelly seemed the beaming sun of a little planetary system all his own.

Add to that all the delicious literary references to the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, Shakespeare, Jane Eyre, Wordworth, Dante and Thackeray. Throw in dear, odd cousin Jimmy, Father Cassidy and a cast of other unique, but special friends PLUS an long unsolved mystery, and you've got a full plate of bookish delights. Very highly recommended.

Blessings,

What I Read and Watched in May

We started the month with a re-watch of Hidden Figures, which was just as good the second time around. In general I have very little patience for Hallmark movies, but I enjoy their mysteries when I get a chance. So I was happy to find Roux the Day and Three Bedrooms, One Corpse, which were good, clean (yet forgettable) fun. BUT Fixer-Upper Mystery: Concrete Evidence was the most suspenseful HM movie I've ever watched. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I was delighted to see that hard-to-find author, O. Douglas, (who wrote Penny Plain, a vintage favorite) had more titles available for Kindle and immediately bought six of them. I re-read Penny Plain before tackling its sequel, Priorsford. Sadly, Priorsford did not meet my expectations.

My other reads for the month were theological: The Power of the Blood of Jesus by Andrew Murray (reviewed here) and Grace, Faith and Holiness, a theology textbook that I've been reading for months. (review here)

My absolute favorite of the month was L.M. Montgomery's  Emily of New Moon, which I'll be reviewing soon.

I discovered several free books this month: 365 Meditations from George McDonald's Fiction, Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law (Christian classic, 1729), and The Last Man by Mary Shelley (possibly the first post-apocalyptic novel, 1826) I can't vouch for any of these titles, but thought if you are reading this blog, you might have similar tastes in books.

Blessings,

Twenty Vintage Classics that are Free for Kindle

Hundreds of vintage authors have not stood the test of time because they are overly sentimental or their writing lacks literary quality. You can read most of them for free on your Kindle, but which ones are worth your time? Here are twenty of my favorites titles.

General Titles
Penny Plain by O. Douglas is a charming domestic drama set in Scotland in the 1920's.
Fair Harbor by Joseph Crosby Lincoln. In the midst of gossiping busy-bodies, bickering lovers, and money-grabbing scoundrels, stands Captain Kendrick, a man of sterling character who is eager to do what is right even at the cost of his own happiness. 
Lilac Girl by Ralph Henry Barbour is a sweet, non-syrupy romance with some fun humor woven in.
The Rich Mrs. Burgoyne by Kathleen Thompson Norris is much more than a romance. It's a treatise on the value of motherhood.
Dandelion Cottage by Caroll Watson Rankin is a lovely story of 4 little girls, similar to the Betsy-Tacy books.
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (a few of her other titles are free)
Freckles and Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter
Three books in the Little Women series by Louisa May Alcott (some of her other titles are also free.)

Cozy Mysteries
Father Brown mysteries by G.K. Chesterton
The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Arsene Lupin by Maurice LeBlanc (French gentleman thief)
A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Lady Audley's Secret by (A Victorian page turner)
The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan (the first of four spy novels)
The Woman in Black by E.C. Bentley

Unfortunately Amazon charges for the most popular vintage authors (Rumer Godden, Georgette Heyer, Elizabeth Goudge, D.E. Stevenson, Miss Read). Some, like Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, have only their less famous titles for free. Another of my favorite vintage story-tellers is James Hilton, but his cheapest (and most famous) book is 99 cents.

I hope you find a comforting book in these days of self-quarantine. The book of Psalms has been a source of solace for me, but I have enjoyed some escapist fiction as well.

 (All of these books were free at the time of this posting. Please let me know if you find a discrepancy.)

Blessings,

Village School by Miss Read

I thoroughly enjoyed Miss Read's Thrush Green series and have long looked forward to beginning her Fairacre series. As in the first Thrush Green book, I was introduced to a dizzying amount of characters, but I know that as the series develops, all of them will become as familiar to me as old friends.

