February 2025 Reading

Although February is a short month, there were some outstanding reads, especially The King’s Messenger, Slow Bomb at Dimperley, and The Spy Coast - links to those reviews are below.

Historical Fiction

Slow Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans (2024). A soldier returning to his ancestral home after WWII finds new responsibilities and little in the way of practical help from his family as he copes with death duties and ennui in this amusing story. My review.

The King’s Messenger by Susanna Kearsley

I have been reading Susanna Kearsley’s books since 1994, when Mariana was published, and even drove to Rhode Island to meet her in 2015 when she was touring for A Desperate Fortune, so I was excited to read her new book, The King’s Messenger, and was not disappointed. Surprisingly, it is not a dual timeline book, for which she is best known; rather, it is set in the early 17th century during the reign of James I of England.

Six Degrees of Separation – from Kairos to Season of Storms

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where you end up.  The starting book this month is Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, winner of the 2024 International Booker Prize, which is described as a German novel about a tortured love affair.

Spell the Month in Books – June

Can you #SpelltheMonthinBooks? What books would you use?

Spell the Month in Books is hosted by Reviews From the Stacks and occurs on the second Saturday of each month.

My May 2022 Reads

A busy month of reading - I expect June will include more visits to libraries and bookstores and less reading, but those are equally delightful pastimes!

Mystery/Suspense

She Shall Have Murder by Delano Ames (1948) – Everyone tells Jane Hamish she should write a book about the goings-on at her London law firm but when a client is murdered, she finally starts writing and her boyfriend enthusiastically takes on the investigation.  This is the first of a 12-book series; enjoyable but I am not sure I will pursue it because mostly out of print.  My review.

Spell the Month in Books – May 2022

Can you #SpelltheMonthinBooks? What books would you use?

Spell the Month in Books is hosted by Reviews From the Stacks and occurs on the second Saturday of each month.

Six Degrees of Separation - from The Bass Rock to The Rose Garden

It’s June and time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place, add six books, and see where we end up. This month’s starting point is The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld, winner of Australia’s Stella Prize. This is a historical novel set in 18th-century Scotland about darkness, violence, and madness. Which is right up my alley – sometimes, so I have it on reserve at the library.  Due to a New York Times book review, it is getting more attention than I expected, and what a cool cover!

Bookshelf Traveling - October 24

Time for another round of Bookshelf Traveling in Insane Times which was created by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness and is currently hosted by Katrina at Pining for the West.   The idea is to share one of your neglected bookshelves or perhaps a new pile of books.

This shelf contains primarily historical fiction/upscale historical romance by British authors Brenda Jagger and Stella Riley and Canadian author Susanna Kearsley.  Jagger (1936-86) wrote just nine novels, several of which were set in 19th century Yorkshire.  She is best known for The Barforth Trilogy, which consists of The Clouded Hills, Flint and Roses, and The Sleeping Sword (these were retitled in the US which is always annoying when you think you've found a new one).  It is a wonderful series set in the late 19th century in which independent women struggle with identity, marriage, class, and the expectations of those around them.  I am trying to remember which are my favorites so took A Winter’s Child down from the shelf beneath the one pictured and began rereading.  Set in Yorkshire just after World War I, it is about a young widow who spent the war nursing soldiers in France and returns home to rebuild her life near her husband's family.  I gave it 5 stars the last time I read it.

A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner

Title: A Fall of Marigolds
Author: Susan Meissner
Publication: Penguin, trade paper, 2014
Genre: Fiction/Historical Fiction
TBR Challenge: This is the third book I have read from the 2019 Challenge, created by Roof Beam Reader.

Plot: In this novel, Meissner weaves together two tragedies, nearly 100 years apart yet connected by an unusual scarf of marigold-patterned Indian fabric. Taryn Michaels is a textile expert who lost her husband on 9/11 just as she was about to meet him at Windows on the World to tell him she was pregnant, while Clara Wood is a nurse who, back in 1911, witnessed the horror of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.

Favorite Reads of 2018

Adult Fiction

The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley

Do you ever save a book by a favorite author for just the right moment?   When I bought this, I was toiling miserably at a law firm and reading in short bursts on the subway.  The Rose Garden deserved uninterrupted attention and I finally I curled up with it on a cold fall day in 2018 and was swept away to Cornwall.  It starts slower than her other books, so be patient, but that made the eventual smoldering tension all the better.   I also recommend The Winter Sea, which was one of my favorite books of 2010.  Kearsley is the closest thing to Mary Stewart I have found.

Message from Absalom (Book Review)

Title: Message from Absalom
Author: Anne Armstrong Thompson
Publication: Simon & Schuster, hardcover, 1975 (available as an ebook from Endeavor Press)
Genre: Romantic Suspense

Plot: Susannah Clarke is former CIA, now safely in the antiques business. On an extended group tour of Bulgaria, she encounters John Novak, once a colleague but now operating under cover. He recognizes Susannah and secretly visits her, arranging for her to receive a secret message relating to the operation he is running which must be hand delivered to the President. When Novak is killed outside her hotel, every American tourist in the vicinity is under suspicion by Novak’s enemies, which include local Bulgarians and their Russian masters. In fact, Susannah falls under dangerous suspicion and must try to outwit the brutal KGB in order to finish her vacation without further incident - if she wants to see her home again . . .

