The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

This is a lovely novel based on a Russian fairy tale.

1920's. A childless couple, Jack and Mabel, move to Alaska to escape the sadness of their baby's death. Unable to grieve together, they were drifting apart and hoped that homesteading in a beautiful and peaceful new place might bring them the healing they desperately seek.  

However, Mabel finds herself still in despair and lonely in their isolated cabin and Jack works continuously to ready themselves and the farm for the harsh winter to come.

During the first snowfall of the season, the couple finds themselves in a rare playfully mood and begin building not a snowman, but a snow child. 

The next day, the snow child is gone... but they soon begin catching glimpses of a young girl in the woods. A young girl alone in the Alaskan wilderness that hunts with a red fox....

Something different today.

I love this.........

Litterbugs Come in Every Size by Norah Smaridge

Occasionally I will be featuring children's and youth fiction. Good stories for kids are especially important and can solidify a love of reading that will last a lifetime.

Today's remedy for reality is one of my favorite children's books. I still own my childhood copy that both of my daughters also enjoyed. A bit ragged at 40ish years, but still wonderful!

This is a fantastic story about keeping our environment clean and healthy.  It has incredible colorful illustrations and silly characters and fun rhymes.

It tells young children the importance of being a "Neato" who cares for other, their environment and possessions, rather than being a "Litterbug" who are gross, dirty and disrespectful.

First line... "Litterbugs come in every size, their really monsters in disguise".

This book is a lot of fun, and manages to have a good moral lesson while still being interesting and engaging for kids. Five stars!

                                                  Litterbug getting his book all gross.  :(

                                Neatos putting trash in a can and hanging with friends.  :)

What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman

I have read every book this author has written to date and loved them all.  

This novel is about two women living about 60 years apart. One in present time, Izzy, a teenager who is in a foster home after her mother shot and killed her father. The other a young woman named Clara, in 1929. Their lives collide when Izzy discovers a stack of old letter and a journal belonging to Clara.

When Clara was a young woman she secretly fell in love with a poor Italian immigrant and became pregnant. When she refused to marry the man that her father, a wealthy and overbearing man,  had chosen for her, he sent her away to a home for rebellious and unruly women. 

After her father lost all of his wealth, he was unable to pay the cost of her care at the home and she was committed to an asylum.  Living under harsh conditions and with terrible treatments in the asylum, many of the women in this asylum were there simply for making choices that their parents or husbands disagreed with, behaving in ways that didn't conform with "polite society" or just trying to assert some independence, few were actual lunatics. Many of the staff were uncaring that Clara was pregnant and forced her to give her baby up for adoption when it was born.

For Izzy, learning the story of Clara makes her realize that if Clara was sent away to an asylum but wasn't actually mentally ill, perhaps she should visit her mother to let her explain her violence and explore the story behind her mother's decision to shoot her father.

An engaging and illuminating novel that I deeply enjoyed.

Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy

This is the story of Tom Wingo and his deeply Southern family, their dysfunction and the modest home where he and his family lived on a small island in the South Carolina Marshes. 

It is the story of Tom's family, of his older brother, Luke. His mother, Lila, loves the natural beauty surrounding their home but feels that she and her family have been deprived of a "decent" and cultured life.  His father, Henry, a vet and ship boat captain is a traditional southern  male in every way and the cause of much of the dysfunction in their home. Tom's twin sister, Savannah, grows up to be an artist and an adult who frequently suffers psychotic episodes.

After Suzanna suffers one particularly harsh episode, and attempts suicide (again), Tom is contacted by her therapist, Dr. Lowenstein, in hopes that he could help shed some light on what may be the cause of Savannah's depression and mental illness.

In telling the story of his family and sibling, Tom unexpectedly reveals an old and terrible secret from his childhood that his family has held in silence for many years.

This novel is lovely, beautifully written. The author describes the marshes and natural surroundings of the small island so well that might you think you can actually smell the salt in the air and hear the whistle of the tall grass in the wind.

This novel is also disturbing, describing the horrific events and childhood trauma that this family was forced to survive. Contrarily, it also shows how the love of family and employing their strength, can lead to healing by facing shared trauma together, facing reality, even when it is uncomfortable, and overcoming the past.  

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

If I could take only 5 items with me to be stranded on a deserted island, this book would be one of them. I absolutely loved every word.

World War II. France. Two sisters.

