Manhattan to West Cork: Alice's Adventures in Ireland: 2016
Book
As a young girl Alice Carey came to realise that 'home' can mean different things. The only child of...
Gustav Holst: A Biography
Book
Gustav Holst was a leading figure in the new age of English music in the late 19th and early 20th...
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Summer of '79 in Books
Mar 19, 2020
"Exalta is dead. She died in her sleep two days earlier in the house on Fair Street, while Mr. Crimmins, their former caretaker, slept beside her."
There are a few books in the world that end perfectly, and you don't need another word. But many books are so engaging--the characters so vivid--that you often wonder what has happened to them. Elin Hilderbrand is such an excellent author and so good at world-building for her characters. It only makes sense that she would allow us to check in on her characters at a later date. And, because she's so good at bringing them to life, the concept works perfectly.
This is a slim e-book (coming out later in book form as part of a tribute anthology to the late Dorothea Benton Frank). I read it easily in one setting and quite enjoyed catching up with Kate and the kids, particularly the youngest, Jessie, who was my favorite in '69 and remains so ten years later.
"She feels like a stranger in her own family, but there’s nothing new about that."
Despite the somber occasion for which the family has gathered, it's quite fun to check in on them ten years later. Hilderbrand switches POV from Kate to all four of the kids, allowing us to see what they've been doing and how they feel. We also find Kate adjusting to moving into the role of family matriarch with the passing of her mother.
Overall, if you enjoyed Summer of '69, this is a great novella to catch you up on some beloved characters. I kind of wish we could have novellas like this for other favorite books. 4 stars.
Domonique (0 KP) rated Sundays at Tiffany's in Books
May 12, 2018
Emily Long (18 KP) rated Skulduggery Pleasant in Books
Dec 22, 2018
Splash (1984)
7.0
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Movie Watch
A young boy saved from drowning by a beautiful mermaid, falls in love with her 20 years later when...
A Thousand Splendid Suns
9.3
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Book
Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed. Nearly two decades later, a...
Literary Fiction
Keegan McHargue recommended Simon of the Desert (1965) in Movies (curated)
Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm
Book
'He could feel it in the blackness, a difference in atmosphere, a sense of evil, of things...
I Will Find You: In Search of the Man Who Raped Me
Book
A hard-hitting memoir about a woman's search to understand the man who raped her Joanna Connors was...