Summer Reading Wrap-up 2026

BOOKS READ THIS SUMMER

I read many of the books on my proposed summer reading list, but not all of them.  In addition, I read a number of new and notable books and some others just for fun. I was in Maine with a relaxed schedule and beautiful views. Reviews of many of these titles appeared in earlier blog posts, and here, I’ve included thoughts on one historical novel.

Appraisals by Claire Boyles (pre-pub)

Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain

The Bookstore Diaries by Susan Mallery

Canticle by Janet Rich Edwards

The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths

The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan

The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths

Heather by Caitlin Mullen

Last Letters of Sally and Walter by Cammie McGovern

Last One Out by Jane Harper

Liberty Island by Virginia Hume

The Safekeep by Yael Van der Wouden

Savor: A Chef’s Hunger for More by Fatima Ali

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

Whistler by Ann Patchett

Women of a Promiscuous Nature by Donna Everhart

NOT YET FINISHED

Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution by Amanda Vaill (have read two-thirds of this 600-page biography & will finish it.)

Regime Change by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan (about 40% done; can only read it in short bits)

CHILLING HISTORY

Women of a Promiscuous Nature by Donna Everhart

Everhart (thebookreporter.com)

Donna Everhart’s new novel, Women of a Promiscuous Nature, explores a chilling piece of American history.  The American Plan, legislation passed around the time of WWI, was created to get so-called troublesome women off the streets, ostensibly to protect the military troops from venereal disease.  Colonies for reform were set up in various parts of the country, and one was in Kinston, North Carolina.

The Colony in Kinston was still in existence in 1941 which is when this novel is set.  Ruth Foster, a 24-year-old single woman was on her way to her job at a local diner when she was picked up the sheriff and subsequently delivered there.  She had done nothing wrong, other than to live independently by herself.  Stella at 15, another main character, ends up there after her father impregnates her.  

The goal of the institution was nominally to instill a work ethic into these young women and mold them for a better life.  The reality is alarmingly different, with back-breaking work in the laundry and fields, solitary confinement in a “meditation’’ room as punishment, and unnecessary and debilitating medications given for unspecified or non-existent diseases. 

Dorothy Baker, the Kinston superintendent is a zealot, and believes in the rightness of her cause while Mrs. Maynard, one of the housekeepers, enjoys meting out physical punishment.  How Ruth and Stella and the other residents rebel or submit, how they try to escape, and ultimately, how they re-gain their freedom makes for a compelling and poignant story.   Recommended for women’s history buffs.  (~JWFarringon)

Ruffled Cove

Note: All unattributed photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Maine Moments: Gardens, Novel & More

COASTAL MAINE BOTANICAL GARDENS ET AL

Fun with Our Granddaughters

Our granddaughters and their parents were with us this past week.  No visit would be complete without continuing tradition with some annual outings.  Everything from mini golf to the botanical gardens to purchases at Sherman’s Books to one more visit to Railway Village.  

Did someone say treats?

Of course, we rode the steam train around the loop, but this year, feeding Coal and Tender, the two resident goats, and trying to climb the hanging rope were as much fun as checking out the antique cars and the extensive model train layout.  

Red Dahlias

As for the gardens, the dahlias were lushly in bloom.  Butterflies were about, the girls checked up on the bees, and then they made two other stops that are part of this annual ritual.  

One is rowing the beached boat, and the other is posing on the bear statue associated with Blueberries for Sal. This might be the last year they will both fit on it!

Together, now row!
This week
In 2021

MAINE NOVEL: HAUNTED HOUSE, HISTORY & ADDICTION

The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan

Sullivan (writersdigest.com)

The Cliffs is a multi-layered novel about Jane Flanagan, an archivist who returns to the Maine coast and becomes caught up in the mysteries and history of a house that first attracted her as a teenager.  She has lost her job, is taking a break from her marriage, and hopes to sort herself out.  Instead, she delves into the complex stories of residents of the house from long ago, participates in a spiritualism retreat, and studies the history of the Wabanaki, some of Maine’s earliest tribal residents. 

It’s a novel that has so much in it, I wondered along the way if it might have been better as two books. One as a novel about Jane, her quest and her alcoholism, and the other, nonfiction about Maine’s early history and what role spiritualism and mediums might have played.  Some of the historical info is tutorial in nature. But, there’s a richness here, and despite the novel’s multiple strands, I enjoyed it.  Cautiously recommended! (~JWFarrington)

J. Courtney Sullivan is the author of many other novels including another one set in Maine, published in 2011, and plainly titled Maine.

Maine Musing: A Maine Novel

SUMMER READING: MY BOOK OF THE WEEK

Liberty Island by Virginia Hume

Author Hume (usmacmill.com)

Set in 1900, 1910 and 1922, Liberty Island brings together the overlapping stories of Anna, spinster author of a popular children’s book, and her niece Julia, who is exuberant, wild, and never seems to fit comfortably into her environment.  Rounding out the main cast are Julia’s mother, Elizabeth (Anna’s sister), who has a calm accepting demeanor, and Lillian, Elizabeth’s often domineering mother-in-law.  

