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Dear James: A Novel
When St. Isidore's Elementary in Staggerford, Minnesota is closed, Miss Agatha McGee, who has taught there her whole life, is thrown back on her friends to sustain her. She finds her friends wanting. Fleeing unhappiness at home, Agatha sets off on a pilgrimage to Italy, unaware that her old soulmate and nemesis, Father James O'Hannon of County Kildare, Ireland, is waiting to meet her. There, in the golden light of Assisi, Agatha and James begin to rebuild their friendship . . . and their love.
From the Paperback edition.
From the Paperback edition.
438 pages, Paperback
First published April 13, 1993
3 people are currently reading
302 people want to read
About the author
Jon Hassler
33 books115 followersJon Hassler was born in Minneapolis, but spent his formative years in the small Minnesota towns of Staples and Plainview, where he graduated from high school. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from St. John's University in 1955. While teaching English at three different Minnesota high schools, he received his Master of Arts degree in English from the University of North Dakota in 1960. He continued to teach at the high school level until 1965, when he began his collegiate teaching career: first at Bemidji State University, then Brainerd Community College (now called Central Lakes College), and finally at Saint John's, where he became the Writer-in-Residence in 1980.
During his high-school teaching years, Hassler married and fathered three children. His first marriage lasted 25 years. He had two more marriages; the last was to Gretchen Kresl Hassler.
In 1994, Hassler was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a disease similar to Parkinson's. It caused vision and speech problems, as well as difficulty walking, but he was able to continue writing. He was reported to have finished a novel just days before his death. Hassler died in 2008, at the age of 74, at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.[1]
The Jon Hassler Theater in Plainview, Minnesota, is named for him.
During his high-school teaching years, Hassler married and fathered three children. His first marriage lasted 25 years. He had two more marriages; the last was to Gretchen Kresl Hassler.
In 1994, Hassler was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a disease similar to Parkinson's. It caused vision and speech problems, as well as difficulty walking, but he was able to continue writing. He was reported to have finished a novel just days before his death. Hassler died in 2008, at the age of 74, at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.[1]
The Jon Hassler Theater in Plainview, Minnesota, is named for him.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
June 24, 2017
Normally I read an author’s opus in publication order. I broke my own rule this time because some time ago I purchased a number of volumes in the Loyola Press Catholic Classics series, most of which are no longer available from Loyola.
Dear James is the 3rd installment in the Staggerford series which I truly wish I had begun with the first novel in the series, Staggerford. Who knows? This one was good enough I may go back and read the first two books. However, if you do read this first as I did, it is still a good stand-alone.
Dear James is an unlikely love story, or rather love triangle and yet there is no real competition among the parties, just fallings out, misunderstandings and forgiveness. The love concerns: two elderly people, a spinster in Minnesota, Miss Agatha McGee; James, in Ireland, who she has been writing to for a number of years; and the townspeople of Staggerford. Agatha was recently forced into retirement by the closing of her beloved school and she is feeling decidedly unloved and useless after a very full and useful life. More I cannot say without giving away plot spoilers for the previous book in the series, A Green Journey.
If you have never read Hassler, you are in for a treat. I knew he was good from having read, North of Hope. Oh dear I best quit now or I will be talking myself into another book by him and I have so many others to finish first!
Dear James is the 3rd installment in the Staggerford series which I truly wish I had begun with the first novel in the series, Staggerford. Who knows? This one was good enough I may go back and read the first two books. However, if you do read this first as I did, it is still a good stand-alone.
Dear James is an unlikely love story, or rather love triangle and yet there is no real competition among the parties, just fallings out, misunderstandings and forgiveness. The love concerns: two elderly people, a spinster in Minnesota, Miss Agatha McGee; James, in Ireland, who she has been writing to for a number of years; and the townspeople of Staggerford. Agatha was recently forced into retirement by the closing of her beloved school and she is feeling decidedly unloved and useless after a very full and useful life. More I cannot say without giving away plot spoilers for the previous book in the series, A Green Journey.
If you have never read Hassler, you are in for a treat. I knew he was good from having read, North of Hope. Oh dear I best quit now or I will be talking myself into another book by him and I have so many others to finish first!
