The English Masterpiece

By: Katherine Reay

Scott County Library paperback 277 pages plus author's notes, etc.

Published: 2025

Genre: historical fiction

Book club meets tomorrow and I've read the book! Now it's time to blog my notes . . . and there are lots of them. I've really enjoyed Reay's books in the past but this one wasn't a favorite for me. 

 

Lily is an aspiring artist working at the Tate Gallery in London in 1973. Her supervisor, Diana, has been her role model and a driving force in her life. In one fateful moment at an opening of a Picasso exhibit, Lily blurts out a statement that sends her life into a wild frenzy. Mixed in with all this is a fraught family dynamic and a little dash of romance.

 

Page 24: "Can't I just take it back?" . . . And no, whatever one says or does cannot be taken back. Some things can never be taken back.

 

As someone who often blurts without thinking, this made me cringe. One of my favorite (or at least oft-said) verses is "Set a guard over my mouth oh Lord;  keep watch over the door of my lips" from Psalm 141:3. Hurtful or stupid things cannot be unsaid.

Page 28: "Words are powerful things."

I liked the security guard Archie. He and Padraic the janitor at the school were wonderful characters. Here Lily is surprised that the gallery is empty and everyone has gone because of her comment.

Page 34: My sister is ten years older than I am, and we always seem to scrape against each other rather than slide along. She makes me feel juvenile, silly, and frivolous. She says I make her feel clumsy, irrelevant, and useless.

Ah, siblings. It can be difficult to find a good space to appreciate one another and enjoy one another's company. I'm thankful that I get along well with my siblings. So often, family members discount the youngest child because they are older and theoretically wiser. The friction between Lily and Daisy shouldn't have gone on so long! I like the author's word choice in describing scraping rather than sliding.

Page 36: Her words don't help, but they do broaden my perspective from the personal to the universal.

Sometimes we get so focused on our own situation that we forget to take a step back and consider the bigger picture. Here, Lily is thinking about the rest of the family and the economy because of Daisy's words. My strategy if I'm wrestling with something is to say, "In the grand scheme of eternity . . . " because most of the things I fuss about really don't matter in an eternal sense. Again, I like the author's use of "broaden my perspective from the personal to the universal."

Page 54: That day I wandered in and out of the empty classrooms, the half-full studios with stressed students deep into their term-end assignments, and I fell in love. It wasn't just being near art, like one can be when standing in a museum or a gallery; it was being close to the energy of its creation. The messiness, the intimacy, the grandeur, and the soul involved in making art. I sensed both the acumen and ability of those students as surely as I understood their vulnerability and desperation, their rawness and even their heartbreak. They were living Picassos - their souls splayed two-dimensionally across what they strove to create."

This didn't necessarily "speak" to me on a deep level, but I could imagine the intensity and love the idea of being "close to the energy." I think, too, of the passion of teenagers and young adults. There is something about youth that speaks of vibrancy.

Page 56: "You're hiding here in your painting. You've copied others long enough. Freedom takes courage."

Paddy is giving Lily advice and encouraging her to move forward. She grabs hold of that last comment and starts to process her life and her goals. It makes sense that she copied the masters to learn more about painting and different techniques, but that's all she's been doing.

Page 70: Here the memory grows technicolor vivid, but maybe that's because I've replayed it in my head so many times I've created it rather than actually recall it. Yet that's art - perception and reality merging in a new form.

Lily is thinking of the childhood incident that led to her choking, her mother driving her to emergency, the car accident, . . . I have a "memory" of leading my Grandpa Pahl to the pantry to get a cookie from the cookie jar. There's even a photo! But do I actually remember it, or has the story been told to me so many times that I recall a story instead of the actual event?

Page 132: When does growth end and mere copying, forging, and even dying begin?

Lily is contemplating her art and her life. Right after this, she runs into Conor (the American insurance investigator) and then they run into Pierce Brosnan. Later in the Author's Notes, Reay writes,

 ". . . I learned that Brosnan actually attended St. Martin's School and studied art around the same time I had my fictional Lily working there.

Well, that set off my imagination and I wonder if a moment within this story might not have led to that brilliant scene in his later movie - . . . . There you go - that is how Pierce Brosnan ended up in this novel. And if he ever reads it, I hope he thoroughly enjoys his brief shining role."

