Maggie Brown & Others by Peter Orner

What kind of word magician writes a novella in short stories that leaves me in tears when a character dies? These snippets pieced together a life, a community. And I hated to leave.

I had heard a lot of buzz about Peter Orner's Maggie Brown & Others. And it was on my pre-approved NetGalley shelf. I squeezed it into my reading schedule.

The early short stories captivated me. Twice I quoted the book for David Abrams' Sunday Sentence on Twitter, where people post 'the best sentence' they read that week:

An old boyfriend once told her that she had a way of using magnanimity as a weapon. 

Shouts in the dark. Maybe that's the best we can do to reach beyond ourselves.

I noted lovely sentences such as, "Her shoulder blades are still shaped like the prows of rowboats." And pointed insights like "There's something so ruthless about optimism."

The diverse stories are insightful and I loved meeting all of these people, learning so much about them through these small slivers of life.

In the fourth section of the book, Walt Kaplan is Broke: A Novella, we meet a good man with a small life, a broke man rich in love. The stories jump through time, building the story of Fall River in New Jersey and the remnant community of Jews--those who have died and "the ones waiting for the opportunity."

You have to love people like Walt and Sarah Kaplan who ask "you wanna" and then push their twin beds together, never having considered purchasing a queen bed.

I could return to these stories again and again.

In one story a writer is told there is no money in writing short stories! I would guess that is true, but I am sure glad writers like Orner still employ the form.

I was given access to a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Maggie Brown & Others: Stories
by Peter Orner
Little, Brown and Company
Pub Date 02 Jul 2019
ISBN 9780316516112
PRICE $27.00 (USD)

Wickwythe Hall by Judithe Little

In the award-winning Wickwythe Hall, Judithe Little brings to life events few Americans know about. I loved the writing and these original and sympathetic characters. Little gives us a wonderful balance of the personal and the political, the carnage and romance. 

In 1940, Nazi Germany pushed the British troops to the English Channel, saved only by the Miracle of Dunkirk. But France was left at the mercy of the Germans.

As Germany plans to take over France, a party converges at Wickwythe Hall, the country home of the Spring family, Tony and his American wife, Mabry.

Foremost is in the party is Winston Churchill, accompanied by Reid Carr, his American contact with President Roosevelt. Churchill pressures Carr to make America understand that the Battle for Britain can't be won without American warships. 

Reid and Mabry were once in love, and perhaps still are. Mabry is no longer the vivacious and spirited girl Reid knew. Unable to bring a pregnancy to full term, feeling a failure, Mabry's garden is her therapy and escape. 

Then there is the beautiful Annelle LeMaire, an orphan taken in by the nuns. Just as she was to take her vows she joined the throng of refugees fleeing France. Annelle finds her way to the English coast where she would be rounded up as a suspicious immigrant. But Mabry, organizing to provide refreshments for the battle-weary and wounded soldiers, takes Annelle home to Wickwythe. 

Annelle takes up work as a cook and gardener. Her only family are her brothers in the Foreign Legion and she is desperate to find them. Perhaps Reid Carr, a Foreign Legion veteran, can track them down.

Covering four years of the war, the novel brings to life the horrific scenes of warfare, the tensions and privations on the homefront, and the terrible choices war entails.

At the center of the novel is Operation Catapult, sanctioned by Roosevelt and directed by Churchill, the destruction of the French navy deemed necessary to prevent Germany from the control of the ships.

I received an ebook from the author through a giveaway on the Facebook group Breathless Bubbles and Books. My review is fair and unbiased.

Helen Korngold Diary: July 14-20, 1919

Helen Korngold, Dec. 1919, New York City

This year I am sharing the 1919 diary of Helen Korngold of St. Louis, MO.

After graduating from Washington University Helen went on a trip to Colorado.

July
Monday 14

Village not very exciting. Edith & I waded in Big Thompson – lots of fish – Met Mr. Strothers from K.C. Used to go to Central. Played ball with him & danced. He’s a fine chap. To bed, after a long chat with him.

Tuesday 15

Mr. & Mrs. Nieman took me riding – They are just too dear for words. We had a lovely dinner – time to go to lunch. Danced with Edith & Durand. Fooled around – dinner – talked & danced.

Wednesday 16

Walked to Country Club with May – rode back – met a mutual friend Harry Thomas McGarry. Took pictures & talked – lunch – home to ret. Dinner. Danced all evening. Smith is a wild dancer. While Strother is almost pep-less.