Vianne is the older sister, a teacher who is married to Antoine. They enjoy a quiet life in the town of Carriveau.

Isabelle is the younger, wilder, sister who has been expelled from (or run away from) several schools, so is now staying with her father in Paris.

When France becomes involved in the war, Antoine is sent to fight, leaving Vianna and her daughter alone to fend for themselves. 

Isabelle is sent away from Paris as it has become too dangerous, so she travels to Carriveau to stay with her sister. Along the journey, she meets and falls in love with a man named Gaetan who gets her involved in the revolution. 

While living with Vianne, Isabelle is outspoken and a bit careless and Vianne fears her behavior will draw the attention of the Nazis while she is desperately trying to keep quiet and keep everyone safe.

Isabelle begins rescuing downed airmen and helps them to cross the mountains into the safety of Spain. 

Vianne, after watching the brutality of the Nazis and witnessing the suffering and starving of her fellow townspeople, decides to join the resistance in her own way by helping Jewish children to escape to safety after their parents are taken away.

I'm not doing it justice at all so I'll just say it is absolutely one of the best books I've ever read.

Mistress of the Ritz by Melanie Benjamin

This incredible historical novel is based on the true story of Blanche & Claude Auzello, in 1940's Paris.

Claud is the manager of the Ritz in Paris, a glitzy, glittering, glamorous hotel that catered to famous guests such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Coco Chanel, The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and Picasso. 

Blanche is Claude's wife, a lovely, smart and beautiful woman who is feeling more ornamental than useful.

When Germany invades Paris and the Nazis set up camp and make their headquarters in the Ritz, both must follow orders and commands from the Nazis who have commandeered their beautiful hotel that is also their home.

Blanche realizes that she has found her purpose. She pretends to drink & party all night, making her husband worried and annoyed. In reality, she is out all night because she has actually joined the resistance.  

Claude pretends to have a mistress to explain his frequent absences and making his wife angry and sad, while in truth he too is actually working with the resistance. 

Neither knows the truth about the others actions. Deeply disappointing each other based on what they believe is happenings, neither discover the reality about the others work to stop the nazis until the end of the war. 

Sometimes glamorous and scandalous, sometimes sad and terrifying, this is an interesting read that I highly recommend.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Not everyone's cup of tea, but a huge bestseller and I, personally, thought it was fantastic! An amazing thriller that keeps you up till the wee hours, saying "just one more chapter" and hanging off the edge of your seat.

Nick and Amy have what appears to be the perfect marriage. On their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy vanishes. Gone in what looks like a struggle. Of course everyone suspects Nick, but he insists he's innocent and that someone else must have taken her. After following the clues that she left him for their annual anniversary scavenger hunt, he begins to believe that he has been set up by Amy herself to make it look as if she has been harmed by her husband. 

Told from each of their alternating perspectives, I found myself siding with and believing in Amy, then later totally believing Nick, only to reverse my entire position again and again.

Told in present tense and also in flashbacks, what really happened to Amy? Was she a devoted wife who was killed by a cruel and cheating husband? OR, is she a mentally disturbed woman who has faked her disappearance as his punishment, hoping to see him hated by all and locked away for life?

I was riveted for the entire journey.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

This is a charming novel about friendships and the importance of literature.

1946. London. Juliet Ashton is a writer looking for the subject of her next work.

Out of the blue, she receives a letter from Dawsey Adams who lives on the small island of Guernsey after he stumbles across her name written in a book. Books are rare on Guernsey, although they have a book club called "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society". 

Several islanders begin corresponding with Juliet, and she begins to know them and their stories over the months.

She learns that their book club brings together friendships based on literature and provides friendship and fellowship for the islands people recovering from the the terrible times during the German occupation.

Juliet decides to travel to Guernsey to meet her new friends. Over the next few months, she learns how their book club provided so much comfort for the islanders who were able to bond over literature. Juliet creates many new friendships with the eclectic island residents, discovers love and even finds the perfect material for her next book.

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. Ross

This is another of my favorites in the southern ladies genre. A warm and funny novel.

This is the story of Julia Springer who is adjusting to a quiet life after the passing of her controlling, judgemental and demanding husband. She lives on a tidy sum left by her husband in her comfortable home, a respectable older southern lady with an impeccable reputation.

One day a young woman named Hazel Marie Puckett shows up on her doorstep with a young boy, claiming that her late husband is the boys father, and Julia's life is turned upside down.

