Chronicle of a Last Summer

Finished February 20

Chronicle of a Last Summer: a Novel of Egypt by Yasmine El Rashidi

This novel is a gem. Although the title refers to a single summer, the novel is written about three summers. The first is in 1984, after the assassination of Sadat with Mubarak newly elected. The female narrator is six years old, and she spends her life going to English school, interacting with her extended family, particularly her older cousin Dido, watching the three television channels available and trying to figure out her world. Her father has gone away, but no one says where he's gone and when he will return. She makes up stories in her head about his absence, but misses him. Her mother is distracted and often has telephone conversations that seem emotional. One of her Baba's close friends, a man she refers to as 'Uncle' visits regularly and talks politics. 

The house by the Nile that she lives in is a family home, with her family living on the second floor. Her grandmother and aunt lived on the first floor until her grandmother died, and then her aunt, born with Down's Syndrome, moved up with them. Her aunt died not long ago as well. 

The second summer is in 1988 and she is in university, studying to be a filmmaker and Dido keeps trying to convince her to make political films, but she isn't interested. We see her taking the bus to university, visiting the gallery there, and borrowing equipment to make films. One time her class visited a prison, and she thinks of that experience. There are sit-ins after a recent attack downtown where sixty-two people were killed. 

The third summer is in 2014. She is now a writer and thinking back on her experiences. She has packed up most of her grandmother's belongings and moved down to the first floor, her own space. One of her finds was small paintings her grandmother had done and she has hung them all together. There is more political upheaval, and attacks on Copts and their churches have been happening. She and Dido have become more distant with each other as he became more active politically. Her father has returned and she tries to create a new relationship with him after his long absence. 

We see what has changed over time and what has remained the same. She has grown up and made decisions about her life that are hers alone. She is observant and curious, and that has shaped her life. 

A lovely read, and I got a feel for her inner life.

March Reviews for the 19th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge

 This is where you add the links to the reviews meeting this challenge that you finished in March. 

A Place of Pretty Flowers

Finished February 18

A Place of Pretty Flowers by Jerrod Edson

This short novel is beautifully written. The events take place within a week, and each chapter has the date at the beginning so the reader can see when it happened. Set in small town New Brunswick, the story begins on August eleventh at the cemetery where Kevin Finch, a young man who aspired to be a professional writer, but who hasn't tapped into real success yet, is to be buried. The funeral party is waiting, as the hole where Kevin's grave should be isn't dug, and they aren't sure what to do.

As we jump back a few days to August sixth, and other days in between, we follow the lives of people whose lives interact with Kevin's in some way. Besides his parents, Joan and Jerry, we also see Jeremy Wiggins, the son of the owners of the funeral parlour, who is driving the hearse with Kevin's casket in it, and his older sister Carol who prepared the body. We see Reverend Richard Grey and his wife, who are dealing with their own life challenges. 

There are also Joan's friends, who include younger members such as Carol and her partner Amy; Prin, a young single mother with a baby daughter Daisy; Sonia, a university professor; and Barb, similar in age to Joan, who has a strong rebellious streak. 

There are also the medical examiner at the local hospital, Dr. Edward Ramsey; one of the cleaners at the hospital, Irene Thorne; and Irene's husband Carl. Key to the action are gravedigger brothers Pete and Gabe Landry and the scheme they have going on the side. 

One of the stories is the wedding that Kevin was attending the night he died, with old acquaintances and his ex-girlfriend Kate, including his backstory with her.

And watching everyone is Detective Harry Ross and Constable Ladd. Harry is an old pro at police work, and Ladd is new, bright, and eager to learn. The title of the book comes from a comment Harry makes to Ladd about the cemetery, that it is a place with pretty flowers, but there is a lot buried beneath that façade, a statement that relates to the work they do. 

I really enjoyed this novel and was interested to see how everything came together and the stories of the people that go deeper than what those around them see. The story has real meat to it, and left me lots to think about.

Witcha Gonna Do?

Finished February 17

Witcha Gonna Do? by Avery Flynn

This is the first book in a series called The Sherwood Witches. There are two points of view in the story, and the main one is Tilda Sherwood. She is the youngest child in her family, and the only one who seems to have no magical ability. Her family is an old and established one and seen as one of the stalwarts of the community. She manages the family's social media accounts.

Tilda is also lonely and longing for a romantic relationship, so she's been trying some online dating platforms, but has now been matched with Gil Connolly for the third time, and is feeling frustrated. She does find Gil attractive, but also somewhat full of himself.

Gil is the other voice and he is from a family who has a power to intensify existing emotions. It's often interpreted as manipulating emotions, and the Council (a group that is thought by many to have been disbanded years ago) has placed his family in exile. Gil is working with the Council to try to get his family allowed back, or at least treated with more empathy and compassion. Gil is also working for a Resistance group against the Council, one of whom is Tilda's great aunt. The matching with Tilda is part of his research for the Council. He's trying to find out if she is indeed without magic. At this most recent meeting, he accidentally uses his magic and he and Tilda become obsessed with each other.

Tilda is part of a group of young people who either have no magic, or have some difficult issues with it. For example, one member is allergic to her own magic. Little does she know that she actually has a kind of magic that is rare and powerful.