Thursday 17

Tired. Rest all morning. Read. Lunch – talked. Took a long hike with David. Home – He’s nice, but not very excellent company. 

Friday 18

To town with May & David. He’s a sport when it comes to (?) Home in time for lunch. Slept all afternoon. Dinner – played cards. Edith may leave tomorrow morning.

Saturday 19

Write letters. Walk to village with Durand. Longs Peak Inn & Copland Lake. Drove into lake. Wild. Danced in evening.

Sunday 20

Judge went to Longs Peak. Outside all morning. Met Betty Kouchin’s chum Julia Cross. Spent afternoon with them. Out with David & girls in evening. Durand & I got home at 11 bells. Not very exciting.

NOTES:

July 14

Mr. Strothers of Kansas City who went to Central High may be Lewis Strothers in the 1905 Central HS yearbook, born 1889

July 16

Longs Peak Poster

Harry Thomas McGarry appears in the Colorado Springs 1922 City Directory as an attorney. He was born in New York around 1895. In the 1921 Colorado Springs City Directory, he is listed as president of Farmer’s and Miner’s Trading Company. July 19 Copland Lake is a manmade lake in the Rocky Mountain National Park Longs Peak Inn was a lodge purchased by Elizabeth and Esther Burnell summer of 1916. In 1918 Esther married Enos Mills and they ran the inn together.

1912 photo of Long's Peak Inn

See another photo here

July 20

Betty Kuchai/Kouchin may be the Betty G. Kuchai on the 1916 through 1922 Denver, CO city directories, working for Cranmor & Co. as a stenographer or bookkeeper. There is a death record for Betty Kuchai Mendel, born October 10, 1901, in Colorado and died October 31, 1980, in Los Angeles. Her father’s name was Kuchai and mother’s maiden name was Kirchner.

An Abraham Kuchai appears on the 1910 Denver Census married to Ray with children Rebecca, Esther, Lena and Hyman. He was Russian/Yiddish, arrived in America in 1904, and worked as a job lot peddler. In 1915 he appears on the Denver City Director working for Girvan Furniture & Auction. In 1916 and 1917 his business is listed as ‘clothing.’ In 1924 Ray is working as a milliner and Hyman is a clerk in the Piggly Wiggly. In 1942 Ray Kuchai donated $35 towards the Jewish American Congress, organized in 1917 to secure Jewish rights at the end of the war.

Mini-Reviews of Good Reads

Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro is beautifully written and compelling. I read it in 24 hours. As a genealogy researcher, I found it of special interest. 

Who are we? What does it mean to be family? What secrets do we keep and what should we share?

Shapiro's genealogy DNA test revealed her father was not her biological father. The memoir traces her journey from shock to seeking the truth to meeting her biological sire and half-siblings. 

I borrowed the book from the library through Overdrive.

*****

Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen: A Culinary View of Lincoln's Life and Times by Rae Katherine Eighmey


Published by the Smithsonian in 2014, the book includes 55 'authentic recipes.'  Eighmey kitchen-tested the recipes, endeavoring to stay true to the foods and tools of Lincoln's time while offering recipes that modern cooks can reproduce.

I was surprised at how much unknown Lincoln history I learned, such as his time in the Militia, and the open fire, primitive cooking the soldiers enjoyed, wrapping a simple bread dough around their gun barrels to be cooked over the fire. 

It is a pleasure to read. Now, to try the recipes--

This book was a gift. 

Read an excerpt here.

*****

The library book club read Before the Fall by Noah Hawley. Since it had been three years since I read the egalley I reread it. It kept my interest as much the second reading as it did the first time!

On the surface, this is a suspense novel--a page-turner. The truth of what happened in a plane crash is slowly revealed through the character's backstories. Each character had reached a turning point in their lives--before the plane fell from the sky.

Scott Burroughs survives, rescuing a child. He loses privacy and his character is attacked through media-manufactured accusations. He is a flawed, failure of a man who is trying to resurrect his life.

Everyone enjoyed the book--some even said it was one of their favorite book club reads! Readers noted the quality of writing, the well-drawn characters, and the deeper messages. We highly recommend this novel as a book club read.

Read my review at
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2016/06/before-fall-by-noah-hawley-information.html

The Feast Day of the Cannibals by Norman Lock

Norman Lock's sixth book in the American Novel Series delves into the ugly side of the Gilded Age. 

