BOOK REVIEW: The Postmistress

THE POSTMISTRESS by Sarah Blake is a book that I really wanted to like. There seems to be a glut of books on the Second World War and this one sounded as if it would give a woman’s perspective of the period before the United States became involved. It almost did what I wanted it to do---almost.

Emma Fitch has just arrived in the small town of Franklin, Massachusetts as the new wife of the town’s doctor. Emma has never felt that she belonged anywhere or has had anyone to care for her. Now she has a husband and the hopes that she will make friends in her new home. Not long after her arrival, her husband Doctor Fitch leaves her to go to London to help those injured in the German Blitz.

Iris James is the postmistress of Franklin. She is a woman whose life depends on order and details. She takes great pride in seeing that the mail is properly handled, that the flag of the United States is up each morning at the same time every day and taken down each night, at the proper time. Doctor Fitch has left a letter for her to give to his wife if he is killed.

Frankie Bard works for Edward R. Morrow in London. She is one of the few women reporters doing live radio broadcasts during the Blitz. Her desire is to get people in the United States to care what is happening in Europe.

Frankie meets Doctor Fitch in a bomb shelter in London and, as a result of their conversation, she decides to travel through Germany and France interviewing the displaced people. Mostly Jews, these are the people who had to leave their homes in the middle of the night with only what they could carry.

Most of the book, as you probably have guessed, reads as typical “chick-lit”. The language is over blown and distracting. The characters are not well developed and hard to get to care about. I came close to giving up on it. ( Rarely do I not finish a book.)

The chapters describing Frankie and her travels, however, are different. In these the action is real, the language sharp and businesslike. This is a reporter telling us of the people killed in front of her, of children left alone to find safety, a story filled with the truth of people and war.

I wish Ms Blake would have stayed with Frankie‘s character. We could understand how her interviews changed her, but I wanted to know her background, how she became a reporter at a time when women did not cover wars.

Overall, the book lacked focus. Parts of it were too long (the ending, for example) and I wanted more closure on some of the characters. There are better books out there on the subject.

Meanwhile, keep reading.