Long ago, I believed that, given a choice, people would turn to good as they would to the light. I believed that reporting — honest, unflinching pictures of the truth — could be a beacon to lead us to demand that wrongs be righted, injustices punished, and the weak and the innocent cared for. I must have believed, when I started out, that the shoulder of public opinion could be put up against the door of public indifference and would, when given the proper direction, shove it wide with the power of wanting to stand on the side of angels.
But I have covered far too many wars — reporting how they were seeded, nourished, and let sprout — to believe in angels anymore, or, for that matter, in a single beam of truth to shine into the dark. Every story — love or war — is a story about looking left when we should have been looking right.
(from The Postmistress, page 3)
As I sit here hours after finishing The Postmistress, I am still weighed down by this beautifully written novel. I had long wanted to read this book, but after reading so many mixed reviews, I was uncertain. However, I brushed these concerns aside and soon found myself lost in this story of three women in the months before the Pearl Harbor attack that ensured the U.S. would actively fight in World War II.
Reading the cover blurb, one would assume The Postmistress is mostly about Iris James, the postmistress of Franklin, Massachusetts, who handles all the messages into and out of the town and one day decides not to deliver a particular letter. But this event really has little to do with the plot, and the star of the show is Frankie Bard, a young reporter from New York who is stationed in London and broadcasts with Edward R. Murrow in an effort to bring the war to the doorsteps of the American public. And in this respect, she is a deliverer of news, just not a postmistress in the way one would expect.
Iris and Emma Fitch — the young doctor’s wife who is left alone when her husband feels compelled to go to London during the Blitz and offer his services — both are drawn to Frankie’s broadcasts. Emma wants to know what happens to people after the war upends their lives, while Iris often turns the radio off when the sadness or power in Frankie’s voice is too much for her to bear. Meanwhile, Frankie is determined to tell the stories of the Jews seeking to flee Europe, but after what she sees in France and Germany, she is unsure what to do with the voices she has recorded.
I was captivated by Sarah Blake’s prose from the very first page, and I was moved by the stories of all three women. However, Frankie’s story was the most interesting and showed the most character development and evolution. In fact, I think her story alone could have carried the novel. Even though a good portion of the novel is devoted to Iris and Emma, I never really felt like they were the crux of the story, and the way in which the three women were brought together didn’t pack a punch like the scenes when Frankie is covering the war. Still, I was able to go with the flow and finish the book feeling like I’d read something worthwhile.
The Postmistress is about war and how it affects ordinary people, both those caught within the fighting and those who believe the war will never reach their homes. It’s also about delivering news and the juxtaposition between needing and wanting to tell the truth as it happens and needing and wanting to protect people from that same truth. And like the characters within its pages, I was left wanting to know what happened on the edges of the story and afterward, yet satisfied with what I’d been given.
Thanks to TLC Book Tours for allowing me to participate in the blog tour for The Postmistress. To follow the tour click here.
Courtesy of the publisher, I’m giving away 1 copy of The Postmistress. To enter, simply leave a comment with your e-mail address and let me know why you want to read this book. Because the publisher is shipping the book, this giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian readers only, and it will end at 11:59 pm EST on Sunday, April 3, 2011.
**Please note that this giveaway is now closed**
Disclosure: I received a copy of The Postmistress from Berkley/Penguin for review purposes. I am an IndieBound affiliate and an Amazon associate.
© 2011 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
I enjoy books set in the era of WWII; and I especially like the idea that this story revolves around the lives of three ordinary women. Thanks for the giveaway.
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I’m a bit obsessed with WWII books myself. 🙂
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I’m glad you liked this; I think I’m one of the few who didn’t! :–)
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You’re definitely not the only one! I was worried that I wasn’t going to like it, having seen those reviews, but I just pushed all those thoughts aside and dove in.
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I have a copy of this one and after reading your thoughts I surely want to read it this year!
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I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
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I liked this book but didn’t love it. I really struggled with the transitions in the book, particularly at the beginning.
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I didn’t have any problems with the transitions; I just felt that one story was more captivating than the others. But overall, I really enjoyed it.
