The Postmistress

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake  326 pp.

Being the daughter of a letter carrier, how could I not read this book which begins with the question "What would happen if the postmistress refused to deliver a letter?" The story takes place in the early days of World War II, before the U.S. enters the conflict. It is essentially the story of three women:  Iris James-the postmistress of the small Cape Cod town of Franklin, Emma Fitch-the new wife of the town doctor, and Frankie Bard-an American radio war correspondent. After a tragedy, Dr. Fitch leaves Franklin to offer medical help to Blitzkrieg ravaged London. Emma is fragile and lost without him and the postmistress takes it upon herself to watch over her. After a chance meeting in London with Dr. Fitch, Frankie tours Europe to gather stories about the displaced refugees and finds it impossible to report in a detached manner. She quits her job and heads to Franklin to deliver a letter Dr. Fitch wrote to Emma. Frankie ends up entwined in the lives of the townspeople and an Austrian refugee named Otto who is looked upon with suspicion by the townspeople. Essentially, this is a story of how war changes the lives of those who are indirectly touched by it.

I listened to the audio-book of this and found the errors of the narrator to be annoying. At the beginning she mispronounces the name of famed reporter, Edward R. Murrow as muh-ROH. Evidently she was corrected because in later parts she pronounced it correctly but evidently no attempt was made to correct the earlier error. Other mispronunciations occur which are then correctly pronounced later in the book. However, she completely butchered "Messerscmitt" which only appeared once. This wasn't the worst audio version I've listened to but it was far from the best.