1121 - 1127 (2022 #46 - 52). December 2022

Shakespeare: The Evidence by Ian Wilson

I bought this book, on the recommendation of a friend, sometime between the 1999 publication of the edition I own and 2005, when I was living in the Seattle area and regularly seeing four "Shakespeare in the Park" performances every summer.  Author Ian Wilson presents voluminous research in this biography to make a convincing argument that William Shakespeare did in fact write the plays and poetry attributed to him.  Included are numerous photographs and contemporary drawings and other illustrations, as well as 30 pages of endnotes and references, three appendices (including family trees and a helpful chronology), a nine-page bibliography, and ten-page index.  

Wilson writes a lot about the inspirations and sources for each play (and some of the sonnets).  An example (from pages 351-355) is one of my favorite plays, The Tempest, inspired by contemporary accounts of a 1609 Bermuda shipwreck of the Sea Venture, which was on a resupply mission to the Jamestown, Virginia colony. The weather phenomenon St. Elmo's fire described in one of those accounts may have been the spark for the character of Ariel in the play.  Most interesting to me was Wilson's supposition (with copious evidence) that Shakespeare was a closet Catholic, a dangerous thing to be in Elizabethan and Jacobean England.

Kenzi Sits Up Tall by Mike Bhatt, illustrated by Iman Jordan

Mike Bhatt is a chiropractor who came up with what he calls the "7-minute huddle" - two minutes of deep breathing, four minutes of stretches and other exercises to improve posture, and one minute to think of "dandy deeds," ways to be kind to others - to help youth combat back and neck pain, headaches, and anxiety.  This 40-page picture describes the technique and its benefits through a main character named Kenzi.

The rhyming text is sometimes awkward and forced, which makes this book better as a read-aloud for adults to children.  I was impressed with the artwork by illustrator Iman Jordan, who combines photographic closeups of fabrics and hair to create the clothing and hair of her colorful characters.

The Four Seasons by Bruce Heinemann

I'm not quite sure where I got this book - it might have belonged to my mother.  This 60-page book of photography includes a CD (at the back of the book) of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons."  It is divided into four sections, one for each season, each introduced by a relevant poem (Emily Dickinson's "A Light exists in Spring," Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Afternoon on a Hill" for summer, the first five verses of William Cullen Bryant's "Autumn Woods," and Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening").  Each section has ten relevant images by Washington state photographer Bruce Heinemann, and there are two additional photos near the beginning of the book.  

The music is performed by the Cambridge Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Rolf Smedvig with Emanuel Borok as the violin soloist.  Michael C. Conley provides notes on Vivaldi and the music.

This book would be ideal for someone from (or who loves) Washington state, as 22 of the 42 photographs were taken there.  Locations are identified at the end of the book, along with the type of camera, lens, and settings used to create them.  Some of the Washington locations (although sometimes misspelled) are familiar ones to me:  the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle, Mount Rainier National Park, Stevens Pass, Orcas Island, Mt. Shuksan, and various rivers (Sauk, Sol Duc, Elwha, Stillaguamish, and Index Creek).

Besides Washington, the Northwest is heavily represented with photos from Oregon (4), Idaho (4), Montana (2, both from Glacier National Park), and Wyoming (4).  The latter were all Grand Teton National Park, some of which (pages 50 - similar - and 51 - similar), according to the introduction, were taken on a day Heinemann was inspired by this music.  Arizona (2), Massachusetts (2, both in the autumn section) and one each from upstate New York (also autumn) and Utah are the states rounding out the images.  

The book, published in 1999, is notable because all of the images were created on film and not digitally.  Most were done on Fuji Velvia film, but my two favorites are the only two Kodachromes:  on page 28 in the summer section, sunset at Second Beach near La Push (a favorite place for my offspring when they were young; the image is almost identical to this one), and, on page 48 in the winter section, the last hanging fruit on an otherwise snow-covered tree in Wenatchee, Washington.

O Clap Your Hands by Gordon Giles

Subtitled "A Musical Tour of Sacred Choral Works," this 150-page book discusses 30 religious choral works by 30 different composers, and is accompanied by a CD where the works are performed by the Gloriae Dei Cantores choir.  

For each work, author Gordon Giles, a musician and vicar in the Church of England, provides the text (and a translation for those not in English - most are in Latin, some in German, Russian, and Old Church Slavonic), its source, and the name of the music's composer.  He follows this with some explanation about the text and its source(s), some background on the composer, and historical context and liturgical uses of the piece.  Each three-to-four-page discussion ends with a paragraph or two on the spiritual meaning of the piece, followed by a brief prayer. 

In the first two pages of the book, Giles explains that the book can be used for personal or small group devotion (with suggestions on how to do so), or for a four-session group study course (with more detail on that at the end of the book).  There's also a 20-page introduction about music in worship.

My mother, a dedicated catalog shopper late in her life, saw this book in one of her catalogs and put it on her Christmas list in 2009, so I got it for her.  I'm not quite sure why she wanted it, although she always loved to sing.  Being neither religious nor musical myself, I didn't get a lot out of this book, nor the CD.  Many of the pieces involved polyphony (multiple melodies, sometimes as many as eight), which can be hard to follow in another language.  I did like various parts of the sung Mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benidictus, Agnus Dei), easily recognizing the Latin from my childhood.

The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylváinen

I was drawn to this book because author Hanna Pylväinen is clearly Finnish, and the father of my children is half Finnish and half Norwegian.  Set in Scandinavia in 1851, this is the first novel I've read with that setting.

The book focuses on four families - that of the real Swedish Lutheran pastor Lars Levi Laestadius (although the names and actions of his children are fictional), a Swedish storekeeper named Henrik Lindstrom in the same village of Karesuando (and his uncle Frans, a Lutheran bishop), and two Sámi (Lapp) siida, the Rasti and the Tomma.  Lars is trying to Christianize the Sámi, and is helped when Biettar, the patriarch of the Rasti, is converted in a dramatic episode.  That leaves Biettar's son Ivvar to manage their small herd of reindeer on his own.  Ivvar has dallied with the wealthy Risten Tomma (engaged to Mikkol Piltto), but begins to flirt with Willa, daughter of Lars, who thinks she is falling in love with him.

The blurb on the back of the advance reader's edition calls this "an epic love story," but it's not a romance.  The Sámi are comparable to the Native Americans in the United States, being pushed out of their traditional grazing lands by settlers from Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia, and having no political power of their own.  The book is a fascinating introduction to a landscape and a way of life unfamiliar to many.

The Moonglow Sisters by Lori Wilde

I was looking for one of Lori Wilde's latest Christmas-themed Twilight, Texas romance novels to read during the holidays, but those available at the libraries had wait lists, so I chose this book, the first in a new series (Moonglow Bay) and Wilde's first venture into "women's fiction."  

The Moonglow sisters are the three Clark girls, Madison, Shelley, and Gia, who grew up with their grandmother Helen Chapman at the Moonglow Inn in Moonglow Cove after their parents' deaths in a skiing accident.  Madison's ruined wedding separated the girls for many years, but they come back together when their grandmother becomes deathly ill.  

The girls have a lot of history and bad feelings to work through, and there are lots of other issues worked in the story - a miscarriage and a cult for starters - maybe too many issues.  In a way, all these plot lines reminded me of romance tropes, as Wilde is quite skilled at weaving more than one of those in her romances.  I think she needs more practice doing so in women's fiction.

Gia, the youngest, mostly stayed in Moonglow Cove after studying kitemaking in Japan, and convinces their long-time next door neighbor, hunky Mike, to pretend to be her fiancé in order to get her sisters to stay and finish the wedding quilt Helen wanted them to complete.  Gia's and Mike's pretend romance becomes real (friends to lovers trope) and that is probably the strength of the book, given Wilde's extensive experience in that genre.  Gia is also the most balanced sister and best developed character in the book.

