This book received much attention when it came out last year (now in paperback); it was a finalist for the Booker Prize and also chosen as one of the Times 10 best books of 2015. Ali Smith is an accomplished and creatively original writer, this is her sixth novel. The book is essentially divided into two parts and was published with some copies beginning with one part and others starting with the other. Depending on which book you bought, you would have a different character starting the novel.
My copy began with the story of a troubled teen whose mother had just passed away of an allergic reaction to an antibiotic. She was only 50 years old, and it was an unexpected and shocking death to her family. She was a politically leftist blogger with a degree in art history. The young girl called "George" was left with a father drowning his sorrow in alcohol, and a younger brother who still needed attention and nurturing. George was close to her mother and they had recently travelled to Italy, drawn there by her mother's fascination with a medieval fresco in the Palazzo Scifanoia in Ferrrara. The fresco and painter are real, you can Google it and see the premise this story is built on.
The second half of the book is about the 15th century painter, Francescho del Cossa who died of the plague in his forties. For centuries his work disappeared, and was rediscovered when some white wash fell off his painted-over masterpiece. This, and an old letter asking for more pay from the d'Este family who were his patrons, led his rediscovery. George and her mother made their pilgrimage to his medieval fortress town of Ferrara in northern Italy, often called the birthplace of the Renaissance.
Sexual ambiguity is a theme running throughout both sections of the novel. There is the question of the sexual identity of Francescho, and what is the relationship between George's mother and a mysterious woman named Lisa Goliard, who could also be spying on the mother's political activism.
In her effort to heal, George becomes immersed in the painter's life and times, with daily visits to a gallery in Cambridge where a piece of his work is displayed. The author presents us with the power of art and history and how they can affect us. What hold does the past have on us? George, somewhat of a loner, makes friends with Helen, a girl in her class. The girls are drawn together by their intelligence and creativity. Again, there is ambiguity about their relationship. They begin working together on a class assignment on the topic of empathy. They choose Francescho for their project.
George's story ends and Francescho's begins, or vice-a-versa depending on which copy of the book you have. I am glad I had a copy with George's story first because I found the section on Francescho, with its stylistic change, more difficult to read. The reader is left to make what he/she will of this. As I read I could see these two main characters were trying to understand each other across the historical void, and this was part of the healing process for George. Then I came to believe that the section on the painter was the project that George and her friend Helen had completed for their school assignment. Other readers may have different interpretations.
I found this novel interesting and creative and unique. It is also challenging to the reader. I would recommend that should you read it, you look for a copy with George's story first.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Saturday, April 9, 2016
REMARKABLE CREATURES by Tracy Chevalier (fic)
Tracy Chevalier who wrote the popular novel, "Girl With a Pearl Earing'" has chosen another fascinating topic to fashion a novel around. The novel takes place in Lyme Regis on the coast of England, renowned for its chalky cliffs and plethora of fossils. England is in the midst of war (the war of 1812 with America and the Napoleonic Wars). But war is hardly mentioned in this book, and one has the feeling that it doesn't much affect this little scientific outpost.
The story is narrated by two women who form an unlikely friendship based on their love of fossils and science, a field not open to women at the time. The first narrator is Elizabeth Philpot an older spinster who has moved to Lyme Regis with her two sisters to live more economically after her father's death. Elizabeth was a real person who in her day became known and respected for her knowledge of fish fossils. The other voice belongs to MaryAnning, again a real person, who is still known as the greatest fossil finder ever. We meet Mary as a poverty stricken young girl. In real life, as in the book, her father was a cabinet maker who dies early on, leaving the family to make a living through selling fossils to tourists and rich hobbiests. There is a true story related in the book about the ubiquitous Jane Austin approaching Mr. Anning to purchase a cabinet. She never did business with him because she thought his prices were too high (as she wrote to a sister).