Audience: Fans of Helen MacInnes, Evelyn Anthony, Mary Stewart, Anne Stuart

My Impressions: I requested Message from Absalom from the library when I saw it had been recommended by Susanna Kearsley, an author I have enjoyed for many years (in fact, since I read about her book, Mariana and persuaded someone to get me a copy from Transworld in London nearly 30 years ago).  It reminded me a lot of the best work of Helen MacInnes, whose books I started reading in high school (another author introduced to me by my mother). MacInnes wrote 25 books from 1941 to 1984 (four of which were made into movies) about smart, attractive women who find themselves caught up in espionage and use their ingenuity to live (mostly) to tell the tale. My favorite is While Still We Live which is set in Poland (and which I just recommended to a coworker today). As mentioned above, this book by Anne Armstrong Thompson is reminiscent of MacInnes.  Thompson  is an American who earned a graduate degree at the Fletcher School of Diplomacy just outside Boston.  I don't know if she actually had espionage experience but clearly she was very interested in international affairs and that is why she applied to Fletcher.

Anne Armstrong Thompson

Susannah is an intrepid heroine but this is a very scary book, set primarily in Bulgaria, which at the time was a communist country, and I was on edge the entire time I was reading it. The fearful locals don’t interfere with the Bulgarian security police and they don’t interfere with the KGB. There are a number of men who wish Susannah ill and the reader knows, chillingly, that they could make her disappear painfully and effectively. Ironically enough, one of the threats to Susannah is an American traveling with her who thinks she can be blackmailed into sleeping with him. There are some plot developments that seem like overkill but reveal one of the book’s most interesting characters, a man involved with Israeli Intelligence, who at first seems like a possible love interest for Susannah (by this time she really needs someone on her side!). I can see why this book is a favorite of many - the chemistry between Susannah and one of the main characters is very well done, as is the ongoing tension - and I will keep my eyes open for a copy to own, as well as pursuing some of Thompson's other books (easier now that several appear to be available in ebook format).

Off the Blog: This is the week I mail (and receive) mysterious packages in the annual Betsy-Tacy Ornament Exchange!  Stay tuned!

Source: InterLibrary Loan. Thank you to the Rockland Memorial Library!

Map image copyright to https://www.countryreports.org/canada/Bulgaria.htm

The Widow's House (Book Review)

Title: The Widow’s House
Author: Carol Goodman
Publication: Trade Paperback, William Morrow, 2017
Genre: Suspense
Purchase Links:  Amazon, Harper Collins, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound

Plot: When Jess and Clare Martin sell most of their belongings and leave Brooklyn to move to the Hudson Valley, they both hope it will jump start Jess’ writing career, which has faltered after one high profile novel. The area they choose is familiar to them because it is Clare’s home town and is near Bailey College which they both attended.

A Touch of Stardust (Book Review)

Title: A Touch of Stardust
Author: Kate Alcott

Publication: Doubleday hardcover, 2015

Genre: Historical Fiction

Setting: 1930s Hollywood

Plot:  When Julie Crawford arrives in Hollywood, fresh from Smith, she is just in time to witness the “burning of Atlanta” scene staged by David O. Selznick on the Gone with the Wind set – and she is hooked on show business albeit intimidated by the great man.  In a refreshing twist, Julie is not a wannabe actress but an aspiring screenwriter.  And on her first day, she also encounters legendary actress Carole Lombard – like Julie, from Fort Wayne, Indian – who is romantically involved with Clark Gable.  Julie also meets Andy Weinstein, Selznick’s right hand man.  Lombard gives Julie a job as her assistant, which gives Julie a front row seat at the glamorous life of Hollywood stardom.  And as Julie finds her place in the movie world, her friendship with Andy becomes something more.

Audience:  Historical fiction readers, readers who love old movies, GWTW fanatics

What I liked: Alcott does a fabulous job of bringing the reader into the magical world of Gone with the Wind.  Even casual fans know about the search for the perfect actress to play Scarlet but it’s even better when you feel you’re yards away when lovely Vivien Leigh visits the movie set and wills Selznick to choose her so she can be close to Laurence Olivier.  Telling the making of the movie story from the perspective of a bright young woman, new in town, is a clever technique.  We identify sufficiently with Julie to want her to succeed but it’s the glimpses of Lombard and Gable’s romance and of Vivien Leigh and the behind the scenes filming of GWTW that make this book impossible to put down. 

I especially liked how Alcott made Lombard so appealing in this book.  I wonder if she really was helpful to younger women trying to make their mark in Hollywood.  My admittedly limited knowledge of her indicated only that she was bawdy and died young.

I’ve had my eye on this author for a while but hadn’t got around to reading her earlier books.  She credits her husband, descended from Hollywood’s Mankiewicz family, with telling her stories about this era, and she even sets one scene at the home of writer Herman Mankiewicz. 

