The Book Whisperer Enjoys a Psychological Drama Infused With a Bit of Magic

Dr. Gregory Weber, clinical psychologist, lives and works in Cambridge, MA. Gregory is married to Liv; they have two children. Lately, though, Gregory tells himself they seem to be four people living in the same house but living separate lives. He himself feels disconnected from the people he loves the most. Readers will wonder what has happened to this perfect family. Is there a past event in Gregory’s life that now haunts him and causes him to shut himself away from those he loves?

Wednesdays at One by Sandra A. Miller explores the idea that a traumatic past event can come back to haunt a person in ways unexpected. While he ponders the disconnect he is feeling within his family, Gregory discovers a patient in his waiting room on Wednesday at 1 just as he plans to leave the office. His first thought is that he has forgotten an appointment which is totally unlike him because he is meticulous in his planning and especially with his patients.

The woman introduces herself as Mira. When Gregory asks her if she has scheduled an appointment with him, Mira replies, “You asked me to come see you.” This response is puzzling to Gregory since he does not recognize Mira. Also, she takes a seat in HIS chair, forcing him to sit elsewhere. Not only that, but Mira also ignores him when he asks her to fill out the standard paperwork for a patient. To further complicate matters, Mira insists upon knowing something about Gregory before she reveals anything about herself. The whole encounter with Mira is unsettling for Gregory because Mira seems to be the therapist helping him instead of the other way around.

Who is the mysterious Mira? Why does Gregory continue to see Mira even though she wants to question him and have him explain his issues rather than talk about her own? As readers learn more about Gregory through his interaction with Mira, they will discover the trauma that keeps Gregory cut off from others. Once he understands that trauma, will Gregory be able to overcome the difficulty and find happiness with his family once again? These are all important questions, and readers will find that all is revealed by the end of Wednesdays at One!

For book clubs, the discussion will center on past traumas, family dynamics, and coming to terms with the past. Readers will also enjoy the bit of mystery surrounding the beautiful Mira.

The Book Whisperer Enjoys a Trip to Italy

After first discovering Phaedra Patrick’s books when I read The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, I have continued to seek out her new books. Patrick continues to keep me interested in her story lines, settings, and characters. The latest book by Patrick is The Little Italian Hotel.

Ginny Splinter, a relationship expert, spins records on the radio and gives advice to those who write to her at the show. She believes she is living the perfect life with a loving husband, and a daughter who is soon to be married. When her producer persuades Ginny to take live calls about relationships and dish out advice, Ginny finds her world turned upside down.

To backtrack a bit, Ginny has planned a three-week holiday for her and her husband in Italy to celebrate their 25^th wedding anniversary. The trip is a surprise. When she begins taking live calls on air, Ginny receives a rude surprise herself. Miss Peach, a caller asks, “Shouldn’t you address your own problems before you lecture other people?” Miss Peach continued. “Do you even know what your husband gets up to at work? How well do you really know him?” The questions are absurd, of course, Ginny thinks to herself. Or are they?

After the show that day, Ginny tells Adrian, her husband, about the trip. He immediately says he can’t take that much time off, and, in fact, he thinks the two of them need time apart. Ginny is stunned. What signs has she been missing? Adrian leaves their home and goes to stay with friends and refuses to answer Ginny’s calls.

On air the next day, Ginny offers a free holiday in Italy, expenses paid, to four strangers who have suffered heartbreaks themselves. She discovers that she cannot cancel the reservation, but she can take a smaller, less expensive hotel for 5 people rather than lose the money altogether.

These five strangers find themselves at a boutique hotel run by one man and his daughter. Along the way, we learn the stories behind the heartbreaks Eric, Edna, Heather, and Curtis have suffered.

Time away from home at the Little Italian Hotel gives Ginny and the new-found friends an opportunity to bond with each other and to heal from their respective wounds. The story is charming and affirming as well as giving readers a glimpse at Italy.

