The Postmistress

I purchased this book based on the recommendation noted on the cover by one of my favorite authors, Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help {talk about A BOOK}, which read, “A beautifully written, thought-provoking novel that I’m telling everyone I know to read.”  The cover was simple.  I read the blurb, on the back purchased the book although I still wasn’t not quite sure if I wanted this book.  But if Kathyrn Stockett recommended it, I couldn’t go wrong…could I?

Author, Sarah Blake - image obtained from her website.

The story is set prior to America's entry into World War II.  Sarah Blake weaves the tale of a postmistress, a female war correspondent, and a disgraced doctor and his wife during these few months.  About three quarters of the way through the book I was still unsure of the plot…where was she taking this story? 

The cast of characters includes a newly appointed postmistress of a small town at the end of the Cape, a young doctor who is trying to atone for his father’s sins who marries his orphaned bride, and most importantly, a female war correspondent who wants to leave her mark in a man’s world.  It’s an odd mix, where in the end all comes together. 

Dr. Will Fitch makes a devastating mistake {no spoiler here} and feels compelled to go to Europe to help those in need due to the Luftwaffe bombings.  He feels guilty and shamed, knowing he is following in his father’s footsteps.  He cannot atone for both his sins and the sins of his father.  He will not wait out life.  He thinks an eye for an eye is fair.  Dr. Fitch leaves behind his pregnant wife, Emma, although she never tells him that she is pregnant. 

The postmistress, Iris James, an ‘intact’ forty-something finally meets her first love, Harry, at the beginning of this story.   She takes her job seriously, thriving on ‘orderliness’ of her job.  Order brings her peace.  She holds everyone’s secrets in her hands, as the mail was the main form of communication in this time period.  Just think about that for a minute.  No television, no Facebook, no cell phones, no Twitter, and very few regular telephones {what do we call the phones in our homes?}.

Image obtained from as-evidenced.blogspot.com

Frankie Bard is a female American foreign war correspondent working for Columbia Broadcasting News under Edward R. Murrow during a time when females were a rarity in this field.  Frankie gets in over her head emotionally as she starts wondering about the end of the story, the follow through…what happens to these people after the glimpse she had into their lives?  This seed of wondering was planted by Dr. Will Fitch.  Will and Frankie met in a funk hole during a bombing.  Yes, funk hole was taken directly from the book.  Frankie’s voice is the female voice heard across America as she describes the horrors of the war as seen by her own eyes.  She must tell these horrors with no emotion in her voice, her job dictates such.

Emma wrote to Will every day.  Will wrote to Emma every day.  Iris, the postmistress, sees the letters come and go, worrying about the day when the letters stop arriving.  Emma writes in her letters, “Will, come home,” and “Will, where are you?”  Iris, the postmistress, holds a letter left by Dr. Fitch for his wife, just in case.

There is no humor, no light, and no happiness in this book. You know these are my list of 'must haves' in my book choices.  But I imagine that there was no humor, no light and no happiness in the lives of the people who lived it.  This book was written to be ‘centered’ on the edges of the war, and most especially, the people of the war. 

In the end, the author ties it all together… finally.  For me, in a sense, it was an educational read.  Sarah Blake does a good job bringing the horrors and the people of the war to life.  I thought of my grandparents and great-grandparents, wondering what their lives were like during this time period.  What did they do, what did they think?  Did they think the world was coming to an end?

It’s a story that is now mostly forgotten by us, and I think we, the human race, should remember this story.  This book is a reminder of the people of this war and the atrocities cast upon them unnecessarily.  These are things that should never be forgotten.  It is not a light read.  It’s not a particularly enjoyable read, but certainly intriguing.