In total disbelief, she consults her housekeeper and friend Lillian for advise and then turns to the man who rents a room in her large home, Deputy Coleman Bates.

Throw in the greedy pastor from Julia's church who claims that her husband actually meant to leave his life's saving to the church and not his wife, Julia has her hands full trying to hold on to her fortune, avoid small town gossips and total scandal and ruin.

I highly recommend this one, and if you enjoy it as much as I did, there are no less than TWENTY ONE more books in the Miss Julia series!  I only read the first 5 or 6, but they were all a lot of fun. This series could keep you busy for a long while!

Something different today....

The Whingdingdilly by Bill Peet

Today's remedy for reality is a children's book that I loved as a child and shared with my daughters.

I think it's important to add some childrens and young adult books here too as they are just as important as adult fiction and in some ways, more important.

If children are exposed to good stories with fun and interesting plots and three dimensional characters that they care about (and not just books made from their favorite movies or toys) that creates a reader. If they continue on and find great young adult stories, that can solidify a love of reading that will last well into adulthood and beyond.

This is the story of Scamp and Orvie. Scamp is a dog and Orvie is a boy. Scamp is sad. Scamp wants to be a horse because horses get so much attention. When Scamp tries prancing around like a fancy horse, Orvie teases him and Scamp decides to run away.

After ducking into the woods to get out of the heat, Scamp meets a little witch named Zilly. Zilly says she can turn Scamp into a horse, but offers to turn him instead into a Whingdingdilly, a marvelous amazing creature! Scamp barks "yes!" and suddenly he had a camel hump, back legs striped like a zebra, front legs, feet and ears like an elephant, a long neck like a giraffe's and reindeer antlers on top of his head!

Not knowing what to do, Scamp decides to head home and scares several creatures along the way with his unusual appearance. Once home, he find Orvis desperately looking for him, but how can Scamp actually reunite with his friend looking the way he does now?

Many exciting adventures occur before the end of the story... what will happen to Scamp now??

When I pulled out our copy of this book for this post (not my original childhood one - I purchased this copy used on ebay when my girls were little), I discovered that I had a signed copy! It's not signed to me or us, and I kept the name secret,  but it's still neat! Bill Peet wrote many great kids books (I'll likely share more of them eventually), so I'm thrilled to have a copy that he held and signed.

Bill Peet -1915 - 2002

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This is an outstanding novel! One of the best ever written in my opinion.

1960's Mississippi. Eugenia "Skeeter" is a 22 year old aspiring writer who returns to her well-to-do family's cotton plantation after graduating college. Hers is one of the many white southern families in her state whom all have had African American maids cooking, cleaning and raising their children for them for generations.

Skeeter, who tries to fit in with her southern lady friends, playing bridge, socializing and dating southern gentlemen from the right families, is sad and shocked when she discovers that her own life long and much loved maid, Constantine, has left and no one will explain why.

Skeeter gets a job writing for a ladies journal supplying cleaning tips, but knows absolutely nothing about cleaning. She asks Aibileen, the African American maid of one of her friends, if she would assist with the column. Her friend reluctantly lets Aibileen help Skeeter as long as it doesn't interfere with her duties . With a lot of distrust at first, Skeeter slowly befriends Aibileen and then some of the other maids in town, and Skeeter learns about how hard they work and unfair they are treated.

Skeeter is determined to write a book that tells the story of these loving and hard working women who are treated so badly, sharing their stories in hopes of improving their lives in the future. They choose to help Skeeter in her research, at great danger to themselves.

Her "fictional" book set in a "fictional" town hits the shelves and is a blockbuster. All of the southern ladies buy copies and gush and gossip about the stories within, wondering which families and maids the stories could be about. This novel deeply angers Hilly, one of the southern ladies who tries to exact revenge on everyone involved in the book.

Sad. Smart. Moving. Funny. So Very Important.  This is a story I believe all high school kids should read and if you haven't yet, I urge you too right away.

Also made into a fantastic movie with a wonderful cast!

The Shining by Stephen King

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.   
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.   
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.   
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.   
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.   

This is my all time favorite Stephen King novel... and I really love a bunch of his novels.
This is one of the scariest books I've read and I've read this one several times in the last 25 years.
Watching Jack descend into madness is fascinating and heartbreaking!

