I knew him to a certain degree. Not well enough to know what he would have felt about the grave arrangements, but more than well enough to know he would have been happy about the crowd. It was a Saturday in late September. A heat wave had killed lawns all across the state, and the smell of rotting apples was drifting up from the meadow. The graveside service had just ended, and we were still crowded beneath the shade of the great bur oaks, whose grand trunks rise evenly across the cemetery lawn as if by agreement with one another.

There seemed to have been agreements about other things, as well. The New York Times gave the news an above-the-fold headline on page one and a three-column jump in the obituaries, but their story only included a single paragraph on Anodyne Energy and not much more on Silverton Orchards. The Boston Globe ran an editorial from the right-hand front column, under "The Country Mourns," and ended with "this is the close of a more beneficent era. I didn't cover it for The Speaker-Sentinel , because I was at the funeral for my own reasons, but I helped one of our young staff members who did, the high school intern who arrived underdressed in her own ironic way and probably had no idea of half the personages she was looking at.

Senator Bonwiller was eighty-nine when he died and hadn't been in the news for almost fifteen years, but the crowd included more than a dozen United States senators, two Supreme Court justices, the governors of New York and Connecticut, and enough lawyers and judges and state representatives to fill the county jail. I also saw what looked like an entire brigade of retired state police officers, decked out in their old satin-striped parade uniforms. But so many of them were leaning on canes or sitting in wheelchairs that you might have thought Henry Bonwiller had been a small-town slip-and-fall lawyer and not a man who, if certain chips of fate had fallen certain other ways, might once have been president of the United States.

Trieste and I have had our share of go-arounds since her arrival at the paper, and to tell you the truth I was wishing that afternoon that I worked at a bigger outfit--perhaps one where the publisher wouldn't find himself at a funeral with the intern.

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But that's the way The Speaker-Sentinel is: We're the last of the local dailies not to have sold to McClatchy or Gannett or Murdoch, and though we recently stopped publishing on Sundays we still put out a very good morning edition the other six days of the week, a paper that we write ourselves and have for more than a hundred years. I'm proud of that. Though I suspect that it, too, is coming to an end. That's just the way it is up here in Carrol County. Plenty of people are grateful to Henry Bonwiller for that.

And plenty are not.

Frequently bought together

Trieste Millbury's parents, I think, are among the latter. She lives with them in the failed farmland ten miles to the north of town, in a trailer on the edge of a drained bog that was allowed to refill in the s after wetlands protection legislation went through--Senator Bonwiller's doing, again.

That part of the county isn't as sophisticated as some of the areas to the south, which are dotted now with horse farms and gentlemen's estates and carriage houses painted historic red. But even so, there aren't many other trailers where the Millburys live. They're educated people--Trieste's father was once a chemist for DuPont--but Trieste, I believe, is the only one of them who goes to work in the morning.

Her job at the funeral was to help our reporter. The reporter was going to write the story, and Trieste was going to write the sidebar. Pick a subject, I told her when the committal was over, anything she wanted, and if she did it well I would run it Monday morning.

The air must have been close to a hundred degrees, and we were making our way to the refreshments. My wife and my father had been at the service, too, but they'd already headed into the stone entrancehouse to escape the heat. At the table, a caterer was tearing open the wrapped bottles of spring water, and Trieste took one for each of us.

I took a drink. She thinks powerful men have to put them on faster. I'm going to want to spend some time alone here today. And a whole lot of congressmen. But you're going to have to snoop around a bit on your own, Trieste. Find someone to ask. That's one of the things reporters do. More reliable than how big the people look. This water is nice and cold, sir, isn't it? That would be nice. And by the way," I said. Everyone else is in a suit or a dark dress.

This is a senator's funeral. Excerpted from America America by Ethan Canin. Copyright c by Ethan Canin. Reprinted with permission from Random House. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player. The Nixon-era tale is Canin's sixth book. Ethan Canin reads from 'America America' Listen. See all customer images. Read reviews that mention whispering pines looking forward well written really enjoyed great read hard to put twists and turns celia gifts main character next book looking forward enjoyed this book corporate america kept me interested must read forward to the next feel like good read highly recommend story line.

Showing of reviews. Top Reviews Most recent Top Reviews. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. I really enjoyed this story. They were supportive of each other and it was great to see healthy relationships, in spite of the conflicts or issues various members were facing in their own individual lives.

I gave the book four stars only because of the language. If those are not issues for you, read this book! I absolutely love this book. This book feels so real and yet it is so good. The characters are extremely relatable and you can feel all their emotions.

When the Cypress Whispers: Yvette Manessis Corporon: theranchhands.com: Books

The relaxation and all the things going through a character's mind while sitting down with a glass of wine and a list. The feeling of waking up on the beach with them. Everything felt so real. I just fell in love with this story from the very beginning and the author never once lost my attention. From a Christian perspective on romance, of course, I will ignore parts of this book, but as adults who know the circumstances of life I see no problem with the book. I know that I cannot ask a non-christian to live a Christian Life. They have no reason too. I am a third of the way through the book so far but I had to come tell everyone to read this book!

It is so good so far. I'm hooked and I have been staying up reading it because I don't want to stop. Renee is such a good and relatable person. Her worries and fears are right where my own would be as well as her dreams.

The story is gripping and exciting. The love story is sweet and enjoyable. I'm excited to finish but I had to stop in and let you know how great it is so far! I obtained this free e-book from Amazon and I am voluntarily writing a review. This is one of those books that absorbs you into the story and you feel like you are living in the book. Renee is a widow of ten years raising a teenage son and a daughter who is attending the first year of college.


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She has worked in corporate America at he same company for twenty years and two weeks before Christmas on a conference call her position with the company is terminated and she has forty minutes to clear out her desk and is escorted out of the building. This starts a domino effect of life changing events that open a new and rewarding future for her and her family.

Funny how I picked this book up right after my employer for shut its doors forever. So not only did the book have me hooked right from the start, but I was immediately intrigued by Julie's situation, and I couldn't put the book down. I can't wait to see what Ms. Diede has up her sleeve next! This is a character rich story! The niggling worry about the older daughter is there building throughout the story, but the life-changing thinking and unique paths the mother engages in are striking.

I care about them and I want to know more. Will the daughter stay safe? What path with the mother choose? I love to read Whispering Pines was a comfortable read that kept my attention from start to finish. I saw parts of my middle-aged self in it, and was pleasantly surprised by the insight and inspiration I gained from the main character. This would be a great gift for the women on my holiday shopping list!

I enjoyed the book because the main character, Rene is thrust into a real life changing event. Instead of finding the first job available to pay the bills, she has the luxury of a year's severance pay and the inheritance of a resort. How many people in the middle age period would give anything to be able to change professions, find a love interest and end up better off? That said, I only gave it three stars because the book was longer than necessary due to extraneous conversations, descriptions and chit chat. Then it would fast forward three months. More chit chat etc I don't think I have read a book with more filler conversations and musings.


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I thought the language was coarse but then, that's the way people talk now days. A little too much sex for me as well. But, that's the way it is now days.

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