The Operator by Gretchen Berg

“Garsh,” as Vivian Dalton would say, this was unexpected.  Gretchen Berg’s debut novel is set in 1952 in small-town Wooster, Ohio and is about secrets that, once uncovered, cannot help but disrupt the lives of the people they are about. 

Vivian, the wife of Edward and mother of teenager Charlotte, has her finger on the pulse of Wooster due to listening in on conversations in her capacity as a telephone operator.  Petty jealousies with her older sister Vera and classmate Betty Miller create seemingly huge tensions, which are really nothing compared to the news that Vivian accidentally overhears one evening on her shift at work. 

The problem with secrets is that they not only expose a truth about someone else, but they also color your own presumptions about who you are.  After Vivian discovers the secret about her own family, it sets into motion her own clandestine path to get to the bottom of things.  Berg does this really well in her novel, and she shows an organic growth in her character that is not only believable but heart-warming. 

In one amusing scene, set over a series of pages, the reader is introduced to the character of Vivian before her transformation. Here, Vivian takes great exception to Charlotte’s reading of The Myth of Sisyphus for her English class…so much so that it sets Vivian on a tirade with Charlotte (“‘YOU WILL NOT BRING PORNOGRAPHY INTO THIS HOUSE!’”) and a visit to school. 

Charlotte had been stupefied by her mother’s deranged outburst and it had taken her several minutes to understand the cognitive disconnect.  Her mother had been so enraged that Charlotte couldn’t explain the mistake to her, and had just gone up to her room with the remaining shreds of the book.  She had then been flooded with dread, imagining her mother taking her Rage, with a capital R, to the high school, stomping in with hair and eyes wild, pocketbook swinging like a weapon, demanding to speak to the filth-monster who gave her daughter pornography.

Charlotte had had to wait until the next morning at breakfast, when her mother was calmly drinking her coffee, to explain that Sisyphus was a Greek king and not a venereal disease.

I started reading the novel and thought that it was going to be one long mid-western riff on Heehaw, but it is a lovely, folksy slice of life with revelations that keep the pages turning.  The author has a knack for describing social situations in entertaining and authentic ways, while providing perspectives from several points of views.  Vivian, who is so young and simple in the beginning (since we see her as a high-schooler and newly married woman),  evolves believably from a closed-minded person to a woman who discovers how to discern what is right for her life.

Places like Beulah Bechtel’s Dress Shop, the Friedlander department store and other Wooster sites were still a big part of Wooster life when I was a college student in the mid-70s, and they are authentic but richly enough described for readers who have never been there.  Nods to 1950s pop culture, the working of the telephone office, the hilarious dialogue, and the use of details that were inspired by family stories (with recipes that contain misspellings and wonderful asides) and articles in the Wooster newspaper, all add up to a new author not to miss.

Keep this on your “to read” pile—it comes out on March 10.  Thanks to Edelweiss and HarperCollins for an advance copy.

"Would Like to Meet" and "The Clergyman's Wife"

Two novels coming out today are seemingly quite different but share many of the same qualities.  Would Like to Meet, a contemporary romance by Rachel Winters and The Clergyman’s Wife, historical fiction by Molly Greeley are both inspired by other material—in the first case, it’s romantic comedies in film and in the second, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.  Both feature young women with romantic possibilities who are finding themselves; both young women’s lives are influenced by their fathers, either by having a parent who encouraged his daughter’s pursuits or by having a parent whose newfound claim-to-fame blinds him to the economic effect on his female offspring.  Both young women work to make the best of the situations they find themselves in within these novels written by debut authors.

In Would Like to Meet, assistant film agent Evie Summers seems to be destined to remain in that lowly position even though she aspires to be an agent—and maybe even a screenwriter.  She is a hard worker, but her boss and owner of the agency takes advantage of her good nature, because she is willing to take on any task to prove herself. 

When Evie agrees to deal with the most difficult client in the agency, Ezra Chester, who is also a dashing award-winning screenwriter, she must convince him that writing a romantic comedy is not beneath him AND that romantic comedies describe possible real-life scenarios.  Trying to inspire him to write the rom-com script that he was contracted for, Evie agrees to set up her own meet-cutes and write about them to get his creative juices flowing; she must prove that this is viable by finding someone in time for her best friend’s wedding.