Chevalier does a terrific job of weaving her real characters into a story that is entirely believable. Several well-known scientists of the day also make an appearance in Mary's story. In fact these several male scientists made their names in scientific circles by buying Mary's finds without much recognition given to her either for her discoveries or for her talent for cleaning and restoring the fossils which were prominently displayed in London museums. Scientists who mattered respected Mary including the most famous of his day, the French scientist, Cuvier. Another aside, though it doesn't appear in the book, is that the tongue-twister, "she sells sea shells by the sea shore," was penned when Mary became well known.
Mary called her finds, "curies" and one day in 1811, she made one of the biggest finds of her life, an intact fossil of an ichthyosaurs which she first assumed was a crocodile. This find cause great consternation and controversy not only in the field of science, but also in theological circles. The great debate centered on how one of God's creatures could have become extinct. Neither science nor theology allowed for the idea that unknown creatures could have inhabited the earth in the past. Mary made further discoveries, a plesiosaurus in 1823 and a pterodactyl in 1828. By this time she had made a name for herself and was foremost in her field.
Chevalier weaves a very nice story around the discoveries, a story of friendship, loss, love, poverty and grudging respect. She makes fossil hunting exciting and real though human relationships. Her characters are real, interesting and altogether human in their triumphs and follies. I highly recommend this book for all who are interested not just in fossils but in relationships and two women who fought against the custom of the day. In the end, we might never have known about Mary Anning if it weren't for Elizabeth Philpot who was determined to bring the truth to light.
The story is narrated by two women who form an unlikely friendship based on their love of fossils and science, a field not open to women at the time. The first narrator is Elizabeth Philpot an older spinster who has moved to Lyme Regis with her two sisters to live more economically after her father's death. Elizabeth was a real person who in her day became known and respected for her knowledge of fish fossils. The other voice belongs to MaryAnning, again a real person, who is still known as the greatest fossil finder ever. We meet Mary as a poverty stricken young girl. In real life, as in the book, her father was a cabinet maker who dies early on, leaving the family to make a living through selling fossils to tourists and rich hobbiests. There is a true story related in the book about the ubiquitous Jane Austin approaching Mr. Anning to purchase a cabinet. She never did business with him because she thought his prices were too high (as she wrote to a sister).
Chevalier does a terrific job of weaving her real characters into a story that is entirely believable. Several well-known scientists of the day also make an appearance in Mary's story. In fact these several male scientists made their names in scientific circles by buying Mary's finds without much recognition given to her either for her discoveries or for her talent for cleaning and restoring the fossils which were prominently displayed in London museums. Scientists who mattered respected Mary including the most famous of his day, the French scientist, Cuvier. Another aside, though it doesn't appear in the book, is that the tongue-twister, "she sells sea shells by the sea shore," was penned when Mary became well known.
Mary called her finds, "curies" and one day in 1811, she made one of the biggest finds of her life, an intact fossil of an ichthyosaurs which she first assumed was a crocodile. This find cause great consternation and controversy not only in the field of science, but also in theological circles. The great debate centered on how one of God's creatures could have become extinct. Neither science nor theology allowed for the idea that unknown creatures could have inhabited the earth in the past. Mary made further discoveries, a plesiosaurus in 1823 and a pterodactyl in 1828. By this time she had made a name for herself and was foremost in her field.
Chevalier weaves a very nice story around the discoveries, a story of friendship, loss, love, poverty and grudging respect. She makes fossil hunting exciting and real though human relationships. Her characters are real, interesting and altogether human in their triumphs and follies. I highly recommend this book for all who are interested not just in fossils but in relationships and two women who fought against the custom of the day. In the end, we might never have known about Mary Anning if it weren't for Elizabeth Philpot who was determined to bring the truth to light.
Monday, April 4, 2016
IN THESE TIMES by Jenny Uglow (non-fic)
Subtitle: Living in Britain through Napoleon's Wars, 1793-1815
What struck me the most when reading Jenny Uglow's latest book is that war in all its guises somehow is the same no matter when it is fought. It is always the poor who suffer the most, no matter if it is the Napoleonic Wars, fought over 200 years ago or any conflict in today's world. In the 22 years of the Napoleonic Wars, which was nearly a world war since most of Europe and the United States and Caribbean islands were involved, the suffering and depredation afflicted all the principals.
