Great fiction

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, September 2013; written by Tammy Dinsmore

My reading list just keeps getting longer and longer. I’ve had so many interesting fiction titles come across my desk just in the past few weeks that I can’t possibly read them all!

First on my (new) list is “Letters from Skye” by Jessica Brockmole. This novel is told in letter form and begins in 1912 with correspondence between a poet, Elspeth Dunn, on the Isle of Skye in Scotland and David Graham, a college student in the U.S. David has written to Elspeth to tell her how much he enjoyed her book of poetry. Elspeth replies and soon they form a friendship and eventually fall in love through their letters. Even though Elspeth is married, their letters continue and soon it is the eve of World War I. David becomes an ambulance driver and Elspeth is left to wonder what happened to David.

Fast forward to 1940 and yet again it is the eve of another world war. Elspeth’s daughter Margaret writes that she is in love with a pilot in the Royal Air Force and they have decided to get married before he is shipped out. Elspeth tries to talk Margaret out of it. Then a bomb falls near Elspeth’s house and Elspeth disappears. Margaret finds one remaining letter from David to her mother and sets out trying to figure out her mother’s whereabouts and what really happened all those years ago.

Another novel on my list is “The Purchase” by Linda Spalding. It is 1798 and Daniel Dickinson, a Quaker, has recently become widowed. He decides to marry the servant girl to help take care of his family. He is cast out by his fellow Quakers for doing so and soon sets out to move his family from Pennsylvania to the frontier of the Virginia/Kentucky border. They have no experience with the wilderness and realizing they need help and, against all of his beliefs, Daniel buys a young slave boy. This brings about all kinds of problems. This novel deals with the issues of family relationships, slavery and the hard life of the American frontier. It is the winner of Canada’s 2012 Governor General’s Award for Fiction.

Next is a novel by Ivan Doig called “Sweet Thunder.” In 1920 Morrie Morgan is bequeathed a house by his former boss. He cuts short his honeymoon and he and his new bride head back to Butte, Montana. Come to find out, the house needs a lot of work (and a lot of money). Butte is a mining town and not only is the company that owns the mines in financial trouble, but they are pitted against the mining union. Morrie becomes an editorialist for the new newspaper the “Thunder.” He, along with the miners, starts a campaign against the mining company and a war of words begins. There are personal stories interspersed with the story of the miners and unions. Some of you may recognize Morrie from “The Whistling Season” also by Ivan Doig.

There are so many great sounding new books out on the shelves now. If you prefer something a little different than the ones listed above, we have a lot of new historical fiction, romance, mystery, science fiction, horror, and fantasy books waiting for you to come check them out!