Review, "Letters from Skye"

Letters from Skye, by Jessica Brochmole
Ballantine Books, to be published in July 2013

“Letters from Skye” is an epistolary novel – revealed completely through letters. But it has a twist, in that the letters are exchanged during two separate wars, by two couples linked by a mother-daughter relationship.

Elspeth Dunn, 24, married and lonely, is a young poet living on Scotland’s Isle of Skye in 1912. Her work has been published and has met with some success when she receives a fan letter from a young American, David Graham. Their friendship in letters deepens with time and becomes love when Elspeth realizes she shares more of an emotional bond with David than her own distant, gruff soldier-husband. David’s subsequent enrollment in the war, as an ambulance driver, brings him closer to Elspeth’s world.

But another voice—and another exchange of letters—enters the story with Elspeth’s daughter, Margaret, in 1940. Margaret is in love with her childhood friend Paul, a pilot in the Royal Air Force. Their letters begin to document a love story from another generation, unencumbered by some of the societal constrictions Elspeth and David faced, and undiluted by the Elspeth’s warnings to her daughter that a relationship during wartime is troubled from the start.

Margaret is unaffected by her mother’s dire predictions, but when Elspeth disappears after Margaret has read one of a collection of letters found in her mother’s belongings, Margaret sets out to find her—and discover her mother’s secrets.

The intertwined letters of mother and daughter, against the love stories woven between lovers during two world wars, reveal no villains or tragic flaws. More, they reflect the tragedies that occur in a world shaken by war. Hunger, suspicion, betrayal, deception, and grief all wrap themselves around Elspeth when she falls in love with David, risking her family’s approval. In the 1940s, however, we find these deathly courtiers mostly absent from Margaret’s life. Her fears for Paul’s safety, and terror at his silences, are met with her lover’s reassurance, his support, his unfailing love.

Reading Elspeth’s story, as we are drawn deeper into the exchange of letters she shares with David, we wonder what has happened since the first war to leave Elspeth alone, or nearly so, and deeply saddened by her life. How, we wonder, could someone as devoted to her as David seems to be have left? Or did he die?

Brockmole’s upcoming novel, being published in July, explores this mystery patiently, as time passes and lovers are lost, regained, and lost again. With the unraveling comes the tension created by a skilled storyteller, teasing the reader with allusions to the present decade and World War II, played against the very different love story of Elspeth. Will she and her daughter shared the same fate—and what, in truth, was that fate? We won’t know until, like voyeurs exploring an attic box of letters, we come upon the last letter.

  “Letters from Skye” is a good read, one that brings to life the fears and losses of wartime in any generation—but especially during these two seminal wars. Brockmole’s writing style is simple and light, unfettered by plot confusion or too much time travel between scenes. The lack of much complexity in the characters is a disappointment, but not a deal breaker. There is insight into their hearts and minds, revealing courage and allowing the reader to watch as they weigh their options and make their choices, for better or worse.

This format is a little unusual, but not unique: Wilkie Collins and Bram Stroker employed it in their novels, and Mary Shelley dramatized “Frankenstein” through letters. It’s a little hard to embark without the aid of a narrator, but one soon learns enough through the letters to feel close to the characters and their trials.

Indie bookstores around New England

I find bookstores alluring—more tantalizing than diners and fresh-made pies, streets lined with tiny shops, antique shops with carefully cluttered yards, or old movie theaters playing classic movies. Summer’s the perfect time to visit some; as you travel, keep an eye out for funky bookstores and the opportunity to find new books for the collection at home. I can hardly bear to pass them by, so much so that my husband feels the telepathic pull of my pulse as we drive through a new town. It’s fun to explore bookstores, an activity best accomplished in the company of fellow readers – who won’t hurry you out, or complain about missing lunch.

Here are some funky bookstores to visit while out of state—they are by no means the only ones to see, either. This is a small introduction. Do send in your “finds” over the summer!

Vermonters love their books like they love funky cafés. Snowed-in New Englanders love to read; Vermonters put a passionate, albeit progressive, slant to it. We love the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, with its rambling corners and a café. There is a particularly interesting children’s section as well. Author Neil Gaiman is there June 20 to promote his new novel, “The Ocean at the End of the Lane.”