Using scenes out of her favorite movies like "Notting Hill" and "You’ve Got Mail," Evie meets men with often hilarious results.  Her trio of friends provide moral support through entertaining group e-mails and periodic get-togethers while planning for their one (demanding) friend’s “hen party.”  Meanwhile, a widowed dad and his precocious daughter witness Evie’s first attempt at meeting someone in the local coffee shop and entwine themselves in her life with perceptive conversations, assistance, and misunderstandings.

The story has some very sweet moments and some that make you laugh while cringing (a little bit), but the cast of characters is wonderful, and it’s a fun look at a woman coming into her own.

In The Clergyman’s Wife, Molly Greeley tackles an Austen character who seems least likely to be a protagonist in a novel.  Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth Bennet’s friend in Pride and Prejudice, is the woman who darts in after Elizabeth’s rejection of the obsequious vicar and marries him as a way to become a semi-independent woman with a home of her own. 

Charlotte, now Mrs. Collins, celebrates the small joys of life in the village of Hunsford, presided over by the overbearing Lady Catherine de Bourgh.  Charlotte’s greatest delight is her little daughter Louisa who acts as a tiny mediator with the villagers who are part of Mr. Collins’ flock.   Reaching out to people who are lonely, sick or poor, Charlotte develops friendships beyond the exalted walls of de Bourghs’ home at Rosings Park.  This way, she meets Mr. Travis, a farmer who piques her interest, who shares her concerns, and who seems to invade her thoughts in ways that a man has never before.

Some of the great strengths of this story are the beautiful writing, the characterization of Charlotte, and the depictions of everyday life in this small section of England in the early 1800s.  Charlotte’s thoughtful observations about herself and her life choices makes a wistful narrative about a woman’s life. 

Between Charlotte’s first person perspective and the imagery the author uses to create sensory experiences of the woods, the gardens, the weather, and the homes, there is an immediacy that brings the reader into the story.  Here is one example: “The dining room at Rosings is lit by dozens of candles, but still it is so vast that much of the room remains in darkness, the footmen lining the walls merely man-shaped shadows except when they step forward to pour wine.  The candles do, however, illuminate the gleaming table settings and platters of rich foods, and cast the faces of my dining companions in a light that gentles all of their profiles and makes even William almost handsome.” (page 132)

The story is resolved in the only way that it could be, but like the novel above, it allows the main character to have agency and to realize her self-worth.  The novels are published today, December 3. 

Thanks to the publishers and to Edelweiss for advance copies.

Rachel Winters, Would Like to Meet (Penguin Random House)
Molley Greeley, The Clergyman's Wife (Harper Collins)

Twenty-One Truths about Love by Matthew Dicks

(St. Martin's Press, Nov. 19, 2019)

Daniel Mayrock’s story is told in a series of lists in the new novel by Matthew Dicks, author of one of my favorite books, Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, so here is a list of my thoughts on this book.

1. No kidding, this was kind of hard to get into, because of the experimental format of the story and the need to fill in ideas between the lines. 
2. I couldn’t give up, though, because “An Imaginary Friend” was so creative and touching that I wanted to see what was going to happen.
3. Don’t read this if you are offended by f-bombs and bodily humor.
4. DO read this if you realize that there is a lot of humor found in #3, because it was laugh-out loud funny in many spots (despite being kind of edgy at times).
5. Dan’s relationship with his wife Jill and with his bookshop employees provides some excellent philosophical fodder for this 37-year-old semi-slacker with a confidence problem, and the things that the bookshop customers say are just too funny for words (sadly true).
6. The friendship between Dan and an old guy he meets at a bingo game (Bill) is truly moving, and Bill helps Dan:

• find a father figure
• realize that his ideas for money making are incredibly hare-brained
• see that life, despite its challenges and tragedies, is joy-filled 
• realize what true friendship is.

1. Final thought: This is fairly short, easy to read, with wry observations about life, marriage, success and future fatherhood that will be a great gift for the right reader.

Some of my favorite quotes:

Surest signs that Jill still loves me
#5.  She’ll still listen to Meatloaf in the car with me when I know she hates the music with every fiber of her being.

If I ruled the world, 9 laws that I would immediately enact
#8.  Selfie sticks are immediately banned.  It’s bad enough that future archeologists may judge our society based upon things like The Bachelor, Steven Seagal, and hipsters who wear slouchy winter hats in the summer.  We cannot allow the selfie stick to also define us.

