Welcome to Litsy!

“This is what it means to age, I think. The days are long, but the years are short.”

#River
#StorySettings

I haven‘t been walking this week at all or done much of anything because I‘ve not felt that great. My inactivity did allow me to finish both Holly (print) and The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell (ebook). Today I‘m starting The Frozen River.

An impressive find in one of my neighborhood Little Free Libraries!

The 2nd book in the Gaslight Mystery series (#SeriesLove2024). This time Sarah gets involved in the world of the “Charity Girls”, trying to help a client determine who murdered her sister. The mystery was good, but what is wonderful about these novels is the evolution of Sarah and Frank‘s relationship. I look forward to the next in the series.

This is my first book by Lawhon. However, if her writing is this stellar in all of her books it won‘t be my last.
This was so good! I loved the mix of historical fiction and mystery. Very well done.

This book was so good. It was so much better than I could have imagined. This was a mix of historical fiction and mystery and I loved it.

I absolutely loved, loved, loved this book!!!

Based on the hit BBC show of the same name, this is the first of several memoirs of midwifery in Poplar, England, in the 1950s. Nonnatus House isn‘t a real place but it is named after a 13th century Saint, Raymond Nonnatus. Here, Jennifer shares the humbling experiences she had while working as a midwife and living with nuns.Life was hard and inequities rampant. During this time, forced sterilization, the lack of contraception, lack of access to⬇️

Historical fiction is always my favourite. I stayed up much too late, more than one night, with this one. Inspired by real life events recorded in the diary of midwife Martha Ballard, the great aunt of Clara Barton. A phenomenal, captivating tale of a family, a community, a mysterous murder, and a multitude of babies, set in a tiny town in Maine, in the 1700s. My first Ariel Lawhon, but it won‘t be my last.

Halfway through it, and sometimes I‘m so in love with this book and the story. Then the author switches to 35 years prior and a flashback to her and her husband‘s days as newlyweds and it takes me out of the story. I‘m sure it all ties together at some point, but I‘d rather just read the story of her trying to do right by the people of her town and fighting the patriarchy in the process.