Song of a Blackbird

Finished August 26

Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout

This graphic novel is based on real historical events, but has fictional people inspired by real ones. There are two timelines in the book. In the present day, Annick is researching her grandmother's past to try to find biological family members after her grandmother's health situation led to discovery that her grandmother was adopted by the family she grew up in. There are five prints on the wall of her home that are clues to the past. Each of the prints takes us to a building that played a role in the Nazi deportations of Jewish people in the Netherlands and the resistance that worked to save lives. We quickly learn that Annick's grandmother had an older brother that was also spirited away from his Nazi captors, but the two were separated, and never reunited. He thought she was dead, and she was young enough at the time not to realize that she had lost him. 

Using the prints as clues is an interesting plot device that also takes us to printers that created false documents for the resistance, and even to an historic bank robbery that I hadn't known about before reading this.

The limited palette works well here, and the blackbird in the title serves as both a narrator and a symbol of hope that helped people survive. 

The Christie Affair

Finished August 26

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont

This novel takes the real eleven-day disappearance of Agatha Christie that was never explained to a reimagined version that completely captivated me. Some elements of the disappearance were kept, but most names have changed and some people characterized differently than they were.

This novel is told from the point of view of Agatha's husband Archie's mistress, here named Nan O'Dea. Nan grew up in London, but spent summers at the home of her father's sister in Ireland and grew close to a young man there. The first world war upended her life, and after losing a family member she remained in England until after her young man Finbarr returned home. There was an event following this that determined her actions going forward and had a large effect on her state of mind.

Meanwhile Agatha had become a successful author, earning enough to support herself and it is implied that her husband may have resented her attentions to her craft rather than himself. Agatha was determined to save her marriage after she learned of his betrayal, but he finally made the decision to divorce. They argued and he left to spend the weekend with his mistress. Agatha disappeared late that evening, with her car found in strange circumstances the next day, sitting on the edge of a quarry. 

As the novel progresses, Nan tells the story from a variety of points of view, with explanations of how she knew what happened with these others, from Agatha herself, to Archie, to police officials. The crossing of paths between Nan and Agatha is interesting and well-thought-out. 

A large portion of the novel takes us through Nan's past and what led her to the affair with Archie. This portion of the novel is entirely fictional and takes us through other serious issues, mostly in Ireland. 

I enjoyed the way this novel humanizes Agatha and we see her vulnerability, and how she took the time to understand that she had limited choices going forward and had to accept the end of her marriage. A very engaging read. 

Totally and Completely Fine

Finished August 25

Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman

This contemporary romance novel follows Lauren Parker, who grew up and lives in the small town of Cooper, Montana. In the present, Lauren runs a craft and book store with her mother, a retired school teacher. Her younger brother Gabe is a famous actor and has helped all the family out financially. Three years ago, Lauren's husband Spencer died in a car accident, something she and her teen daughter Lena are still struggling with. She also has a difficult relationship with Lena as Lena is a moody teen. When the two go to visit Gabe on set, Lauren meets actor Ben Walsh, and there is instant chemistry. Ben is younger than Lauren and she struggles with her attraction, her worries about the age gap and their different trajectories. 

We see Lauren's younger years, after her own father died when she was eleven and she herself was a rebellious teen. Living in a small town, she earned a certain reputation that some locals still paint her as. She knows how reputation can affect her life and doesn't want to go through that again, or bring attention on her own daughter in a negative way.

This is a romance, but also a story of struggling with grief and moving forward after loss. It is about family and intimacy, and how we all long to be seen, even though it can be scary to be vulnerable.

I enjoyed this novel and found it a real page-turner. 

The Knowledge of Water

Finished August 21

The Knowledge of Water by Sarah Smith

This historical novel has elements of suspense and romance, as well as an interesting historical setting. It is 1910 and in Paris. 

One of the main characters, Alexander von Reisden adopted his current life when he was very young. At the age of eight, he was an American boy who killed in self-defense and fled, changing his name and his country. For years he had buried his memories of the past, but eventually remembered and now feels the weight of his actions heavily. He worried that his crime is a personality and moral flaw that he cannot escape. But the three people who know of his past have absolved him, recognizing the circumstances of the action he took. He now runs Jouvet Medical Analyses, an institute that specialized in mental disturbances and has an impressive case archive going back decades.

Perdita Halley is the other main character. She is a young American woman studying music, specifically piano, persevering in spite of her instructor's misogyny and her own failing sight.  She is the protégée of American rare book expert Gilbert Knight, who funds her studies and worries about her enough that he sends his friend, investigator Roy Daugherty to Paris to check on her, determine whether an outright gift of money is a good idea and see if his hoped-for union of Perdita and Alexander is likely.

Perdita and Alexander are close, and they grow closer despite their misgivings. They are drawn to each other, but Perdita worries that marriage will mean giving up music, and Alexander worries that Perdita won't be happy. 

