Chapter One Hundred Forty-One: The Boston Girl

So I really lucked out that I was able to get my hands on Anita Diamant's most recent novel from the library so quickly, since it's been popular enough that all of the copies are generally on hold.  And then I was stuck with a terrible summer cold, so I had nothing better to do than spend an afternoon reading The Boston Girl.  It was an absolutely delightful afternoon!  (Other than the cold...)   The Boston Girl is the story of one woman's life in Boston and Rockport from 1915 until the mid 1930s, as the main character (Addie) narrates it to her granddaughter.  Addie makes for an excellent narrator: she's thoughtful but not too serious or somber, even when recalling the darker moments of her life, and her narration feels really fresh, like she's reliving her life as she tells it.  The story is her attempt to answer her grown granddaughter's question of how she became the woman she was, and the fictitious Addie--the only American-born daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants--certainly has an interesting life to recount, starting from the time she was 15 and first started to experience some independence from her parents through settlement house programs, particularly a book group and a summer retreat in Rockport.  If you like historical fiction or just a really good story, I'd highly recommend The Boston Girl.  I can see why it's been earning so much praise!