Mary E. Trimble

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, a novel by David Wroblewski, kept me spellbound. The story takes place in rural Wisconsin in the 1970s.

Edgar Sawtelle was born mute, but hearing. The family developed a sign language, not American Sign Language, but with his mother and father they could communicate. A bright boy, he attended school, and helped the family with their business of selective breeding and training dogs. Edgar is the third generation to work with these magnificent animals. The dogs are never identified by breed, but known as Sawtelle dogs that, even in the 1970s, sell for $1,500 each. The dogs are extraordinary companions, intuitive, and meticulously trained.

One of the Sawtelle dogs that the family kept, Almondine, becomes Edgar’s loving companion and understands Edgar’s moods and ambitions. She guards and protects her boy and in return receives his love and loyalty.

A tragedy occurs when Edgar is 14 and he feels he must leave all that he loves. With three yearling dogs, but not Almondine, he flees into the Wisconsin wilderness. He soon learns he was prepared with neither food nor equipment for himself or the dogs. Surviving on his own, the going is rough but he perseveres until at last he finds a temporary home. But he soon realizes that he must return home to learn the truth behind what happened.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is a huge volume—the paperback version is 608 pages. The author goes into minute detail about Edgar’s wilderness survival, how he persists in the face of hunger, hoards of mosquitoes, deer flies, and the responsibility of keeping the dogs safe. The landscapes of home and wilderness come to life under Wroblewski’s pen, as do human emotions and canine cunning. This is a magnificent book, one that will linger with me for some time.

Book Review: Girls of Brackenhill

Posted on July 3, 2023 by Mary

Girls of Brackenhill by Kate Moretti is a gothic mystery set in a spooky run-down castle on a mountain top in the Catskills, Virginia.

Hannah Maloney rushes to Brackenhill after she learns her favorite aunt died when her car plunged over a cliff. As a child, Hannah adored the castle and the surrounding woods, but now she dreads returning to it. Hanna and her pretty older sister, Julia, spent many delightful childhood summers at Brackenhill with their aunt and uncle. It was a relief getting away from their aloof mother and abusive step-father.

For many years, the sisters were inseparable, but on their last summer’s visit Julia grew distant, didn’t want her younger sister to tag along, and rarely even spoke to her. Then, in the summer of 2002, Julia mysteriously disappeared. Hannah had not returned to Brackenhill since that tragic summer seventeen years earlier.

Now, when talking to town’s people, mysteries about the events surrounding the castle begin to surface. Hannah wants nothing more than to solve those mysteries and resume life with her fiancé. But as she delves deeper into that fatal summer, long-buried truths expose her repressed childhood memories.

The book toggles between the early summers visiting the delightful castle and seventeen years later when disturbing memories begin to surface after her aunt’s death, forcing Hannah to question the events of her last summer at Brackenhill.

Girls of Brackenhill is a gripping novel of depth. Descriptions of the castle and surrounding grounds are vivid, as are the various personalities of the townspeople. I was intrigued by this mystery of a castle, its ghosts, and long-buried secrets.

Book Review: True Biz

Posted on June 25, 2023 by Mary

True Biz: A Novel by Sara Noviç is an enlightening story about the deaf, particularly deaf children. The contemporary story takes place in Colson, Ohio at River Valley School for the Deaf (RVSD).

The title of the book, True Biz is an exclamation used in American Sign Language (ASL) that means really, seriously, definitely, or real talk. Students at RVSD simply want to understand the world around them, hang out with friends, and blend in. But, as with any special needs children, there are always obstacles to overcome.

The story centers around two children and the headmistress of the school.

Charlie, lives with her father as the result of a custody battle. Both her parents can hear, but Charlie was born deaf. When she was three years old she had surgery to install a cochlear implant, which, unfortunately didn’t work. Charlie suffers with annoying buzzing sounds and headaches. She attended public schools but became rebellious when she couldn’t understand what people were saying and had no way to communicate. When she was placed in RVSD she still couldn’t communicate because she had never learned ASL, which was how the students communicate with their teachers and one another.

Austin, also a student at RVSD is deaf like his parents and grandparents. He’s a well-adjusted, popular kid and is asked to show Charlie around the school, and the two form a special bond. Austin and his parents’ world become confusing when they have a new baby girl who can hear.

