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Palace Beautiful, by Sarah Williams
Jun. 10th, 2010 11:29 pm.
I LOVED this book! This was one of the books I went looking for at B&N the other day, and they didn't have it. Which was sad for me, because I wanted it, and sad for them, because I had money burning in my pocket and would have bought it if they'd had it. Instead, I bought nothing. But happy for me, the friends we stayed overnight with last night in Wichita are book reviewers and have great bookstores. I went with them to their local indie and there it was. Yay!
So anyway, if you're looking for a good example of Voice, this is great. Sarah has a way of writing that makes everything, whether it's ghosts or a walk in the park or even her laundry list, sound interesting. The story: Sadie and her sister Zuzu and their father and pregnant stepmother (who they all love, so it's not that kind of story) move from Texas to Salt Lake City so they can help out their elderly grandmother. The house they move into is old and interesting, and they find a small hidden room in the attic that once belonged to another little girl. In the attic is this girl's journal, written during the flu epidemic. They read it together with their next door neighbor, who prefers to be called Belladonna Desolation. (Not, of course, her real name.) There are lots of nice intersecting threads between the present and the past and mothers and daughters and siblings and friends. I loved the idea that everyone is linked to some kind of origin story. There are nice moments of humor and you get the feeling that Sadie would be a very nice friend to have.
I would have loved this book even if I didn't know Sarah, but because I do it was like the enhanced DVD version or something--I remember her talking about going to a Mary Kay party for research, and sure enough, there it was! And all kinds of details that I know come from her own experiences--even though the book isn't an autobiography or anything. But just small details.
My girls have been begging me to read a new book to them (we last finished Vivian Vande Velde's Now You See It, but then we boxed up/took back all the books, and had nothing left to read). I think that they'd really like this.
Also, I'm not primarily a middle grade reader, but every so often a MG book has enough heart or the right kind of heart that I identify with it. So even if you read more YA, I'd still recommend you take a look.
Also Part II: If you like historical fiction I'd recommend Jenny Moss's Winnie's War as well. They are both about the flu epidemic, both have lovely writing, and both have MCs from Texas, now that I think of it, but they are very different. But they give you a sense of what it was like back then.
Go read! :)
I LOVED this book! This was one of the books I went looking for at B&N the other day, and they didn't have it. Which was sad for me, because I wanted it, and sad for them, because I had money burning in my pocket and would have bought it if they'd had it. Instead, I bought nothing. But happy for me, the friends we stayed overnight with last night in Wichita are book reviewers and have great bookstores. I went with them to their local indie and there it was. Yay!
So anyway, if you're looking for a good example of Voice, this is great. Sarah has a way of writing that makes everything, whether it's ghosts or a walk in the park or even her laundry list, sound interesting. The story: Sadie and her sister Zuzu and their father and pregnant stepmother (who they all love, so it's not that kind of story) move from Texas to Salt Lake City so they can help out their elderly grandmother. The house they move into is old and interesting, and they find a small hidden room in the attic that once belonged to another little girl. In the attic is this girl's journal, written during the flu epidemic. They read it together with their next door neighbor, who prefers to be called Belladonna Desolation. (Not, of course, her real name.) There are lots of nice intersecting threads between the present and the past and mothers and daughters and siblings and friends. I loved the idea that everyone is linked to some kind of origin story. There are nice moments of humor and you get the feeling that Sadie would be a very nice friend to have.
I would have loved this book even if I didn't know Sarah, but because I do it was like the enhanced DVD version or something--I remember her talking about going to a Mary Kay party for research, and sure enough, there it was! And all kinds of details that I know come from her own experiences--even though the book isn't an autobiography or anything. But just small details.
My girls have been begging me to read a new book to them (we last finished Vivian Vande Velde's Now You See It, but then we boxed up/took back all the books, and had nothing left to read). I think that they'd really like this.
Also, I'm not primarily a middle grade reader, but every so often a MG book has enough heart or the right kind of heart that I identify with it. So even if you read more YA, I'd still recommend you take a look.
Also Part II: If you like historical fiction I'd recommend Jenny Moss's Winnie's War as well. They are both about the flu epidemic, both have lovely writing, and both have MCs from Texas, now that I think of it, but they are very different. But they give you a sense of what it was like back then.
Go read! :)
