Faith Sullivan visits Harvester, Minn., for the fifth time, in Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse with the story of Nell Stillman. Nell has lived a seemingly quiet life in Harvester: teaching third grade, raising her son alone after her husband's death, caring for friends and neighbors and reading voraciously--especially P.G. Wodehouse. But like so many "ordinary" lives, Nell's story contains hidden depths and rich layers of love, loss and wisdom.
Sullivan (The Cape Ann; Gardenias) begins with Nell's obituary, which Nell wrote herself many years before her death. From there, the story shifts back in time to portray Nell as a young widow, a single mother, a conscientious teacher and a stalwart friend. Her life unfolds alongside many of the 20th century's sweeping changes: electric lighting, World War I, telephones, the Great Depression. Though the outward facts of Nell's life--her apartment above the local butcher shop, her teaching career--remain mostly the same, her inner life is transformed by the novels she reads and loves.
"A book could be a mirror helping one to understand oneself, accept oneself--maybe even one's more refractory parts," Nell muses. Later, she adds, "Life could toss your sanity about like a glass ball; books were a cushion." The novels of Austen, Hardy, Dickens and others give Nell the strength and courage to face unexpected trials, such as her complicated romance with congressman John Flynn, and her son Hilly's struggles with shell shock when he returns from France after World War I. But Nell's great literary love, discovered via Love Among the Chickens, is P.G. Wodehouse. As she struggles with loneliness, financial worries and advancing age, Nell clings to Wodehouse and his cheerfully ordered world. Sullivan even allows Nell to meet Wodehouse in a few dream sequences, which blend seamlessly into the narration.
Harvester is full of memorable characters, including the gracious Lundeen family, who take Nell under their collective wing during her early widowhood and remain her lifelong friends. Hilly, Nell's son, is a sensitive and thoughtful young man, and even minor characters like Nell's crotchety Aunt Martha are well drawn. But Nell herself--sensitive, intelligent and warm--is the star of this novel, though she tends to shun the spotlight.
"She was a home girl, warmed by the glow of lamplight, a stove boiling water for tea," Nell muses. "To be unsophisticated was no crime if you weren't narrow, and she hoped that her reading kept her from that." Sullivan's canvas may be small, but her message is universal: books--including this one--have the power to amuse, console and transform lives. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams
Shelf Talker: Faith Sullivan's fifth Harvester novel follows the extraordinary life of Nell Stillman, third-grade teacher and lover of literature, who harbors a special affection for P.G. Wodehouse.