Review: 31 Bond Street, by Ellen Horan

Pages: 343
Original date of publication: 2010
My edition: 2010 (Harper)
Why I decided to read: Heard about it online somewhere
How I acquired my copy: ARC through the Vine, February 2010

31 Bond Street is the fictional story of a real murder. Dr. Harvey Burdell is a respected dental surgeon in New York, who meets Emma Cunningham, a widow, in Saratoga, in the summer of 1856. After beginning a relationship with her, he invited her and her daughters to live with him at his home on Bond Street. When things soured between them, and Dr. Burdell was brutally murdered in his office, Emma was the first suspect. Henry Clinton, one of the foremost lawyers in the United States, was hired to defend her, in one of the most sensational murder trials of the mid-19th century.

The book is told in two different ways: first there’s the “present day” stand, which covers the events after the body of Dr. Burdell was discovered by his servants; and the second, which takes the reader from Dr. Burdell and Emma’s first meeting. The description on the back of this book describes it as being like Caleb Carr’s work; while I think this book is good, I don’t think it’s quite at the level of The Alienist, or its sequel, Angel of Darkness (there’s a lot more psychological stuff in those two books, which I highly recommend if you’re interested in the period). But, like in Caleb Carr's books, here mid-19th century New York is described in vivid detail. Lots of research and in-depth descriptions of the sights, sounds, and smells of the time make this an enjoyable read. The murder and trial are of course the focal points of the book, but I do love books that make New York City a living, breathing character, too.

And that leads me to another thing I really liked about this book: the trail scenes themselves. The author apparently learned about the subject matter of this book by reading about it the way that a nineteenth century person would have—by reading newspaper articles, and then researching the story from there. Henry Clinton as a character gets lost a bit in the shuffle (but who wouldn’t), but Emma Cunningham herself is the star of this book. I’m not quite sure that I like how the mystery was wrapped up, but I can see why the author had things turn out the way they do. The story is told from Emma’s point of view, but you never really know until the end what will happen, or what kind of person Emma really is. So what is she: innocent victim or a cold murderer?

I really enjoyed the story, but there was a lot the author left out, or put in that didn’t necessarily need to be there (Clinton’s wife, for example; he didn’t marry until long after the events of this book took place, but the author has him married here—not for any reason I can see). Also, apparently, Emma pretended she was pregnant during the trial, and there was another boarder at 31 Bond Street who was involved in the case— interesting little details that I would have liked to have seen here. Still, as I’ve said, I really enjoyed this wonderful novel about nineteenth century New York.

The Sunday Salon

I’m on vacation in Arizona, and what a week it’s been! I got out to Arizona on Wednesday evening, and I’ll be going back to tomorrow… My parents and I have had a busy week; on Friday I got a new computer! A Mac, which I absolutely love. My old Dell Computer, which I’ve owned for four years, had had one virus too many, and we’d spent way too many hours on the phone with Dell support in India… which tested even my patience! I’m typing on my new computer as we speak.

Surprisingly, I’ve not done more than the average amount of reading this week. I wanted to bring books on vacation that I knew I’d enjoy, and so I bought Elizabeth Chadwick’s The Marsh King’s Daughter and Mary Stewart’s My Brother Michael. On the plane I read A Corpse at St. Andrew’s Chapel, which was the book I received as my February LTER book (received my December book this past week, and I’ve basically given up on my November book); and Angela Thirkell’s High Rising, the first in a series of books based upon Trollope’s Barsetshire novels. Very good, except for the fact that the copyediting was atrocious. I also brought along with me Paths of Exile, by Carla Nayland, and The Expendable Man, by Dorothy Hughes. Not sure if I’ll get to read all of these books on this vacation, but I figured I’d rather have too many books to read (and choose from) than not enough!

Other things done on this vacation have included a trip to the mall, dinner out as well as with some friends; trips to the gym/spa and a horseback trail ride this morning. What a difficult life I do lead! LOL. Sad to say that as of tomorrow the vacation officially comes to an end…

Review: Of the Ring of Earls, by Juliet Dymoke

Pages:318
Original date of publication: 1970
My edition: 1973 (Arrow)
Why I decided to read: mention on HFO
How I acquired my copy: through Amazon.com, February 2010

If you’ve read Elizabeth Chadwick’s The Winter Mantle, you’ll know what this novel is about: Waltheof of Huntingdon, the English Earl who nonetheless managed to keep his lands after the invasion of the Normans in 1066. He led a rebellion against the King, who nevertheless managed to forgive him; and later, Waltheof married Judith, William’s niece.

It’s a very, very good, story, one that I suspect not many people know about. Comparisons with Elizabeth Chadwick’s very good novel are inevitable. They obviously tell the same story, but in completely different ways. Waltheof here is a bit more romanticized, and Judith doesn’t have quite the amount of presence that she does in Chadwick’s book. Dymoke just doesn’t give her reader enough time to understand Judith’s motives for betraying her husband in the major way she does. So Judith comes across in this novel as an angry, bitter, wronged wife, whereas in real life I feel she was a lot more complicated than that.

