Beyond that, the Sea

 

Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash 368 pages

 

The Blitz was in high gear. Nightly the German bombs rained down upon London. Most Londoners felt as if bomb shelters were their new homes. Many families were sending their children to the English countryside or to America to keep them safe. Millie and Reginald Thompson decided to do the same for their eleven-year-old daughter Beatrix.

 

I can’t remember how, or if it was even mentioned in the story, but the Thompson’s chose America and a family in Boston. The voyage was hard on the girl, traveling alone. But the ship made it across the ocean and landed. Beatrix was relieved when her new family claimed her. She was welcomed with open arms.

 

It didn’t take long for Bea, as she was called, to make herself at home and fit into her new lifestyle. Really, the only difference was the Thompsons were upper lower class while the Gregorys were wealthy. One of the things that Bea loved most living with the Gregorys, Nancy and Ethan, and their two sons, Gerald and William, was the summers spent at their cabin in Maine. Oh, what fun they had!

 

When the war ended, Bea was sent back to London. While she had been gone, her father had died, her mother had remarried, and London was still in ruins. As she tried to pick up the pieces, her memories of the Gregorys lingered in the back of her mind. She had grown close to both boys. Nor did the Gregorys forget Bea.

 

What I really like about this story is the way it is told---in short vignettes told from seven viewpoints (those of the seven characters.) What I didn’t like was that the vignette style also allowed the author to gloss over some key moments. Regardless, I would recommend this book to others, and Beyond That, the Sea received 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Lucy by the Sea

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout 291 pages

It’s 2023, and upon opening this book I’m plunged back into 2020. America and the world were thrust into the midst of the covid pandemic, all of us positive that we were gonna die before it loosened.

I was one of the lucky ones; I was sequestered at home for about six weeks before I was able to go back into my office. Hubs on the other hand was always out as he worked for an “essential” business.

Lucy’s ex-husband, and the father of her two grown daughters, William is a scientist. He understands what is happening more than Lucy. To keep her safe, William borrows a cabin on the coast Maine that he whisks Lucy to in order to avoid the virus. Drama rears its head as Elizabeth and William keep tabs on their offspring, Chrissy and Becca.

This novel centers on the isolation and loneliness and how the fear of merely going to the grocery was so prevalent. As with most Elizabeth Strout novels, “Lucy by the Sea,” is character driven.

Lucy is still mourning the death of her second husband, David, all the while re-adjusting to life with William. They cook, take long walks, keep in touch with their daughters and gasp! Even make a new friend.

Their new friend is Bob Burgess, whom readers will remember from “The Burgess Boys.” When he visits, there is always the minimum six feet apart from each other.

 Readers will also rejoice in the briefly brief appearance of Olive Kitteridge, but I won’t spoil that sighting.

And, as my daddy used to say, “everything always works out.” I spent two evenings reading this novel. It was both too long and too short. Too long in that I did not really reliving those early pandemic days, and too short in that I wanted more. I look forward to reading more about Lucy and William in the future.

“Lucy by The Sea” receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

The Poacher's Son

 

The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron 324 pp.

The Poacher's Son is the first book in a series that was recommended by someone in our Mystery Lover's Book Club.  It is about a man who is a game warden in Maine.  Game wardens in Maine have the same training and abilities to arrest people as police officers and sheriffs/deputies do.  They go through similar training.  Part of the story is about trapping a bear that has a taste for pork.  The other part is about Mike Bowditch (the main character) trying to clear his father's name when he is accused of killing two people: a man from a paper company and a police officer.  Mike wants to help with the investigation but cannot since he is too close to the crime (since it involves his father).  He involves himself anyway and puts his position as a game warden on the line as a result.  Another character in the story is a former game warden (who inspired Mike to become one) who flies a water plane.  Both of them get in a little over their heads by the end.

I enjoyed the story.  It was very easy to read.  The characterizations of the main characters were very good, but some of the female characters were not as well fleshed out.  I thought much of the conversation between male characters felt true.  

Evvie Drake Starts Over

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes  293 pages

Recently widowed Evvie Drake doesn't leave her house in Maine too often. Everyone in town, even her best friend, Andy, thinks that it's grief keeping her locked inside . . . and Evvie doesn't correct them. Meanwhile, in New York City, Dean Tenney, a former Major League pitcher, is wrestling with "the yips," a condition where he can't throw a straight ball.  When a friend invites him to Maine to stay for a while, Dean moves into the apartment at the back of Evvie's house. Determined to keep out of each other's way, the two of them make a deal: Dean won't ask about Evvie's husband and Evvie won't ask Dean about his baseball career.  Soon, what started as an unexpected friendship turns into something more.   Yes, as you would probably guess.  Also, then there are stumbling blocks along the way.