With a window view of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, Shelby Ross visits his old friend Washington Robling, who is incapacitated, his capable wife overseeing the construction of the bridge his father designed. Ross tells his sad story to Robling, his fall from fortune forcing him to seek work, and the events that led to his imprisonment.

Having lost his business in the depression, Ross found employment at the Customs House, working under Herman Melville, a bitter, failed novelist. Ross also works with a dreamy younger man who pursues a friendship, while another co-worker, a sinister older man, harasses them as suspect homosexuals.

A man of numbers and business, Ross reads Melville's forgotten books and Moby Dick comes to influence him in dark ways. Ross passively plays into the hands of his nemesis, until his rage drives him to commit a crime of passion.

The Gilded Age world comes to life. It is populated with legendary people: Ross comes into contact with Mark Twain, who encourages a dying and broke Gen. Grant to write his memoirs to provide income to his beloved wife Julia. 

This is a dark novel of evil and hatred, of failed dreams, the bitterness of life's unjustness, and the many ways humans are all cannibals at heart.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

from the publisher:

Feast Day of the Cannibals charts the harrowing journey of a tormented heart during America’s transformative age.

Feast Day of the Cannibals

by Norman Lock

Bellevue Literary Press

Publication: July 16, 2019

ISBN: 9781942658467, 194265846Xk

$16.99 USD, $22.99 CAD, £12.99 GBP

Norman Lock on the American Novel Series:

Through my American novels, I hope to understand, a little, the present American era by what came before and shaped its thought, beliefs, prejudices, virtues, vices, and emotional undertow.  --from the publisher's website.

I have enjoyed several of Norman Lock's American Novel Series. Read my reviews at:

The Wreckage of Eden
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-wreckage-of-eden-by-norman-lock.html

A Boy in His Winter
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2018/06/a-boy-in-his-winter-by-norman-lock.html

The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen

In Michigan, one is never more than 6 miles from a lake or 85 miles from one of the Great Lakes. It's the Water Wonderland--the Great Lakes State. When we go on vacation, we go to the lake. We have cabins and we rent cabins. We go camping, we stay at a resort. But there is usually water involved.

Lake Pentwater, MI

Once when we were camping along Lake Michigan, I went into town to see the 'tourist trap' stores. I remarked to a teen working at the marina, "what a beautiful place to live!" I got a scowl.

About ten years later my husband's work took us to that small resort town. And I understood. There were usually under 250 students in the entire K-12 school, the town closed down at the end of August, and the locals were much poorer than the summer folk at the marina and the summer 'cottagers'. They worked hard four months of the year when the rich came to play.

marina in Pentwater, MI

How could someone know you better than you knew yourself? Especially if they really didn't know you, not at all? from The End of the Story by Sarah Dessen

The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen takes place on one lake with two communities: the upscale tourist resort Lake North and the working class North Lake with its ramshackle cabins.

Lake St. Helen, MI 

Emma Saylor's mom came from North Lake; her dad was a summer sailing instructor at Lake North. Their marriage ended in divorce, and then Emma's mother died. Emma's father doesn't talk about her mother's roots.

Circumstances bring Emma to stay with her maternal grandmother in North Lake for three weeks during the summer. Her grandmother and cousins are strangers to Emma. But the Calvanders know all about her--Saylor.

Over the summer, Emma becomes Saylor, learning her mother's history, growing to love her mother's family, and taking the risks she has avoided all her life. You can make your life, or life can make you, she learns.

Lake Michigan during a storm

This was a nice summer read with great characters and lake ambiance while touching on deeper themes of class, anxiety issues, alcoholism, identity, and self-determination. Plus, there is a touch of romance. The hard-working, hard-partying teenager world is well developed, and a crisis brings a happy ending.

I won a copy of the book in a giveaway on The Quivering Pen run by David Abrams, author of Fobbit and Brave Deeds. My review is fair and unbiased.

The Rest of the Story
by Sarah Dessen
Baltzer & Bray
$19.99 hardcover

Summer Is

 Summer is about gardens.

 And visitors to the gardens.

 Flashes of color brighten the world.

 Summer is for growing good things to eat.

 And keeping the bunnies away from the good things to eat.

 Summer is watching the birds build their nests and raise their young.

 Summer is for relaxing.

 Summer is for working.

 Summer is for reading.

Summer is for projects that are not pretty but necessary, like new plumbing.

Summer is too short.