I opened The Postmistress (Amy Einhorn Books, Feb.) with no particular expectations. By the time I finished the first page, WOW! I was mesmerized. Sarah Blake has given us a wonderful and important novel, set in the early 1940s. The scenes in the small Cape Cod community, contrasted with the bombings in London and the Jews trying to escape from Europe, brought home the early days of WWII. Blake makes the period so real that I thought I was there—chatting in the post office, huddled underground with exhausted Londoners during the Blitz, on the train with the people fleeing the Nazis, and listening to the radio as Edward R. Murrow and Frankie Bard brought the reality of the war to the American people. The characters will haunt me for years. I can't wait to start talking to my customers about The Postmistress—one of those rare gems that makes bookselling such an addictive pleasure.