The first half of the book felt more like sappy romance. That's not really my thing. Tess abandons her fiancé, Vincent, to run off and marry Henry. Even though she really loves Vincent and doesn't really know Henry. Henry's family hates Tess. They don't want her to be able to sit for a state licensing exam that will allow former nursing student, Tess, to become an R.N. She's a Kraft. It would sully the family name if she was to work. At times, I was ready to put down the book. I couldn't understand the rave reviews. When was I going to get to the "good" stuff?
It wasn't until I got to second half of the book that I felt completely engaged. I love a book that makes me run to the internet to check if part of the plot is made up or based on history. I found myself investigating several times during the second half of the story.
I learned about "the miracle of Hickory." In 1944, Hickory and the surrounding area experienced a horrible outbreak of polio. At the start, most cases were being sent to hospitals in Charlotte for treatment. When that was no longer an option, the folks of Hickory commit to opening a hospital to treat their own polio patients, complete with an iron lung. From a small wooden building that was part of a Fresh Air camp to an operational hospital took a mere 54 hours. Truly a miracle. In The Stolen Marriage, the fictional characters of Tess Kraft, R.N. and her husband, Hank Kraft, owner of a large furniture factory, are hugely involved in getting the hospital up and running so quickly.
In the first half of the book, Chamberlain has us wondering why Henry married Tess. To the author's credit, my prediction was off the mark. Not completely. I wonder if other readers made the same prediction that I made. In the second half of the book, Henry's reason for marrying Tess is made clear. Other secrets are revealed. I don't want to include any spoilers here but the other secrets are much more substantiative than those that might be revealed in a romance novel.
It took me five days to plod thru the first half of the book and just one day to finish my reading. This is the explanation for my 4-star rating on goodreads.com.
- How I miss you and Little Italy and St. Leo's and everything! Have some pizza for me, Gina. They've never even heard of it down here, and I am ever so tired of grits! As a transplanted pizzaholic, this made me chuckle.
- Well, guess what I did this afternoon? I went to the library and researched divorce in North Carolina. The results were depressing. Gina, it's impossible! Divorce is horrible. But I'm so glad that the option was available for me. I could only imagine how Tess must have felt upon this discovery. That harming the family name would be more important than people living happy, satisfying, productive lives.
- "Get up, get up!" she commanded, breathless from the climb up the stairs. "The Allies attacked the French coast!" she shouted. "Teddy Wright just came over to tell us to turn on the radio." She was smiling broadly and I could see the pretty young girl she had once been in her face. "There are thousands of troops!" she said, clasping her hands together. "Thousands upon thousands! Hurry downstairs." ... In minutes, all four of us plus Hattie, already dressed in her uniform, sat as close as we could get to the radio in the living room, awestruck by what we were hearing. ... "Teddy says the church is open." Ruth got to her feet. "Everyone's going. I'm getting dressed and calling a cab to take me there myself. Lucy and Tess, you come with me. And Hattie, you can go to your church too, if you want." I know that 24-hour news is a relatively recent concept and that in the "old days" households had one radio that the family listened to together. I know this. But I often imagine what how a story would be changed if set in today's time with our current access to news. I also wonder about what went on in my parents' individual homes (they were both still teenagers, 17 and 15) as World War II was ending. That makes me sorry that I never thought to ask that type of question of my parents before they died. Big news stories, now, as then, demand coming together as a community. I remember in my younger days crowds of people standing outside appliance storefront windows watching big news story with others. I guess that's a way that we can make better sense of our world.
- "That's a pretty doll," I said, and Jilly held it in front of her to show me. The doll had eyes that opened and closed, pursed pink lips, and molded blond hair. I wondered what it was like for a colored child to have to play with a white doll. I wonder if that is still a big issue. I know that it was becoming less of an issue when my kids were little. It reminds me of the time that my younger daughter really wanted "Baby Tumble Surprise" and the only one I could find was the black version. I wanted my kids to be accepting of all types of people so I didn't give much thought at all to the fact that the doll didn't resemble my blond-haired, blue-eyed daughter. And she loved that doll. Until she stopped tumbling!
- "...We can help our children. And speaking of the children" - he paused momentarily - "we won't have the space to separate colored from white right away, so until we do, the facility will be integrated." He held up his hands as if to stop any complaints before they began. "That can't be helped," he said. "We need to remember that polio knows no socioeconomic or racial lines. It affects all of our community and it will take all of us to fight it." Ruth, mother of Henry, (falsely) believes that polio is caused by poor hygiene. I'm sure many affluent people thought that as well, until polio struck someone close to them.
- From the author's notes: To complicate matters, the town is impossible to navigate by map, having street names like "44th Avenue Court NE." To make matters worse, as I tried to learn what the town was like in 1944, I discovered that the street names were different back then. the joke is that the town government changed the names during the war in case of invasion - the enemies would never be able to find their way around. I wonder why the street names in Ocala, Florida, near where I live, are so ridiculous. NW 34th Avenue Road?
- Also from the author's notes: Joyce Moyer, the author of the award-winning children's novel, Blue, shared some of her research with me early on. She whetted my appetite to learn more, and I'm grateful for her generosity. I'm a fan of children's literature, checked out Blue on goodreads.com, and it sounds like another book I'd enjoy reading.
The Stolen Marriage is a book that I'm glad I stuck with. And if any of what I've just written sounds remotely interesting to you, you might want to give this novel a try.
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