SAINTS FOR ALL OCCASIONS (J. Courtney Sullivan)

Today I vow to keep up on writing this blog in a timely manner!  I've been so busy with family weddings and illnesses, an upcoming grandchild, and work obligations that I have simply forgotten that the purpose of a blog is to be written on!

As for this novel, I had to look it up to remind myself of what it is about because all I remember is that I enjoyed it very much.  It is the story of two sisters, Nora and Theresa Flynn, who travel from Ireland to the US to start new lives, Nora with her betrothed and Theresa with a teaching career.  Nora begins to question her commitment to and love for Will, her fiance, while Theresa falls madly in love with a mysterious man and "gets into trouble."  Nora puts aside her doubts and marries Will so they can adopt Theresa's child and Theresa eventually realizes that she has a vocation and joins a cloistered convent while Nora and Will raise her son, Patrick.  As the novel begins, Patrick has died at age 50.  Despite his aimlessness, he has always been Nora's favorite and she grieves at his loss.  She calls Theresa to let her know, despite that fact that they have not seen each other for many years, bringing to the forefront issues that have been buried for years.

Every family has secrets.  Every family has resentments.  Sullivan is a master at pulling together all of the threads of human relationships into a compelling and readable story.  I still have a couple of her novels that I haven't read.  I'll have to read them!

ONCE IN A BLUE MOON LODGE (Lorna Landvik)

Lorna Landvick is a wonderful author with an outlook and imagination that is slightly off-kilter.  This sequel to Patty Jane's House of Curl is, I think, just as wonderful a the original.  Patty Jane is packing up shop, closing the House of Curl and moving on with her life with both her brain-damaged husband and her lover in tow.  When her daughter, Nora, becomes pregnant (with twins) just before meeting the man of her dreams, life presents new challenges.  After a chance encounter with a free-spirited old woman, Nora decides to buy and renovate the Once in a Blue Moon Lodge, which becomes the new gathering place for family and new and old friends.  Landvik takes us on a years-long journey through the adventures of Patty Jane and Nora's family, including births, marriages, and tragic losses.  If you love Landvik (or even if you've never read her imaginative novels, this is a must read.  You'll be swept away into the Minnesota countryside and find yourself very reluctant to return to reality at the end!

REBECCA (Daphne Du Maurier)

Nearly everyone is familiar with Mrs. Danvers.  She's the obsessed housekeeper at Manderley, the de Winter estate on the Cornish coast, and was creepily played by Dame Judith Anderson in the Hitchcock adaptation of this novel.  When widower Maxim de Winter returns to Manderley with his young bride (nameless throughout the novel), Mrs. Danvers sets out to destroy her already shaky confidence.  The young Mrs. de Winter is surrounded by memories of Maxim's first wife Rebecca - her stationary, her clothing, the memories cherished by everyone, even, apparently, her husband.  Rebecca was the perfect wife, the perfect lady, a woman of such charm and taste that everyone still mourns her loss in a boating accident the year before.  The new wife could never hope to live up to the memory of Rebecca.

This is, perhaps, the finest gothic novel of the 20th century.  Du Maurier is a master of atmosphere, peeling away layer after layer of secrets while interspersing dramatic incidents and menacing situations throughout.  It is, when you boil it all down, a novel about the importance of communication and honesty within a marriage.  There are several quite twisted personalities here.  Maxim is tortured, but not, as his new wife and the readers assume, by regrets about lost love.  Mrs. Danvers is the one tortured by lost love for Rebecca, whom she worshipped and revered.

Many of you have probably seen the movie, but the book is so much better and the events leading up to the ending may surprise you.  Revisit a vintage novel that will never grow old or boring.  It has stood the test of time and will, I think, always be in demand.

THE DISTANT HOURS (Kate Morton)

An old crumbling castle, 3 elderly sisters, a mysterious letter, a lost love, and a mother who refuses to talk about her past all help to lead Edie Birchell to Milderhurst Castle, the country estate to which her mother was evacuated during World War II.  The Distant Hours is a story of madness, murder, and family secrets.  It is long, but it will hold your interest.  Kate Morton tends to be a little bit long-winded in some of her novels, but this one will be worth the extra time it takes to read!  If you're looking for a good gothic novel, look no further.