Two of today’s most popular authors have new books that are on everyone’s TBR lists. More interesting is how each of these books are inspired by classic works of American literature. Lucky for me, I’ve had a chance to read them both.
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett takes place during the pandemic but is not a story about illness and masks. Instead, a family gets a chance to reconnect when it’s all hands on deck at harvest time on their Michigan cherry orchard. Lara and Joe are glad to have the help of their three adult daughters who have returned home during lock-down, and realize it probably is the last time they’ll be together before their nest is empty once again. Lara decides it is time to come clean about her short-lived acting career in her 20s, when she spent a summer performing “Our Town” in a theatre company called Tom Lake. As she slowly reveals tales of her youth, what keeps her daughters (and readers) riveted, is the story of Lara’s then-love affair with Peter Duke, now a famous movie star. This exquisitely written and moving novel is a love letter to Thornton Wilder’s play, which is set in the fictional small town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire between 1901-1913. Like Patchett’s latest, it too explores the universal themes of life, love, marriage, and death.
In Alice Hoffman’s brand new novel is The Invisible Hour, fifteen-year-old Mia Jacob flees the tyrannical cult in western Massachusetts she was born by a mother who sought refuge there as a pregnant teen. The commune’s leader, Joel, imposes strict rules and shuns contact with outsiders. Mia often takes secret refuge in visiting the public library and reading. There, she falls in love with The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, noting its similarity to her own mother’s life. When Mia decides to escape the cult, she finds that her connection to Hawthorne is stronger than she could ever imagine — and it might just help save her life. The Invisible Hour is a compelling read that both is a tribute to the transformative power of reading and to Hawthorne himself.
Now, I’m inspired to re-read a favorite classic! How about you?
-Carol
Read it or Weep 