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)

Boring!!

This book has it all - poor character development, a slow-moving plot that doesn't go anywhere & descriptions that drag on far too long. I liked the reader fine at least.
I love historical fiction, especially set in WWII, but this book was a real struggle to finish. NOT recommended.

Dissapointing

The book might be a better read, but on audio it really is dissapointing. It is somewhat difficult to follow the different characters and the point is even more difficult to find. I loved The Help and Saving CeeCee Honeycutt. This book was suggested because of those preferences, but not similar at all. I was unable to become involved in the book and found myself bored and turning it off.

Wordy and overdone

I love historical novels, and am particularly interested in the WWII era, so I really wanted to like this book. I listened for about 4 hours, and just couldn't bring myself to finish it. The author has an very wordy writing style that makes it seem as if she attended too many creative writing classes. The characters seem overly "dark," and, as another reviewer noted, fall into typical stereotypes. It's almost as if the author tried to make the book more edgy and violent than necessary, (dark plots with a lot of emotional angst are "artsy," after all) which detracts significantly from what could have been an excellent plot. I found the overall "atmosphere" of the book to be overdone . The narration is not great either. A big disappointment.

Not worth my time

It's possible that I could be missing something in the context of each chapter, but I must mute this audible book. At some point I am sure the storyline will converge....I can't wait around for that to happen. I am a huge historical fiction reader. Even so, I felt as if I were in a maze of words....hitting a dead end at the end of each chapter.

Couldn't get into it . . .

This book was referred to me from an avid reader, but I just couldn't get into it. Neither the storyline or the characters drew me in before I turned the book off. I will try again, but for now, not a book for someone who needs to be engaged within the first couple of chapters!

One too many

The story may have worked if I had not lived through the blitz and was not involved in much of what the writer was using as part of her thread. I knew that the first wire recorders were around about 1943 and that I have had a soft wax 78 rpm recorder. It nagged at me through all of her story. How did she get a compect version for her use in about 1941-2. The way she handled them and played and re=played them could never happen. Sorry but I have lived too long to have bought it.

It was just ok

I was into it enough to stick it out to the end, but I really thought there was going to be more to this story than what it was. I feel like the book is self-important, if you know what I mean. There was a lot of potential here, but in the end I think it kind of fell flat.

DONT DO IT!

I read both reviews and went ahead and purchased this book. It is NOT the help. I have attempted to read this book and was quickly confused by the characters metamorphosing into the other. I could not tell who was who until the names were used. I just did not get it. I adored the Help and was bored by the Postmistress. I have no idea if it gets better-I just could not get through the first 3 chapters- ( I had no idea when the chapters change). If I could get a refund-I would ask for double!