Helpful Score: 1
Ava is a divorced, single mom with a 12-year old son. It's the 50's, and the threat of Communism and bombs keep everyone on edge and slightly paranoid. It doesn't help that Ava is Jewish, attractive, and works outside the home, isolating her even further from her neighbors. She is more concerned with creating a better life for herself and her son than pleasing her neighbors, so when one of the other boys in the neighborhood goes missing, a boy who was known to spend time at her house, her life becomes even more subject to gossip and negative speculation. This book kept me hooked chapter after chapter, desperate to find out what happened to the missing child and also wondering how Ava would fare in the end.
Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings
Set in 1956 with a central character that is living life definitely against the grain in the current time - a divorced single mom who is in the workforce and trying to raise her son in suburbia. One would say this could be historical fiction and I may agree because it is definitely not completely contemporary, but I enjoyed reading a story where I could imagine a woman getting heat for her lifestyle, it could compare to current social issues in the news. Her son's best friend goes missing and the story takes off after that!
Set in 1956 with a central character that is living life definitely against the grain in the current time - a divorced single mom who is in the workforce and trying to raise her son in suburbia. One would say this could be historical fiction and I may agree because it is definitely not completely contemporary, but I enjoyed reading a story where I could imagine a woman getting heat for her lifestyle, it could compare to current social issues in the news. Her son's best friend goes missing and the story takes off after that!
Caroline Leavitt has crafted a very haunting book set in 1956 with a zeitgeist that embraced a fear of anything or anyone who differed from the accepted norm. This included a terror of communism, preparation for a nuclear attack and a disdain for divorced women. All of these figure prominently in Is This Tomorrow.
Ava Lark rents the poorest home in a suburban Boston neighborhood with her 12-year old son, Lewis. The neighbors are immediately wary of Ava with the single exception of widowed Dot Rearson and her children, Jimmy and Rose. Lewis, Jimmy and Rose form an immediate close bond, calling themselves the three musketeers. This friendship provides a solace that is strengthened by their exclusion at school. Jimmy's pre-adolescent crush on the attractive Ava does little to endear her to the neighborhood gossips. When Jimmy disappears one spring evening, a chain of events is set in motion that affects many people for many years. Once again Algonquin and Leavitt have give their readers a book that is a riveting page turner.
Ava Lark rents the poorest home in a suburban Boston neighborhood with her 12-year old son, Lewis. The neighbors are immediately wary of Ava with the single exception of widowed Dot Rearson and her children, Jimmy and Rose. Lewis, Jimmy and Rose form an immediate close bond, calling themselves the three musketeers. This friendship provides a solace that is strengthened by their exclusion at school. Jimmy's pre-adolescent crush on the attractive Ava does little to endear her to the neighborhood gossips. When Jimmy disappears one spring evening, a chain of events is set in motion that affects many people for many years. Once again Algonquin and Leavitt have give their readers a book that is a riveting page turner.
I really enjoyed this book. After the first couple of chapters, it was hard to put down. There were a few spots it dragged, but I wanted to keep going to find out what happened and how it was all going to wrap up.
Another great book from Caroline Leavitt! Kept me interested right to the last page!
