Not Afraid of the “F” Word: For Your Reading Pleasure . . .
Monday, July 9, 2007
by Judy Merrill Larsen
For Your Reading Pleasure . . .
Ellen Baker and her fabulous debut novel KEEPING THE HOUSE recently kept me from doing too many things I should have been doing, but I loved every minute of it. In these pages you’ll meet the Mickelsons–a sad, fascinating, resilient family. Their story spans from the late 1890s to 1950 and it’s full of family secrets and regrets and characters you’ll carry around with you long after the final line. Ellen does a wonderful job of wrapping things up with some of the edges neatly hemmed and others still ragged. And in Dolly, who, through exploring the mystery of the Mickelsons also finds herself, you’ll meet a main character who’s just perfect–in that imperfect, flawed way that is so human.
This was one of those books where I was torn because I wanted to race through it to find everything out but kept slowing down to savor my time with these characters who came to feel like friends. I promise–you’ll love it.

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