Page 136: I say art is love, but it's also risk. I don't see love in my work, and I definitely don't see any risk. I can't take risks. Financially or otherwise. Needs always outweigh wants.

Lily is right in that needs outweigh wants. But she isn't being a very creative problem solver, either. She spends a lot of time contemplating her art and her life in this story, but there's plenty of action to keep the story moving along.

Page 169: I have no control. I never did.

It takes her long enough to get here! 

Page 170: That's what I would chase - if I had the time, the ability, and the talent. Not expressionism or surrealism. I want to see without subterfuge and distortion. I want truth.

It's nice that she wants to paint truth. I've learned more about different art movements subbing in Sarah's art class than elsewhere . . . 

Page 180 holds the back story to her older siblings and their experience during WWII with Operation Pied Piper. It seemed as though the whole back story / family history was a bit disjointed. Fascinating, but not very clear.

Page 188: He nods to the teakettle, which begins to hiss. He waits as she takes it off the stove and pours water through the strainer into the cup. Tension builds within her. He is waiting for some purpose. She can feel it. His timing always plays to his advantage.

The relationship between Diana and her much older husband Heinrich was downright creepy. He groomed her and manipulated her. They were both quite twisted.

Page 225: Heinrich smiles, something long, slow, menacing. "Pride and greed are powerful vices. Ubiquitous too. Plenty of the disreputable and greedy are in New York."

Again, Heinrich was a creep and sneaky. I thought his observation about pride and greed were apropos.

Page 230: "When did you need to apologize for an accident that happened twenty-two years ago? You took that all on yourself. That's pride, my girl, not humility."

Lily's mom finally has the talk with her she ought to have had many years earlier! How did they let that much dysfunction foster?

In chapter 30, Lily goes to Diana's house to confront her. I was thinking, "Are you kidding me? That's the worst place you can go." I understand why the author had that happen. It's certainly an interesting part of the book. This book was interesting but not fantastic.

The Berlin Letters

by Katherine Reay

Dakota County Library paperback 347 pages plus author's note, etc.

Published: 2024

Genre: Christian historical fiction

I love this author! Sadly, I didn't get to attend the book club discussion. My grandchildren were more lively than I had anticipated and they were here for an overnight visit . . . 

Luisa Voekler is the main character in this book. Born in Germany but brought to America by her grandparents when she was little, she is working for the CIA. She is a talented code breaker with an "accountant" cover story. She was told that her parents died in a car crash when she was little.

In reality, her mother handed her over the barbed wire to the grandparents who raised her on that fateful August day when the wall was built between East and West Berlin. Weaving between the "modern" 1989 story and the 1960s, Reay does a lovely job of filling out the characters and the storyline. What an interesting book! 

Page 23 - "In a society terribly afraid of the Soviets and the nuclear terror they could rain down on us, people often mistake German for Russian. Americans, on the whole, aren't multilingual and can be a little culturally myopic."

This hurts, but is so true. Not just in the 1960s or 1980s . . . a lot of Americans have the "you should only speak English" mentality. It's a bit embarrassing in a global society.

Page 48 - "Three days later my room was swarmed by ants. Thousands of them. They were everywhere. Oma freaked out and ran screaming from the room. She was reeling, like in the chaos of a massive cyclone. I stood stunned, illuminated by a focused lightning strike. The cake!"

I related to this scene so much! I would be like Oma, freaked out and screaming. I would also be like little Luisa, reluctant to explain that I had hidden a forbidden slice of cake in the floorboards of my bedroom, sneaking a treat for later and forgetting it. This page also made me laugh! Human nature is full of foibles.

 

Page 51 - "From 1949 to today,  (Jeanne's note - 8.13.1961) over three and a half million East Germans came to the Soviet Sector, walked across a line, and disappeared."

How awful that people no longer wanted to live in their homeland and leadership's response was to build a wall to prevent them from going! Three and a half MILLION people in twelve years? That's crazy.

Page 65 - "The mental gyrations I'm conjuring to justify what I'm about to do are extraordinary. Integrity, I shake my head, teeters at the cutting edge of a very slippery slope."

