Review: The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Posted February 10, 2010 by Tracy in Reviews | 7 Comments

Filled with stunning parallels to today’s world, The Postmistress is a sweeping novel about the loss of innocence of two extraordinary women-and of two countries torn apart by war.

On the eve of the United States‘s entrance into World War II in 1940, Iris James, the postmistress of Franklin, a small town on Cape Cod, does the unthinkable: She doesn’t deliver a letter. In London, American radio gal Frankie Bard is working with Edward R. Murrow, reporting on the Blitz. One night in a bomb shelter, she meets a doctor from Cape Cod with a letter in his pocket, a letter Frankie vows to deliver when she returns from Germany and France, where she is to record the stories of war refugees desperately trying to escape.

The residents of Franklin think the war can’t touch them- but as Frankie’s radio broadcasts air, some know that the war is indeed coming. And when Frankie arrives at their doorstep, the two stories collide in a way no one could have foreseen. The Postmistress is an unforgettable tale of the secrets we must bear, or bury. It is about what happens to love during wartime, when those we cherish leave. And how every story-of love or war-is about looking left when we should have been looking right.

The Postmistress as it says in the blurb is the story of really 3 women and their stories coming together in a tragic and unforeseen way. Franki Bard, the American who is reporting the news from London, Emma Fitch who is a new wife to the doctor in Franklin and Iris James who is the local Postmaster…or as they say in England, Postmistress.

While The Postmistress is a beautifully told story with incredible imagery, passion in the prose and wonderfully well written, it is definitely not a happy story. It brought to vivid life the horrors of WWII and at points it was difficult to read.

If you are a fan of history than I believe you will very much enjoy this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5

7 Comments

Tagged: Review, Sarah Blake

What I Read Last Week

Posted February 8, 2010 by Tracy in Features | 20 Comments

Last week started off with a bang. I got a cold and felt like I was going to die – and frankly at some points I really wanted to! lol However I made it through and got to the weekend – which was really the highlight of the week.

Lisabea came to California to visit with her hubby and I went down to Orange County to spend the weekend with her and Rosie and her hubby. We had so much fun! We talked and talked and talked and ate and drank and talked some more. I just adore those ladies. If that wasn’t wonderful enough we planned a So Cal Blogger get together. This was 6 hours of uber fun, lemme tell ya. And not only was it the regular SCB’s but we had a couple of new ones join us as well as more than a few authors! Yes, I know, we’re so popular. lol Unfortunately the group was so big that I didn’t get a chance to talk to everyone which was a bummer but everyone new that I met was really nice. Bloggers who were there: Lisabea, Wendy, Lori, Nikki, Rosie, Renee, Rowena, Holly, KC and Kristin. Then authors: Danielle Yockman, KB Alan, Tessa Dare, Vivienne Westlake, Rachel Jameson, Helen Kay Dimon, Eden Bradley and Sabrina Darby. We had lunch at The Yard House in Costa Mesa then headed down the street to New and Recycled Romance (which I adore and wish it wasn’t so far away) and then did a book swap that lasted for about 2.5 hours! lol Hopefully everyone as as much fun as I did! Here we are in all our glory:

I’m continuing my love/hate relationship with Bloggers “new” editor. On one hand I absolutely love adding all of my pictures into the queue and having them there ready and waiting for me…and then having them pop into my post right where my cursor is, without having to drag them all over. On the other hand the editor does some funky things. I went to delete a word the other day and it deleted my entire sentence. Talk about frustrating. Of course I know part of this is operator error so hopefully I’ll figure it out soon. 🙂

So on to what I read this week:

First up was Moon Craving by Lucy Monroe. This is book 2 in her Children of the Moon series. You can read my review

Next up was Surrender of a Siren by Tessa Dare. A wonderful book that I really enjoyed reading. I apparently was on the review bandwagon this past week so you can read my review here.

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge Read for the week was Finding Hope by Katie Reus. I won this book at was so excited to read it but for some reason it got lost in the shuffle (sorry Katie). Anyway, it was the story of Hope who may or may not be the missing daughter of some wealthy Cubans. It’s a story of tragedy, discovery, love and hope. 3.75 out of 5

Finding Utopia by KZ Snow (Utopia X book 4) was my next read. This is the final book in the series and it was a good one. My review is here.

My brain is gone! I even wrote this down and still forgot to post about it! I also read Noodle Shop Affair by CJ Michalski (yaoi manga). It was an interesting story about a mob guy falling in love with the noodle shop boy and trying to save him from other mob guys. Lots of blood in this one. Not bad – the noodle shop boy just looked like he was 12. Obviously he was older since he was running the shop by himself but he looked like he was in elementary school. 3 out of 5

Last but not least was The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. This was a book that was sent to me by the publisher, Amy Einhorn/Penguin Group, and I’ll be reviewing it this week.

Happy Reading!