Blake, Sarah: The Postmistress

In 1940 World War II has begun.  Franklin, Massachusetts, a small village on the outer coast of Cape Cod, has a new Postmaster.  Iris James is 40 something, single and is  driven to do the best job she can do, and to find a husband.  Franklin’s Dr. Will Fitch has brought home a new wife, Emma.  Iris is a bold, strong lady and Emma a shy, unsure young bride.  In London Frankie Bard is working with Ed Murrow, Erik Sevareid, and others to bring the story of the war home to America.  No one in America wants to be involved or to admit that the war could have any impact on their lives.
 
No one, that is, except Harry Vale, Franklin’s town  mechanic and self appointed Civil Defense officer.  Harry turns much of his business over to a helper and spends his days looking at the sea with binoculars, searching for German submarines. Harry is concerned that Iris’s Post Office flag pole may act as a beacon to the Germans.  He convinces her to write a letter to her superiors about lowering the flag pole to be below the roof line.  They become friends and later become engaged.  

Dr. Will and Emma listen, as most of the townspeople do to the nightly news broadcasts from Europe.  They are particularly moved by Frankie Bard’s stories of people on the street during the Blitz in London.  When Dr. Will loses a patient, he feels that his family’s bad luck is following him and doubts his wisdom of coming back to Franklin to face his demons.  He writes to a hospital in London and is gladly welcomed to come and help in the effort to treat victims of the Blitz.

Frankie and Dr. Will meet in an underground shelter during the worst of the Blitz, and he is struck by a cab the next morning as they part.  Dr. Will dies in Frankie’s lap and as she leaves the scene is given a letter that was in his pocket addressed to Emma.  Dr. Will had been trying to make sense of his life.  Now Frankie tries to make sense of the war and spends weeks riding trains in Europe, recording and taking down stories of the Jews from all countries fleeing for their lives.

Months later, disillusioned and exhausted, Frankie quits her job and returns home.  After staying with her mother for a month, she goes to Franklin to deliver Dr. Will’s last letter to Emma.  She realizes after she gets there that several months after his death, Emma has not been notified. .

In the end, Iris’s efforts to protect Emma from bad new brings the three women together.  Emma has lost her husband with a baby due, Frankie has given up her career in broadcast journalism, and the postmistress, Iris realizes she alone cannot protect the village from the war.  The war goes on even as ordinary lives continue.