July 21, 2014
Added 5/9/11.
3/27/14 - I finally finished reading this book.
This story was unevenly paced. Part of it drew me in but the other part annoyed me and lowered my interest.
The idea of a can be intriguing, However, the author, Hassler, tends to include too many incidental and unimportant facts. At times I found that maddening. The author likes to tell the life details of too many uninteresting people. Below is an example from p. 428:
===============================
"The long serving table was covered with a lace cloth belonging to Dora Druppers. The china cups and saucers had been lent by the Buckinghams, the Meerses, and Marsha Skoog. The silver tea service was Agatha's."
===============================
I suppose that serves to demonstrate a sense of community and to paint a picture, but I didn't find it interesting. There are too many passages like the one above and too many references and tangents about the lives of incidental characters. I wish he had concentrated on the main characters in the story. But I suppose that then the plot would have been too thin.
For me, Hassler's strong point is his ability to observe human nature and to make interesting comments about the behavior and thoughts of the characters from a psychological point of view. He's kind of philosopher. I just wish his writing concentrated on that sort of thing instead of on other dry details.
ADDENDUM - 7/21/14
The author of this book, Jon Hassler, has written a book called _A Green Journey_ [ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... ] and there is a 1990 TV movie adaptation called "The Love She Sought" aka "A Green Journey":
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100063/?...
http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/701468...
The plot of the above is very similar to the plot of the book, _Dear James_.
I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. It stars: Angela Lansbury, Denholm Elliott and Cynthia Nixon.
3/27/14 - I finally finished reading this book.
This story was unevenly paced. Part of it drew me in but the other part annoyed me and lowered my interest.
The idea of a can be intriguing, However, the author, Hassler, tends to include too many incidental and unimportant facts. At times I found that maddening. The author likes to tell the life details of too many uninteresting people. Below is an example from p. 428:
===============================
"The long serving table was covered with a lace cloth belonging to Dora Druppers. The china cups and saucers had been lent by the Buckinghams, the Meerses, and Marsha Skoog. The silver tea service was Agatha's."
===============================
I suppose that serves to demonstrate a sense of community and to paint a picture, but I didn't find it interesting. There are too many passages like the one above and too many references and tangents about the lives of incidental characters. I wish he had concentrated on the main characters in the story. But I suppose that then the plot would have been too thin.
For me, Hassler's strong point is his ability to observe human nature and to make interesting comments about the behavior and thoughts of the characters from a psychological point of view. He's kind of philosopher. I just wish his writing concentrated on that sort of thing instead of on other dry details.
ADDENDUM - 7/21/14
The author of this book, Jon Hassler, has written a book called _A Green Journey_ [ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... ] and there is a 1990 TV movie adaptation called "The Love She Sought" aka "A Green Journey":
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100063/?...
http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/701468...
The plot of the above is very similar to the plot of the book, _Dear James_.
I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. It stars: Angela Lansbury, Denholm Elliott and Cynthia Nixon.
December 25, 2024
Three years have gone by since the events of the previous book, A Green Journey. Miss Agatha McGee has never resumed writing to her Irish penpal, James. She's never been able to get past her shock at discovering that he was a priest, which dashed all the romantic dreams she'd harbored about him. All that changes when she plans a trip to Italy to see the pope and finds James waiting there for her.
Hassler is treading a fine line here. As a Catholic writer, he can't let anything too romantic happen between this forbidden couple, but at the same time, it's obvious he wants them to have the happy ending that they didn't quite get to in the last book. The book is about the two of them finding a compromise between the wild romantic dreams both of them hold in their hearts and the detachment that would seem necessary between a priest and an unmarried woman. James doesn't seem to have the same difficulties with the situation that Agatha does, but then again, he had years to contemplate things while she was still in the dark about his real identity.
In this novel, Agatha is playing catch-up, trying to understand if it is possible to love someone deeply and utterly without actually possessing them, and if so, how. Eventually, she finds a kind of peace while reading a biography about St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi.