In England, the subject of this book, there were riots, food shortages, speculation, crop failures, stock crashes, profiteering, new taxes, new money, and disease. All this despite the fact that there were never any battles in England.
Jenny Uglow, one of my favorite historians, does a masterful job with the gargantuan task of presenting this social history which stretched over many years with the players outside of England and France, changing sides fueled by whatever economic or military crisis they found themselves in. What Uglow does is to use a framework of diaries and letters of over 30 families who wrote their thoughts and recorded events between 1793 and 1815. She fleshes this out with precise research and presents it all as a fascinating and realistic record of the lives of the commoners and the gentry. Over and over the reader will discover the validity of that old saw, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
The book is richly illustrated, though I did have to take a magnifying glass to some of the small prints. Besides consorting with farmers, bankers, soldiers, sailors, and mill workers, the reader will discover the war activities of such luminaries as: Jane Austin, Lord Byron, Wordsworth, Thomas Paine, Leigh Hunt (who along with his brother was jailed more than once for their anti-war propaganda), Edmund Burke, James Fox, and a wealth of others. The loss of British lives was horrendous and not only to battle. Diseases such as yellow fever took their toll as well. 40,000 men were lost to fever in the Caribbean and in the swamps of the Netherlands. Because of the length of the war, it was not unusual for a father to have fought in the beginning conflicts and sons in the latter battles with women losing husbands and sons.
Like all wars, art and literature seemed to grow and flourish as new ideas and ways of thinking came into vogue. People even managed to travel between the battles and relations with other European nations waxed and waned.
Having recently read a biography of Napoleon, it was interesting to compare and contrast conditions in England and read of reactions to Napoleon whose star fell as Wellington's and Nelson's rose. I recommend this social history to all who have an interest in the European history of the era, and English history in particular. Uglow covers a lot of material with great perspective. She is an able guide to an interesting period of time and its people.
What struck me the most when reading Jenny Uglow's latest book is that war in all its guises somehow is the same no matter when it is fought. It is always the poor who suffer the most, no matter if it is the Napoleonic Wars, fought over 200 years ago or any conflict in today's world. In the 22 years of the Napoleonic Wars, which was nearly a world war since most of Europe and the United States and Caribbean islands were involved, the suffering and depredation afflicted all the principals.
In England, the subject of this book, there were riots, food shortages, speculation, crop failures, stock crashes, profiteering, new taxes, new money, and disease. All this despite the fact that there were never any battles in England.
Jenny Uglow, one of my favorite historians, does a masterful job with the gargantuan task of presenting this social history which stretched over many years with the players outside of England and France, changing sides fueled by whatever economic or military crisis they found themselves in. What Uglow does is to use a framework of diaries and letters of over 30 families who wrote their thoughts and recorded events between 1793 and 1815. She fleshes this out with precise research and presents it all as a fascinating and realistic record of the lives of the commoners and the gentry. Over and over the reader will discover the validity of that old saw, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
The book is richly illustrated, though I did have to take a magnifying glass to some of the small prints. Besides consorting with farmers, bankers, soldiers, sailors, and mill workers, the reader will discover the war activities of such luminaries as: Jane Austin, Lord Byron, Wordsworth, Thomas Paine, Leigh Hunt (who along with his brother was jailed more than once for their anti-war propaganda), Edmund Burke, James Fox, and a wealth of others. The loss of British lives was horrendous and not only to battle. Diseases such as yellow fever took their toll as well. 40,000 men were lost to fever in the Caribbean and in the swamps of the Netherlands. Because of the length of the war, it was not unusual for a father to have fought in the beginning conflicts and sons in the latter battles with women losing husbands and sons.
Like all wars, art and literature seemed to grow and flourish as new ideas and ways of thinking came into vogue. People even managed to travel between the battles and relations with other European nations waxed and waned.