February is headmistress of River Valley School for the Deaf. She desperately fights to keep the school running despite its threatened closure, to meet her obligations at home, and try to fulfill the needs of her aging mother. She is a CODA, an acronym that stands for a hearing child of deaf adult(s).

True Biz is an unforgettable story. I learned a great deal about the deaf, their challenges and feelings of isolation. Author Sara Noviç, is deaf, so I had the assurance that she knows the loneliness and struggle for human connection. I learned about the debates surrounding deaf children: should they be equipped with a cochlear implant, learn to lip read, or learn ASL, choices that all have advantages and disadvantages. I learned that ASL is a language of concepts, that only as a last resort will a word be spelled out. Chapters are interspersed with interesting tidbits of deaf historical “cures,” remedies through the centuries, conventions to discuss deaf education, and diagrams of ASL.

Book Review: The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece

Posted on June 19, 2023 by Mary

Tom Hanks has been a favorite actor of mine for many years. He can do no wrong. Much to my surprise and amazement, he’s also an excellent writer! I loved The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece, a novel by Tom Hanks and R. Sikoryak.

The story is told in three parts. Part One takes place in Lone Butte, California, 1947, when five-year old Robby Anderson meets his Uncle Bob for the first time. Bob, a troubled soldier, leaves an indelible impression on the little boy, then disappears from the family for twenty years. Robby constantly draws, and even as a pre-schooler shows real talent.

Part Two takes place in Oakland, 1970. Robby has attended California Institute of the Arts, teaches drawing, painting and ceramics in public schools, and draws underground comic books. He reconnects with his uncle and draws a comic book with his uncle as a World War II fighting hero.

Part Three takes place back in Lone Butte, present day. A commercially successful director discovers the 1970 comic book and turns the story into a contemporary superhero movie. We read the nitty-gritty of movie making, the long hours of waiting for the director’s queues, the massive amount of people and equipment it takes to create a movie. We learn how scenes are set up, most often out-of-order as how they will eventually appear.

At the end of each chapter are interesting footnotes, tidbits relating to the story or clarifying the movie-making process. Within the story are three comic books—created by Tom Hanks—including the comic book that becomes the tie-in to the movie.

I was impressed by this funny, informative, and thought-provoking story. It was fun reading the ins and outs of movie making, things I have often wondered about. For instance: how do they make a scene where three trucks crash? (They get three trucks and crash them.) The logistics of making a movie are staggering and this novel does a good job of describing the process. I think The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece would make a good movie. Staring Tom Hanks, of course.

Book Review: Finding Chika

Posted on June 5, 2023 by Mary

“What we carry defines who we are and the effort we make is our legacy.”
Mitch Albom

Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family by Mitch Albom is an emotional, moving story of love and loss.

Chika Jeune was born three days after Haiti’s devastating earthquake of 2010. Her extremely poor family was dealt another tragedy when Chika’s mother died giving birth to another child. Chika, three, was brought to the Have Faith Haiti Orphanage that Albom operates in Port Au Prince.

When Chika was five years old, she developed a weakness in one leg and a droopy eyelid that was later diagnosed as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, DIPG, which had already advanced to grade 4. There was no help for her in Haiti. Janine and Mitch Albom, in their late fifties and with no children of their own, brought Chika to their home in Michigan, hoping to find a cure for the little girl. They took her to C. S. MOTT Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they performed surgery on Chika’s brain. They were able to remove only ten percent of the invading tissue because the mass involved too much of the brain. The mass was somewhat diminished by radiation, but subsequent treatments were ineffective. Twice they took her to Cologne, Germany, but the treatment received wasn’t a lasting one. In the meantime, the little girl became a cherished member of the Albom household with her bravery, self-assurance and wonderful sense of humor.

Finding Chika is yet another example of Mitch Albom’s impressive, heartrending work. He tells his story in hindsight, and through imagined conversations with Chika herself. The memoir shows how dedication and love can bring unimagined blessings. This would be a good audio book—it was sometimes hard to read through tears.

Book Review: The Bargain

Posted on May 22, 2023 by Mary

The Bargain: An American Historical Romance Novel by Irene Bennett Brown is a wonderful example of what this author does best: writing historical western novels. The story begins in New Hampshire, 1885.

