"Dear Monica Lewinsky" by Julia Langbein

If you were old enough to pay attention to the news in the late 1990s, you'll know who Monica Lewinsky is. She's the young White House intern whose dalliance with then-U.S. President Bill Clinton -- and his lies about it to Congress -- led to his impeachment in December 1998. (He was acquitted by the Senate in February 1999.)  The scandal came to light in January 1998, and led to Lewinsky testifying before a grand jury in August 1998. Clinton admitted to the relationship in a televised address on Aug. 17th that year. 

Needless to say, while I was certainly aware of what was happening south of the border (you couldn't NOT know about it...!), I was rather preoccupied with (ahem) other matters in 1998, and August 1998 in particular. I don't remember having strong feelings about Lewinsky one way or another at the time, but when she began speaking out about the experience some years later, as an older and wiser woman, I found her to be a sympathetic figure.  

Now 53 years old, she's never married or had children. She advocates for victims of bullying, harassment and public shaming, and hosts a podcast called "Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky," focusing on personal stories of resilience and identity.

She's also now the title figure in a recently published novel called "Dear Monica Lewinsky" by Julia Langbein.  (I was curious whether Lewinsky has made any comment on the book;  so far as I can tell, she has not, but the author did send her a copy before it was published.)   

Jean Dornan spent six weeks during the summer of 1998 in France on a work-study program, documenting medieval French churches -- and pursuing a highly inappropriate relationship with her professor, David Harwell. Now 45 years old, married and still dealing with the impact that summer had on her life, Jean is startled to receive an invitation from David to attend his retirement party. She's even more startled when, looking at her old diaries from that summer, she realizes this pivotal relationship in her life happened at the exact same time that a very public scandal was unfolding, involving a very similar relationship between President Bill Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Pondering the parallels in their stories, she finds herself calling on Monica, as if she were a saint, begging her forgiveness for dismissing her and for not seeing the commonalities between them.  

Lo and behold, "Saint Monica" appears to Jean (in the bathroom of a church in Lower Manhattan, no less!). Together, they look back on that summer, what happened to Jean and the impact it's had on her life since then (interrupted by occasional side comments between the two of them). (Rather irreverent) stories of real female martyr/saints are also interspersed between chapters.  

I enjoyed this book, for the most part.  I learned a lot about (among other things) the architecture of medieval French churches, how lust-filled nuns changed the Catholic church (!)  ;)  and the depressingly similar stories of female martyr saints (a lot of suffering at the hands of the patriarchy.... plus ca change...).  ;)  There's a lot of wry humour. 

However, the section covering what happened during the summer of 1998 in France is long and leisurely -- Jean and David don't even KISS until we're well into both the term and the book! (The effect on the reader is pent-up anticipation, much like Jean's pent-up desire.)  Jean is not always a likeable character, particularly in her younger "Ruthless Jean" incarnation, and the irreverent/snarky tone (particularly regarding religious matters) might rub some readers the wrong way. Like Monica, she deliberately flirts with an older married man and revels in the attention he gives her.  

And yet -- I can remember being the same age, plotting how to attract the attention of the boy(s) I liked, maneuvering to be in the same places at the same times he was -- and the heady feeling of being noticed and desired (and desiring in return)(especially at university, after being ignored by boys through most of my teen years). Unlike Monica and Jean, I didn't have any "inappropriate" relationships with older men (and thank goodness for that...!) -- but I was equally as naive and inexperienced as they were -- and (of course!) there were encounters and relationships (or aspects of them) and behaviour (on my part and theirs), that makes me wince to remember, where I was treated badly by a guy, or wish I had done things differently.   

But that's all part of growing up and learning from our mistakes, isn't it? Which is part of what Monica helps Jean to realize. (We all do dumb things when we were younger -- but most of us don't have to deal with it in public, as Monica did...! -- thank goodness...!).  

The last chapter is kind of bonkers. :) (But cathartic too.)  

A solid 3.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded up (after some debate) to 4 on Goodreads.   

CNBC notes:  Jean, like Monica, is childless.  