This is the story of the Torrance Family. Father, Jack, mother, Wendy and their five year old son, Danny. Jack is an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic with much remorse and regret in his past. After being fired from a teaching position and getting sober, Jack take on a position at a massive hotel resort in the Colorado mountains called "The Overlook". He will be working as the off-season caretaker, living on it's grounds with his family for the winter months. This hotel is completely isolated during once the snow falls, and he believes the seclusion will be a good way to focus on his writing and rediscover the love and trust of his family.

However, this is no ordinary hotel. It is the location of years and years worth of tragedies, sadness, murders, natural deaths, horror and loss. The previous caretaker murdered his entire family before commiting suicide.

When the Torrance family arrives on the closing day of the season, they are given a tour of The Overlook and it's grounds by the chef, Dick Hallorann, who notices that little Danny has the "Shining". The shining is a term his grandmother used for the ability to read minds, see things that have yet to happen, see things from the past and the ability to gain information about people, places or things using extrasensory perception. Dick can recognize this because he, too, has the shining, and is worried for the small boy, giving him advice on how to ignore the scary things that the hotel might "show" him. (Redrum!!!)

As winter descends, so does Jacks mental health...and the hotel uses this to its advantage.

From haunted hedge animals, creepy little twin ghost girls, an empty ballroom suddenly filled with hundreds of 1020's ghosts celebrating the New Year to a scary man dressed as a giant furry dog roaming the empty hallways to a lovelorn woman commiting suicide and forever haunting a claw foot bathtub... this novel has all things creepy.

Stephen King visited the real life "Stanley Hotel" (pictured below) located in Estes Park, CO in 1974 which served as the inspiration for "The Overlook".  It's on my bucket list to visit this hotel someday!

While The Shining was originally published in 1977, in 2013, King wrote "Doctor Sleep", which continues the story of little Danny AFTER "The Shining" concluded. It too was very good.

I highly recommend The Shining!

Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts

The heartwarming story of 17 year old pregnant Novalee Nation. She leaves her small town home to go to California with her boyfriend Willy Jack. After a quick stop at a Walmart along the way, Novalee returns to where they had been parked only to discover that Willy has abandoned her at the Walmart.

Not knowing what else to do, she hides in the bathroom at closing and stays the night in the Walmart. One night turns to many as she has doesn't know anyone, has nowhere to go and only $7.77 in her wallet. She uses the food, clothing and other materials in the store to survive, keeping careful track of what she owes.

Novalee has her baby, a daughter named Americus, and begins to enjoy the odd little town and it's unusual but lovable townsfolk. She befriends Sister Thelma Husband a devout Christian, recovering alcoholic, and very friendly, if a bit odd, lady. Forney Hull is the local librarian who never got to finish his education as he had to care for his ill sister who takes an interest in Novalee and her baby daughter. Lexis Coop is a nurse at the local hospital who is unlucky in love but has five children and is always on the lookout for a new father for them, and becomes Novalee's best friend. The local portrait photographer at the Walmart gets her interested in photography, and this and all her new friends change her life forever. 

The World According to Garp by John Irving

I haven't read this one in awhile, but it remains fresh in my mind and I still have my old copy in hopes of reading it again some day.

This is the story of Garp and his mother, Jenny. 

Jenny is a nurse and when she found a young dying soldier, who was severely brain damaged and in a constant state of arousal. She decided to conceive child by him, relieving some of his physical discomfort, and because she wanted to be a mother, but not a wife.

Garp leads an interesting and unconventional life, always wondering about his father, being raised in at an all-boys school where his mother works as a nurse.

As Garp grows up, her becomes interested in sex, wrestling and writing. His mother also becomes interested in writing, and when her first novel is a success it creates friction and jealousy between mother and son.

The success of Jenny's novel makes Jenny into a feminist leader and icon and amid death threats from angry men, she gives speeches and buys a big house where damaged women can come to stay and heal.

Meanwhile Garp marries and has a family, and his life is made even more unusual and interesting being a father, coach, husband, writer and the son of the famous, iconic, outspoken and often threatened feminist, Jenny.

This is a story showing how people are often damaged, in many different ways, but can be cared for, helped, and often even healed, if people care enough to do so.

A fantastic novel. This is one of my favorite authors. More of his books soon!

Also made into a very good movie starring Robin Williams as Garp, Glenn Close as Jenny and John Lithgow. The latter two were nominated for oscars for their roles. 

