Annabelle Aster doesn’t bow to convention-not even that of space and time-which makes the 1890s Kansas wheat field that has appeared in her modern-day San Francisco garden easy to accept. Even more peculiar is Elsbeth, the truculent schoolmarm who sends Annie letters through the mysterious brass mailbox perched on the picket fence that now divides their two worlds. Annie and Elsbeth’s search for an explanation to the hiccup in the universe linking their homes leads to an unsettling discovery-and potential disaster for both of them. Together they must solve the mystery of what connects them before one of them is convicted of a murder that has yet to happen…and yet somehow already did.
Boekinformatie
Schrijver: Scott Wilbanks
Titel: The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster
Uitgeverij: Sourcebooks Landmark (VS)
Jaartal: 2015
Bladzijden: 390
Genre: geen
Leeftijd: 18+
Mijn mening: 3 sterren
- ik heb dit boek in 2015 gedownload via de website Netgalley
- ik las het boek van 27 juli t/m 5 augustus 2016 en dit was boek 140 van de boeken die ik in 2016 gelezen heb
Over het verhaal
Elsbeth Grundy was a loner, and an odd one at that, but company was headed her way whether she liked it or not. She lived in the plains of central Kansas, alone in a cabin that was, to use a charitable word, uncomplicated. It was an austere dwelling with a cast-iron stove, a table and chair, two cabinets, a fireplace, a rocker, and a small bedroom to the rear. Being somewhat prideful of her country habits, Elsbeth had a privy built out back, a decision she often regretted with a few choice words when the weather turned for the worse.
In her bedroom was a tiny closet, and in that tiny closet were three cotton work frocks, two pairs of well-worn overalls, an occasional dress appropriate for a schoolmarm, and a family of field mice that had taken up residence in the latter’s pockets. (109)
Elsbeth Grundy woont op het platteland van Kansas. Ze is met pensioen, maar heeft gewerkt als schooljuf. Op een dag staat er opeens een huis in haar graanveld. Elsbeth besluit op onderzoek uit te gaan. Ze kan het huis niet in en niemand doet open. Ze besluit dan maar een brief te schrijven aan de bewoners.
El was a practical woman. But she was equally a woman of determination. The appearance of the house was more than the affront of someone tresspassing on her back forty; it was an insult to her understanding how the universe worked. She gathered her skirt in her hands and marched through the wheat toward the offensive structure, only to pause at the gate in the picket fence to scowl at the profusion of roses growing on the other side. However much this bothersome addition to the landscape made her mind reel, she had to admit it had a certain charm.
Nonetheless!
El marched up to the house and stretched out her hand to knock on the door. Just as she did so, her stomach turned and the door began to spin. She closed her eyes to clear the vertigo and opened them to find that she was back at the gate in the picket fence. Infuriated, she stomped back to the door, convinced that her attempt to knock had lacked conviction. She raised her arm to give the door a good wallop –
And found herself plopped on het buttocks by the gate, legs sprawled, and with her skirt around her waist like some rag doll carelessly tossed in a bin. Just as the dirt started to chafe through her undergarments, a bird chirped close by. She looked up to find a finch perched atop a brass letter box that sat on the picket fence, pretty as you please. She stared at it for a moment before gathering herself up to head back to her cabin, and were she immediately collected her inkpot and stationary and began making her objections known in no uncertain terms. (138)
Ondertussen heeft Annie, een jongedame die in San Francisco woont in de 20e eeuw, een vreemde deur in haar huis. Als ze hier doorheen gaat blijkt ze opeens in een graanveld te staan. In de verte ziet ze een huisje en daar loopt ze naar toe.
Gathering her courage with a quick intake of breath, Annie stepped through the gate and began to wade, waist deep, into the frothy terrain, pausing when she spied a little cabin on the horizon with a wisp of smoke floating from the corner of its roof. There were no cabins in San Francisco of which she was aware. But, then again, there were no weat fields either.
Curiosity overcame her, and Annie made a giddy dash across the field in the direction of the cabin, only slowing long enough to admire a scarecrow that bore a striking resemblance to Mark Twain. Odd, she thought, but not nearly as odd as the wooden sign with hand-painted letters that she passed a few minutes later. It read: Pawnee County, Kansas. Pop. 673. Five miles due east of Sage as the crow flies. She stored that information for future consideration and arrived breathless and dizzy at the cabin.
Finding herself sitting in a rather undignified heap, Annie realized that, only seconds before, she’d been about to knock on the cabin’s back door. Being a quick study, she didn’t need to be taught the same lesson twice. She pondered the existence of the cabin, the garden in her backyard, the state of things in general, and made a decision. She chuckled drunkenly, dusted off her hat, and hurried home to compose a letter. (224)
Annie kan het huis bij het graanveld niet in. Ze besluit een brief aan de bewoners te schrijven. Door middel van brieven blijken Elsbeth en Annie met elkaar te kunnen communiceren. Wat is er gebeurd waardoor dit mogelijk is? Waarom zijn het juist Elsbeth en Annie die met elkaar in contact komen? Wat hebben ze met elkaar te maken? Kunnen ze ook zelf tijdreizen?
Mijn mening
Ik heb dit boek een paar jaar geleden gelezen tijdens de zomervakantie en ik vond het een fascinerend en leuk verhaal. het is bijzonder om contact te hebben met iemand uit een andere tijdsperiode. Tijdens het lezen kom je er als lezer achter waarom juist deze twee vrouwen met elkaar kunnen communiceren.
Ik heb dit boek gelezen via Netgalley.
Ik vind dit een leuk vakantieverhaal, en geschikt voor iedereen die houdt van verhalen met vrouwen in de hoofdrol, verhalen waarin tijdreizen voorkomt, verhalen over vriendschap.