Mary E. Trimble

The Color of Air by Gail Tsukima is a historical novel describing an impending volcanic eruption on Hawaii’s big island in 1935.

The story centers around four main characters, mostly second-generation Japanese, and flashes back in time to their youth. Most of the main characters’ parents were lured from Japan to work the sugar cane fields. They were given promises of wealth, but in fact were treated like slaves while owners of the sugar plantations became rich. Nevertheless, the people formed a close-knit community and cared for one another, centering their lives in Hilo.

The main character, Koji, mourns the death of Mariko, the woman he loved but who married another man. Mariko’s husband neglected her and their child, Daniel, and eventually abandoned the family. When Daniel, now a physician, returns to Hilo, he and Koji resume their close friendship and Daniel learns the true story about his father and the suffering he caused the family.

The author vividly describes Hawaii and its beauty–the smell of the ocean, the rushing sound of breaking waves, the fragrance of mangoes as they ripen on the tree. But she also describes the stench of the active volcano, Mauna Loa, which has erupted and is spewing hot lava across the land, bringing fear to its residents of losing their homes. She also describes the sugarcane industry, its back-breaking labor, the stench of the burning fields, and the unfair treatment of the laborers.

I enjoyed this story of Hawaii in its early days. I lived in Hawaii 1955-1957, before it was a state, and knew and worked with many second-generation Japanese on Oahu. We witnessed and smelled the burning of sugar cane fields, which they do just before harvest to reduce the volume of waste material for transport and processing. It didn’t occur to me at the time how difficult that was for the workers to inhale the smoke while enduring the hardship of harvest. I love Hawaii, its beauty and mystery, but now have an even deeper appreciation of its people.

Book Review: Leaving Cheyenne

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Mary

Leaving Cheyenne by Larry McMurtry (1936 – 2021) is the second of the “Thalia: A Texas Trilogy” series. The novel takes place in north Texas during the period 1920 to 1965.

Gideon Fry is a rancher who has his heart set on marrying pretty Molly Taylor. His father works him so hard he doesn’t get to see her as often as he would like. Gideon’s afraid his best friend, Johnny McCloud, the Fry’s ranch hand, is going to win her over before Gideon has a chance.

Johnny McCloud, a fun-loving, carefree ranch hand doesn’t take anything very seriously, but he does have fun with Molly Taylor, especially when her father isn’t around. Johnny isn’t really the marrying kind, which suits Molly just fine.

Molly Taylor lives on a farm with her mean widowed father. She’s a free spirit and sees no point in getting married, but she does love the attention of both Gideon and Johnny. As the years pass the three struggle with a love triangle, yet are loyal to one another.

Leaving Cheyenne reminded me of Larry McMurtry’s later novel, Lonesome Dove; not the story line, but the bantering between the two cowboys. The teasing between Gideon and Johnny is humorous and good natured. The novel is earthy, but realistic. Each of the three main characters narrate a segment of the book, allowing the reader to see their various viewpoints and bittersweet relationships. The novel does a wonderful job of following the time period, describing the Texas countryside and the attitudes of rural people as they struggle to make a living. Leaving Cheyenne was adapted for film as Lovin’ Molly. I enjoyed this book and admire Larry McMurtry’s masterful ability to tell a good story.

Book Review: Renewed Hope

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Mary

Renewed Hope, a novel by Carmen Peone, is the third book of the “Seven Tine Ranch Romance” series. The contemporary story mostly takes place in Montana.

Sophie Cayes has exceptional talent as a wildlife artist, specializing in wild animals in their natural setting. Her budding future is shattered when her abusive ex-husband threatens to sue for full custody of their four year-old son, Basin. Sophie learns of a guest ranch that keeps a room open for women in need. She and her son leave their home on the Flathead Reservation in Northwest Montana and drive to the Seven Tine Guest Ranch on the Colville Reservation in Eastern Washington, hoping to find a solution to her greatest fear, losing custody of her son.

Chad Davis loves his job at the Seven Tine Guest Ranch. His specialty is starting colts, but of course he performs other ranch chores as well. One of those chores involves helping out when guests arrive. Later, at dinner, Chad is asked to show little Basin around while his mother talks to another woman. When the unthinkable happens—Basin goes missing—Chad feels responsible to do everything in his power to return the little boy to his mother.