This was Book #25 read to date in 2026 (and Book #7 (!) finished in August), bringing me to 63% of  my 2026 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 40 books. I am (for the first time in a LONG time!!) ON TRACK to meet my goal!!  :)  (For the moment, anyway...!  ;)  )  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2026 tagged as "2026 books."  

"Still Glides the Stream" by D.E. Stevenson (re-read)

My D.E. Stevenson fan group read "Still Glides the Stream" together not that long ago, in the summer of 2021 (previous reviews here & here). For our summer 2026 reading, I would have preferred to choose a Stevenson book I haven't read before, or in a long time (there are still a few of those!) -- but when another member stepped in to suggest "Still Glides" (one of her favourites) -- along with an offer to organize the discussion (something I was too busy to commit to this summer) -- members eagerly took her up on it.  We began our discussion on June 22nd, and finished today.  

The title "Still Glides the Stream" comes from a Wordsworth poem. First published in 1959, this book is sometimes referred to as a "sequel" to "Amberwell" and "Summerhills," both about the Ayrton family.  A couple of the Ayrtons make a brief appearance here, but it's really a standalone story.  

Will Hastie is back with his father in Scotland, after spending 12 years in the military during and after the Second World War ( = it's now the early/mid-1950s). His childhood best friend Rae, from the neighbouring estate of Langford, died during the final days of the war, and Rae's younger sister Patty is engaged to her cousin Hugo, who will now inherit the estate. 

Before he died, Rae wrote to Patty, hinting at a big secret he hoped to share with the family when he returned home. This piece of unfinished business has been gnawing at Patty, and when she shares the letter with Will, he decides to go to France, trace his friend's final days and try to figure out what he wanted to tell his family. What he learns there changes everyone's lives. 

Like Stevenson's other books, this is a warm, gentle little story of a bygone era -- in both positive and negative ways. On the minus side, the clash between French and English cultures and ways of doing things is a thread that runs throughout the book (including the implied assumption of British superiority). The decision made by one of the characters near the book's end might horrify modern readers, but I am sure readers of the day had no doubt that she was doing the right thing.  

Nevertheless, I appreciated the themes of post-war grief and loss and moving forward, as well as Stevenson's usual well-drawn characters and lovely descriptions.  

On previous reads, I rated this book 3.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded up to 4 on Goodreads. Those ratings still stand. 

Our next book is to be determined.  

This was Book #24 read to date in 2026 (and Book #6 finished in August), bringing me to 60% of  my 2026 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 40 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 1 book behind pace to meet my goal.  :)  (Catching up...!)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2026 tagged as "2026 books."  

"Yesteryear" by Caro Claire Burke

I finally picked up "Yesteryear" by Caro Claire Burke, one of this year's "buzz" books, after hearing a lot about it on. I've always liked time travel novels, and this promised to be one  -- or, at least, to contain a time travel element as part of the storyline.  

Natalie Heller Mills is a "tradwife," raising five homeschooled children (and pregnant with #6) in a rustic home (which is nevertheless equipped with all the modern conveniences) on a ranch known as "Yesteryear" in rural southern Idaho. She's married to Caleb, the rather hapless youngest son of a powerful U.S. senator who has presidential ambitions. 

She's also a highly successful social media influencer, who employs a producer as well as two nannies/teachers for her children, so that she can focus on being in front of the camera. She's clearly modelled on Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farm and other social media tradwife influencers,  with echoes of Tara Westover's "Educated" (setting in the mountains of rural southern Idaho, Ivy League scholarship, fundamentalist religious upbringing, etc. -- although in Natalie's case, the denomination is unspecified).  

On the surface, Natalie's life seems idyllic. But it quickly becomes evident that she's seething with rage and insecurity, as she tells us (in a first-person narrative) about her life, her family, and how she got to this level of fame and fortune.    

Then one morning, Natalie wakes up and abruptly finds herself somehow transported back to the year 1855 (!) -- actually living the traditional back-to-the-land life she's represented.  The story pivots back and forth between the story of Natalie's marriage to Caleb and how she became an "influencer," and the bewildering world she now finds herself in, with a husband she calls "Old Caleb" and four children, who are familiar in some ways and not at all in others. 

