The Postmistress

I was not planning to pick this book to read... By author Sarah Blake, published back in 2010 it was not on any of my to read lists.  So I am glad it was brought back to the forefront with my book discussion group.  It is one of those books that we all came in saying was not a favorite but it led to a terrific discussion.

It is a fast paced story..an easy read.  But there are multiple plot lines working at once.  There are quite a few characters to keep track of , many of the villagers who live in the small Cape Cod town, out at the end of the neck.  The main characters living out there are Iris James, the Postmistress and Emma Finch, the doctor's wife.  We also met a number of the town's people who interact with these two women throughout the book and play the important roles of showing the reader what life was like in 1940 as President Roosevelt tried to keep us out of the emerging war in Europe.  Trying very hard to share with Americans what is happening in Europe is the fictional character Frankie Bard, a
young woman journalist working with the very real Edward R Murrow in London.  She is witnessing the London Blitz and as  her apartment is bombed and her roommate is killed she insists on traveling across the continent to share with her audience what is really happening.  Though her audience may not really want to know the truth.

Some characters are more likable than others and draw you into their story. Frankie is the most likable and well developed character.  She is the most impassioned and determined person in the book.  Some of the other minor characters really give the reader the best idea of how people's thinking during this time in America, Otto, a refugee from Austria, who keeps to himself as much as possible and is disliked just because he has a foreign accent.   We see how their lives will become entangled both with each other and the war, though far away. Henry, the car mechanic who is always watching with his binoculars for German U-boats to come ashore on American soil.

This is an intriguing and fast paced storyline, some more engaging than others.  There are letters written and mailed some received and some not.  There are ethical decisions made to protect people from the horrors that are so very real in the world.  These decisions can lead to some personal thought and definitely great discussions among book groups.