The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald January 19, 2016
My rating: 5 of 5 starsOh, this is a good one! Gentle, sweet and true, The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is a love story. It is about love of almost every kind you can imagine, but it is particularly about the love of books and reading.
Sara Lindqvist is a quiet, plain, late 20's Swedish woman and pen pal to elderly Amy Harris of Broken Wheel, Iowa. Her life has been, up until now, very quiet and very predictable. Actually, it has been very boring. She has never dated, has very few friends, and lives her life's adventures through books. The bookshop she has worked in for the past 10 years has closed and she is now at loose ends. Amy has invited her to Broken Wheel and Sara sees this as her first opportunity for adventure and our book begins when Sara arrives in Broken Wheel. She and Amy have shared their love of books through the mail and Sara anticipates a two month visit with her friend talking and reading. One problem: Sara arrives on the day of Amy's funeral.
Although the people of Broken Wheel are friendly, they are not exactly sure what to do with Sara. They put her into Amy's house, and assign poor George to drive her around as needed, as she doesn't have a driver's license. Sara has learned all about the little town and its inhabitants through Amy's letters, and throughout the book we get to read some of them and see the town and its residents through Amy's eyes. However, much of what was contained in the letters are Amy's memories of Broken Wheel, and Sara sees a dying Broken Wheel instead.
No one in town will allow Sara to pay for anything, and she continually hears "it's on me". She becomes frustrated with what she sees as a growing debt to the townspeople. The main street is full of closed shop fronts, one owned by Amy, whose deceased husband ran a failed hardware store. Sara determines she will use Amy's store to open a bookshop with the huge volume of books in Amy's bedroom. The town rallies round to help Sara setup her cheerful shop, The Oak Tree Bookstore, although no one really intends to buy or read any of the books. But, the shop and quiet Sara begin to have an effect on the town, and we begin to see Broken Wheel slowly coming back to life.
As I mentioned, the Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is a book about love. Amy loved Broken Wheel, and the feeling was mutual. Now that Amy is gone, Sara has become a sort of focus for those who are grieving the loss of Amy. Everyone wants Sara to feel welcome and to see her becoming a part of their town. They even try, or at least Jen tries, to match her up with Tom, Amy's nephew. Eventually, this becomes their plan to keep Sara in Broken Wheel permanently - they will recruit Tom to marry Sara and allow her to stay and not return to Sweden when her visa expires.
As we meet and learn about each of the characters of Broken Wheel, we see that each of them has been beaten, but has found a place for themselves within the town. As the town reawakens, love and acceptance finds each individual in a new way. People begin to recognize their love of Broken Wheel and of each other.
The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend was a book I could not put down. I fell in love with the town and its people and found myself smiling, laughing and shedding a few tears as I read. It is a small town America tale, similar to those of Fannie Flagg, but told with more of an outsiders perspective, since the main character is a visitor to the United States. It is gentle and bittersweet and touching all at once. It has a touch of Jane Austen, but modern and thoroughly American. It is humorous in parts, but it retains its dignity throughout. You won't forget the Readers of Broken Wheel.
I highly recommend this book, and particularly suggest it for book clubs. The author includes a reader's guide at the back to promote discussion.
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