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The Magic of Ordinary Days, by Ann Howard Creel
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Olivia Dunne, a studious minister's daughter who dreams of being an archaeologist, never thought that the drama of World War II would affect her quiet life in Denver. An exhilarating flirtation reshapes her life, though, and she finds herself banished to a rural Colorado outpost, married to a man she hardly knows. Overwhelmed by loneliness, Olivia tentatively tries to establish a new life, finding much-needed friendship and solace in two Japanese American sisters who are living at a nearby internment camp. When Olivia unwittingly becomes an accomplice to a crime and is faced with betrayal, she finally confronts her own desires. Beautifully written and filled with memorable characters, Creel's novel is a powerful exploration of the nature of trust and love.
- Sales Rank: #74584 in eBooks
- Published on: 2002-06-25
- Released on: 2002-06-25
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Publishers Weekly
This is the first adult novel by an author who has written two well-received YA books. Livvy Dunne is a thoughtful 24-year-old with yearnings toward archeology, who in a rash moment in WWII Colorado becomes pregnant by a dashing officer and is forced into a marriage of convenience by her sternly puritanical minister father. She goes off to Ray Singleton's remote farm knowing nothing about him except that he is lonely, utterly inexperienced around women and touchingly devoted to her. The relationship between the two, graced by some delicate, perceptive and fine-boned writing, is at the heart of the book, and Creel gets it all just right. She is also skilled at evoking the peculiar remoteness from the war of the high plains country, where farmers were regarded as an integral part of the war effort and even got enough gas to drive around for pleasure, a rare privilege in 1944. Lonesome Livvy yearns for more communicative companionship, however, and grows close to a pair of charming Nisei sisters at an internment camp and this is where plot devices begin to play an unwarranted role. For Rose and Lorelei, it turns out, will do anything for love and involve Livvy in what develops into a dangerous (and inherently improbable) exercise in deceit and manipulation. The book recovers its stride for a poignant if rather hasty finish, but the calm spell cast by the tale of Livvy and Ray, which would have been perfectly satisfactory to maintain the book, has been broken.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Review
"...a gentle but powerful novel, combining a story of bittersweet love with a poignant account of the journey toward self-realization..." -- Book Page, July 2001
"...blends historical richness and a fine sense of place...a satisfying emotional depth...a light, precisely written novel." -- Kirkus May 15, 2001
"The Magic of Ordinary Days" is a simple tale, well-told, featuring some lively and believable characters and gorgeous, stark landscapes. -- Boulder Daily Camera, July 22, 2001
"This is the ideal book to read while sipping lemonade on the porch swing this summer." -- The Gazette, August 5, 2001
From the Back Cover
"Ann Howard Creel explores the effects of mistaken and offered love in rural Colorado in the 1940's where World War II, though seemingly distant, reaches deeply into the lives of the innocent and the misled. Rich in reminiscence, The Magic of Ordinary Days treats imperfect humanity with respect, tenderness and understanding, qualities which mature in the characters into the finest of loves. A highly satisfying read." (Susan Vreeland, author of Girl in Hyacinth Blue)
Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
The book's ending is not pretty and happy
By Nick and Lauren
I stumbled upon the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie of this book and was smitten with the story. The movie, as it turns out, deviates from the book, most noticeably in the ending. The book's ending is not pretty and happy, as the movie. And, while I enjoyed the happy ending of the movie, the book's ending means more. With depth and complexity, Creel tells a story of loneliness, redemption, betrayal, and what makes a heart and home.
Her prose is surprisingly descriptive, but without being flowery - somewhat like the desolate beauty Olivia finds in the country. With deft language, Creel sets us in rural America during WWII, and shows us what it was like to be behind the scenes, to farm, to live, to work, to exist, when all the world was focus so far away.
Watching Olivia change into who she didn’t know she wanted to be, was magnificent. I enjoyed the subtle growth in her character. Told in first person, Creel really lets us see the turmoil inside this girl. As for the secondary characters, each was complex, distinct, and well-written.
There is a bite to this romance that comes from the true-to-life mistakes and frailness of the human condition. I highly recommend this work. It was a fantastic read.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
Beautiful historical look at growing love
By rachel
From my blog review:
During the Second World War, Livvy becomes pregnant by a soldier who seems to forget about her as he steals off to the front lines. Her minister father arranges for her to wed a shy farmer about an hour out of La Junta, Colorado. She can deliver the baby and be part of a respectable family.
