Mercy Road

Mercy Road  by Ann Howard Creel  283 pages

This novel takes place in 1918. America has entered the Great War, but it hasn’t affected the Favier’s of Kentucky. They are kept quite busy with their thoroughbread horse farm. Arlene, the oldest child, is happy caring for the horses and cannot imagine any other lifestyle---no matter what her mother thinks. That is until a fire comsumes their home and takes the life of her father. Thankfully, the horses are spared. Arlene is sure that her father left the family in financial security and the stud services will help to pay for what they need.

Unfortunately, Dad didn’t do that.  Now the family is virtually destitute and with stud services drying up (no pun intended), Arlene realizes that she will have to find employment to care for her mother and brother.

Looking for work is not easy. Young women of that era do not work outside the home. Widening her scope, Arlene heads to the largest nearby city, Cincinnati. There she finds the American Women’s Hosptial, a privately-supported orgainziation that is as desperate for ambulance drivers as much as Arlene needs work. After an extensive interview, Arlene joins the all-female team of doctors and nurses headed for France, where the fighting is the heaviest.

Arlene goest through training that will teach her everything about the ambulances. There she meets Cass and they become friends, watching each other’s backs and helping each other.  The scenes of the ambulance convoys driving to the front are the scenes of nightmares. The author, Ann Howard Kreel, does a great job describing the sights, sounds and smells of war.  This reader felt as if she was there, but there was little tension that I felt a war scene should have.

I was disappointed that Arlene didn’t meet Ernest Hemingway, who was also an ambulance driver during World War I, but he was stationed in Italy, not France. But Arlene does meet another rake, an officer who takes no as a challenge, Felix Brohammer.  He is a smarmy jerk who believes every woman wants him. He sets his hat on Arlene.

Nothing about Felix attracts her. She would rather concentrate on her job and the bonus that she is promised if she stays the entire course. However, she does run into an old heartthrob from back home, Jimmy.

I was confused a bit by the title. I thought “Mercy Road” was the actual name of a road. Instead it’s a euphemism for the road she and the other girls are traveling.  Based on the points I covered in the review,  “Mercy Road” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

What's a Girl Gotta Do?

What's a Girl Gotta Do? by Holly Bourne     432 pages

HOW TO START A FEMINIST REVOLUTION:

1. Call out anything that is unfair on one gender

2. Don't call out the same thing twice (so you can sleep and breathe)

3. Always try to keep it funny

4. Don't let anything slide. Even when you start to break...

Lottie's determined to change the world with her #Vagilante vlog. Shame the trolls have other ideas...

This was probably my least favorite Spinster book, despite it being one of the most important books because of how directly it addresses sexism and what it means to be a feminist. I only disliked it because the level of angst and emotions was so high it was hard to get through. It’s never enjoyable reading about people going through a really rough patch in their lives, and what Lottie endures is quite rough. It made for difficult reading – as in, I would need to take breaks every once in a while, just to space out the emotional turmoil.

Overall, I will say that this book touches on important topics and I would highly recommend it to young, budding feminists. This book reads like an intro into activism and displays numerous ways that teens can get into addressing sexism or starting activist projects to address issues they are concerned with. I also like that Bourne does address the fact that this book doesn’t cover all forms of sexism. The blanket of sexism is wide and many books or projects that attempt to promote feminist ideals often get shot down, even by other feminists, if they aren’t intersectional enough or don’t attempt to cover all forms of sexism, even going so far as to play the “who has it worst,” game. Any attempts to address feminism, in my book, are important, and Bourne makes sure state that this book is an attempt to light a spark, which I think it does.

The Masterpiece

 The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis   368 pages

I’m in love! I have added a new writer to my list of those whom I’ll read everything they write! I have wanted to read Fiona Davis’ first two books, “The Address” and “The Dollhouse,’ but somehow they never quite reached the top of my TBR list before there was a wait list at the library. It was this latest novel that made me determined to read it; something about the cover clicked in my heart, and I couldn’t let it go. Thanks to NetGallery and Penguin Random House I got my hands on a first edition, which I devoured in three evenings.

The story’s structure is one of my favorites, dualing timelines. The story vacillates between 1928/30 and 1974/6. I think I know why Davis chose the mid-1970s to place the second part of the story, but I won’t tell. No spoilers here!

In 1928, Clara Darden is an artist, an illustrator, working as a teacher at the Grand Central School of Art. She is also a freelance illustrator. Her students are dropping out at an alarming rate, and she fears not being asked back next semester. Part of the reason is that she is a woman, the only one among the remaining manly faculty. A number of the faculty becomes prominent artists, but not Clara, well not really

Fast forward to 1974. Virginia Clay is a newly divorced woman, still somewhat stuck in her 1950s role as housewife and mother. She is applying for a job, which takes her to the rundown facility that is an eyesore, Grand Central Station. It’s dirty, infested with drug addicts, and has almost been deserted. The terminal’s owners have their office under the buildings eaves. After blowing her interview, she asks for the restroom key and heads down the hallway. Instead of the facilities, she finds herself in the abandoned art school. Pictures still hang from the walls, and although the place is covered in dust, it looks as if the students had just been yesterday. As luck would have it, Virginia is offered a job in the Information Booth, with a cast of odd characters. This gives her a chance to further explore the old art school, but is stunned to discover that someone else is also haunting the area. Then, Virginia finds a painting that could set the art world on its ear. A painting that someone is willing to kill to own.

I loved the juxtaposition of the art/art school and the architecture of Grand Central as masterpieces. Both Clara and Virginia are well drawn (no pun intended) and fascinating women, both with a stubborn streak that just begins to make itself known. I can’t wait to meet Davis when she comes to St. Louis on her book tour.

 “The Masterpiece,” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.