Twilight is based on my current Texas residence of Granbury.  In a letter from the author at the end of the book, Wilde says, "I vacationed in Galveston every summer for thirteen years, soaking up the fascinating history.  I borrowed heavily from those experiences while creating Moonglow Cove, adding in dashes of other Texas coastal towns I visited - Port Aransas, Corpus Christi, and South Padre Island among them."  The setting reminded me more of Port Aransas than Galveston, although the Moonglow pears that also inspired Wilde don't grow on the Texas coast. 

Despite all this, the book served its purpose as a light read for the holiday season.  Given the setting, a vacation/beach read is also a good classification.  I'll probably read more books in this series, if only to see what landmarks from Texas coastal towns I can pick out in future Moonglow Cove settings.

The Wishing Quilt by Jodi Thomas, Lori Wilde, Patience Griffin

Had a few days left in 2022 for one more short read, so I selected this anthology of three romance novellas, that came up in an earlier search for works by Lori Wilde (who I've read before).  The novellas are "The Secret Wish" by Jodi Thomas, "Wish Upon a Wedding" by Lori Wilde, and "When You Wish Upon a Quilt" by Patience Griffin.  All are set in Texas, and all involve quilts or quilting as part of the storyline.  A nice, easy beach-type read perfect for the deep midwinter end of the year.

© Amanda Pape - 2022

1117 - 1120 (2022 #42 - #45). November 2022

Erath County by Sheryl Reed Rascher

This book is part of Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series, eye-catching local history books with a single sepia-tone historic photograph on the cover.  Sheryl Reed Rascher, a sixth-generation Erath County descendant and president of the Erath County Genealogical Society, is the ideal author for Texas' Erath County entry in the series.

Besides the cover, the book has 203 historic photographs plus a map of the county.  Most of the photographs come from the Ralph and Dossie Rogers Historic Images Collection, some of which is digitized and available at the Portal to Texas History and in the Cross Timbers Historical Image Project at Tarleton State University's Dick Smith Library.  In addition, Rascher's connections to the county enabled her to use images and stories from the Stephenville Historical House Museum, the Dublin Public Library, the Erath County Historical Commission, and the private collections of numerous members of these groups.

Along with the excellent selection of images, Rascher has provided detailed captions for each photograph.  Where people can be identified, they have been, making the book a gold mine for anyone with Erath County settlers in their ancestry.  An index would be helpful, but Arcadia's strict formatting requirements only allow 60 entries in an index, and there are far more persons and places identified in this book.  Rather than an incomplete index, Rascher chose instead to include a bibliography of additional sources.

Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War by Heather Webb, Jessica Brockmole, Hazel Gaynor, Evangeline Holland, Marci Jefferson, Kate Kerrigan, Jennifer Robson, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig

I read this collection of historical fiction short stories because I've recently been reading works by some of its contributors:  Heather Webb, Jessica Brockmole, Hazel Gaynor, Jennifer Robson, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig.  Like any collection of short stories, some are better than others.  

The stories are all set around the time of Armistice Day, the end of World War I, November 11, 1918, and all involve some sort of love - romantic, maternal, etc.  There's a good mix of characters and settings across the stories.  

If I had to pick a favorite, it would be Jennifer Robson's "All for the Love of You," which was especially interesting as the story involved the creation of realistic masks for soldiers with facial wounds.

The other stories are: "The Daughter of Belgium" by Marci Jefferson, "The Record Set Right" by Lauren Willig, "After You've Gone" by Evangeline Holland,  "Something Worth Landing For" by Jessica Brockmole, "Hour of the Bells" by Heather Webb, "An American Airman in Paris" by Beatriz Williams, "The Photograph" by Kate Kerrigan, and "Hush" by Hazel Gaynor.  All worth reading.

Arthur Who Wrote Sherlock by Linda Bailey

This picture book biography by Linda Bailey of British author Arthur Conan Doyle focuses on Doyle's lively childhood as well as his most famous character, Sherlock Holmes.  Isabelle Follath's soft pencil and watercolor illustrations (with "a pinch of Photoshop") effectively evoke the late Victorian and early 1900s atmosphere of the setting.  There's a detailed three-page author's note at the end that includes a photograph of Doyle, as well as a page of sources.  This book would work well for readers of many ages interested in Sherlock Holmes.    

Shakespeare's Flowers by Jessica Kerr, illustrated by Anne Ophelia Dowden

Author Jessica Kerr discusses flowers mentioned in Shakespeare's plays and poems, what they are called today (if they still exist), and what they were used for in Shakespeare's time (as many had medicinal or other purposes besides being ornamental).  Each short chapter begins with one of more quotes from Shakespeare's works in which the flowers being discussed in that chapter are mentioned.  Each flower is gorgeously illustrated by renowned botanical artist Anne Ophelia Todd Dowden, most in soft watercolors and drawn from live specimens.  

The book includes a bibliography of suggested further reading and other sources, an index of plants discussed in the book, as well as indices to the sources for the Shakespearean quotes and the plays and poems they came from.  This book would be of interest to gardeners, Shakespeare enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the meanings of flowers.

© Amanda Pape - 2022

1114 - 1116 (2022 #39 - #41 ) October 2022

A Death in Durango by Doug Twohill

I requested this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program because I've been to Durango, Colorado, and I liked the cover art (particularly with the train on the left and the river on the right, evoking the Durango & Silverton Railroad and the Animas River, respectively).  I also liked novice author Doug Twohill's statement that all his book sale profits will be donated to the Community Foundation of Southwest Colorado.

This book is a collection of Western short stories bookended with a modern-day murder mystery.  If you're reading for the mystery, you'll be disappointed, as it's just a (rather weak) framework for the "stories, facts, legends, myths, and lies of the Old West" the "tale...is roughly based on," according to the preface.

Those short stories are good, and worth the read.  While the multi-generational feud between the fictional Strickland and Vanderhorn families is the tie between the stories, there are enough real people (such as Charles Goodnight and Butch Cassidy) and places (like Mesa Verde and Farmington, New Mexico - see pages 20-23) to make me wonder just which stories might be more true than not.

Augusta by Celia Ryker

Celia Ryker has written a historical fiction account of the hardscrabble life of her grandmother Augusta, which is also the title of the novel.  Augusta Young grew up in Arkansas and was married at about age 13 to a widowed neighbor over twice her age, giving birth to her first child at age 15.  Ultimately they wind up in Detroit, Michigan, and Augusta's first husband abandons her.  She remarries and is abandoned once again.  Augusta deals with a lot of tough challenges and choices to survive as a single mother of four.

Augusta died when Celia was six, so some of the story is based one "second- and third-hand information," according to the author's note at the end of the book.  Indeed, a quick search at Ancestry dot com brought up some contradictions to the story.  However, the strength of the book lies in its portrayal of everyday life, in the Ozarks around 1910 and in Detroit in the 1920s and 1930s.  For example, in chapter 18, Augusta learns how to use the "Easy Washer" washing machine in the basement of the home her second husband has rented, and the description is detailed and fascinating.

Vintage Christmas Tales:  A Holiday Anthology

This 605-page volume is a collection of 16 Christmas-related stories (and one poem) originally published between 1823 and 1926 - in other words, works that are all now out of copyright.  

Some were quite familiar to me, such as Clement Moore's "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" (the one poem, which serves as a preface, originally published as "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas" in 1823), and O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" (1905).  Others, such as Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" (1843) and "The Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams Bianco (1922), were familiar from their shorter forms in children's picture books (and of course, the 1962 cartoon version of Dickens' work featuring Mr. Magoo, which was my first introduction to that story).

