The Postmistress

De: Sarah Blake

Narrado por: Orlagh Cassidy

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

Reseñas de la Crítica

“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)

Just Okay....

What did you like best about The Postmistress? What did you like least?

Although this book had it's moments the ending was rather disappointing and the whole story line just sort of fizzled out. This is the authors first book and maybe others will be be better but it's as though she put all her energy into the first and middle portions and then lost seeing it through to the end. If that what she wrote is what was truly intended though, then I won't be rushing to obtain another one too soon based on this one.

Wonderful and Captivating

This book started a bit slowly at first, as you meet everyone. But before long, I felt myself swept along, captivated. Frankie's experiences are so vividly portrayed that I felt like I was in London when those bombs dropped, and hearing those stories on the trains. A peach of a book, that gives a snapshot of a very important piece of history.

Loved this book!

What a wonderful way to see into the past. A different view of the war showing such human emotion and moral conflict.

Off to a slow start

I started listening to this book several times and could not get into it. I nearly requested a refund of my book credit. I thought I would give it another chance and am glad I did. Fascinating and riveting story that makes you think. Three strong female characters made you want to get to know them!

overall an interesting story

What did you love best about The Postmistress?

This was my first audible book. I enjoyed listening rather than reading and this book was a good story regarding the London Blitz and what was happening back home .
The thing I liked best was that it showed that older people can also have a love story and it was depicted very well.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Postmistress?

One of the most memorable moments was when Harry finally did see a U boat and he was so helpless ....you just wanted to help him ring the bell

What about Orlagh Cassidy’s performance did you like?

easy listening and she made the book come alive.

If you could rename The Postmistress, what would you call it?

The Letter

Any additional comments?

I felt that the ending left a lot to be desired = it was a let-down. The steamy love scenes could have been left out. A little too graphic for my taste. Also the author used too many descriptive adjectives

Heart-stopping

The is quite a different scene altogether from "The Help". While "The Help" is as serene and bucolic as its location in time and place (though not in attitudes and events), "The Postmistress" is as lurching, violent, and dislocating as its own particular theater in history.

As a baby boomer, born just after WW II ended, I have always been curious as to how the war affected the millions of regular folks, as well as the journalists who courageously brought the war events to those my parents' age, older and younger, back here in the States. While there is an author's note as to the recording technology that was not actually available until after the period of time traversed by "The Postmistress", this did not in any way affect the nuance and depth of the story.

The ambiance of Cape Cod plays a major role in the novel as well, and functions as another character. As a summer resident of one of the nearby islands where there was constructed an an entire Army base during WW II, I could well relate to one of the characters who patiently stands guard atop a town hall in order to spot the rogue U-boat.

I would caution the reader - this is not light reading, and perhaps because I am in the arts I have a highly developed imagination and thus felt all the pain, abandonment, violence that is a feature of any war venue. There is an undertow of sadness throughout the book that is not for the feint of heart.

The use of the mail system as metaphor for communication in general, and the nomenclature that changes from "Postmaster" to "Postmistress", is a brilliant device, and without spoiling, there are several characters who qualify for the position, charged with delivering difficult messages.

Beautifully written, this novel gets 5 stars on any scale.

Wonderful!

Wonderful, compelling and the reader has a nice, calm easily understandable voice. Great book on tape!

The Postmistress

This is an interesting view of London in the early days of WWII and is the story of the intertwining of the lives of three women. The book is well written and captivating.

Worthy of the New York Times Best Seller List

I am very picky about what I read, and because this was on the NY Times Best Seller List. It was a touching story of three completely different characters. The author jumped from one story to another, but I always felt connected to the other characters when she made the change. The author did a wonderful job of bringing all the characters together in the end. I was disappointed, but pleased at the ending. Read the book and you'll understand what I mean.

Quick read. Good story.

If you could sum up The Postmistress in three words, what would they be?

historical. tragic. page-turner

Who was your favorite character and why?

Emily. I love the way she handled even the toughest situations with class and grace.

Did Orlagh Cassidy do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Not really. If she was narrating a conversation between Emily and Iris, she would pit Iris in a much deeper voice, and Emily would have a high dainty voice. But when Iris was talking to Harry, Harry had a deep voice and Iris had a higher daintier voice. It threw me off an projected Iris as rough and tumble the whole time, hearing her in such a deep voice.