Margreete's Harbor

Margreete’s Harbor by Eleanor Morse 384 pages

This quiet novel of dementia, aging, family and music is perfect for fans of Anne Tyler, Alice Munro and Elizabeth Strout. Set on the coast of Maine, the seasons play almost as an important role as the characters. The novel begins in 1955 and runs through the late 1960s.

The opening scene illustrates the mild dementia that thrice-widowed Margreete is experiencing. In the first scene, Margreete forgets a frying pan on the stove and almost burns her house down, but luckily, only the kitchen is damaged. She calls her daughter, Liddie, in Michigan to tell her what has happened.

That the cue that Liddie needs to know that it is time: Margareete cannot live alone any longer. Either she comes to live with them or go to an old folk’s home. Margreete refuses to move, so Liddie and her family (husband Harry; children Bernie and Eva) pack up their lives and move across the country.

“Margreete’s Harbor” is about family and how people learn to live together. As I said earlier, it is a quiet, character-driven story that ebbs and flows much like the ocean that isn’t far away.

The story hits upon some of the major historical events of the time (Vietnam, JFK and MLK assassinations, desecration) that touch Margreete’s family, along with individual crises of infidelity, coming out, identity, unexpected pregnancy and betrayals.

Each chapter kept me captivated by workings of Margreete’s family and how they negotiated…or not…what life threw at them. I really enjoyed this novel. It was hard to put down, and I was sad when it ended.

 “Margreete’s Harbor,” receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

I'll Be Seeing You

 

I’ll Be Seeing You by Elizabeth Berg  224 Pages

I read Elizabeth Berg books. I usually don’t care what they are about. With the exception of two or three (out of 30), I’ve always loved her books.  I did not even notice “A Memoir,” on this book’s cover.  And she has never written a book that has hit so close to home as this one did: aging parents.

In my case, it’s Momma. Until the Coronavirus pandemic hit, my 88-year-old mother was living alone, taking care of herself, and still driving (only to the beauty parlor and the grocery store). But as the weeks and months started to drag by, I could tell that something was wrong---even 500 miles away and over the phone.  Long story short…in the last month she has had to go into a nursing home…and that has almost shattered me. But on the positive side, I can at least call her five or six times a day as I have since Daddy passed twelve years ago.

Reading this book, I would swear that Berg looked into my mind and my heart, as we have been going through some of the same things: guilt that we out of state, trying to get used to a new home, dementia, and the aches and pains of growing old.

Once I started this book, I was afraid that I would be devastating to read.  And it is, in some ways. But as humans live longer, more and more people will have to live the realities that Berg describes.  She comes across as handling is rather nobly; I cannot say the same. But I’m sure that she has spent as much time crying as I have.

Thanks, Ms. Berg! This really helped!

I’ll Be Seeing You receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

 

The Book Charmer

The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins   368 pages

The small town of Dove Pond, North Carolina, is slowly dying. Most of the shops and businesses have all moved away. But the people who live ther love it; generations of their families have called it home.

Sarah Dove is one such person. A descendant of the town’s founders and the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, Sarah has a special gift. Most people in the town know that she has a unique ability to find the right book for the right person at the moment they need it. But what most people don’t know is that the books talk to her. Sarah and the books don’t have conversations, but Sarah understands the noises they make. It’s really kinda cute. No wonder she became the town librarian.

Recently a new family has moved in down the street: Grace Wheeler, her foster mother Mama G, and her neice, Daisy. Sarah feels, and the books confirm, that Grace is the one who can save Dove Pond.

Grace has other plans. She left a high paying, successful job in finance to care for Mama G, the woman who took in Grace and her sister, Hannah, when no one else wanted them. It wasn’t easy trying to raise two very angry little girls. Now that Mama G has been diagnosed with dementia, Grace is taking her to her hometown of Dove Pond.

Grace has vowed she will only stay a year. She vows not to get involved in making friends and especially not to get involved witht the motorcycle-riding bad boy who lives next door and sends shock waves pulsing through her body when their eyes meet.

I found Grace’s vow alittle strange in that who knows how long Mama G might live. And then there is Daisy. An angry little girl whose mother died and left her. Since there wasn’t a father in the picture, it’s up to Grace to raise Daisy. She doesn’t seem to have any ideas what to do with her, much less if she takes yer back to Raleigh and her eighty-hour-a-work-week lifestyle.