I liked this book, especially because it was a nice break from the nonfiction and the psychological suspense I had been reading for a while. It's got some funny parts to it, and some genuinely realistic characters.  While the story is a bit predictable, there are a few bumps in the road for both Evvie and Dean.  But isn't that what makes for a good comeback story?

The Witch of Pale Harbor

 

The Widow of Pale Harbor by Hester Fox     291 pages

Author Hester Fox had gained a new fan. Granted this is the only book of hers that I have read, but I loved it.  Part romance, part literary, part gothic, part ghost story and part thriller, “The Widow of pale Harbor” has a light creepy factor that makes it a perfect fall read.

Both of the main characters, Sophronia Crarver and Gabriel Stone, are haunted by the deaths of their spouses. Not literally, but the ghosts of their lives travel with Sophronia and Gabriel. Gabriel has left Concord, Massachuestts, for Pale Harbor, Maine, to become a transcendentalist minister. His late wife, Anna, has aspired to that for him, although he knows little about the movement. Sophronia is the widow of one of the town’s wealthiest and most influential residents. When he died, the town was sure he was murdered and convicted Sophronia without the benefit of a trial. Since then, she has not left the grounds of her large home, Castle Carver, that she shares with Helen, a woman she plucked out of the poorhouse. Helen has that creepy factor that reminded me of Mrs. Danvers from “Rebecca.”

I was hooked from the first sentence of the twisty novel: “This was the fourth dead raven to appear of Sophronia Carver’s front path in as many weeks, and there was no explaining it away as coincidence this time.” Isn’t that wonderful? Whenever I head about a raven, my thoughts immediately fly (no pun intended), to Edgar Allen Poe. His works play an important part of this novel.

Gabriel tries to settle into Pale Harbor, but it’s not as easy as he’d hoped. The people want to welcome him into their hamlet, but when he loses their trust when he befriends Sophronia. 

There are so many twists in the novel that I could barely put it down; It’s one of those that will keep y’all up all night. I loved it! “The Widow of Pale Harbor” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Moo

Moo by Sharon Creech, 278 pages

Reena and her brother Luke and their family move to Maine from New York City. It’s a huge change but one the whole family is ready for. However, Reena and Luke are not quite prepared for cows, especially Zora, who is owned by Mrs. Falala.  Mrs. Falala is something else they are not ready for.  Mrs. Falala is pushy and rude, and has the nerve to call them disrespectful.  Their parents agree that they just need to get to know each other better and volunteer Reena and Luke to help Mrs. Falala for a few days each week, which Reena thinks could end in disaster.  This novel in verse was excellent.  I would give this to reluctant readers because of the length and white space but I would also give it to kids who like realistic fiction.

The Way Life Should Be

The Way Life Should Be  by Christina Baker Kline    320 pages

Three things drew me to this novel. First, it takes place in Maine. I’ve always wanted to live on the coast of Maine; it’s just so darn beautiful. Second, sometimes when I reflect upon my life, I think, “This isn’t what I signed up for; this isn’t the way life was supposed to be.” The third reason is the author, Christina Baker Kline. After reading, and loving, Orphan Train and A Piece of the World, Kline is one of my favorite authors and I want to read all the books she has published. And just icing on the cake, the front cover blurb is from Caroline Leavitt, an author I’m just discovering. So I ask you, “How could I resist this novel?”

Angela Russo lives in New York City and is thirty-three years old. She is an event planner for one of the lesser-known museums. On her office bulletin board is a cutout magazine photo showing a cottage on the coast of Maine. It portrays such a simple life; the life Angela has always wanted.

With her love life is nonexistent, she decides to look into some internet dating sites. A profile name MaineCatch. He’s thirty-five, has ice-blue eyes and lives in Cushing, Maine. Angela spends more time mooning over MaineCatch than she does thinking about the big fundraising event she is planning for the museum. She has to go to Boston on business, and luckily, MaineCatch sails down to meet her. The sparks fly.

When the event goes horribly, horribly, horribly wrong, Angela is fired from her job. She decided to move north to be with her catch. Things go horribly, horribly wrong; seems she has misunderstood MaineCatch’s intentions.

Without a job to return to, Angela decides to stay in Cushing. She finds a little shack to rent that she can renovate, gets a job in a local coffee house, and begins to rebuild her life. The knack for the Italian cooking she learned from her grandmother rises to the surface.

The novel is written in first person, which I think helps add immediacy to the story while Kline’s scenic description have me longing to pack me bags and head Northeast. I was able to live vicariously through Angela. I could barely put this story down and I didn’t want it to end. I hope in the future Kline writes a follow-up novel. The Way Life Should Be 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

A Piece of the World

A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline 320 pages

This is the second book I have read by Christina Baker Kline; the first was Orphan Train, which I absolutely loved. After that runaway bestseller, Baker Kline was in search of her next project. According to the author, “As with Orphan Train, I liked the idea of taking a real historical moment of some significance and, blending fiction and nonfiction, filling in the details, illuminating a story that has been unnoticed or obscured…a writer friend that she’d seen the painting at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and thought of me. I instantly knew I’d found my subject.”