Having recently read a biography of Napoleon, it was interesting to compare and contrast conditions in England and read of reactions to Napoleon whose star fell as Wellington's and Nelson's rose. I recommend this social history to all who have an interest in the European history of the era, and English history in particular. Uglow covers a lot of material with great perspective. She is an able guide to an interesting period of time and its people.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
FINALE by Thomas Mallon (fic)
Subtitle: A Novel of the Reagan Years.
Finale was chosen as one of the best books of 2015 by the New York Times. Mallon, who often writes for the New Yorker, has this time chosen to write about the last two years of Ronald Reagan's Presidency. Set in 1986 and 87, his popularity waning, his energy flagging, and his mind wandering, we can see hints of the Alzheimer's disease which eventually felled him. It is tragic that Margaret Thatcher, Reagan's great and loyal friend, was also at the end of her years beset with the same malady.
Mallon writes in much the same style as his previous political novel, "Watergate." Like "Watergate" Mallon mixes many real and familiar names with a few fictional characters who move the story along. He writes in a plain style with the setting secondary to the characters whose minds he skillfully inhabits. The main characters will be familiar to those who followed the politics of the Reagan era. Those too young to remember will find the large number of characters and their importance difficult to get around. Certain names will bring back memories to many readers: William Buckley, Jr., Jeane Kirkpatrick, Jackie Kennedy, Bette Davis (with her acerbic asides), Jimmy Carter, John Hinckley, Christopher Hitchens, Pamela Harriman, Oliver North, and above all Richard Nixon, resurrected and rehabilitated from his Watergate days. Our guide through the period is a fictional Anders Little who connects all these characters allowing the plot to progress.
This is a good book to read in our current political climate to remind us of a more civilized and polite though bland time in our history. A time welcome to many after the turbulent Nixon years followed by the Iranian kidnappings in the term of Jimmy Carter. It is also a reminder that current politicians who claim to be heirs of Reagan are nothing like him at all, and that many of us found him incompetent and elusive rather than enchanting.
The plot centers around two big news stories of the time, the Iran/Contra scandal along with its attendant money laundering, and the nuclear arms meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev (who seemed thoroughly confused by Reagan's detachment) in Reykjavik. Both incidents turned out to be disastrous to Reagan's popularity. Most interestingly, Richard Nixon who was such a villain in the Watergate book, was living contentedly in California and very actively involved behind the scenes giving advice to Reagan's advisors. He has some of the best lines in the book and certainly seems to be thinking more clearly than Reagan's handlers. Nancy Reagan, lovingly hovers around her husband, filled with anxiety that he will blunder in his diplomacy, no doubt aware on some level that his mind is failing. By the end of the book, even Nancy wonders who Reagan really is and whatever can he be thinking behind his vague dismissals of the shape the history of his Presidency is taking.
I enjoyed revisiting the Reagan years, and Mallon is a good guide and spot on in so many of his characterizations. The book perhaps would not be as enjoyable to those who are not familiar with the many names which inhabit the pages of this novel.
Finale was chosen as one of the best books of 2015 by the New York Times. Mallon, who often writes for the New Yorker, has this time chosen to write about the last two years of Ronald Reagan's Presidency. Set in 1986 and 87, his popularity waning, his energy flagging, and his mind wandering, we can see hints of the Alzheimer's disease which eventually felled him. It is tragic that Margaret Thatcher, Reagan's great and loyal friend, was also at the end of her years beset with the same malady.
Mallon writes in much the same style as his previous political novel, "Watergate." Like "Watergate" Mallon mixes many real and familiar names with a few fictional characters who move the story along. He writes in a plain style with the setting secondary to the characters whose minds he skillfully inhabits. The main characters will be familiar to those who followed the politics of the Reagan era. Those too young to remember will find the large number of characters and their importance difficult to get around. Certain names will bring back memories to many readers: William Buckley, Jr., Jeane Kirkpatrick, Jackie Kennedy, Bette Davis (with her acerbic asides), Jimmy Carter, John Hinckley, Christopher Hitchens, Pamela Harriman, Oliver North, and above all Richard Nixon, resurrected and rehabilitated from his Watergate days. Our guide through the period is a fictional Anders Little who connects all these characters allowing the plot to progress.
