I highly recommend this book for its strong portrayal of characters and the atmosphere of bygone times in Mason, Missouri. The difficulty of family dysfunction emerges as the boy's father has anger and alcohol issues. Their story is revealed through Berg's tender, beautiful writing which flows gently yet deeply. He falls hard for Nola, but she wants to date his older brother Frank. This book gives the backstory of Arthur Moses from Berg's the Story of Arthur Trulove. Although life was simpler then in many ways, Berg reveals the timeless complexities of first love and family relationships that we can still relate to in modern times. Although this new release is a prequel, you definitely don’t have to have read that one since it’s set so many decades later, but if you like either one, I highly recommend the other book, as well as Berg’s two other books set in Mason, as all the books are just so poignant and lovely.Įlizabeth Berg writes with a profound depth in a story that takes readers to past days of small town Missouri in the 1940s and '50s. If you have read Berg’s wonderful book The Story of Arthur Truluv, it’s set in the same town in Missouri in 2016 and one of the main characters is the very same Arthur as an old man. It’s by turns heartwarming and heartbreaking, but always heartfelt. It’s also the type of book I’ve apparently become fond of calling a quiet, lovely novel. So, this is one of those books that’s set in the past but not really historical fiction in the sense some think of it as it’s more about the characters and their lives.

This sweet story set in the late 40s/early 50s covers a slice of the life of a young man named Arthur Moses from his teens to early 20s, including his relationship with his brother and parents, and the young woman he is infatuated with, along with a portrayal of everyday life in their small town Mason, Missouri.

The story of arthur truluv reviews