Meanwhile the rain in France is at record levels and flooding issues grow more dire. There is also a murdered woman, who identified with the Mona Lisa, and whose body sits in the morgue waiting for the investigation on her death to lead to her murderer, and the museum guard who may have killed her. There is Milly Xico, a French writer whose ex-husband still tries to control her and exploit her talents as he did during their marriage, even as she makes strategic choices of her own. There is a possible art fraud regarding paintings by an artist who died a few years earlier, and his widow, Madame Mallais, who may be part of the fraud. 

I enjoyed the undercurrent of feminism here, with Perdita, Milly, and Madame Mallais, as they each navigate a world where women have different rules and expectations. There is also the very real flooding that happened in Paris and the immense damage it did, with both infrastructure damage and lives lost. 

The Finest Hotel in Kabul

Finished August 19

The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People's History of Afghanistan by Lyse Doucet

This was an excellent read by BBC journalist Lyse Doucet, who was born in Canada. Covering the late 1960s through the present, this story is about the Intercontinental Hotel, which opened in Kabul in 1969 as part of a global chain of luxury hotels, but owned by the Afghan government. Lyse's experiences with the hotel began in 1988 with her first trip to the country as a journalist with the BBC. She has done significant research including talking to employees of the hotel, previous employees, politicians, former diplomats to the country, other journalist, and guests of the hotel.

She takes us through the changes in leadership, both of the hotel and of the country, the damage done through war and terrorism, the staff who moved through a series of roles at the hotel, staff who moved on to other careers after their time at the hotel, and includes information on both staff and guests who died at the hotel. 

Some long term staff we see several times over the years, while others come for short periods and move on. From the time of the country as a kingdom, through coups, Russian occupation, civil war, Western invasion and occupation, democracy,and two Taliban control periods, we see how the hotel, and the people who knew it, weathered the changes. Parts of the hotel were destroyed and rebuilt, but it remains a place of international relations, celebrations, and a symbol of connection to the larger world.

I enjoyed getting to know the various staff and seeing how they worked. I got a sense of the country and its people. This was an engaging and accessible book that enlightened me. 

Alchemy and a Cup of Tea

Finished August 13

Alchemy and a Cup of Tea by Rebecca Thorne

This novel is the fourth and last book in the Tomes and Tea series, but the first I've read. I picked it up for the title, not realizing that it was part of a series. That said, it reads well on its own, and puts you into the action right from the start when you find one of the main characters, Queen Reyna held by a gang who kidnapped her for unknown reasons. She works out how to free herself, while her wife Kianthe, a woman with strong magical abilities who hold the position of Arcandor, launches a rescue mission. 

The rescue team discovers a mysterious alchemy circle hidden in Reyna's holding cell, and begin asking about its unusual design and potential purpose.

The reader soon learns that the pair are recently married, and that Reyna is the new head of a parliamentary kingdom. They live in a New Leaf, small mountain town in the Queendom, and together run a bookstore and café. Reyna is a skilled tea sommelier and they both love books. The marriage has brought tourists to the town hoping to see the couple and the town is not equipped to handle the large influx of people. As they work with town officials on possible solutions, they worry that they might have to close the shop and leave the community they love.

They are due to attend an important magical conference, and hope to learn more there about they alchemical circle, but find there are other strange happenings and attempts to disrupt the core magic that Kianthe is one with. 

This book has tame griffins, powerful ancient dragons, small communities trying to survive difficult conditions, and common goodwill from many citizens of the neighbouring countries. I found it a cosy fantasy with touches of romance, mystery, and danger. It portrays loving relationships and friendships that are accepting of differences and supportive of each other. 

The Prisoner

Finished August 13

The Prisoner by B.A. Paris

The main character, Amelie, lost her mother when she was young and afterwards her father sued the hospital where she died for malpractice, a case which has dragged on, and the pair moved to England. They are very close. As the book opens we see Amelie in the present, where she has been kidnapped from her husband's home and is being held prisoner in a dark room, with minimal contact with her captors, none of which is verbal.

We are also taken to a past timeline, beginning when Amelie is in high school, caring for her father whose health is bad. As we watch her make choices to move to London, to befriend an older woman, and to enter into a problematic marriage, we also see how she has ended up where she is now. 

She is a young woman with an independent spirit who doesn't want pity or sympathy, just wants a chance to be the best she can be. Her circumstances limit her or change the timeline for her dreams, but they don't take the dreams away. She is kind and friendly and somewhat naïve, and thus others take advantage of her. 

In the present we soon learn that her husband is also a prisoner in another room of the building she is in, and that his security guard has been recently killed. We watch Amelie learn about her environment, use any tool that she can find to work for her, and try to figure out what the kidnappers want. She also fears being released with Ned for reasons that become clear. 

This is an interesting psychological suspense novel, as are all the ones I've read by this talented writer.