Two Books Set in Maine

Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015--San Antonio

I've finished two novels in the past two weeks.  Both were well written and interesting with settings in coastal Maine.

Olive Kitterage by Elizabeth Stout is a collection of short stories about people living in a small coastal town in Maine.  It was the winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize.  The character in the title weaves through all the stories because she was a middle school math teacher who taught many of the people or their children, because she knew them through church, or because she knew them as customers at her husband's hardware store.  She is not a particularly likeable character, but the stories are quite interesting and enjoyable.  3 stars out of 4.

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline is a novel that covers the lives of two women who lived their youth with other families due to unfortunate circumstances.  One, an Irish immigrant in the 1920s was sent on an Orphan Train for adoption in the Midwest after a fire in her tenement apartment in New York.  The other, a young goth girl of today has been in the foster home program since her father died and her mother was sent to a mental hospital.  It's a well written book that, like the one above, is set in a coastal main community with flashback stories to the 20s through the 40s, and both stories are interesting.  3 1/2 stars out of 4.