The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

Title:  The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

Author:  Katarina Bivald

Publication Information:  Sourcebooks Landmark. 2016. 384 pages.

ISBN:  0701189061 / 978-0701189068

Book Source:  I received this book as a publisher's galley through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "I hope you enjoy Louisa May Alcott's An Old Fashioned Girl."

Favorite Quote:  "Books had been a defensive wall, yes, though that wasn't all. They had protected Sara from the world around her, but they had also turned it into a fuzzy backdrop for the real adventures in her life."

The book has "readers" in the title and books on the cover. It pulls me right in. Sara Lindqvist, a bookseller from Sweden, has travelled thousands of miles to Broken Wheel, Iowa to visit Amy Harris, a friend she has never met. Amy and Sara have been pen pals. Amy has invited Sara to visit and to stay with her, and Sara actually comes.

The problem is that Amy Harris has recently died. What is Sara to do? Enter the residents of the very small town of Broken Wheel. They adopt Sara as one of their own, and convince her to stay for her vacation in Amy's house as a guest of the entire town. Of course, Sara stays, and predictably is pulled into the life of this small town.

Broken Wheel, Iowa depicts a stereotypical small town, with a dying economy, people who can't leave fast enough and people tied to it, several quirky characters, and a pride often found in small towns.  Setting this book into the context of a small town in the United States adds a whole layer of small town drama that would not be possible in a different setting. What makes this depiction more remarkable is the fact that the book is written by a Swedish author with no real personal knowledge of small town America.

Sara brings her love of books to this town, especially as she discovers Amy's treasure trove of books and the fact that no one else in this town really reads. Of course, she has the knack of picking the right book for the right person and a way of drawing people to her.

Ultimately, this book is all about relationships and the things that get in the way of two people and their relationship. Some of the perceived obstacles to relationships in this book are:

• Difference of age
• Differences in culture
• Difference of race
• Fear of society's judgement ("what will people say!")
• Former relationships
• Immigration legalities
• Society's prejudices

This theme of relationship roadblocks - real and perceived - repeats across multiple couples throughout the book. Different couples deal with their challenges in different ways - moving past the obstacle together, keeping the relationship a secret, and even walking away from the relationship.

The other theme that occurs throughout is, of course, books. Many books are referenced throughout. Some old favorites - including childhood favorites - bring a smile to my face; some new ones get marked for the never-ending "to read" list. Sara's way of organizing collections and matching books are readers adds level of enjoyment to the bibliophile in me.

Sweet and predictable are the words that come to mind for this book. Sweet in the way the small town embraces Sara. Sweet in the way Sara invests in the town to repay their kindness. Sweet in the way Broken Wheel is a place to belong to. Predictable in the ending. Predictable in the way things seem to work out. As Sara thinks, "Feel good books were ones you could put down with a smile on your face, books that make you think the world was a little crazier, stranger, and more beautiful when you looked up from them." Sometimes, sweet and predictable and a cup of tea are all that is needed for a feel good afternoon curled up with a book.

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Guest post by Katarina Bivald

How To Capture Small Town America

Step 1: Slowly Step Away from Reality
Nothing good has ever come from reality. Now is not the time to be burdened by that the most boring of boring questions: could it really happen that way? I’m going to spend years working in this small town, escaping to it on evenings and weekends and holidays, and it has to be much more fun that real life and real small towns.

Step 2: Read and Research
I think small towns are best experienced in books. This is not in any way a critique of small towns: everything is probably better in books. Real life is so incredibly… unstructured. God has a lousy sense of plot. 

Step 3: The People
While it is technically true that all towns consist mainly of people, it is most true for small town: it is simply impossible to avoid people there. It is one of the reasons I love placing my books in small towns – my characters can be different and still meet. They can have different backgrounds, ages, marital status and so forth and still find themselves having to deal with each other. In a bigger city, Caroline would never have to meet Grace, and wouldn’t that be a shame, for both of them?

Step 4: Love it or Leave it
This, of course, is not in any way an absolute rule (as are none of the above). I’ve read many good books about small towns written from the perspective of someone who hated the whole thing (most notably Jonathan Tropper's The Book of Joe). But for me, I couldn’t write about a place (or a person, perhaps) that I didn’t feel some kind of love for. For me, it adds a sort of humanity or kindness to it, and makes it possible for me to describe the problems and the idiosyncrasies; knowing that there is a sort of love behind it all.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

A Place We Knew Well

Title:  A Place We Knew Well

Author:  Susan Carol McCarthy

Publication Information:  Bantam. 2015. 272 pages.

ISBN:  080417654X / 978-0804176545

Book Source:  I received this book as a publisher's galley through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "As I wheel right into Dad's driveway, a six-foot chain-link fence jumps up out of nowhere."

Favorite Quote:  "The old saying 'Be careful what you wish for' ought to be revised; it out to say instead: 'Be careful what you take for granted.'"