This is a good book to read in our current political climate to remind us of a more civilized and polite though bland time in our history. A time welcome to many after the turbulent Nixon years followed by the Iranian kidnappings in the term of Jimmy Carter. It is also a reminder that current politicians who claim to be heirs of Reagan are nothing like him at all, and that many of us found him incompetent and elusive rather than enchanting.
The plot centers around two big news stories of the time, the Iran/Contra scandal along with its attendant money laundering, and the nuclear arms meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev (who seemed thoroughly confused by Reagan's detachment) in Reykjavik. Both incidents turned out to be disastrous to Reagan's popularity. Most interestingly, Richard Nixon who was such a villain in the Watergate book, was living contentedly in California and very actively involved behind the scenes giving advice to Reagan's advisors. He has some of the best lines in the book and certainly seems to be thinking more clearly than Reagan's handlers. Nancy Reagan, lovingly hovers around her husband, filled with anxiety that he will blunder in his diplomacy, no doubt aware on some level that his mind is failing. By the end of the book, even Nancy wonders who Reagan really is and whatever can he be thinking behind his vague dismissals of the shape the history of his Presidency is taking.
I enjoyed revisiting the Reagan years, and Mallon is a good guide and spot on in so many of his characterizations. The book perhaps would not be as enjoyable to those who are not familiar with the many names which inhabit the pages of this novel.
Monday, March 21, 2016
ONE OF US by Asne Seierstad (non-fic)
"One of Us" was chosen as one of the Times 10 best books of 2015. It is written by Asne Seierstad, a Norwegian journalist whose previous best seller was "The Bookseller of Kabul." This time she has written about Anders Breivik, the notorious terrorist who killed 77 people in one day, July 22, 2011, following his life from birth to his conviction. This is such a horrendous story, one wonders why bother reading of it. I approached this book with two minds and would never have been able to get through it if Seierstad was not such a brilliant writer. I imagine it was a devastating book to write and perhaps the author's motive for writing is that which many readers, including myself, have for reading it; that is, an attempt to make sense of such senseless violence and to try to understand how Breivik became a killer. To this end, the title Seierstad chose was brilliant. Is he indeed one of us? How is it that Breivik grew so differently from the ideals of a country known for its tolerance and fairness; a country which is admired for its social programs and progress.
Anders Breivik was born in 1979. His childhood was not a happy one, he was abused at home, his mother was needy and depressed, and unable to provide a stable home for her children. His father abandoned the family. His half sister left home as soon as she could. Anders was never accepted at school. He attempted to be cool, and as a teen he tried to join a group of taggers who were graffiti artists. But, he always wanted to be the best, in his mind he was the best. He left school early and was unsuccessful at business. The older he got, the more he was prone to violent outbursts and moodiness. He used steroids and tried body building. He was dissatisfied with his looks and had his nose done. He wore makeup. Things just didn't work out for Anders, and at 27 he moved back to his mother's home. For the next five years he became a recluse, locking himself in his bedroom and spending as much as 17 hours a day playing violent video games. He became obsessed with a game called World of Warcraft, where he could fulfill his dreams of dominance. He logged into white supremacist websites and called himself a Knight Templar. He began a delusional crusade against women, Muslums, immigrants. He particularly took against the Labour Party which was Norway's governing party and its teenage counterpart, AVS.
An so we come to that infamous day where all Breivik's planning led to, the day he began by detonating a bomb outside the Prim Minister's office, killing eight. From there he drove and took a ferry to the island of Utoya where the young members of AVS were enjoying a camping holiday. Many of these students were the best and brightest of their generation. There Breivik coldly slaughtered 69 young teens. In the lead up to this horror, Seiestad tells the story of some of these youths, choosing a good cross section of backgrounds, their potential never to be realized..