The island of the title is off the coast of Maine, and it is where young Julia and her friends were encouraged to run free, play, and make up stories without restrictions.  It is also a place of retreat into adulthood. Anna bases her novel on this idyllic island.  Apart from that, both these women are governed by the rules of society and New England conventions.  Many subjects are off limits for conversation, and secrets are kept.

The novel moves between Maine, Boston society, and the heady radicalism of New York’s intellectuals; Julia goes to Barnard College and tries to find a place and friendship in this bohemian enclave.  

Hume excels at capturing the playfulness of children, and the impact of WWI at home and on men who return damaged, along with the liveliness of the Roaring Twenties.  In a time of set expectations for women that were loosening, Anna and Julia must each figure out who they are and who they want to be.  

I found it a wonderful multi-faceted novel and would have enjoyed these two women in real life.  Given its similar period, and the issues it explores, Liberty Island is a great companion piece to the TV series, My Brilliant Career.  Highly recommended!  (~JWFarrington)

For an engaging interview with Virginia Hume about mothers and daughters in her novel, see this article from the Portland Press Herald.

MAINE MUSINGS: Unconventional & Mistreated Women

WATCHING

My Brilliant Career (Netflix)

Harry Beecham & Sybylla (tvinsider.com)

My Brilliant Career is a 6-part series based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Australian writer, Miles Franklin.  Sybylla leaves her dirt-poor family and goes to stay with her grandmother, ostensibly to find a husband, but in her mind to experience more of the world and to become a writer or an actor.  Unsophisticated and untutored in the ways of society, she is exuberant, unruly, audacious, and initially, a trial to all her relatives.  Except perhaps her flaming red-haired Aunt Augusta, or Gussie, a feminist and somewhat kindred spirit.  

Her grandmother’s steward, Frank, is okay and becomes a friend, but when Sybylla is attracted to neighbor Harry Beecham, she’s warned off.  Rounding out the local folk are the maid Betty and her sister Nell who is a horse trainer and a very good one!  Nell too is unconventional, but she catches the interest of drover Charlie. 

I vaguely recall seeing the 1979 movie version of this novel, but looking at its trailer, this new version goes above and beyond in its rollicking approach.  Like the Bridgerton series and others, it employs contemporary songs as a backdrop for the 1901 historical setting.  Some may find these songs intrusive, but I think they add to the flavor in a positive way.  The Chief Penguin and I have now watched half the series and are totally into it.  Fun and highly recommended!

Miles Franklin (wikipedia.com)

Author Miles Franklin held a series of jobs throughout her life, but she also wrote and published other novels and short stories, was encouraging to beginning writers, and had a great impact on Australian literature.  She lived in the United States for a time but then returned to her native country.  Franklin died in 1954 at the age of 74.  (~JWFarrington)

READING

Heather by Caitlin Mullen

Author Mullen (us.macmillan.com)

I saw the crime novel, Heather, on several lists of promising new fiction, and when a friend also recommended it, I decided to give it a try.  It’s multi-layered with two different time periods and two set of characters, one in the present, the other in 1991 or thereabouts. Callie Hauser is the new chief of police in a small town in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.  She grew up there with an unknown father and a mother with addiction issues who occasionally disappeared. The job, a promotion, is completely different from her undercover work in narcotics in the big city.  

In her early days on the job, Callie arrests Jenna, her estranged mother. This triggers reflections on her own past, lingering questions about the long-ago death of an abandoned baby, and the re-opening of a cold case.  The case leads back to twin sisters in a dysfunctional family and the unknown man or men who used them and abused them.  Callie’s closest friend is Jane, and she adores Jane’s little daughter Opal, but she has doubts about Jane’s husband and also wonders why her predecessor keeps hanging around her office and staff.  How does all this connect to the past, or does it?

One almost needs a chart to keep track of the cast of characters, but I found the book compelling and disturbing simultaneously.  Recommended!

DINING TIDBITS: SOPHISTICATED ITALIAN FARE 

Ports of Italy (Boothbay Harbor)

Ports of Italy has two Maine locations, the seasonal one here in Boothbay Harbor and a year-round venue in Rockport.  The menus are the same.  Ports offers excellent Italian fare, many levels above a red gravy dive, and is one of our favorite local restaurants.  Dishes we particularly enjoy are veal scallopini with wild mushrooms and the chicken cutlets with shitake mushrooms, tomatoes, and olives in a white wine butter sauce.  Also of note are agnolotti in a parmesan cream sauce, spaghetti a la vongole, caprese salad, and asparagus with butter and parmesan.

Upon special request in advance, they can also provide veal saltimbocca, veal cutlets with prosciutto and sage leaves; their rendition is the best we have ever had anywhere (including in Manhattan!) There are usually a few specials such as swordfish or salmon or an appetite-worthy veal chop. 

Caprese salad in a parmesan basket

Ports is open for dinner only and very popular.  Seating is on their inside porch, in the bar, or in the adjacent dining room.  Wines are available by the glass or bottle as well as a standard array of cocktails. We will enjoy eating here a few more times before we leave Maine!