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I really liked this book. Glad you enjoyed it!
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Glad to hear you liked it, too!
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Anna, I skimmed your review as I am currently reading this book for the tour. Obviously, I have a copy and should not be entered in this giveaway. 🙂
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I’m behind in my blog reading, but I will check out your review for sure!
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I am glad you liked altough I was, as you know, one who wrote a mixed review. I liked Frankie’s story a lot that’s why I loved the first 200 pages and do think you are right she would have been able to carry the whole story.
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I like seeing the mixed and the negative reviews alongside the positive reviews to give a balance of opinion. Frankie’s story just grabbed my attention because she was right there in the midst of the war. That’s not to say that stories of the homefront don’t interest me, though.
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I’m glad to see you enjoyed this one. This is one that I’ve been on the fence about too..wanting to read it, but not sure due to all the mixed reviews.
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Don’t let the mixed reviews put you off! You definitely should at least give it at try.
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Anna, You sold me. I ‘ve been on the fence on this one, but I’m going to read it. I’ve been looking for a good WWII story. Mary
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I certainly hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
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What a lovely review! Like they say, no two people ever read the same book, because you bring your own ideas and life experience to it. That’s why I’m never bothered by negative reviews because even though some reviewers don’t like something, that doesn’t mean I won’t like it!
I’m so glad you enjoyed The Postmistress. Thank you so much for being on the tour.
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My pleasure! And you said it so well. When enough people say the same thing in a negative review and it’s something that drives me batty, then I usually won’t pick up the book. But normally, I don’t let the reviews put me off completely. I actually like the balance of opinion.
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I can find it at my library and I hope to read it one day 🙂
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You definitely should give it a try!
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Well, I was on the “love” end of the spectrum with this one. The writing is simply beautiful, and while I was drawn to Frankie the most, I was captivated by all the women, and the piece of the war they represented. Definitely a five star read for me!
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I’m glad to hear you loved it so much! I thought all three of the stories were interesting enough to keep reading; I just loved Frankie and felt she could carry the whole book on her own.
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sounds like a good book for you, miss WWII buff. I’d like to borrow it someday…when i have more time.
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More time?!? There’s never enough time these days! But of course, you know you can borrow my books whenever you want.
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I liked this one but did not love it. I know it’s fiction, but I hate when authors use the names of real towns (Franklin, MA), but get the location wrong. (It is not on Cape Cod)…LOL
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I did notice that about the towns. I went to school in Boston with a girl who commuted from Franklin, so I knew right away it wasn’t on the Cape!
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We review books based on our reaction towards them. And so there would be different reviews as long as we have different reactions from different readers. I got interested.
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So true, and very well said!
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I really loved the audio version of this book, and like you I found Frankie’s story to be the most intriguing. I’m so glad you enjoyed this one too!
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This would be a great book to listen to, given that radio broadcasts play a major role in the story.
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I really thought this novel was beautiful as well Anna. I really enjoyed the parts when they went back to Frankilin. Mostly I loved how the whole story wove together.
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I’m glad to hear you really enjoyed it! I wasn’t “wowed” by the way the author connected the stories at the end, but it wasn’t turned off by it either. It just didn’t have the same power as the rest of the story, especially Frankie’s story.
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I really liked the writing in this one, too. I didn’t care much for the ending but I really liked both Iris and Frankie.
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The writing was just wonderful!
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I listened to this on audio and fell in love with it – it translates well in audio since so much of the story is told through Frankie’s radio broadcasts.
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I haven’t listened to the audio version, as I’m not a huge audio book fan, but I was thinking this would be the right book to listen to.
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I would like to read this because I am a fan of the era.
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There are a lot of WWII buffs out there, and more and more books about the period are being published. Of course, that makes me happy.
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No need to enter me, but I enjoyed this one as well. Great review.
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Thanks, Swapna!
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I would love to read The Postmistress, because I have read such great things about this book! Please enter me in the giveaway.
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I’ve seen a lot of positive reviews myself. Hope you enjoy it.
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This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered or just stopped by to read my review. The winner will be chosen by Randomizer.org and announced shortly.
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