Chains

Finished January 20

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

This award-winning children's book is set from mid 1776 through to January 1777, and is told from the point of view of Isabel a black girl. She and her sister Ruth were owned by a woman, Mary, who had promised to free them on her death, but due to upheavals from the War of Independence, Mary's lawyer is away, and her heir quickly takes the girls and sells them to a loyalist couple, the Lockton's, from Charleston who are heading to their house in New York. 

Ruth is a bit simple, but a quiet and good girl, and Isabel is very protective of her. In New York, Isabel meets Curzon a young slave whose master Bellingham is in charge at the docks and suspects that they are loyalists, and will keep an eye on them. 

When Curzon asks Isabel to spy for them, she is at first wary, but pins her hopes on promises of freedom. Isabel is a smart girl, who can read and write, and knows how to keep her thoughts to herself, except in the case of her young sister. 

As we watch the changes in New York through her eyes as the war progresses, we see the bigger picture as well, and learn about the dealings of both the Americans who fight for freedom and the loyalists that want to remain king's subjects. Isabel struggles to understand the meaning of freedom to these men who use the word with such fervor, but still have slaves. 

As she continuously looks for ways to win her and Ruth's freedom, she finds herself torn between new loyalties and old. She undergoes cruelty and hardship as well as small kindnesses from a few. This is a tale that brings history to life as well as opening the young reader to human experiences foreign to them. It is the first book in a series.

Tried and True

Finished January 19

Tried and True by Mary Connealy

Set just after the American Civil War, this is the first in a series of novels about three sisters, Bailey, Shannon, and Kylie shortly after they begin their land claims in Idaho Territory. Pressured by their father into disguising themselves as young men and joining the Union army after their only brother dies in service, the women have used their service as a way of decreasing the time they must stay on the land to finalize their claim. Kylie is the youngest, and the least adept at the skills needed to manage a farm. Her sisters helped build her cabin in the fall, and now that it is spring the story starts with her attempting to repair a loose shingle in her roof. 

She was troubled by her war experience, but after her first battle was able to avoid worse trauma by working as a general's aide and as a spy. Her commanders were unaware that her success as a spy was due to her gender as she removed her disguise when engaging in espionage activity. 

When the local land agent, Aaron Masterson comes by just as Kylie is descending from the roof, he discovers her secret and insists that he must change her claim to eliminate the service record, even though she served as women weren't allowed to enlist. 

He finds himself drawn to her, and finds himself visiting her again soon after when a local rancher threatens her land. When another threat appears soon after, Aaron worries about her safety alone at her cabin and works with her siblings to find a solution. 

This novel is an historical western romance, with a touch of mystery. Kylie is less helpless than she first appears, as she has depended on her sisters more than she could have. But she is also a reluctant land claim candidate and plans to sell as soon as she owns the land outright. 

I found Kylie growing on me, but enjoyed her sisters more. There are other interesting characters as well, including a motherly and capable native woman. Aaron's history played a role in the plot and was an interesting commentary on the aftermath of the Civil War. 

A Big Storm Knocked It Down

Finished January 17

A Big Storm Knocked It Down by Laurie Colwin

This literary novel, published in 1993, is the last book Colwin wrote. It follows Jane Louise Parker, from just after her honeymoon through the next few years in her life. It has themes of friendship, family (including found family), and self awareness. 

Jane works for a small publishing firm in New York City, as a book designer. She has several co-workers that we see through her relationships with them: Sven, the art director; Adele, the department secretary; and publishing agents Dita and 

Jane's husband Teddy is a child of divorced parents, and he was raised by his mother, in a house in a small town in New Jersey that has been in the family for generations. Teddy is a chemist and product designer for a small company developing natural cleaning products. His best friend Peter is someone he has known from childhood, who now has an organic farm.

Jane has moved a lot as a child and has no real sense of belonging. Her mother has remarried, to a wealthy man, following Jane's father's death. Her best friend is Edie Steinhaus, her former college roommate. Edie is a caterer and pastry chef and an outlier in a family of male lawyers. Her business partner Mokie Frasier is a man she met at cooking school in Paris. He is tall, black, and also Edie's life partner, something her family tried to ignore. 

As we see Jane's life, we see her insecurities, her passions, and her relationships. With both of them having little in common with most of their family members, they have created a substitute family with Peter and his wife Beth, and Edie and Mokie. 

