Dear Great Book Guru, With the icy rains, freezing days and nights, and yes, the coming of the sewers- I feel the need for a really good book to help me through the coming weeks. Any thoughts? Looking for a Good Book

Dear Looking for a Good Book,  I just finished a fabulous book that has been sitting on my bookshelf for years that I had just never gotten around to reading: BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MUSEUM:A NOVEL by Kate Atkinson.  Written in 1996, this was Atkinson’s first novel and what a stellar achievement it is! First, let’s make it clear- the museum in the title is the families we are part of over many generations, in this case four generations from the late 1850’s up until the1990’s.  We first meet the narrator in 1951 as she is being conceived and we follow her through the years into young adulthood; in between we  meet her great-great grandparents, great grandparents, grandparents , parents and waves of cousins, siblings, aunts, uncles, suitors, friends.... In a series of footnotes- actually chapters- that fill us in on the connections to the present, we learn many secrets that Ruby will never know.  Life in York, England is filled with humorous , poignant, and sometimes tragic adventures for Ruby and  her relatives, and as we move back and forth between past and present, we see how family traits resurface and mistakes are made anew by each generation.    A truly memorable book and highly recommended!