I love her language here! So often if I find myself rationalizing a decision (making excuses to do what I want to do), I realize I need to take a step back and think about WHY I'm trying to make things happen a certain way. Integrity is too important to compromise with situational decision-making.

Page 119 - "It's a family trait . . . We all have secrets."

Typically, I get frustrated with book club characters who could solve problems so much more easily if they were just honest with their loved ones! But in this story, it was easier to see why people kept their secrets. It was nice to have the truth come out, though!

Page 187 - "He lifts his hand as if I'm about to interrupt him, and I realize how often people do that. I barely know this man. Do I give off some sign that I don't let people finish their sentences?"

This was another place where I identified with Luisa, but it makes me sad. I'm not a good listener and I'm too often ready to interrupt and jump in with my own thoughts and ideas. It's something I'm trying to work on!

Page 251 - "A snitch. I remember Oma telling me stories growing up, how the Stasi, despite employing a seemingly countless number of agents, still recruited on average one snitch, one Inoffizielle Mitarbeiter, per eight people. That would mean statistically, sitting in a room with seven friends, you'd be confiding your secrets to a Stasi informant."

This reminded me of Ruta Sepetys' book I Must Betray You (set in Romania). I can't imagine living with the paranoia of wondering who is informing and who can be trusted. How awful!

Page 286 - "Because Andrew was right - the tension in the air is palpable on both sides of the Wall. Eastern Europe feels like it's breaking apart. I suppose I have no way to know if it's the usual tension, but I can't imagine it is. How can one live day by day in this charged, electric, fraught atmosphere?"

This reminded me that people all over the planet are living in dangerous, tense, fraught situations. I think of people right now in Ukraine, Haiti, Gaza, . . . and it's both easy to be thankful to live without this fear and tension and difficult to imagine what I can do to help those who are struggling.

I really liked (and was surprised by) Haris Voelker's character arc. I liked the punk bands aspect toward the end (though I don't like that style of music!). This was well-researched and well-written. Another hit from Reay.

A Shadow in Moscow

By Katherine Reay

Dakota County Library paperback 359 pages plus author's note

Published: 2023

Genre: Christian historical fiction 

 

 

Anya (Russian in U.S.) in 1980s

Ingrid (German anti-Nazi in Germany) in 1940s through 1980s

 

There IS a *spoiler* toward the end, so if you haven't read this book and want to, stop halfway or so through this blog entry.

I wasn't able to go to our book club discussion because I was prepping for a trip into the BWCA. Too bad, because I really like this author but struggled at times to keep the two womens' story lines and ancillary characters straight. Talking about it with other readers would have been nice!

Page 26: "...Americans are generally horrible about accents and languages,  by the way. "

 

I loved this aside. I'm always impressed by Europeans (or others) who have mastered two or three languages at a minimum . . . and it's completely normal for them! I really wish I'd been more diligent in studying and using the French I learned. Americans just don't seem to care much about communicating in anyone else's language.

Page 48: "Until I landed in America,  I had no idea that papers could publish differing opinions - and so many of them.  At home Pravda gets delivered daily,  and within it,  the Party tells us the facts and what our opinion regarding those facts should be. "

That really struck me - not just the skewing of "facts," but being told how one should think about them. Even though media in America is a bit crazy, I love that we have free press!

Page 49: "Our conformity gives an illusion of power and peace as we are raised to believe our way of life is superior and virtuous.  Illusions are powerful things.  If you believe them hard enough,  they can become one's reality. "

 

"Raised to believe our way of life is superior and virtuous" - I think most of us can agree that this is not a uniquely Russian issue. I think most Americans think their way of life is superior as well. It is important to be a lifelong learner and be willing to consider others' perspectives! Also, people are really good at believing what they want to believe and / or convince themselves to believe.

Page 137: "There's a word for this,  Anya, this living two truths - one deep in your heart and one you act on every day.  Ketman. It comes from Persia. It translates to doublethink. You divide your soul as you deceive others in order to stay safe,  but you deceive yourself in the end. " (Dmitri  to Anya, 1983)

 

 I would be a terrible spy! I'm much too blatant and speak my mind without thinking!