Other than Judith, however, I felt that there was good character development overall in this novel, taking place as it does between the years of 1055-1076. Waltheof made a lot of major mistakes in his life, none the more so at the end, when he made the mistake that cost him his life. The story of Waltheof’s life is a very touching one, especially since Dymoke tells his story very sympathetically; so that at the end, you really feel badly about our hero’s fate. Those of you who have read The Winter Mantle will be interested to note that the famous mantle makes an appearance here, though Juliet Dymoke doesn’t attach the same kind of significance to it that Elizabeth Chadwick does.

I’ve only recently discovered the lost novels of Juliet Dymoke, and I’ve made it a point to hunt many of them down. Henry of the High Rock and Lion’s Legacy are loosely connected to this one, and cover the stories of Henry I and the wars between Steven and Matilda, respectively.

Review: The Love Knot, by Vanessa Alexander

Pages: 182
Original date of publication: 1999
My edition: 1999 (Headline)
Why I decided to read: It’s been on my TBR list for a while now
How I acquired my copy: Online through Amazon UK, September 2009

Written in epistolary form, The Love Knot is the story of the love affair between Joanna, Duchess of Gloucester and daughter of King Edward (Joan of Acre); and Ralph Monthermer, Welsh knight. Witness to their love affair is the cold, shred clerk named Henry Trokelowe, who is charged by the King to discover what happened in the matter of the death of Gilbert de Clare, Joanna’s husband. His behavior is starkly in contrast to that of the lovers, whose passionate affair drives the action of much of this novel.

The letters are written by several of the characters: from Joanna to Ralph and vice versa; and from Trokelowe to the King (and there are a couple of letters at the end from the King to various people, to tie up the loose ends of the story). Each of the characters writes in a very distinct, unique style. Trokelowe, having seen people destroyed by love, is a skeptic on the subject matter, and has even written on the subject of the danger of lovesickness; so it was interesting over the course of the letters to see things from his point of view.

In the meantime, I was very drawn in by Joan and Ralph’s romance, which wasn’t at all run-of-the-mill. Joanna, having seen her parents have a loving, happy relationship, wants the same for herself, and it’s this desire that propels her action throughout the book. The novel is short, and it only covers a period of about three months, during the spring and early summer of 1297. Therefore, it necessarily leaves quite a lot out, which in some ways is a shame, since there’s such a wealth of material here that the author could have worked with (for example, Joanna gave birth to her oldest child with Monthermer in October 1297—ten months after the death of Gilbert de Clare—so it’s possible that by the time this novel takes place, she would have known about the pregnancy). It’s a wonderful story; I’d love to find a longer account of it!

Review: Fitzempress' Law, by Diana Norman

Pages: 284
Original date of publication: 1980
My edition: 1980 (St. Martin’s Press
Why I decided to read: heard about it through HFO
How I acquired my copy: From the library, Febryary 2010

What would happen if you were suddenly thrust back into the 12th century? What would you do? Where would you live? What would you wear? What would you eat? How would you travel? What would your attitude to life be? And how would you seek justice, if you’d been wronged?

Fitzempress’ Law is a novel that succeeds in answering these questions. It’s the story of three teenagers from the present who are thrown back in time when their motorcycle crashes. Pete becomes a knight; Len becomes a villein; and Sal becomes a novice, set in a convent when her betrothal goes awry. Soon, all three must use the law—that of the King, Henry II, also called Fitzempress—in order to right wrongs that were visited upon them.

It’s a brilliant evocation of the late twelfth century—the sights, the smells, the people, all come alive, because all aspects of the twelfth century are vividly described. She even gets the medieval mindset down right. Even if I hadn’t known much about Henry II’s England, I would have learned a lot about the period anyways, because all the details are so absorbing. And, because these three main characters come from such different walks of life (as their past selves) there’s a lot to cover. So often, authors who write about this particular period focus on the big stuff: the kings, queens, popes, and wars. It’s great to see an author who focuses on the small stuff as well.

Norman (who has written a number of novels under her other name, Ariana Franklin) has clearly done her research, but she doesn’t hit her reader over the head with it. Rather, she unfolds bits and pieces of the 12th century at a time, as it applies to the course of the plot. Especially well done is Norman’s description and understanding of legal matters.

However, I did feel as though the modern-day personalities weren’t as well drawn out (mostly, I suppose, because Len, Sal, and Pete are all in a coma as all this goes on), and they seemed to become a little too adjusted to the past, too quickly. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed this novel. Highly recommended, if you can find a copy somewhere—prices online for it tend to be exorbitant. They really need to reissue this one!

