The Postmistress

By: Sarah Blake

Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy

Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

It is 1940. France has fallen. Bombs are dropping on London. And President Roosevelt is promising he won't send our boys to fight in "foreign wars."

But American radio gal Frankie Bard, the first woman to report from the Blitz in London, wants nothing more than to bring the war home. Frankie's radio dispatches crackle across the Atlantic ocean, imploring listeners to pay attention--as the Nazis bomb London nightly, and Jewish refugees stream across Europe. Frankie is convinced that if she can just get the right story, it will wake Americans to action and they will join the fight.

Meanwhile, in Franklin, Massachusetts, a small town on Cape Cod, Iris James hears Frankie's broadcasts and knows that it is only a matter of time before the war arrives on Franklin's shores. In charge of the town's mail, Iris believes that her job is to deliver and keep people's secrets, passing along the news that letters carry. And one secret she keeps are her feelings for Harry Vale, the town mechanic, who inspects the ocean daily, searching in vain for German U-boats he is certain will come. Two single people in midlife, Iris and Harry long ago gave up hope of ever being in love, yet they find themselves unexpectedly drawn toward each other.

Listening to Frankie as well are Will and Emma Fitch, the town's doctor and his new wife, both trying to escape a fragile childhood and forge a brighter future. When Will follows Frankie's siren call into the war, Emma's worst fears are realized. Promising to return in six months, Will goes to London to offer his help, and the lives of the three women entwine.

Alternating between an America still cocooned in its inability to grasp the danger at hand and a Europe being torn apart by war, The Postmistress gives us two women who find themselves unable to deliver the news, and a third woman desperately waiting for news yet afraid to hear it.

Sarah Blake's The Postmistress shows how we bear the ...

©2010 Sarah Blake (P)2010 Penguin

Critic reviews

“Blake captures two different worlds—a naïve nation in denial and, across the ocean, a continent wracked with terror—with a deft sense of character and plot, and a perfect willingness to take on big, complex questions, such as the merits of truth and truth-telling in wartime.” ( Publishers Weekly)

“Matching harrowing action with reflection, romance with pathos, Blake’s emotional saga of conscience and genocide is poised to become a best-seller of the highest echelon.” ( Booklist, starred review)

“a moving page-turner from a talented writer.” ( Bookmarks Magazine)

A Beautiful Yawn

It was definitely beautifully written, but beautiful doesn't cure boring. It was like that girl you look at with some nice features, but when they are all put together she falls just shy of being pretty, like Celine Dion. One of the main characters, Frankie, is just plain whiny and annoying. Iris has her phreak on with her Cerificate of Virginity (I still never understood what that was supposed to be all about), and it was just life, senseless and random. I dunno, but I just don't see life like that. I liked the question it raised about what happens at the edges of "the stories" we hear about daily, but when the edges are revealed here, they make you just want to stick your head in an oven they are so depressing.

Thought provoking and moving

This is definitely a literary work, so don't expect it to be a "page turner." However this book is worth a listen for several reasons. First, although not a "boiler" in terms of plot, it moves along sufficiently to keep a reader's interest. Second, there are ideas in this book (about how we rationalize our feelings while we supposedly try to keep others from suffering) that are worth time. Third, the writing at numerous places in this book practically glows with passion. I have now downloaded at least 100 books for listening, and I have yet to listen to any book that moved me to tears as deeply and as often as this book.

The Voices

Any additional comments?

Gorgeously written book about a reporter, an orphan wife, and a postmistress on the Eve of America joining WWII. ??I think it should have been called "The Voices" as it is more than just the postmistress that binds this story together. ??I loved that this book asked the right questions from that period without trying to provide answers for why it all happened.

Fantastic as an audio book

With all the accents and foreign language, this makes for a particularly fantastic audiobook. It's a wonderful story and the performance of the reader is flawless. 👍

Great Book

Definitely a page turner. Great maneuver in creating characters and bringing them together. Enjoyed the story and characters very much. Thanks for another great book Sarah Blake.

Beware- bad language

If you dont like bad language this is not the book for you.I only got to disc two and had to stop the book. I dont enjoy the continual use of 4-letter words in an audio book and hearing it is even worse than seeing it in print. Ill take an Anne Tyler book or an Alexander Mc Call Smith for a good read any day. Wish there was a rating system for audio-books especially if its by an unfamiliar author. Really enjoy the ease of "audible" this is my only complaint...The selection is abundant. Thankyou sharon -california

boring

What is the point of this book? It kept putting me to sleep.

Too Long, Too Flat

There were some good moments in the book but overall the story was made tedious by elaborate and painfully repetitive descriptions that went on and on, making up perhaps for lack of action. The characters were a little flat and unremarkable. This book was compared to The Help, but if the Help is a study in character development, then this book is a study in lack of development. I can guarantee in a couple of months I will remember nothing about this book or it's characters. What really got to me about this audio book, more than the story, is the narrator. Every time she reads dialogue in, be it male or female, it sounds as if she is doing a comedic impression of an elderly Katherine Hepburn. It drove me up the wall. I'd rather her just read them in a flat tone than try to do what she must feel is a Massachusetts accent.

Disappointing

First I will admit that I didn't have really high hopes for this novel but was looking for something less serious to read. The premise seemed interesting. I found the novel to be very short on character development. So much so, that I failed to form an attachment to even one of the characters. I felt as though I were listening to the abridged version. No excitement. No surprises. I also expected a more thorough wrap-up. Plus let me say that I was shocked that the reader failed to know how to pronounce Edward R. Murrow's name. Seriously? and Messerschmidtt? How could that be possible?

Predictable and rather lifeless

I was so disappointed by this story. I confess, I bought it because of the title and the cover, which just goes to show you should never judge a book by its cover. The writing was bland, and the narrator, Orlagh Cassidy, was even blander. The story was painfully unoriginal and the characters rather irritating and poorly constructed. The random, gratuitous sex scenes were rather unnecessary and cheesy. They read much like a Harlequin romance might, if it were posing as literature. I struggled to finish this book.