Other stories include works that were new to me by well-known authors such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Washington Irving, and L. Frank Baum, and Alexandre Dumas.  But the tale I liked best was "Christmas: A Story" (1912), by Zona Gale, about a small town that decides to skip Christmas - until they learn an orphan is coming to live with one of the townspeople on Christmas Eve.  I also enjoyed "A Reversible Santa Claus" (1917) by Meredith Nicholson, a funny and exciting tale about a burglar who reforms on Christmas.

This really isn't a children's book, but some of the stories could be read aloud, particularly to older children.  In general, the longer stories are towards the end of the book.

Although the authors' names are given in the table of contents, they aren't repeated at the beginning of each story.  I would have appreciated that as well as including the year of original publication.  I also found numerous errors in spelling, punctuation, and word spacing in "Babes in Toyland" (1904) by Glen MacDonough and Anna Alice Chapin (another favorite movie from childhood).  The book is nicely bound and has an attractive cover with an abstract patchwork design in shades of red and green.

© Amanda Pape - 2022

1108 - 1113 (2022 #33 - 38). September 2022

Flight by Lynn Steger Strong

Three siblings, their spouses and children gather at the upstate New York home of one of the siblings (the ones with no kids) for their first Christmas after their mother's death.  Normally they gathered at their mother's Florida home, and one thing they have to decide in their four days together is what to do with that Florida house.  There's a subplot with a single mom and daughter who are clients of social worker Alice, the childless hostess of this gathering, that provides most of the action in the novel.

I won this advance reader edition in a giveaway that I probably shouldn't have entered, as I found this contemporary realistic fiction to be disappointing.  I didn't like any of the characters in the book, and I had a hard time keeping track of which spouse (and spoiled, bratty kids) went with which sibling.   The book has some things to say about families and motherhood in particular, but I found it was not for me - too much dysfunctional family-of-origin emotional drama.  It reminded me too much (unpleasantly) of my own four siblings, their spouses, and children.

Inland by Téa Obreht 

I won this book from Library Thing's Early Reviewer program back in May 2019, but never received a copy from the publisher (Random House).  It still appeared on my Not Reviewed list (I've been an Early Reviewer since November 2007), so I checked my libraries and borrowed and read the e-book.

Part historical fiction, part magical realism, Inland has two storylines.  One is based on history (the United States Army's Camel Corps), and includes some real people (like Hi Jolly, Greek George, Henry Constantine Wayne, and Edward Fitzgerald Beale - whose diary author Téa Obreht used as a source).  It covers an extensive, not clearly identified period of time in the mid- and late 1800s, in a variety of locations in the American West.  

The main character in this storyline is fictional - a young orphaned immigrant of uncertain Middle Eastern heritage who becomes a drifter and outlaw known as Lurie.  Lurie manages to join in as a cameleer with the other Middle Easterners who accompanied the camels to Indianola, Texas, in 1856.  He is plagued by the ghosts of former accomplices from his earlier life of crime.

The other storyline takes place in a single day in 1893 near Amargo, a fictional community in the Arizona Territory.  Nora Lark, her family, and others in Amargo are being pressured by a local cattle baron trying to acquire their land by getting the railroad routed through another town.  (The "inland" of the title refers to distance from the train tracks.)  

Nora is anxiously awaiting the return of her husband Emmett with a much-needed supply of water, as well as her missing two older sons.  She's left at home with her elderly mother; 17-year-old Josie, "Emmett's ward and occult cousin" (page 22); her vision-impaired youngest son Toby, who claims to have seen a strange beast; and her daughter Evelyn, who died as an infant but talks to Nora as if Evelyn was the young woman she would have been had she lived.

The two narrative threads are a little hard to follow at the beginning, but they intersect nicely (and surprisingly) at the end.  Apparently the ending provides a possible explanation for a piece of Western folklore (spoiler alert on the link).  I appreciated this Western with non-typical narrators.

This Is the Sun by Elizabeth Everett, illustrated by Evelline Andrya

This Is the Sun is a non-rhyming cumulative tale about the energy flow (beginning with the sun) in a simple ecosystem.  In cumulative stories, all previous events are repeated when a new event happens.  Classic examples of cumulative stories include The House That Jack Built, The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, The Gingerbread Man, The Twelve Days of Christmas, and Green Eggs and Ham.  The patterns and repetition in such stories are helpful to young readers, and this picture book is aimed at ages 4-7.

The eye-catching illustrations by Evelline Andrya are a mix of traditional media (painted paper scrap collages) and digital collages.  This is the first children's book by former classroom teacher Elizabeth Everett, and is from Science Naturally, a publisher of STEM books for young readers.  The book is also available in Spanish.

Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero

I read this book because a review of it was "in progress" during Banned Books Week 2022 in my racist, radical right-wing rural Republican school district, that had already banned Out of Darkness by another Latina author, for "sexually explicit content."  I remember ordering Gabi, A Girl in Pieces in e-book format for my state university library's curriculum collection (used by future teachers) because it won the 2015 William C. Morris Award for Debut Young Adult Fiction.

Gabriela "Gabi" Hernandez is a slightly-chubby Mexican-American high school senior in southern California.  The book is her diary/journal, and covers a 10.5 month period from a month before senior year starts, through graduation.

The book opens with Gabi dealing with one best friend (Cindy) who's just found out she's unintentionally pregnant, and another best friend (Sebastian) who is gay and, after coming out to his parents, is kicked out of his home by his father.  Gabi has family problems too.  Her father is a meth addict, her 16-year-old brother gets arrested for tagging, her hypocritical ultra-religious aunt lives with the family, and her overbearing mother is also pregnant.  Throw in date rape, another classmate getting an abortion, teens contemplating sex (and condoms), and dating dilemmas, and you've got plenty here to rile the "Christian" nationalists.

This book reminded me SO much of my own high school journal and letters to my pen pal (Gabi writes letters she never sends, to her dad and others).  Similar angst - I'm too fat, does that boy like me, fretting about academics, and so on.  Like Gabi, I found solace in my writing (like her, some poetry too), and I think the journal format creates an honesty that many readers will be able to relate to.  

So what happened with this book in my local school libraries?  Apparently, this book made it through the challenge process (although why it did and Out of Darkness did not is beyond me).  As of this writing, the book is still on the shelves and available in the high school library.  I borrowed the copy I read from the local public library's young adult section.   After I return it, it will be interesting to see if it stays there or, like Out of Darkness, gets moved to the adult section.

ETA 17 January 2025 - Not surprisingly in my right-wing county - the book is gone from the local public library.  Not just moved to the adult section - it is gone.  Surprisingly, it is still in the public high school library - I find that surprising.

Being Jazz by Jazz Jennings

I read this book because a review of it was "in progress" during Banned Books Week 2022 in my racist, radical right-wing rural Republican school district, that had already banned Out of Darkness by another Latina author, for "sexually explicit content."  

Subtitled "My Life as a (Transgender) Teen," Being Jazz is a memoir by transgender Jazz Jennings of her first 16 years.  Assigned male at birth, Jazz was diagnosed with gender dysphoria at a very young age.  The book details some of hers and her parents' struggles to allow her to dress as a girl at school and play soccer on the girls' team, and later some of their transgender activism.

The book is clearly written by a teen, and would be a good read for teens and tweens (and adults) to learn more about being transgender, recognizing that many transgender youth don't have the supportive parents and family Jazz has.  If anything, that makes a book like this even more needed in a repressive community like mine.

So what happened with this book in my local school libraries?  Apparently, this book made it through the challenge process (although why it did and Out of Darkness did not is beyond me).  As of this writing, the book is listed in the online catalog as available in the main high school library (but not at the alternative high school).  I borrowed the copy I read from the e-book collection of another public library in Texas, as my local public library does not own a copy (physical or electronic).