Review: The Sheen on the Silk, by Anne Perry

Pages: 514
Original date of publication: 2010
My edition: 2010 (Ballantine)
Why I decided to read: An interest in the period led me to pick this one up
How I acquired my copy: ARC through the Vine, January 2010

In The Sheen in the Silk, Anne Perry enters different territory than with her Victorian-era mysteries. Set in Constantinople in the 1270s and ‘80s, it features the adventures of Anna Zarides, a young woman who goes to the city to investigate a murder supposedly committed by her brother. Anna dresses as a eunuch and poses as a physician, so that she may better conduct her inquiries. All of this is set against a larger struggle between the Eastern Orthodox church and western Christianity.

Oh, dear. I really wanted to like this book. A beautiful setting, an intriguing plot—I thought, how could you go wrong with that? Well, a lot of things. It’s not that Anne Perry is a bad writer; it’s just that this particular novel wasn’t interesting or intriguing enough to make me want to read on. From the get-go, the premise of the book isn’t entirely clear; for the first two hundred pages or so, I had a hard time sorting out the characters and what had happened to whom. There also wasn’t enough back story to any of the characters from the start, so I was confused for a long time before things began to make some sense.

Another one of the book’s problem is that it’s a mix of genres, both mystery and epic historical fiction, if you want to call it that. This confused and confusing mix of genres ultimately works against the novel; because it frequently becomes a convoluted mess.

Another thing I didn’t like about this book were the characters, especially the main one; it seems as though the author pulled out all the clichés to describe here. How many times before have we seen the enlightened female physician in historical fiction? Also, I thought that Anna was extremely difficult to like as a character, simply because we never got to see her as anything other than cold and clinical. In fact, Anna spends so much time with her patients and not enough time investigating the murder that I began to get bored after a while. Her search is conducted over a number of years, too, which lessened the sense of urgency that make you as the reader want to read on. Anne Perry’s descriptions of 13th century Constantinople are gorgeous, and her writing style is very straightforward; but I simply did not connect to any of the characters or the implausible plot for me to continue reading after page 200. It’s a shame, because, having read some of her Thomas Pitt novels, I was expecting something much better.

Review: The Creation of Eve, by Lynn Cullen

Pages: 390
Original date of publication: 2010
My edition: 2010 (Putnam)
Why I decided to read: heard about it through LTER
How I acquired my copy: review copy via Amazon Vine, February 2010

Sofonisba Anguissola was one of the foremost female artists of the Renaissance. Born in a small town in Italy, she studied in Rome under Michelangelo, and became a lady in waiting and art teacher to Elizabeth of Valois who became Queen of Spain when she married King Filipe. While there, Sofonisba witnesses the budding relationship between Elizabeth and the King’s young half brother, Don Juan.

If you’re looking for a story that’s solely about Sofonisba you might be a bit disappointed. She’s more of a witness to what’s going on around her, rather an active participant in the story. Although Sofinisba led an interesting life herself, it’s Elizabeth, Felipe, and the Spanish court that take the stage here, and it’s an excellent story, well told. Like another reader here, I was very surprised by, and interested in, the author’s treatment of Felipe. I guess I, too, am too use to England-based novels set during this time period, which depict him as a cruel monster. Elizabeth is rather silly, naïve, and pathetic in the way that she behaves, but that doesn’t stop the reader from ultimately feeling sympathetic towards her. In the end, the reader realizes that Sofi and Elizabeth are very similar; they’re both trapped in positions they didn’t choose to be in, unable to make their own decisions about their lives.

I also loved the heavy amount of historical details that are in this book. The author obviously did a lot of research to get her story to feel authentic, and her hard work has paid off here. Everything is described in minute detail, without those details bogging down the natural flow of the story. The author’s writing style reminds me a lot of that of Sarah Dunant—both in tone and content.

The Sunday Salon

Sorry I've been MIA recently. My computer at home was hit by a serious virus, so it's been out of commission for the past few days. Right now I'm working on a computer at a Fed Ex/Kinkos near home. I'm still reading, and writing reviews, but posting on here will be a bit less frequent as I try to sort my mess out. I'll still have reviews scheduled intermittently, though.

In terms of reading, this has been a great week, as usual. I'm also in the middle of preparing for my vacation out to Arizona on Wednesday--can't wait for the warmer weather, although of course it's been incredibly warm here in Pennsylvania as well.

How's your week been?

Review: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe, by Fannie Flagg

Pages: 416
Original date of publication: 1987
My edition: 2000 (Ballantine)
Why I decided to read: Haven’t re-read this is a while, but I’m digging up one of my old Amazon reviews (August 2004)
How I acquired my copy: Borders, about ten years ago

This is a review I posted on Amazon in August 2004, back when I was just staring to write reviews of the books I read. I was prompted to post this after re-watching the film version a few weeks ago. My how my writing style has changed!