But I need not to have worried too much. Grace, reluctantly, becomes the head committee chairperson of a local festival. The festival is important to the town, it’s tradition to host it every year. The townspeople won’t let it die, no matter what.

All these struggles make “The Book Charmer” a sweet read. I feel that the title  of the novel is a bit misleading because Sarah, the book charmer, is a secondary protagonist.  I expected more of Sarah. I wasn’t overly happy with the ending, But it does set the characters and the town up for a sequel.  Therefore, receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

A Sparkle of Silver

A Sparkle of Silver by Liz Johnson  368 pages

Millie Sullivan works as a waitress, trying to support herself and her grandmother, who is a nursing home suffering from dementia. But she’s behind in her payments. Their world is turned upside when the director of the nursing home gives Millie Grandma Joy’s ninety-day notice. Millie isn’t sure where to turn.

One afternoon, out of the blue, Grandma mentions a treasure is hidden away at the 1920s mansion, The Chateau once the wealthiest estates in Georgia. During this brief moment of what appears to be lucidity, she makes three other claims: 1) that her mother (Millie’s great-grandmother) was a guest there during its heyday; 2) that Grandma was conceived during that period (making Grandpa not really Grandpa); and 3) Great-Grandma left a diary at The Chateau that contains a diary leading to the treasure.

This could be the answer to Millie’s prayers. If she can located that treasure she can get Grandma into a facility that can care for her as she deserves. Luckily for Millie, old mansion is a historical attraction that gives tours. She quickly gets a job there.

One evening while hunting for the diary, she is caught by Ben, one of the attraction’s security officers. Ben has his own set of financial problems, working three jobs to right a wrong his mother committed. Millie quickly explains why she is searching an off-limits section of the house and offers him half of whatever she finds if he doesn’t turn her in.

The search begins. Millie finds Great-Grandma’s diary, but there are no secret maps. Then she learns that there is a second diary. The treasure hunt continues along with a budding romance between Millie and Ben.

This is a fun story, light hearted, a dashing romance, and family intrigue. I loved reading some of the entries on Great-Grandma’s diary, seeing what life among the wealthy was like the weekend before the last weekend before October 29, 1929 (Black Tuesday). Sometimes two of the main  characters in Great-Grandma’s life were hard to keep straight, and that is why  “A Sparkle of Silver” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Legion

Legion by William Peter Blatty, 269 pages

Legion is Blatty's sequel to his best-known work, The Exorcist (Legion was eventually adapted into The Exorcist III, which Blatty directed himself, although the studio insisted on adding elements to justify the Exorcist title).  Detective Kinderman returns, investigating a series of murders that seem to be the work of a serial killer known to have been killed decades ago.  Father Dyer, Father Damien's best friend and fellow Jesuit, also returns, having forged a bond with the surly detective in the years since Damien's death.

Where The Exorcist held out the hope that the existence of supernatural evil implies the existence of supernatural good, Legion asks why natural evil seems to pervade the human world and whether there is any hope against it.

Unfortunately, the novel's problems run deep.  Kinderman, while initially charming in his endless, garrulous, rambling monologues, eventually becomes tiresome.  The Gemini killer is a silly Hollywood caricature of a serial killer.  The ending is absurdly anti-climactic, although it is thematically appropriate.  This is one of those instances where, against stereotypes, the movie is better than the book.

Half A Chance

Half A Chance by Cynthia Lord    218 pages

Lucy’s family has just moved, again.  This time they have moved to a cottage on a lake in New Hampshire.  Lucy’s dad is a photographer and he has to leave right after the move to go on a shoot in Arizona.  Lucy misses him when he’s gone. But more than anything, she wants her dad to notice her.  She’s a photographer too, and she wants her dad to really see her work.  Her dad is going to be judging a kids’ photography contest when he gets back.  If Lucy enters the contest, maybe her dad will finally pay attention.  Her new friend, Nate, who is spending the summer at the lake might be willing to help her.  He and his family, especially his Grandma Lilah, have been tracking the loons on the lake for the past several summers.  His grandma can’t get out to do the work herself, so he and his family are taking the kayaks out to monitor the loon family, in hopes that the eggs hatch this year.  They keep track of everything to report to the Loon Preservation Committee.  If they win, they hope to use the prize money to buy a motorized raft that would be big and sturdy enough to get Grandma Lilah out to the loons one last time.  I think that any kids who like real life stories would enjoy this book.