Text messages from Bill
If you had one of those f-ing pink or blue gender-reveal party things, I would’ve had to punch you in the face.

Lessons for Cassidy
#28.  Nothing good ever comes from watching reality television.  Hopefully it won’t exist by the time you read this.

Additions to Dan’s Laws of the Universe
Even when our parents leave us behind, they never really leave us behind.  They continue to influence everything we do, even when we can’t see it.
So many of us are Luke Skywalker to some degree, confronting the failures of our parents.

Rules of Manhood
…
Read more.  It allows you to borrow someone else’s brain, and will make you more interesting at a dinner party.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy.

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

The book opens with two journeys: the first is Margery O’Hare’s treacherous climb in the dead of winter up Arnott’s Ridge on her trusty mule Charley to deliver books to distant cabins, the second is newly married Alice Van Cleve's, who has moved to the small coal town of Baileyville, KY from England.  Their paths eventually intersect in this compelling adventure about the WPA Packhorse Library in eastern Kentucky during the Depression.

Independent and courageous, Margery lives life by her own terms in this coal town and is alone except for the persevering love of Sven Gustavsson.  Raised in the most brutal of circumstances, she finds her calling in delivering books and magazines out to the many poor and isolated families in her area, checking in on widows and young families and encouraging the education that books can bring to resistant recipients in the backwoods.

The journey that the elegant Alice Van Cleve makes when she fell in love with handsome American Bennett Van Cleve takes her a long way from her English home.  His marriage proposal seemed like the perfect escape from the stifling atmosphere for this headstrong young woman, but Baileyville isn’t the imagined destination and neither is married life to the wealthy but distant man.

Alice tries to blend in to the small community, but housekeeper Annie has things well in hand, the interminable meetings attended by the local women bore Alice, and the intrusions into married life by her father-in-law frustrate and anger her. When Alice volunteers for the newly established packhorse library, Margery is more than a little skeptical but Alice is determined and Margery has few other choices.

Alice and Margery come from worlds apart, but their travels up and down the Appalachian hills bring a new respect for each other as they cobble together the library service with several other women in town: Mrs. Brady, who oversees the operation, quiet and polio-stricken Izzy, brash Beth who comes from a household of men, and the efficient Sophia who organizes everything hidden behind locked doors, because she is black.

Author Jojo Moyes builds her world with lovely descriptions of the seasons, harsh commentary on the lives of miners and the ecological devastation that mining brings, a heart-pounding scene of a substantial flood—all tied up with the developing sisterhood of this group of women and the education that their library brings.  It is inevitable that conflict arises when these librarians surreptitiously provide information to women about “married love” and also share important legal advice concerning the mine’s intended land grab. 

When Alice’s relationship with her husband and father-in-law takes a turn for the worse because of these issues, she leaves and stays with Margery, but her father-in-law (and mine owner) is out for revenge which puts her, Margery, and the library project into serious trouble.  The story is such a compelling one, and the journeys that the characters take are not only out into the hills but are ones of self-awareness and empowerment.

I was reluctant to read this at first, because the very fine novel “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek” by Kentucky scholar Kim Michele Richardson covered this same topic earlier in the year.  The books are similar in this theme, but each are unique in tone and detail, and I highly recommend both (Richardson’s book is reviewed below on April 17, 2019).  The theme of cultural change through the efforts of a small group of women is beautifully rendered here, and the plot includes some really gut-wrenching and emotional scenes.  This is a place and time in American history that is good to be remembered.

(Viking, October 8, 2019)

A Bitter Feast by Deborah Crombie

When I first started reading Deborah Crombie’s mysteries, I didn’t realize that she was an American—and a Texan to boot, because she captures the English setting of her novels so well.  This is the 18th entry in the series featuring Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James.

Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his wife Gemma James (also with the London police) are looking forward to a weekend away as house guests of the parents of Gemma’s detective sergeant Melody Talbot.  The small Cotswold village where they are heading will be a respite for them and for their three children, and the weekend includes an exclusive fundraising lunch in the garden of the Talbots’ country home catered by a top chef in the area. 

Melody’s privileged background is a little-known secret in the police force, since her father owns a newspaper whose investigative reports sometimes view police matters unfavorably, and only Duncan and Gemma and another police officer, Doug Cullen, are included.  Due to schedules and car sizes, the group travels separately with Duncan driving down to Lower Slaughter himself on Friday evening after work.  Almost to his destination at Beck House, he is broadsided by a car that runs a stop sign at a T in the road.  Barely able to extricate himself from his vehicle, he makes it over to the other driver, only to hear her breathe her last words and die. 

