On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

This book has sat on my "to read" shelf for a few years because of the reviews that had been published and the reputation of Ian McEwan. I was spurred to finally make time to read it after I watched the movie. I then recommended it to the Gables Book Club for the March meeting. 

McEwan has a penchant for hooking his readers from the very first sentence in a book and On Chesil Beach  is no exception.

They were young, educated, and both virgins on this, their wedding night, and they lived in a time when a conversation about sexual difficulties was plainly impossible. But it is never easy. 

The novella takes place in 1962 on the wedding night of Edward Mahew and Florence Pointing at a hotel on Chesil Beach in Dorset in southern England. It is a shingle beach that is characterized by the curve of the land and the arrangement of the pebbles by wind and rain.  It is there they will enjoy the wedding night and a stroll on the beach drinking wine and examining the pebbles. 

Providing some comic relief to the tension that the reader fills building is the description of the waiters and the dinner ordered. There was no real room so the waiters stayed and observed as the two tried to eat the melon, plates of beef, cheese board and trifle. But it was not to be finished as the couple midway through made their way to the four-poster bed. 

In a scene that was a bit reminiscent of Ravel's Bolero, sensual and innocent the reader stands witness to what surely will be a night of bliss. Edward fumbles with Florence's dress and, ultimately, decides to proceed without removing it. But the thought of intimacy so frightens Florence that she bolts from the hotel room in a desperate move to avoid being suffocated by the act and heads to the beach. After a time, he follows and the two engage in a conversation that evolves into argument as they both admit that they are so in love with each other. 

Intermixed between the action of the wedding night, McEwan writes beautifully crafted chapters of the details of Florence and Edward's meeting and courtship. The reader is mesmerized by his words and sentence structure. It is with these chapters that we understand more about the two young people and the worlds from which they came - she from a privilege family but with an abusive father, he from a middle class and hardworking one in which his father has had to assume roles as mother and father since a traumatic accident to his mother. 

At the book's conclusion one is left with a feeling of poignancy and regret for Edward and Florence and the thought of what could have been. Again, the book with all of McEwan's artistry surpasses the movie. Read and enjoy.  

The Secrets of Flight by Maggie Leffler

The Secrets of Flight  is a novel to be enjoyed on a number of different levels. It is told by three narrators who share memories and insights into not only today's world, but the world of yesteryear.

Mary Browning is an 87 year old facilitator of a writing group that meets at the Squirrel Hill Library in Pittsburgh. The group is populated by mostly elderly people who are aspiring writers. Mary has been a widow for 10 years and seems quite the recluse save the time she spends with her writers. The reader feels that there are secrets in her life that will eventually come to the fore.

How odd is it that Elyse Strickler happens upon the group one meeting. Mary is immediately drawn to Elyse because she reminds her so much of her sister. The two develop a warm relationship when Elyse encourages Mary to dictate her life story so that Elyse can type it into a word processing program. Elyse becomes the 2nd narrator who is also struggling with her identity and the problems of the real world around her - her father's cancer, school life and a boy who isn't worth her attention, but who leads her on, a mother whose job seems more important than her family, and the impending divorce of her parents.

Miriam (Miri) Lichtenstein, is a Jewish girl who is determined to be a pilot from the time she witnesses a pilot parachute into her yard. Determined to go to flight school, while her parents want her to go to college, she keeps her enrollment secret. She is accepted into the Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASPS) and goes to Texas to train and fly. The depiction of the treatment of women and a Jewish woman was interesting and insightful. While in Texas Miriam meets and falls in love with a young man, Solomon, who aspires to be a doctor. Because of medical school quotas for Jews, Solomon changes his name to Thomas Browning and the reader discovers the relationship between Miri and Mary. 

The friendship that develops between Miri/Mary and Elyse is a touching one with each looking out for the other. Elyse puts Mary in touch with a needed doctor and Mary buys a plane ticket for Elyse to go to Florida to see her ill grandmother because her mother was not concerned enough to do so. Elyse provides the family for Mary that she has lost since she was "declared dead" by her own mother when she married Thomas and abandoned her Jewish heritage. 

The historical parts of the novel were based on fact with many of the WASP incidents and characters taken right from the actual events. Perhaps, what was most notable for a reader from Pittsburgh were all the references to the city and the depiction of how the city had changed during the time span of the novel. The characters were well developed believable. The Secrets of Flight unraveled more secrets than could be imagined, which gave quite the twist at the end. It was a wonderful read and recommended for those who enjoy a good story masterfully crafted.