My favorite books this month were Northern Spy, a thriller about an innocent young woman, dragged into an IRA conspiracy, and Abigail, an unusual boarding school story with a distant background of WWII intrigue. Abigail was one of several books I enjoyed for the 1970 Club.
Suspense
The Unwedding by Ally Condie (2024) (audio). Ellery Wainwright is despondent after her husband demands a divorce so her best friend persuades her to go on what was supposed to be an anniversary trip to Big Sur - and was already paid for (otherwise the ex and his new girlfriend would go and that would be even worse!). The resort is gorgeous and Ellery tries to avert her eyes from a destination wedding about to take place. But when she discovers the groom – dead and floating in the pool – she is drawn unwillingly into an investigation of his death. This was an entertaining listen as Ellery confronts her loss, makes some interesting friends, and helps solve the mystery. I had enjoyed Matched, the first in Conde’s YA dystopian series, although book 2 was weak and I never bothered with the third. Dystopia is not really my thing so I’m glad Condie has expanded her repertoire.
Northern Spy by Flynn Berry (2021)(audio). I loved this atmospheric story about a young BBC employee in Belfast who learns her sister has been working with the IRA for years. Tessa has to weigh the need to protect her toddler son with her love for the sister whose choice has infuriated her, yet who urgently asks for her help. Looking forward to the sequel. My review.
A Question of Identity by Susan Hill (2012). This is the seventh in the Simon Serrallier mystery series and it started out promisingly with people moving into a new housing development in Lafferton, full of hope and excitement, then two of them are murdered. The murderer is fairly obvious but Simon needs help from some secret government office to identify him. His romance is in trouble and he seems seriously off his game in this book, perhaps the weakest in the series. Of course, some suspension of disbelief is necessary that there is yet another serial killer in Lafferton, but if you’re a mystery fan, you embrace this!
We Solve Murders by Richard Osman (2024). Perhaps Osman doesn’t think he can maintain the brilliance of his Thursday Murder Club series so this launch of a new group of characters was intriguing. It is set partly in the US with a detective duo that consists of a private bodyguard and her retired police detective father-in-law who is perfectly happy with a social life at the local pub. There is a high body count in this book but no one we’ll really miss! It’s not as appealing as Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim but it was a solid 3 ¾. My review.
The Dead Sea Cipher by Elizabeth Peters (1970). Dinah Van der Lyn is an aspiring opera singer on her way to Germany for a gig but detours to the Holy Land to see some of the historical locations her minister father has studied and described enthusiastically to her. Through the paper-thin walls of her hotel in Beirut, she overhears a murder and it turns out the victim believed he found a new book of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Of course, no one believes Dinah that she has no involvement in the murder and soon two men are pursuing her as the way to find the missing Scroll. Which one (if any) should she trust? My review.
Historical Fiction
Some Sunny Day by Helen Carey (1996). Despite the privations of WWII, the residents of London’s Lavender Road are moving forward with their lives. Katy Parsons is trying to overcome her asthma and train as a nurse – and maybe fall in love. Her friend Jen is pursuing her singing career and spoiled Louise Rutherford is trying to hide her pregnancy from her family. I am really enjoying this series! My review.
Abigail by Magda Szabo (1970). This is an unusual boarding school story that takes place in Hungary during WWII. Gina Vitay is devastated when her father sends her to a strict Protestant school, not realizing he is trying to protect her from his political enemies. In the courtyard at the school is a statue the girls have embodied with mystical powers and soon Gina is also asking for help from the mysterious Abigail. My review.
Nonfiction
Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson (1999) (audio). This book details the events leading up to and following the 1900 Galveston hurricane. Galveston was a bustling port in Texas, a rival of Houston in its importance to the area’s economy. Isaac Cline was the chief meteorologist at Galveston’s office of the US Weather Bureau from 1889 to 1901 and warned about the hurricane too late for residents to evacuate, so thousands were drowned. By total coincidence, I was listening to this as Hurricane Helene was causing terrible damage to North Carolina and Florida. My review.
Children’s and YA
The Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1917). In this eleventh Oz book, Ozma has been kidnapped by a resentful enchanter who has also captured all the magic in Oz. Dorothy and Glinda organize search parties, and Dorothy has to figure out how to use the Nome King’s magic belt to outsmart Ugu the Shoemaker-turned-magician and save Ozma. My review.
A Bargain for Frances by Russell Hoban (1970). Frances get tricked into buying a tea set she doesn’t want and has to do some scheming herself to restore order. My review.
Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry (1979). After hearing Lowry speak at the Boston Public Library, I wanted to reread the first in this series and was enchanted by quirky Anastasia who suffers from teachers and classmates who don’t understand her and the prospect of baby brother.
Alhambra by Madeleine Polland (1970). In 15th century Spain, siblings Jacinta and Juanito are captured by the Moors and would have been sold as slaves if they hadn’t caught the eye of the caliph’s favorite niece. They become privileged servants instead but as Juanito grows up he yearns to reclaim his Spanish heritage. Escaping to the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, he offers to help them capture Granada in 1492 (a date well known to every American child, or used to be). My review.
If Anything Happens to Me by Luanne Rice (2024). Oli is traumatized by the unsolved murder of her younger sister eight months ago and when she finds another teen buried half alive where Eloise was found, she digs her out and wants to go to the police. That would be a better decision but instead these two girls try to find the killer themselves in a very unconvincing story (some might say ridiculous – maybe Rice was channeling old Robin Cook thrillers; her adult fiction is better).
Ballerina by Nada Ćurčija Prodanović (1970). Like many such stories, this starts with a new girl, Lana, eager to excel at a prestigious ballet school. The difference is that she is attending a state ballet program in Belgrade, in what used to be Yugoslavia. She is a serious girl who has trouble fitting in but eventually she makes friends and her talent helps her get recognized by her teachers. Despite the stern Communist setting, the students exhibit typical worries, jealousies, squabbles, and occasional fun. I think Sue Sims had recommended this book and its sequel in The Encyclopaedia of Girls School Stories, and I bought them years ago but had never had the chance to read them.
Romance
Pointe of Pride by Chloe Angyal (2024). Carly Montgomery travels to Sydney, Australia to be the maid of honor for Heather Hays, heroine of Pas de Don’t. Unfortunately, she clashes with the best man, a dancer turned photographer, but they end up working on a joint project to use his photos to promote her on social media. I didn’t like this as much as Angyal’s first novel: I found Carly crude and unnecessarily hostile.
The Ex-Vows by Jessica Joyce (2024). Estranged exes have to bury the hatchet when their best friend gets married and needs their help with all the last minute wedding details. It was refreshing to read about a hero with anxiety issues but the plot felt tired; it got good review but perhaps I had read something too similar recently.
Thank you for relisting Abigail because I missed reading about it in October. I am 100% Hungarian and my grandparents emigrated to NYC, married and separately, in the early 1900s. Having a Protestant girls' school in the east of Hungary makes sense because the Protestant capitol of Hungary, Debrecen, is in the east, although some other references are confusing. Matula is not a Hungarian name, it's more apt to be Slovakian. And Arkod, where Bishop Matula school is located, is a town in Serbia. Since the book was published in Hungary in 1970 during the Communist regime, it's possible that Szabo purposely gave the book a pan-Hungarian, pre-WWI atmosphere. For example, the succession of ministers in my parents' Hungarian Protestant church in Connecticut, men and women having ThD degrees in Switzerland, were educated in Transylvania in what is now Romania, the pre WWI cultural center of Hungary. Szabo was successful because the book seems to have remained immensely popular.
That is so interesting, Jeannike! Thank you so much for sharing this information. My edition had a really good introduction that explained some of the WWI history I had not known but nothing I recall about the religion and I passed along my library copy to my mother once I finished (she enjoyed it too). My grandfather, who was Catholic but not observant, also emigrated to NYC but not until 1928. He later married one of his students at Columbia and stayed in the NY/CT area. If you are in Connecticut, we should rendezvous! I am often driving through to visit my sister in NY.
Thank you, I would very much like to get together when you are in Conn - Fairfield is on Long Island Sound, about an hour's drive from NYC. I learned a lot from my grandparents and I brought my family to visit our relatives in Hungary in 1988. Although one of my children who is the family historian (my mother signed him up to take Hungarian language classes when he was in junior high school and he just finished translating a stash of very old letters sent to my grandmother) would be very able to discuss interesting subjects. He is a full professor of Classics and Comp Lit at Brown.
I'm quite interested in how various European countries went through the war so Abigail really appeals to me, Hungary is not a country I've read much about. I have a sort of ongoing personal challenge to 'read Europe' over a few years but only managed 5 this year, so hope to do a bit better in 2025. Dystopian books are not for me either, some of them are just far too realistic.