Chad, Sophie and a tribal policeman head back to Montana, feeling certain that Basin’s father must have followed Sophie to the ranch and had taken the little boy. Just when you think things can’t get worse, they do. A gut-wrenching race is on to find her son before her ex-husband and his new wife illegally flee with Basin.

Renewed Hope is about faith in the face of raw fear. Unfortunately, abuse of women is common among indigenous people. That abuse is often directed toward children, making this situation even more desperate. The novel is suspenseful, yet realistic. Carmen Peone has written a worthy sequel to the first two books in the “Seven Tine Ranch Romance” series.

Book Review: Looking for Jazz

Posted on February 12, 2024 by Mary

Looking for Jazz: A Memoir about the Black College and Southern Town That Changed My Life by Anna R. Hathaway is written by a white woman from the mid-west who accepts a teaching job at a black college in a small Georgia town. The book covers the turbulent, changing times, especially in the South, of 1968–1972.

Anna Mitchell, 23, with a Masters in English from the University of Wisconsin, accepts the position of instructor in the English department at Fort Valley State College in Georgia. Meanwhile, her husband begins advanced training 100 miles away at Fort Benning, and would soon join the elite Special Forces as a Green Beret, eventually serving in Vietnam.

During the first four years of Anna’s career, she saw many social changes: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated, The National Organization for Women (NOW) protested for women’s rights, the Supreme Court mandated public school desegregation, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a sit-in at Harvard, and a man landed on the moon. Meanwhile, the Vietnam “Conflict” raged on.

Anna was well received, although not all her classes were of particular interest to the students. She found the students and staff respectful, but at times she observed black and white communities segregated in restaurants, stores, hotels, and many churches. Even doctor’s offices had waiting rooms designated by signs reading “White Side” and “Colored Side.” Anna found striking differences between midwestern humor and southern humor, and especially black humor. She took it all in and strove to adjust to the various situations.

I enjoyed reading about Anna’s observations and personal twists on life as a white professor and wife in the South. Some of her experiences were unpleasant, some joyous, and through it all, I admired her open-mindedness and determination to make a difference. But did she find jazz? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

Book Review: Romeo and Emilia

Posted on February 5, 2024 by Mary

Romeo and Emilia: How one brave girl rose up from a wheelchair onto the back of a horse by Roni McFadden is a unique true story that will warm the hearts of all who read it.

The introduction, written by Roni McFadden, tells how the story came about. The author and Emilia Maureen Pauling, eleven, were new neighbors in Willits, California. When McFadden met Emilia the little girl told her she loved horses, that one of her favorite things to do was to play horse video games. Well, this was her lucky day! McFadden owns a horse that lived just down the road. Emilia was beside herself with joy when told she would actually meet and ride Romeo, a Leopard Appaloosa.

Emilia was born with a genetic abnormality, bilaeral microphthalmia (small eyes) and is legally blind. She also has hyper- and hypotonia in her legs. When Emilia was four she started walking with a walker, but now wearing leg braces, can walk and run, using a wheelchair only for long distances.

This charming children’s book tells the story of Emilia and Romeo’s adventures. Romeo, snow white with black spots, gave Emilia a gentle ride. At first the little girl was nervous, but soon learned the horse’s rhythm and was able to just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

Romeo and Emilia carries a valuable message to both children and adults. Many children, especially girls, have a deep love of horses, a relationship both physical and emotional. When a child has special needs, the experience is even more valuable. The book is beautifully illustrated with photographs of Emilia’s experience with Romeo. I recommend this book for all children, and especially for adults to read to or with children.

Book Review: All the Little Hopes

Posted on January 22, 2024 by Mary

All the Little Hopes, a novel by Leah Weiss, is a coming-of-age story about two teenage girls who embark on solving the curious disappearance of three men. The novel takes place in North Carolina during the stressful World War II years.

Thirteen-year-old Lucy Brown is a precocious girl who, like her heroine Nancy Drew, loves to solve mysteries. Her father grows tobacco and raises bees for honey. Lucy’s is a close-knit, strongly Christian family.

Also thirteen, Allie Bert Tucker has a questionable past. After her mother dies in childbirth, Allie Bert’s father gives her a one-way bus ticket to stay with her aunt who is expecting a baby. After a long bus journey to the other side of the state, Allie Bert is not welcomed at her aunt’s, and is unceremoniously locked out of the house.

