Dear Reader:

I just finished a wonderful old-fashioned style romance (Save My Place) which spoke, on many levels, to me since the backdrop and timing of the story matched  my own personal coming-of-age. This novella (only 150 pages….read it in one evening) takes place in the sixties and seventies against the backdrop of the Vietnam War.

I could even identify with the main character’s childhood…especially some of her school memories. For instance, the first day of kindergarten the teacher asked her to tell the class her name: She replied:

“My whole name is Elisabeth Belle Sterling, and it is spelled Elisabeth with an “S.”

The teacher looked annoyed and responded: “Well, aren’t you the precocious one, Elisabeth Belle Sterling.” 

When Elisabeth got home she told her mother about the incident and wanted to know what “precocious” meant. Her mother slowly smiled and said.” It means you are clever and utterly delightful.” Elisabeth was relieved….she had felt it was something not so good by the manner in which her teacher said it.

Another childhood characteristic that I shared with Elisabeth, growing up, was the balance I always sought between “alone time with my books” and social play time with others. Apparently I was not alone in this endeavor.

Elisabeth and her father played a game every day where each one tried to out-smart the other with a new word. She always loved to win. This came in handy when she met her future husband and they played Scrabble. It was a win-win situation for her…the game and the man.

One of her most poignant comments (remembering her childhood) concerned a quite elderly man who sat on his porch and spewed words of wisdom (quotes, poetry lines, etc.) to anyone passing by. When he died she thought:

I, for one, would think it was a great way to go if my fingers were still typing away when my time comes….leaving my “Happy Place” to go to a “Happier Place.”

Another devoted fan/ reader (Linda Marsh) said this about the story:

A short novel that packs a lot of story into its 150 pages. A love story that takes place in a sweeter slower era that is entering a new age…
Full skirts, loafers and dreams of love and marriage morphed into the age of Aquarius and Vietnam. Kincaid and Elizabeth exerience the ups and downs of the times while maintaining their relationship. For a while it is letter writing that holds them together when he is shipped overseas to Vietnam…and she ends each one with ‘your place is saved’.

So until tomorrow…If you want to leave the present behind for a little while and return to Bobbie Brooks, circle pins and the weejuns era… spiced with love and faith….take a few short hours and read this story. It will be a short roller coaster ride…but one punched with all the key elements of life….laughter, love, tragedy, sadness, wit, humor, understanding, wisdom, compassion, and faith.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I discovered this wonderful little book at Timrod Library and will be returning it next week. It is available on amazon.com.

 * Delight of the Day: I emptied some dead flowers from a container under my bottle tree last week and, then, decided to replace them with some foliage that had some “pop.” These “Orange Marmalade Firecracker Flowers” fit the bill!