The Postmistress
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3.6 • 93 Ratings
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
The Sunday Times bestseller The Postmistress by Sarah Blake is a heart-rending and profoundly moving story of love and loss in World War II.
It is 1940, and bombs fall nightly on London.
In the thick of the chaos is young American radio reporter Frankie Bard. She huddles close to terrified strangers in underground shelters, and later broadcasts stories about survivors in rubble-strewn streets. But for her listeners, the war is far from home.
Listening to Frankie are Iris James, a Cape Cod postmistress, and Emma Fitch, a doctor's wife. Iris hears the winds stirring and knows that soon the letters she delivers will bear messages of hope or tragedy. Emma is desperate for news of London, where her husband is working - she counts the days until his return.
But one night in London the fates of all three women entwine when Frankie finds a letter - a letter she vows to deliver . . .
The Postmistress is an unforgettable story of three women: their loves, their partings and the secrets they must bear, or bury . . .
'A beautifully written, though-provoking novel that I'm telling everyone to read' Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help
'A brilliant story, beautifully crafted, that touches the heart and captures the imagination' Sunday Express
'Unforgettable, heart-wrenching, captivating. A profoundly moving story of love, loss and life in war time' Sunday Independent
'Heartbreaking' Daily Express
'A World War Two blockbuster with echoes of Atonement' Red
'A moving tale that will stay with you long after the final page' Good Housekeeping
Sarah Blake lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, the poet Josh Weiner, and their two sons.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Weaving together the stories of three very different women loosely tied to each other, debut novelist Blake takes readers back and forth between small town America and war-torn Europe in 1940. Single, 40-year-old postmistress Iris James and young newlywed Emma Trask are both new arrivals to Franklin, Mass., on Cape Cod. While Iris and Emma go about their daily lives, they follow American reporter Frankie Bard on the radio as she delivers powerful and personal accounts from the London Blitz and elsewhere in Europe. While Trask waits for the return of her husband a volunteer doctor stationed in England James comes across a letter with valuable information that she chooses to hide. Blake captures two different worlds a na ve nation in denial and, across the ocean, a continent wracked with terror with a deft sense of character and plot, and a perfect willingness to take on big, complex questions, such as the merits of truth and truth-telling in wartime.
Customer Reviews
Ms
The beginning of the book was unconventional, it seemed disjointed and had multiple directions . The quest for a certificate of virginity seemed unlikely. However, the story took hold. I wanted to hear the Postmasters story. Frankie's story was compelling and poignant, how would it link to the Postmaster?
The fact that both women protected another woman for as long as they could from the heartbreaking truth took me at breakneck speed to the end of the book.
This is a book that will pluck your heart strings and make you angry and sad; a book about the flight of Jews during World War 2
and a story about inhumanity and also how kindness can make a difference in a world of chaos.