The Road to Grantchester by James Runcie

I love the PBS series Grantchester. The main character, Sidney Chambers, is portrayed as a flawed man struggling with his faith and vocation. His becoming a priest has alienated him from his worldly friends who don't understand his choice. He must cope with the strictures of the organized church. He understands human frailty in others.

I have wanted to read the novels by James Runcie, and even bought the first book in the series but reviewing new books keeps me busy and it has languished in the TBR pile. 

But now I am not sorry because I can start at the very beginning with Runcie's newest novel in the series, a prequel titled The Road to Grantchester. 

How did the attractive, intelligent, lover of jazz end up in the priesthood? This novel shows us the events and internal anguish that brought Sidney to change his life.

The first section of the novel begins with Sidney and his London friends enjoying theater and fancy dinners and dancing. A quick jump five years later finds Sidney on a transport ship to Salerno. He is with his best friend from university, Robert Kendall, and Freddie Hawthorne, a theatrical star. These bright young men are thrown into bloody battle, Sidney set to being a sniper. They experience the destruction and misery of war.

The Episcopal priest Rev Nev is with the soldiers. "What does a priest do in the midst of this?" a friend asks him."I believe there is no higher calling than to be a priest in the service of God and God's people; to offer some kind of stability in a bewildered world," he explains. The soldiers are more than bewildered for the evil of war feels overwhelming and faith in a loving God flees. The men contend daily with mud and cold, seeing their comrades shattered and dying, and they long for the simple pleasures of clean dry clothes and a hot bath. And they wonder what it is like to have no enemy. The pleasant days of dancing with Amanda Kendall is a distant memory.

They arrive at the Gustav Line, a flooded valley without cover which they must cross. Then they must climb Monte Cassino with enemy fire raining down from the monastery at the top where the Nazis have buried in. During the battle, Robert Kendall dies, leaving a heartbroken Sidney with survivor's guilt and questions of culpability.

It is Rev Nev who helps Sidney, explaining the mystery of faith in a broken world. At war's end, Sidney realizes it is grace that he needs. His friends note the change in him. Oh dear, Freddie exclaims, either you've had too much to drink or you really have got religion.

I know about these battlefield faith experiences from my friend Floyd Erickson, a WWII veteran who was in the 10th Mountain Division. They were in Italy and had to climb Monte Belvedere at night. While advancing across the Po Valley in the foothills of the Apennines, his best friend was killed in a blast that left Floyd permanently deaf in one ear. While under fire, Floyd prayed to God for protection, offering a lifetime of service if he survived. Floyd made it home and changed his life. I knew him as a revered family man and leader in the local church. (Read more here.)

Part Two follows Sidney back home to England to face Robert's grieving family. Amanda can't reconcile a loving God with her brother's death. Sidney's family has expectations for his post-war career. Sidney lives with Robert's ghost and can't move on with his life. 

While Amanda and Sid's other friends only want to forget the war and have fun, Sidney finds that kind of life deadly and meaningless. He longs for a life with purpose. It's more than depression that ails Sidney--he is searching for peace and purpose. He continues to turn to Rev Nev for spiritual guidance. 

"I need to change my life," Sidney explains to Amanda. And in Part Three, Sidney explores his faith and a vocation as a priest.

There is a lot of God talk and faith talk in the novel. It is after all about Sidney's journey to the priesthood. I discovered that Runcie's father was Archbishop of Canterbury which explains the depth and realism of Sidney's journey. The rejection suffered from friends is also realistic. Amanda is unable to accept Sidney's choice and accepts the proposal from another man. I love that Freddie, who is gay, is the one friend who seems to 'get' Sidney and supports his decision.

Several episodes show Sidney's ability to understand people and know how best to counsel them and illustrate his native ability to notice what others don't see, both traits important to his ability to solve puzzles and crimes.

My favorite scene is Sidney's ordination which takes place in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral. A charred cross "symbolizes determination, survival, and above all, the possibility of Resurrection." He is presented with a cross made of nails gleaned from the ruined cathedral. 

The symbolism is vivid. Britain has suffered greatly, the world is broken. In taking orders, Sidney dedicates his life to the rebuilding of faith and hope in a devastated people. From these ruins, he is to raise up God's love to light the path forward. Sidney is trying to heal himself. He trusts he will also become a vehicle of healing to his flock.