The main character in Village School is the school mistress, Miss Read and the stories are based on the author's (her real name is Dora Jessie Saint) many years of teaching. If you are looking for a thrilling page-turner, please look elsewhere. These books describe commonplace activities with charm and gentle wit. The descriptions are lovely:

Behind the tractor wheeled and fluttered a flock of hungry rooks, scrutinizing the fresh-turned ribs of earth for food; their black shapes rose and scattered like flakes of burnt paper from a bonfire.

No English village story would be complete without a vicar and a chapel. While decorating the church for the Harvest Festival, Miss Read writes:

The troubles and vexations of the last twenty-four hours suddenly seemed less oppressive. It is difficult, I reflected, to take an exaggerated view of any personal upheaval when standing in a building that has witnessed the joys, the hopes, the griefs, and all the spiritual tremors of mortal man for centuries.... In the presence of this ancient, silent witness, it was right that personal cares should assume their own insignificant proportions. They were, after all, as ephemeral as the butterflies that hovered over the Michaelmas daisies on the graves outside.

As I said earlier, there isn't much of a storyline, but I very much look forward to getting to know Miss Read, her students, and neighbors in the coming months. Friends who have read both sets of novels say they prefer the Fairacre folks. I have a hard time imagining that I could love any group more than my Thrush Green family, so I'm interested in what my final verdict will be.

Blessings,

Fair Harbor by Joseph Crosby Lincoln

Fair Harbor is a forgotten, vintage novel that snuck up on me and captured my heart completely. I had read a couple of other light novels by Lincoln before and expected a pleasant escape from stress. But I did not expect the book to make me chuckle and cheer and worry so intensely for each beloved character.

Sears Kendrick is a young sea captain who is recuperating from injuries while living in the fictional city of Bayport, Massachusetts in the 1880s. He is anxious about never being able to regain enough strength to return to sea and wondering how he will make a living. Suddenly he's offered the job of managing a home for mariners' widows. There he meets a host of interesting characters including the lovely Elizabeth Berry.

In spite of some light swearing, I thoroughly enjoyed this well-told tale of small town life. In the midst of gossiping busy-bodies, bickering lovers and money-grabbing scoundrels, stands Captain Kendrick, a man of sterling character who is eager to do what is right even at the cost of his own happiness.

I am a sucker for stories of unrequited love and I suffered with my hero through every chapter of this book. On the other hand, I found Lincoln's New England slang highly amusing. P.G. Wodehouse makes me snicker, but J.C.L. elicits loud hoots of laughter.

This is not Jane Austen, people, but it's fun writing nevertheless. Like when Lincoln describes one of the Fair Harbor residents: Miss Elvira's thin figure stiffened to an exclamation point of disapproval. Or when he describes Miss Berry as being as cold as the bottom of the well to him.

Many of J.C. Lincoln's books are free for Kindle so I would encourage you to give him a try. Be forewarned that this book reflects its time period and twice refers to African Americans using words that are unacceptable by today's standards.

Blessings,

The Bird in the Tree by Elizabeth Goudge

There are two kinds of romantic love. One is the passionate emotion that leads you to say, "I do." The other is the unemotional choice that enables you to keep your promise even when the feelings come and go. In The Bird in the Tree, Elizabeth Goudge explores both types.

Nadine and David are deeply in love. Their passion for each other is the "truest" thing they know. But Lucilla, the matriarch of the family, isn't so sure that their marriage is a good idea. And she does her best to persuade then that there might be something truer.

As part of my resolution to read more deeply, I'm reading only physical books for the first few months of 2019. I've already seen a difference in my attention span! And also an increase in my overall enjoyment. The Bird in the Tree was splendid in every way: good writing, non-simplistic answers to life's problems, and believable characters (even the dogs are wonderfully "real").

Some delectable quotes:

In times of storm and tempest, of indecision and desolation, a book already known and loved makes better reading than something new and untried. The meeting with remembered and well-loved passages is like the continual greetings of old friends; nothing is so warming and companionable. (p. 266)

It was that declaration of Nadine's, that she wanted "to live her own life," that had exasperated Lucilla beyond anything else in the whole wretched business. It was a remark frequently on the lips of the modern generation, and it annoyed her. For whose lives, in the name of heaven, could they live except their own? Everyone must look after something in this world and why were they living their own lives if they looked after antique furniture, petrol pumps or parrots, and not when they looked after husbands, children or aged parents? (p. 83)

If you are familiar with Goudge, I don't need to extol her gifts, but if you aren't yet familiar with her novels, I suggest this trilogy (Bird in the Tree is Book One) or the stand-alone The Dean's Watch.

