I haven't read as much on this trip as I usually do because Dave and I are listening to the audio version of Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese which runs some 31 hours long and takes up most of our time in the car. I've also been busy at work writing another novel but I have managed to finish two books.
The first is The Mystery Guest by Nina Prose. It is the second murder mystery in her series about a hotel maid named Molly Gray.
One of the delights of the first book in the series is that we are introduced to Molly who appears to be on the autism spectrum. She is an utterly delightful, honest and caring young woman and those personality traits continue to charm readers of this second novel where we find out more about what happened to her in her childhood.
I liked the way the Matilda effect is explored in this book because it is more common than we might think.
Molly begins a romantic relationship in the first book of the series and although she and her partner Juan Manuel are still together the author has chosen to have him off on a trip throughout the second novel which was just a little disappointing to me since I wanted to see how their relationship had grown.
The end of The Mystery Guest implies Molly could be embarking on a new career as a crime detective which may provide enough new interesting material to keep future readers of the series engaged.
The second book I read was by Kristin Hannah and was called The Four Winds. Hannah has done admirably detailed research for this book so the story set in the Dirty Thirties definitely sounds authentic but it is very dark.
Some reviewers compare the heroine Elsa to Job in the Bible because honestly just one disaster after another befalls the poor woman no matter how hard she tries.
I felt there needed to be more bright spots, more hopeful scenes, a bit of a balance to the constant hardships Elsa and her family encounter. You have to wait till near the end of the book for Elsa's life to take a slightly more positive turn before her story ends in a very tragic but predictable way.
That being said I was looking for background material for a writing project I am working on that takes place during the same time period and The Four Winds certainly did provide valuable context for that.
I'd be interested to hear from others who have read these novels. What did you think?
Other posts..........
I Read This Book By Mistake
They Wore Masks Too
An Inspiration For Our Time
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