I was impressed with Runcie's ability to show Sidney's path to his vocation, from the hard to read horror of war to the emptiness of frivolous pleasure, the questionings and embracing the mystery, and the bafflement of old friends who stereotype the priesthood. 

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

The Road to Grantchester

by James Runcie

Bloomsbury USA

Pub Date 07 May 2019  

ISBN 9781635570588

PRICE $28.00 (USD) hardbound

Jane Austen Classics From Baker Street Readers for Young Readers

I just discovered the Baker Street Readers, retellings of classic books for ages 9 to 11 (Grades 4 to 6). I would have loved these books as a girl and wish I had them when I was raising my young reader!

The Classics Illustrated Comic Books were my introduction to the great books and motivated me to read them during my teen years. I found a cheap set of paperback abridgments that motivated my son to read the classics. I understand the importance of making children familiar with the great books.

This series not only presents the stories but also offers loads of aids beginning with a character page. 

Sense and Sensibility Character Page

'Looking Closer' provides more details from the original book, a paragraph explaining the cultural background of the time period, and suggested further reading, websites, and films.

Last of all, 'Food for Thought' presents starting points for discussion and discusses the book's themes and style.

There are 18 books in the series so far. I received access to two Jane Austen books. Both cloth books are 64 pages long.

Sense and Sensibility

from the publisher:
Marianne seeks a man who shares her eager spirit; Elinor is in love with the polite, considerate Edward Ferrars.

Their younger sister Margaret watches in bewilderment as Marianne and Elinor experience the joys and heartaches of early adult life.

Is Marianne too warm or is Elinor too cold? Whose example should Margaret follow? Margaret records the dangers presented by scheming friends and deceitful lovers.

Will Elinor's sense be strong enough to support both sisters, or will Marianne's sensibility bring tragedy?

What will you learn as you read Margaret's account?

Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility
Publication Date: May 1, 2019
ISBN 9781912464128, 1912464128
Hardcover $11.99 USD, £6.99 GBP

 Jane Austen's Persuasion

Persuasion Character Page

from the publisher:
Eight years ago, Anne Elliot was persuaded that her family's honour was more important than her own happiness. She has suffered ever since. Now the man she turned away has returned. Can Captain Wentworth forgive Anne, or will he be charmed instead by the beautiful Louisa? Will Anne be persuaded to marry her cousin, or will she find the strength to follow her heart? The extravagance of Anne's foolish father, the greedy plotting of false friends, and a near-fatal accident bring danger into Anne's safe world. Their hearts assailed by resentment, regrets and rivals, can Anne and Captain Wentworth now reach across the void that separates them to love each other again?

Persuasion
Publication May 1, 2019
ISBN 9781912464142, 1912464144
Hardcover $11.99 USD, £6.99 GBP

Some of the other titles make me very excited! Austen's Emma and Pride and Prejudice are also included. And Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, and Great Expectations.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is one American title included. That I have to see!

Boys will love All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. 

Sci-fi classics include The War of the World and The Time Machine by H. G. Wells (my son's favorite abridged stories as a boy) and Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days.  

Horror classics Frankenstein by Mary Shelly and Bram Stoker's Dracula will chill some little readers! 

Shakespeare is represented with Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and The Tempest. 

My favorite Classics Illustrated Comic was Les Miserables, and yes, it is included in this series! It was one of the first classic novels I tried to read. And I have read and read it for over fifty years.

Teachers and parents can introduce children to the basic tale and build knowledge and understanding with these volumes.

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

Helen Korngold Diary: April 27 - May 4, 1919

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

Helen Korngold, December 1919, New York City

Tuesday 29
School – not much doing. Home. Study History.

Wednesday 30
School – Baseball – our team lost to Sophs – 26-20! I’m all in.

May
Thursday 1
School – Home – Ida Goodman is here! Drove over to see her. She’s darling. Home – wrote Shakespeare theme. Went over to Jeanette Gate’s at 10 p.m. had a nice time. Home at 12:45

Friday 2
Up at 6 a.m. Finished Shakespeare theme. Danced in Field Trust. Awfully tired. Ida came to dinner & we talked until 12 a.m.  Then we went to bed.

Saturday 3
To school with Karol in machine. Collected a dime from Dr. McCourt for being late. Awful history exam. Junior Council Meeting. Pauline’s – she had a few girls over. Union Dinner in the evening. I’m certainly tired.

