I Gave My Heart to Know This
by Ellen Baker
Genre: Historical / Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Random House
Publish Date: August 2, 2011
Format: Hardback | 324 pages
Rating: 5 of 5
It’s 1944 and American women are taking jobs as factory workers to support the war effort. Violet Maki, her daughter Lena, and Grace Anderson are employed as welders in a Wisconsin shipyard. Grace’s high school sweetheart is away fighting the war as is Lena’s twin brother. The women write letters and try to keep up morale but when bad news arrives they struggle to retain a sense of normalcy. Grace wants to move on with her life while Lena feels that would be a betrayal that she could not forgive.
Five decades later, Julia, Violet’s granddaughter has agreed to house-sit the family farm for her aunt and uncle while they are away on an extended trip. As she is cleaning out a room for herself in the attic she discovers old letters and a studio portrait of a glamorous blonde woman; the back of the picture was inscribed, “Love Grace”. Julia doesn’t know of any family member named Grace, but her mother never spoke much about the family.
The story weaves the past and present; we join Violet, Grace and Lena in the waning days of WWII, while in 1999 Julia unravels the mystery and discovers the secrets that nearly destroyed her family. When done well, this is one of my favorite techniques and Ms. Baker’s beautiful writing has us moving between the generations seamlessly.
Much of the story takes place in the past focusing on the three women. They are well-developed, interesting characters in a unique period in history. It was a pleasure to read about strong, competent women confronting difficult situations. Towards the end of the war the manufacturing industry, out of necessity, began hiring women to do jobs typically held by men. Working as a welder was dangerous and the women often needed to prove themselves capable to the male workers and supervisors.
I found this a very enjoyable novel. It is a multi-layered, emotional story with enough plot twists to keep the pages turning and a satisfying ending where all the pieces come together. Highly recommended.
About The Author
Ellen Baker was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and grew up in Wisconsin, Illinois, and South Dakota. She has worked as a costumed living history interpreter, a curator of a World War II museum, and as a bookseller and event coordinator at an independent bookstore. Her previous novel, Keeping the House, won the 2008 Great Lakes Book Award. She lives in Minnesota.
Find Ellen on Facebook or visit her webpage.
Giveaway Information
Ellen Baker has generously offered a copy of I Gave My Heart to Know This to one of my readers.
- Contest is open to US addresses only.
- To enter leave a comment.
- The deadline for entry is Sunday, January 9th. I will draw one winner who will be contacted by email and will have 48 hours to respond with a mailing address.
Contest Now Closed
Winner: Irene Yeates
Sheila at Book Journey is hosting the Read Dystopia Challenge 2012. The challenge runs from January 1 through December 31.
Dystopia – a work of fiction describing an imaginary place where life is extremely bad because of deprivation or oppression or terror.
Levels of participation:
1-3 books: Beginner
4-6 books: Intermediate Post World Trainee
7-10 books: Leader of Your District
11+ books: SURVIVOR!
As I looked over my to-be-read list I find that I already have a few dystopian books in the pile. Since I should be able to achieve four books without too much effort I’ve decided to choose the 7-10 book level for my challenge. I’ve started my tentative list below and will link to the reviews as I post them on my permanent challenge page.
Tentative list:
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Neuromancer by William Gibson
The Children Of Men by PD James
Feed by Mira Grant
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin
Almost Wordless: While counting birds for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count at Cantigny, we almost didn’t see this cold, fluffed-up hawk. It looked like a clump of leaves caught in the tree until we took a closer look with binoculars.
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More Wordless Wednesday.
How I Got This Way
by Regis Philbin
Read by: Regis Philbin
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Harper Audio
Publish Date: November 15, 2011
Format: Audio CD | 9 hours and 37 minutes
Rating: 4 of 5
Fans of Regis Philbin will love this entertaining memoir. It is comprised of 30 chapters, each about someone who made a difference in his life. There are many witty stories and memories, all told in Regis’ inimitable style.
While I’ve only been a casual fan of Regis, I enjoyed these stories immensely. The only chapters I didn’t relate to were the ones about Notre Dame. I’m just old enough to remember most of the people but a few from the beginning of his career such as Jack Paar, Cary Grant, Steve Allen, Joey Bishop and Don Rickles were stories prior to my time. I knew Regis was the sidekick for The Joey Bishop Show which aired against The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, but I gained new insight in to what it was like to work with Joey Bishop and not in a good way. Regis sets the story straight on an incident that happened on that show and if it were me I don’t think I could have waited this many years!
One of my favorite parts was a wonderful story about Jack Nicholson culminating in the two of them going to a Lakers game. Another was the chapter on Jerry Seinfleld and how much of fan he is of the show and Jerry’s comedy and some nice stories about his friend David Letterman. And who knew what a great guy George Clooney is. Regis and his wife attended a party at Clooney’s mansion in Como Italy and say it was one of their best evenings ever. Wish I could have been there too! As expected there were chapters on Kathy Lee and Kelly and of course Regis’ wife, Joy. A few people I was surprised to find included were Donald Trump and Howard Stern.
The audiobook was read by Regis himself. He is an excellent storyteller and did wonderful job with the narration. If someone else would have narrated the book I doubt I would have chosen to listen to it, and I’m sure if I read the book I would have had Regis’ voice in my head as I read the words.
One of the few problems in choosing audio over print is missing the photos that accompany memoirs and non-fiction books. Harper Audio solved the problem by including a pdf file of the photos contained in the book with both the downloadable and CD audiobook. The photos included span Regis’ 50 years in show business and their inclusion was a welcome addition.
I enjoyed listening to the book and I would recommend it to fans of Regis, young and old.
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Source: Review copy provided by Harper Audio
Mailbox Monday was created by The Printed Page. It is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their home last week.
Mailbox Monday is currently on tour, hosted by a different blog each month. The December host is Let Them Read Books.
Audiobooks for review from the publisher:
Believing The Lie
by Elizabeth George
Inspector Thomas Lynley is mystified when he’s sent undercover to investigate the death of Ian Cresswell at the request of the man’s uncle, the wealthy and influential Bernard Fairclough. The death has been ruled an accidental drowning, and nothing on the surface indicates otherwise. But when Lynley enlists the help of his friends Simon and Deborah St. James, the trio’s digging soon reveals that the Fairclough clan is awash in secrets, lies, and motives.
Lunatics
by Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel
Philip Horkman is a happy man-the owner of a pet store called The Wine Shop, and on Sundays a referee for kids’ soccer. Jeffrey Peckerman is the sole sane person in a world filled with goddamned jerks and morons, and he’s having a really bad day. The two of them are about to collide in a swiftly escalating series of events that will send them running for their lives, pursued by the police, soldiers, terrorists, subversives, bears, and a man dressed as Chuck E. Cheese.
A win from Kristin at Always With a Book:
The Doctor and The Diva
by Adrienne McDonnell
It is 1903, and Erika von Kessler has struggled for years to become pregnant. Resigned to childlessness, Erika-a talented opera singer and the wife of a prominent Bostonian-secretly plans to move to Italy to pursue her musical career. When the charismatic Doctor Ravell takes Erika on as a patient, he is mesmerized by her. Impetuously, he takes a shocking risk that could ruin them both.
Inspired by the author’s family history, the novel moves from snowy Boston to the gilded balconies of Florence in a stunning tale of opera, longing, and the indomitable power of romantic obsession.
How was your week?
Under My Apple Tree 