ETA 17 January 2025:  The book is still at the high school library - but in "Sublocation: Nonfiction-Crime and Forensics."  Our state attorney general (a criminal just like the incoming president) is trying to make being transgender a crime, so I guess that is why.

When We Were Young and Brave by Hazel Gaynor

I won When We Were Young and Brave from Library Thing's Early Reviewer program back in June 2020, but never received a copy from the publisher (William Morrow).  It still appeared on my Not Reviewed list (I've been an Early Reviewer since November 2007), so I checked my libraries and borrowed and read the e-book this month. 

This historical fiction novel is based on the real-life World War II events at the Chefoo School, a Protestant boarding school for children of foreign missionaries, diplomats, and businessmen in China.  Most were British, but some were American or other nationalities.  The day after the Pearl Harbor attack, Japanese soldiers start to take over the school.  Eventually the students and staff are moved to a local internment site, and then a camp much further away, where they stayed until liberated just after the war's end.

The story is alternately told by two main fictional characters:  Elspeth Kent, one of the teachers, who originally came to the school to get away from her British home and memories of a lost love there; and Nancy Plummer, one of the students, who is the daughter of two missionaries and is ten when the story starts.

I particularly enjoyed the incorporation of the Girl Guides (the British version of the Girl Scouts) into the novel.  Elspeth and fellow teacher Minnie Butterworth are the leaders of a group of Guides that includes Nancy and her friends and female classmates. The continuance of their Guide activities throughout their ordeal gives them all strength.  That, and the setting in China, made this a refreshing, non-typical World War II story. 

© Amanda Pape - 2022

1104 - 1107 (2022 #29 - #32 ). August 2022

Speak to the Winds by Ruth Moore - early reviewer

Evocative novel set on a small island off the coast of Maine originally settled (1855-1910, per the opening chapter) by Scottish quarrymen, whose descendants continue to live on the island full-time, eking out a living as best they can.  Ruth Moore - who was born on a similar small Maine island in 1903 - originally published this book in 1956.  Set over the period of a year, beginning one Christmas season and ending the following winter, the book has a bit of a timeless quality to it, and it's hard to figure out just what year (or even decade) in which the book takes place.  No one on the tiny island has a car, although some younger family members living and working or going to school on the nearby mainland have access to one.

The main story centers on a feud that began at a church Christmas pageant that eventually divides the town.  Even now-year-round resident Miss Greenwood, formerly one of the "summer people" and thus considered an outsider by most of the island's inhabitants, is inadvertently drawn into the quarrel when she gets an Episcopalian pastor to provide an Easter service.  The main character, Elbridge Gillam, a descendant of one of the community's founders, tries to stay out of the fray.  The real main character, however, is the island itself, and the effects of storms and other weather on it and its inhabitants.

I really enjoyed this slice-of-life regional novel, and would like to read more by Ruth Moore.  The library in Bass Harbor, Maine, where she lived from 1947 until her death in 1989, has a web page devoted to her with numerous resources.

Girls Who Green the World by Diana Kapp, illustrated by Ana Jarén - early reviewer

I was very impressed with Girls Who Green the World!  This collective biography profiles 34 "rebel women out to save our planet," as the subtitle states.  They are doing everything from finding alternatives for toxic ingredients in cosmetics and clothing and new uses for materials usually considered as garbage, to reducing use of plastics and fossil fuels and decreasing food waste.  Their stories are inspiring.

Author Diana Kapp begins with an introduction to the book and to the climate change problem, including a couple pages of infographics.  The profiles are interspersed with various facts and segments on ways to take action.

Each profile begins with a wonderful, full-page color portrait (in markers, pencils, and acrylics) by Spanish artist Ana Jarén.  These flattering illustrations emphasize the racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity of the subjects.  This is followed by the subject's answers to initial questions to make them more relatable, like "a word or phrase I most overuse," "a habit I'm trying to give up," or "something I used to do before I realized how bad it was for the environment."  The author interviewed each subject and includes quotations from their responses, in their own words.

The book ends with a call to action, sources for the information in the infographics (I wish sources had also been included for the interspersed facts), and acknowledgments.  The book is aimed at tweens, teens, and young adults, but I'd say it's appropriate for anyone wanting to make a difference, from age 11 up.

I'm 65, and I found this book to be quite motivating.  For example, after reading the profile of Sarah Paiji Yoo, cofounder and CEO of Blueland, I was intrigued by her company's innovative cleaning products that are good for the environment AND get rid of the water (and thus the need for plastic), and have ordered some of them to try.  I found myself making notes throughout the book of other products to investigate and practices to implement to help save our planet.

A fact from (unnumbered) page 264, worth following up:  "FACT:  In 2012, Yale students found that mycelium in the Amazon rain forest can survive on a diet of only plastic.  This mushroom root is able to break down polyurethane plastic on its own.  They wonder if it can be used at the bottom of landfills to slowly break down plastics there."

A Caribbean Heiress in Paris - by Adriana Herrera - Bookreporter, historical romance, trade paperback

This is a fun beach read.  Set in 1889 in Paris (during the Exposition Universelle) and Scotland, this historical romance features a mixed-race heroine (mother a native of the Dominican Republic, Scottish father), probably the first such book I've read to do so.

Luz Alana Heith-Benzan is a rum heiress, and has come to Paris and Scotland to find new markets for her products.  At the Exposition, she meets James Evanston "Evan" Sinclair, a Scottish earl who makes whisky, when they are mistakenly assigned the same table at a distillery exhibition.

Like all good romances, this one has its tropes (common literary or thematic devices used in storytelling, which I've italicized), the main one being a marriage of convenience between Luz and Evan.  This alpha hero and heroine are afraid to commit, but you've got a billionaire virgin and a royal playboy with Instalust who both want a fling, so you can imagine where this all leads, but of course Luz and Evan are the last to know there's more to their relationship than just sex.  It's nice to read a romance novel with the focus on the woman' pleasure, however.

The diverse characters are the strength of this story.  Evan has a Trinidadian staff, two strong-willed sisters, a Columbian half-brother, and Jamaican cousins.  There are non-heterosexual characters in the book as well.  Luz is part of a girl gang called "Las Léonas" (the lionesses) that travels with her, and this is the first book in the series of that name.  

According to an interview with author Adriana Herrera, the next book in the series will be about her artist friend Manuela Caceres (who has a lesbian romance), and I expect another will be about her other best friend, Aurora Montalban, a doctor (perhaps a romance with Evan's half-brother Apollo?).  I could also see books in the future about Luz' little sister Clarita, and maybe even their cousin Amaranta.

In that interview, another one, and the book's author's note, Herrera talks about the research she did for the book.  That research makes the historical details in the book feel right.  However, "the characters frequently think and act anachronistically in an effort to appeal to modern sensibilities," as noted in Publisher Weekly's review, and I felt that as well.  It's a romance, though, not standard historical fiction.

The Bad Angel Brothers by Paul Theroux - advance reader edition

Evidently, I won a copy of this advance reader edition in a HarperCollins Book Club Girl giveaway - I don't remember being informed I was a winner.  The "Bad Angel Brothers" are Frank and Cal Belanger - how Belanger became "Bad Angel" as a local nickname is beyond me.  They grew up in the town of Littleford, Massachusetts.  Frank, the elder, stays and becomes a successful ambulance-chasing lawyer.  Cal is a geologist, and spends much of his early adult years looking for (and finding) gold, emeralds, cobalt, and other precious metals in Arizona, Alaska, Columbia, Zambia, and other remote places.  