An aside here: I wanted to read this book now because of recently discovering the movie A Green Journey on Amazon. I was more influenced by that film than I first thought. I had a totally different picture of Miss McGee in my head before seeing it, but now I can't imagine her as anybody but Angela Lansbury. (I must admit that makes her a little bit more sympathetic and attractive to me.) I'm going out on a limb here, but I want to suggest that Hassler himself was similarly influenced by the film. It came out in 1990, and this novel appeared three years later. Certain plot points seem directly influenced by the film, and I think it's likely that Hassler saw his characters in a new light after being exposed to another writer's interpretation of the first book. For instance, because they felt his original ending for her was too dark, the filmmakers constructed their own "happy ending" for Miss McGee, and this book seems like Hassler's attempt to reject that ending while giving her a brighter future more in line with her character.
I really enjoyed this book, but I wouldn't start here if you're new to Hassler. One definitely must read A Green Journey before attempting this one, and it might be a good idea to go all the way back to Staggerford, in which Miss McGee, although not the main character, plays a pivotal role.
Hassler is treading a fine line here. As a Catholic writer, he can't let anything too romantic happen between this forbidden couple, but at the same time, it's obvious he wants them to have the happy ending that they didn't quite get to in the last book. The book is about the two of them finding a compromise between the wild romantic dreams both of them hold in their hearts and the detachment that would seem necessary between a priest and an unmarried woman. James doesn't seem to have the same difficulties with the situation that Agatha does, but then again, he had years to contemplate things while she was still in the dark about his real identity.
In this novel, Agatha is playing catch-up, trying to understand if it is possible to love someone deeply and utterly without actually possessing them, and if so, how. Eventually, she finds a kind of peace while reading a biography about St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi.
"She took the book to her room and read, engrossed, until nearly midnight, paying particular attention to the bond between Francis and Clare. It put to rest for good her misgivings as the woman in James' life. Francis and Clare were saintly, chaste, and intensely in love."
An aside here: I wanted to read this book now because of recently discovering the movie A Green Journey on Amazon. I was more influenced by that film than I first thought. I had a totally different picture of Miss McGee in my head before seeing it, but now I can't imagine her as anybody but Angela Lansbury. (I must admit that makes her a little bit more sympathetic and attractive to me.) I'm going out on a limb here, but I want to suggest that Hassler himself was similarly influenced by the film. It came out in 1990, and this novel appeared three years later. Certain plot points seem directly influenced by the film, and I think it's likely that Hassler saw his characters in a new light after being exposed to another writer's interpretation of the first book. For instance, because they felt his original ending for her was too dark, the filmmakers constructed their own "happy ending" for Miss McGee, and this book seems like Hassler's attempt to reject that ending while giving her a brighter future more in line with her character.
I really enjoyed this book, but I wouldn't start here if you're new to Hassler. One definitely must read A Green Journey before attempting this one, and it might be a good idea to go all the way back to Staggerford, in which Miss McGee, although not the main character, plays a pivotal role.
March 20, 2012
I had finished reading my second Jon Hassler novel (the delightful "Simon's Night") before I realized that I had been reading "Catholic fiction." I thought I was reading "northern Minnesota fiction." What would my grandfathers have said? You start by reading Catholic fiction; next thing you know you're dating a Catholic girl. And we all know where THAT could lead.
"Dear James" is the most Catholic of the three Hassler novels I've read so far. Parts of it are set in Italy, and other parts are set in Ireland, and it doesn't get much more Catholic than that. Even the pope makes a cameo appearance in "Dear James."
As with "Simon's Night," the major character in "Dear James" is a senior citizen, but I didn't identify with Agatha McGee as I identified with Simon. The idea of an elderly lay Catholic woman in a little northern Minnesota town exchanging letters with an elderly Catholic priest in Ireland, and the two meeting in Italy, sounds promising. It works, I guess, but it doesn't work as well as it might have.
The novel opens with several chapters spent in a dreary dinner party. The only good part about about these chapters is that the reader didn't actually have to be at that dinner party in real life. The rest of the book is bound to be better, and it is, but the dreariness lingers. The best part of the book is the time spent in Italy. It's a welcome escape for Agatha from Staggerford, Minnesota. It's a welcome respite for the reader, as well.
