The Book of the Mandolin Player by Anne Britting Oleson

May 12th, 2022 - Jim Nichols is an author and the two time recipient of the Maine Literary Award for fiction. For his Read & Loved selection he highlighted novel The Book of the Mandolin Player by central Maine Author Anne Britting Oleson. He had this to say about the work:

“The Book of the Mandolin Player by Anne Britting Oleson, is one I think worthy of notice. It's the warm, thoughtful yet tragically realistic story of the grown children of a large Maine family, with the focus on one Meg Cross, a wry and terrifically engaging narrator, and the niece she is raising as her own. A great story about what it means to be human, written by a poet.”

A short synopsis of The Book of the Mandolin Player:

Meg Cross lives in a small Maine town with a family that is too big, too loud, too everything. Life in a small Maine town: where everyone is related by blood or marriage, where everyone knows everything there is to know about everyone else, and where there is no anonymity. So it seems for Meg Cross, living in an old farmhouse on the side of a mountain with her young niece, Maeve. It's easy to fall in line with her family's expectations, but easy, too, to resent them, when she's certain there's something more out there for her. Then tragedy strikes to the core of who and what she believes she is. How does a person remake a life from all the broken pieces? Meg finds herself forced to re-examine all she formerly found important, and in the process, comes to realize that though it might chafe, there is strength to be drawn from the place she comes from, and the people to whom she is truly known.

You can read read more about The Book of the Mandolin Player here

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