Speaking of children’s books, Yankee magazine cited the Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne, Vt., for its children’s book section. Woodstock offers three bookstores – and a July 26-28 Green Mountain Literary Festival (the aptly named “Bookstock”). Look for Yankee Books, Shiretown Books and for old and rare books at the Pleasant Street Bookstore. In Middlebury, the 60-year-old Vermont Book Shop presides on Main Street. In Rochester, seek out Sandy’s Books and Bakery, where whole grains and natural foods are as revered as good reading. And, finally—but not to be overlooked—Brattleboro’s Everyone’s Books, an indie shop specializing in social justice topics and multicultural children’s books.

New Hampshire residents, so in tune with politics and independence, support their indie bookstores with a dedication that approaches worship. In both Keene and Peterborough, we enjoy wandering the aisles of the Toadstool. Typical of independent bookstores, they promote regional authors with displays and talks. It’s not unusual to find a small group crowding one section to hear a local author discuss vegetation, climate or history. We’ve also found some great deals in its carefully juried used books section. Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, N.H., is a cheerful place to find writers talking about their books. On the evening of May 30, for instance, Carrie Cariello shares her memoir about a child with autism in “What Color is Monday?”

A trip to Exeter for antiques might also include the Colophon Book Shop on Water Street, where you can find first editions and collector books in a variety of fields. It’s also well worth a trip to Newmarket, N.H., to experience Crackskull’s Coffee and Books, combining the best of caffeine and literature. It’s located on Great Bay, just west of Portsmouth—an easy day drive. Nirvana.

Maine, too, is plump with bookstores, some of them dusty and delicious. I like being able to peruse new, regional and used books—something you can’t do in the chains. BookMarcs (love the pun) in downtown Bangor is one such place, should you range to the north, perhaps enroute to the lovely land of Nova Scotia. BookMarcs, by the way, is THE place to get a full selection of Stephen and Tabitha King books! Closer to home, Portland’s Longfellow Books is a rich discovery. The store was badly damaged by water during February’s Nemo blizzard, which brought 32 inches of snow to Portland. Maine Publishers and Writers Alliance banded with the community at large to help restore it to full function. It’s back in order, and ready for visitors.

During a trip to Damariscotta a few years back, we happened on a book store called the Maine Coast. It’s been updated and reopened below Lincoln Hall theater as the Maine Coast Book Shop & Café, and we’re anxious to get up there for a visit.

Rhode Island, a small state, has fewer offerings but don’t miss the Other Tiger in Westerly, with seven rooms full of books to explore. Barrington Books is another readers’ favorite.

I’ve skipped Massachusetts bookstores, because they’ll be more familiar to readers, but if you have a favorite, write it and tell me why you like it.

I’ve seen independent stores close up, but still believe they’ll survive the general self-immolation of the giant bookstores when all is recorded in history. They are at the core of readers’ hearts, along with libraries, and deserve our attention!

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We're big fans of Chris Bohjalian's books—filled with rich settings, complex characters, and exciting plots, they're the sort of novels that you can't wait to discuss with your friends. His latest bestseller, The Sandcastle Girls, is a sweeping love story set against the backdrop of one of the most haunting events in history: the Armenian Genocide. It's perhaps an unexpected subject for a bestselling novel, and in an exclusive essay for the Reading Group Center, Bohjalian writes that he was often met with skepticism when sharing the premise of the book. That is, unless he was talking to book clubs. "Reading groups especially embraced the book," he says, "and I think a reason is precisely that part of the subject matter was so foreign." Makes sense to us. Book clubs are hungry for great stories—engaging stories that can teach us something about the world, and about ourselves, in the process.

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Audio Journal’s “Speaking Volumes” call-in book group airs on the first Tuesday of the month at 8 p.m. All are welcome to listen live at www.audiojournal.net. Find the schedule for upcoming books at http://www.audiojournal.net/programming/speaking-volumes. Coming up June 4 is “The Light Between Oceans” by M.L. Stedman. July 2’s topic is Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl.”