It didn't take me long to realize I disliked Natalie -- a lot. She didn't improve much over the course of the book -- although I felt a certain amount of sympathy at her bewildered and terrified reaction to waking up in 1855. I'm not sure any of us would have reacted any differently! (Still, there was a bit of schadenfreude, watching her having to practice/live what she preached...!). 

But an unlikeable heroine is not necessarily a deal-breaker for me in a book. It was an interesting premise, if not always smoothly executed, and it sure kept me turning the pages. I'd heard there was a twist ending, and a little about what it involved. But even so... let's just say I did not expect what ultimately unfolded!

ALI/CNBC note:  Obviously, this is NOT an entirely "safe" read for us, given the subject matter...!  Notably, there's a home birth described near the end of the book that I found difficult to read. 

4 stars.  

This was Book #23 read to date in 2026 (and Book #5 finished in August), bringing me to 57% of  my 2026 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 40 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 2 books behind pace to meet my goal.  :(  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2026 tagged as "2026 books."  

#MicroblogMondays: World Childless Week 2026 is coming!

World Childless Week 2026 is coming in September -- the 10th annual!  Every year, WCW is built around submissions from childless people around the world -- essays, poems, letters, lists, videos, paintings... There are also webinars featuring community members, discussing relevant topics related to the daily themes. 

I always have great intentions to submit something 🙄 which never seem to materialize... and the deadline for submissions WAS this past weekend. However, things have been slow and so Stephanie Joy Phillips, the organizer, is keeping submissions open. If you've been thinking of submitting something, now is the time!  

(I just submitted Katie's name for the Our Family Tree project -- and I'll be taking part in a webinar on Sept. 17th... more details on that closer to the time!)  

Have a look at this year's daily topics (below) and go to the website for more information. You can also browse previous years' submissions for inspiration!  

This year's themes include:  

• Monday 14th September: Our Stories
• Tuesday 15th September: Childless Disability & Chronic Illness
• Wednesday 16th September: 10 Things You Should Know About Me
• Thursday 17th September: Childless Father's and Mother's Day
• Friday 18th September: "Why do YOU want time off? You haven't got kids!"
• Saturday 19th September: We Are Worthy
• Saturday 19th September: Our Family Tree (an ongoing remembrance project for our children's names)
• Sunday 20th September: Moving Forwards

Details on the themes and how to submit can be found here: https://worldchildlessweek.net/past-events . 

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here. 

"Flying Solo" by Linda Holmes

"Flying Solo" by Linda Holmes is a followup to her debut novel "Evvie Drake Starts Over," which I read earlier this summer. 

Laurie Sassalyn is turning 40, single (again, after recently calling off her wedding), and back in her hometown to clear out the home of her beloved, recently deceased (also single and childless) Great-Aunt Dot. (The book is set in Calcasset, Maine, the same setting as "Evvie Drake," and includes a shoutout to Evvie and Dean from that book). 

Tucked away in a cedar chest, Laurie finds a mysterious wooden duck that piques her interest. A local antique dealer tells her the duck is worthless and gives her $50 for it. Laurie soon realizes she was conned, and enlists some of her old friends -- including her old boyfriend Nick, now the town librarian and divorced -- to help her get the precious duck back. (There's more to the story, but that's the barebones of the plot.)  

I picked up this book expecting another light romance like "Evvie Drake." It is -- but it isn't (it's a little more complicated that most romcoms, and it doesn't end quite like you might expect). I certainly did not expect it to turn into both a mystery and a caper/heist story, lol.  And needless to say, as someone who, like Laurie (and her Aunt Dot), didn't have kids (albeit for different reasons), is coming to terms with aging and recently spent time clearing decades and generations of accumulated stuff from her parents' house, there was much here I could relate to. ;)  

I rated "Evvie Drake" 3 stars all round. In some ways, I liked it better than this one;  in some ways I liked this one better. They're both good reads in their own ways. I finished it in two days flat. 

