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Audiobook read by Glenn Close. I would not have recognized her voice if I hadn’t known. Excellent reading, though the little boy’s dialogue is a bit shrill.
A short, sweet children’s book, spare and moving. Though it won the Newbery in 1986, it is amazingly not depressing!
Somewhere on the Great Plains, some time in the 1800s, a farmer advertises for a wife. His own wife died years ago, leaving their daughter and son motherless. Sarah, a spinster on the coast of Maine, begins corresponding with the entire family, telling them about her life, her cat, and her beloved sea. Eventually she comes to visit, to see if they all like each other well enough to become a family.
I’ve read a lot of books with the general story of “kids might be getting a new parent/parent of kids considers remarriage.” This is the only modern one I’ve ever read in which the conflict is not the children feeling ambivalent or outright hostile to the new prospective parent. The children in this novel start out with positive feelings about getting a new mother, and fall in love with Sarah. The conflict is whether Sarah, who loves the sea, can reconcile herself to a totally new environment.
This is a beautifully written, atmospheric novel. It isn’t sad, but the audiobook did bring tears to my eyes at one point. The ending is especially lovely. It has a lot of similar appeal to the Little House books, but in distilled form.
Sarah, Plain and Tall
A short, sweet children’s book, spare and moving. Though it won the Newbery in 1986, it is amazingly not depressing!
Somewhere on the Great Plains, some time in the 1800s, a farmer advertises for a wife. His own wife died years ago, leaving their daughter and son motherless. Sarah, a spinster on the coast of Maine, begins corresponding with the entire family, telling them about her life, her cat, and her beloved sea. Eventually she comes to visit, to see if they all like each other well enough to become a family.
I’ve read a lot of books with the general story of “kids might be getting a new parent/parent of kids considers remarriage.” This is the only modern one I’ve ever read in which the conflict is not the children feeling ambivalent or outright hostile to the new prospective parent. The children in this novel start out with positive feelings about getting a new mother, and fall in love with Sarah. The conflict is whether Sarah, who loves the sea, can reconcile herself to a totally new environment.
This is a beautifully written, atmospheric novel. It isn’t sad, but the audiobook did bring tears to my eyes at one point. The ending is especially lovely. It has a lot of similar appeal to the Little House books, but in distilled form.
Sarah, Plain and Tall
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I find this observation depressing in and of itself!
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(Also, the author's surname is spelled "MacLachlan.")
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Huh. That I might have to see.
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Also, just saying, really much fewer than half of Newbery winners are depressing, it's just that when a depressing story is GOOD (and most of the winners are good) it really makes an impression. I'm looking at you, BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA.
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