Three Books About People in Crisis

Reprinted from auburnpub.com :

This month’s Book Report features three new novels about people each facing a serious crisis. Each author has written characters that we can empathize with and care about.

Ellen Marie Wiseman’s The Orphan Collector is set in 1918 Philadelphia, during the Spanish flu pandemic. Thirteen year-old Pia lives with her German immigrant family- Mom, twin baby brothers, while her father is away fighting for his new country in Europe in WWI as part of the U.S. Army. 

The war has just ended, and thousands of people attend a celebratory parade, including Pia, her mother and brothers. Soon, people all over Philadelphia are dying from the Spanish flu. It is a gruesome death, and people fear seeing the black fabric tied to doors indicating a death there.

Pia is left to care for her baby brothers, but soon the food runs out and she must venture outside to find supplies. When she faints and comes to in the hospital, it is days later and Pia is panicked about her brothers.

Unbeknownst to Pia, her neighbor Bernice sees her leave and hears the babies crying. Bernice   is bereft after losing her beloved baby boy to the flu, and makes a decision that will define her and Pia’s life going forward.

Pia ends up in an orphanage, filled with children who have lost their parents to the flu. Even though she is trapped, she cannot stop searching for clues as to what happened to her brothers. 

Bernice meanwhile has come upon an idea. Angered at the immigrant families she believes responsible for the deadly flu, Bernice uses the children in orphanages to fulfill a greedy plan.

When Bernice and Pia’s paths cross, can Pia discover what happened to her brothers? 

The Orphan Collector is a brilliantly written, riveting piece of historical fiction. Every detail feels so authentic. You will find yourself dropped right into 1918 Philadelphia, and feel like you are right alongside Pia as she never gives up her quest to find her brothers. Fans of Christina Baker Kline’s The Orphan Train and Lisa Wingate’s “Before We Were Yours” should put this next on their reading list.

Helen Cullen’s The Dazzling Truth takes place on an Irish island near Galway, where Murtagh and Maeve are raising their four children. From the moment Murtagh saw Maeve at Trinity College, he was smitten. 

Maeve was from America, studying acting. Murtagh made ceramic pottery, and they both loved art. He was given the opportunity to apprentice with a famous potter, and Maeve gave up her dreams to follow him and raise their family on the island.

Maeve also suffered from severe depression and anxiety. She would spend days, sometimes weeks in bed, and nights wandering the countryside. As her children got older, they didn’t understand what was happening, as it was never discussed openly. 

The story moves back and forth in time so we get to see Murtagh and Maeve’s courtship, and their lives of the children as they grow older. The characters are so well drawn, you care for each of them, and ache for each of them as Maeve’s illness affects them. Your heart will break for them.

In Caroline Leavitt’s latest novel, With Or Without You the main characters deal with a physical illness. Stella is a 42 year-old nurse who longs to settle down and have a child with her longtime love Simon, a rocker who has one last chance to make it in the music business with his bandmates. 

When Stella falls into a coma, it upends both their worlds, as well the life as Libby, her best friend, a doctor who is caring for Stella. Libby becomes close to Simon as they bond together working and hoping for Stella’s recovery. Simon also becomes close to Stella’s mother who moves in with him. Their relationship is so touching.

We see the story through Stella’s eyes as she is in the coma, and Simon who gives up his last chance to stay by her side. When Stella awakes, her world is completely different. She has a new artistic ability that eventually brings her the fame that Simon had once hoped would be his. 

 

Caroline Leavitt excels at writing characters facing a crisis not of their doing, and this is her best book yet. 

If you want to get lost in a good book that makes you feel something for the characters, take you out of your everyday sameness, each one of these three is a great choice.

The Orphan Collector by Ellen Marie Wiseman- A+

Published by Kensington Books

Trade paperback, $16.95, 400pages

The Dazzling Truth by Helen Cullen- B+

Published by Graydon House

Trade paperback, $17.99, 336 pages

With Or Without You by Caroline Leavitt- A

Published by Algonquin 

Hardcover, $26.95, 288 pages

 

The Dazzling Truth by Helen Cullen

The Dazzling Truth by Helen Cullen

Published by Graydon House ISBN 9781525815829

Trade paperback, $17.99, 336 pages

The reality of how one family member's crippling depression and anxiety affects an entire family is at the heart of Helen Cullen's emotionally powerful novel, The Dazzling Truth. 

Murtagh is dazzled by Maeve the moment he sees her at Trinity College in Dublin. Maeve is from Queens, New York, studying acting in Dublin. Murtagh creates ceramic pottery. They fall in love and marry, Maeve leaving her home in America to stay in Ireland.

When Murtagh gets the opportunity to apprentice with a talented potter on a rather isolated island near Galway, they pack up and move away from Dublin. Maeve gives up her dreams of acting to allow Murtagh to achieve his.