Blessings,

Friends at Thrush Green

Now that I'm in the tenth book in the Thrush Green series, the townspeople are old friends and I often enjoy sipping a cup of tea while sitting down to "chat" with them. In fact, tea time is so much a part of each book that in this one it is referred to as a "never failing help in times of trouble," a reference to Psalm 46:1 that I didn't find sacrilegious in the least. The ladies of Thrush Green frequently render comfort to one another over a hot drink and a slice of sponge cake.

Although Friends at Thrush Green purports to be about the two retired school teachers (from book nine) returning for a visit, many other townspeople have moments when they take center stage. Violet's struggles with her increasingly senile sister and the new headmaster's ill wife are just two examples.

This was not your run-of-the-mill, nothing-much-happens Thrush Green novel. I enjoyed the many mysteries. Will the persistent Percy Hodges finally find a new wife? Who is the mysterious Teddy and will he win the heart of one of the spinsters? What is Mrs. Lester's baffling illness? Is Bertha just eccentric or is she a certified lunatic?

I loved finding the answers to these questions. And, as always, I loved the gracious way that the folks at Thrush Green dealt with them, especially when the answers were difficult. This is cozy fiction by modern standards even though there are occasional lapses in morality (Nelly Pigott left her husband for another man in an earlier book and there have been a few babies born out of wedlock).

As always, there's the lovely writing: There was something about running water which healed the spirit as surely as sleep did... He sat by its side on a grassy bank, watching the secret life of the water creatures. Flies studded the glistening mud at the edge of the bank and a trio of butterflies played among a patch of nettles. An ancient willow tree stretched a gnarled arm over the water. Purple loosestrife and wild mint stirred in a light breeze, setting free the river smell unforgettable, unforgotten, which brought back to the watcher on the bank a hundred memories of other loved rivers. Charles sat there for almost half an hour, letting the magic work its spell and then he rose to return home. (p. 186)

P.S. These e-books are expensive so see if you can download them from your public library like I do.

Blessings,

The Lilac Girl by Ralph Henry Barbour

Life was quiet, but far from humdrum. On the still, mirrored surface of a pool even the dip of an insect’s wings will cause commotion. So it was in Eden Village. On the placid surface of existence there the faintest zephyr became a gale that raised waves of excitement; the tiniest happening was an event. It is all a matter of proportion.

I’ve written before about my mixed feelings over vintage novels. Though clean and quaint, they are often overly sentimental. There are exceptions, of course, and I’m glad to say that Lilac Girl is one of them. At first I wasn't so sure. In the very first chapter an awkward phrase made the English major in me bristle up. Then there is a ridiculous instance of a man declaring his passion for a woman he has just met. But in subsequent chapters he sees his foolishness. My initial prejudice against the story was soon overcome by its charm.

Wade Herrick and his best friend Ed Craig are partners in a mining enterprise in Colorado. When Ed dies of typhoid, he wills his little house back East to Wade. Wade spends his summer there and learns to love the people of Eden Village, particularly his neighbor Evelyn Walton.

Ralph Henry Barbour (1870-1944) wrote sports novels for boys and occasionally forayed into romantic fiction. Could this be why the book isn’t overly sappy? In any case, I loved it that the protagonists were never coy or excessively insecure. Their conversations were friendly, open and honest – such a breath of fresh air after two recent books I read in which the opposite was true (The Elusive Miss Ellison and Vienna Prelude).

In spite of the ever present question in the mind of anxious readers (“Will he win her?”), an undercurrent of humor makes the book a delightful, light-hearted read. From the hymn-singing maid, to the poetry-quoting old doctor, to a calico cat named Alexander the Great, there are plenty of light moments to balance the heavier ones.

Blessings,