"Playing By Heart" by Anne Mateer

I heard that this book was about high school basketball coaches in 1917 and was immediately intrigued. I've never read a work of fiction that discussed basketball in any historical era, much less all the way back to World War I! As a fan of both basketball and history, I knew this was one I had to read.

Miss Lula Bowman is happily pursuing her postgraduate studies in mathematics, and well on her way to fulfilling the dream of being the first female in the state of Oklahoma to receive her PhD, when she is forced to put those plans on hold in order to help her family. Her sister Jewel's husband passed away unexpectedly, leaving Jewel with four young children and another on the way. Knowing it's the right thing to do, Lula leaves school to move in with Jewel, and is able to find a job teaching music at the local high school. The job comes with a strict code of conduct, such as not being allowed to have gentlemen suitors during the school year. That won't be a problem because Lula is focused on helping her sister and then getting back to her own goals. But there's another catch in her contract: she must coach the girls' basketball team. That seems a little more daunting, since she's never even seen a game played.

Boys' basketball coach Chet Vaughn has become quite adept at refuting the attention that single ladies are prone to give him. He's one of the few eligible men not in uniform, and the only reason he hasn't enlisted is because he must care for his emotionally fragile mother. He also finds great purpose in helping his students, especially those with hard family situations, be able to stick with their education and receive their high school diploma. One thing Chet never expected was to develop feelings for the lovely but stubborn Lula Bowman, the one woman in town who isn't chasing after him, and who is reluctantly forced to ask him for guidance in learning the game of basketball.

Although Lula also feels attracted to Chet, she has too much on the line to encourage much of a friendship between them. Not only is her sister relying on Lula's teaching income to support her family, Lula also fully intends to resume her own studies as soon as she is able. If she is to leave unentangled romantically, both from Jewel's matchmaking attempts and from the gregarious Coach Vaughn, she knows it will take a lot of determination. First she must see her way through the basketball season and the rest of the school year.

There were many things I really liked about this book. I liked that it was set in the state of Oklahoma, where I grew up, and I was familiar with the names of towns and their geographic locations. As a teacher myself, I enjoyed the relationships that Lula and Chet had with their students. I found both main characters to be quite relatable in the sacrifices they were making for their respective families, even in the fact that not everyone approved of those choices. The basketball side of the story was very well done, and I enjoyed seeing the sport's terminology work its way into the narrative, such as this excerpt from page 30: "The words I prayed slammed into my chest like a basketball I hadn't seen coming." It was also fun to see WWI phrases, songs, and facts scattered throughout.

Overall, the book was satisfying on many levels and it thoroughly exceeded my expectations. I'll be looking into other releases from this author!

I received my copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for this honest review. All opinions are my own.