3.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded up to 4 on Goodreads.  

Additional ALI/CNBC notes: One of Laurie's brothers and his wife are infertile and going through  IVF.  There's a long conversation in which he, Laurie, Nick, and Laurie's best friend June talk about having children (or not).  

This was Book #22 read to date in 2026 (and Book #4 finished in August), bringing me to 55% of  my 2026 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 40 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 2 books behind pace to meet my goal.  :(  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2026 tagged as "2026 books."  

Annoying things & small pleasures

Annoying things:  

• For the first time ever, I lost my cellphone last month (July). Thankfully, it was only a temporary thing:  I left it sitting on the table at the restaurant where we were having dinner on our wedding anniversary. (eyeroll)  I normally don't look at my phone much when we're out for dinner (and of course we haven't done that as much since the pandemic) -- but the service was a little slow (and dh was looking at his), so.... 
• When we got home, I realized it wasn't in my purse or in any of the other usual places I set it. Tried calling it with dh's phone -- nothing. (Uh oh...)  Dh went down to the parking garage;  it wasn't in the car, so he hopped in and went back to the restaurant while I called ahead. Thankfully, the waitress who served us had already found it and left it at the front desk. Whew! 
• (Another reason why you should leave your phone in your purse/pocket when you're in a restaurant...!)  
• I'm sure I've written before about the McMichael Centre for Canadian Art, a true national treasure in a small town near where I now live. I took out a membership not long after we moved here, and we've really enjoyed visiting there a couple of times a year to tour the exhibits, hear some of the interesting lectures and stroll around the beautiful grounds. I've also brought guests with me occasionally. (My membership is a "plus one," i.e., it covers admission for two people, and also includes a handful of time-limited guest passes.) 
• The last time we were there was earlier this year, and I'd been saying to dh that we should go again soon (and certainly in the fall, when the colours are at their peak!). 
• I'd heard the gallery was planning to expand -- but it came as a bit of a shock when they  announced on July 16th that it was (temporarily) closing... for THREE YEARS (until sometime in 2029).  (That's assuming all goes well, of course...!) 
• Not only that, the closing date was July 26th -- just 10 days after the announcement (!) -- and a few days before we were scheduled to leave for Manitoba for a few weeks -- meaning we wouldn't have time to squeeze in a last visit before closure.  (I wasn't the only person who questioned this schedule...!)  
• Meanwhile, my membership has been paused. 
• A lot of very hot, humid days, both here and at Dad's (although this past week has not been as bad). The humidex reading one day at Dad's was 47C ( = 117F).  Yuck.  Thank goodness his apartment has an air conditioner (albeit it's very noisy, and he kept turning it off because he would get cold...!).  
• The plug-in carbon monoxide detector we bought & installed when we moved into our condo 10 years ago reached the end of its life and started giving off warning chirps... at 5 AM (why do these things ALWAYS go off in the middle of the night??!), the morning after an exhausting day of travelling home from visiting my dad (!). 
• It's been four years (!) this summer since I had both eye surgery and gallbladder removal, three weeks apart (!)... and a selfie I took and posted on social media, of me prepped and waiting to get rid of pesky gallbladder, recently surfaced in my Facebook memories. I reposted it with a caption saying, "No regrets, hardly any digestive issues since! (And a much easier recovery than the eye surgery I had three weeks earlier...!)"  Would you believe I had THREE people offering me thoughts & prayers for a speedy recovery??!  I mean, it was lovely of them (they were mostly older friends of my parents, perhaps not entirely social media-savvy), but... does anyone actually read captions anymore?
• On a recent discussion thread I was on, the host asked for ideas for future discussion thread topics... and someone suggested a thread of birth stories (!), saying it made her sad to think she only had so many people to tell her story to, and it would make everyone [ed. note: "everyone??"]  feel supported and also prepared, because "no one talks about it!"  
• Do she & I live on the same planet?? 
• I was tempted leave a comment reminding her (and everyone else reading) that not all of us who wanted a baby get to give birth, and some of us have birth stories you really do not want to hear (and yeah, some of us really don't want to hear yours either...!) -- but I bit my cybertongue and scrolled on. (And came here to vent, lol.)  

