THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX by Maggie O'Farrell (fic) 245 pp

Iris Lockart runs a vintage clothing shop in Edinburgh.  She has a complicated relationship with her step-brother Alex.  She is trying to sort out her feelings toward Alex and Luke with whom she is having an affair, when into her life walks Esme Lennox, a grand-aunt who she never knew existed.  Esme has been imprisoned in a draconian mental institution for 61 years. That institution is now being closed down. Unbeknown to Alex, she was given power of attorney for Esme when Alex's grandmother (Esme's sister) becomes incapacitated by Alzheimer's. The novel goes back and forth between Esme's story from the 1930s and Alex's in today's world. Esme's story unfolds in the random thoughts floating through both her mind and her sister's.  The reader gradually becomes aware that a dark family secret, stretching back to India where the sister's story begins, is about to unfold.  The tragedy at the center of the novel is the incarceration for life of a young high-spirited girl who most likely today would be diagnosed with Asberger's syndrome or maybe, bi-polar disorder.  O'Farrell an excellent Scottish writer, brings this story to life. I highly recommend this book and believe it would offer a rich topic for discussion is a reading group.

LONDONERS by Craig Taylor (non-fic) 412pp.

This is a compilation of first-hand accounts of the great city of London by residents and visitors collected by the author through hundreds of interviews.  Some are interesting, some not so much.  Having resided in London for four wonderful years, I wish the author had also recorded the years of the memories. I could then picture styles, popular culture, etc.  I borrowed this book from a friend so I read it at one go over several days.  I would have preferred, and recommend reading it piecemeal; maybe, leaving it on a nightstand or coffee table and picking it up form time to time.  I found myself wishing for the end about half way through.  I would not have felt that way if I read it in an occasional manner.

THE MISTRESS OF NOTHING by Kate Pullinger (fic) 250 pp DOWN THE NILE: Along in a fisherman's skiff by Rosemary Mahoney (non-fic)

Imagine yourself as a Victorian woman, dressed in voluminous layers of clothing and trussed up with corsets and heavy stockings.  Now imagine the unforgiving heat of Egypt.  Why, oh why, would you ever contemplate what can only be a gruelling trip up the Nile?  Apparently many did! Victorian men and women in search of better health, (in the case of Lucie Duff Gordon who had tuberculosis), the romance of the ancient land, and hoping to find adventure, battled the discomfort of extreme heat while stubbornly maintaining the habits of their own culture. Kate Pullinger has written a descriptive and fascinating book based on the true life adventures of Lucie Duff Gordon (who wrote her own book, "Letters from Egypt") and her ladies' maid Sally Naldrett.  The story centers on Sally, a spinster of 30, who tends to the tubercular Lucie as they float in their hired dahabieh up the Nile from Cairo to Luxor where they settle for two years and adapt to native life.  Sally in her new found freedom enters into an erotic relationship with Omar who has been hired as a guide and attendant to the ladies.  Her subsequent adventures form the center of this gripping tale.  Pullinger's research is meticulous in following the real story of these interesting woman and their Victorian lives.  I highly recommend this book, which would also be an interesting choice for a book club read.

In contrast to our Victorian adventure, read Rosemary Mahoney's modern-day account of her travels in the opposite direction, downriver from Aswan to Cairo.  Her difficulty in travelling as a single woman, and even more of a struggle to obtain a boat makes equally fascinating reading.  Her uncomfortable skiff, battles against the current and difficulty with the sexual overtures of modern Egyptian men who are baffled by a woman who is rowing alone the Nile, keep one in suspense.  Is Rosemary even more of an anomaly than her Victorian counterparts?  This is another highly recommendable book which would make a good book club choice.

TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN, The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton by Sara Wheeler (Bio) 292pp

Sara Wheeler is an beautiful writer and she gorgeously captures the essence of East Africa in this biography of Denys Finch Hatton. Among other things, Finch Hatton was the life love of Karen Blixen who imortalized him in her book "Out of Africa."  A movie was later made from Blixen's book.  Finch Hatton born of British aristocracy was a romantic hero of the World War I era.  His life was one of adventure and privledge, although as the younger son without a title, he had little money himself.  He was facinated by the wild beauty of Africa, and though he occasionally mixed with the infamous Happy Valley set, most of his time was spent hunting and photographing wild animals.  I highly recommend this book for its depiction of Early imperial Kenya and the colonial society that took this rich land without conscience.  Wheeler also gives us an insight into Karen Blixen and Beryl Markham, two famous woman who fell in love with Hatton.  Other fine books to compliment this one are:  "Straight On Till Morning," a biography of Beryl Markham by Mary Lovell, Markham's own autobiograpy, "West With the Night," and Karen Blixen's  "Out of Africa," which is a more romantized version of the hard scrabble life on an African farm.

BRIDGE OF SIGHS by Richard Russo (fic) 528pp.

I have not read Russo's more famous book, "Empire Falls" for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. I found this very long subsequent book written in 2007 to be disappointing.  Apparently Russo is a master at depicting small town life, to the point that it is smothering.  This very long book centers around a small New York town, once prosperous for its mills which polluted the river running through the town.  The narrator, Lou Lynch and his life from childhood through age 60, guides us as we read his narrative.  Lou is a plain man with a plain story; his wife like his mother before her is the guiding light for Lou.  The family owns a small chain of Mom and Pop grocery stores that have managed to survive despite the mega grocery chains that surround the town.  The rebel in the story is his friend Bobby Marconi who with no lead up suddenly sometime after high school, finds he possesses great artistic talent. 
I stayed with the story to the end, sometimes interested, more often wondering where it was going.  The author seemed to feel this way as well as the final chapters seemed to hurry toward an unsatisfying ending.

UNBROKEN by Laura Hillenbrand (biog)

"Unbroken" has been on the best seller list for some time, so I am a bit late in my review.  The title is perfect.  If you haven't heard the story of Louie Zamperini, and even if you have, but have not read the book, I recommend that you do.  How can a person go through so much and still fight to live?  Zamperini is a complete example of the "greatest generation," those who lived through the depression followed by the brutal World War II.  Louie was tough from the time he was born.  His character development is a fascinating story in itself.  How he transformed himself from a bad boy to a world champion runner is told in the early part of the book.  His capture by the Japanese, after enduring a record survival time lost in the vast Pacific, is heartbreaking.  The degradation and torture endured by Louie and his fellow prisoners is painful to read.   The incredible will of the human spirit and what the body can endure defies belief.  This is not an easy book to read, yet the promise of the final survival leaves many lessons to ponder both about man's inhumanity to man and the strength of character of those who endured. 

LEGACY by Susan Kay

Susan Kay is a winner of the Georgette Heyer historical fiction award and she is an above average writer of historical romances.  "Legacy" is a long account of the reign of Elizabeth I with an emphasis on the psychological relationships she had with her male courtiers.  I am always leery of writers of historical fiction with a romantic emphasis putting their own word into historical characters mouths.  Kay is no exception.  My readings of Elizabeth lead me to believe she is a much more sympathetic and brilliant woman than Kay makes her out to be.  Kay also is touch on the Cecils, father and son.  In reality they also are more sympathetic characters.  In the same vein, brilliant men like Leicester, Raleigh, Walsingham and Hatton are presented as love-struck caricatures who act as willing puppets to the Queen.  An accurate account of Elizabeth's relationship with her advisers can be found in the non-fiction book, "All the Queen's Men" by Neville Williams.
    If you are looking for a well-written diversion and are willing to overlook accuracy in character development, you may well choose to read this book.  As far as the historical framework goes, the author presents an accurate historical rendering of events in Elizabeth's reign.