Page 146: "She's been making my favorite dish.  I can smell the sour cherries cooking along with the veal, and it brings me back to my childhood when all was all because I didn't know any better."

 

Oh, the evocative power of smells! And I was so oblivious as a child! I love the idea of childhood innocence. Who wants children to have to grapple with evil? Let them believe all is well.

 

Page  202: "It's those everyday details that hold the greatest power over me. I remember one of them and I'm lost in the past, walking with him hand in hand, laughing at something he's just said. Something for my ears only. I wish I'd comprehended the sway of those ordinary moments each and every second I lived within them."

Those ordinary moments are powerful, indeed. Live in the moment! Be grateful for the people in your life.

Page 228: "Yet whenever I feel I've almost given up, something roars to life inside me. Call it fight, call it dissent, call it anger. Whatever it is, it rebels against capitulation. Those years in the US were mine . . . I grew through learning the philosophies and ideals of dignity and freedom; I grew within the pleasure of open debate and discussion. . . . They were real and tangible, and I lived in and among them four whole years."

 

I love this! As messy and flawed as things are in the United States, people have so many opportunities to think and wrestle with ideas without fear of penalty. (Okay, unless you're blatantly a danger to others.)

 

Page  293: "We Soviets have never been the title character of our stories. We toil, suffer, work, hurt, sacrifice, and give everything to the State; we call each other 'comrade' in the belief that the moniker makes us equal. It doesn't and never has. Ours is another's story - the tsars', the Bolsheviks', the Party's, whatever dictator rules our day. The best that can be said of us is that we endure."

This is so sad! So many people in a country where they're not able to be truly free.

Page 329: "But true choice, sacrificial choice, and the ability to think and determine what to do with those choices, will not come easy to the Soviet psyche. True choice is hard-won. It resides in faith and must be cultivated over time. We don't think along those lines. We've been trained not to."

I don't know if Reay was trying to keep the reader guessing about the Ingrid/Anya mother/daughter relationship, but it was apparent to me from the get-go. By the time THEY figure it out, I was glad they finally got to talk openly about their spy lives. Also, I was a bit disappointed that Christian faith played barely any role in the story. Dmitri going to an underground church and trying to get Anya to go was such a tiny part of the story.

Page 334: "I love music. Always have. I truly believe it captures the best essence of a culture. It helps you grasp massive ideas in a compressed time frame. Music seeps into your soul and molds you."

When Anya asks her mother if she enjoys music, it's kind of sad that they've spent over twenty years together and don't really know one another. I love this description of music and how it impacts us.

Page 353 (and elsewhere): "'The only words that left her mouth at the beginning of every 'session' were duc in altum.' At my blank stare he explained, 'It's Latin for 'push into the deep.' I knew what it meant. I just couldn't believe she had said it. It was her code phrase for me when I was young and doing the right thing was going to be hard and it was going to hurt."

I love the idea of having meaningful phrases that are repeated to a child so that they become ingrained in their thinking. Not necessarily in Latin! And this particular phrase doesn't resonate for me, but it's a great concept to help build virtues in children.

 

I need to get the September book club book, but I think I'm going to miss that discussion, too!

The London House

by Katherine Reay

Dakota County Library paperback 347 pages

Published: 2021

Genre: Historical fiction

We had a good discussion at book club on Monday night. This book was more serious and complex than Reay's other books that we've read, but it also was less "Christian." Other than references to C.S. Lewis and absolute truth (toward the end of the book), it was about people, relationships, history, etc. but not really about faith in God. (Perhaps the author is trying to reach an audience that would reject "Christian" fiction?)

The main character Caroline Payne has never really dealt with the loss of her sister Amelia when they were 8 and 9 years old. This parallels her grandmother Margaret's loss of her twin Caroline ("Caro" - whom our protagonist was named for) during WWII. There are many other parallels, but the unraveling of the history of what really happened to Caro in the 1940s is sparked by Mat, a college friend of Caroline's.

There's plenty of history, some mystery, and dashes of romance. I put lots of post-it notes in the book, so I'll try to be brief with this. Overall, I liked this book, but didn't love it. The past was discovered mostly in the letters Caro wrote and the diary Margo kept.