Coal River by Ellen Marie Wiseman

This is a heartbreakingly beautiful novel. Historical fiction about child labor and the dangerous work in mines.

This is the story of Emma, who returns to her home town, a small mining town in PA, that she left as a child. She is now 19, orphaned and has no money and nowhere else to go. Her relatives who take her in are well-to-do, but treat Emma as if she were one of their servants. She takes a job in the company store in hopes of saving money and escaping the miserable small town. 

While working in the company store, she discovers just how badly the mining company treats its workers, paying very little wages, risking their safety, and forcing them to pay inflated prices for goods at the only store around, which is owned by the mine company. Treated especially bad are the "breaker boys". They are young children who work in the mines for very little pay, usually because their fathers have been killed or injured in the dangerous mines. These children, close to starving and covered in soot, also have dangerous jobs and are often maimed or killed themselves.

Emma's heart breaks for these children and she begins helping these children and their families by leaving food on their porches and erasing their debts in the books of the store. 

However, this causes even more problems and more danger for anyone who goes against the mine leader. She befriends these families and decides that she must fight to save the poverty ridden workers who risk their lives daily just to put food on the table.

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

This is one of my all time favorites. 

An epic novel about the women surrounding King Arthur. These women are strong, magical, and determined to mold and shape the world in the ways to keep the goddess and Avalon alive in a world being overtaken with Christians and priests.

It begins with the Lady of the Lake, who desires to place Uther Pendragon on the throne, tricking her sister, Igrane, into becoming Uther's Queen. Together they have 2 children, Morgaine and Arthur, the future High King.

When the children are grown, they are each taken into training. Morgain to Avalon to be a Priestess of Avalon, and Arthur trains with Merlin and must swear an oath to Avalon, to always defend it and it's ways. 

Morgaine falls in love with Lancelot, the Lady of the Lake's son.  However, Lancelot has fallen in love with Gwenhwyfar, not knowing that Arthur, his dear friend, has chosen her to be his queen.  Gwenhwyfar has accepted Arthur but secretly longs for Lancelot.

The match between Gwenhwyfar and Arthur is troubled as he has sworn to protect Avalon and the ways of the goddess, but Gwenhwyfar is a Christian and believes the Goddess to be evil.

All of this is just a part of the story in this tremendous epic novel that spans several decades and generations. I highly recommend it.

There are several books following in this series including "The Forest House", "Lady of Avalon", "Priestess of Avalon", "Ancestors of Avalon", "Ravens of Avalon", and "Sword of Avalon".

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

This is the story of Sally and Gillian Owen, 2 sisters who come from a long line of witches. When they are young, their parents are killed and they move in with their mysterious aunts who let them stay up as late as they want, eat chocolate for breakfast and enforce no rules whatsoever on the girls.

The aunts are notorious in town for helping people solve their problems (sometimes to their detriment) using their magical gifts and concoctions. The girls are both relentlessly bullied and teased by the other children in town.

While Gillian enjoys her magical family history and is more of a free spirit, she relishes the freedom from rules and longs to escape the small town.

Sally, more traditional, and embarrassed by her family and being the talk of the town, tries to cook healthy meals, keep up appearances, and appear more "normal".

As soon as Gillian turns 18, she leaves town and becomes a bit of a wild child.

Sally marries and has 2 daughters. When Sally's beloved husband is killed, she is devastated, barely able to eat, care for her daughters or even get out of bed. 

When Sally's girls are teenagers, Gillian comes to visit. They have not been close for many years and Sally is angry when Gillian tells her that she has killed her boyfriend, Jimmy, a sadistic, controlling and abusive man, and asks Sally for help. Sally reluctantly agrees to help, but is angry that her sister has brought this mess into her life, and threatening the "normal"life he has built for her daughters. The sisters attempt magic to rid themselves of Jimmy, setting in motion bizarre and terrifying events. Out of their league, they are forced to turn to their aunts for help.

This is a magical novel about family connections, acceptance and  love.

An absolutely enchanting novel.  There are also 2 others in the series: "Magic Lessons" due out in October 2020 and "Rules of Magic", also very good.

Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff

This was a good one, full of suspense!

1946. Grace is rushing to work one morning when, running through Grand Central Station when she stumbles upon an abandoned suitcase. Curious, she opens it and finds photographs of several women. 