The book revolves around the relationship between Frank and Cal.  It is told entirely from Cal's viewpoint.  Frank is clearly manipulative, but I had to wonder after a while if Cal is an unreliable narrator.  If Frank is so awful, and from so early on, why does Cal continue to trust him?  If Frank was my sibling, I would have never gone back to Littleford to live (as Cal did).  Most (but not all) of the book's other characters seem to think Frank is wonderful.  And Cal's fantasies about Frank's demise are pretty gruesome.

For me, the best parts of this books were the descriptions of Cal's geology work and trips.  It's no surprise to learn that author Paul Theroux is best known as a travel writer.  While I wasn't too crazy about this book, I'd be interested in reading some of his nonfiction.

© Amanda Pape - 2022

1096 - 1103 (2022 #21 - #28). July 2022

I Have Two Mommies. I Have Two Daddies - by Stephy R. Salazar, illustrated by Bianca Silva 

This is a sweet picture book about two diverse families, one child with two mothers, and one child with two fathers.  Colorful illustrations and rhyming text get across the point that these families are no different, in their actions and their love for each other, from any others.

The Race Across Anaconda Swamp - by Sharon Duke Estroff and Joel Ross, illustrated by Mónica de Rivas

This is the second book in the Challenge Island STEAM Adventure series, published by Challenge Island, a STEAM enrichment program that has become a franchised company.   There were some references to the first book in this title, but it stands alone well enough on its own.  Three children are magically transported to a tropical rainforest island, where they have to work together to solve problems and accomplish tasks using items on hand and imagination.  Daniel and Joy are cousins, and Kimani comes from somewhere else (it's never explained where) and is full of knowledge about STEAM concepts - science, technology, engineering, and math.  A parrot named DaVinci apparently provides the artistic elements.

The book tells the story in 15 chapters and 120 pages, followed by an additional 24 pages with a challenge for readers similar to that in the story.  The challenge reminded me of ones my children did as part of the Odyssey of the Mind and Destination Imagination programs.  Children who participate or are interested in these programs would be an ideal audience for this series.

Alaska is for the Birds! Fourteen Favorite Feathered Friends - by Susan Ewing, illustrated by Evon Zerbetz

Poems and pictures about fourteen birds found in Alaska, in succinct ten-to-twelve line rhyming couplets by Susan Ewing, complemented in a double-page spread by colorful linocut prints by Evon Zerbetz.  The clever poems capture the behaviors of the birds, and the detailed illustrations highlight some of their primary physical characteristics.  

Many of the poems introduce new vocabulary (for me, words like pectinate and pelagic), and the meanings can be discerned from the context, but there is also a two-page glossary at the end of the book.  The author has also included a half-page of additional information on each bird just before the glossary.  I especially appreciate the inclusion of the collective nouns often used with each species. (For example, I never knew a group of hummingbirds is a bouquet, charm, glittering, or shimmer - all are appropriate!)  

Although the publisher, West Margin Press, indicates in the book's study guide that it is aimed at ages 5–8 and grades K–3, I think it could be used by older children and students too, at least through ages 12 and grade 6.  This book belongs in every Alaskan library, and could also be used in state studies in the rest of the country.

Voices in the Dead House - by Norman Lock

This interesting historical fiction is set in Washington, D.C., in the brief period between mid-December, 1862, and January 21, 1863.  Poet Walt Whitman and author Louisa May Alcott were both in the city at that time, helping in Civil War hospitals.  Alcott worked as a nurse at Union Hotel Hospital in Georgetown, until she had to quit a little over a month later due to contracting typhoid.   Whitman had originally gone to Fredericksburg, Virginia, to check on his wounded brother George, but starting in late December, volunteered as a visitor and wound-dresser at Armory Square Hospital (and others).  Although there's no documentation the two met or even knew of the other, they could have crossed paths during Alcott's short time there, and that is the premise of the novel.

The first 140 pages are told in Whitman's voice, the next 112 in Alcott's, followed by brief (2-3 pages) final sections for each.  The novel is inspired by Alcott's book Hospital Sketches and some of Whitman's poetry, particularly "The Wound-Dresser," according to author Norman Lock.  He incorporates some of the events from Alcott's book, as well as lines from some of Whitman's other poems ("The Sleepers" and "Come Up from the the Fields, Father") and Whitman's book Memoranda During the War.  Whitman and Alcott encounter real people (such as photographers Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner, and nurse Dorothea Dix) and places (such as the White House, Ford's Theater, and the Naval Observatory).  In an afterword, the author explains who and what is fact and fiction in his novel.

I do think it would help the reader to be somewhat familiar with both authors and their works mentioned above before reading this book.  I've been an Alcott fan since childhood, so I enjoyed her part of the book more, and I feel Lock has captured her personality quite well.  This book has inspired me to read Whitman's Leaves of Grass (referred to frequently in his section) and Memoranda During the War, as well as Hospital Sketches, one of the few Alcott works I haven't yet read.  I'd also like to read more of Lock's American Novels stand-alone series.

Leaves of Grass - by Walt Whitman

I tried to read this book of poetry because it was mentioned so frequently in Voices in the Dead House, a book I read and reviewed for the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.  Unfortunately, I couldn't finish it.  Most of Walt Whitman's free verse poems are way too long, in my opinion.  It sometimes seemed like he was simply stringing together bunches of proper nouns or synonyms, rather than using imagery.  More enjoyable for me were shorter poems like "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer," “Ethiopia Saluting the Colors,” and "O Captain! My Captain!" 

Given that the book that inspired me to read Leaves of Grass was set in December 1862 and January 1863, what I *should* have read was the 1860-61 edition, the third of many, as Whitman constantly added, deleted, and edited poems from the original 1855 edition.   Reading that one, plus Drum-Taps and Sequel to Drum-Taps (small poetry collections written during the Civil War and folded into later editions of Leaves of Grass), would have given me the background I needed for Voices in the Dead House, rather than trying to read the entire, huge final edition.

Hospital Sketches - by Louisa May Alcott

I read most of Louisa May Alcott's novels as a young girl, as well as A Long Fatal Love Chase and some of her short stories, but hadn't read this fictionalized account of her time as a Civil War nurse until recently.  Alcott had gone to Washington, D.C. to serve, and wrote letters home to her family in Massachusetts about her experiences.  She was encouraged to turn those letters into short stories that were first published in a magazine, and later compiled into a book first published in 1863.

The book is, unsurprisingly, so much in the style of the Little Women series, with humor sprinkled in among the seriousness of the subject.  Nurse-to-be Tribulation Periwinkle (because in that era, Alcott would not have used her own name) makes the decision to go and makes rather frustrating preparations, has a rather amusing trip to Washington, and then describes a day and a night in the hospital wards, often describing her interactions with patients. My favorite story was the sad one of John (real-life John Suhre).  She also writes about her sojourns around Washington, briefly about the illness (typhoid) that sent her home, and in a postscript, apparently answers questions from readers of the magazine articles about her experiences.

The Kindle version that I read, available through my library, was the 1863 edition with a biographical introduction by Amy Holwerda written in 2011.

Memoranda During the War - by Walt Whitman

Memoranda During the War by poet Walt Whitman, opens as follows:  "During the Union War I commenced at the close of 1862, and continued steadily through '63, '64 and '65, to visit the sick and wounded of the Army, both on the field and in the Hospitals in and around Washington city. From the first I kept little note-books for impromptu jottings in pencil to refresh my memory of names and circumstances, and what was specially wanted, &c. In these I brief'd cases, persons, sights, occurrences in camp, by the bedside, and not seldom by the corpses of the dead. Of the present Volume most of its pages are verbatim renderings from such pencillings on the spot" (p. 1). He also wrote about other observations he made around the city during that time.  