Page 9 - "My belief is that those stories, your story, also provide a sense of hope. They assure us that when bad things happen, life continues, and that we humans are resilient and endure. Hope emerges from tragedy." 

This is Mat talking to Caroline. I agree that stories are powerful. They can also be painful. And the same people might have very different perspectives on an event . . . this also makes me think of the Storyworth stories I'm writing this year.

Page 114 - "If he saw even a fraction of what Creighton saw, I understand why he watches Europe so closely. How could the world ever endure such horrors again?"

This is from Margo's journal and references the "Great War" (aka WWI) and the unthinkable that was coming - WWII. But when I read it, I got the chills thinking about last week's invasion of Ukraine by Russia. I'm horrified that Putin is doing what he wants and the rest of the world seems to just be watching. 

Page 128 - "The irony of my indictment struck me - I was the one who survived that day, yet how well did I embrace life?"

Caroline is starting to realize that just as her grandmother had been altered dramatically by the loss of her sister, so has she. Loss and grief can be so difficult to work through! I can't imagine an eight year old having to deal with the loss of her sister in a horrific accident and not getting serious help to work through the emotional impact of that!

Page 134-5 The letter from Caro to Margo dated July 23, 1936 says in part, "Everything here is shocking, Margo - in all the best ways. There are so many things to taste, experience, think, discuss, and debate. At home, we were fed one way of doing things and one way to think. The door cracked open at Brilliantmont, but here it's been blown off its hinges."

You can feel Caro's youth, excitement, and worldview change in this letter. It's interesting that for a long time in Paris, she saw only the glamour and excitement but missed the impending danger. Brilliantmont is the Swiss boarding school she was sent to at age 16 when Margo contracted scarlet fever.

Page 137 - "'When something bad happens,' she continued, 'it's easy to blame someone else, and in some cases maybe it is their fault, but that doesn't matter. Not in the end. What does matter is how long we hold on to that hurt or that anger. We can magnify the pain, making it worse and worse until it devours us, or we can forgive it and get on with life.'"

I love Caroline's mother's growth and wisdom! Even though we didn't really "meet" her "before" character, we know through Caroline's experience that change has happened.

Page 138 - "There is a relational beauty to food, to cooking. Gifts I had forgotten, and I'm sorry for that."

Caroline's mom talking about moving in to take care of her former mother-in-law. The house renovations sounded incredible! And I agree that cooking can be therapeutic in a way.

Pages 162-3 - The pages where Margo is visiting Caro in Paris and this is described in her journal: "What they meant was my provincial ideas were so antiquated and passé, they've become cute. Furthermore, I am an idiot. They didn't say it, but everyone's tone dripped with condescension."

I could picture this so vividly! Poor Margo!

Page 173 - "Life is too short, Margo, to cut out the ones we love. I refuse to be the one who stops trying to bridge the gap between us."

A letter from Caro to her sister. From Paris in 1938. Life is too short to let brokenness in important relationships sever us from one another.

Page 198 - "It was a powerful word - an elusive, beautiful word of belonging."

Reay does such a beautiful job of making "we" a powerful word. But I'm too lazy to type it all right now.

Of Literature and Lattes

by Katherine Reay
Scott County Library paperback 310 pages
published: 2020
genre: Christian realistic fiction, relationships

Though I like Reay's writing style, this book was a bit of a disappointment. Like The Printed Letter  Bookshop, this title takes place in Winsome and has some of the same characters. There were definitely things I liked about this story - the mother / daughter relationships, the way Ryan and little Becca interacted, Jasper and his perspective on life . . . but I didn't connect strongly with any of the main characters. Alyssa was immature and selfish (though she did grow and change during the story). Jeremy became more interesting as we learned more about his back story, but it felt like too little too late. Janet was definitely a strong center (especially having gotten to know about her in the previous book), but altogether it just wasn't that compelling. We had a great book club discussion last night, though! As always, I love hearing other people's perceptions and thoughts.

Page 49 - "Her daughter's stubbornness had been adorable at two, formidable at twelve, pummeling at eighteen, and arctic at twenty-eight. Now, after three years held hostage in the cold dark, Janet found nothing 'adorable' about blazing eyes and an unyielding spirit. They terrified her. They reminded her of herself."