The two girls meet and form an immediate friendship, and Lucy’s parents welcome Allie Bert into their family. The two of them set out to solve some of the town’s most puzzling mysteries. Together, they help one another survive the awkward early-teen years.

All the Little Hopes is a remarkable story. World War II demanded sacrifice from everyone. Lucy’s older brother and brother-in-law are both fighting in Europe. Extra work is demanded of the family when the Army needs honey-bee wax to lubricate ammunition, tools, and cables. A Nazi prisoner-of-war camp is built nearby, which adds anxiety in the community.

I enjoyed watching these two girls develop. Teenage years are often riddled with confusion and feelings of inadequacy, and both Lucy and Allie Bert are no exception. The United States was very much affected by a war raging across the seas with combat both in Europe and the Pacific. The war demanded many sacrifices for the common good. Although the novel is fictional, it is peppered with historical facts, such as bees wax being used for the war effort. All the Little Hopes would be of interest to both teens and adults.

Book Review: The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

Posted on January 8, 2024 by Mary

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter: A Novel by Kim Edwards is a fascinating story of familial secrets and the healing power of love.

A Kentucky spring blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins. The first baby, a boy, is a normal, healthy baby, but the second child, a girl, has obvious traits of Down syndrome. The babies’ mother, Norah, is heavily sedated and unaware of the second baby’s condition. It was 1964 and not uncommon for babies born with Down’s to be sent to an institution. David makes a split decision, altering several lives forever. Convincing himself that he’s protecting his wife from heartache, he orders the attending nurse to take the baby to a nearby institution, swearing her to secrecy. He tells Norah that the infant died at birth.

The nurse, Caroline Gill, takes the infant to the institution as instructed, but at the last minute cannot leave the baby in that cold, uncaring place. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child herself.

Over the next quarter of a century, we follow the two families, the doctor, his wife and their healthy son, Paul, and the nurse Caroline with her “adopted” daughter, Phoebe. We feel Doctor David Henry’s guilt, Norah’s sense of “missing something,” their son’s inexplicable yearning. We watch Caroline as she loves and cares for Phoebe, guarding their precious secret.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is a well-crafted novel. The author does a realistic job of showing the guilt and anxiety resulting in this hastily-made life-altering decision, and the fierce love parents have for their children, both biological and adopted. I think the author does a good job of showing the mind-set of the time, and how attitudes have changed over the years. I enjoyed this uplifting novel of the healing power of redemptive love.

Book Review: The Bundling Year

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Mary

The Bundling Year: A Non-Traditional Contemporary Amish Romance by Anne Schroeder is book one of three in the series “Field of Promise.” The novel mostly takes place in present-day Ohio.

Amanda Miller, an Oregon college student, faces a life-changing dilemma: stay in college or take the challenge her favorite but recently deceased aunt has offered her. In order to comply with the offer, Amanda must leave school and take residence in her aunt’s Ohio house. But there’s a stipulation that she must live in the house a year before selling. Amanda’s father strenuously objects to her leaving, but her mother, although paralyzed from a car accident, urges her to take the challenge. With very few resources, she packs her few belongings and meager savings and drives to the picturesque Amish region of Ohio. Amanda finds her aunt’s house in dire need of repair, certainly before she can consider selling it.

Amanda views with interest her neighbors’ farm across the road. She notices by their dress that they are Amish, that they don’t drive cars or use tractors—they drive a horse- drawn buggy and plow their fields with draft horses.

Jacob Ruth lives with his strict Amish family across the road from Amanda. He has not yet been baptized, meaning as an adult he has not made a life-long commitment to God. Amish children go to school only for the first few grades, long enough to learn to read and write. So Jacob and his brothers and sisters know “English” ways, but the family is active in the Amish community, and Jacob is expected to be baptized and follow the traditions of his family.

When Amanda asks Jacob about hiring him to make repairs to her house, he eagerly agrees. As they become better acquainted, a mutual attraction turns into a serious bond that forms between them which quickly turns into desire. But can their two very different lifestyles bring lasting happiness?