"Dear James" is the most Catholic of the three Hassler novels I've read so far. Parts of it are set in Italy, and other parts are set in Ireland, and it doesn't get much more Catholic than that. Even the pope makes a cameo appearance in "Dear James."
As with "Simon's Night," the major character in "Dear James" is a senior citizen, but I didn't identify with Agatha McGee as I identified with Simon. The idea of an elderly lay Catholic woman in a little northern Minnesota town exchanging letters with an elderly Catholic priest in Ireland, and the two meeting in Italy, sounds promising. It works, I guess, but it doesn't work as well as it might have.
The novel opens with several chapters spent in a dreary dinner party. The only good part about about these chapters is that the reader didn't actually have to be at that dinner party in real life. The rest of the book is bound to be better, and it is, but the dreariness lingers. The best part of the book is the time spent in Italy. It's a welcome escape for Agatha from Staggerford, Minnesota. It's a welcome respite for the reader, as well.
May 21, 2016
Agatha McGee, staunch Catholic school teacher and grande dame of small town Staggerford, is dismayed when her school is closed down. At age 70, with seemingly no purpose to her existence, she struggles with depression. Then she receives a letter from former penpal, James O'Hannan, begging her to reopen communication. She had broken off writing to James after traveling to Ireland three years previously to meet him, and discovered the man she had fallen in love with was a priest. In an effort to fight the depression and recharge her spiritual life, Agatha travels to Italy where she encounters James. While Agatha is traveling in Italy, a former pupil finds and reads Agatha's letters from James, then reveals her opinions of the townsfolk in a malicious attempt to discredit Agatha in the eyes of the community. The author deals with issues of small town life, love and betrayal, aging, spirituality, and forgiveness with a sure hand and wonderfully drawn characters. I was especially drawn to the tender romance between Agatha and James, and the thought that the inner life of someone at age 70 is no different than at age 40. A book for fans of the Mitford series ~ with a little more depth.
July 3, 2017
This is the 7th of Jon Hassler’s books I’ve read; a more apt word is devoured. I started on this book late in the day July 2, took it with me on the boat to watch the fireworks display that evening and yesterday couldn’t put it down at all. It’s the continuation of the characters first brought to life in ‘Green Journey’ – Agatha, the elderly spinster Catholic school teacher and James the elderly Irish Catholic priest and their strong (and quite pure) love and devotion to each other. Plus Hassler sprinkes in all the odd small town characters of Staggerford including French Lopat who turns out is a secret relative of Agatha and the treacherous and ‘ferret-like’ Imogene who provides the conflict. As with all of Hassler novels I’m sad with the ending – usually because I just don’t want the story to end, but also because he doesn’t generally take the easy choice & often leaves you hanging, but you can hardly fault him for that. Can hardly wait for his next novel.
January 6, 2011
My first time reading Jon Hassler and what a joy it was. Before even reading comments of others I had decided that he was spot on with his characters and just as "in the real world" you love things about them and sometimes find things about them irritating. It gave one pause to realize how a casual comment, made without malice, a listener may interpret it as judgmental and not know that it is tempered with love and friendship. It was so interesting the way that Hassler was able to get the story to evolve and eventually get on with life and ease our minds as to the affect it had upon everyone involved........ truly like life really is.
I was inspired enough by this writing to immediately seek out another book by Hassler, just to see if I was right in my assessment of his ability to write with insight.
I was inspired enough by this writing to immediately seek out another book by Hassler, just to see if I was right in my assessment of his ability to write with insight.
January 31, 2011
Who knew that a seventy-something spinster, former Catholic school teacher, could be such an interesting and complex character? Agatha is one of those characters that you feel you know from somewhere, and then you read a book about her and find out that there is so much more to know. i read this book in the last few days of Christmas vacation and found those days more warm, more insightful, because of what I found here.
May 24, 2012
After reading STAGGERFORD, I couldn't wait to read another of Jon Hassler's books! I really liked this one, too, but didn't laugh aloud as often as I did when reading STAGGERFORD. It's fun to read about this fictitious town which is geometrically very close to where I live in Minnesota. Familiar actual towns are named--Bemidji (where I live), Crookston (where I used to live), International Falls, Duluth, and others. I'm looking forward to more good reads from Mr. Hassler.
