The Scottish Prisoner…by Diana Gabaldon (2011)

Historical Fiction   1760 England and Ireland

Jamie Fraser AND a bog body—What a gift!!!

I am a huge fan of the “Outlander” series and more than a little bit in love with Jamie Fraser.  I have had less luck with the Lord John series (and this book IS from the Lord John Series) but I figured this book was different because it centered on  my dear Jamie. I was right. Initially, I missed the presence of Clare because really – what is sexier than a big tall Scotsman who is totally in love with his wife .  Those familiar with the “Outlander” series will understand that this takes place 15 years after the Culloden slaughter and several years before Jamie and Clare meet up again.  Jamie is a prisoner of war and paroled to work as a farm hand under the supervision of Lord John ,who is in love with Jamie but knows this love is not reciprocated. They form an unsteady truce when Lord John needs a favour from Jamie. They have quite the adventure but the best part is——a bog body. I have written about bog bodies in the past because I find them so interesting. They are actual human bodies, sometimes thousands of years old, yet amazingly preserved due to natural conditions of the peat bogs of Northern Europe–acidity, cold temperatures, and lack of oxygen . Scientists can discover oodles of information from these bodies–even last nights dinner (meaning the bog body’s last dinner–maybe 2000 years ago). Jamie’s bog body was murdered and this was not uncommon. Good book-good adventure but I still want the next Clare and Jamie book.

Anyone who is interested in bog bodies should read the books of Erin Hart. She has three fiction novels featuring an archeologist and a forensic scientist who study bog bodies in Ireland–each book usually has an old mystery and a new mystery. I love her books—”Haunted Ground (2003)” “Lake of Sorrows(2004)” and “False Mermaid”(2010)–lots of Irish folklore as well. See my post for October 29 2011 for more on bog bodies.

On Folly Beach..by Karen White (2010)

Fiction, WW2 fiction

I thought it was a perfect week for a beach read. Never mind the sub-zero temperatures, forget about shovelling the laneway , and put away those woolly underwear– it’s summer–if only in a book. Yes I know there are some of you out there that are actually enjoying warm ocean breezes  and sand between your toes but for the rest of us–well–there’s books.

This is a pretty good story.  Newly widowed Emmy is going through some old books in her mom’s book shop when she finds a case of books that all seem to have little notes in the margins.  They all came from a “going-out -of- business- sale” in Folly Beach,  South Carolina. Circumstances find Emmy travelling to Folly Beach as she considers buying the store and learning more about the notes in the margin. The relatives of the note-writers still live in Folly Beach.

These cryptic messages were written in 1941 and 1942  and it seems that this mystery is further complicated by the war and by lives lost in the war.

The best character is seventy-seven-year-old Lulu; she is the beloved, cranky and difficult aunt of the Folly Beach clan, but in 1941-1942 she was a nine -year old with a fascination for Nancy Drew. She followed and spied on people and found out things that no nine-year-old should know.

The book has a narrative that shifts back and forth between present day(2009) and 1941-42. (And Lulu is the key)

This a good book that tackles some serious subjects . If I have one complaint it is that I found that everyone seemed to get on board the “you need to move on” bandwagon even though she had only been widowed for six months. I know everybody grieves differently and at their own pace but six months seems to me to be a little soon to starting pushing. No one needs to be Queen Victoria but, you know, she lost the love of her life and all the dreams they shared–just no need to push after six months.

But good book–Go Lulu!

Penguin Books 2010

DEAFENING…..by Frances Itani (2003)

Historical Fiction

WWI Fiction

This is a novel that sent me on an emotional roller coaster ride. It is primarily the story of a girl named Grania who becomes deaf, at age five, after suffering through scarlet fever. Her mother refuses to accept Grania’s deafness but her grandmother (Mamo) is relentless in teaching her to read and speak. The description of Mamo’s patience and commitment is truly memorable and Grania’s progress is inspiring.  She is nine years old when the family makes the difficult decision to send her to a special boarding school for the deaf.  She must leave her small-town Canadian home and live in another city without her family. Although she is heartbroken at first, she eventually excels in the deaf school. The first 1/3 of the book tells the story of Grania growing up, meeting a man named Jim Lloyd, and getting married.

Their marriage takes place in 1915 and soon  Jim is heading to Europe  to be a soldier in WWI.  The novel describes the horror of his existence as a stretcher-bearer on the front lines in France. Grania moves back with her family and lives through the difficult war years in her home -town, assisting the war movement and the family.  Both Jim and Grania witness tragedy and death in their respective locations. Despite the separation, there is a deep devotion between them.