This struck me because of a phenomenon I've often noticed . . . something that bothers me about another person is exactly a quality that bothers me in myself! Makes me think of specks and logs in people's eyes . . .

Page 57 - "How at ten, fifteen, or even seventeen could he tell them how he 'felt'? He'd had no way to articulate the swirling pressures, colors, emotions, and forces he couldn't separate and understand, much less name."

Yes! It can be hard for *adults* to articulate these things and I think sometimes we expect too much of children to be able to express the emotions and thoughts they're experiencing.

Page 79 - "Last week he'd started to have nightmares about the whole thing."

This is at the end of a paragraph where Pastor Zach is struggling to get to know people's names in his new congregation and worried about doing a good job. This isn't rocket science, but just thinking about the fact that ALL of us can have these concerns is reassuring. I've had many, many, many "school dreams" where it's clear that my subconscious is trying to help me problem-solve some of my concerns.

Page 90 - "Janet felt a snarky You think? rise within her. Her snappy anger still felt like an old comfortable coat she often longed to wear. It was familiar, almost soothing, and for years, she would have let the comment fly and enjoyed the sting it brought . . . "

Wow. It can be hard to change communication patterns for sure! This language is a perfect analogy and I have often failed to bite back comments I KNEW I should not say aloud. I'm so grateful for God's grace and mercy and how he's still continuing to work on me!

Page 169 - "'It's an odd form of pride, you know,' he had said over coffee one day. 'You decide you know better than God and make your own ruling.'"

Seth is pointing out to Janet that her unwillingness to forgive herself for the past is what's causing her trouble. I never used to think about this (unforgiveness toward oneself) as the sin of pride, but that's truly what it is! (Yes, I know "unforgiveness" is not an actual word, but it works for my purposes.)

Page 195 - "'Mothers and daughters. It's a unique and complex relationship. You may never be able to see me in a new way. And I'm sorry for that."

Janet and Alyssa both change and grow in their relationship but it's not easy. Just like real life!

Page 234-237 Margery's funeral and all the bits and pieces to what people said. Lovely. I especially liked what their adopted son Devon shared. And I love that we are adopted children of God!

Page 243 - "In many ways, she admitted, her approach to her mom and their dynamic felt like the old clothes in her closet. Out of date. Out of fashion. But necessary. If she didn't wear them, what would she wear? Who would she be?"

Again, Alyssa changed and grew over the course of the story. Last night, Jes commented that Alyssa seemed to be too old to be reacting in such a juvenile way toward her mom. But thought patterns and communication strategies can have a strong hold on us and be very difficult to change. We had a great conversation about family dynamics!

Page 275 - Yay! Janet finally told Alyssa to stop dumping on her! This scene was long overdue. And a few pages later, Seth basically said the same thing. "She dumps on you - pick either 'she' you want - and you dump on me." Poor Janet! Getting crap from both her daughter and her mother.

Page 281 - "How long would sharing something with Margery be his first reaction? His first desire? He breathed deep and, for the first time in too long, felt true pleasure and peace in the action. Probably until my last breath, he thought."

For anyone who has lost a loved one, that realization that you cannot share, hug, listen, see with that person . . . is hard. The love that George has for his wife doesn't go away just because she is gone. Sharing your life with someone for so many years and having them as your "go to" person . . . is hard. This was a beautiful scene.

The Printed Letter Bookshop

by Katherine Reay
Carver County Library paperback 315 pages
genre: Christian realistic fiction

I like Reay's writing, but found this book both more complex than previous titles of hers and less enjoyable . . . perhaps a sign of my summer mood? We had a good discussion last night at book club.

Alternating between Madeline, Claire, and Janet, this story shows the personal development of these women as they navigate life together.

 My favorite character is Maddie, even though the story opens with her funeral. What an amazing woman to inspire such love and devotion! I want to love Jesus and love people like she did.

Page 138 - "Please, I'm a mom. We know no limits." This made me laugh! As Claire is trying to set Janet up on a date, Madeline observes that "There might be a limit to meddling." My kids are constantly telling me to back off!

I loved Greg Frankel (the lawyer) and how he helped guide Madeline to a new way of using her talents as a lawyer. He was delightful!