July 27, 2012
This is the 3rd book I've read by Hassler and I couldn't put it down. Some of the most well-developed characters I've come across. Reminded me of the small town I grew up in and some of the issues encountered there
December 30, 2007
A small town, an elderly lady, a penpal. Sounds like an idyllic plot. Until our main character decides she would like to meet her penpal. Minnesota author.
November 7, 2017
Staggerford, Minn., senior citizen Agatha McGee takes the stage again (third time) in Jon Hassler's "Dear James," and this time the sometimes set-in-her-ways spinster's life has taken a tumultuous turn, and she's not sure what to do with herself.
She's a teacher no more, feeling useless and down in the dumps since her school was closed. She's still writing to her Irish priest-friend Father James O'Hannon; she's just not mailing them. Agatha still is stinging after finding out, in Hassler's earlier "A Green Journey," while visiting James for the first time in Ireland, that her beloved penpal is a man of the cloth.
While James suffers ill health in Ireland, Agatha decides to join a group of college kids, her Staggerford priest and her friend Lillian on a trip to Italy.
Back at home, a shiftless man who watches over Agatha's house while she's away has a relationship with Lillian's daughter, who turns out to have it in for Agatha and discovers the old woman's letters from James, which reveal some snarky words Agatha has had for Staggerford residents. This woman decides to do what she can to knock Agatha down a peg or two.
To Agatha's surprise, James finds her in Italy, and they resume a complicated relationship. The book drags a little before James joins up; this time abroad worried me, as I found "A Green Journey," set primarily abroad, the weakest of the previous six Hassler books. But the resumption of Agatha and James' friendship, coupled with James' decision to jump hip-deep into seeing what he can do to soften the violent situation in Ireland/Northern Ireland and the Troubles, perks things up.
This unexpected political slant, coupled with Agatha's own troubles, on her return to Minnesota, coping with the cold shoulders turned her way by friends and townspeople affronted by her words, through James, about them, lift the novel considerably. Determined to keep their friendship going, Agatha and James visit each other in their home countries, and when Agatha decides to help with a troubled Irish boy, their lives entwine further.
Hassler breaks through the temporary dullness of the early part of the Italy journey and turns in another perceptive, moving, amusing tale of small-town Minnesota.
She's a teacher no more, feeling useless and down in the dumps since her school was closed. She's still writing to her Irish priest-friend Father James O'Hannon; she's just not mailing them. Agatha still is stinging after finding out, in Hassler's earlier "A Green Journey," while visiting James for the first time in Ireland, that her beloved penpal is a man of the cloth.
While James suffers ill health in Ireland, Agatha decides to join a group of college kids, her Staggerford priest and her friend Lillian on a trip to Italy.
Back at home, a shiftless man who watches over Agatha's house while she's away has a relationship with Lillian's daughter, who turns out to have it in for Agatha and discovers the old woman's letters from James, which reveal some snarky words Agatha has had for Staggerford residents. This woman decides to do what she can to knock Agatha down a peg or two.
To Agatha's surprise, James finds her in Italy, and they resume a complicated relationship. The book drags a little before James joins up; this time abroad worried me, as I found "A Green Journey," set primarily abroad, the weakest of the previous six Hassler books. But the resumption of Agatha and James' friendship, coupled with James' decision to jump hip-deep into seeing what he can do to soften the violent situation in Ireland/Northern Ireland and the Troubles, perks things up.
This unexpected political slant, coupled with Agatha's own troubles, on her return to Minnesota, coping with the cold shoulders turned her way by friends and townspeople affronted by her words, through James, about them, lift the novel considerably. Determined to keep their friendship going, Agatha and James visit each other in their home countries, and when Agatha decides to help with a troubled Irish boy, their lives entwine further.
Hassler breaks through the temporary dullness of the early part of the Italy journey and turns in another perceptive, moving, amusing tale of small-town Minnesota.