One of my favorite novels of small-town America in the South, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is the story of the friendship between Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Bennett. Covering a period of time of about sixty years, the story is told through the eyes of Evelyn Threadgoode to a middle-aged housewife in the 1980s.

Whistle Stop, Alabama, 1920s: suffering from the loss of her older brother, Buddy, tomboy Idgie goes into reclusive hiding. When Ruth Bennett comes into town to stay with her family, the unlikely pair become best friends, and open the Whistle Stop Café, where their specialty is Fried Green Tomatoes.

It’s an anecdotal book, comprised of the memories of Evelyn and newspaper clippings from local columnist, Dot.

In addition, the disappearance of Ruth's husband Frank runs its course. When his truck is fished out of the river twenty years later, people begin to wonder, Was it murder?

This book made me laugh; it also made me cry. The movie based on the book is just as good as the book itself.

Review: Mister Slaughter, by Robert McCammon

Pages: 440
Original date of publication: 2010
My edition: 2010 (Subterranean Press)
Why I decided to read: read the first two books in the series back in 2007
How I acquired my copy: review copy from the publisher, February 2010

Mister Slaughter is the first book in a series that began with Speaks the Nightbird and continued with The Queen of Bedlam. Mister Slaughter is sort of a continuation of The Queen of Bedlam (I certainly recommend reading that book first, since this book references some of the events and people of the first. Speaks the Nightbird is more of a stand-alone novel). Here, Matthew Corbett (a “problem solver” for the Herrald Agency in New York) and his associate, Hudson Greathouse, are charged with the task of transporting a murderer named Tyranthus Slaughter from an insane asylum to New York, where he will be sent back to England to await trial—and, inevitably, the hangman’s noose. But this being a Matthew Corbett novel, things don’t go quite as planned, and Matthew and Greathouse find themselves hunting Slaughter through the woods of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Their search eventually brings them to the attention of Professor Fell, who was a major part of The Queen of Bedlam.

This is a very strong addition to the series, all the more so because Matthew’s character develops significantly in this novel. He suffers from the sins of vanity, greed, and pride (which often go hand in hand), and part of his development in this book involves his learning to be more humble and willing to admit that he’s made mistakes—and he makes one or two here. He’s young, too, which leaves a lot of room for development over the course of more books. Hudson Greathouse takes a backseat (since he gets injured about halfway through), but the book is complimented by the introduction of a few new associates, including a Seneca tracker who’s considered mad by his tribe mates; and a teenage boy intent on revenge. Slaughter is a delightful (if a mass murderer can be called that) villain, who manages to make people trust him, even while the reader thinks, “no! Don’t trust him!”

The plot too is very good, with the right amount of tension. Robert McCammon is a little less skilled at the historical parts (retirement communities in 1702?), but I thought the book was well-researched nonetheless. In addition, at times, the characters seemed a bit too modern (at one point, one of the characters exclaims, “I’ll blow the shit out of him!”). Robert McCammon is famous for his earlier horror novels, and there’s certainly a fair amount of that kind of gruesomeness here (I’m not going to say anything, but remember what happened to Frank Bennett in Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café… totally different book, I know…). Despite the books minor flaws, I really enjoyed this book. You can definitely see the inspiration of the great heroes of the 1950s and ‘60s (James Bond, in particular; there’s a ship named the Golden Eye, plus an inventor whose last name begins with Q). And indeed, there’s a lot of action and adventure in this novel. I can’t wait to read what’s next for Matthew Corbett and his associates.

Review: Wild Romance, by Chloe Schama

Pages (with notes and index): 249
Original date of publication: 2010My edition: 2010 (Walker & Company)
Why I decided to read: Heard about it through LTER
How I acquired my copy: review copy from the publisher, February 2010

Wild Romance is the true story of the life of Theresa Longworth, a woman who, in 1852, met William Yelverton aboard a steamship. Their romance was a mostly one-sided affair, which concluded with two secret marriages. When Yelverton later abandoned Theresa for marriage to another woman, Theresa instigated the first of several court cases to determine that her marriage to him was valid.

On the whole, this story of this book is stretched a bit thin. Only half of this 250-page book is devoted to the “romance” and trial; the rest to Theresa’s travels throughout America and Asia. I was expecting something meatier, something that would explain why Yelverton led Theresa on to the extent that he did. It’s quite possible that all he was after was sex; but in that case, why would he go so far as to have two weddings to her? The rhetoric of the court suggested that Yelverton was seduced by Theresa, and was led astray by his desires, but I tend to think that things were much more complicated than that. I guess the largest problem I had was that Yelverton as a person never really came across. In fact, he’s hardly mentioned in the second half of the book as Theresa went abroad. I’d love to have known, too, what his wife, Emily Forbes, thought of the whole affair. After all, if Yelverton had been forced to take responsibility for his actions, he would basically have been committing bigamy, and his children with his second wife illegitimate.

