Faith Sullivan has the ability to write about her characters in such a way that everything they feel is transferred to you, the reader. I'm not one to show a lot of emotion while reading a book, but this one had me both laughing and on the brink of tears.

The story is told from eyes of 6-year old Lark, who lives in a train depot with her strong mother and semi-abusive, gambling addict father, during the depression. The book has several storylines, with the main one being between Lark and her mother who long for a house of their own, the Cape Ann model in particular. Her father's continual gambling debts threaten to sabotage their plans until her mother starts a typing service from their home in the depot.

Lark has to deal with learning catechism for her first confession and communion, her bed-ridden, pregnant Aunt Betty, befriending a WWI hero who has lost his sanity because of the war, and her two best friends, Beverly, who lives in poverty, and Sally, whose mother suffers from depression.

This novel is a humorous, poignant look at a child's world where everything is changing quickly beyond her control and causing her to call on reserves of strength that only growing up can bring.

I checked this book out at the library without ever having heard of it or the author, but was I ever impressed! The story is told from the perspective of young Lark, who is about 6 when the story begins. She is the only child of a strong willed mother and often abusive father, living in Minnesota during the depression. Lark's mother is making do, living in the train depot where her husband works, saving every penny she can so that one day they can build their own house. Lark and her mother have decided on a Cape Ann style house, but everytime they get enough to make a down payment on it, her father ends up gambling away every bit of it. He is a devout Catholic and Lark is trying so hard to study to be confirmed, but no matter how hard she tries, he finds fault with her. It's Lark's mother who keeps her going. She is a woman ahead of her time, figuring out a way to make money on her own, she learns to type and starts her own business. They befriend a man named Hilly who is a hero from the war, but has come home with a shattered mind. He has the personality of a young child and Lark loves to go to his house and read to him. She and her mother always remember Hilly on his birthday and Christmas, much to the disgust of the father. This story is so great, because the author has really gotten into the mind of a child. I laughed out loud at some of the true things that Lark thought, and felt angry and sad right along with her when her father beat her. This was such a good book that I am ready to start on the next one by the same author. I would recommend it to any age reader.

This is a beautiful, haunting book. Lark is a child who grows up with all the questions and interests that most children have in adults. Why is my mother this way? My father - what does he mean? Just trying to figure out life is much too difficult and this book will make you remember your own childhood and smile. Lark realizes she is never told everything and she and her two best friends are enchanting and real enough to make you laugh and cry at once! Pretty little Sally with the "strange" mother, poor sassy Beverly who grows up fast and learns the ways of the world from her struggling single mom.

Lark's mother is a woman "ahead of her time" and it causes her no end of trouble, but she thrives on life and living it to the fullest!

You must meet these characters. You will never forget them.

The second book (in what I hope is an ongoing series) is THE EMPRESS OF ONE. It particularly carries on with Sally and Beverly and not enough of Lark. At the end, we catch up with Lark, but the book ends leaving us waiting eagerly for the next installment! Not enough stars for this one. Please, Ms. Sullivan ENCORE!

A wonderful tale of three generations of women living in Harvester, Minnesota, where Faith Sullivan's first two books also took place.

Kate is 59 and has cared first for her niece Celia and now her niece's child Bess after Celia and her husband are killed. A simple woman she now looks back on her life as a farmer's wife and wonders how they lost the fdarm and life has managed to slip through her fingers.

Her cousin Harriet is 39 and looking for love. Rejecting her farming family to live in a more advantageous community for work, Harriet moved in with Kate providing ming a real source of comfort to both Kate and Bess. But Harriet no longer wants to be a career woman and has fallen for a local farmer and doesn't quite know what to do.

Finally there's Bess on the precipice of adult life and about to leave for college. Although she is tired of her small world, she also has ambivalent feelings about leaving home. And when a marrid man begins paying attention to her, she is really caught in a dangerous web of lies and guilt. And when Harriet announces that she soon will be soon marrying, both Kate and Bess's lives are turned upside down.

This book is well written in a lovely and slow moving manner. It reminds one of other novels set in farming communities like My Antonia by Willa Cather and more recently Plainsong by Kent Haruf. I found both the plot and characters reaching put to me me from the beginning to end and continue to think about them even now. Looking forard now to reading Faith Sullivan's other books.

My book group met today to discuss Faith Sullivan's latest book. Two years ago, we were fortunate to have Sullivan as a guest at our meeting, and she was most delightful. We thought we'd be intimidated by having her in our presence because we were going to discuss her book, "The Empress of One." But she was most interested in us as members and wanted to hear our opinions and was open to our questions about the journey of a writer in writing a book.

Now on to her newest book. It is wonderful! However, the characters from "Cape Ann" and "Empress of One" are not in this book which disappointed one of our members.

An issue that came up today is the whole rural scene about farmers who in the past decades have lost their farms, and what emotional turmoil and stress that causes. Kate, in the book, never did recover from their having to "sell" and move to town. So we felt sad when she died before Harriet was to get married to a farmer who had not lost it all, but was very successful with a 640 acre plot. This book caused us to cry and shed tears, which to me is always therapeutic. I find myself thinking about the characters and the story as I go about my busy days now of getting ready for Christmas. Treat yourself over the Holidays to a good read!

Faith Sullivan takes us back to Harvester, Minnesota in her new book. This time we get to meet a new cast of characters, three women of three different generations who are all coming to important turning points in their lives. Kate, Harriet and Bess are all captivating, well-realized and wonderful. Sullivan is a talented writer. I hope we see more from her soon! I can't wait to buy the next book!

Oh, how I dearly loved "The Cape Ann." How excitedly I ordered, "The Empress of One" knowing it was to be a sequel of sorts. Oh, how disappointed I am in this book.

Lacking is the verve, the connection, the devotion to character believability. This book falls flat on all counts. Sally's mother is handled tritely in her mental illnes. Sally is a characture of a child, adolescent, and young woman. Her dubious responses to surreal experiences are achingly banal.

This is heartbreaking. I know Faith Sullivan can do much better; I have rated her a five in previous reads. Perhaps this was an off book; a forced sequel she was coerced into completing. I will not judge her by this disappointing offering. Read "The Cape Ann" and visit her strength and her artistic beauty as a writer. Pass on this one.

Faith Sullivan is a wonderful author. Having read & thoroughly enjoyed "The Cape Ann" I purchased this sequel. I enjoyed this "coming of age" book as well, but it wasn't as gripping as the first. If you have time to read only one, choose The Cape Ann - a richer novel both historically and in its character development.

Faith Sullivan does a wonderful job of describing the main character's development from early childhood up to adulthood. I felt as if I knew the main character (Sally) inside and out. The author also has a way of making you feel as if you know all of the other characters deeply as well. I can't wait to read her earlier book, The Cape Ann, which includes the same characters but with the emphasis on the life of another girl (Lark). A fabulous vacation (ie. relaxing!) read.