Rating: 
Summary: My book group loved the book!
Review: My book group met today to discuss Faith Sullivan's latest book. Two years ago, we were fortunate to have Sullivan as a guest at our meeting, and she was most delightful. We thought we'd be intimidated by having her in our presence because we were going to discuss her book, "The Empress of One." But she was most interested in us as members and wanted to hear our opinions and was open to our questions about the journey of a writer in writing a book. Now on to her newest book. It is wonderful! However, the characters from "Cape Ann" and "Empress of One" are not in this book which disappointed one of our members. An issue that came up today is the whole rural scene about farmers who in the past decades have lost their farms, and what emotional turmoil and stress that causes. Kate, in the book, never did recover from their having to "sell" and move to town. So we felt sad when she died before Harriet was to get married to a farmer who had not lost it all, but was very successful with a 640 acre plot. This book caused us to cry and shed tears, which to me is always therapeutic. I find myself thinking about the characters and the story as I go about my busy days now of getting ready for Christmas. Treat yourself over the Holidays to a good read!
Rating:
Summary: My book group loved the book!
Review: My book group met today to discuss Faith Sullivan's latest book. Two years ago, we were fortunate to have Sullivan as a guest at our meeting, and she was most delightful. We thought we'd be intimidated by having her in our presence because we were going to discuss her book, "The Empress of One." But she was most interested in us as members and wanted to hear our opinions and was open to our questions about the journey of a writer in writing a book. Now on to her newest book. It is wonderful! However, the characters from "Cape Ann" and "Empress of One" are not in this book which disappointed one of our members. An issue that came up today is the whole rural scene about farmers who in the past decades have lost their farms, and what emotional turmoil and stress that causes. Kate, in the book, never did recover from their having to "sell" and move to town. So we felt sad when she died before Harriet was to get married to a farmer who had not lost it all, but was very successful with a 640 acre plot. This book caused us to cry and shed tears, which to me is always therapeutic. I find myself thinking about the characters and the story as I go about my busy days now of getting ready for Christmas. Treat yourself over the Holidays to a good read!
Rating: 
Summary: Three Women in Search of Life
Review: This book takes you back to Depression Minnesota and draws you into a family tragedy that encompasses three women who struggle to live together and to escape the places that fate has placed them in. Kate, the great aunt, who raises her niece's child after a tragic automobile accident takes Bess's parents, does her best for Bess who loves her aunt and clings to her for security and love. Harriet, the middle aged cousin who comes to live with them and serves as Bess's mother dreams of a life and family of her own although Bess is like a daughter to her. Suddenly in the midst of a small town life of stability and order, all three women are thrown into turmoil because of new relationships that occur toward the end of summer one year. Harriet is courted by a kind and dance loving farmer with several children to raise on his own. Bess is thrown with a handsome young man who seeks her out for his own pleasure, and despite her knowledge of his wife and children, finds it hard to resist him. At the same time, Kate is dreaming of her life with her late husband and the farm they both loved and lost in the Depression. Fate brings all these elements to a conclusion that is at once tragic and life affirming. Harriet realizes how much love she has always had to give and is at last free to do so while Bess, reluctant to leave the security of the only home she has ever known not to mention the forbidden fruit that she must forego, is mature enough to recognize that her path is elsewhere for the time being. This is a pleasant book that reveals how normal lives can be exceptional and how even the most ordinary people find happiness and fulfillment in life.
Rating:
Summary: Three Women in Search of Life
Review: This book takes you back to Depression Minnesota and draws you into a family tragedy that encompasses three women who struggle to live together and to escape the places that fate has placed them in. Kate, the great aunt, who raises her niece's child after a tragic automobile accident takes Bess's parents, does her best for Bess who loves her aunt and clings to her for security and love. Harriet, the middle aged cousin who comes to live with them and serves as Bess's mother dreams of a life and family of her own although Bess is like a daughter to her. Suddenly in the midst of a small town life of stability and order, all three women are thrown into turmoil because of new relationships that occur toward the end of summer one year. Harriet is courted by a kind and dance loving farmer with several children to raise on his own. Bess is thrown with a handsome young man who seeks her out for his own pleasure, and despite her knowledge of his wife and children, finds it hard to resist him. At the same time, Kate is dreaming of her life with her late husband and the farm they both loved and lost in the Depression. Fate brings all these elements to a conclusion that is at once tragic and life affirming. Harriet realizes how much love she has always had to give and is at last free to do so while Bess, reluctant to leave the security of the only home she has ever known not to mention the forbidden fruit that she must forego, is mature enough to recognize that her path is elsewhere for the time being. This is a pleasant book that reveals how normal lives can be exceptional and how even the most ordinary people find happiness and fulfillment in life.
Rating:
Summary: Over, and over again . . .
Review: This is the first book by Faith Sullivan that I have read, but I will definitely read her previous works. Set in 1952, this story about three distantly related women of three generations was beautifully written. Althought it is ultimately about loss- the loss of parents, the loss of a farm, the loss of a husband and youth, it is well worth reading because it speaks so eloquently to the common feelings women bear and share. I loved this book. I'll definitely recommend it to friends.
Rating: 
Summary: Luminous and Lyrical
Review: This is the first book by Faith Sullivan that I have read, but I will definitely read her previous works. Set in 1952, this story about three distantly related women of three generations was beautifully written. Althought it is ultimately about loss- the loss of parents, the loss of a farm, the loss of a husband and youth, it is well worth reading because it speaks so eloquently to the common feelings women bear and share. I loved this book. I'll definitely recommend it to friends.
Rating:
Summary: Three Generations of Love and Longing
Review: Whether it's a first love, love found later in life, or love of a life and husband now gone, these 3 women each search for happiness in small-town Minnesota. Their stories are filled with sadness, hope and longing and interwoven with tragedy and potential for happiness. Sullivan has once again crafted a novel with a fiercely strong central character forging ahead in spite of her losses. This character recalls another woman (whose name just escaped me and the book is loaned out!) in Sullivan's first book, The Cape Ann. Both women are independent, strong and longing for a better life -- for themselves and their families. Sullivan is a gifted writer whose portraits of rural life and women of great character and determination are beautifully and simply told. Her Cape Ann and Empress of One were big hits in our book club, What a Woman Must Do is being quickly circulated among our members and winning praise at every stop.
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