What are you reading this week of April 16, 2017?

[northoftheborder]

23. "Belgravia", "News of the World", "Stormy Weather"

Belgravia, by Julian Fellowes, is about an earlier period of English social life, the 1800's. Loved it, complicated story, but satisfying ending.

News of the World, by Paulette Jiles takes place in Texas, right after the Civil War. It is still a wild place, little law, no roads, native Americans a danger to the scattered settlements. It is the story of a young girl who is kidnapped by the Comanches at age 6, and 4 years later is rescued to be returned to her family. The elderly man, Captain, escorts her from north Texas to her home west of San Antonio, and that is the story: she did not want to be rescued, remembers none of her language or customs, but she and Captain form a bond which saves them both in the end. A wonderful story with a happy ending. RECOMMEND

Another by Jiles is Stormy Weather, also about Texas during the early oil discovery era and the great drought and depression. Good story, but not as good as the above. Experiences told of a family of that era in that place, desperately poor, but shoulder through, and achieve success.