Hope you're keeping well? I'm doing ok, family continuing to be very supportive so I realise how fortunate I am. I've just started Latin lessons with a private tutor, it's something I've always wanted to do so I took the plunge. Only had one lesson but absolutely loved it. Unbeknown to me, VJ turns out to be a big Star Trek fan like myself. Funny how these things turn out.
I bought Isaac's Storm once when we were passing through Galveston but it still sits on my shelves waiting. That disaster seems a big part of the place still - in lore & history. I still need to up my nonfiction reading. You had a good month of books.
I ended up giving We Solve Murders 5 stars on GoodReads. It was a slow beginning, but once Steve and Amy are reunited the pace picks up as does the humor, which I thought missing from the first third. I was happy to see that the main characters are now situated to be showing up in future books--Rosie, Felicity, Bonnie, and the Pub Quiz gang. I thought there were some terrific bits--the aforementioned pub quiz, Trouble the cat, the dim movie star--and the crime was interesting. I also really like the New Forest setting. I think this series has legs!
I really like Erik Larson, but Isaac's Storm is not among my favorite of his books. Interesting, but just not riveting like Devil in the White City, for instance.
Thank you for relisting Abigail because I missed reading about it in October. I am 100% Hungarian and my grandparents emigrated to NYC, married and separately, in the early 1900s. Having a Protestant girls' school in the east of Hungary makes sense because the Protestant capitol of Hungary, Debrecen, is in the east, although some other references are confusing. Matula is not a Hungarian name, it's more apt to be Slovakian. And Arkod, where Bishop Matula school is located, is a town in Serbia. Since the book was published in Hungary in 1970 during the Communist regime, it's possible that Szabo purposely gave the book a pan-Hungarian, pre-WWI atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteFor example, the succession of ministers in my parents' Hungarian Protestant church in Connecticut, men and women having ThD degrees in Switzerland, were educated in Transylvania in what is now Romania, the pre WWI cultural center of Hungary.
Szabo was successful because the book seems to have remained immensely popular.
That is so interesting, Jeannike! Thank you so much for sharing this information. My edition had a really good introduction that explained some of the WWI history I had not known but nothing I recall about the religion and I passed along my library copy to my mother once I finished (she enjoyed it too). My grandfather, who was Catholic but not observant, also emigrated to NYC but not until 1928. He later married one of his students at Columbia and stayed in the NY/CT area. If you are in Connecticut, we should rendezvous! I am often driving through to visit my sister in NY.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I would very much like to get together when you are in Conn - Fairfield is on Long Island Sound, about an hour's drive from NYC. I learned a lot from my grandparents and I brought my family to visit our relatives in Hungary in 1988. Although one of my children who is the family historian (my mother signed him up to take Hungarian language classes when he was in junior high school and he just finished translating a stash of very old letters sent to my grandmother) would be very able to discuss interesting subjects. He is a full professor of Classics and Comp Lit at Brown.
ReplyDeleteI'm quite interested in how various European countries went through the war so Abigail really appeals to me, Hungary is not a country I've read much about. I have a sort of ongoing personal challenge to 'read Europe' over a few years but only managed 5 this year, so hope to do a bit better in 2025. Dystopian books are not for me either, some of them are just far too realistic.
ReplyDeleteHope you're keeping well? I'm doing ok, family continuing to be very supportive so I realise how fortunate I am. I've just started Latin lessons with a private tutor, it's something I've always wanted to do so I took the plunge. Only had one lesson but absolutely loved it. Unbeknown to me, VJ turns out to be a big Star Trek fan like myself. Funny how these things turn out.
I bought Isaac's Storm once when we were passing through Galveston but it still sits on my shelves waiting. That disaster seems a big part of the place still - in lore & history. I still need to up my nonfiction reading. You had a good month of books.
ReplyDeleteI ended up giving We Solve Murders 5 stars on GoodReads. It was a slow beginning, but once Steve and Amy are reunited the pace picks up as does the humor, which I thought missing from the first third. I was happy to see that the main characters are now situated to be showing up in future books--Rosie, Felicity, Bonnie, and the Pub Quiz gang. I thought there were some terrific bits--the aforementioned pub quiz, Trouble the cat, the dim movie star--and the crime was interesting. I also really like the New Forest setting. I think this series has legs!
ReplyDeleteI really like Erik Larson, but Isaac's Storm is not among my favorite of his books. Interesting, but just not riveting like Devil in the White City, for instance.
I really must prioritize Joan Aiken!