"Matthias is a man of orderly ways, a librarian whose life rarely strays from its narrow channels. At the library where he works is an archive of letters from the poet T.S. Eliot to an American Woman...When a young poet, Roberta, comes to the library wanting to see the letters, she unsettles Matthias's composure and brings back long-buried memories of a disastrous relationship years earlier."

Sending to maganta.

This was a fairly good book. It is split into three sections, the first and third from Matthias's point of view and the second from his wife's. Parts of the second section felt tedious, but then became emotionally engaging when you begin to wonder if she really was sick, or if the inadequate mental treatments in the fifties and sixties of depressed people were making her sicker than she would have been. Her depression stems from feelings she can't reconcile of being a Jew in America immediately after WWII and being married to a Christian that she believes could never understand her situation. Matthias does little to save her, keeping himself emotionally closed.

In walks a young, vibrant student that reawakens his feelings for life and makes him realize how little he did to help his wife. Although the author gives us the grace to keep their relationship from being overly romantic, I found the character of Roberta to be unrealistic. She comes off much younger than she is supposed to be and swings wildly between strong, independent woman, and weepy child. I found the end to be equally unbelievable and disappointing, feeling that what Matthias did was not a healing, or even the correct thing to do, but another running away from the issues with his wife (given that he didn't do the same with her documents). (I'm trying not to spoil; you'll see what I mean),

It wasn't a bad book by any means, and I hope that future readers will enjoy it.

Received in the mail, apparently my first attempts at writing a journal entry didn't work.

Traded with therubycanary for Geisha.