The Summer Before the War

This is a really charming novel by Helen Simonson, the author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. It takes place in a small town in rural England called Rye, in the summer leading up to WWI (so all you Downton Abbey fans should like it).

The town has just hired Beatrice Nash to be the Latin teacher at the school. Beatrice is a well-educated young lady with wit and charm who was left too independent by her well-traveled and independent late father, so some of the townspeople find her a bit shocking, although most of the more sensible ones find her charming.

Beatrice's benefactor is the grand dame Agatha Kent, who loves her two nephews Hugh and Daniel like the sons she never had. Hugh is studying to be a surgeon and hopeful of marrying his professor's daughter, while Daniel is a poet who has a special friend of his own. The town is also populated with lots of other interesting people, including gypsies, and we also have a whole truckload of Belgian refugees thrown into the mix.

At any rate, it's a really well-written and well-told story. I laughed and cried, which is what the best books make me do.


The Summer Before the War

Where I Lost Her

I initially had a hard time getting into this novel, but once I did I was hooked.

Tess and Jake are visiting old friends at their camp in Vermont, when Tess sees a lost child on the road in the woods - but the child runs away before Tess can help her. An extensive police search turns up no child, there have been no children reported missing, and events in her past make the local police think Tess is imagining the child - or made the whole story up for attention.

What follows is the story of how Tess solves the mystery, and a look back at the events that have brought her to this moment in time. It's a very emotional and surprising story that I couldn't put down.

I'll definitely look for other works by this author.

Where I Lost Her