I liked this better than most of Whitman's poetry, as it is short (92 pages) and more succinct.  I can see some of the inspiration for the poems in Drum-Taps and Sequel to Drum-Taps (small poetry collections written during the Civil War and folded into later editions of Leaves of Grass).  One example is the memorandum about the murder of Lincoln, where he writes (page 60):  "...there were many lilacs in full bloom. By one of those caprices that enter and give tinge to events without being at all a part of them, I find myself always reminded of the great tragedy of that day by the sight and odor of these blossoms. It never fails."  In Sequel to Drum Taps (1865) there is a poem called "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" which is an elegy to Lincoln.

The memoranda actually only take up the first 76 pages, which is followed with 16 pages of "notes" added later.  The first half of these clarify parts of the memoranda, but the last half, particularly the section starting on page 89: "Future History of the United States, growing out of the War—(My Speculations,)" is merely wordy and superfluous.

The book was originally published in 1875, ten years after the end of the Civil War.  I read a 1990 edition of this public domain work available on Google Books.

The Gown - by Jennifer Robson

I won The Gown from Library Thing's Early Reviewer program back in October 2018, but never received a copy from the publisher (William Morrow).  It still appeared on my Not Reviewed list (I've been an Early Reviewer since November 2007), so I checked my libraries and borrowed and read the e-book this month.  (ETA 16 September 2022:  I checked out a print copy shortly after Queen Elizabeth II's death.)

The gown of the title was Elizabeth's wedding gown (from her November 1947 wedding, while still a princess, to Philip Mountbatten), which is pictured on the book's cover.  Although the book is subtitled "a novel of the royal wedding," it's really historical fiction about two women who worked as embroiderers on that gown, and the granddaughter of one of them.

In post-war London of early 1947, 25-year-old Ann Hughes, a long-time embroider for designer Norman Hartnell, meets newly-hired 22-year-old Miriam Dassin, a Jewish refugee from France liberated two years earlier from a concentration camp.  Miriam has been referred to Hartnell's by Christian Dior, but she is also a talented fiber artist.  Ann's widowed sister-in-law is moving to Toronto, Canada, and Ann needs a new roommate to keep her housing, so she invites Miriam to live with her.  

Soon, Hartnell gets the commission to design and make Princess Elizabeth's wedding gown.  Ann and Miriam are put in charge of embroidering sample motifs ("York roses in several sizes, star flowers, ears of wheat, jasmine blossoms, and smilax leaves" - page 141), and embellishing them with seed pearls, crystals, and beads.  Later, they are the lead embroiderers on the gown's bodice, sleeves, skirt, and train - done in a workshop with no windows, as even then the public was eager to learn details of the gown.

In Toronto in 2016, journalist Heather Mackenzie's grandmother dies and leaves her a box with exquisite embroidery samples in it.  Losing her job shortly after, she decides to go to England to unravel the mystery of her grandmother.  

Heather's story is necessary to fill in what happened to Ann and Miriam after the royal wedding, as the story set in the past ends shortly after that.  There's romance (good and bad) for all three women, but it, like the royals, is really a minor part of the story.

In February 2017, author Jennifer Robson interviewed Betty Robson, one of the seamstresses at Hartnell who had helped create Princess Elizabeth's 1947 wedding gown.  She even worked Betty in as a character near the end of the book.  Robson also spent a day at Hand & Lock, London's oldest and the world's foremost custom embroidery workshop. to see what the work done by Ann and Miriam might be like.  This and other research made the book come alive.  

What I liked best, though, were the details about everyday British life after World War II.  For example, wartime rationing was still in effect - Elizabeth paid for her wedding gown mostly with clothing coupons she had saved.

© Amanda Pape - 2022

1093 - 1095 (2022 #18 - 20 ) June 2022

I won My Dear Hamilton from Library Thing's Early Reviewer program back in April 2018, but never received a copy from the publisher (William Morrow).  I picked up an e-book version when it was on sale for $1.99 in July 2019, using Amazon promotional credits.  The book still appeared on my Not Reviewed list (I've been an Early Reviewer since November 2007), so I decided to read and review it this month.

I really liked it.  I knew nothing about Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton (called Betsey as a child and young woman, and Eliza later in adulthood), and not much more about her husband Alexander Hamilton (other than, of course, his infamous duel with Aaron Burr).  I do now, after 652 pages of very readable historical fiction.  

Eliza really comes alive and holds her own as as strong woman throughout the novel (as she did in early America).  I felt all the characters - Eliza's parents, sisters, children, and of course her husband - were well developed, given the first-person storytelling from Eliza's viewpoint.

Authors Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie did a lot of research, and explain at the end what is true and what is fiction.  Dray primarily writes historical women's fiction, while Kamoie's experience is in different types of romance (writing as Laura Kaye), although her educational and earlier employment background is in history. 

And for what it's worth, you don't have to be a Hamilton! fan to enjoy this book.  I've never seen the musical.

The Hanmoji Handbook - early reviewer, nonfiction, children/young adult, ARC

I requested this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewer's program primarily because I have two other people in mind (librarians and former co-workers) who might like to read it.  One likes young adult books, manga, graphic novels, etc., and the other learned speak Chinese.  I'm not sure I'm quite the right audience for this book, as I have different favorite genres and no interest in learning Chinese.

That being said, learning a little about Chinese language characters (hanzi) and their relationship to the emoji we use so much nowadays was interesting.  Chapter 3, on How Languages Evolve, was the best, especially its section on emoji.  

The copy I received was an advanced reader edition in black and white; final illustrations will be in full color.  The book is 160 pages long and aimed at ages 12 and up.

Elly Uncomposed: An Operatic Novel by Valerie Niemerg - fantasy, early reviewer

In a message to potential LibraryThing Early Reviewers, the author said, "You don't have to know a thing about opera to enjoy this book!"  It would, however, help to be familiar with the storyline of The Marriage of Figaro, the opera setting (in 18th century Seville, Spain) into which our heroine, Elizabeth (aka Elly), is magically transported when she starts to read a book inherited from her late father.

Full disclosure:  I *have* heard of this opera.  I have never seen it (nor any other opera) performed, nor read an outline of the plot.  I am not the least bit musical.  Therefore (once again), I'm probably not quite the right audience for this book.  

I found the story (which included scenes in the present-day of Elizabeth's real life) to be rather hard to follow, especially because I didn't know the opera - although I figured out who the villain was shortly after said villain's introduction.  The book could have used a bit of editing (it's 351 pages long, with a couple minor spelling and punctuation errors) so it would flow a little better. 

That being said, I do think an opera fan or music lover would enjoy this book more than I did.  Author Valerie Niemerg is a retired opera singer (unlike Elizabeth), now voice instructor (a bit like Elizabeth), so she knows her stuff.  I found the glossary of musical terms used in the book (boldfaced within the text, so you knew to look for them in the glossary) to be extremely helpful, even though I could often figure out the meaning from the context.  

Otherwise, I spent part of this month re-reading part I of The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger, because of the recent HBO miniseries of the same name, that covered said part.  Although there are differences between the miniseries and the book, in general, I liked the miniseries - particularly because of the actors playing Clare (Rose Leslie, Ingrid from Game of Thrones) and Henry (Theo James, who is HOT).

© Amanda Pape - 2022

1088 - 1092 (2022 #13 - 17). May 2022

Caroline by Sarah Miller - historical fiction

I won Caroline: Little House, Revisted from Library Thing's Early Reviewer program back in August 2017, but never received a copy from the publisher (William Morrow).  It still appeared on my Not Reviewed list (I've been an Early Reviewer since November 2007), so I checked my libraries and borrowed the e-book this month.

Despite growing up in the 1960s, I don't recall reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" series then or later, and I was not a big fan of the television series.  This was probably an advantage (based on many of the other reviews I've read), as I could be more open-minded about this version of the Ingalls family's life.  Despite not growing up as a Little House fan, I was eager learn more about the lesser-known "Ma,"  Caroline Lake Quiner Ingalls.