One of the sadder aspects of all this was the incompetence of the police. Seierstad lays out all the lost opportunities the authorities had of following leads and ignoring evidence and information and the sightings called in. In one horrible instance, a group of police hid onshore right across from the island hearing gunshots and not even taking available boats to investigate while Breivik was calmly shooting one victim after another.
When Breivik turned himself in, the authorities gave him the fairest hearing and trial possible. He was treated with dignity despite his posturing and demands to preach his twisted philosophy. And finally he was convicted according to the laws of Norway. Interestingly Breivik recently surfaced again demanding a hearing claiming to being treated inhumanly in his isolation. Photos of the cell show it to be much like a college dorm room with separate bathroom facilities. The government maintains that his isolation is in a large part to keep his safe from other prisoners who have threatened to kill him.
I recommend this well written book for its fair and complete picture of a complex person who was either a political terrorist or a madman. Readers can decide whether they agree with the court or not. It is not an easy book to read because of its subject matter, but it is handled with care and fairness.
Anders Breivik was born in 1979. His childhood was not a happy one, he was abused at home, his mother was needy and depressed, and unable to provide a stable home for her children. His father abandoned the family. His half sister left home as soon as she could. Anders was never accepted at school. He attempted to be cool, and as a teen he tried to join a group of taggers who were graffiti artists. But, he always wanted to be the best, in his mind he was the best. He left school early and was unsuccessful at business. The older he got, the more he was prone to violent outbursts and moodiness. He used steroids and tried body building. He was dissatisfied with his looks and had his nose done. He wore makeup. Things just didn't work out for Anders, and at 27 he moved back to his mother's home. For the next five years he became a recluse, locking himself in his bedroom and spending as much as 17 hours a day playing violent video games. He became obsessed with a game called World of Warcraft, where he could fulfill his dreams of dominance. He logged into white supremacist websites and called himself a Knight Templar. He began a delusional crusade against women, Muslums, immigrants. He particularly took against the Labour Party which was Norway's governing party and its teenage counterpart, AVS.
An so we come to that infamous day where all Breivik's planning led to, the day he began by detonating a bomb outside the Prim Minister's office, killing eight. From there he drove and took a ferry to the island of Utoya where the young members of AVS were enjoying a camping holiday. Many of these students were the best and brightest of their generation. There Breivik coldly slaughtered 69 young teens. In the lead up to this horror, Seiestad tells the story of some of these youths, choosing a good cross section of backgrounds, their potential never to be realized..
One of the sadder aspects of all this was the incompetence of the police. Seierstad lays out all the lost opportunities the authorities had of following leads and ignoring evidence and information and the sightings called in. In one horrible instance, a group of police hid onshore right across from the island hearing gunshots and not even taking available boats to investigate while Breivik was calmly shooting one victim after another.
When Breivik turned himself in, the authorities gave him the fairest hearing and trial possible. He was treated with dignity despite his posturing and demands to preach his twisted philosophy. And finally he was convicted according to the laws of Norway. Interestingly Breivik recently surfaced again demanding a hearing claiming to being treated inhumanly in his isolation. Photos of the cell show it to be much like a college dorm room with separate bathroom facilities. The government maintains that his isolation is in a large part to keep his safe from other prisoners who have threatened to kill him.
I recommend this well written book for its fair and complete picture of a complex person who was either a political terrorist or a madman. Readers can decide whether they agree with the court or not. It is not an easy book to read because of its subject matter, but it is handled with care and fairness.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
THE LAKE HOUSE by Kate Morton (fic)
If you are having withdrawal pains from Downton Abbey, you could do worse than read this novel. Kate Morton, an Australian writer from Queensland, writes beautifully dreamily descriptive passages that you can lose yourself in. Morton likes mysteries, and this is a good one. It is set in three different decades: 2003, 1933, and 1911.