For thirteen days, the threat of nuclear war came close to being an actual, fought war. In 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis, as it is now known, brought the threat of Russian nuclear forces as close to US soil as Cuba and brought US missiles Turkey, close to Russian soil. The Cold War heated up, as both sides appeared to be in a stand off. Would weapons be fired? Would anyone survive? Those around the country saw this happen on their television screens. Those in Florida watched it take place before their very eyes.

This is the history into which Susan Carol McCarthy sets the Avery family. Wes Avery, a veteran of World War II and the bombing of Hiroshima, understands the meaning behind the military movements and buildup. His wife Sarah is seemingly caught up in the civilian preparations of bomb shelters and emergency supplies but underneath is just overwhelmed by her own past and her life. Their daughter, Charlotte, a teenager, is torn between the high school years of friends, football games, and homecoming and the looming menace that suggests that the future she dreams of may never be. This is the human story of this book.

The book proceeds along both stories - the nonfiction story of the missile crisis and the fictional drama of the Avery family. Not having read too much set in the 1960s, I enjoy the historical element of the book. The book includes descriptions of some of the military maneuverings and actual events; it doesn't turn into a history book but definitely provides a lot of background.

Through the Avery family and the small town they live in, the author does a wonderful job of capturing the fears and emotions of the time and gives life to the history. Through the character of Emilio, the Cuban young man working for Wes, the book even brings in the other side of the human story of war. Emilio is a teenager like Charlotte and has witnessed atrocities in his homeland and been pulled away from friends and family for the sake of safety. Wes gives him a job, and his colleague Steve takes on the role of a father figure. Yet, Emilio fears for and longs for home and family.

The fictional story keeps pace with the history; it starts gradually, builds into a crisis I did not see coming and then ends rather calmly for all the buildup. The plot twist does surprise me and takes this a book beyond the historical fiction. It becomes a book about losses, sorrows, and a question. "How do you grieve a dream? And for how long?" The history is interesting, but it is this question that grounds the book. I feel sympathetic towards each of the characters - Wes, Sarah, Charlotte, Emilio and even Steve. I care about them.

A quiet, negotiated agreement ended the Cuban Missile Crisis, fortunately without a shot being fired. So, it is with the story of the Avery family. It starts slow, reaches a crisis, and just seems to fade. Perhaps, it is because the book ends on a note of the history rather than the personal story. I suppose I would prefer to end with the Avery family themselves rather than their presence at a place in history that they knew well.

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From the Desk of Susan Carol McCarthy...The Writing Process...

I guess my “writing process” is a holdover from when my two sons were young and my writing time was bookended by school drop offs and pickups. I was then, and still am, a morning person, which by default makes me a morning writer. These days, I brew strong coffee and attempt, by the end of the first cup, to have conquered the daily Sudoku in The LA Times. I carry my second cup to my desk and check emails, answering only those that can’t wait till the afternoon. Then I write, sometimes well, sometimes not, for three to four hours every day. What’s important—I know this from years of experiment and experience—is keeping my butt in the chair and my fingers moving on the keyboard till the good stuff shows up. Early or late, it eventually shows up. I break for lunch, always, and then edit afterward in the afternoon. I should probably cop to the fact that my morning process often begins the night before when, head on my pillow, I send a message to my subconscious about what I hope and need to accomplish writing-wise the next day, and I ask for any assistance available. More often than not, the answer is there when I wake up. I’m not always writing historical fiction, by the way. I also do a fair amount of commercial freelance writing, too. Gotta pay the bills between pub dates, you know? Alas.

Please share your thoughts & leave a comment. Susan McCarthy and I would love to "talk" to you.

Ana of California

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A grown-up reimagining of L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables

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Title:  Ana of California

Author:  Andi Teran

Publication Information:  Penguin Group. 2015. 368 pages.

ISBN:  0143126490 / 978-0143126492

Book Source:  I received this book as a publisher's galley through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "She was out of beginnings, this she knew."

Favorite Quote:  "We live with the scars though, don't we? ... But they show we lived in the moment and have survived past it."

"A modern retelling of Anne of Green Gables." I was enticed by that description. I read the entire L. M. Montgomery series as a child and then again as an adult. It's one of the childhood series that is still on my shelf today. The spunky Anne Shirley. The beautiful Prince Edward Island setting. The group of eccentric small town characters. The innocence of childhood despite the hardships suffered. I love the original L. M. Montgomery book!

As excited as I was to read this book, I was also apprehensive. This retelling attempts to fill some mighty big shoes. I was not sure if I was prepared to be delighted once again or disappointed. Then, I finally realized that it is not a fair comparison. Anne of Green Gables is the story of a child written for children. Ana of California is not; this book is more for the young adult and adult audience. The themes are more adult, and the story is darker. Reading it in constant comparison to the original is not fair. No way can Ana capture the sweet charm of Anne Shirley.

