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winter edition
Title:
Postcards from Berlin
Author: Margaret Leroy
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Date: June 2003 First Edition
ISBN: 0316738231
By Harriette Angsten
Special to WordSmitten
In
Postcards from Berlin, author Margaret
Leroy invites us into the seemingly perfect life of Catriona
Lydgate - loyal wife, devoted mother, and talented artist.
By
outward appearances, she has it all, right down to the proper
London home. Cat's life begins to unravel when her young daughter,
Daisy, is struck with a mysterious flu-like illness that she
can't seem to overcome, triggering a series of medical consultations
and a frantic search for answers.
Fear
and desperation take over Cat's life, creeping into every crack
and crevice of her marriage, as she helplessly watches her life
spiral out of control. Even her intense love and concern for
her daughter are questioned by those to whom she has turned
for help.
As
the accusations take a threatening turn, Cat realizes that she
is about to lose the very thing she loves the most - her daughter
- and tries to deflect the probing questions into her stormy
childhood with lies. She is shocked when even her husband, Richard,
withdraws his support for her. As trauma unravels her quiet
life, a series of mysterious postcards from Berlin begin to
arrive, forcing her to deal with hurts she has long ago locked
away.
With
wonderfully descriptive writing and psychological insight, Leroy
crafts a mesmerizing tale of love and fear. Rather than spoon
feeding us the resolution, the author allows us to follow Catriona
Lydgate with empathy as she regains control of her life. Even
the most detached reader will be led to examine his or her own
childhood experiences, proving once again that we are all products
of our past.
Harriette Angsten, an avid reader, is a frequent contributor
to the Osprey Observer, lives in Florida, and enjoys writing,
searching for antiques, and participating in the lives of her
grandchildren.
Literary
Trivia - Ever tried the Spa Treatment for
slow selling novels? Agatha did it.
Agatha Christie, born September 15, 1890.
Here
are tidy bits about her life. When things got tough for her,
she escaped to a spa in what may have been, in the 1890s,
one of the first well-planned publicity stunts by a woman author.
It was that, or book revisions were making her personal windmills
tilt. Either way, we wish Agatha a very belated birthday. More
trivia:
Mary
Clarissa Agatha Miller, later known as Agatha Christie, is born
Torquay, Devon, England. Educated at Ashfield, her parents’
comfortable home, Christie began making up stories as a child.
Her mother and her older sister Madge also made up stories;
Madge told especially thrilling tales about a fictional, mentally
deranged older sister.
Agatha married Colonel Archibald Christie in 1914, before World
War I, and had one daughter. While her husband was off fighting
in World War I, Christie worked as an assistant in a pharmacy,
where she learned about poisons. She began to write on a dare
from her sister and produced her first mystery novel, The
Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), featuring Belgian detective
Hercule Poirot, who would appear in 25 more novels during the
next quarter century. The novel found modest success, and she
continued writing. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
became a bestseller, and she enjoyed phenomenal success for
the rest of her life.
Agatha Christie entered a period of emotional turmoil after
the death of her mother and a divorce from her first husband.
She disappeared for 11 days, eventually turning up at a health
spa. Her disappearance was highly publicized, and an expensive
government search ensued. She was later criticized for not coming
forward with her whereabouts.
In 1930, she married archeologist Sir Max Mallowan and accompanied
him on expeditions to the Middle East, which became the setting
for many of her novels. She then created Miss Marple,
one of her most beloved detectives. All told, Christie wrote
some 80 novels, 30 short story collections, and 15 plays, plus
six romances under the pen name Mary Westmacott. She was knighted
in 1971 and died in 1976, just a year after she killed off Poirot
in the novel Curtain: Hercule Poirot’s Last Case.
Poirot received a front-page obituary in the New York Times
on August 6, 1975.
By the time Christie died, more than 400 million copies of her
books had been sold in more than 100 languages.
hot for January - Norah Vincent's new book
SELF-MADE MAN
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Viking Adult (January 19, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN: 0670034665
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.7 x 1.0 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds. (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: based on 10 reviews. (Write a review.)
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8 in Books (See Top Sellers in Books)
Yesterday: #8 in Books
Literary History Tidbits: courtesy of The History Channel.
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