The story opens in 1933 when we meet the Edevane family about to give an annual Midsummer's Eve party. They live in a marvelous old family manor house in Cornwall. It is surrounded by enchanting woodlands and sweeping lawns leading to a pond, the ocean close by. The house and gardens and the people who live on the manor, upstairs and downstairs, seem caught in a time bubble. Anthony and Eleanor (née deShiel) with three daughters, Deborah, Alice and Clemmie and one son, baby Theo, all seem blessed with looks, creativity and the time to enjoy this beautiful setting.
Just as we are getting interested in the family and house called Loeanneth, we are brought up short, and find ourselves in modern times, where we meet Sadie Sparrow, a police detective on leave for becoming too involved in a case. Sadie's story also involves a mystery, and she becomes the link between the two eras and stories. Both plot lines involve a missing person, both involve a child and both have obsessed Sadie.
Sadie's interest is piqued on a visit to her grandfather in Cornwall while she is waiting out her suspension. While out running one day, she chances upon the old house which is now abandoned and overgrown. On making inquiries, Sadie learns of the tragic disappearance of a beloved child that has been a cold case for 70 years. Antsy to get back to work, Sadie sets out to discover all she can about the family and Loeanneth.
As the story pivots back and forth between the two eras, the reader is also propelled back to 1911, to learn more about the deShiel and Edevane families. At first the plot appears complicated weaving through two different historical times, but Morton is such a skilled writer that the reader soon finds her rhythm and the book becomes difficult to put down.
I really enjoyed this book with one caveat, the ending is too neatly tied up and one discovery that appears contrived. It left me feeling some secrets would best have been kept. I still recommend it as a well-written mystery by an accomplished writer.
The story opens in 1933 when we meet the Edevane family about to give an annual Midsummer's Eve party. They live in a marvelous old family manor house in Cornwall. It is surrounded by enchanting woodlands and sweeping lawns leading to a pond, the ocean close by. The house and gardens and the people who live on the manor, upstairs and downstairs, seem caught in a time bubble. Anthony and Eleanor (née deShiel) with three daughters, Deborah, Alice and Clemmie and one son, baby Theo, all seem blessed with looks, creativity and the time to enjoy this beautiful setting.
Just as we are getting interested in the family and house called Loeanneth, we are brought up short, and find ourselves in modern times, where we meet Sadie Sparrow, a police detective on leave for becoming too involved in a case. Sadie's story also involves a mystery, and she becomes the link between the two eras and stories. Both plot lines involve a missing person, both involve a child and both have obsessed Sadie.
Sadie's interest is piqued on a visit to her grandfather in Cornwall while she is waiting out her suspension. While out running one day, she chances upon the old house which is now abandoned and overgrown. On making inquiries, Sadie learns of the tragic disappearance of a beloved child that has been a cold case for 70 years. Antsy to get back to work, Sadie sets out to discover all she can about the family and Loeanneth.
As the story pivots back and forth between the two eras, the reader is also propelled back to 1911, to learn more about the deShiel and Edevane families. At first the plot appears complicated weaving through two different historical times, but Morton is such a skilled writer that the reader soon finds her rhythm and the book becomes difficult to put down.
I really enjoyed this book with one caveat, the ending is too neatly tied up and one discovery that appears contrived. It left me feeling some secrets would best have been kept. I still recommend it as a well-written mystery by an accomplished writer.
Monday, February 29, 2016
11/22/63 By Stephen KIng (fic)
This is the first book I have read by Stephen King and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am not a fan of horror or supernatural and have stayed away from King's writing in the past. However, the subject matter of this book, along with the publicity it was again receiving because of the mini-series based on it, made me pick it up one rainy day. I was hooked and found it hard to put it down. You may know the story's premise, a man goes through a worm hole into the past, and he is determined to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Once you accept that such a thing is possible, then the book becomes so much more. The devil is in the details.