When Tilda, while recording a social media post with her sister, accidentally has an influence on a spell, she finds that her whole family, including extended member, has been frozen in limbo.  When Gil shows up at her family home, she enlists his help, and they also rope in a few of her magically challenged friends, and work to steal a spell book that may hold the only solution to undoing the spell binding her family. They are working against time, hoping that the Council doesn't find out about the situation and take advantage of the fact that he family is out of action to stage a takeover. 

I liked the light humour embedded throughout the story and the race against time that really moves the plot along. The attraction between the two main characters feels real, and the magic that amplifies it makes the passionate actions believable. A fun read. 

To Have and To Hoax

Finished February 15

To Have and To Hoax by Martha Waters

This Regency romance is the first in a series called The Regency Vows. I've read others in the series and enjoyed them: To Marry and To Meddle (#3) and To Swoon and to Spar (#4). The series is set around a group of young upperclass adults in Regency England, many titled. 

Here, we have Lady Violet Grey, who married Lord James Audley five years earlier, and we see how they met and came to marry in the early part of this novel. Their first year together was passionate and tumultuous as they fought and made up multiple times, but when a secret about how they met is exposed, the fight became a rupture, and the two have not been intimate since. 

One of the issues was a gift that James' father made to him upon his marriage of a country estate that is also a centre for horse breeding. James was determined to make a success of it, and he claimed it was for Violet, but she worried constantly about the risks he took riding untrained horses and about the time he spent on paperwork. She sees that he is trying to prove to his father that he runs the estate better than his father did. 

Now, she is having tea with two of her good friends when she gets an urgent message from one of her husband's friends (a man who is also the brother of one of her friends) telling her that James has fallen from a horse and is unconscious and possibly badly injured. Violet immediately takes action, taking her carriage out to the estate, but she meets her husband, much recovered, and his friends on their way back to London and is infuriated that she wasn't sent an updated message. 

James hadn't realized that a message had been sent, and his friend had forgotten, but the damage is done, and Violet is determined to get revenge. She decides to fake an illness, but she must find someone willing to act as a doctor to back her up, and things start to get very messy. 

Violet and James have a mutual attraction that has not gone away, and both have remained loyal to each other despite their emotional distancing. As each realizes what the other knows about Violet's plan, they do interact more and fight more, but the also notice the attraction. Instead of talking to each other about the reasons for their estrangement, they each take further action, until talking becomes very necessary. 

A fun read. 

The Deep

Finished February 14

The Deep by Mary Swan

This novella was originally published as a short story that won the O. Henry Prize, and is told through a series of short chapters that have a variety of narrators. The central characters are twin sisters, Esther and Ruth, who leave their North American home to volunteer in Europe during World War I. The narrators include teachers, school friends, family members, and acquaintances. 

The twins, throughout their lives referred to themselves as one, always saying 'we' and acting and speaking together. Their birth had a detrimental effect on the health of their mother, and although she lived for several years beyond the birth, she was confined to bed, and there is a sense that the twins are blamed for this by both their father and their older brothers, but more so their older brothers. 

As the war ends, and the women prepare to leave France, there is a situation where they acted as separate individuals, with both recognizing that and being unsure how to deal with it. It is obviously disturbing to both of them, and we see their actions following this. 

When We Were Young and Brave

Finished February 11

When We Were Young and Brave by Hazel Gaynor

This historical fiction novel was inspired by real events. The story is framed by one of the narrators, Nancy, looking back at this time from 1975. Near the end of the book, the framing is completed with a more full explanation of what happened to the various characters after their time in China ended. 

The main story begins in December 1941, with Elspeth Kent, one of the teachers at the Chefoo Mission School considering resigning and returning to her home in England. She came to China after her fiancé was killed in a mining accident and she couldn't see how to move on there without him. But her plans are thwarted with Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and their declaration of war against the United States, the United Kingdom, and other Allied countries. 

Among the students at the school is Nancy Plummer, along with her older brother, and Nancy's friends who include an American girl named Dorothy (nicknamed Sprout as she is tall and thin) and Joan (nicknamed Mouse because she is small and quiet). The girls are part of a Brownie troop and studying to move up to Girl Guides. Elspeth and another teacher, Minnie, lead the girls in this endeavour. 

When the Japanese arrive to occupy the school, the headmaster is taken away, the Chinese servants are sent away, and the soldiers label everything the property of the Japanese emperor. When Minnie tries to make a stand, she is beaten with a pole by one of the soldiers, and Elspeth tries to intervene drawing attention to herself. We watch as the situation evolves over the years. 

Without the servants, the teachers and students must cook and clean and the teachers try to manage morale. Elspeth and Minnie use the Girl Guide teachings and badge earning to get the girls to work and treat the situation optimistically. After a year, the group is moved across town to another school, which has been abandoned for some time. There, they have to make the spaces they are billeted in liveable, and consider safety and continue teaching. The headmaster is back by now and is a great leader in this and the future situations. 

When they are moved again, it is farther away, to an internment camp near Weihsien, where they are the most recent additions. They find support from some of the other prisoners, who have organized a library, and a system of work responsibilities. 

With two narrators, Elspeth and Nancy, we get different viewpoints from different levels of understanding the situation. The author did a lot of research, trying to talk to survivors from Japanese prisoners and using real examples, such as the presence of the Olympic runner Eric Liddell in the camp. 

I found the story interesting and believable and liked the nuances of the people, with both bad and good people among their Japanese captors. I also enjoyed the use of the Girl Guide training and expectations to motivate the young girls and keep up their morale.