Even though Duncan is badly banged up and Gemma is concerned about his health, their weekend becomes a busman’s holiday when the deaths in the car are discovered to be unusual and when a third death from a hit-and-run the following night seems to be related to the accident. 

In between detecting, the children enjoy the delights of a country home, the walks, the dogs, and games of croquet, while the adults and teenage Kit pitch in and help chef Viv Holland carry off the charity lunch when her help (the driver of the car, the hit-and-run victim) are no longer there for her.

The details of the kitchen scenes are expertly rendered and, added to the past narrative about Viv’s early years in the restaurant business in London, this makes one more compelling aspect of the book.  Both the development of new recipes and cuisines and the choreography of the preparation of a meal is fascinating.

Getting through the lunch is only one of the problems to solve, as it is soon discovered that the Talbots’ gardener has been skimming household funds, and then young Grace Holland disappears.

A wide cast of characters are made up of pub staff and customers, Beck House staff, Viv Holland’s daughter and the long-ago London chef from her past.  Among the fine things about Crombie’s books are the fully developed characters—both the continuing ones and the ones introduced as part of the current mystery.  The settings of her mysteries are also essential to the books, and they are completely varied and often unusual, which is one reason why such a long series is successful.  The children are well drawn and are delightful additions to the family that Duncan and Gemma have created. 

If you haven’t read any of the series, I would highly recommend starting at the beginning, while realizing that the series continuously strengthens and matures.  The relationships of Duncan and Gemma grow and evolve through these books, and they and their family become old friends.  This is especially recommended for fans of Julia Spencer-Fleming based on character development and relationships, use of setting, plot, and police procedure.

(Published on Tuesday, October 8)

Christ in Crisis: Why We Need to Reclaim Jesus by Jim Wallis

After many years in Sunday School and Bible Study classes, I can attest that the second most often-asked question is “How does this Bible verse/story/chapter apply to us today?”Jim Wallis answers that question throughout his book in urgent ways, with a no-holds barred approach to his thoughts on the ways that the current administration befouls Christian ideals and is creating a Constitutional crisis.  Crises can be catalysts to a return to faith, and Wallis states that “I believe two things are now at stake: the soul of the nation and the integrity of faith.” (pg. 17)

I became aware of Wallis’ work after a gathering of diverse American Christian leaders, including the Episcopal Church’s Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, met and and wrote a creed called “Reclaiming Jesus: A Declaration for Faith in a Time of Crisis,” and published it in May of 2018.  Each profession of faith in this statement begins with “We believe” and ends with Therefore, we reject” to explain Christian belief and its influence on believers’ thoughts and actions.  To me, this book is Wallis’ extension of this project as well as a culmination of the prolific amount of literature he has written on religion and politics.

The book is arranged in chapters that focus on eight specific teachings of Jesus with questions about how we are responding today.  Chapters are examinations of Scripture with commentary on that reading from classical theologians such as St. Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin to contemporary scholars like Walter Brueggemann and Reinhold Niebuhr.  Additional insights range from conservative to liberal columnists who write on religion and includes the faith-based actions of leaders like Pope Francis, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mennonite Will Jones who represent a wide-range of religious experience in the Christian tradition. 

In the chapter on truth, Wallis quotes Courtney Hall Lee, who says the “‘value for truth is completely woven into our theology,’” (page 85), and he continues his discussion on how a disregard for truth has many dangerous implications affecting our faith community, the nation, and our children.  Other chapters cover servant leadership, what it means to love our neighbor, human beings as the image of God, the work of peacemakers, and so on. 

One of the most moving chapters is “The Discipleship Question,” based on Matthew 25:14 (Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”), which Wallis contends is not taught or preached in many churches.  He says, “I call it the ‘it was me’ text.  I was hungry, Jesus said: I was thirsty, I was naked, I was a stranger, I was sick, I was in prison.  It was me.   You either gave me food to eat or you didn’t, you gave me clothes to wear or you didn’t, you welcomed me as an immigrant or refugee, or you didn’t…. Whatever you did or didn’t to to them, you did to me—that’s exactly what Jesus is saying here.” (page 158)  He calls it the “most challenging test for all of us: to measure our lives by the well-being of those who are always most easily forgotten and invisible—Jesus’s final test of discipleship.” (page 159)  He ends the chapter with a discussion of the Matthew 25 movement, which has recently made courageous and successful steps in working with some of the most vulnerable populations in America.

