I read four books over the summer and they were all pretty good. Three of them by authors I have read before, and a new one.
Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger
This book was a gift from Dave and the boys for Mother’s Day. The story is about a series of women - the mother, the daughter, and the grandmother. The mother is a well known newspaper woman in Washington who came from difficult circumstances when her mother was sent to an asylum and then died. The daughter grows up and wants to learn more about the family history in a way to understand why her mother was so distant during her childhood.
This was the first novel I’d read by this author and may not have picked it up had it not been a gift. I really enjoyed it though, the story was fast paced and detailed. But detailed in a way that made sense and you got to read full conversations between people that provided so much great background. I felt like I knew exactly who the characters were and why they did what they did. A surprisingly good read.
Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand
I’ve read a few Elin Hilderbrand books and she always provides the perfect summer read. This one is set at none other than the Hotel Nantucket, being reopened after a massive renovation following years of disrepair. We get the story from the points of view of various people like the hotel manager, the front desk clerk, and interestingly a ghost that lives at the hotel (a bit of an eye roll here but the device lets us to get some information that would otherwise be secret so I’ll allow it).
The story was enjoyable with different twists that kept me entertained. You can’t really go wrong with an Elin book for summertime :)
On Isabella Street by Genevieve Graham
This story is set in Toronto in the 1960s - we get the perspective of two young ladies, one is a doctor at a psychiatric hospital and one is more a free spirit, typical of the era, and they live in the same apartment building (small spoiler there, but you get that pretty quickly). The Vietnam War is going on and although Canada was not actively fighting, there were still many connections, which this book tells us about. Another aspect is the decision of the Ontario government to shut down the psychiatric hospitals and turn patients out on the street.
I’ve now read several of this author’s books and I think this was the best one yet! I love that she tells us about somewhat obscure parts of Canadian history, and I always love a novel set in my hometown. I think my mom (ahem!) would like this because she was growing up in Ontario at this time and may connect to the story too. Homelessness is a frequent topic of conversation around here, there is always a tent somewhere that people are concerned about, and it was interesting to hear how the shut down of the psychiatric wards contributed to this issue that we are still dealing with today.
Again, without giving too much away, something I love about this author is that lets her characters sort things out right away. Someone makes a mistake, they apologize at the next opportunity and it gets worked out right away. It’s a relief that you don’t get in other books where that turmoil is always in the background. Here we hash it out and move on to something new.
Even if you’re not Canadian, this is still worth a read, particularly given the Vietnam War angle.
Come From Away by Genevieve Graham
Another Genevieve Graham book, which incidentally has a very small connection to the book above. This is not the story of Gander on 9/11 by the way, a “Come From Away” is a term that is common on the East Coast. This book is set in Nova Scotia during World War II. I grew up in Shelburne so I grew up knowing the history that German U-Boats came right up to our shores. This story starts with a real life rumor from those times that perhaps some German submarine sailors came ashore one night and attended a local dance. The author wonders what happened if that was true.
History is never straightforward and I like that this author captures the nuances of it and describes it so well. And of course I like that it took place in Nova Scotia. The parents in this book are the subject of an earlier book, so now I need to find that one!
