Two for Summer Reading
By Mary Emeny
If you are looking for high adventure this book is not for you. But if you are craving a beautifully written, heartwarming alternative to the negativity, noise and drama filling the news Theo of Golden could be a good choice. An elderly gentleman, obviously well off, shows up in the small Carolina town of Golden. We soon find out that he is Portuguese, but learn very little else about him until the end of the book.
On his first morning in town he goes to a local coffee shop, finds himself amazed at the quality of coffee and intrigued by a wall of pencil portraits, which the barrista explains are of local residents.
Theo proceeds to buy one at a time, then, with the help of a lawyer and his secretary, track down each subject and give him or her their portrait. In the process he gathers the recipient’s life story. Some are remarkable, some simple but all are deeply human, and weave a fabric of small town life that is rich and deep.
There is a story beyond these vignettes that I won’t reveal, and in the end we do learn who Theo is and why he chose the town of Golden to settle in.
This is the first novel by author Allen Levi. I do hope it is not his last. For me it was a fast read because I did not want to put it down.
Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig is an historical novel based on the true story of the Smith College Relief Unit, a group Smith College alumnae who traveled to France in 1917 during World War I to aid civilians devastated by the German invasion.
It is an unlikely group of women ranging in age from their early 20s to late 50s. Their work makes mine in VietNam in the late 60s seem like summer camp. These women had to learn to raise chickens and goats, learn to drive and become truck mechanics, bury the dead, struggle with procurement of the supplies they needed for their work, deal with constantly being cold during sub-zero weather in winter and so much more.
In the process they grew from a group of naïve do-gooders into a force that was recognized by the French and Americans alike for their work.
One of the most touching things for me was how it took weeks for village children, traumatized by what they had been through, to actually re-learn how to play, even to catch a ball.
The story is fictionalized into a novel, (especially the love story part), but is based on letters and journals archived at Smith. In a note to readers the author outlines where she made changes. On the first page is a list of the women who were in the original cohort. One was the grandmother of a classmate of mine.
This is Mary Emeny, of Bushland, Tx. for Radio Readers BookBytes.
