Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Harriet Beamer Takes the Bus by Joyce Magnin


Harriet Beamer Takes the Bus is a fun story about a 72 year old widow who loses a bet resulting in her moving across the country to live with her only son and his wife.

Harriet Beamer lived a quiet life in Philadelphia with her dog, Humphrey. She has a best friend, Martha, who she loves very much. Her son, Henry, and his wife, Prudence, live in California with their cat, Sandra Day.

When hanging Christmas decorations at home, Harriet falls and breaks her ankle. She didn’t think it was broken, so she felt confident when she made a bet with Prudence that if it was indeed broken, she would sell her home and move to California to live with them. She lost the best.

Harriet didn’t want to squelch on her bet, so she sold her home and most of her belongings, and moved to Henry and Prudence’s home in California. She made an astonishing decision to take a bus to California, vs. a quick plane ride. She wanted to live a little and experience life before settling in with her family in her new home.

She collected salt and pepper shakers and realized her collection was accumulated from other people’s travels. She wanted to obtain her own collection and planned her trip around this new quest.

Harriet Beamer Takes the Bus is full of unexpected adventures readers of every age will enjoy. It’s great fun to share Harriet’s journey across the country where she discovers a lot about herself. She thinks she has a future and that God has a plan mapped out just for her.

I felt Joyce Magnin enjoyed writing this book. It flowed beautifully and was a page turner till the end. I particularly enjoyed learning a bit about our country’s historical places where Harriet visited on her trip.

It’s an enjoyable quick and easy read with memorable characters.  I would love to see a sequel to this book to see how Harriet’s life turns out living in California with Henry, Prudence, Humphrey, and Sandra Day.

2 comments:

  1. Hey thank you so much for the great review. BTW, Don Quixote is my favorite book also.

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  2. You are very welcome! Much deserved :)

    ReplyDelete