Page 170 - "Dear World, This may sound slutty, but I want to be used. Love, Grammar." I had to read this a few times to decide if I liked it or not, but I definitely liked it. Both Jodi and Jes also appreciated this quote! We're such nerds.

Page 236-7 "You're a good lawyer. Here. Doing this." There's so much about this chapter that I appreciate. I think my favorite aspect is Janet's changed attitude as she seeks God and He does a work in her heart. When she says this line to Madeline, things shift into focus for her as well. I love Janet's return to creating art. I love how God can take the broken parts of us and make new life.

Page 298 - "One word. Brian says nothing more." When Brian tells Claire "yes" to her proposal about the Printed Letter, it was so joyful. Their conversation is such a delightful resurgence of love and connection in their marriage.

This is a wonderful book, though I'm not reviewing it well. I enjoyed it and appreciate Reay's literary talents and love of literature. I would definitely re-read all her books. She includes a list of titles alluded to . . . and I'm resisting the desire to see which I've read and which I would add to my list. . .  

A Portrait of Emily Price

by Katherine Reay
Hennepin County Library paperback 335 pages
genre: Christian fiction, romance

I like this author! Dear Mr. Knightley is my favorite of hers, then this one, then The Bronte Plot. I love the literary allusions! Overall, it's a pretty light read and we had a nice discussion last night at book club. There are so many passages I marked!

Page 39 - Emily on Ben - "Then he turned and looked at me and not a muscle moved. I liked that. It felt as if he understood the proper speed of things, the proper weight of life, and it didn't intimidate him. He didn't need to fill it up with clutter."

Page 94 - Rachel (the woman whose fire-damaged house Emily is helping to restore) talking to Emily about feeling in love - "But marriage should be like that too. . . . you can feel just that alive every day - as long as you don't forget. After all, you get to be with that one guy - for you, the adorable no-contractions guy - who lights up your world and shares it with you. For me, he makes good coffee and sings to me." This actually makes me sad, because we know that something is wrong between Rachel and her husband, but we never find out what or why (or if they resolve it). I like it because it makes me think of how much I love Louie!

Page 106 - Emily reflecting on family and how people thought of their families - "Ben used warm words like laughter, love, teasing, and hugs. Words that tasted sweet and coated you. Joseph, if he did have anything to say, used words from my lexicon: obligation, work, duty, challenge. Hard words I could tap with my small finishing hammer."

Page 110 - "I hadn't thought of restoring the pictures as 'romantic,' but I guess it was. Planning a surprise for no reason other than to bring another person delight was, in fact, romantic."

Page 118 - Judge and Mrs. Briggs ' ". . . I don't have that kinda time right now. You would'na believe how busy you can get once ya retire." This made me think of my mom!

Page 162 - Emily's third day in Italy, after two cappucinos and no breakfast - "'I don't think two was a good idea.' The flying sensation held the distinct possibility of tipping toward a crash landing."

Page 253-4 - The conversation between Emily and Father Matt about prayer and what to do - "I've been praying, too, and I think I needed this painting, and you. I've been praying for years now, for a revelation. Not something epic. Just something in my heart. I've felt old and tired and joyless for too long." . . . "We all have doubts, fears, and we forget. We forget who we're called to be sometimes, and by whom." . . . "It somehow reminds me that joy isn't a feeling, it's a truth."

The end of Chapter 39 hit me like a ton of bricks. I don't want to ruin it for others.

Page 315 - Emily talking to her sister Amy - "'I love you, sis.' Her voice sounded like she was throwing out a line. Fishing. Maybe for the first time ever, I caught it. 'I love you too.'" The change in relationship between the sisters was one of my favorite parts of this book!

Loved it. Will continue to read Reay's stories.

The Bronte Plot

by Katherine Reay
Personal paperback 330 pages
genre: contemporary Christian romance

Liked it, but didn't love it. Her Dear Mr. Knightley was more enjoyable. Still, I loved the literary allusions (though I've never read anything by Gaskell and now feel that I must) and the story was pleasant enough.

