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Hi, this is Betsy from Otto’s. Small Blessings, by first-time novelist, Martha Woodruff, is a breath of fresh air for the reader jaded with desperate characters in live-or-die dramas. The setting is a southern college where teachers, students and administration are mostly getting along and the English professor, Tom Putnam, gets a triple whammy, when in the matter of a week; his severely dysfunctional wife dies, Henry, a six year old boy arrives on a train to “stay with him for six weeks” (He brings his birth certificate that names Tom as his father) and a new hiree at the college bookstore shakes Tom’s foundations! Tom is a genuinely “nice”guy. He had patiently cared for his wife for years. He is completely baffled by Henry but realizes the boy needs someone to care about him. And the new woman on campus? Oh my! Throw in a couple of teachers who are struggling with alcoholism and you have the bare bones of a very satisfying plot. I loved it. Small Blessings—you’ll find it at Otto’s, a booklover’s paradise in the heart of downtown Williamsport.