Spice up your meetings with a slice of reality

http://readitandreeap.blogspot.com

 

You can add atmospheric fun to meetings with a little time and imagination. If members want to cook the books a little, so to speak, check out butterybooks.com, a site which provides regional or time-period recipes, and much other info compiled for and by book groups. It might seem a little far-fetched, but activities like this add to the experience, helping bring to life setting and activities in a book.

One butterybooks selection, for instance, is “Shantaram,” by Gregory David Roberts. It’s an affecting novel about the choices one makes in life, as well as the decisions that may save it. “Shantaram” is based on the author’s life, so it’s fact-based fiction—real life, thinly disguised. He calls himself “a revolutionary who lost his ideals in heroin, a philosopher who lost his integrity in crime, and a poet who lost his soul in a maximum-security prison.” His life is amazing, and butterybooks shares recipes based on the book’s atmospheric setting in India, one of three continents where life takes him.

Lest you think the site would choose fluffy books, read this excerpt from “Shantaram”:

“I don’t believe that there are Good men or Bad men. I believe that the deeds we do are Good and Bad, not the men and women who commit them. … I’ve known mafia men who took responsibility for feeding the poor in their district, and I’ve known cops who were ruthlessly cruel. We human beings are just that—human animals with the capacity to do Good or to do Bad—and we all do both, to a greater or lesser degree.”

So if you’d like to discuss freedom, choices and hope—while sipping mango lassi or eating alu palak—this is the opportunity.

For “The Worst Hard Time,” by Timothy Egan—about the bleak Depression years and blinding dust blizzards of the High Plains—the site suggests German Stewed Apples, a dish commonly made by the settlers on the plains. This book tells the stories of a dozen families, through the rise and fall of the region.

There is a recipe for Strawberry Tarts, mentioned in Steinbeck’s “East of Eden.” “The kitchen was sweet with tarts, and some of the berries had boiled over in the oven and burned, making the sharp bitter-sweet smell pleasant and astringent. … There was a quiet rising joy in Lee.  It was the joy of change.”

Readers frequently contribute their groups’ ideas, recipes and photographs to the site. (One has to wonder what kind of pie they made for “The Help.”) Some groups are surprisingly dedicated to the idea of bringing a book discussion to life that way, incorporating visual props as well as food at their meeting.

Butterybooks.com references numerous books a club may enjoy, with plot summary, questions for discussion, specific references in the book, suggested recipes and book club ratings for the reading. Even musical background is considered. It’s all pretty cool.

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Another book about bookclubs, definitely on my to-read list, is “The End of Your Life Book Club” by Will Schwalbe. Sitting at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the author asked his mother, diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer and six months to live, “What are you reading?” Thus began a deeply personal exchange of views between them, over two years. They discussed faith, courage and gratitude throughout the course of a wide-ranging selection of books, illustrating the ability of reading to gain comfort and guidance, as well as understanding, in life.

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In Hartford, Conn., Mark Twain scholar R. Kent Rasmussen begins a series of early evening free lectures May 8 at The Mark Twain House & Museum. Based on wildly eclectic correspondence to the author, “Dear Mark Twain” starts at 5 p.m. (lecture at 5:30).

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What the groups are doing:

Books, Brews and Banter, meeting at O’Connor’s restaurant on West Boylston Street in Worcester, is open to men and women, and its book selections are “gender neutral.” Members plan to discuss Jodi Picoult’s “The Storyteller” on Thursday, May 23, at 6:30 p.m. First-timers should look up the group on Meetup (www.meetup.com) to register, as room reservations are made based on number attending. Appetizers, drinks available.

Reading, Sharing and Laughing meets Thursday, May 30, 7 p.m. at Chaibo in Fitchburg. Author Phoebe Baker Hyde will attend to discuss “The Beauty Experiment: How I Skipped Lipstick, Ditched Fashion, Faced the World without Concealer, and Learned to Love the Real Me.” Her book has stirred up some controversy and has been discussed on Katie Couric’s television show and major news outlets. The author will give a short talk and answer questions.

The Women’s Issues Book Group meets at 7 p.m. on the second Monday monthly at Barnes & Noble, 541 Lincoln St., Worcester. Organizer Joan Killough-Miller (jkmiller@wpi.edu) says for May 13, participants should “read something from the ‘feminist canon.’ We can share what we’ve read, and talk about differences between generations.” Meetings are free, open to anyone interested in discussing the current topic. Worcester chapter of National Organization for Women supports this group. The book selection for June 3 is “Keepsake” by Kristina Riggle.

