Week 2 Discussion thread June 23 - June 29

[Elizabeth]

This will be our discussion thread for week two of this read-along which will include the last three chapters of Part One.

6. Saffron High Street
7. In the West
8. Until We Meet Again

[Elizabeth]

I read the Saffron High Street Chapter this morning and thought it was a really good glimpse of her present day (1999).
I had to Google to see exactly what a string bag looked like. The ones I found were labeled 1940s string bags and I'm pretty sure that when that street scene happened it was earlier 1900s. But I imagine they were very similar.
I'm really curious to read the story now. It's interesting that now the format has changed to being a story for her grandson instead of the movie maker. Maybe the grandson will get the full story, whereas the movie people only have part of the story.

[Melinda]

I don’t have much to comment on these chapters. The story is moving along well. Again I am reminded of white feathers given to those whom others deemed cowards for not joining up for the war. How it would feel to be given one and know your live would never be the same either way. I shook my head at Grace’s naivety at Alfred’s affection towards her. Men needed someone to fight for if they were to hope at all to make it back from war. Hope the next chapters bring some joy into the story.

[Elizabeth]

I've only still just read the Saffron High Street chapter so far in this section and I'm going to fall behind just a bit on purpose. Never fear though, I plan to have this section finished by July 2 and will go right on and read the next section next week as well. The reason is that I'm close enough to finishing 3 or 4 other print books that I would like to go ahead and finish reading by the 30th so I can count them for June. And if I spend my time reading this book, I might not get the others finished in time.
Emelie's surgery has been rescheduled for July 1st and I anticipate having a lot of sit down reading time next week while she is in the hospital recovering.
Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts as we continue through this book.

[Elizabeth]

Hello everyone, I hope you all have finished Part 1 of the book by now and plan to leave some comments
I just finished the rest of this section today and really enjoyed it.
I'm kind of excited to read a story from the World War One era, since I've read lots of WW2 fiction already.
I had never heard of the White Feather Movement and so I looked it up to learn more. Very interesting.
I wonder why The Game has to be such a secret. Maybe it's just that they want to keep that one thing exclusive to the three of them.
Interesting how the staff automatically jumped to the conclusion that Emmelines accident was caused by Robbie simply because they didnt approve of him.
Now that Hannah thinks that Grace is taking a class like she is, I wonder if that will get Grace into even more trouble down the line.
Have any of you read the Sherlock Holmes book that she purchased? I've only read 2 or 3 Holmes stories and I'm not familiar with The Valley of Fear.

[Elizabeth]

I've read all of the Holmes books at one point or another. I looked it up and Valley of Fear was release February 27, 1915. I love the level of research she did for this...weaving in Holmes throughout the story has, so far, just helped Grace feel like more of a complete person for me.
As for The Game, I feel like it was something they started out hiding from Father because he has been perceived as so straight laced/strict with them that it was a way to one up him...over the years the rules became as important as the game and definitely became something that helped the them together.

[Catherine]

So we are back in 1999 and Grace is again reminiscing about her memories of time spent with her Mother. I think we are given a hint that Grace was definitely born out of marriage
''Certainly there were plenty would agree she'd have been better off to have left me at The Foundling" for those who don't know, The Foundling is a place where unwanted children were taken in The UK. Quite commonly mentioned in historical fiction set in 18th C,UK. A museum exists in the site now which I haven't visited.