Here’s an old book jot from February 2021:

I just finished reading The Unexpected Mrs Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman. It is a mystery novel published in the 1960s and the first in a series. Emily Pollifax is a retired woman who lives a quiet life and yearns for something a little different. And she soon gets involved in something a little different, indeed! 

This is a fun cold war-era espionage story. I have read very few novels in this sort of genre, and was pleasantly surprised by this one. Gilman’s prose tells a swift-moving story with just the right amount of details. The characters are wonderful, often slightly quirky, and their relationships with each other are a fun element of the book. Gilman includes interesting details about foreign environs and the story is occasionally peppered with philosophical observations on life. 

I just really enjoyed this, and I’m looking forward to reading more of them in the future.

Dear dear life, she reflected, and how tenaciously people held on to it and what things they did to remain alive! – that is, physically alive, she amended, for to remain alive inside was far more intricate and difficult and defeating.