I've been reading the Inspector Gemache series by Louise Penny. It takes place in a fictional town called Three Pines, located in Canada between Quebec and the U.S. border.
A few months ago, I began listening to the series on audio books. That helped with the French pronunciations. Now I can hear the names and phrases in my head, so I can read without tripping over them.
The stories take me to a place I would love to visit -- a community I wish I could be a part of. Not perfect people, but people who feel real enough to cause a longing.
Good fiction does that, I guess. It transports us from our lives so we can take a walk along the road of "what if."
Nancy Drew used to do that. One of the things I want to do is go back and read the early part of the series to see if I still relate to the girl detective with chutzpah. She and her friend, Bess, would climb into the Roadster, and off they'd go to solve a mystery. Good times.
I admire writers who can create these imaginary places and larger-than-life characters. To be able to infuse them with so much personality, you wonder if they are based on real people. Or maybe they are bits of different real people. I don't know.
I'm just happy to travel with them for a little while and share their world.
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