Small pleasures:  

• Sleeping in my own bed again!!  
• (On that note:)  The new sheets I got just before we left. My sister had recommended them to me a while back, and while I've been reluctant to order from Amazon or buy American lately if I can help it (for obvious reasons...), dh shredded our bottom sheet with his toenail (don't ask...), and my former go-to places to buy bedding (The Bay, Sears, Bed Bath & Beyond...) have all gone the way of the dodo bird in recent years, so...  They are lovely, crisp 100% cotton damask sateen, 500 thread count, deep pockets on the fitted sheet, and reasonably priced.  I'm going to order a second set to keep in reserve!  
• Spending time with the the great-nephews after three weeks away (almost half the summer...!).
• I was pretty busy while we were at Dad's, and I had my share of screen time while I was there (more so on the phone than my laptop) -- but I did have time to finish five (!) books while we were there (albeit a couple of them were pretty short).  :)    

Odds & ends

I've been collecting "odds & ends" of links for at least a month now... I know I've missed out on recording a LOT of great stuff I've read lately, but I think it's time to share what I do have! 

• Big (((hugs))) to Mali at No Kidding in NZ, who recently lost her husband.  :(  
• Ali Hall at Life Without Children ponders something many childless & childfree women have realized:  too many people wanting (expecting?) a village, too few people stepping up as villagers. ("How Expecting One-Way Support From Women Without Kids to Mothers Is Anti-Village.") 
• Also from Ali Hall: "Why It’s Important for Childfree and Childless People to Have Friends Without Kids" (as well as parent friends).  
• Jody Day shares more details about her Alterkin project, one year after it began, on her Gateway Elderwomen Substack. 
• Not necessarily ALI/CNBC related, but worth a read (made me smile!):  Mary Elizabeth Williams, an American living in Glasgow and writing on Substack, ponders "What Scotland's Tartan Army can show us about joy."  :)   (One memorable line:  "be the chaos goblin you wish to see in the world."  lol) 
• This one might not be an an easy read for some of us in our community -- I certainly found myself cringing as I read it.  And for a "Critic's Notebook," I wish the article contained less of fashion commentary and more actual criticism, and had more to say about pronatalism and the agenda at work here, etc.  But it certainly reflects where American society & politics are right now...! Gift link:  "The Politics and Power of the Pregnancy Image." 
• A member of my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club -- where we recently read "You Are Here" by David Nicholls, one of my favourite novels of recent years -- alerted us recently that the BBC is adapting the novel, and has cast Claire Foy and Matthew Macfadyen in the roles of Marnie and Michael.  Nicholls is doing the screenplay, and the director, Lenny Abrahamson,  was in charge of the exquisite screen version of "Normal People,"  so this bodes well!  
• Sara Petersen at "In Pursuit of Clean Countertops" on Patreon talked to Kathryn Jezer-Morton about her new book ("The Story of Your Life"), "the flat story," "snark communities" and redemption narratives. Fascinating stuff!  
• Kirstie Kimball at "beyondbeurreblanc" is an independent food critic from Minnesota, who wrote a moving essay about her infertility:  "The Ghost in My Third Bedroom."  (T/W:  Cancer.)  
• Jill Holly at "Spinster-esque" on Substack has some great content related to being childless/free, including several recent posts with reading recommendations. Example:  "Books to become a feisty childfree elder:  All the inspo you need to age disgracefully."  ;)  
• Lana Manikowski has had several thoughtful posts lately on her Substack "Infertile and Childless. So Now What?"  including "The Hardest Part of Infertility" and "I’m Not the Same Woman I Was When Fertility Treatment Ended." Sample passage:  

For years, I thought surviving fertility treatment was the hardest part. Looking back, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Turns out, the hardest part wasn’t going through IVF. It was figuring out who I was when there wasn’t another protocol to try or another cycle to start.