I stopped comparing and settled in to enjoy what is a wonderful coming of age story all on its own. Although I find myself smiling over the memories triggered by some of the similarities between the books, you don't have to be familiar with the original to enjoy this story. Ana is an engaging character, and this story well-told.

Ana's life seems to be defined by the following statement: "Some things are out of our control, mija, especially where we came from and what we left behind. But we can choose how we react and how we move forward." Born into the streets of East Los Angeles, Ana loses her parents and grandmother to the violence of those streets. She bounces around from foster home to foster home, never finding a permanent home or a family to call her own. She comes to the Garber farm as a last chance. In brother and sister Emmett and Abbie Garber, Ana hopes to find a family or at least a final foster home before her emancipation from the foster care system.

With Ana comes all the emotions and fears of her childhood. Will she find a home? Will any mistake send Ana packing back to Los Angeles? Can she risk friendship? Can she risk believing that this may be home? Her fears and insecurity come through in her art and in her interactions with all those around her. All these things have me believing in, cheering for, and wanting to protect Ana.

In this small farm town community in Northern California, Ana finds a host of characters, each with their story. Emmett and the loss of his wife. Abbie and the secrets of her rebellious past. Manny and the other migrant farm workers. Cole Brennan, the Brennan family and their relationship with the Garbers. Rye and the prejudice she faces. Will and his dream for his restaurant.

These many stories form the undercurrent to Ana's story. None of them develop enough to compete with the main story, but they do clearly convey a point. Everyone - including Ana - has a past and a story. Family - the one we are born with or the one we make - is about all the stories together and is about loving each other sometimes in spite of those stories.

While Anne of Green Gables will always have a place on my shelf as a childhood favorite, Ana of California also gets a place on my shelf, for an endearing main character and an engaging story.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

The Settling Earth

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Book longlisted for Edge Hill Short Story Award
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Title:  The Settling Earth

Author:  Rebecca Burns

Publication Information:  Odyssey Books. 2014. 128 pages.

ISBN:  1922200166 / 978-1922200167

Book Source:  I received this book as a galley through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Rebecca Burns for sharing your book with me.

Opening Sentence:  "Sarah woke to a fierce north wind."

Favorite Quote:  "No, here, in this colony, there are opportunities, but our hearts are the same; they are still pulled and crushed, still open to hope. Our flesh still yearns for the touch of someone long dead. We just go through it at the bottom of the world."

The Settling Earth is a beautiful collection of ten inter-related short stories set in the 1800s in the colony of New Zealand. Nine out of ten present the experience of white people settling in New Zealand. The last one written by Shelly Davies of the Ngātiwai tribe, presents a native Maori perspective on the white settlers.

A Pickled Egg deals with a young bride settling into marriage and a new life far from family in Europe.

Mr. William Sanderson Strikes for Home hits upon the tensions between the white settlers and the native Maori and the prejudicial approach of the white settlers.

Miss Swainson's Girl takes the reader to a brothel in the city and a young girl's struggle to survive after her arrival in New Zealand.

Dottie is the toddler dropped off the baby farm that provides a solution for young women unable or unwilling to care for their children.

Port and Oranges brings the story back to the brothel and the life of the madam of the brothel.

Tenderness probes the life of Mrs. Ellis, the do-gooder and passionate charity worker, who has seen a lot in her life but can yet be surprised by what some people will do.

Dressed for the Funeral introduces another young bride, wavering between love and expediency even when a child's life hangs in the balance.

Ink and Red Lace is a story of abuse.

The Beast brings salvation to at least one of the women and retribution to one cruel and unjust man.

Balance, the final story, comes full circle back to the beginning. After all the stories about women in trying circumstances, abused and downtrodden, this story brings a strong statement about the place of women in society. It brings the Maori perspective - "There had to be balance. Without woman there was no man. And so, for Maori, even through it was the men who were out the front in war parties, politicking and making speeches, women were a powerful influence. A force to be reckoned with."

The stories all stand alone but also flow together, each picking up on a character in a previous one. Each individual story is only a few pages long. Yet, the author vividly depicts the New Zealand setting, capturing both the cities that seek to emulate the customs of its European settlers and the isolation of the countryside that reminds the settlers of the power of the land.

The author also manages to develop depth and emotion in the characters even with the brief length of the story. I found myself vested in the characters, feeling their struggle, being shocked at some of their choices, and wanting to know more. Although the stories end quickly, I found myself envisioning what happened after. The fact that the stories carry over into each other certainly helps that thought process along.

Several stories end on a decision point, leaving it to the reader to decide what direction the character would take. For me, that adds to the depth with which I think about the story. I am left wondering and thinking, which in this case is a better result than spelling everything out and have all loose ends tied in a neat package. A thought provoking collection.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.