During World War One, the Resistance in Belgium recruits two young girls. Innocent looking and barely teens, they will make perfect spies, and later, saboteurs. In The White Lady, Jacqueline Winspear introduces the younger sister, Elinor White, as her new heroine.
Twenty years later in England at the start of World War Two, Elinor hones her skills and once again works to defeat the Germans. She excels at her job but is caught between competing factions of British Intelligence.
After the war, she is given a grace-and-favor home from the government in the quiet countryside, but peace is not yet to be. Her neighbors, a hard-working young couple with a charming little daughter, are bullied by his violent family. Elinor calls on her training and connections from two world wars to help them.
Three different stories set in three different times, World War I, World War II, and the late 40’s, make up this engaging novel. Elinor White, multi-lingual, capable, and likeable, is an equal to Winspear’s popular Maisie Dobbs.
Frankie is very good at her job. She finds people who were reported missing long ago, searched for by the police, but never found. She has done a few wilderness searches, but not like this one in such treacherous isolated mountains. In One Step Too Far, Lisa Gardner takes us on a grueling adventure.
Five years ago, Tim had taken his good friends, his best man and groomsmen, on a camping trip for his bachelor party. He never returned. Now, for the fifth time, Tim’s father, his friends, several experienced searchers, plus a cadaver dog named Daisy will conduct a final search, and Frankie will join them.
From the beginning, they know that something is wrong. Food disappears, there are the un-animal like shrieks at night, and there are unlikely accidents. Soon the situation is dire. More than one member of their group of eight needs to be evacuated and the lack of supplies is dangerous. Who or what is stalking their group and what is the connection to the missing bridegroom?
This exciting mystery with the unexpected ending is the second in the Frankie Elkin series and one of the more than twenty suspense novels by this NYT best-selling author.
I feel like I have just had a pleasant conversation with Lucy, the wonderful character Elizabeth Strout introduced in My Name is Lucy Barton. In Oh William, Lucy speaks in first person and chats about her life, her children, and especially, her ex-husband William. It’s like having tea with a good friend.
But this is a novel, and after a while action is expected. Soon it begins to unfold. William’s second wife leaves him. Next, through an online ancestry service, William discovers that he has an older half-sister who was a toddler when his mother abandoned her and married his father. William and Lucy, although long divorced, have remained friends, and he turns to her for support in this time of turmoil.
But the action is secondary. Like Strout’s other novels, Oh William deals with character and insight. For example, Lucy talks a lot about feeling guilty for leaving William. But she also tells, several times, that he had had multiple affairs during their marriage. Why then is it SHE who feels guilty and takes the blame for the breakup? Strout explores the lasting effects of childhood abuse and poverty, the difficulty in knowing the truth about ourselves, and the problems of understanding the relationships we see.
“At 81, Martha Stewart Is the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Cover Star.” This was the surprise headline in the May 15 issue of The New York Times.
The article goes on to say that she is “swapping her ‘domestic goddess’ persona for something a little saucier: badass Martha, a hottie who, it would seem, will shuck her inhibitions as lightly as an ear of corn.”
Well! On one hand, I want to say, “Go, Martha.” On the other hand, I want to say, “Still? Must we push ourselves to look glamorous and thin even at 81?” Back to hand one – why not look our best no matter what our age? Maybe I can’t pull off the glamour look, but I don’t want to wear a kerchief and a dumpy black dress either. If I believe that we should all try to learn and do new things, even in our 80s and 90s, I will have to say, “Good for you, Martha!”
I also like that the Sports Illustrated cover helps expand the meaning of “geriatric” to include the possibility of beauty, health and sexiness. At a party, I heard a young woman say that she was irritated to be referred to (at 35) as a geriatric mother. I see her point, but only if geriatric is considered all bad. If the word includes “picture on Sports Illustrated,” then I’m perfectly ok with it.
Speaking of famous successful women, I would like to offer a tribute to Tina Turner who died on May 24th.
Energetic, supremely talented, simply “The Best,” she has left a legacy of music, instantly recognizable, that will be remembered for generations.