Five Stars for Meadowlark Songs by “A Kindle Customer”

This historical memoir is written as a series of interrelated poems which I thought was a wonderful and unique idea. The book is divided into sections, each relating to a woman in the Motherline Legacy, and comprises of a series of poems relating to that individual, her life, spouse, circumstances and family. Each section shares a great deal of historical information about the specific time period and fascinating details about, inter alia, life, dress codes, work, and education. Such a novel way of sharing historical information and the highlights of each individual’s life.

Life was tough for the women featured in this collection. They worked incredibly hard, overcame obstacles including the deaths of children, siblings, and parents, and battled the elements, but they prevailed and built good lives for their families. There is a strong religious thread throughout the book demonstrating the importance of faith in each family’s life.

Due to my fascination with war, the sections about Leora (Goff) Wilson and her daughter, Doris (Wilson) Neal interested me the most as they included details about Leora’s five sons who all fought for the USA in WW2. Leora suffered the deaths of three, a terrible tragedy for one family.

The poetry is freestyle and provides a lot of insight into the characters of the Motherline women and their family members. The poems reminded me, over and over, how much easier life is now with fewer infant deaths and technology and appliances to make housework so much quicker and easier. One poem that really captivated me in its great sadness was Baby Marilyn.

This is a quote from [Doris]:
“I was the third of seven Wilson kids,
now eight. It was 1931 and we had
to many mouths to feed.

I didn’t want another baby,
but she was beautiful and needed a name.
Mom suggested I name her.
Marilyn Louise. She was mine
to care for every day after school.

She died while I was at school,
just a month later.
A weak heart, the doctor said.
My arms were empty, helpless.”

A beautiful and interesting collection of poetry that weaves a story of several generations of mothers. This collection has certainly sparked my interest in reading this author’s other historical novels about her family.

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Meadowlark Songs: A Motherline Legacy has only 19 reviews. Who will make it 20?

You don’t have to be an author to leave a review, or even just a rating. You can give a book how many stars you choose without writing anything, but it’s nice to read a line or two about what you especially enjoyed about a book.

How about it? It’s listed on Goodreads, BookBub, and Amazon.

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Meadowlark Songs is available from Amazon as an ebook and paperback. You might also ask for it at your local library.