November 7, 2010
Dear James, by Jon Hassler is best read after reading Staggerford and A Gree Journey, at least the latter. It is the story of an elderly single woman from Staggerford, a ficticious town in northern Minnesota. Miss McGee has been a Catholic school teacher and principal in the town and an influence on countless people, students and adults alike. In A Green Journey she takes a trip to Ireland with the intent of meeting a Catholic man she has become acquainted with through letters. She is dealt a huge blow after having gotten to know him and has retreated back to Staggerford to the place and people she feels most a part of. But things aren't going well. The diocese has closed the school and she is retired and feeling useless for the first time in her life. She is at loose ends and very unhappy when her Irish freind, James, contacts her through the church hoping she will rekindle their relationship before it is too late. She does write to him again and he makes a point of being in Rome at the same time she is on a tour there. Meanwhile, on the home front, some surprising information about Miss McGee is found by someone who spreads it around town, leaving the whole town angry with her.
Jon Hassler has a way of drawing me into these stories and keeping me reading way past my bedtime. A person cares about Miss McGee throughout the story and cares what happens to her and the people around her, despite the fact that she is old fashioned and uptight in her thinking. The people of Staggerford are believable characters of small town origens and likeable in a small town way. Jon Hassler is one of my favorite regional writers.
Jon Hassler has a way of drawing me into these stories and keeping me reading way past my bedtime. A person cares about Miss McGee throughout the story and cares what happens to her and the people around her, despite the fact that she is old fashioned and uptight in her thinking. The people of Staggerford are believable characters of small town origens and likeable in a small town way. Jon Hassler is one of my favorite regional writers.
August 7, 2010
I feel churlish giving only two stars to such a hopeful, heartwarming novel, but I'm afraid that for me it just started to cloy. The thread of plot was very slight, other than detailing the difficulties of a hard year for 70-year-old Agatha McGee. The book seemed episodic, with sections that could be (and some actually were) excerpted for magazines, each with a source of tension spun out for a few dozen pages and then resolved, always with a burst of generosity and love. The "good" characters were quirky but likable, the "bad" ones were truly repellent. Some scenes were genuinely funny; none was especially moving, at least for me. I was under the impression that Hassler excelled at depicting small-town Minnesota, so I was a bit disappointed to find that it was really only small-town Catholic Minnesota. Every major character was Catholic, every moral dilemma was considered only from a Catholic point of view, and no other way of thinking about the world was even considered. I longed for just one outsider's viewpoint, carefully and sympathetically presented, even if it turned out to be wrong; but non-Catholics, when they appeared at all, were presented as crass, ignorant, and foolish. Maybe others of Hassler's books are different; this is the only one I've tried.
October 15, 2014
I started this 10 days ago and was reading it in tandem with How the Light Gets In. Hassler writes about small town Midwest (mostly Minnesota) people and he writes about them with affection, honesty, humor, and charm. I discovered his writing when my mother started reading him because he reminded so much of the people she knew growing up in a small Minn. town. This one involves Agatha McGee, parochial school teacher and principal, forced into retirement after 48 years because the bishop decides to close this school. It is also about her friendship with and affection for an Irish priest, Fr. James O'Hannon. This friendship is conveyed mostly through letters. I enjoyed the book and I have known people like the ones portrayed. One passage, especially, resonated with me - at the beginning when, in a letter, Agatha describes how she feels after having to retire. " . . . St. Isidore's Elementary was my station, my vantage point, my mooring. Now I have no station. I'm adrift. The days seem to double in length and the nights are endless. Each morning I'm out of bed in time for school with no school to go to. Evenings I feel so useless with no papers to correct that I've begun watching TV."
January 4, 2010
I heard of this author when he died last year (?) and have been reading his books since. Hassler writes about ordinary people in mid-Minnesota with humor and melancholy. I prefer his books to those of Garrison Keilor - the humor is more subtle and characters better-developed.