I won’t describe the novel anymore except to say it is very moving.  My own grandfather, who died  when I was very young, was a stretcher -bearer in WWl and I did not know or understand that he lived through such horror. It impressed me, and it distressed me.

This is a very fine story about commitment and devotion.

HarperCollins Publishers (2003)

Maisie Dobbs…by Jacqueline Winspear (2003)

I am continuing to write my blogs about fictional novels set during WWI including the prewar and post war  years. These books  feature strong female characters and the stories of people and families as opposed to say –military strategy. I explained in my blog on December 21, 2011 my reasons for wanting to visit this time in historical fiction.

“MAISIE DOBBS” is the first book in a series written by Jacqueline Winspear. There are presently 8 books in the series and each book deserves its own discussion but for the purpose of this blog entry I will just be discussing the series as a series.

Maisie is an exceptional character because she  manages to straddle the worlds of the upper and lower classes.  She begins her life in very limited circumstances in London around the turn of last century. Her beloved father makes the difficult decision to put her “in service”when she is only 13 years old because he thinks it will be a more comfortable life for her.  Maisie thinks she will be fired when her employer discovers her utilizing her library but instead, The Lady is impressed and decides to assist with Maisie’s education. Maisie’s education progresses for many years but WWI changes everything and everyone and Maisie lies about her age to become a nurse.

In 1929, Maisie opens her own office as an “Inquiry Agent and psychologist”.  The people in her life and the cases she examines are always  affected by the war even some 13 years later.  Maisie is also affected by the war and has to deal with some horrible memories.

If there is a reoccurring theme in the MAISIE DOBBS books it is  INJUSTICE.  Through her cases and the other characters in the books Maisie deals with some pretty hefty issues. 

 Many of the soldiers that fought for their country and sustained injuries are being forgotten by their country.  Some of the shell-shocked soldiers are being ignored. The depression of the 1930′s has people starving yet there are people with scads of money to waste.  And people are nervously watching this upstart named Hitler as he comes to power in Germany.

  Personal grief, depression and anxiety are all examined in the books. And through it all Maisie crosses  through many barriers. She is a professional  woman in a predominately male world and a lower class kid with lots of ties in the upper classes.

Maisie’s methods are also interesting.  She is a student of some Eastern arts like meditation and she believes in the power of intuition.

These books are character-driven and provide a fascinating look at the time-period.  Sometime they are a little dark but I highly recommend them.

Maisie Dobbs  (2003) by Jacqueline Winspear

SOHO press, New york

MY DEAR I WANTED TO TELL YOU….by Louisa Young (2011)

Historical Fiction, WWl  Fiction

In  my last blog entry I vowed  that my next blog entries would be about novels set during World War l. The first in this series is a terrific novel called “My Dear I Wanted to Tell You” by Louisa Young. It is, indeed, a strange title (and a long one) but I heard the author explain her choice of title on an internet interview. When a soldier was wounded it could take ages for their family to hear news of the injury because the mail had to go through the censors.  The medical stations had little postcards available to the soldiers where they could tick off little boxes regarding their injury and send them on the way without going through the censors. Some of these postcards had a first line that said—My dear I wanted to tell you. Hence the title.

Riley Purefoy is a bright, agreeable young lad from a working class family in London. He is sponsored and educated by a wealthy family and he develops a close bond with the daughter Nadine. As the children get older, this family (who had thought themselves quite progressive) decide they must discourage this relationship since this working class boy is unsuitable for their daughter. As soon as the war breaks out Riley enlists.

Riley’s commanding officer, a man name Peter, has his own marital problem as he endures life in the trenches.  These two relationships develop in different ways as the result of the war. The novel moves between the hell of life in the trenches and the difficulties experienced by the friends and families at home. The novel is painfully honest about the injuries and wounds suffered by the soldiers.  It also addresses the recuperation of the soldiers. One of the characters requires major facial reconstruction–a fairly new art during this time.

This is a WWI novel that is more about the relationships during the war than the battles.  I have seen in many novels during this time period that it was during this war that the social class divisions began to blur.   I read this novel about six months ago but it has stayed with me–a sign of a good read.

New York-Harper 2011

The Great War….(in fiction)

World War l and the surrounding years.