Sunday 4
Cleaned up & helped prepare for the girls who came over in the evening afternoon. We had a nice time. Aunt B[Beryl]. in the evening.

Notes:

May 1

An Ida Goodman shows up on the 1915 Kansas Census living in Valley Brook with her family H. Goodman, Maggie, H.C. and Grace. Other Ida Goodmans in California and Texas also appear in the census records.

Jeanette Gates (1899 to 1971) was Morris Gate’s sister.  In the 1917 City Directory she was a clerk and on the 1920 St. Louis Census she was a stenographer. She married in 1943.

May 3

The 'machine' is their automobile.

The Washington Union Dinner.

The Sunday, April 27 St. Louis Post-Dispatch included this ad for an event on the following Tuesday:

Expand Your Knowledge: Three Sheets to the Wind and How to Remove a Brain

I enjoy books which I can read in snippets in those spare moments during the day. Two recent such reads include Three Sheets to the Wind by Cynthia Barrett, which explains the many sayings that have come down to us from the age of sail, and How to Remove a Brain by David Haviland, a compendium of answers to questions about the human body.

Three Sheets to the Wind: The Nautical Origins of Everyday Expressions by Cynthia Barrett was an entertaining read.

Cynthia Barrett comes from generations of seafaring men, her grandfather a whaler and her father a Navy man. In her attractive, illustrated volume she offers the entomology of phrases and terms that are rooted in maritime activities.

Presented in alphabetical order, each phrase includes an explanation of its origin and contemporary use, illustrated with excerpts from literature ranging from Homer to Melville to Patrick O'Brian.

I was a girl when I discovered Joan Lowell's pseudo-biography of a girl's life growing up on a sailing ship, Cradle of the Deep, and ever since I have enjoyed reading books about the age of sail, including the Nordoff and Hall Bounty books and Forester's Horatio Hornblower books. So, I was familiar with the original meanings of many of the terms, but others were a revelation.

When Archie Bunker called Edith a "dingbat" who knew a dingbat was slang for a deck mop made of used rope ends which would fly about uncontrollably while in use?

Speaking of old rope, the ends had to be repaired and spliced during times of calm, the sailors so employed being said to be "at loose ends."

I remember when blue jeans were called dungarees. Dungri is a Hindi word for cotton cloth. The first sailor's pants were made of old sails. Later, blue serge bell bottom pants were invented to make rolling up the pants legs easier for sailors employed at swapping the deck. When I was a teen bell bottom jeans were the rage.

A sailor from Belgium stowed his duds in a bag called a Duffle after the rough woolen cloth they used to make the sailor's clothing.

200 words and expressions are covered, and I am sure many will be surprised to learn the origin of sayings we still employ today.

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

from the publisher: 

Cynthia Barrett is a senior editor at Metro Books, an imprint of Sterling Publishing Company. She is an avid sailor and has a long family history near the sea. Her great grandfather, George Washington Barrett was a whaler out of Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island and as such he sailed around Cape Horn three times. In the Civil War he served as Commanding Officer of the USS Whitehead during the Battle of Albemarle Sound. Her father was a Lieutenant in the Navy and was in the D-Day invasion of France. She lives in New York City. 

Three Sheets to the Wind: The Nautical Origins of Everyday Expressions
by Cynthia Barrett
Rowman & Littlefield
Lyons Press
Pub Date 01 May 2019 
ISBN 9781493042272
PRICE $16.95 (USD)

David Haviland's How to Remove a Brain and Other Bizarre Medical Practices is an entertaining read of wide-ranging trivia of the sort that I recall enjoying in junior high. Amusing as it reads, there is real information here that will engage all age groups. 

For instance, Haviland addresses the mystery of Queen Victoria's undiagnosed hernia. The queen was rather obsessed over her state of health (and bowels) was very dependent on her personal physician, keeping him at her beck and call. She trusted Sir James Reid so deeply she requested that he secretly slip a lock of hair from her trusted friend John Brown into her hand before burial. Reid was never allowed to touch the queen, and until he inspected her corpse never knew she had a hernia, and from her nine pregnancies, a badly prolapsed uterus.

Something that Victorian writers didn't tell us about was those child chimney sweepers usually worked in the buff! The boys spent days around soot with no protection, resulting in 'soot warts', a form of cancer, but which was thought to be a sexually transmitted disease. Sadly, treatment meant the removal of the boy's scrotum. So when we now read about the boys who cleaned the chimneys, we have another understanding of the cruelness of child labor driven by poverty.