The Book Whisperer Is Not Impressed

In Trespiano, Italy, Filomena Fontana cursed her younger sister more than two-hundred years ago. When Filomena’s wayward fiancé caught Filomena’s sister alone, he grabbed her and kissed her against her will. Unfortunately, Filomena saw only the kiss and thought her sister had betrayed her. She cursed her sister and all second-born daughters in the family: “You will be forever cursed, along with all second-born daughters.”

Fast forward to present-day Brooklyn. Emilia is the second-born daughter in her family. While she does not quite believe in the curse, she does not date after a college boyfriend was in a terrible car accident when Emilia was driving. She fears the curse may have been in play. Her cousin Lucy, also a second-born daughter, truly believes in the curse, but she tries very hard to find love, dating guys if only briefly.

Emilia has become the family doormat, helping in the family store, especially as the baker, a task at which she excels. She babysits her older sister’s children and helps them with their homework while their mother enjoys her book club. Daria, the older sister, even invites Emilia to the book club and asks her to bring a delicious, homemade cake. Once there, however, Daria puts Emilia to work helping the children and baking cupcakes for one child to take to school the next day. Emilia does not get to enjoy the book club. That’s just one instance of the way Emilia is used by the family.

Emilia’s great-aunt Poppy who is estranged from the family invites Emilia and Lucy to go to Italy with her to celebrate her 80^th birthday and to meet the love of her life. She tells the young women that she will help them break the family’s curse on the trip because Poppy, too, is the second-born daughter. Her older sister is Emilia’s grandmother and one who controls everyone in Emilia’s family.

Against her grandmother’s wishes, Emilia decides to take a chance for once in her life and make the trip, all expenses paid. Daria even has the nerve to ask Emilia to return home once she is on the trip so Emilia can babysit Daria’s two daughters!

The trip changes the lives of Poppy, Emilia, and Lucy. Indirectly, it will also change the lives of those left at home. Emilia discovers a long-held family secret which explains to her why her grandmother has been so forcefully against Emilia having any kind of relationship with Poppy.

For those looking for a light, fast read, The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany will be a good choice. I will admit I had a hard time reading about the family curse and accepting that the second-born daughters truly believed in the curse. Especially in modern times, that seemed more than far-fetched, but it made a useful premise for the trip.

The Book Whisperer Is Enthralled With Weyward!

My recent reading involves a number of stories revolving around strong female characters. The Change by Kirsten Miller comes to mind along with When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill. Then a friend at my book club offered me an opportunity to read Weyward by Emilia Hart.

Weyward involves three female narrators, all from disparate times. Readers will be eager to learn what connects these three women. The three tell their own stories in alternating chapters. Some readers may be tempted to read one woman’s story all the way through and then the other two. I don’t recommend it in this case! Read the stories as presented in the alternating chapters. Each chapter will leave readers breathless as they move to the next story and await the return of a character.

In 2019, Kate escapes a dangerous, abusive husband in London. She goes to Crows Beck, Cumbria, two-hundred miles from London. There, she has inherited a cottage from a great-aunt who died the previous year. Kate has only vague memories of Violet, her great-aunt, but she is now grateful she kept the inheritance secret from Simon, her husband. The place gives her a chance to escape his clutches and start life anew.

In 1942, Violet lives on her family’s estate, never having left the grounds because of her controlling and hateful father. She loves the outdoors and enjoys finding insects of all kinds and studying them. She longs to be able to travel and learn more about insects in other places. Her father invites Fredrick, a distant cousin, to visit when he is on leave from the army. Fredrick is not the man Violet’s father believes him to be, and he leaves only chaos and ruin when he leaves.

The third character is Altha who is incarcerated in 1619, accused of being a witch.  Her accusers say as a witch, she caused the death of a villager. She is held in horrible conditions in the basement dungeon of the goal. As the story unfolds, readers learn of the charges against her. Altha, like her mother before her, is a healer, using herbs to help people. Unfortunately, the local doctor thinks his methods are better, usually putting leeches on sick patients and hoping for the best.