This book tells the story from Wilder's Little House on the Prairie from the point of view of Caroline, not Laura.  In it, the reader learns of the hard and sometimes frightening life of a pioneer woman moving from Wisconsin to the Native American territory in Kansas (and back again) in 1870-1871.

Besides detailing the grueling chores of preparing daily meals for the family (on the road as well as in rustic shelters), sewing and mending, laundry, and so on, Caroline deals with crossing thin ice and a swollen river, a sprained ankle, wolves, Indians appearing in the cabin at any time, pregnancy on the road (tiny covered wagon), childbirth at home, illnesses, the vagaries of weather, and a fire.  Being a pioneer woman was not for the faint of heart.

It's important for readers to remember that this is historical fiction.  Most whites were prejudiced against Native Americans at the time, and most women were taught to be subservient to their husbands, so efforts to portray things differently would not be realistic for the time period of the story. 

At the end (and in a FAQ on her website), author Sarah Miller explained some differences from Wilder's memoirs. It's important to note that the novel was authorized by the Little House Heritage Trust.

The Model Spy by Maryka Biaggio - LibraryThing Early Reviewer, historical fiction, biographical novel

I'd never heard of Catharina "Toto" Koopman before reading this book.  Born in Java (then part of the Dutch East Indies) in 1908 to a Dutch cavalry officer and a part-Javanese mother, she got her nickname from her father's favorite horse.  At age 12, she was sent to a boarding school in the Netherlands, where she became fluent in English, French, German and Italian.  After finishing school in London, she moved to Paris, where her exotic looks led to a career as a model, and an unconventional lifestyle.

In the 1930s, Koopman met a lot of influential people in England, Germany, and Italy, settling in the latter country in 1939.  During World War II, she used her contacts and language skills to spy for the Italian Resistance.  She was captured/escaped/recaptured (more than once), and spent time in prisons and work camps, including six months at the Ravensbrück concentration camp just before it was liberated in April 1945.  Over half of the book deals with her gripping experiences as a prisoner in these places.

Maryka Biaggio's biographical novel of this fascinating woman is absorbing and thorough.  She made Toto come alive once again.  I also appreciated the extensive bibliography of key resources at the end.

The Queen's Fortune by Allison Pataki - historical fiction

The Queen's Fortune (a vague title) is about Désirée Clary Bernadotte, Napoleon's first love, who later became queen of Sweden.  I've been a long-time fan of Annemarie Selinko's 1951 book Désirée (which is written in first person from Désirée's viewpoint in diary format), and this book is similar in content.  

A big difference, however, was that author Allison Pataki has Napoleon and Désirée making love while they were engaged, later justifying this (on page 389) with a supposed passage in Napoleon's memoirs referring to this.  However, I can find no reference to this in Napoleon's published memoirs, so it is apparently an invention of (or at least an undocumented statement by) Pataki - one I find very irritating.  

This book does offer a good book club kit online that includes a family tree listing Désirée's descendants, the royalty in Sweden and Norway.

Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole - LibraryThing Early Reviewer, historical fiction

I won this from Library Thing's Early Reviewer program way back in April 2013, but never received a copy from the publisher (Ballantine).  It still appeared on my Not Reviewed list, so I checked to see if any of my libraries had a copy - and my small local public library did have it in print.

Letters from Skye, as the name implies, is an epistolary novel, a story told almost entirely in letters, in this case written by five main correspondents in two time periods.  

In 1912, Elspeth Dunn, a Scottish poet who lives on the Isle of Skye, gets a fan letter from David Graham of Illinois.  They begin corresponding regularly, through David's last year of college, and his time volunteering as an ambulance driver in France during the first World War.  Slowly but surely, they fall in love.

In June 1940 in Edinburgh, Scotland, Elspeth's daughter Margaret is writing to her English pilot friend Paul (with whom she's falling in love) as well as her mother, bringing back memories for the latter.  After a bomb blast at their home, which uncovers the letters from David that Elspeth hid many years before, Elspeth disappears, and Margaret ultimately writes to Elspeth's brother Finlay in an effort to find her.

To write much more in this review would spoil the story.  Suffice to say that chapters alternate between the 1912-1919 time period (Elspeth and David), and 1940 (Margaret, Paul, Finlay, and a few others), and it's a romance.  The plot was a bit predictable, but the letters were heartfelt.  I would have liked to see the inclusion of more of Elspeth's poems and David's fairy tales (referred to in the letters).

The Postmistress of Paris by Meg Waite Clayton - historical fiction

The main character in this historical fiction novel, Nanée (I never found her last name), is based on two real-life women involved in the effort to smuggle refugees out of France during World War II.  One was Mary Jayne Gold, an Evanston (not Chicago!) heiress, and the other was German refugee Lisa Fittko, who (along with her husband Hans) helped others escape over the Pyrenees.

Nanée was an American much like Mary Jayne, single and living in Paris at the time the Germans occupied it in 1940, but choosing to stay in France.  She fled to Marseille and joined up with Varian Fry (who is also in the book) and others working to help Jewish or anti-Nazi writers, artists, musicians, and others to flee.  Having plenty of money, she rented a large old chateau outside Marseille called Villa Air-Bel, where many of the workers lived and the escapees hid until they could get out of France.

Many of the characters in the book were real people.  The other main characters, Edouard Moss and his young daughter Luki, are entirely fictional.  Edouard, a German photographer, is based on many of the creative people Mary Jayne, Varian, and the others helped to escape, after they spent some time interned at Camp des Milles in France.  

In an interview, author Meg Waite Clayton explains, "I combine the acts of Gold and Fittko into a single character [Nanée] so that the reader doesn’t have to leave one protagonist behind and join another late in the novel. And Nanée’s personal story, especially her love life, takes a very different path than either Fittko’s or Gold’s, largely to allow me to explore and reveal the emotions people experienced in these circumstances, and the challenges and personal sacrifices, through Nanée and Edouard’s relationship."  It will be clear when one reads the book when Nanée transitions from being Mary Jayne to being Lisa - the author has a clever explanation for how this happens.

I enjoyed this book, despite the surreal activities of André Breton (also a character in the book) and the Surrealists and others staying at Villa Air-Bel.  ("Exquisite Corpse"?  Ugh.)  For people who were supposed to be in hiding, their lives and actions (taking photos while you are escaping France?) seemed a little too raucous and carefree for the times.

I also agree with some other reviewers that the title of this book makes little sense.  "Postmistress" was a code name Nanée used in her undercover work, but she didn't do this work in Paris, which was then overrun by Nazis.  I guess the author or editor like the alliteration - it's easier to say than Postmistress of Marseille.

© Amanda Pape - 2022

1083 - 1087 (2022 #8 - 12). April 2022

This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson

This is another book I read because it was banned from school library shelves in my racist, radical right-wing rural Republican town, for "sexually explicit content and illustrations."  It was not available in my local library, either, but I was able to borrow the e-book from another library.

This book is an introductory guide to LGBT life and issues for high school age and up.  I'm no expert on these topics, and this senior adult learned some things from this book.  Author Juno Dawson, who also writes fiction, originally identified as a gay man (James Dawson), but a year after the publication of this book in 2014, came out as a transgender woman.  This updated second edition was published under her new name.

As for "sexually explicit illustrations"?  They are black-and-white line drawings in a cartoon style by Spike Gerrell, funny and appropriate for the intended audience.

Books like this are needed in our school and public libraries, especially for questioning young people who may lack the loving support to learn about these issues elsewhere.