Although the reader was privy to Theresa’s thoughts and actions, I never really empathized with her. I’m not sure that I agree with the author’s assessment of her; in fact, I’m not sure that she wasn’t simply out for her fifteen minutes of fame, frequently making an exhibition of herself, making her look flighty at best and stupid at worst. In the end, I realized that both parties in the Yelverton case were simply subjects of their own stupidity and bad decisions.

Although I thought the book was well-researched, and the author is a competent writer, I thought the photographs in the book needed improvement. For example, there’s only one picture in the entire book of Yelverton—a grainy, blurred miniature at the beginning. The rest of the photographs are vague, indistinct photographs and paintings (some anachronistic) of the places Theresa and Yelverton visited. I’m not one for judging a book solely on the pictures reproduced inside, but these definitely weren't of great quality. In all, this is a decent work of nonfiction.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to:

--Grab your current read
--Let the book open to a random page.
--Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
--You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from… that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

“I searched his face. Though he did not smile, his eyes crinkled with mirth.”

--From The Queen’s Pawn, by Christy English

Cover Deja-Vu #21

Here are two more where the covers are similar (found these at Barnes and Noble recently, and since they were literally side by side on the bookshelf, I couldn't help but notice them): Elissa Elliott's Eve, and Anna Elliott's Twilight of Avalon. They've changed the color of the shawl,and centered it differently, but it's essentially the same image.

The Sunday Salon

Wow, I got a lot of reading done here this week: After The Creation of Eve, I read another review copy: 31 Bond Street, by Ellen Horan. After that I read Hester, by Paula Reed, a book I won through LTER but never received, so I borrowed my copy from the library. Now I’m reading Margaret Oliphant’s Miss Marjoribanks. All of these books, with the exception of Hester, I enjoyed very much.

I suspect that I’m not the only one who’s been affected by the rainstorms we’ve been having here—the power went out for six hours yesterday, and since there was really nothing else to do, I sat and read for most of that time. Therefore, I got a good chunk of Miss Marjoribanks read in the afternoon, by flashlight. Today it’s still be wet out, but not to the extent that it was yesterday. Still, since we live in a valley, there’s a huge pool of water on our corner!

Up this week I have a few more review copies I have to read for this month and next, and then I’m going on vacation, so I need a few books to read while I’m away. I’m going to be in Arizona for a few days at the end of the month, and I was thinking about bringing one of Mary Stewart’s books, and I’ve been saving The Expendable Man, a classic suspense novel set in Arizona, about a young doctor who’s accused of the murder of a teenaged hitchhiker. Don’t know what else I’ll take, but oddly enough I’m in the mood for mysteries. What books do you bring on vacation? Does where you go influence what genres you pack to take along?

Review: The Lute Player, by Norah Lofts

Pages: 572
Original date of publication: 1951
My edition: 2009 (Touchstone)
Why I decided to read: Found it while browsing at B&N
How I acquired my copy: Bought at B&N with a giftcard, January 2010

The Lute Player is the story of Richard the Lionhearted, as told from the point of view of Blondel, the eponymous lute player; Richard’s mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine; and Anna Apieta, crippled half sister to Richard’s wife, Berengaria. The novel focuses on Richard’s reign of England (a country he spent very little time in), especially the time he spent while on crusade. It’s hard to write about someone in English history who is so well-known and well-loved; what better way than to write his story from the point of view of the people who knew him best?

The book takes a while to get going—most of the beginning is devoted to Berengaria, hopelessly in love with a man who was more in love with the idea of reclaiming the Holy Land. In fact, the real action of the book begins with the crusade, which doesn’t actually happen until around page 300! Nonetheless, this novel is written in an engaging style, and many of the characters, especially the ones who are narrators, are well-defined. I feel as though Eleanor of Aquitaine is a difficult person to write about, much less put words into her mouth, and I think Lofts did an admirable job of writing as her. I found myself less sympathetic towards and understanding of Anna, mainly because of her self-deprecating attitude towards her condition and natural acceptance of her spinsterhood.

The book is a little long, however, and it gets wearying after a while. For a book that’s supposed to be about Richard, I got a feel more for some of the other characters—especially since Richard kept haring off at every opportunity. And the major event that happens that changes the relationship between Blondel and Richard isn’t described, only alluded to, so the awkwardness between them seemed a bit contrived. Still, I enjoyed this novel about the late-12th century—though I think there are better novels out there. And I hear that Sharon Kay Penman is in the midst of writing a book about Richard herself…

Review: Island of Ghosts, by Gillian Bradshaw

Pages: 319
Original date of publication: 1998
My edition: 1998 (Forge)
Why I decided to read: I’m a little deficient in ancient Roman historical fiction
How I acquired my copy: Ex library, January 2010

Island of Ghosts is the story of the clash of two cultures in 3rd century Britain. Ariantes is a prince of the Sarmatian nation, who made a deal with the Emperor to supply the Empire with troops.