The book has been nominated for the People's Book Prize.

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

from the publisher: 

...a collection of strange and hilarious stories covering the entire history of medicine, from the bizarre practices of ancient societies (such as the Mesopotamian doctors who would diagnose a patient by inspecting the liver of a sacrificed sheep) to modern mysteries (such as the question of why pig farmers are more likely to have their appendix removed). 

HOW TO REMOVE A BRAIN: And Other Bizarre Medical Practices and Procedures
David Haviland
Thistle Publications
ISBN: 9781786080240
Ebook£3.99 Paperback£7.99
Kindle ebook $5.99

Fault Lines

June 17, 1972.

It was the day of my marriage. By our first anniversary, the date had another meaning: the date of the Watergate break-in.

As a girl, I had seen America come together with the assassination of President Kennedy and divide over the war in Viet Nam. The sounds of my teenage years were the chants of "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today," and the music of Woodstock. 

I finished my education, worked, had a child, sent him to college, saw him settle in work and a house, and retired against the backdrop of a further dividing America.

Fault Lines condenses history into paragraphs, each event eliciting a memory. I remembered it all. And the more I read the angrier I became.

In under 400 pages, Kevin M. Kruse and Justin E. Zelizer have compacted American political, social, and media history into a readable narrative. 

Movements arose demanding equal rights while counter-movements strove to maintain the status quo--the authority of white males. The conflict has not resolved to a Hegelian shift to the center though, just a rising antagonism and deepening divide.

They describe how cultural shifts and disturbances impacted film and television and how the rise of the Internet and cable news shattered the common ground of national news.

For me, it was a condensation of memories. I had to wonder how a younger reader would respond. The authors are historians and Princeton University professors. They have taught this history to students. 

This is a history book and not an offering of solutions; there are plenty of current books that address where to go from here. The authors state that the challenge is to "harness the intense energy that now drives us apart and channel it once again toward creating new and stronger bridges that can bring us together." 

Gridlock, a traditional Democrat Donkey quilt block by Dustin Cecil

But so far, those leaders who endeavored to bridge the gap and pledge bipartisanship failed. There is no indication that the old fashioned values cherished in the past--working together for the common good, obeying the rule of law and custom, communicating, finding common ground--are reemerging. Instead, political leaders are ignoring the will of the majority, engineering ways to disenfranchise groups, with special interest group money buying political clout.

We are told that by knowing the past we can plan for the future, understanding our errors we can proactively prevent the repetition of those errors. I know that America has gone astray many times in our brief history, and the countering movements arighted our ship of state. It is my 'glass half full' hope. 

I received an ARC from the publisher. My review is fair and unbiased.

About the authors:

Kevin M. Kruse is a Professor of History at Princeton University. He specializes in the political, social, and urban/suburban history of twentieth-century America, with a particular interest in conflicts over race, rights and religion and the making of modern conservatism.

Julian E. Zelizer has been one of the pioneers in the revival of American political history and is a frequent commentator in the international and national media on political history and contemporary politics. He has published over seven hundred op-eds, including his weekly column on CNN.Com.

Fault Lines: A History of the United Staes Since 1974

by Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer

W. W. Norton

$28.95 hardcover

ISBN: 978-0-393-08866-3

Helen Korngold Diary: April 21-27, 1919

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

Helen Korngold, December 1919, New York City

Monday 21
Visited Central High – Saw Hofferty, Stratton, Schweikert, Curtis – Blumstead. School – Tryouts for May Day. Headache – home. Winkler came over – I like him so much.

Tuesday 22
School – feeling badly- came home

Wednesday 23
School – Baseball

Thursday 24
School – Satellites – went with Winkler – he’s a fine kid. We had a nice long chat. Stayed up till 12:30 writing a theme or rather a report for Ed. 12. I hate that course.

Friday 25
School – baseball – dancing – home. Napped. Had ten couples over in evening. They all seemed to have a fine time. I think they did. Didn’t get to bed till 1 a.m.

Saturday 26
School – Home – Zel entertained in the evening. We had a good time.
Sunday 27

Sunday School in morning. Temple Israel – Dr. Harrison is really a marvel. Study in afternoon – write letters. Aunt Beryl’s in evening.