WWI  is only now reaching a point in history where the first person accounts will no longer be available. We know all the old soldiers are gone  and the few living witnesses are dwindling in numbers.  It is such a fascinating time to visit; a time when one can be witness to the horrors that humans are capable of committing, but also the strength and perseverance that can also be attributed to our species. The stories from the battlefields are famous but there are also family stories and  the stories of individual bravery.  This time period offers a great background for historical fiction because it allows the reader to be a witness to the turmoil and the change that accompanied this important time. Sometimes I need to remind myself that , as the reader, I have the advantage of knowing certain things about history and I simply can’t imagine what it must have been like to deal with all that loss and heartache while wondering if it will all be for nothing. The war that was supposed to last for a “few months” lasted considerably longer. The reader can feel supportive of a character who is trying to heal after the war but the reader also knows that  another, deadlier conflict is in the character’s future.  I am also reminded, when I am reading these books, that the war did not end when the ceasefire was called. Many families were crushed (and sometimes wiped out) by the losses of life and many of the soldiers who returned were physically or mentally wounded. Most of these soldiers were just boys-yes BOYS when they lost their lives. Each and every death was a tragedy and each and every soldier was a hero.

This was also a time of great transition as motor cars and horses shared the roadways and women were allowed (encouraged) to work outside the home( since all the men were away in France).It was also a time when the strict social class divisions began to blur. I enjoy the British fiction novels-I don’t know why but I find all the manners and politeness, and etiquette reassuring even if it stands in contrast to the HELL that was actually happening or maybe because  it is such a contrast. I think I read one novel in this time period, enjoyed it, and just started looking for similar novels. That is why I will be concentrating on novels of this time period in my next several blogs.  My entries will include novels by Charles Todd, Jaqueline Winspear, Kate Morton, Louisa Young, and I am sure I will think of others.

The Dark Enquiry…by Deanna Raybourn

Historical Mystery, Fiction

This is the story of a married couple.  The wife is deeply in love with her darkly handsome, olive skinned husband and she wants to be part of his career.  She wears disguises and follows him, and she tries crazy experiments that blow up, oh and they also make wagers with each other.  He loves her but she really can frustrate him and………hey wait a minute……..I know this couple………it’s Lucy and Ricky!

Actually, it is the fifth book in the Lady Julia series, a wonderful Victorian mystery series featuring witty Lady Julia and her handsome complicated husband Nicholas Brisbaine.  This book begins with Julia and Nicholas visiting a “Spirit Club” These clubs were popular among the “ton” in the Victorian age. The mediums  in the clubs offered hope to participants that they could reach their dearly departed loved ones.  A good   setting  for a mystery!

The characters in these books are great. Julia has nine siblings  and each book involves some of them.  This installment we learn a little bit more about Brisbaine”s  background.  For those people new to this series, the first book is called “Silent in the Grave”

MIRA Books 2011

The Wilder Life…………..by Wendy McClure

Nonfiction, Memoir

Yes, I can read the top of my blog and it doesn’t say anything about nonfiction memoirs, but I read the book and I want to talk about it! (sorry,I didn’t mean to sound so cranky) This is the story of one woman’s quest to see and do all things connected to LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE.  First she divides the TLHOTP (The Little House On The Prairie )People into two camps; there are the book people and there are the T.V. show people. The t.v. show people are the fans of the 1970s show starring Michael  Landon and Melissa Gilbert and the book people are fans of the 8-book series written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published originally in the 1930s. The t.v show would not exist without the book and the book certainly enjoyed a resurgence of popularity due to the t.v. show.  Wendy McClure is a book person–she read the series as a child and then she rereads them before she begins this quest.(actually it sounds as though she read each book many times) She does homey things like churning butter and preparing sourdough bread while she plans her trip to all the LHOTP homesites,— and she watches the t.v. show. And there are a lot of homesites because the book Ingalls moved a lot (unlike the t.v. show Ingalls who spent most of their time in Walnut Grove.)

I consider myself to be a book person although I did not discover them until I was an adult.  I am older than Ms. McClure and I would have been a teenager when the t.v. show first appeared. I do remember watching the first couple of years (sporadically) I lost interest when Mary went blind (she actually did ) and the town built a multi-racial blind school (never happened-Mary went to a state blind school) and Mary married blind Adam who later regained his sight and became a lawyer (Mary never married ). Somewhere the show lost the whole Ingalls family thing.   But I read the entire series of books (in order and out loud) when my daughters were 8 years old.  At that point, I fell in love with the idea of simple living. I was living the modern mother’s dilemma of too much choice–(poor me) where to go to school, which daycare, what foods are healthy (that list constantly changing). It seemed easier to just say we will be having salt pork and turnips because-well-that’s all we have.

But real Laura’s life was very difficult and I was shocked to discover that Rose Wilder Lane considered her childhood to be miserable. Yikes, a miserable childhood with half-pint as your mom! Another area discussed in the book is a controversy surrounding the authorship of the Little House books.  Apparently Rose(an established writer)  edited and advised her mother  but –How much?  There are differing opinions on that subject.