As I’ve said before, I’m a little deficient in historical fiction set in ancient Rome or its colonies, and I was anxious to make up for that. It’s a fascinating time period, but I feel as though in this novel, the author takes an interesting subject matter and manages to make it uninteresting! I felt that the dialogue and the characters’ actions too modern to be believable. The novel is written in a very simplistic way; maybe this book was meant as YA? Maybe I’m just not in the demographic that this book was meant for.

Bradshaw is unlike any other author I’ve ever read, and I don’t mean that in a complimentary way—she manages to take her narrator and take him completely out of the story, so much so that you really don’t end up caring what happens him in the end. In fact, Ariantes’s character is a mess of contradictions, and what we see of him in this novel is totally at odds with the reputation he has. Ariantes also has an amazing skill, which I didn’t find believable: he instinctively understands and empathizes with both Sarmatian and Roman customs, which again is totally at odds with the back story he’s given us. After all, this is the warrior prince who is said to have turned an enemy’s head into a drinking cup! The author has clearly done her research on the period, but I felt that the book fell flat in many places, causing me to skim over several parts. If you’re looking for a really good, meaty historical novel about ancient Rome, then this book probably won’t be it.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to:

--Grab your current read
--Let the book open to a random page.
--Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
--You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from… that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

“The performance went brilliantly and ended when the Warden banged on the bars and the prison officers herded the reporters away. The Following morning, the New York Times mentioned her bombazine silk dress and the encounter with her daughters.”

--From 31 Bond Street, by Ellen Horan

Review: The Regency, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Pages: 586
Original date of publication: 1990
My edition: 2006 (Sphere)
Why I decided to read: continuation of the Morland Dynasty series
How I acquired my copy: Amazon.com, September 2009

#13: 1807-1815; covers the Regency; Napoleonic period; Luddite rebellions

The Regency is the continuation of Heloise Morland’s story. In the previous book in the series, The Victory, we saw Heloise marry her heart’s desire, James Morland. Here, we witness Heloise’s re-adjustment to life at Morland Place, and deal with the challenge of taming James’s unruly daughter, Fanny, for whom she is a sort of regent before Fanny comes of age. Aged eleven when the novel begins, Fanny matures into a young woman who is anxious to gain not only her inheritance of Morland Place, but her grandfather Hobsbawn’s cotton mill empire. But a wrench is thrown into her plans when she falls in love with the up-to-no-good Lieutenant Hawker. Meanwhile, Lucy is trying to deal with the death of Weston, remaining friends with Beau Brummell and his set. Many characters are born in this book, including Nicholas and Benedict, who play leading roles in further books in this series.

I always like the books in the series that focus on the family more and not the political events taking place around them. It’s not that those political events are uninteresting (though the Napoleonic period isn’t really my thing); it’s simply that I’m becoming more and more interested in the Morlands as people, the more I read about them. The Morlands's stories tend to be a bit soap opera-ish, but are satisfying reads nevertheless.I love reading novels that focus on the way that people lived in the past, and the Morland series certainly gives its readers a good glimpse into the lives of ordinary people from the past. It was interesting to see the interplay between the older generation (Jemima’s children, now more or less middle-aged) and the younger generation—some of which experience their very own coming-out Season in London, even as war rages elsewhere in Europe.

Heloise is a bit too Mary Sue-ish, and I found myself getting frustrated with the extremely selfish Fanny (shades of Annunciata, perhaps?); but what I like about the characters in this series is that they seem like flesh-and-blood people, who might easily have lived, and who made mistakes just the same as anyone else. Cynthia Harrod-Eagles really knows how to tell a good story, and keep her readers interested in her characters over a period of time—especially since many of them appear in multiple books. It's quite a feat to keep up that kind of momentum in any series as long-running as this one is. Despite what happens at the end of this book, I have to applaud Harrod-Eagles for writing the story that way; I feel that there’s only so much she could have done with Fanny’s story in the long run, anyways.

The author sometimes lifts sentences straight from Jane Austen, especially when the girls are coming out in London; and the book's copyediting was atrocious, as was the author's erratic spelling of the word "show." Nonetheless, I think this is a strong addition to the Morland Dynasty saga, and certainly better than some of the others.

The Sunday Salon

A very busy week here! Yesterday I went to New York for my sister’s graduation, and then broke away to visit some of my old haunts. I went down to the Strand, where I bought a copy of Marguerite Yourcenar’s The Abyss; and to Barnes and Noble, where I bought The Floating Book, by Michelle Lovric. Not quite as much book shopping as you might expect, but honestly I don’t really need much more! I also did a bit of shopping elsewhere, so I returned back uptown laden with shopping bags! An exhausting but fun day.