The Oakridge Bookers of Leicester, residents of a 55-plus community who meet at members’ homes, recommend author Ed Londergan (ed.londergan@gmail.com) as a lively guest, having recently hosted him for a discussion of his book, “The Devil’s Elbow,” a coming-of-age story about an incident that occurred in West Brookfield during King Philip’s War. Londergan lived in W. Brookfield before moving to Leicester. He is at work on a sequel.

Audio Journal’s “Speaking Volumes” call-in book group airs on the first Tuesday of the month, 8 p.m. All are welcome to listen live at www.audiojournal.net. Find the schedule for upcoming books at http://www.audiojournal.net/programming/speaking-volumes. The May 7 selection is “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak; June 4 will consider “The Light Between Oceans” by M. L. Stedman.

Books about Books Freshen your Group's discussions

Looking for a common thread, or a new direction everyone is likely to enjoy? 

One way to spice up reading choices is for members to read and discuss a book about … books. How natural is that? 

There are dozens—not all good—but often they are witty, informative, or wonderfully mysterious. I enjoyed Carlos Ruiz Zafron’s “The Shadow of the Wind,” about a conspiracy in the world of antiquarian books, but there are many other choices.

“An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England” by Brock Clark is fun to read, though it may give the caretakers of these historical houses the shudders. From the beginning, it’s downright witty: “I, Sam Pulsifer, am the man who accidentally burned down the Emily Dickinson House in Amherst, Massachusetts, and who in the process killed two people, for which I spent ten years in prison and, as letters from scholars of American literature tell me, for which I will continue to pay a high price long into the not-so-sweet hereafter.”

Others I’ve liked (with an attempt to present a wide selection, leaving out some I think most people have read, and others that I just didn’t care for):

“The Thirteenth Tale” by Diane Setterfield;
“The Historian,” Elizabeth Kostova; 
“The Book Thief,” Markus Zusak;
“The History of Love,” Nicole Krauss;”
 “Fahrenheit 451,” Ray Bradbury;
“The Book Borrower,” Alice Mattison.

The following are on my to-read list: “Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader,” by Anne Fadiman; “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore,” Robin Sloan (dubbed “a literary adventure story for the twenty-first century” and just published; “Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books,” Paul Collins; “Bound to Last: Thirty Writers on Their Most cherished Books;” “A Skeptic’s Guide to Writers’ Houses,” Anne Trubek; “The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession,” Allison Hoover Bartlett; “The Summer We Read Gatsby,” Danielle Ganek (look it up, book clubbers!); “The Night Bookmobile,” Audrey Nieffenegger (author of “The Time Traveler”); “Ex-Libris,” by Ross King (the same title as Fadiman’s book, but this time involving history, mystery, treachery and books); “The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary,” Simon Winchester (I couldn’t resist buying it); and, just for you all, “The Jane Austen Book Club,” Karen Joy Fowler—about, of course, a book group. The idea can be done to death, just like novels with cooking themes and endless series featuring cute detectives or sexy spies, but many of these books are good reads; it’s as if anyone who dares write about books reveres them enough to do it well.

Another fascinating title—a must-read, for the name as well as the author, Nick Hornby: “The Polysyllabic Spree: A Hilarious and True Account of One Man’s Sturggle with the Monthly Tide of the Books He’s Bought and the Books He’s Been Meaning to Read.” It’s Hornby (“High Fidelity,” “About a Boy”), so it has to be interesting!

This list is by no means inclusive—space prevents that. Suggest your own. If it sounds good, I’ll get it in down the road!

Book groups around northcentral Massachusetts:

New Earth Book Club meets April 3 at Shrewsbury Public Library, 6:30 p.m., to discuss “Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living” by Pema Chodron. The group just discussed Dr. Eban Alexander’s “Proof of Heaven,” which is making reading lists across the board from spiritual to popular reads.