Sugar and Salt by Susan Wiggs

Sugar and Salt is mostly the story of Margot Salton (aka Margie Salinas), a barbeque master from Texas who is finding success with her own restaurant - called Salt - in San Francisco, until her past comes back to haunt her.  It's also the story of Jerome Sugar, who operates the bakery Sugar next door to Salt, and sharing a kitchen, and Jerome's mother Ida, who came of age during the Vietnam War era.

Besides being not just one love story, but two, this book also pulls in so many relevant issues, especially pertaining to the harrowing Texas judicial and penal system (and before you ask - I grew up and live in Texas, although I was born in Chicago and I've also lived in Washington state).  

I haven't read any of Susan Wiggs' books before, but now I am a fan.  She doesn't hesitate to cover such topics as war protests, avoiding the draft, interracial romance and marriage, and adoption by nontraditional couples, as well as rape and abortion.

All of these topics, coupled with the recipes at the end of the book, would make this a great choice for book clubs.

My only gripes with the book are two minor ones.  First, the blurb on the back of the advance reader edition (courtesy LibraryThing Early Reviewers), states that Jerome's last name is Barnes (not Sugar), and Ida is his grandmother (not mother).  Either the blurb needs to be corrected, or the text does.  Secondly, I don't like the cover.  It's very pretty, but really doesn't reflect the content of the book, and between it and the current blurb, seems to imply this is a light, beach-read romance, when it (thankfully) is not.

Hawai'i Calls by Marjorie Nelson Matthews

In 1935, Sadira "Sadie" Schaeffer Doyle is the social columnist for little Carlisle, New York's newspaper.  When her alcoholic husband loses yet another job, this time with the local mortuary his parents helped him establish, his partner finds him another job in Hawai'i - a place Sadira has longed to see thanks to the radio show "Hawaii Calls" - and they and their two sons move there for a fresh start.

Sadira writes about their early-1936 voyage (by ship from New York City) to Hawai'i for her upstate hometown paper.  Not long after her arrival in Hawaii, she secures a similar position with the Honolulu paper.  She hobnobs with celebrities and politicians, but her life isn't ideal.

The story is told in the alternating voices of Sadira and her oldest son, Lionel, who provides a different (and sometimes conflicting) view of life in Hawai'i for the family.

Author Marjorie Nelson Matthews based Sadira on her grandmother Zaida, who was a social/gossip columnist for a newspaper in Sodus, New York, as well as The Honolulu Star-Bulletin.   In a blog post a year ago, she said that in a scrapbook of her grandmother's columns, "I recognized the wealth of descriptive information in them, especially about Hawai‘i during its 1930s heyday as playground to the rich and famous."

In this aspect, the novel really shines.  The descriptions of people, places, parties, and events, both on the voyage and in Hawai'i, are vivid.  I found the long voyage, with stops in Havana and Los Angeles, especially intriguing.  Matthews also points out the difficulties the Japanese-Americans in Hawai'i had after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

I had more trouble with the characters of Sadira and Lionel.  The boy clearly has some unexplained eccentricities (he seems somewhat OCD), but the lack of empathy from his mother at times is rather appalling.  Matthews stated that she also drew from her father's memories, but I believe he is reflected in the younger son, Kenny, who is also artistic. (Matthews' father, Dick Nelson, provided the cover artwork.) 

I understand that children like Lionel can be trying, but Sadira comes across as especially selfish and self-centered.  Perhaps that is the author's intent, to show that her grandmother and her grandmother's life were not perfect, despite living in a seeming paradise.  I did admire Sadira for her ability to remake herself as needed in order to survive.  When World War II ends celebrity visits to the island and dries up material for her column, she finds another way to earn a living.

I'd still recommend this novel for its historical aspects and descriptions of life in Hawaii from 1936 through 1946.  It was a good complement to Michener's Hawaii, which I finished the previous month.

Ribbons of Scarlet - by Kate Quinn, Laura Kamoie, Heather Webb, Stephanie Dray, Sophie Perinot, and E. Knight

Six female historical fiction authors - Kate Quinn, Laura Kamoie, Heather Webb, Stephanie Dray, Sophie Perinot, and E. (Eliza) Knight - collaborated on this novel of the French Revolution, with a forward by Allison Pataki (who was unavailable to collaborate). The book focuses on seven lesser-known women:  Manon Roland, Princess Élisabeth (sister of King Louis XVI), Louise Audu, Charlotte Corday, Sophie de Grouchy Condorcet, Pauline Leon, and Emilie de Sainte-Amaranthe.

The women represent various classes (royalty, aristocrats, commoners, peasants), so there are multiple views of the revolution.  Each part (chapter) of the book was written by a different author, and is mainly in the voice of one of the characters (Pauline and Charlotte share one chapter).  Characters appear in other chapters, however, which helps the book flow smoothly.  The reader can follow the evolution of the revolution, through to and beyond its end.

Bonus materials for the book are available, and there's a great interview with the authors here.  The Library of Congress has a great research guide about women of the French Revolution.  Many of these authors have worked together and with other authors on similar collaborative historical novels in the "History 360 Presents" or "H-Team" series (of which this is the fifth), on topics like Pompeii, Troy, Odysseus, and Boudicca .  I'm eager to read them all.

Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters by Jennifer Chiaverini - historical fiction

I won this book from Library Thing's Early Reviewer program back in April 2020, but never received a copy from the publisher (William Morrow).  It still appeared on my Not Reviewed list (I've been an Early Reviewer since November 2007), so I checked my libraries and borrowed the e-book from one of my libraries.

Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters is another of Jennifer Chiaverini's books about Mary Todd Lincoln and people associated with her (Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, Mrs. Lincoln's Rival).  Mary Todd Lincoln had sixteen siblings in all (twelve of whom survived to adulthood), but this book focuses on her three full sisters (elders Elizabeth Todd Edwards and Frances Todd Wallace, and younger Ann Todd Smith) as well as one of her five younger half-sisters (Emilie Todd Helm).  

The book starts in 1875, when Elizabeth learns that Mary's oldest and only surviving son, Robert Todd Lincoln, has had her committed to a(n expensive) mental hospital.  Mary convinces people visiting her to reach out to her sisters (from whom she's been estranged) to "rescue" her.   

The book then alternates between the four sisters' viewpoints, as well as various times in the past and present, to depict Mary's childhood in Kentucky; her years with married sister Elizabeth in Springfield, Illinois, searching for a husband; her marriage to Lincoln and his rise to the presidency; and the years in the White House during the Civil War and the aftermath of his assassination.

The Civil War sharply divided Mary's Kentucky-based family. Elizabeth, Frances, Ann, and their husbands, long based in Springfield, supported the Union.  Their three half-brothers fought for the Confederacy, as did Emilie's husband (he was a general killed in the 1863 Battle of Chickamauga).  One full brother died in 1864 in Kentucky under mysterious circumstances; the other was a surgeon who served in a Confederate hospital in South Carolina.  Her other four half-sisters were married to men who either fought for the Confederacy or sympathized with it.

Through her sisters, the reader learns how Mary - generally through her own actions - has become estranged.  The sisters have different opinions about Mary's mental state, with Emilie perhaps the most sympathetic, having also lost her husband due to the war, and being a favorite of Lincoln - he called her "Little Sister."  Elizabeth continues the motherly role she had as a child, being the oldest, taking Mary in when she manages to convince the hospital to release her.  Frances and Ann wonder if Mary is acting out for the attention she's always craved.

Although Chiaverini provides some of her sources in her author's note, she doesn't clarify where she has deviated from fact to create her fiction, as so many other authors of historical fiction do.  This book can stand alone from the other Mrs. Lincoln's books, but it would be helpful to read Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker before this book.  There are references in Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters to said dressmaker, Elizabeth Keckley, as well as more examples of Mary Todd Lincoln's erratic behavior during and after her White House years.

© Amanda Pape - 2022