La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith
The story begins with two young men driving in the country side looking for a particular town. They finally find it and there begins the story of La "short for Lavender". This beginning is nicely tied up in the end as well.
La's life is pretty ordinary. She goes to college at Cambridge where she meets the man that will become her husband. He proposes just a month after they meet, she doesn't love him in a passionate sense but more in a settling for what life gives her. There marriage seems to be alright except that La cannot have children but her husband seems to accept it. Suddenly her life changes when her father-in-law comes to their home to tell her that he has left her for another woman in France. Not long after that he is injured and consequently dies.
La retreats to a small cottage in Suffolk given to her by her mortified in-laws. The isolation and peacefulness suit La, who joins the Women's Land Army soon after the outbreak of war. She is lonely but enjoys the isolation and feels determined to make something of her life. She takes care of hens who belong a local farmer who suffers from arthritis. Through a friend she meets Tim, who is a local military man, who mentions Feliks Dabrowski (Dab), an attractive Polish ex-pat soldier who lost the sight of one eye and needed a job. The farmer she helps needs a worker to do odd jobs on the farm so together they get Dab a job. La finds herself attracted to him, despite her suspicions that Feliks hasn't been fully truthful about his past.
When Tim finds out La used to perform in chamber orchestras in Cambridge he suggests she start an amateur local orchestra to boost morale for both soldiers and locals. This proves an unexpected success and helps give her purpose during the war's darkest days.
This is a quiet almost observant work of life in rural England during WWII. But we see it from La's point of view as she struggles to find herself up until the very end.
I so enjoyed this book. It was the perfect book to read over a weekend. It was a nice change of pace to see the author write outside his series. He has such a way of writing the female voice that one forgets the author is a male. There is no mystery in the true sense as it is more of La's living her life.