Readers will learn what connects these women. Readers will also be angry at the treatment all three women endure. Book club members will find much to discuss: domestic violence through the ages, superstition, lack of education, prejudice against women, and more. Weyward is a book that will engage readers.

The Book Whisperer Recommends Goodbye, Vitamin

At one time, I thought about keeping a notebook on how I discovered the books I choose to locate and read. However, I quickly gave up that idea because it would involve too much bookkeeping. However, at times, I do wish I had stuck to my original plan. If I had, I would remember where I first read about Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong.

This short book packs a great deal in the pages. Doree Shafrir, New York Times Book Review, describes Goodbye, Vitamin this way: “A quietly brilliant disquisition…told in prose that is so startling in its spare beauty that I found myself thinking about Khong’s turns of phrase for days after I finished reading.”

Now, dear Readers, one might not expect a book that involves a parent who is gradually falling into the throes of Alzheimer’s to have any funny moments. The truth is the story is both poignant and funny. And I don’t mean that we laugh at Ruth’s father as the disease progresses. Instead, we suffer with Ruth, her brother, and her mother as well as her father’s former graduate students as they all try to help the learned professor of history navigate a new normal.

Ruth, age 30, has just gone through a bad breakup with her fiancé. When Ruth goes home for Christmas following the breakup and for the first time in several years, she has already decided to spend a year with her parents to help both her mom and dad. Ruth’s mom has approached her husband’s loss of memory by throwing out all her aluminum cookware and has declared she no longer cooks. She also copes by taking a long-term substitute teaching assignment at the nearby elementary school.

Ruth and her dad are home all day, left to figure out how to cope with the debilitating loss her father faces. At times, the father is quite lucid. He also spends long days in his office, cut off from Ruth. She is reluctant to interrupt him. Barred from teaching, Ruth’s father feels lost. One of his former graduate students suggests to Ruth that they set up a class and let her dad teach it as he used to do even though the students won’t get any credit. Ruth is glad to find an ally in helping her dad.

Goodbye, Vitamin is a sweet story about a loving family facing a difficult change in their lives as the father’s memory continues to decline. For book clubs, the story will evoke many emotions and a lively discussion.

The Book Whisperer Insists You Read The Secret Book of Flora Lea!

The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry has been on my list for some time. I put a hold on it at the library and waited—not always patiently, but it finally became available last week. I started reading, and I did not want to stop until I had unwound the whole story to know what happens, not just to Flora, but to all the characters.

The story is told in two parts: during WWII and in 1960. In 1939, Camellia Linden makes the difficult decision to send her daughters Hazel, 14, and Flora, 5, to the countryside, out of harm’s way in London. The girls live with Bridie and her son Harry in a cottage in a tiny village. Apart from missing their mother and mourning the loss of their father, the girls find comfort in Bridie’s home where they are well-treated.

Long before Hazel and Flora are sent to the countryside, Hazel has entertained Flora and herself if truth be told by telling magical stories of Whisperwood and the River of Stars. In Whisperwood, the girls could become whatever they wish, animals, birds, or fairies. These magical stories are shared only between the two girls, not even their mother knows of the stories.

On a May afternoon, Flora disappears, leaving only Berry, her favorite stuffed animal which always stays with her. The police are convinced Flora fell into the river and drowned, carried away from the site where she fell. Hazel cannot accept the loss of her sister. She remains convinced that she will find Flora one day. The police and villagers do search as much as they can and find no trace of Flora.

Hazel, graduated from college, now works for a rare bookstore. On her last day before she leaves for a job at Sotheby’s, Hazel is entering newly acquired books into the store’s database when she discovers a book full of stories known only to her and her sister. The author is an American, Peggy Andrews. Can Peggy be Flora, Hazel’s beloved lost sister?

The book sets Hazel on a journey to the past, talking with Bridie, Harry, the policeman who investigated Flora’s disappearance, and even the nurses who lived near Bridie’s cottage. This investigation causes heartache and conflict between Hazel and her boyfriend Bernard because she suspects she is secretly in love with Harry, the boy from the village.

