Writings, Wanderings

Published in 1955 by Elizabeth Cadell, The Lark Shall Sing  is a delightful novel that intertwines the story of a family with a romance. After their parents' deaths, the Wayne siblings moved away from home for a year, the older ones into the workforce and military, the youngest with an aunt and uncle. One year to postpone making any big decisions and then they were to come back again as a family. However, situations change in a year, and engaged Lucille, the oldest, now plans to sell the family home. What she expects to be a straight-foward move--put the house on the market and move on--quickly grows complicated as each of her siblings finds their way home, bringing with them acquaintances met along the journey. Soon Lucille finds herself facing emotions and realizations that make her question her once-solid plans for her future. I adored this book the first time I read it and am now proud to be the owner of a secondhand version that once graced the shelves of a high school lib...

How did your November reading go? I finished four novels (one as an audiobook). My favorite one was the audiobook and happened to my book club's choice for the month which means I never would have picked this one up on my own. It is my favorite because the author did such a good job with her research but the book itself was gut-wrenching. Placed in the 1920's and 30's, Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women  by Kate Moore traces the struggle faced by the women who worked for the radium companies to have their health problems diagnosed and then compensated as the ugly truth surfaced that they had become sick through their jobs. I was amazed to learn how radium had been considered healthy enough to add to their water, paint on their faces, and put in sandboxes. With this public perception, it was not surprising that it took doctors so long to pinpoint the source of the women's problems, but the companies' avoidance of their responsibility an...