Greater Worcester Humanists’ Books It! Group will meet at 11 a.m. Sunday, April 28, to discuss “The Science of Good and Evil” by Michael Shermer. Group gathers at the Nu Café, Old Tatnuck Bookseller, 335 Chandler St., Worcester. Limited to 12 members of GWH.

Douglas Library Book Group will consider Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” at Simon Fairfield Library, 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 9. Call 508-476-2695 for a copy of the book. New members welcome. Homemade refreshments, inspired by the book, will be served.

The Women’s Issues Book Group, supported by the Worcester Chapter of the National Organization for Women, will discuss the actual family living at “Downton Abbey” at its April 8 meeting. The book is “Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle,” by Lady Fiona, the Countess of Carnarvon. PBS offers a companion series called “Secrets of Highclere Castle.” Meeting is at 7 p.m. at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 541 Lincoln St., Worcester.

Heywood Library Reading Group in Gardner, reports Ann Young, has chosen as its April 24 selection Hillary Jordan’s “Mudbound,” set in Mississippi after World War II. Meetings are held at the library the last Wednesday of each month at 4:30 p.m. Public welcome.

Going 'short' for book groups

If time—that miserable predator—is tearing at the edges of your group’s enthusiasm for long books, try easing the burden with a themed meeting, like the “books about books” theme below, or consider short stories, either an anthology with several authors or a single author’s collection.

Anthologies cover a colorful flotilla of topics: humor, mystery, foreign lands, women’s issues, history, marriage, you name it. Themes are widely varied and members can read as much, or as little, as they have time for. Try assigning certain stories, to facilitate discussion, or letting members choose their own and report back. Some of my favorites, based on price, availability and contemporary style:

Anthologies: 1. “Best American Short Stories” are edited each year by a different writer or editor—someone who really knows good writing—and they’re always current. I collect these anthologies and enjoy leafing through them for something, or someone, new to me. 2. “Best New England Crime Stories 2013: Blood Moon” is just one of about a dozen anthologies written by a solid group of mystery and frightening fiction writers in New England, some of them Edgar award nominees. 3. The PEN/O.Henry Prize Stories are selected from the thousands published every year in literary journals. 4. “The New Granta Book of the American Short Story” is big and rich with well-known writers.

Literary journals: Experience (and support) new writing. They’re fun to discover in book stores across the country. For starters, I suggest Glimmer Train, Post Road (Boston College publication), Ploughshares (Emerson College publication), the Massachusetts Review,  The New England Review; Granta and Tin House. There are many others; these are most readily available. New and established writers all submit work to journals, since few general-interest magazines publish fiction.

Short stories by one writer convey a richer experience of that author. Members may want to read a single author or divvy up several for discussion.

 A few really good collections (strictly personal choices here):
 “T.C. Boyle Stories,” many here are from older Boyle compilations;
“This is How You Lose Her” by Junot Diaz—contemporary male voice;
Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” exudes the pathos and pain of war;
“Bad Dirt,” Wyoming Stories by the inimitable Annie Proulx;
“My Father’s Tears and other stories,” by John Updike, a master;
“The Collected Stories,” Amy Hempel, for a contemporary female voice;
“The View from Castle Rock,” Alice Munro;
“The Whore’s Child and Other Stories” by Richard Russo, author of “Empire Falls”;
“Blasphemy” by Sherman Alexie, a vivid and humorous Native American voice;
“Tenth of December,” by George Saunders, just published and rich;
Alice Munro’s collections are numerous. Try “Dear Life” or “Too Much Happiness;”
Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Unaccustomed Earth” or “Interpreter of Maladies,” both great.

Finally, If you are culling your bookshelves, plenty of people would enjoy donations. Consider the local library, and also the Prison Book Program in Massachusetts, which makes books available to prisoners and accepts donations at the Lucy Parsons Bookstore, 1306 Hancock St., Quincy. Call 617-423-3298 or email info@prisonbookprogram.org. Volunteers are always welcome for Tuesday and Thursday evening shifts. Details are on the web site, www.prisonbookprogram.org.

If your group would like to suggest biographies or other non-fiction writing for Read It and Reap, send them to Ann Connery Frantz, a fiction writer and writing group leader, who blogs at www.readitandreeap.blogspot.com and welcomes readers’ comments or suggestions at ann.frantz@gmail.com.