Clare Hobb’s powerful family runs a successful lumber, flour and cloth mill. Unfortunately, her father suffered a brain injury when a horse kicked him in the head. Since then, his brothers have treated him with ridicule, belittling him when he performs at a slower pace, or becomes confused, torment that actually makes his condition worse. When an accident happens that kills one of the brothers, Clare’s father is blamed.

Clare is in love with Larken, a neighboring farmer, whom her uncles and their wives disdain, claiming he is “beneath” them. Seeking a better life, Larken leaves with his mother and younger brother to start a new life in Kansas, hoping that Clare’s family will follow. Unfortunately, she never receives his letters, and she has no way to reach him. The situation with Clare’s father worsens and her family has to flee New Hampshire. In the meantime, Clare finally receives the “lost” letters and now they, too, are bound for Kansas, leaving behind the family business, determined to start anew. Clare wonders if their fresh start will include Larken.

The Bargain reminds me how tough life was in that time period, not only in attitudes about class and “stations in life,” but also the difficulty in eking out a living with scarce resources. It took determination, sacrifice, frugality and the willingness to help one another to scratch out a living. Irene Bennett Brown is a master in bringing to life attitudes and living conditions of the time. The Bargain is a good, wholesome read, full of character and customs of the period.

Book Review: Dollbaby

Posted on May 15, 2023 by Mary

Dollbaby, a novel by Laura Lane McNeal, is an unforgettable story that takes place in New Orleans beginning 1964.

Liberty (Ibby) Bell, twelve, is still grieving the sudden death of her father when her mother drives her from Olympia, Washington to her grandmother’s house in New Orleans, Louisiana. They arrive at an old mansion that looks as though time had passed it by a century ago. Ibby’s mother, a bitter woman, leaves her daughter at her mother-in-law’s, together with an urn of her husband’s ashes, and says, “Be sure to tell her it’s a gift from me.”

For many years Ibby expects her mother to come back for her. Her grandmother, the Black household staff, Queenie and her daughter, Dollbaby, make sure she feels welcomed and wanted.

The South in those years was another world, steeped in traditions. But much of that was about to change as the new Civil Rights Act is introduced and sit-ins, protests, and racial tensions became commonplace, along with the demonstrations over the controversial Vietnam War.

Dollbaby covers a period of eight eventful years. We learn about Ibby’s grandmother’s colorful past, feel the devotion and comfort Ibby feels from her grandmother, Queenie, and Dollbaby. Ibby learns about her family’s secrets, betrayals, and violence, but also about unconditional love. The story is packed with wonderful words of wisdom, such as, “You have to live the life given to you,” and my favorite, “You got to dance even when there ain’t no music.” Dollbaby is a remarkable story, steeped in Southern tradition and charm. I highly recommend this heartfelt novel of family, southern customs, loyalty and love.

Book Review: The Cowboy and His Elephant

Posted on May 8, 2023 by Mary

The Cowboy and His Elephant: The Story of a Remarkable Friendship by Malcom MacPherson warmed my heart.

The story begins in the late 1980s on the plains of southern Africa. A baby elephant, weighing about 150 pounds, was born into a herd of elephants. A single elephant can eat more than 300 pounds of food a day necessitating a herd to constantly move in their quest for food. They can easily trample down fences and they were becoming a threat to a local tribe, eating crops in the fields, and endangering tribesmen. When the baby elephant was two years old, the entire herd was “culled,” slaughtered within a few moments. Only the baby’s life was spared. She was named Amy and transported to America to be sold.

Bob Norris was a successful Colorado cattle rancher and horse breeder. The T-Cross Ranch was one of the larger ranches in North America. A handsome fellow, Bob became the Marlboro Man and appeared on TV and billboards all over the world. But that’s another story. One day a fellow came by the T-Cross asking if he could temporarily rent some stalls in Bob’s huge barn. The fellow needed a place to house a few baby elephants, just until they were sold. He managed to sell all but Amy. Norris’s heart went out to the pitiful little thing. She was obviously severely traumatized, terrified and bewildered. He bought the elephant, knowing how incongruous having an elephant on a ranch would be, but not fully realizing the impact it would have on his life.

