Thursday, June 28, 2018

Meg's Picks: July 2018, part 3

It's that time again! School's out, summer reading is in and books are flying off the shelves here at the Trumbull Library. We have summer reading programs for adults and for kids, so stop on in to sign up!  And of course we have some excellent displays full of titles perfect for a lazy summer afternoon or toting with you on vacation. Just remember, books and liquids are not friends!

Dear Mrs. Bird, by A.J. Pearce. In 1940s London, Emmeline Lake is doing her bit for the war effort by volunteering as a telephone operator for the Auxiliary Fire Services, but she dreams of being a war correspondent. When she sees a job advertisement for the London Evening Chronicle, Emmeline believes her time has come. The job, however, turns out to be as a typist for the paper's advice columnist, Henrietta Bird. Undeterred, Emmeline vows to work hard, even as the exacting Mrs. Bird requires any letters containing "unpleasantness" be immediately discarded, unanswered. Unable to resist the pleas of women desperate for help, those unwilling to evacuate their children or who find themselves discarded by their men going off to war, Emmeline begins to answer these letters in secret. A novel by turns funny and touching about the strength of ordinary people in extraordinary times, this is perfect for fans of moving novels about World War II, like Lilac Girls or The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

The Garden Party, by Grace Dane Mazur. The garden party is the rehearsal dinner where two very different families will meet for the first time. Adam Cohen, a poet from a very eccentric, scholarly family is marrying Eliza Barlow, the daughter of stuffy, proper Boston lawyers. The story takes place over the course of a day, with romance in the air and an extended cast that ensures hilarity and mishap at every turn. The event itself this lovely summer evening, of course, does not go according to plan, either. Elegant prose and deft storytelling make this an enchanting summer read.


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