Without giving away any spoilers, let me say that readers will hold their breath as they read hoping against hope that Hazel finds Flora and they are reunited. What will Hazel learn from Peggy Andrews? Could she possibly be Flora? If not, how did she get the stories that belonged only to Hazel and Flora? Read The Secret Book of Flora Lea to discover the truth. Dear Readers, you will be thrilled with this story!

For book clubs, the topics for discussion will be astounding. Of course, the mystery of what has happened to Flora and whether she is still alive will be paramount. Other topics will be young love, the importance of storytelling, how families cope with loss, and, of course, WWII itself. Let me end this review simply: I am enamored of The Secret Story of Flora Lee! It is clearly one of those books I wanted to finish and one I did not want to end.

The Book Whisperer Enjoys Listening to David Sedaris

I just finished listening to Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris. As usual, Sedaris adds his unique touch to the essays about life as he encounters it. This collection of personal essays takes readers through a variety of topics, not all funny. He describes his father’s decline. He reminds us about the pandemic and what it was like to see NYC become a ghost town.

Happy-Go-Lucky will enthrall listeners. I laughed out loud at times, but other stories made me feel a bit sad with their poignant messages. Overall, listeners will enjoy this collection of observations by Sedaris.

The Book Whisperer Highly Recommends Henderson House!

As a book club leader, I have been incredibly lucky to win sets of books, on occasion, for my membership. I won copies of Henderson House by Caren Simpson McVicker, and I found the debut novel to be charming, full of surprises, and memorable. The book will be available Aug 1, 2023, so my book club members were lucky early readers. We look forward to our discussion and our meeting on Zoom with Ms. McVicker.

Set in 1941 in Bartlesville, OK, Henderson House takes readers into a boarding house run by Mrs. Henderson, a woman with unusual talents. She is a good cook, nothing unusual there, but she also sees colors surrounding people, and those colors give her important insight into the person’s character. She hears the sounds houses make when they are upset or when they are content, another unusual talent.

Readers learn the complete story through three characters’ narration: Mrs. Henderson, owner of the boarding house; Bessie Blackwell, who works for Phillips Petroleum in the copy room; and Florence Fuller, Bessie’s sister who works at a men’s clothing store. Other important characters include Edna, Mrs. Henderson’s cook and friend, Frank Davis, a new tenant at Henderson House, Professor Rutledge, Eddie Blackwell, brother to Florence and Bessie, and Johnny Fuller, Florence’s son. Of course, I can’t leave out Louie, Mrs. Henderson’s beloved dog.

The story revolves around secrets and decisions to be made. Readers will discover surprises along the way. McVicker has created a story that keeps the readers guessing without making them feel as if she is cheating them when the truth is revealed. Readers also become involved with the characters and sense a feeling of community that has developed among the boarders of Henderson House.

McVicker introduces serious subjects into the narrative as well. She delves into the prejudice against Cherokees, women’s rights, domestic violence, and pregnancy out of wedlock. These serious topics are handled with aplomb and addressed in a variety of ways. For book clubs, Henderson House will generate a lively conversation about these difficult topics. Book club members will also enjoy discussing the characters themselves and what motivates them. All in all, a very satisfying novel!

The Book Whisperer Discovers Kate Burkholder

Linda Castillo has published 15 books in her Kate Burkholder series set in Ohio’s Amish country. Generally, I begin a series with the first book, but I was looking for audiobooks between recent cataract surgeries when I stumbled upon The Hidden One by Castillo. It’s #14 in the series and takes a departure from the Painters Mill, Ohio setting to Amish country in PA.

Kate Burkholder is chief of police in Painters Mill, a small community. In PA, she will have no authority, but she takes the case as a private investigator because Amish elders from PA seek her help. Kate’s connection to the case is Jonas Bowman who has been arrested and accused of murdering Amish bishop Ananias Stoltzfus. Jonas was Kate’s first love and their risky teenage romance caused Jonas and his family to move from Ohio to PA.