The painting the author refers to is Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World, and Baker Kline chose the woman in the picture, Christina Olson, as her subject. She spent two year researching Christina, Wyeth, and life in rural Maine in the late 1930s to late 1940s. There is a comprehensive summary of what she learned about the Olson family in the Author’s Notes that is fascinating reading.

The subject of this book is Christina Olson. A woman with a disability who could barely get around. And on top of that, there was no running water or electricity in their rural Maine home. My heart broke for Christina, her life was so hard, yet her resilience is amazing.

The Andrew Wyeth showed up on her doorstep and wanted to paint the surrounding countryside. I can’t say that the two drew close, I never got that impression, but Wyeth accepted her for her. Eventually he paints a picture of the house, the barn, and the waving grasslands, adds Christina in the foreground and calls it Christina’s World.

One of the things that the author does that confuses me is the jumping around. The novel opens in 1939, then it jumps to the late 1800s into 1900, then 1940, then 1911-12 so on. I’m not sure that the story couldn’t have been told chronologically, but it is what it is. I had hoped to give it 6 stars like Orphan Train, but the jumping around forces me to give A Piece of the World 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Orphan Train

Orphan Train  by Christina Baker Kline   278 pages

In an act of judging a book by its cover, I thought that Orphan Train was a story about the Kindertransport, the organized rescue effort that happened during the nine months before the outbreak of World War II when approximately 10,000 from Germany, Poland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. They were placed in foster homes, schools, farm and hostels in the United Kingdom.

In a way I was wrong and right. This story is about the relocation of children, but instead of Europe, it happened here in in America between 1854 and 1929. Indigent, orphaned or abandoned children from the East Coast were put on trains to be fostered or adopted by Midwestern families, who often treated them like slaves.

Christina Baker Kline’s novel, Orphan Train, tackles this almost-forgotten aspect of American history. Vacillating between Spruce Harbor, Maine, in 2011, and New York, Chicago, and Minnesota of 1929 to 1943, readers meet two children in dire circumstances.

First is seventeen-year-old Molly, who has been sentenced to community service. She is to help an old woman cleanout her attic. The old woman, Vivian, maybe ninety-one years old, but she has a few sparks left in her. Her whole life is in that attic. She doesn’t so much want to clean it out, but look back and remember her life.

Vivian, along with her parents and three siblings, emigrated from Ireland in 1929. She and her parents lived in one of New York City’s infamous tenements. After her family dies in a fire, Vivian, whose birth name is Niamh Power, is sent to the Children’s Aid Society and ultimately placed on a train bound for Minnesota.

While Molly’s story frames Vivian’s story, both take solace in each other. Molly learns that she doesn’t have it so bad after all. Poor Vivian went by several names before Vivian was finally settled on her.

This is a tale of loss, turbulence, resilience, second chances, adaptability, and courage. Be prepared to not get anything else accomplished once you start this wonderfully woven tale.

Orphan Train receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Boy Who Drew Monsters

The Boy Who Drew Monsters by Keith Donohue
273 Pages

"Ever since he nearly drowned in the ocean three years earlier, ten-year-old Jack Peter Keenan has been deathly afraid to venture outdoors. Refusing to leave his home in a small coastal town in Maine, Jack Peter spends his time drawing monsters. When those drawings take on a life of their own, no one is safe from the terror they inspire. His mother, Holly, begins to hear strange sounds in the night coming from the ocean, and she seeks answers from the local Catholic priest and his Japanese housekeeper, who fill her head with stories of shipwrecks and ghosts. His father, Tim, wanders the beach, frantically searching for a strange apparition running wild in the dunes. And the boy's only friend, Nick, becomes helplessly entangled in the eerie power of the drawings. While those around Jack Peter are haunted by what they think they see, only he knows the truth behind the frightful occurrences as the outside world encroaches upon them all."

Donohue continues to write with a hint of the mystical and the book while not as strong as his first book "The Stolen Child"  examines family life when a child is autistic. The book was reminiscent of a Stephen King book.

The Wolf in Winter

The Wolf in Winter by John Connolly
416 Pages

Part of the Charlie Parker series, Connolly combines the  supernatural with the mystery and thriller.  In this book the town of Prosperous, Maine has survived the ups and downs of the economy better than the surrounding towns and its citizens seemed charmed and impervious to harm.  When the daughter of a local street person disappears, Charlie Parker begins to investigate the disappearance and it leads back to mysterious goings on in the town. 

This was actually the first book I've read in the series even thought it is the 7th book.  While somewhat entertaining, there were some plot holes and inconsistencies in the storyline that were distracting and I couldn't help but compare to the Preston/Child collaboration that puts out books in a similar vein.