They have four children in succession- daughter Nollaig, twin boys Mossy and Dillon, and the youngest girl Sive. Maeve wants to be a good wife and mother, but her lifelong battle with depression and anxiety becomes worse with each year. Giving up the thing that brought her joy and meaning, acting, makes matters worse.

Murtagh tries to help his wife, but as the children grow up, it is difficult for them to understand why their mother is different. She can't be counted on to attend school functions, and she spends days, sometimes weeks, locked up in her dark room and wandering the countryside at night.

On Christmas Eve in 2005, when the family should be celebrating Nollaig's birthday, a tragedy shatters the family forever. The novel travels back and forth in time, and we see how Maeve's crippling battle with depression affects all of them. It is never discussed openly, and not facing it has long lasting repercussions.

Nollaig gives up her plans to become a midwife to stay home, Sive leaves home to becomes an artist. Dillon travels in his work as a musical talent booker, and can't seem to have a meaningful relationship with women. Mossy seems to be the only one who is truly happy. He loves his work as a librarian, marries Kalindi, a lovely, kind woman who has her own career, and they have two young children.

It all comes to a head on Nollaig's 30th birthday, when she begs her entire family to please come home for her big party. 

The Dazzling Truth is a beautiful, moving story about a family living with a secret no one wants to name out loud. Each character comes to vivid life, especially Maeve. We see her struggle with not only her illness, but the regret of not following her dream. She loves her husband and her children, and wants to be a better wife and mother. This book touched me deeply, and if you don't have tears in your eyes at the end of the book, I'm not sure you have a heart. I give The Dazzling Truth my highest recommendation.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on Helen Cullen's tour. 

The Friday 5ive- August 7, 2020

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention this week. While it seems like we are caught in an endless time loop (like the Hulu movie, Palm Springs, I wrote about last week), this week had a new twist- a tropical storm that led to a week-long power outage!

1) On Tuesday, tropical storm Isaias hit New York. I spent most of the afternoon trying to keep the chairs on our balcony from flying away, and I was successful, although a little bit soggy. I did see a small table whip by our balcony from one of neighbors' balconies. I hope no one was injured when it landed. We are renting a house in Westchester on the weekends, and they got hit pretty badly. Trees down all over the place, and the power will be out probably until Monday. At least we have another place to stay, so many people there, on Long Island, and in New Jersey and Connecticut will be suffering for almost a week.

2) While running errands here in the city, I saw a lovely exterior display on a new day spa, Upkeep. It's nice to see something so pretty on a city side street. I wish them the best of luck. 

3) I also saw this popup Liitle Free Library on the sidewalk. I guess someone wanted to share their books and thought this was the best way. It does appear that some of the books were claimed. There's some good ones left- Ragtime, The Color of Water, The Things They Carried.

4) The New York Public Library hosted a discussion of Fiona Davis' new historical mystery novel, The Lions of Fifth Avenue, with Zibby Owens of the podcast Moms Don't Have Time To Read Books. I read Davis' book and really enjoyed it. Part of it is set in 1913, where the superintendent of the main branch of the NYPL and his family live in an apartment inside the library. When rare books go missing, who is the main suspect? I have taken the guided tour of the library a few times, and got so much more out of the book because I did that. It was interesting listening to Davis talk about her research for the book. It was chosen as Good Morning America's August Book Club read. Click here to watch the discussion.

5) Buckle up, because I read five books last week. In addition to The Lions of Fifth Avenue, I read Allison Winn Scotch's novel, Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing, about a congresswoman who is planning a run for President when her best friend from high school pens an op-ed piece about why she is a horrible person. If you have Amazon Prime, it is a free read on Kindle, and well worth it. It has a lot to say about women's roles today. 

 For a different kind of political novel, The Day That Lincoln Lost by Charles Rosenberg is an alternate history political thriller about the election of 1860, and the trial of a female abolitionist whose lawyer is none other than Republican nominee for president, Abraham Lincoln. History and politcial junkies will enjoy it. My full review is here. 

Fans of Christina Baker Kline's The Orphan Train and Lisa Wingate's Before We Were Yours will want to read Ellen Marie Wiseman's The Orphan Collector. Set in Philadelphia during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, it's the story of a 12 year-old girl who loses her mother to the pandemic and then must find out what happened to her twin baby brothers. It's a riveting story, and I read it in one day. I couldn't put it down. 

Lastly, Helen Cullen's novel, The Dazzling Truth is about a family living on an island near Galway off the Irish coast. The mother has crippling depression and anxiety, and her illness impacts the entire family. It's beautifully written, and your heart will break for all of them, but especially Maeve, the mother. I highly recommend it, and my full review will publish on Tuesday.

Stay safe,socially distant, wash your hands and wear a mask everyone, I hope we don't have to dodge swarms of locusts next week.