Notes:

April 21

Central High post card

Central High was situated at 1030 N. Grand. The building was destroyed in 1927 by an F3-scale tornado that caused over seventy deaths and injuring 550 more. At the time it struck, there were 1,500 students attending classes.

Clarence Stratton, BA University of Pittsburgh, began his teaching career at Central in 1903 teaching English and Public Speaking. He also taught Public Speaking at Washington University. In 1921 he left to become Director of English in the Cleveland, OH public schools. He also wrote the Central school song.

Dr. George M. Holferty was a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin class of 1893. He organized the Boys Literary Society, the oldest Central organization. The 1920 City Directory shows he lived at Morgan St. The 1928 Central yearbook shows he taught Botany, General Science, Biology, and Physiography. He sponsored the Botany Club and had coached the Boy's Debating Team. He died in 1930.

Harry Christian Schweikert appears on the 1920 St. Louis Census as a public school teacher living on Morgan St. with two lodgers, one a lawyer and one a salesman. Harry was 42 years old. His WWI Draft Registration shows he was born February 24, 1877, and taught at Central High School. His nearest relative was Christian Schweickert. Christian shows up on the City Directories as a baker. Harry had blue eyes and brown hair and was of medium height and build. He died in 1937 according to Who Was Who in America. A Harry C. Schweikert appears in the WWII Navy muster roles but I do not know if it is the same person.

Chester B. Curtis was a teacher and principal at Central High School and lived at 5192 Page Blvd. He was born in New Hampshire and studied at Dartmouth College. The 1910 St. Louis Census shows Curtis, age 43,  a high school principal married to Marie M.  The census of 1930 shows he was a personnel director.

Mabel Olmstead appears in the City Directory as a teacher at Central High School. On Mary 8, 1922 her application for a passport shows she was born 11/24/1871 in Potosi, MO to father Jonas who died in 1907 in Los Angeles, CA. Mabel was going to Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Gibraltar. She made several trips to Europe. She taught American and later European history. She died January 28, 1941, and is buried in the Potosi Presbyterian Cemetery. Her mother Amelia Riehl Olmstead (August 21, 1839-December 23, 1903) is also buried there.

April 24

Ed. 12 was Educational Administration taught by Prof. Wesley Raymond Wells. The course description:
The aim of this course is to make a critical study of the problems of school organization, administration, and supervision. It will deal with such problems as: education, a state function; local school boards, their organization, duties, and manner of election; kinds of schools, their aims and scope; duties of the superintendent, principals, and teachers; the relation of the school to the community; statistical and experimental studies in school administration. Three hours a week. Credit 3 units. (Wells)

June 1919 notices in St Louis Post-Dispatch

Satellites was an acting group that performed an annual Vaudeville and Dance. It was under the direction of Mrs. Diamant of the Thyrsus Dramatic Society at Washington University.

April 27

Congregation Temple Israel was established in 1886.


Dr. Leon Harrison (1866 to 1928) served Temple Israel as Second Rabbi from 1892 to 1928.

An April 1906 story in The Portland, OR newspaper New Age reported that Rabbi Leon Harrison was to be a speaker at the Willamette Valley of Chautauqua Association in July lecturing on “Shylock” and “The Glory and Shame of America.”

Helen's diary may not be full of war news, but the newspapers were. Below is an ad from the April 17 St. Louis Star and Times.

Ad from the April 27 St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Ad from the April 27 St. Louis Star and Times:

White Elephant by Julie Langsdorf

"It's so Norman Rockwell," Suzanne said. (...)Grant said, "Yeah. A little eerie. Remember the Twilight Zone episode..." from White Elephant by Julie Langsdorf

Twilight Zone, Walking Distance by Rod Serling

Willard Park is a close community filled with early 20th c Sears kit houses and family-friendly ambiance. In the center of town, there is a band shell decked out in bunting. Halloween is an all-day affair (with an implicit ban on sugar) ending with singing 1960s era folk songs around a bonfire. You know, seasonal songs like If I Had A Hammer. Oh--and everyone has their own mug at the coffee shop.

detail of Country Village quilt by Nancy A. Bekofske

It reminds me of places I have lived in, like the small city that banned fast food chains. Or the even smaller town that turned a grass-roots Halloween prank of rolling pumpkins down the hill into town into a family event, lining the street with bales of hay to prevent the pumpkins from crashing into storefronts. I remember being laughed at for my Big City paranoia, locking my house when I left and my car when shopping in town. Small towns always have a secret agreement of values to be ferreted out or learned through mistakes.

