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Saxton Reads! & ReviewsWe invite the public to post reviews to our catalog by logging into our online catalog. Reviews will then be posted to this blog. Comments can be added to existing posts or may be added as separate reviews on our catalog JANUARY 27, 2009
Cordelia Underwood ~ Van Reid
Meet Andrew Smith, Readers Services Librarian, Williamsburg Regional Library, Williamsburg, our guest reviewer. Andrew and other staff of WRL, host an entertaining, informative blog called Blogging For A Good Book. I so enjoyed Andrew's review of Cordelia Underwood, that I convinced him to share it with Columbia readers. Call a book “sweet” and I’m almost guaranteed not to read it. Call it “charming” and I’ll politely demur. Call it “gentle” and, although I know many people I will suggest it to, but I’m not very likely to pick it up for myself. I prefer my fiction darker, that’s all. So how do I describe a sweet, charming, and gentle book that I thoroughly enjoyed? And how do I include the darker elements without discrediting the gentility of the story? The title that creates the horns of this dilemma is Cordelia Underwood by Van Reid. Subtitled The Marvelous Beginnings of The Moosepath League, it is the story of four Maine gentlemen who accidentally encounter one another, find each other sympathetic, and form a social club that itself accidentally becomes involved in a series of adventures. The setting informs the tone of the story - Maine at the end of the 19th century, when manners matter more than status, where trust is inherent in every meeting of strangers, and and where people are gifted with the ability to tell stories at the drop of a hat. Tobias Walton, who becomes the chair of the Moosepath League, is a man of the world whose very presence encourages people to open up to him. He is elected to his position by Messrs. Ephraim, Eagleton, and Thump, a painfully shy trio who admire Mr. Walton’s courage in the face of their own indecision. (The three are so tongue-tied that when flustered by events they fall back on pronouncements concerning the tides, weather forecasts, and the exact time.) Mr. Walton also hires a commonsensical young Mainer by the name of Sundry Moss, who brings an air of competence to his duties as Mr. Walton’s valet, and the quintet becomes The Moosepath League. The young woman of the title, having just inherited a plot of land, attracts the attention of mysterious criminals who believe that it holds buried treasure. Far from being a helpless heroine, Cordelia is active, brave, and willing to take risks to uncover the source of the threats. She comes to trust Mr. Walton implicitly, and he willingly joins in her adventures with the bumbling but well-meaning assistance of the Moosepathians. The storylines themselves are not linear, so the book maintains a relaxed pace until heading into the denouement of Cordelia’s story. The characters make side journeys, take time to get to know one another, and immerse themselves in the charm of rural Maine. (A communal 4th of July picnic and the balloon ascension by a lady of indeterminate character is a terrific set piece.) The real charm of those side trips, though, is the rich variety of people the characters encounter, and the stories they hear - Maine folklore, shaggy dog tales, and a ghost story that is both scary and tragic. Any lover of oral storytelling, or anyone who wonders what life was like before movies, radio, and TV, shoul
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