This book is quite poignant and details the friendship between a spinster teacher and a Catholic priest. I don't know if Hassler was Catholic, but he seems to have a great respect for, as well as knowledge of the challenges faced by priests. This was also portrayed in "North of Hope". Themes of mental illness, family life, and social change weave through the story and add more complication than needed, but all things being equal, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
This book is quite poignant and details the friendship between a spinster teacher and a Catholic priest. I don't know if Hassler was Catholic, but he seems to have a great respect for, as well as knowledge of the challenges faced by priests. This was also portrayed in "North of Hope". Themes of mental illness, family life, and social change weave through the story and add more complication than needed, but all things being equal, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
November 1, 2016
I was looking for a Thanksgiving book and I thought I would like this book from the description I had read. I wanted to like it and I sort of did, but it just went on too long and I couldn't sustain my interest in it. Plus, it can't really be called a Thanksgiving book even though it begins at Thanksgiving. The holiday is a very small part of this story.
It's a story of love, deceit, betrayal, and forgiveness. If I went into all of that, my review would be as long as the book.
It's a story of love, deceit, betrayal, and forgiveness. If I went into all of that, my review would be as long as the book.
June 6, 2011
A very satisfying novel, as the relationship between Agnes McGee and James O'Hannon is rekindled and becomes a very real part of their lives. Also, Agnes' critical nature is more exposed than ever, and then is ultimately tempered by her friendship with James. One of the best Hassler books, which goes further with many Staggerford characters and makes them feel very real.
August 12, 2009
I really enjoyed this book. It was completely different than most books I read but I'm glad I picked it up. I enjoyed Hassler's writing style. Coming from a small town in Minnesota, I liked how Hassler portrayed life in a small town with its pros and its cons.
March 7, 2010
If books could be considered comfort food this one would be mom's macaroni and cheese.An unsentimental novel filled with the same characters that were in A Green Journey. It is really like reading Part 2. If you liked the first book you'll enjoy this one too.
July 11, 2016
I enjoyed this book, though the ending was not quite what I expected. Life lessons abound, we all can learn about life, especially life in a small town, from these characters. I'm going to pass it on for others to read.
March 30, 2014
I enjoyed the character of retired teacher Agatha McGee so much in Staggerford, so I was glad to follow her in this novel, set again in Staggerford MN, but also in Italy and Ireland.
This was a really good read!
This was a really good read!
February 13, 2008
1990's Minnesota, long novel about life in a small town, with a Cathlolic bent. Interesting, well written, didn't blow me away.
July 27, 2008
Agatha McGee unwittingly becomes the subject of small town gossip due to her intimate letters with James O'Hannon.
November 5, 2010
Not as good a A Green Journey, but still a look at small town characters that are, mostly, neither good or bad, but some of both, including Agatha.
Read
November 30, 2012Hassler is one of my favorites
December 21, 2013
Outstanding. Another Agatha McGee story!
June 22, 2014
B
boring ending
boring ending
December 22, 2016
Delightful
September 14, 2024
For three years Agatha has been writing letters to James about her small town life in Staggerford, Minnesota, and then tearing them up. After all, as she was falling in love with him, he kept secret that he was a priest. But now at last he has made contact with her indirectly and the friendship is renewed. The pace is gentle as in A Green Journey, but by no means slow or boring. I love the characters (all except Imogene) and can identify with Agatha's tendency to speak the truth about her friends even when it isn't complimentary, which gets her into deep trouble when her neighbor and best friend Lillian's daughter Imogene exposes what she has written privately to James to her whole Staggerford world.
Hassler knows how to make a place come alive, and not just Minnesota. This wasn't historical fiction when it was written, but the world has changed so much that now it feels like a long gone-by world with the Irish Troubles, no cell phones, and kids allowed in the cockpit of a plane. They bring an Irish child to Minnesota for the summer. I remember that happening at the time, but as I recall after an idyllic summer, those kids had a difficult transition back to Belfast.
Hassler knows how to make a place come alive, and not just Minnesota. This wasn't historical fiction when it was written, but the world has changed so much that now it feels like a long gone-by world with the Irish Troubles, no cell phones, and kids allowed in the cockpit of a plane. They bring an Irish child to Minnesota for the summer. I remember that happening at the time, but as I recall after an idyllic summer, those kids had a difficult transition back to Belfast.
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