Lucy Alling works in a design shop with owner Sid McKenna. When James Carmichael walks into the shop, they go from the sale of a book to a first date to being inseparable in just a few pages. Lucy's "the ends justify the means" mentality becomes a problem and James' grandma's (Helen) agenda changes all their lives.

page 37 - James says to Lucy -  "I've never heard anyone talk about books like you do. It's like they're your friends."

page 130 - Helen says to Lucy - "You are your own person and I wouldn't worry about the stories. We all compare our lives to them. That's why we love them; they help us understand ourselves."

page 139 - Lucy's observations on eyes when trying to figure out why Dillon was questioning her. "His eyes were hazel and clear and it struck her how much one could see in another's eyes. They shadowed under the strains of lies; they drifted in dreams or peace; they widened in surprise and fear; they darkened in tension; and worst of all, they sharpened in manipulation. She knew that one, had seen it in others and felt it within herself. Dillon's eyes carried nothing beyond open interest and innocent curiosity." (Plus - I liked Dillon!)

page 148 - Lucy and Helen visit Westminster Abbey and have an intense experience. I love this scene! It made me want to visit London.

page 263 -  "Come further up, come further in!" "Our new battle cry?" "That's a wonderful thought and very appropriate. For both of us." I love Lucy and Helen having their adventure in England together.

page 266 - "If everyone got what they wanted, were pleased with the result and with her for accomplishing it, why should they pay attention to the process? To her? Why, in fact, did the process matter? She sank onto the wall. Because it does. It mattered just as James's regard mattered."

I ended up having to buy this book because the wait list at the library was so long. I don't think I'll keep it, though. Like I said - Liked, didn't love.

Dear Mr. Knightley

by Katherine Reay
Hennepin County Library paperback 317 pages
genre: Christian romance

Now I have to see the movie Daddy Longlegs . . . or read the book. This story was inspired by that 1912 book by Jean Webster (but I had never heard of it before). Delightful little story about a girl named Samantha Moore who moved through the foster care system and ended up at Grace House, a group home. A benefactor offers her a scholarship to attend journalism school and she initially turns it down, wanting instead to work and live in an apartment (and to be away from Grace House).

page 26 - Sam's introspection and different perspective than Kyle, the boy she goes running with. I like the Sam / Kyle scenes. They are dynamic and interesting. (as on page 56 when Coach Ridley intervenes during one of their runs and she thinks  - "I don't like losing. And I don't like criticism.")

page 69 - "Consider it grace - a gift unwarranted and undeserved." / also I have a post-it that says "Katie!" because the narrator writes "Then I'm coming after you if this turns weird."

page 123 - Again, with Kyle, she says, "I finally stopped my inane chatter and told him the truth about school and all my other struggles. It helped us both - shared failure is always a comfort." Truth is powerful, indeed!

page 141 - I love when she writes about The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Aslan. "There's no Aslan in the real world, so there's no hope. Mrs. Muir would say I'm wrong. She says there is hope in God and hope in Christ." I love how this sweet couple, the Muirs, share their faith, their lives, their home . . . I want to be like that!

page 147 - "Maybe that's what love is - sacrificing yourself to save another . . . " Again she was talking with and about Kyle. That kid was my favorite character in this book! I love how he encouraged Sam to share their stories.

page 149 - "As we headed to bed, Mrs. Muir prayed for me. No one has ever done that before." Love love love this!

page 216 - "Love spills out of these people. That's what I want. Settling for anything less is a lie." It's ironic that she's writing about love to Mr. Knightley . . .

page 267 - The Ridleys' prayer when they have dinner after adopting Kyle. Awesome!

page 280 - "How can I not believe that there is a God who exists and loves, when the people before me are infused with that love and pour it out daily?"

page 301 - The story was so captivating until this point. The rest was pretty much a let-down. Her big revelation about Ebenezer Scrooge realizing that others were more important than he was . . . just lame.

I loved the romance, the Kyle/Sam growth dynamic, the literary allusions (though there were some I had to look up!), and the overall tone of the story. I liked many of the characters.

 

I wrote the above after reading this book for the first time in 2015. Now that our book club has read four other Reay titles, I was curious about her very first being my favorite. I re-read it yesterday (08.30.2020) and can affirm that it IS my favorite Reay book. I love it!