As an adult, Kate has left the Amish faith, but she knows the culture and understands the hierarchy. Stoltzfus disappeared over a decade ago, simply gone. Recently, a farmer unearthed skeletal remains on some land where he was working. A gun known to belong to Jonas Bowman was also found buried near the body. Authorities immediately arrest Jonas and have no plans to look further for suspects. The Amish elders are convinced Jonas is innocent; therefore, they ask Kate to help them prove Jonas’s innocence even though the evidence mounts against him.

The story is fast-moving. Kate immediately encounters dangers. Soon after Kate begins asking questions, a large, masked man breaks into her motel room and beats her savagely, telling her to leave town. She also discovers her tires have been slashed and the windows smashed on her vehicle. The local police make notes about the assault, but the assailant remains unknown. As Kate continues to investigate and to discover that Bishop Stoltzfus had many flaws as an Amish man, much less a bishop she begins to put together a new picture of the dead man.

What is Stoltzfus’s backstory? In truth, where is he from? Why does his wife commit suicide in a Lutheran church after asking the minister to hear her confession? These are not Amish traditions. Kate also learns that Stoltzfus and his wife spoke an unusual form of the Amish tongue, not like the locals, and the bishop made several repeated mistakes in the services he held, mistakes someone brought up in the Amish faith would not have made. The most telling characteristic about Stoltzfus, however, was his tendency toward violence, something the Amish shun entirely.

The story has a remarkable premise concerning Stoltzfus and his wife. Readers will enjoy seeing that truth unfold as Kate continues to dig into Stoltzfus and his wife’s past.

I did enjoy the story. I also found some of the situations Kate encounters to be implausible, bordering on the unbelievable. She survives a severe beating with only a few bruises. Later, a man in a truck runs her rental car off the road into a deep ravine, leaving Kate hanging upside down held in place by the seat belt harness. Trees save the car from rolling into the bottom of the ravine. Once again, Kate survives with only bruises and refuses to go to the hospital to be checked out. Later, she helps Stoltzfus’s daughter put out a fire in the barn when tons of hay bales fall on her. She manages to wiggle out, find her hidden gun around her ankle, and chase after a man she believes to be the killer. Where does the chase lead her? It leads her into a dense forest, at night, in the pouring rain. The supposed killer and Kate run into an abandoned mill. The killer pushes Kate from the second story into the river. She is rescued a few minutes later, unharmed.

At this point, the killer is revealed, and Jonas is exonerated.  Kate returns to Painters Mill to resume her regular duties as chief of police.

The Book Whisperer Enjoyed The Vintage Caper

The Vintage Caper by Peter Mayle takes readers into the world of high-end wine and those who collect it.  Danny Roth, rich LA lawyer, has a tremendous collection of expensive wines. To brag about his impressive and expensive collection, he offered a journalist a chance to see the collection and write an article about Roth’s ability to find the best wine available.

Of course, readers can tell that Roth’s bragging is going to get him into deep trouble, causing him to lose a big portion of his precious collection. Railing at the insurance company, Roth demands money for the loss, but he has under-insured his collection. Still, that means little to him as he continues to insist he wants the whole amount for the lost wine.

Elena Morales at the insurance company contacts Sam Levitt, a former lawyer and wine connoisseur, to help locate the stolen wines. Sam hints at having been a criminal himself, but he has reformed. Now, he takes pleasure in the puzzle laid out before him. He tells Elena he must go to France to research and locate the stolen wine. She objects because of the cost. Sam says he won’t charge anything unless he recovers the wine.

The story that unfolds engages readers and leads them into the world of the ultra-rich. Sam’s research leads him to Francis Reboul, a very rich Frenchman who also has a vintage wine collection. Sam feels sure that Reboul has planned the heist of Roth’s wine, but now he must prove it.

The Vintage Caper is humorous. The puzzle that Sam works out and then the way he retrieves the wine is also entertaining.