Category Archives: Et Cetera

Suspend your belief for 300 pages or so. Imagine the tantalizing strains of harp music as you let yourself be entranced by an unlikely romance set in the lush English countryside. “Ellie and the Harpmaker” is a mellifluous song of a story, with a few notes of quirkiness thrown in for good measure .

Ellie and the Harpmaker

Author Hazel Pryor, a professional harp player herself, introduces us to two characters with a passion for music. Ellie is a self-described housewife, married to the boorish, inattentive Clive. As she anticipates turning the big 4-0, she longs to tick off items on her bucket list, one of them being a desire to play the harp. Dan is the owner of Dan’s Harp Barn, literally a barn at the end of a secluded road that Ellie happens upon on an afternoon walk. Dan is a talented harpmaker who lives a simple life in the country building stunningly beautiful handcrafted harps in a rustic workshop.

The character of Dan may remind you of “The Curious Dog in the Nighttime” and “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.” That is, he is offbeat and blunt and somewhat eccentric, interpreting his cloistered world literally. He obsesses about making sandwiches and cutting them just the right way (in triangles) and counting the steps each time he walks upstairs to the practice room.

When Ellie confides her bucket list item, he insists she take one of his creations free of charge. She is shocked at his offer and declines, but Dan insists. Clive forces Ellie return it and she does, but Dan suggests she keep the harp in his barn and take lessons from Rhoda, his one time girlfriend and harp teacher. He invites Ellie to come practice whenever she likes.

The minor characters in this novel figure prominently in the story, including my favorite, a rescued pheasant named Phineas. The character of the beautiful but complicit Rhoda plays a key role in the plot twist that reveals all is not as it seems, and Clive’s discovery of Ellie’s secretiveness incites the explosive denouement. The setting in the English countryside is such a key part of this novel. Dan’s walks through the woods are almost palpable for the reader: the dew on the grass, the smell of the pines, the chirping of birds. Dan describes the wood he uses for the harps with reverence.

What makes this novel stand out is its sweetness, and not the saccharine kind. Ellie and Dan are likable, well intentioned people who put each other’s needs first. “Ellie and the Harpmaker” is gently imbued with the notions of empowerment and inclusivity, a feel good story to its core.

One of my lucky readers will receive a copy of “Ellie and the Harpmaker.” Please leave a comment on the Books is Wonderful Facebook page and a winner will be randomly selected. US addresses only, please.

I received a copy of “Ellie and the Harpmaker” from Berkley for an honest review, which is the only kind of review I write.

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As I sit shivering in my flannels on this chilly day in March, I am fantasizing about a tropical getaway on a remote island, sunscreen slathered on my face and a margarita in my hand. I can dream right? And I can live vicariously through the characters in “Tomorrow There Will Be Sun” whose luxury villa in Puerto Vallarta is my idea of totally decadent happiness.

Tomorrow There Will Be Sun

Peter and Solly, best friends since college and now partners in a thriving startup business (Boychick Bagels), are celebrating their 50th birthdays in this glorious tropical locale with their wives and children. The spacious villa (three living rooms?) comes with its own secluded beach, pool, and three Mexican attendants who are there to cater to their every need.

Jenna, Peter’s wife, organized this trip months ago. She writes young adult novels but is struggling with her current work in progress and is recovering from breast cancer. Nonetheless, she anticipate a week of total relaxation with Peter and their teenage daughter Clementine, as well as Solly’s second wife Ingrid, their five year-old Ivan, and Malcolm, Solly’s 17 year-old son from his first marriage.

You should know that Solly’s first marriage to Maureen ended when he left her for Ingrid. And Maureen happened to be Jenna’s best friend. But Jenna has forgiven Ingrid for ruining her best friend’s life and has even gotten to like her.

So the week starts off on a high note, and let’s just say the seams on this friendship begin to unravel in short order.

Author Dana Reinhardt brings us a flawed narrator in Jenna, who is sometimes endearing, other times annoying. She spies on her daughter and suspects her of having sex with Malcolm. She is anxious about her husband’s assistant, Gavi, who phones Peter many times with office issues. While often admiring her husband’s good looks, she also picks fights with him.

I think I’ve met these people.

Reinhardt’s understanding of human behaviors and foibles is spot on. As Jenna mopes about her inability to make headway in her novel, Ingrid mentions shyly that she has just tried her hand at writing a novel, and Jenna offers to read it. Jenna’s inner conversation throughout is priceless.

In fact, Reinhardt succeeds swimmingly at drawing the characters in “Tomorrow There Will Be Sun.” Even the mostly out of the picture Maureen has a persona. Even the child Ivan, the strangely behaving Ivan, is absolutely someone you have met before. The three Mexican attendants take on a larger role as domestic terrorism threatens to blight the serenity of the setting while they make a show of staying calm.

This novel was oceans of fun to read, and I hope to see more from Reinhardt, for whom this novel was her first foray into adult fiction. I guess the lesson, as always, is be careful what you wish for.

One of my lucky readers will receive a copy of “Tomorrow There Will Be Sun.” Please leave a comment on the Books is Wonderful Facebook page and a winner will be randomly selected. US addresses only, please.

I received a copy of “Tomorrow There Will Be Sun” from Pamela Dorman Books/Viking for an honest review, which is the only kind of review I write.

If you like my blog post, please share it!