In Julie Langsdorf's novel White Elephant, Willard Park is filled with residents with roots, like Ted and his twin brother Terrance. Newcomers are expected to fit in and hold the same values.

She and the other neighbors might have forgiven them the sin of bad taste with time, but as the months wore on, the Coxes continued to disobey the unspoken rules of the neighborhood. They didn't compost. They had pesticides sprayed on their grass. They didn't join the Friends of the Willard Park Children's Library. They didn't even recycle.

The Coxes were like foreign visitors who had not read up on the local customs.

Since I had an ARC of White Elephant by Julie Langsdorf I made pencil notations in the book instead of on a slip of paper or on post-it notes. I soon realized I was underlining and circling and notating to the point of absurdity. There were so many wickedly funny lines summarizing up scenes! So many characters' inner thoughts leading up to hilarious insights! The way some people randomly open the Bible while looking for guidance, I can randomly open White Elephants looking for a laugh.

Suzanne was at the top: serious and smart. Brilliant maybe. No sense of humor. Did she have a humor disability? Why wasn't that a thing?

Country Village by Nancy A. Bekofske

Other lines struck home--too close for my comfort. Was Langsdorf thinking about how I felt thirty years ago--or her character Allison--when she wrote,

It was stressful being a mother these days, increasingly so. Mothers who chose to stay at home were so well educated--and so ashamed about not earning a paycheck--that they put every ounce of their abundant energy into mothering, determined to get results.

Ted and Allison Miller and Nick and Kaye Cox were on a collision course with destiny, impelled by their personal fatal flaws.

It all started when Nick and Kaye Cox and daughter Lindy moved next door to Ted and Allison and daughter Jillian. Ted grew up in Willard Park. Allison is photographing the town with hopes of making a book. They love the vintage time-loop 'Twilight Zone' vibe.

Nick has a vision of turning the Sears houses into upscale palaces. As a Washington D.C. suburb, it would make the community a magnet--and make his fortune. He turned his charming house into a towering abode filled with the biggest and best money can afford. He started a new showcase home to sell before running out of money, the house nicknamed the White Elephant.

My little city is proud of our Sears kit homes and a page is included on the city web page. But as house prices have risen, young people can no longer afford our neighboring cities and our houses are in high demand. Many have been torn down and replaced with huge 'farmhouse' style buildings that take up most of the lot, towering over the neighboring houses.

Not only is Nick changing the town Ted loves, but he is also cutting down trees, including one Ted planted when Jillian was born! Ted becomes obsessed, patrolling the neighborhood, seeking out fallen trees and other evidence of Nick's crusade to destroy Willard Park. He can't relax and it's affecting his ability to give his wife the physical attention she desperately craves. Leaving Allison with an obsession of her own: their neighbor, Nick Cox.

Meanwhile, Kaye Cox is lonely for her old friends; she always made friends so easily, but she feels shut out and shunned in this closed town. Lindy Cox takes up with the studious Jillian Miller, intent on making her 'cool.' Lindy gets everything she wants and lacks self-discipline and self-control. Jillian allows herself to be taken up into Lindy's world of unlimited consumerism and pleasure and rules-breaking.

And then there is Ted's loveable twin brother, Terrance, who lives in a group home.

A new couple comes into town, Grant and Suzanne with son Adam. Grant is carefree and fun (especially when high) and unreliable, while his wife is a perfectionist intent on keeping his nose to the grindstone. They were forced to move into a small bungalow after Grant lost his job at the law firm.
Needless to say, their marriage has been under stress.  Now, Suzanne has an unplanned pregnancy. They become caught in the middle of the battle between nostalgia and progress.

The novel works up to an exciting climax and unexpected reveal and finally, a happy resolution.

I loved Langsdorf's comedy and I loved her insights into human nature and the values battles in a small town that reflect the larger national tensions. Do we look to the past or the future for the betterment of our society? How can rampant consumerism and environmental protectionism exist side by side? Can we find or build community in a mobile world were the average person moves a dozen times in their life? How do women balance the need for personal achievement and motherhood?

I received an ARC from the publisher through a Goodreads giveaway. My review is fair and unbiased.

White Elephant
by Julie Langsdorf
Ecco/Harper Collins
Publication March 2019