The Bundling Year was an eye-opener for me. When I served with the Red Cross, I participated in the Kosovo refugee program at Fort Dix, New Jersey, near an Amish community. It seemed strange to me to have horse-drawn buggies mingled with regular traffic, and to see people dressed so differently. But I was busy with Red Cross business and never became acquainted with the Amish or their lifestyle. The Bundling Year gave me an opportunity to see a different way, to watch two worlds collide, and to understand the serious implications of merging two very different cultures. The author does an amazing job of capturing the language and mannerisms of the Amish, and portraying the stark differences between “modern culture” and Amish strict traditional ways. I recommend this excellent novel to teens and adults who would appreciate another viewpoint on life.

Book Review: The Solace of Open Spaces

Posted on December 26, 2023 by Mary

“In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are only consequences.”
Robert G. Ingersoll

The Solace of Open Spaces: Essays by Gretel Ehrilich is a rich collection of essays about life in Wyoming’s ranch country in the 1970s.

Author Gretel Ehrilich has captured the essence of living in a world filled with sheep, cattle, faithful dogs, Wyoming badlands, long winters and tough, weathered people. It’s a place where people were outnumbered by animals, where sagebrush covered 58,000 of the state’s 97,063 square miles.

The author came to Wyoming only for a visit, but then couldn’t convince herself to leave. She worked a variety of jobs, moving thousands of sheep into shearing sheds, helping round up cattle, sorting and branding, finally becoming a rancher herself.

The essays in this book are rich with descriptions of beauty, unbelievably harsh weather with never-ending wind, tough people who will always stop to help a friend, and who have rich kinship to the land. Wyoming cowboys claim that the road to success is not toughness but “toughing it out”—putting up with the discomforts of the weather and land; to just keep on keeping on. Here winters are so severe that it’s hard to know who suffers more—the livestock or the ranchers who feed and care for them. The hardships of winter are often expressed by “froze in,” “froze up,” or “froze out.”

The Solace of Open Spaces reads like a memoir rather than what I think of as essays. Gretel Ehrilich writes about the habits of cattle, sheep, dogs, wild animals, even insects. She explains the world of rodeo, not only as an observer, but the behind-the-scenes business of rodeos. She describes attending a Plains Indian Sundance, a serious ceremony that involves repetitive dancing and fasting to regenerate the power to restore health, vitality, and harmony to the land and tribes. This book is rich in detail, holding nothing back, both good and bad. I highly recommend The Solace of Open Spaces.

Book Review: Seven Perfect Things

Posted on December 18, 2023 by Mary

Seven Perfect Things, a heart-warming novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde, is another example of this author’s ability to stir the heart. This time it’s with seven puppies and a girl who becomes attached to them.

Thirteen year-old Abbie Hubble witnesses a man dumping a wriggling bag into a river near her home in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Out of curiosity, she dives into the river and rescues seven tiny puppies. Now what? She takes them to a local animal shelter who would take them, but unfortunately they are already beyond capacity and would have to euthanize the pups. There is no way Abbie can let that happen.

But Abbie has a big problem. She can’t take the pups to her unhappy home. She gets along well with her mother, but her father is a bully who makes their lives miserable. She remembers seeing what she believed was an abandoned cabin when hiking the hills. She carries the pups all the way up a steep hill to the cabin, only to find it had been broken into and trashed. Still, she could put the pups in a storage shed on the property. Now her life is consumed with how to care for these seven tiny lives.

Elliot Colvin is still reeling from the death of his beloved wife. She had been ill for a long time and has just recently passed away. Elliot, grieving, is at odds with himself, has not yet returned to work, hasn’t found his footing, can’t even imagine how he’ll make it from day to day. Maybe he’d go to his cabin where he used to stay when hunting, get a change of scenery. With his wife’s lingering death, he hadn’t been there for a long time. When he arrives he’s angered by seeing the place trashed and many of his household items stolen. But wait, what is that noise coming from the shed?

Abbie finally has to tell her mother about the pups. She needs money to buy food for them. But they both know better than to tell her father. He not only wouldn’t understand, he wouldn’t allow her to keep them.

When Abbie and Elliot meet, what at first is an awkward encounter develops into a friendship of trust and respect. Abbie knows happiness when she’s with Elliot and wants her mother to both meet Elliot and see her seven pups. The consequences of this meeting has far-reaching affects on the lives of all concerned, including the pups.

Seven Perfect Things is an entertaining, wholesome read with a message. Catherine Ryan Hyde has done it again with this heart-warming story