What I’m Reading: The Colour of Milk

I am always on the go…busy-busy…but I decided to stop and actually read a book.  Usually what I “read” is actually what I’m listening to as most of my books come in audio book form.  Let me say, I found a WONDERFUL book and I read it in three nights.  The book is Nell Leyshon’s, “The Colour of Milk: A Novel“.

When I read the first few pages, I was confused.  The punctuation is all odd.  The grammar is poor.  Letters are suppose to be capitalized and aren’t.  Words are repeated.   Let me just say this about it…the author is trying to make the book seem like Mary wrote it.  Mary is a poor country farm girl with minimal education.  This is how Mary writes and Mary is telling her own story.  Once the book is done, you’ll see that the poor punctuation and grammar is part of what make the book.

The book deals with the social injustice of farm girls growing up in 1830’s England.  Mary the main character of the book is writing and telling us her story.  She a feisty young girl who is honest and forthright with a huge desire to please the only person in her life that truly loves her, her grandfather.  She is a worker and works so hard despite her birth defect of a leg injury.

I don’t want to tell you lots more…I don’t want to give the story away.  I’m giving this on a FIVE star rating…one of the best books I’ve read (or listened to) in a long time.   It’s one of those books I read while I ate breakfast…I read two pages while waiting for the water to boil…I read two or three pages whenever I could as the story would haunt me and I’d want to know what was happening next.  I went to bed early one night just so I could read.

I love historical fiction.  It’s my favorite style of book ever.  “The Colour of Milk: A Novel” is one novel that will stay with me for a long time….I LOVED it!!