In terms of the reading I did this week, I’ve finished Fitzempress’ Law (Diana Norman, a time travel novel set in the late 12th century), The Love Knot (Vanessa Alexander, about the love affair between Joan of Acre and Ralph of Monthermer)), and Of the Ring of Earls (Juliet Dymoke, a novel about Waltheof of Huntington). I’ve been in a medieval mood this week, haven’t I? All three books are excellent; it’s too bad that they’re out of print! If you can I recommend getting any of the three from the library. Currently I’m reading a review copy of The Creation of Eve, by Lynn Cullen, a novel about Sofinisba Anguissola, coming out on March 23rd. I’m enjoying it a lot, because the author’s style reminds me a bit of Sarah Dunant.

How was your week?

Review: A Hollow Crown, by Helen Hollick

Pages: 864
Original date of publication: 2004
My edition: 2004 (Arrow Books)
Why I decided to read: It was a snowy weekend, and I needed a good chunkster to read!
How I acquired my copy: Bookdepository, November 2009

Emma of Normandy was born around the year 985, and was married to two different kings of England: Aethelred, called the Unready; and Cnut, the Dane who conquered England after Aethelred proved himself to be completely incompetent as a king. Emma greatly despised her first husband, but she was much more compatible with her second. Emma was also the mother of two kings: Harthnacnut and Edward, called the Confessor; and she was the great-aunt of William the Conqueror. Emma was Queen of England by dint of her marriages, but she emerges as an interesting figure in her own right, especially since she managed to remain Queen even while in exile. A Hollow Crown covers the period of her life from 1002-1042, from her wedding to Aethelred up through the death of Harthnacnut.

In addition to her other accomplishments, Emma had a biography written of her—the Encomium Emmae, which conveniently focuses on the reign of her son Hartnacnut and leaves out Emma’s first husband—medieval propaganda at its finest! You have to admire a woman who had the audacity to do such a thing. The author portrays Emma’s relationship to Cnut as a love match, but there was equally a lot of political maneuvering there as well.

In terms of reading, I’m a bit deficient in historical fiction set pre-Conquest. Although I know a lot about the late medieval period, I don’t know much about the earlier stuff, and this novel was an entertaining, engaging way to learn about the 11th century as told from the point of view of one of history’s forgotten queens. Emma is a strong, independent woman, but not too modern—I loved the scene where she finally stands up to Aethelred and throws a stool at him! Emma’s definitely not a woman I would have wanted to double-cross! I really enjoyed following Emma’s character development, from shy bride to a woman who, born Norman, became more English than the English themselves. Helen Hollick is a marvelous writer, bringing the events and people of long ago to life. It’s hard to believe that all of this happened nearly a thousand years ago, since the author makes it seem as though the events of this book happened yesterday!

As the author says in her note at the end, “I find it very frustrating that the rich, varied and wonderful culture of England pre 1066 has so casually been swept aside by those who wrote of and recorded the post-1066 kings.” It’s said that history is written by the victors, and I think that was especially true of the Normans when they invaded England, sweeping aside Saxon history as though it had never happened. The time of the Danish invasions was a brutal one, to be sure, but I think a lot of good came out of that period as well. A Hollow Crown is a prequel to Harold the King, written before this one but of course set afterwards.

Review: The Brontes Went to Woolworths, by Rachel Ferguson

Pages: 188
Original date of publication: 1931
My edition: 2010 (Bloomsbury Group)
Why I decided to read: Heard about it through LTER
How I acquired my copy: review copy from the publisher, February 2010

As Miss Martin says about the Carne girls, this book is “v. weird.” And yet, I loved it. Right from the very first paragraph, you know you’re going to be in for quite a ride: “How I loathe that kind of novel which is about a lot of sister. It is usually called They Were Sisters, of Three-Not Out, and one spends one’s entire time trying to sort them all, and muttering ‘Was it Isobel who drank, or Gertie? And which was it who ran away with the gigolo, Any or Pauline? And which of their separated husbands was Lionel, Isobel’s or Amy’s?’”. How can you not continue reading, with an opening like that one? I’m glad to say that the rest of the book is just as witty and funny as that one bit is.

The Brontes Went to Woolworths is told from the point of view of Deirdre, one of the Carne sisters. She’s the journalist and novelist; Katrine is the drama school student; and Sheil (not short for Sheila) is still in the schoolroom with her governess, Miss Martin, who thinks the girls very strange. For the girls have a habit of making up stories, about real people they’ve never met. If they were small children, this wouldn’t be unusual… except for the fact that the two eldest are in their twenties. Again, “v. weird.” The latest subject of their fantasies is Justice Toddington and his wife Mildred. One day, Deirdre actually meets Mildred at a charity bazaar, and the Toddintons become embroiled in the fantasy. But as always, real life intercepts.