The story begins in current time in Lisbon Falls, Maine. Al Templeton, dying of lung cancer convinces Jake, a burnt out teacher, newly divorced, to finish a job that he had begun. Al runs a diner with a back pantry which contains a portal to the past. Through a series of events, Jake finds himself thrust into the year 1958. Two stories ensue. First he embarks on a mission to right a wrong done to a friend of Al, whose future was inadvertently messed up by Al's well-intentioned meddling. When Jake returns to the past a second time, he is on a mission to assassinate Lee Harvey Oswald. Before he can do this, he must solve the mystery of whether Oswald acted alone or was part of a conspiracy. Since the year he returns to is always 1958, he must live in the past until 1963. This may not be your cup of tea, but rest assured, the story becomes very interesting quickly and works its way to a climax that is full of suspense.
Stephen King presents these years of Eisenhower's 50s so perfectly, that if you were alive in those times, you would feel you are in a time machine yourself. His writing is perfectly paced for the times. Everyday life moved slowly as you may remember. It isn't long before you begin to feel the creeping nostalgia of familiarity. Grocery stores stock long forgotten products. Cars still have fins and guzzle cheap gas. People are not suspicious and welcome strangers. For readers not familiar with this period, the book provides a wonderfully accurate social picture of the past of your parents and grandparents. King struggled with this book for 30 years. It was a labor of love, and historically he does not take liberties.
Our hero gets a job teaching in Jodi, Texas, despite the suspicions of his colleagues, and he falls in love with a delightfully drawn character named Sadie, the school librarian. It isn't long before he discovers the ease of living in this slower paced life full of simple pleasures. But, our hero has a problem to solve. How does he pull off an action without disturbing what will come in the future. He struggles with the "butterfly effect." Is it possible to change history without disastrous consequences. There is the rub and the theme of the book. There is a strange character called the Yellow Card Man who seems to guard the portal back to real time. He appears only briefly but is the personification of the obdurate past, the past which refuses to be changed as our hero soon finds out.
I recommend this book to all who are looking for an entertaining imaginative book which cleverly whisks the reader through the portal of time. Life was sweeter then, or was it??
The story begins in current time in Lisbon Falls, Maine. Al Templeton, dying of lung cancer convinces Jake, a burnt out teacher, newly divorced, to finish a job that he had begun. Al runs a diner with a back pantry which contains a portal to the past. Through a series of events, Jake finds himself thrust into the year 1958. Two stories ensue. First he embarks on a mission to right a wrong done to a friend of Al, whose future was inadvertently messed up by Al's well-intentioned meddling. When Jake returns to the past a second time, he is on a mission to assassinate Lee Harvey Oswald. Before he can do this, he must solve the mystery of whether Oswald acted alone or was part of a conspiracy. Since the year he returns to is always 1958, he must live in the past until 1963. This may not be your cup of tea, but rest assured, the story becomes very interesting quickly and works its way to a climax that is full of suspense.
Stephen King presents these years of Eisenhower's 50s so perfectly, that if you were alive in those times, you would feel you are in a time machine yourself. His writing is perfectly paced for the times. Everyday life moved slowly as you may remember. It isn't long before you begin to feel the creeping nostalgia of familiarity. Grocery stores stock long forgotten products. Cars still have fins and guzzle cheap gas. People are not suspicious and welcome strangers. For readers not familiar with this period, the book provides a wonderfully accurate social picture of the past of your parents and grandparents. King struggled with this book for 30 years. It was a labor of love, and historically he does not take liberties.
Our hero gets a job teaching in Jodi, Texas, despite the suspicions of his colleagues, and he falls in love with a delightfully drawn character named Sadie, the school librarian. It isn't long before he discovers the ease of living in this slower paced life full of simple pleasures. But, our hero has a problem to solve. How does he pull off an action without disturbing what will come in the future. He struggles with the "butterfly effect." Is it possible to change history without disastrous consequences. There is the rub and the theme of the book. There is a strange character called the Yellow Card Man who seems to guard the portal back to real time. He appears only briefly but is the personification of the obdurate past, the past which refuses to be changed as our hero soon finds out.
I recommend this book to all who are looking for an entertaining imaginative book which cleverly whisks the reader through the portal of time. Life was sweeter then, or was it??
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