The House on Malcolm Street by Leisha Kelly is a historical fiction account of Leah and her daughter Eliza in the 1920’s. After the death of her husband, Leah finds herself at the mercy of a distant relative (Marigold) who owns a boardinghouse. The only other tenant is a man who has also faced loss named Josiah. Marigold wants Leah and Josiah to befriend each other and help each other with their grief, but they don’t take a liking to one another much at all.
The historical context of this book was great! I love reading about how people lived without the luxury of washing machines and deep freezers. I also enjoyed the character development. I felt like I really knew them and was sad to be done with their lives once the book ended. And speaking of how it ended, the plot concluded in a way that lets the reader determine the next steps. At first I didn’t like that but after contemplating it a little more, I really appreciated it.
What I didn’t like about this book was the overwhelming amount of thought processing. The main characters often asked themselves questions which is good in smaller amounts, but I think it was a little overdone in this novel.
All in all,
The House on Malcom Street was a pleasant read. A great escape for a rainy day.
Available September 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.
I was given this book to review from the publishing company. I was not paid to do this review. My opinions are my own.
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