Plain Truth By Jodi Picoult

I found this an enjoyable read and I learnt something about the Amish way of life.  The book opens with Katie Fisher, an Amish girl, awakening from a dream about her dead sister.  Her sister drowned whilst skating on the lake and Katie blames herself for her death as she was with her.  Katie is in pain and realises she is in labour.  She goes down to the barn so as not to disturb her family.  She has refused to acknowledge that she is pregnant and has managed to hide the pregnancy from her family and friends.  Alone in the barn she gives birth to a little boy.  She prays to God for guidance and exhausted she falls asleep.  When she wakes the infant is gone.    It as if her prayer has been answered and she was never pregnant.  The dead infant is discovered later that morning.  Katie swears she has no idea how the baby died and that it is nothing to do with her.  It is obvious from medical examinations that she has just given birth and that the infant was hers.  The whole community is in shock.   Ellie Hathaway, a disillusioned big-city attorney, comes to Paradise, Pennsylvania to stay with her aunt and uncle – her aunt used to be Amish.  She ends up defending Katie and two cultures collide.  I saw the twist coming at the end a long time before it did and, although I thought it was a little unrealistic, it didn’t detract from the story as a whole.  

Fair Exchange by Michèle Roberts

The story opens with a confession.  Fearing she is about to die, Louise Daudry, a French peasant woman calls for the priest to tell him her secret.  In order to confess she needs to start her tale from the beginning.  The story, told from different narrative points of view, is about the consequences of one foolish act.   The imagery of food and French rural life is fantastic, although I felt the story could have gone deeper.   I wanted to know more about the time the story was set, i.e. the French Revolution.  I also felt the characters were too modern for the setting and not as fully formed as they could have been.  The story was inspired by the lives and the affairs of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Wordsworth. I read Daughters of the House by Michele Roberts a few years ago and I preferred that book to this one.  

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Harold Fry has just retired.  He is wondering what to do with his day.  His wife, Maureen is hovering upstairs, when a letter arrives in a pink envelope addressed to Harold.  The letter is from Queenie Hennessy, an old work colleague of Harold’s.  Harold opens the envelope under the watchful eye of Maureen.  Queenie is writing from a hospice where she is dying of cancer. She has written to say goodbye.   Harold writes a short reply and goes out to post it, all the while thinking his reply is inadequate.  He hesitates at the first post box and decides to walk to the next one.  In the end he decides to walk to Queenie. On his pilgrimage of 627 miles he meets some colourful characters.  As he walks he thinks about his past, of the things he has left unsaid or undone.  It is a story about the importance of relationships.  I found it laugh out loud funny at times and at others incredibly sad.  I enjoyed it, but felt the pace lagged in places, especially when he is joined by the other pilgrims.