Louise Miller's novel The Late Bloomers' Club ~ my review

The Late Bloomers' Club by Louise  Miller

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Oh how I ached for good things to happen for Nora Huckleberry, the responsible older sister in Louise Miller’s The Late Bloomers’ Club. I strongly wished Nora’s sister Kit would stop looking to Nora to bail her out of foolish predicaments. How I longed to have community like that in Nora’s homey diner in picturesque Guthrie, Vermont. I cared whether the sisters sold their inherited land to a big-box-store developer, and what the developer’s rep Elliott would do. Add to that the tension of Peggy the Cake Lady’s dog Freckles on the loose, and The Late Bloomers’ Club was a real page turner for me.

Novel Writing 101 advice is to keep throwing stuff at your main character and showing how she handles it. Well, Louise Miller throws plenty of adversity at Nora, who turns out to be a heroine well worth cheering for. In addition, Miller adds interest to the story by creating multifaceted characters with unexpected nuances and satisfying epiphanies. I loved reading The Late Bloomers’ Club.




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My review of Louis de Bernières' Notwithstanding

Notwithstanding by Louis de Bernières

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Delightful array of loosely interwoven stories of characters populating the British village of Notwithstanding. Some of their quirky situations are lighthearted, some poignant or sad. A master storyteller, author Louis de Bernières captures small moments of life with humor ~ a playful dog that is a menace on the golf course, a young boy’s triumph catching a big fish, budding young love among people confiding in a large spider, a talking rook, crazy-driving nuns, delusions of old soldiers, and the hedging and ditching man unearthing all sorts of garbage. I loved both the writing and the stories.



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