An incredible bond developed between the rancher and the baby elephant. Bob felt his first obligation was to help Amy overcome her fear of the world, of her mistrust of humans. Gradually she began to trust him and to discover how to play with some of the ranch animals. Amy would accompany Bob on chores and became a beloved member of the Norris family. Her intelligence was obvious. She learned to open gates, to turn on faucets, to outsmart the other animals.

Elephants continue to grow throughout their life. It was clear that Amy’s life on the T-Cross could not go on forever. Bob’s goal was to help her develop confidence. Her bulk and grace were obvious. Bob discovered there was no better friend, but if she chose, no worse enemy. She needed to be with other elephants, to find her real place in the world. Bob’s goal now was to find a permanent home for Amy, a challenge that took time, determination and resources.

I loved The Cowboy and His Elephant which deals with two of my favorite subjects: cowboys and elephants. The author vividly describes the various settings of the story, the strong personalities of both Bob and Amy, and the plight of the elephant in the wild, and in captivity.

Book Review: To Dream of Shadows

Posted on April 24, 2023 by Mary

To Dream of Shadows: A Gripping Holocaust Novel Inspired by a Heartbreaking True Story, Book 1 of the series “World War II Historical Fiction”: by Steve N. Lee is a gripping novel that takes place in Eastern Europe, 1943.

Inge Zaleska, 18, travels with her Jewish family in a crowded cattle car after being forced out of their Czechoslovakian home. Once they reach their destination she is torn from her family and placed in a Nazi concentration camp. The detainees are forced into hard labor with no decent food, warmth, adequate clothing, or medical attention.

Although SS Sergeant Rudi Kruse has been force-fed the poisonous hate-Jews philosophy since childhood, he begins to question the unnecessary cruelty he sees at the concentration camp. Harsh conditions take lives unnecessarily. Prisoners are starved, beaten, forced to stand in the cold for hours during roll call. Their treatment is not only counter-productive, it’s sadistic.

When the commandant is injured and must leave the camp for treatment, Rudi is placed in charge pro tem and will stay at the commandant’s home. At the same time, the commandant’s housekeeper, a prisoner, is recovering from a broken leg in the infirmary and Inge is ordered to temporarily fulfill those duties.

As Rudi and Inge become acquainted, Rudi learns more about the plight of Jewish prisoners. He begins to see them as people, not really different than other people. He realizes the huge difference between being a good German and a good Nazi. Rudi and Inge see each other as just people with the same wants and desires. At her suggestions, he makes some comfort changes in the camp: warm coats, adequate shoes, more and better food. But at some point it has to end, the commandant will return to duty. But even more troubling, Rudi and Inge begin to fall in love. Is it even possible for them to have a future together?

To Dream of Shadows is a gripping story of hate, but also awakening compassion and surprisingly, love. I would recommend this book especially to those interested in World War II and how people in that time and place were affected. It profoundly shows how honesty, decency and kindness can change the world.

Book Review: Dancing with the Muse in Old Age

Posted on April 16, 2023 by Mary

Dancing with the Muse in Old Age by Priscilla Long is an inspirational guide to thriving in old age. The author, a senior, discusses the potential of being happy, creative and productive in life’s later years.

The author gives example after example of elders who have accomplished remarkable achievements after reaching their senior years. Some continued with activities of their younger years; some found new interests in which they excelled, or at least found contentment.

Active seniors report that accomplishments started and completed bring satisfaction and a profound sense of well-being. Among the important lessons of the book is keep at it, keep learning, keep stimulating the brain. She quotes Mary Kay Ash (1918 – 2001): “If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you’re right.” No matter your age, it’s important to continue to learn. Like any part of the body, the brain demands that you “use it or lose it.”

Many elders find satisfaction in giving back to society by volunteering, donating time for the benefit of others—teaching children to read, sewing, quilting, knitting, making wooden toys. Seniors do it for the joy of giving, of making a difference. Elders often have the time to go slower, to enjoy the process of finishing what they’ve started. Finishing itself is a skill and brings a sense of accomplishment. The author gives many examples of artists and musicians who benefitted from elders’ knowledge and expertise.

Dancing with the Muse in Old Age is loaded with profound thoughts. Priscilla Long provides evidence that meaningful activities increase the possibility of experiencing deeply satisfying old age.