Conclusions about how we as Americans—and particularly the current administration—are acting in light of our Christian beliefs are bold and searing criticisms of the treatment of refugees and immigrants, of truth, of racial relations, of treatment of women, the poor and vulnerable.   Each chapter ends with a discussion of how Christians have responded to crises in the past and what responsibilities believers have in calling into question this current state of affairs.  It’s a combination of encouragement, inspiration, and comfort.

While I initially thought that the chapters were slightly long for the lay reader, I realized that a lengthy discussion was essential for making these points.  When the statement of faith was originally published, there was immediate backlash from some conservative columnists and evangelical leaders who called it partisan and hypocritical and ungodly.

At the outset of this book, readers may be taken aback by the severe criticism for the president and current administration and shrug it of as only a political statement from a liberal thinker, but it is obvious through the careful study of scripture, the wide-ranging commentary, and a lengthy historical perspective that this is important and impactful reading for American Christians.

Interestingly, this book is actually pertinent for non-Christian readers as well, because it explains the life and work of Jesus, explores how he was counter-cultural, and then discusses how faithful followers reacted in their own cultural experiences.   And for both Christian and non-Christian readers, it explains how the name of Jesus has been co-opted for nefarious reasons and describes the ways American Christians are divorced from “the way” (the original term for followers of Jesus and his teachings).

This book was transformational for me, in that I am convinced that we Christians have a responsibility to study deeply, are called by our faith to speak out on the injustices of our administration, and need to step out in the defense and care of the vulnerable.  The book would make a good multi-session discussion for a Bible study group.


(HarperOne, Sept. 24, 2019)
Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for an advance copy.

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

“It’s a hard knock life,” Annie sings in the Depression-era musical of the same name, and there’s no doubt that children suffered greatly during this time period, as William Kent Krueger so movingly shows in his new novel, This Tender Land (published Sept. 3).   The cover alone will beg you to pick up the book, but the story with its resilient characters and their quest for bearable lives will pull you in.

Narrated by the elderly Odie O’Banion,  the story looks back on his 12th year in 1932 when he is living with his older brother Albert at the Lincoln Indian Training School in Minnesota.  They are the only two white children there, taken in when their father (and sole parent), is killed while delivering bootleg alcohol in the area. 

Conditions in the school are brutal with poor food, hard work, little recreation, and disciplinary measures often involving solitary confinement in a dark and dank room room.  It’s made worse by the school administrator, Mrs. Brickman, nicknamed “The Black Witch,” her husband who is complicit in all his wife’s meanness, and groundskeeper, Vincent DiMarco, who does unspeakable things to the children in the dead of night.

Fortunately, there are sympathetic people in these children’s lives, whose small kindnesses make big differences in how they feel about themselves and take on the world.  When tragedy strikes at the Lincoln School, four of these children band together and take a canoe to escape down the river Gilead with the intent of finding Albert’s and Odie’s aunt in St. Louis.  In addition to Albert and Odie, they include Mose, a mute Indian and close friend who communicates through sign language, and Emmie, the daughter of one of the school’s teachers.

Their travels take them through many challenges while giving readers an intimate view of the conditions of the Depression where people are losing their farms, drowning sorrows in drink, establishing Hoovervilles, helping out others, getting by through sharing music and song, and providing hope through the sometimes questionable miracles of tent revivals. 

Reminiscent of Huck Finn’s adventure on the Mississippi, the novel also weaves in many references to The Odyssey, creating a vast canvas where each character moves into the direction of his or her destiny.  The novel can be fully enjoyed for the adventure it is, but the threads of classic literature (quest stories and The Odyssey) provide a vibrant layer to enjoy.  While parts may seem to be too easily tied together,  this is an old-fashioned story that will appeal to many readers.

Krueger, who has a very fine and long-running mystery series set in Minnesota featuring Cork O’Connor, is also the author of the stand-alone novel, Ordinary Grace.

Favorite quotes:
“Open yourself to every possibility , for there is nothing your heart can imagine that is not so.”

“And, of course, there will be hope.  In the end, isn’t that what every good story is about?”