Readers who want to know more about the making of Gone with the Wind should take a look at The Making of Gone with the Wind by Steve Wilson.

What I disliked: Julie’s and Andy’s romance is not as interesting as Lombard and Gable’s.  It reminded me of something Susanna Kearsley mentioned at a recent reading, which is that when she writes a back and forth novel, she intends for the contemporary couple to be more of a foil for the historical.  Here, while I liked Julie’s character and enjoyed learning about her travails trying to make a living as a screenwriter and persuading her conservative parents not to drag her back to Indiana, I was much more interested what her life revealed about the movie.  Alcott acknowledges this, providing an epilogue describing what happened to the actors and stating that Julie is meant to be the Everywoman “who strikes out with a small arsenal of choices” and uses them to achieve her goals.  I did wonder if a nice girl from Smith would have been so quick to get physically involved even if Andy is strikingly handsome and kind. 

Andy’s depiction of the anti-Semitism in Hollywood seemed authentic and accurate, although it distracted from the movie, which I was more interested in reading about.

Source: I read pre-pub reviews and put this on reserve from the library, and it duly appeared several months later. Highly recommended. 4 1/2 stars.

Favorite Reads of 2013

In 2013, I read about 185 books of which two were rereads and 152 were from the library or otherwise borrowed.  I'd like to do better in 2014 reading books I already own, many of which are in piles on windowsills and on the floor, and thus need rescuing.

Top Picks

The Firebird                SusannaKearsley                     Fiction/Historical Fiction

(As many of you know, I have been an evangelist for Kearsley since I worked at Bantam in the early 90s.  I am delighted that Sourcebooks is publishing her in the US and doing so much to promote her work.  This book follows The Winter Sea, and also involves 18th century Jacobites, a weakness of mine)

The Secret Keeper (Book Review)

Title: The Secret Keeper
Author: Kate Morton
Publication Information: Simon & Schuster/Atria Hardcover, October 2012
Genre: Fiction
Plot: As her mother approaches death, Laurel Nicolson, an acclaimed actress, remembers a day and a secret from her childhood that has always haunted her – she was hiding in a tree when a stranger approached her mother, who stabbed him to death with the knife usually saved for birthday cakes. Laurel gave information to the police that supported her mother’s explanation of self-defense but is now determined to find out what really happened that summer day, causing her to leave home and never fully regain the easy, affectionate family life of her childhood.

Starting with just an inscription in a book and a photo from London in the 40s, Laurel traces the fatal friendship between her mother, Dorothy Smitham, a put-upon companion to a cranky but aristocratic old lady, and her glamorous neighbor, Vivien Jenkins. Dorothy’s sweetheart from the country, Jimmy Metcalfe, photographed Dolly and Vivien together as London faced World War II and the Blitz, providing one clue. As Laurel unlocks the secrets of the past, she finally understands what caused her mother to act so deliberately when her family was threatened and can console the dying woman.

Favorite Reads of 2010

According to Goodreads, I read 145 books in 2010, primarily fiction. My four favorites were from very different genres: a haunting timeslip set in Scotland, primarily historical fiction; a semi-autobiographical novel about a famous English vet; contemporary fiction about an irritable retired English officer; and a YA about a spoiled teen who doesn’t value her family and friends until she loses them.

5 stars

The Winter Sea/Susanna KearsleyKearsley mingles the present-day story of a writer searching for inspiration in Scotland with a compelling and very romantic 18th-century tale of love and heartbreak, which I could barely put aside to sleep. It’s not the first time I have tried to get people excited about this author but this is by far her best book and I think readers are beginning to catch on.

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley (book review)

Susanna Kearsley is such a gifted writer I cannot figure out why her books are not better known. I sometimes wonder if it is because she is Canadian and there has been no major publicity machine behind her (as Alex Beam noted in the Globe today, although there are talented Canadian authors their bookstore bestsellers are all US imports). Like Mary Stewart (although perhaps without her warm humor), Kearsley creates a vivid sense of place and as Stewart did in Touch Not the Cat, she moves effortlessly from present to past, telling each story so compellingly that the reader forgets there is any other. The Winter Sea is Kearsley’s best book since Mariana. The contemporary story is told in the first person by Carrie McClelland, a writer of historical fiction, trying to figure out how to approach her current topic, early 18th century Jacobite uprisings in Scotland and those behind the plots to restore the Old Pretender to his rightful throne. When Carrie visits her agent in Scotland, she accidentally (but we know there are no accidents in fiction!) finds her way to a ruined castle, Slains, and begins to experience vivid dreams that inspire her novel. Carrie’s visions or memories are of a distant ancestor, a quiet young woman, Sophia Paterson, an orphan who is taken into the household of the Mistress of Slains Castle, the Countess of Erroll, and becomes involved in the Scots’ plotting through the kind relatives who have given her a home. Sophia is recovering from family tragedy and remains somewhat emotionally detached from the intrigue until she falls in love with a man who has dedicated his life to the Jacobite cause. She is a fascinating character (more interesting, in fact, than her creator, Carrie).