The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins

Reviewed by Jeanne

Grace Wheeler was a foster child, dragged from home to home with her younger sister, Hannah, until they found a home with Mama G. Eighteen years later, Grace leaves her high powered, good paying job to take Mama G. to the tiny town of Dove Pond, North Carolina in hopes that being in a familiar place will help the elderly woman battle dementia.  Also in tow is Daisy, Hannah’s daughter, an unhappy child who seems bent on making Grace’s life even more difficult than it is already.  The only job available is underpaid clerk’s position but Grace grits her teeth and takes it because it’s only for a year.  One year, and she’ll be back in the city and away from this little backwater community.

Not only is Dove Pond lacking amenities, it has some definite peculiarities, mostly in terms of its inhabitants.  The Mayor is too busy fishing to bother with running the town; the long-haired, tattooed, motorcycle riding neighbor is up at all hours of the night and is a source of fascination for Daisy; the local librarian claims books talk to her; and they all are emotionally invested in a town festival that has lost money for well over a decade.  Somehow they think Grace is going to fix it all, and they think that because one of the Dove sisters says so.

I picked this book up because the cover blurb said it was perfect for fans of Garden Spells, which is a book I adore.  (I love all of Sarah Addison Allen’s books, to be honest.)  The first chapter was a delight, but then the scene switched to new characters, and then it jumped ahead in time 18 years.  Of course, it took me nearly a week to get that far, due to interruptions and broken concentration.  I was beginning to think I’d just give up but I was only about 30 pages in and I knew I had to give it more of a chance than that.  It wasn’t the book’s fault we were in a pandemic, after all.  

And boy, am I glad I did.  Just a few pages later, I found the book picked up considerably and was soon deeply involved in the lives of all these Dove Pondians.  The book is sweet, sincere, and romantic, with wisps of fantasy curling around and strong friendships abounding.  I was enchanted.  

In retrospect, I see the “problem” was that this is a first in series book and the author was spending time setting us up for all that will follow.  (The next book is due out March 2021.) The premise is that the town, founded by the Dove family, hosts inhabitants who usually have some little extra gift, some bit of magic, that sets them apart.  Sarah Dove has books whispering to her, telling her who needs them; Ava Dove can use her herbs to make a personalized tea that is good for whatever ails a specific person.

This is a warm and delightful book which does indeed remind me very strongly of Sarah Addison Allen, and that is a Good Thing.  I’ll be recommending it to others as I wait for A Cup of Silver Linings.

By the way, the author bio say that she “grew up in the mountains of East Tennessee, where storytelling is a way of life.” She now lives in New England.

The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine Weiss

     Reviewed by Christy

  

   The Woman’s Hour opens with several female activists, some suffragists and some anti, on a train headed to Nashville, Tennessee in August of 1920. Thirty five states have already ratified the 19^th Amendment, finally granting women the right to vote. Only one more state is needed to officially make it the law of the land.

            Focusing on the leaders of their respective movements, Weiss bounces back and forth between the showdown in Tennessee and the history of the suffrage movement in general. Because of this, The Woman’s Hour feels very scattered at times. Naturally there are many players that helped usher in a new era of women’s rights, and with so many names and time jumping, at times it was difficult to keep track. But to be fair, I was listening to this as an audio book which could have contributed to that fact.

            Weiss has a done a lot of research, and it’s obvious she deeply cares about this topic. However, the text can be a little dry, and I found my mind wandering at times. But despite that, I do think this is well worth a read. It’s interesting to hear the arguments against suffrage, many of which came from women. Anti-suffrage women railed against allowing women into the political sphere while they themselves entered the political sphere to promote their cause. Weiss digs into the dirty tricks and bribery, including plying politicians with illegal liquor, that was deployed to gain favor.

            Weiss also doesn’t shy away from showing the severe faults within the suffrage movement itself. There were fractured organizations that disagreed on tactics and refused to cooperate with one another. The movement also displayed overwhelming racism against black women. Though many black women tried to join alongside white women, they were often relegated to the sidelines or, quite literally in the case of parades, the back of the line. Anti-suffrage activists used the idea of black women voting as a scare tactic for what could possibly happen. Suffragists tried their best to assuage fears and assure their supporters that this would not happen. It’s a nasty part of the suffrage legacy but one that must be addressed.

            Weiss’ work shines brightest during the court room scenes. Even though I already knew what was going to happen, these scenes really ramped up the tension and put me on the edge of my seat. Some of that credit can probably go to the audio book narrator Tavia Gilbert, who did a fantastic job of acting her dialogue instead of simply reciting it.

            The Woman’s Hour is well researched, well written, and worth checking out for readers interested in a pivotal moment in American history.

A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

Reviewed by Jeanne

I love Book Bingo.  It really pushes me to read outside my usual mysteries and I find books I love that I would not have picked up otherwise. I had a “Read an Award Winning Book” square and just happened to see this book qualified.  I hesitated only because this was a second book in a Discworld YA subseries but book one wasn’t readily available.  I decided to chance it.

Tiffany Aching, one time Queen of the Nac Mac Feegle aka The Wee Free Men aka Pictsies aka Persons or Persons Unknown and Believed to Be Armed, is on her way to her apprenticeship in magic.  Her teacher is Miss Level who is twins. . . well, more precisely, she is one person with two bodies. She’s going to help Tiffany with the basics of being a witch which is not exactly what people might think. Oh, there’s some magic to be sure, but it’s more about caretaking—looking out for those around you, human or otherwise.

But unbeknownst to Tiffany, there is something looking for her, something drawn to her power.  The Wee Free Men set out to save their erstwhile queen, which is quite the challenge when one is six inches high and Tiffany is many miles away.  The way they resolve this problems makes for much comedy relief as the menace draws closer.

As with all of Pratchett’s work, there is a bit of social commentary along with side-splitting humor and remarkable word-smithing.  My favorite from this book is found in an exchange between Tiffany and Miss Level, in which Tiffany is asked if her Granny Aching was a witch.  Tiffany doesn’t think so, but after Miss Level asks if Granny helped people, Tiffany responds by saying that her granny made people help each other.  The witch responds, “Well, there’s not many of us who are that good.”

This resonates even more with me in these difficult times.  Getting people to help each other is indeed a powerful magic.

Yes, I have bought a copy of the first book to read because I really need to know how she defeated the evil with a frying pan.