MOCKINGBIRD SUMMER: My neighborhood book club recently read MOCKINGBIRD SUMMER, a novel by Linda Rutledge. I enjoyed it, but internet reviews were somewhat mixed. Some readers had not expected the book to have a strong YA influence. The principal narrator is a thirteen year-old tomboy, a white girl, and I can’t see how it could have been nearly as authentic without the YA influence. A few reviewers did not think that the novel was tied closely enough to Harper Lee’s novel, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. The setting is small-town Texas in 1964, still under the influence of Jim Crow. Corky makes a new friend with a sixteen year old black girl and naively recommends Ms. Lee’s book to her. Their budding relationship is further complicated when her new friend is encouraged to join a white girls church softball team. From my perspective MOCKINGBIRD SUMMER explored many of the same themes and concerns that TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD had done decades earlier. I related to the book because it shares similarities with my first novel, PIG PARTS, particularly the setting and the time frame.
Jealousy reared its mean little head when I realized that Linda’s agent for this book is Jane Dystel. My first rejection for PIG PARTS came from her agency. But in any event, I recommend the book. Linda deserves the representation as well as the acclaim.
ONCE UPON A ROYAL SUMMER: In recent years, I’ve encountered increasing difficulty finding books that I enjoy reading. When I read another novel that I enjoyed within the span of a couple of months, I was delighted. This was a book that I did not expect to enjoy, but I was intrigued by the circumstance and gave it a try. ONCE UPON A ROYAL SUMMER, by Teri Wilson, was a joy to read. Teri based her book on the far-fetched premise that a make-believe theme park princess can fall in love with an actual European prince, and she makes it work. The story sparkles. The heroine believes that it’s her mission in life to comfort children who have grown up with hurt, and the author’s writing skills lead me to conclude the same.
No magical realism or writing tricks needed here. The magic is in the words and the skill with which they are strung together.
Teri creates an imaginative, well-thought out and cleverly populated Florida theme park that features her young protagonist, Princess Sweet Pea, as one of its main attractions. The real Prince brings his eight-year old daughter, Princess Rose, whose mother died four years earlier, to celebrate a special birthday. Mutual attraction erupts when Princess Sweet Pea is assigned as their tour guide. She sets out to rebuild little Rose’s shaky self-confidence. In the process, she falls in love with Rose as well as with her father.
My career was in acute healthcare, and I sometimes daydreamed about the advantages that a pediatric hospital operated in partnership with the Disney Corporation might bring to the treatment of sick children, so this story quickly caught my attention.
ONCE UPON A ROYAL SUMMER is a sparkling bit of escapist reading that I had not expected to like nearly so much.