Livvy recognizes Ray immediately for the kind and gentle man he is. But, also for the limitations of his experience. He is a beet farmer and while he receives special treatment for his integral work (gasoline unlimited during fuel rations, unlimited sugar to sweeten the beets), his life has been a secluded and lonely one---made more so by the passing of his brother Daniel at Pearl Harbour.
Ray is someone who will love completely anyone he has to love. This greatly put me in mind of that old John Knowles quote from A Separate Peace : "When you love something it has to love you back in whatever way it has to love." Livvy recognizes his peace and patience, yes, but she is still waiting for life around the corner.
She tells us: I had never run in my life in order to meet men or find romance, although I wasn't immune to those things, either. I'd always dreamed that someday love would come into my life in some spectacular fashion. Probably it would happen in another country, on board a ship, most likely it would unfold during one of my future treks to uncover a secret history. One side of me knew that these were the dreams of an inexperienced girl, and yes, I was inexperienced in love; but it didn't bother me.
Olivia's dream was to become an archaeologist and excavate the earth for the past. When her mother got sick and the marriage of her sisters dictated that she be the one to care for the ailing woman, Olivia saw her dreams shelved. Now they are interred in some hidden place as she is flung out into the middle of nowhere- Colorado, an hour from the nearest library, bound to a man she cannot hope to understand. All the while, she is aware of the life growing inside her and how the baby's presence will plot her securely to the land even more. In short, Livvy's life seems to be over.
What Magic of Ordinary Days works well at is creating a pyramid of several interlocking events ---some historical---some fictional that tier upon one another in layers seemingly simplified by the narrative conjecture of a well-spun story. The interception of Ray's familial history and the arrowheads and artefacts Livvy unearths around the farm gently nudge this taut symbolism onward.
Olivia is right to recognize that "just listening to the radio news is a study in history, Especially now" as the Second World War ravages around her. To bring the War more firmly to home soil, Creel presents us with two Japanese American women who work on Ray's farm: Lorelei and Rose. Their pride, their normalcy, their dedication to the land and to try and establish their right to live as Americans as they always have ( despite the immediate racism and prejudice incurred by Pearl Harbour) are a welcome way to bring the War Front to the idyllic farm life.
There are several lovely nuances to the story that exhume history in ordinary ways much as the title bespeaks ----the enchantment and surprise one can find during the seemingly redundant circumstances that silently stilt our lives along.
The most important aspect for me, was the burgeoning and well-trained love she began to experience for her husband. Can one teach love? Can one learn to love? Creel would have us believe that circumstance and time and the right re-jigging of our personal preferences to explore new horizons would prove so.
In the past, Livvy explains, I would've listed things such as common interests, mutual attraction, worldliness and higher education. My freedom above all else. If I had found love, it would have had to be the kind that overwhelmed and overpowered all else.
What she speaks above is direct to her personal experience for Ray loves her completely and it suffuses his every word and action since his arrival. At one point, as they start to explore physical intimacy, Livvy describes his touch over her curves as that lining the rim of a delicate china tea cup. He treats and explores her very much in the same way she delicately muses and delights over her priceless artefacts. Ray loves her because she is his. She came to him. He doesn't know how else to exist other than to immediately love his new wife and their new baby.
Livvy quite realistically rails against this consuming love, especially as housed in the vessel of a shy and awkward farmer, but the more she studies Ray and the more she learns to accept that she deserves something so wholly consuming and pure, the more she can fall into his passion for her. It takes time, though
I wanted to understand his love, to see it clearly before me, to put it into a form that I could roll around in my palm and examine like modelling clay. Or I wanted to write it with words of reason and illustrate it with romance. I wanted to study it as once I'd studied my books.
Livvy's lesson in accepting the grace-that-bowls-her-over of Ray's love is the same lesson she learns in forgiving herself for the momentary lapse of judgment that led her to sleep with an officer on furlough.
Yes, there is a trope--- a trope that sews everything from Sarah Plain and Tall to Love Comes Softly ---the story of the mail-order bride or the marriage of convenience. If you love these stories and if you want to read possibly the best and most thoughtful incarnation of a romance budding from circumstance and acceptance, then this is the book for you.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
This book has the perfect title. It did not quite develop as I ...
By Pamela Potts
I am one who adores "ordinary days." And yes, there is nearly always magic in them if one chooses to look for it. This book has the perfect title. It did not quite develop as I thought it might but no matter--the magic was there--in quiet and lovely prose. Having just recently read several books that were wonderful but full of the horror and misery of those who endured life in Europe during WWII and some that were riveting and scary and gory--this was an extremely welcome change. If you enjoy a quiet read with great characterizations--you will enjoy this book.
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