A former student of mine, now aged 26, is leaving for the US soon. She just got a two-year contract and is going to Norfolk to work for Nato. She certainly is a bright young woman and reading her essays, when she was younger, was always a pleasure. I remember that I once photocopied a piece of work on an American painting since I found it so good.
Her parents are my colleagues and I have been invited, along with another English teacher, to a little farewell party on Thursday.
Therefore I am looking for ideas of something to give her she could take with her. I was thinking that a book that would be set in Virginia would be a fine idea but really can’t think of one.
Any suggestion anyone?
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I don’t have any book suggestions, but I have some very good friends in Norfolk, and would be happy to introduce them to your former student.
Thank you Rivki. I’ll suggest it too her and let you know what she thinks.
All Other Nights by Dara Horn…I highly recommend this.
The Sea House, by Esther Freud
Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani
Thank you for all the suggestions.
My cousins have family in Norfolk. It is supposedly a nice place to live (especially if one has a hard time with the fast-paced Northeast U.S.).
The Nato site in Belgium, where this young woman worked until a couple of months ago, is also a quiet place.
What did you decide to give her in the end?
The only books set in Virginia that come to mind are Elswyth Thane’s “Williamsburg” novels. (They’re lighthearted historical fiction but extremely dated and very much a product of the 1940′s and 1950′s, which is when they were written.)
I had to order Rayna Eliana’s first choice and since I couldn’t get it on time I added an Israeli film I particularly like: Broken Wings.