Ms. McClure visits all the different homesites with the accompanying museums, pageants and replica log cabins  and she has some witty observations and excellent insights.   At one of the homesites she meets a woman who refuses to look at a photograph of the actual Ingalls family as adults. It is not possible for her to reconcile this sombre group of people, with the Ingalls she knew and loved.(People did not smile in photos back then but even still–this is not Michael Landon as Pa)-The photo is easy to google.

One of the funniest chapters in the book occurs when the author and her fabulously game boyfriend decide to spend a homesteading week-end at a farm. They are prepared to learn about weaving and blacksmithing and other skills experienced by farmers of Laura’s era–basically sharing knowledge with like-minded people.  Instead they find themselves in the company of a religious group who are preparing for the end of the world. Funny stuff.

This is an excellent book but I think it would likely only appeal to fans of LHOTP.–But this is not a small group!

Center Point Publishing  2010.

A Duty to the Death….by Charles Todd (2009)

Historical Fiction, Mystery Fiction;

This novel begins on Tuesday 21 November, 1916. 8:00a.m. aboard the HMHS (His Majesty’s  Hospital Ship ) Britannic.    Britannic had been requisitioned as a hospital ship with the onset of WWI and was travelling to collect wounded from Greek Macedonia, Palestine,  and Mesopotamia. The time and the date are important because 12 minutes later, at 8:12 a.m, an explosion rocked the ship. (Probably a mine) Fifty-five minutes later the HMHS Britannic was lost beneath the sea. The Britannic had been a sister ship of the Titanic and many improvements had been undertaken so this ship could avoid the fate of the Titanic. Unfortunately, simple human error was probably responsible for its quick sinking ; the nurses had opened all the portholes on that fresh and breezy day to air out the chambers.There were adequate lifeboats (unlike the Titanic)  and the final death toll was 30 men . This much is a fairly accurate account of the sinking of the Britannic .

And now to the story–or shall we say fiction. Bess Crawford is a nurse and a survivor of the Britannic. She is sent home to England to recover from a nasty broken arm and she has another mission that she is determined to complete during her leave. A soldier she had nursed  made her promise to fulfill his dying wish.  He wanted her to visit his family in Kent and give them a fairly simple-sounding message.  She had agreed to do this but  put it off more than once.  Her near-death experience makes her realize that her life could end at any time and she better fulfill that promise.

The family is visited and the message is delivered.  The family  appear indifferent.

During her short visit to this small village, Bess is called upon for her nursing skills.  The local doctor asks for her help with a shell-shocked patient and then she must nurse  a pneumonia patient, the brother of the soldier responsible for her visit.  She begins to put pieces together regarding the message and the family but much of it doesn’t make sense. eventually she must leave the village but this mystery won’t leave her alone.

This is another story about the devastation of war–even far from the battlefields. 

A very worthwhile read.

Interesting tidbit—Charles Todd is actually a mother-son writing team.

Harper-Collins Publishers (2009)

The Crimson Rooms…….by Katharine McMahon (2009)

Historical Fiction, Mystery

This is a novel that expertly illustrates that a war isn’t over when a cease-fire is declared.  It takes place in London in 1924 and it is shockingly clear that  almost everyone is suffering from the effects of the war.Evelyn Gifford is a 30ish young lady trying to become a lawyer at a time when women just weren’t lawyers. She lives in a London house with her mother, Grandmother, Aunt, and two elderly maids. The household is  crippled with grief over the death of Evelyn’s brother James, who died during the war–his hat sits on a hook in the front hall exactly as he left it on his last leave. Suddenly the household is thrown into turmoil when a young lady shows up at the front door, claiming the boy who accompanies her is James’ son.

At her work Evelyn is investigating a case of an ex-soldier accused of killing his wife of three weeks. Everyone at the firm believes in his innocence but he shows a confusing lack of interest in defending himself of this capital crime. Evelyn’s life is further complicated by a handsome attorney offering her support and assistance. Evelyn is also trying to help a young mother regain custody of her children, a task that increases in urgency when she  learns about the so-called home children–orphans and non-orphans sent to Canada and Australia to be, in many cases, indentured servants. And through it all she faces the old-boys-club  of the British justice system.

Evelyn doggedly follows the clues in the murder mystery and faithfully works on the behalf of the young mother.  This is a complex and satisfying mystery although the content can be grim.  The reality of the shell-shocked soldier is just as valid today as we learn more about post traumatic stress disorder. (or battle fatigue  as they called it in WW2)

A  complex, interesting and worthwhile novel.

Orion Publishing Group (2009)