The Practice House by Laura McNeal: book review

The Practice House (2017) is set in Ayr, a Scottish village, in 1929, moves to Kansas in America, and ends in California in 1957.

In Ayr, Scotland, sisters Aldine and Eileen McKenna live with their aunt, Charity Sedgewick McKenna – whom they call Aunt Sedge. Three Mormon men, Elder Cooper, Elder Forehead, and Elder Lance, knock on the door, preaching their religion – the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints – and Salt Lake City in the land of America.

Eileen converts and leaves Scotland to marry Elder William Cooper. When she arrives in America, she writes to her sister Aldine, asking her to join them. Aldine does – and takes up a teaching job in a one-room school, Stony Bank’s country school, in the Great Plains of Dorland, Kansas – two thousand miles from her sister.

She lives with Ansel Price, his wife Eleanour (Ellie), and their three children: Charlotte, Clarence, and Geneva (Neva). The story drifts through the Depression years of the 1930s, drought, illnesses and deaths, and from one hardship to another.

The title of the book comes from the daughter Charlotte. An influential older man, Mr McNamara, falls in love with Charlotte in California, and secures a job for her as a teacher in a Practice House – a classroom for home economics where high school girls learn to cook, sew, and keep house.

It’s a long depressing story. The pace of the story picks up when Ellie Price inherits a restaurant in California. Tensions begin between Ellie, who thinks Califorinia is an exciting paradise (away from the broken dreams of Dorland), and her husband who pines for the farm back in Kansas (away from the shallow life of California).

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

2016 update on Rike Park, Tbilisi: from construction to busy park

From a flat patch of uninteresting dirt, Rike Park in Tbilisi, Georgia, has transformed in four years (from 2014-2016) into a busy park full of trees, flower beds, sculptures, fountains, and events. Rike (Rikhe) Park is on the left bank of the Mt’k’vari River (the Kura River) near the Old City of Tbilisi. The Peace Bridge links the right bank to Rike Park. Rike Park is below the hillside Presidential Palace and, via cable car, it is the starting point for the ride to Sololaki Ridge (with the Narikala Fortress and the Mother of Georgia statue). The glass box-shaped cable car terminus was opened on 23 June 2012, and since then the park has continually developed into a ‘people’s park’ where people can walk around, eat at the nearby restaurants, sit next to the statue of American president Ronald Reagan, climb the steps to Avlabari district, and access the sights of Meidan Square, the Peace Bridge, the Metekhi Church, the Old City, the waterfall, the sulphur baths, and t...

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog