The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

1940 and 1941 - the years before America enters WWII. London is hiding under the constant assault of the Blitz. The citizens of Franklin, a small town on Cape Cod are watching for the U-boats or walking innocently on the beach but the mood of all is one of "restless despair". Frankie, who works with Edward R. Murrow, is a one of the few women reporters in Europe. Iris is the Franklin postmistress. Both are committed to different ways of delivering the truth. Various quirks of fate put them in possession of a letter that alters their understanding of what purpose the truth might serve. Both "find they are the scissors when they thought they were the thread." Their stories alternate then weave together and the writing is often cause to go back just to repeat the pleasure of reading a beautiful phrase or paragraph or page.