In this book, as a reader (and outsider), you often feel like Miss Martin, who never quite knows what’s going on, or what’s real and what isn’t. The girls frequently make fun of her, but I have to say that I completely empathize with her point of view—I’d get fed up with the Carnes’ behavior, too! The book is a bit confusing at times, especially since Deirdre’s narration is a bit ADD—he jumps all over the place in terms of what she talks about, sometimes within the same paragraph. But after a couple of chapters (and the chapters in this book are all very short), I got the hang of her style of talking.

The Brontes Went to Woolworths is a catchy title, of course, but the Bronte bit doesn’t appear until the very end of the book and seems to come from nowhere (as does most of the plot of this book). The Carnes live in a world that is completely disconnected to real life, and it makes this novel a bit hard to follow sometimes. But I think you have to take this book for what it is: a neat, yet surreal, little fantasy.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to:

--Grab your current read
--Let the book open to a random page.
--Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
--You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from… that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

“Pete himself had a revulsion of feeling against them. He couldn’t face Reuben or any of his household that night.”

--From Fitzempress’ Law, by Diana Norman (also known as Ariana Franklin

Review: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson

Pages: 368
Original publication date: 2010
My edition: 2010 (Random House)
Why I decided to read: Arc sent to me through LibraryThing Early Reviewers
How I acquired my copy: ditto, November 2009
In this novel, we meet Major Ernest Pettigrew, a sexagenarian living in the small Sussex village in which he has lived all his life. The death of his brother, Bertie, leads to a chance encounter with Mrs. Ali, the Pakistani woman who owns a shop in the village. Their relationship is one of those gentle romances where, despite their differences and living in a circumscribed village where pretty much everybody judges you, the reader finds themselves rooting for these characters.

It’s a book that’s full of sarcasm, some of it genuinely funny; but most of it is at the expense of some of the other characters and ends up being malicious rather than entertaining. The author makes the mistake that a lot of first-time authors make: she both shows and tells. Take for example Major Pettigrew’s son, Roger. Not only are we shown that Roger is self-absorbed, Simonson also tells us that he is.

The prose is often overwritten, and sometimes doesn’t make sense. The author seems fond of the word “telegraphed” (as in “Amina looked down at her bright crimson boots, her shoulders sunk into an old woman’s hunch that telegraphed defeat.”). The author uses this verb at several different places in the novel. What happened to good, old “communicated?” It’s like she pulled out a thesaurus and thought, “what’s the most overwrought word I can use in this instance?” There are also some inconsistencies, too: the book is littered with Americanisms (French doors, vans, etc), but one of the American characters uses Briticisms, like addressing her boyfriend as “darling,” or describing something as “dreadful.”

I did like the premise of the novel, but it’s marred by a series of unlikely coincidences and people behaving in completely unlikely ways (ex. Mrs. Ali’s response to George and Amina about halfway through the book). I’ve been mostly critical of this book, but there are some really funny bits, too, and the characters of Major Pettigrew and Mrs. Ali are truly delightful. Despite my criticisms, Simonson has the potential to be a good writer; if only she would lay off the overwritten prose, and polished her writing a bit, a fine novel might come out of that.

Also reviewed by: An Adventure in Reading

The Four Month Challenge, Part III

I mentioned recently that I’ve decided to join the four-month challenge, part 3, which runs starting from March 1st. Here are the categories and what I’ve decided to read or am thinking about reading for each:

5 Point Challenges

Read a book by an author you’ve never read before
The Creation of Eve, by Lynn Cullen READ

Read a book with a one word title
Avalon, by Anya Seton

Read a book with an animal name in the title
The Royal Griffin, by Juliet Dymoke

Read a book with a proper name in the title:
Gildenford, by Valerie Anand

Read a fantasy

The White Mare, by Jules Watson


10 Point Challenges

Read an ‘Austenesque’ book


Read a book with a two word title
Fitzempress’ Law, by Diana Norman READ

Read a book that is part of a series
The Campaigners, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Read a book about a real person
Within the Fetterlock, by Brian Wainwright (novel about Constance of York)

Read a mystery
The Devil’s Door, by Sharan Newman


15 Point Challenges

Read a book written in the 60’s (any century)
Miss Marjoribanks, by Margaret Oliphant (1866) READ

Read a book with a number in the title
31 Bond Street, by Ellen Horan READ

Read a book by an author born in March, April, May or June.
Kristin Lavrandatter II: The Wife, by Sigrid Undset (May 20 1882)

Read a book with a three word title
The Far Cry, by Emma Smith

Read a book by an author with three names
The Young Pretenders, by Edith Henrietta Fowler

20 Point Challenges

Read a book with over 500 pages


Read a book with a four word title
To Defy a King, by Elizabeth Chadwick

Read a book by two authors


Read a book written in the 70s (any century)
Of the Ring of Earls, by Juliet Dymoke (1970) READ

Read a book that has been number one on the NYT Best-sellers list