reviewed by Corinna christopher live on bookshow 16th May 2013
The story opens at the lakeside Glenmore
Hotel where the body of a young women, Grace Brown is found, presumably drowned. It is 1906 and the book is based on a real
murder. The setting is the Adironback mountains in the U.S.A. and
the narrator of this lovely book is Mattie .
Just before Grace embarked upon her fatal boat trip she handed a bundle
of letters to Mattie and asked her to dispose of them. In due course Mattie was to discover these
were letters to her lover.
Mattie is the daughter of a local farmer and the eldest girl with three
sisters and an older brother who had left home after a quarrel with his
father. Her Mother died of cancer a few
years ago and Mattie has the responsibility of looking after the home together
with Abby, Lou and the baby of the family Beth.
On their farm they have many different animals and also grow a lot of
crops so that each of the girls has to work quite hard. Pa is a man of few words and has not really
got over losing his wife so that he is expecting his daughters to cope
with everything.
Mattie is a clever girl who loves to write and read and would like to
go to college. She has the encouragement
of her local teacher and manages to win a place in a good college. She has a
school friend Weaver a black boy
also keen to study but even in this remote area racism rears it’s ugly head and
there are unpleasant incidents. Money is
always in short supply and therefore Mattie takes a holiday job at the nearby
hotel . It is while there that she reads Grace’s letters and tries to make
sense of the tragedy.
Mattie develops a close friendship with Royal the son of a neighbouring
farmer and in due course he asks her to marry him. Up till then all she can think of is escaping
to a different life, but how to surmount all the obstacles. Her mother made her promise to look after the
family and Royal cannot understand why she needs all that learning. Pa will not consider allowing her to leave
. I will leave the reader to discover
what takes place
story with the very real and convincing voice of Mattie .
The book is both a murder, a mystery and a romance. A book to lose
yourself in and thoroughly enjoyable
This first book by the author has received many glowing reviews.
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