Intrigued, she investigates further and discovers that the suitcase belonged to Eleanor Trigg, the leader of a secret network of female agents who were deployed out of London during WW2. These women were sent to France to secretly work as radio operators and couriers.... but they never returned home. Eleanor was determined to figure out what had happened to them, and then the determination became Grace's after Eleanor was, the same day the photos were found, hit and killed by a car.

1943. This is the story of Eleanor, an absolutely professional, stern and hard working leader of this secret network of women working against the Nazi's.

1946. This is the story of Grace, recently widowed, she has moved to New York all on her own to start anew, but has become entangled in a relationship with her husbands best friend. Becoming slightly obsessed with figuring out the mystery of these photos, she begins a journey that will forever change her.

1943. This is the story of Marie, a single mother who was recruited by Eleanor because she spoke fluent French, she decides to join Eleanor in order to make a better life for her daughter. While in training in Scotland, she meets spunky 17 year old Josie, who becomes a dear colleague and friend.

Bouncing between years during WW2 and just after, the stories of these women all become entangled in the mystery of what happened to Marie, Josie, and their fellow female spies who never returned after being deployed into occupied Europe to aid the resistance, and the devastation and fury of a suspected betrayal that may have caused their demise.

The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans

On a snowy morning, Grace, a teenager, rushes out of her house to her friend, Judith. Together they excitedly saddle up their horses for a beautiful snowy morning ride.

Giggling and talking, they take a short cut up a hill when the panicked horses start to slip and slide backwards down the slick hill, tumbling, girl over horse, crashing to the bottom, landing in the middle of a road. Just then a large truck appears, horn blaring and brakes screeching. Grace's horse, Pilgrim, rears up.

This is the beginning of a marvelous and touching story.

The accident kills Judith and leaves Grace lost and devastated with one leg amputated and Pilgrim terribly damaged and traumatized.

After the accident, Grace's somewhat cold and workaholic mother, Annie, refuses to have Pilgrim put down, sensing that her daughter and her daughters horse seem linked and that both need to be saved from their pain and rescued from their despair.

Annie locates a rural "horse whisperer" in Montana, a man that can "speak" to and restore wounded horses and sets out with her daughter and her horse on a long journey to his vast Montana ranch to try to bring back a spark of life in them both.

This is a lovely story of love and redemption, and I highly recommend it.

The Land Girls by Victoria Purman

Melbourne, Australia. 1942. This is the story of three women whose lives were forever changed by World War 2.

Flora is a spinster who cares for her father and brother.

Betty is 17 when her beloved enlists.

Lillian is from a wealthy and well to do overbearing family and she desires to do something completely on her own.

All three women, coming from cities, join the The Australian Women's Land Army (AWLA) training to become "Land Girls", the military's effort to put women to work on farms and in orchards to keep the food supply going for the country and the war effort. This was often back breaking work, but these women were happy to do their bit for the war, discovering confidence and freedom in their work, as well as finding love and creating long lasting friendships.

I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and was sad as they were dealt blows and rejoiced with them when things went well.

I have read many novels about women during WW2, but this was a new perspective for me, never having heard of the "Land Girls" or much about the war from the Australian perspective. It was very interesting.

"It was never just a man's war..."

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite books when I was young... I enjoyed it again with my daughters... and it is still one of my favorites!

When bombs rain down on London during WW2, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are sent to live in the country where they will be safe.

They stay in a giant house, and one day while playing, Lucy crawls into a big old wardrobe to hide and pushing to the back, finds herself in another land where it is snowy and cold and animals, like beavers, can talk.

Along comes Mr. Tumnus, a faun man who's bottom half is that of a goat, with a tail and hooves. He is excited and pleased because he has never meet human girl before. He polity invites Lucy to his house for tea. In his cozy home, Mr. Tumnus tells Lucy all about Narnia, his world, and the White Witch who makes it winter all the time, (but never Christmas!).

When Lucy returns back through the wardrobe to her world, her siblings don't believe her when she tells them all about the Narnia and her new friend Mr. Tumnus, until one day when they were all hiding from the housekeeper, and they all end up in the wardrobe, stumbling into Narnia. 

What follows if a fantastic magical story of good vs evil. 

I highly recommend this for all young folks (and adults). I regret that I never finished the other books in the series, but I do own them and will put them on top of my to-be-read pile, if I can find my ladder.