This is a character driven novel that lets us into Jane's life completely. I loved it. 

Goodbye, Again

Finished January 15

Goodbye, Again: Essays, Reflections, and Illustrations by Jonny Sun

This lovely collection of writing gets very personal as Jonny explores his past, his relationships, and his present. He covers personal issues of loneliness, depression, anxiety, and burnout. He thinks about where home is, and coming back to places that you once lived in and don't fit into the same way anymore. This includes looking at the idea of belonging, and how relationships change when you venture in different directions. 

He examines paying attention to the details of his surroundings and I particularly loved the series of essays on his experiences with houseplants. 

He is funny, wry, and vulnerable. Some of the essays here are a single sentence, that really makes you think like 'Visiting'. Others, like many of the houseplant ones include his illustrations. One is done as a series of cels, like a comic strip. 

The essays are organized into sections: Goodbye; Go Slow; Take Care; Hello; Hello, Again; and Goodbye, Again. 

I took my time reading this as his writing is so relatable that I could find many things that moved me and that made me think about my experiences and my life. 

A great read. 

Alice James

Finished January 14

Alice James: A Biography by Jean Strouse

I bought this book from the publisher a few years ago, started it, then got distracted by other things so just picked it up again. 

Alice James is the middle child and only girl in her family, and the younger sister of famous American novelist Henry James. Her other older brother, William wrote works on philosophy and psychology and both were close to her in different ways. Her father, Henry James Sr. was a doting father, but discouraged women's academic and political endeavours. The family moved between Europe and New York City when she was a young child, eventually settling in Cambridge when her older brothers were in high school. 

Emily made friends with the women in her community, and participated in some social get-togethers, particularly in work for the U.S. Civil War. As she came into her adulthood she struggled with nervous disorders, and was limited in her aspects by her father's expectations as well as social convention. 

She was a good writer herself, observant of human behaviour and of her surroundings. 

After her parents' deaths, she spent some time in the country and eventually moved to England to be near Henry, as well as near physicians that she hoped would provide a solution to her ongoing health issues. With her during her final years was her close friend Katherine Loring who was entrusted with her diary, and later made copies for her brothers. 

This is an interesting book, shining light on a woman I wasn't aware of before. Alice was an intelligent and well-read woman, who was constrained by the time she lived in. At times her health seems related to her feelings about herself and her place in the world, but ultimately it revealed itself as genuine physical maladies. I found it interesting to see her brothers' reactions to her diary after getting copies as well as how they interacted with her throughout her life. An interesting read. 

Orbital

Finished January 11

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

This exquisitely written book is short, just over 200 pages, yet one I took my time reading as the imagery she writes and the thoughts her writing provokes made me want to stop and think often, and reread certain passages. The novel was a Christmas gift chosen because it won the Booker Prize for 2024. 

It is set mostly in the International Space Station over 24 earth hours. There are four astronauts and two cosmonauts at the station and the story is told in third person, but giving us access to each of their thoughts at times. Sixteen orbits of the earth by the Space Station occur over the course of 24 hours, and the book is structured around these. 

We see their professional interactions and get a sense of the work that they engage in, both scientific and housekeeping. We also see their personal thoughts and concerns, sometimes in real time and sometimes through memories of interactions with loved ones. 

One of the things they observe on this particular day is a large typhoon moving over the Pacific Ocean as it heads towards people ill-prepared for the massive storm. Another is the launch of a rocket carrying four astronauts to the moon. 

I found it fascinating as the novel talks about the land moving beneath them, the countries and land masses sliding by, with the lights at night showing the presence of human life more than the land viewed by day. It gave me a new sense of our planet and its place in space. I was also moved by the human connections between these people thrown together through circumstance, and the disparate connections they had to people back on earth. 

This novel has taken its spot as one of my favourite books of all time. 

The Coldest Night

Finished January 2

The Coldest Night by Robert Olmstead

This novel is about a young man named Henry Childs. Henry and his mother Clemmie left their mountain home for the city of Charleston when he was young. Henry was athletic and liked nature. He began working at stables across the river after the owner met Clemmie at the veteran's hospital she worked at. 

Mercy, a girl a year older than him began coming to ride one of the horses in 1950, when she was in her senior year of high school. The two fall in love, but her wealthy family doesn't accept their relationship and despite their efforts, Henry finds himself alone. 

In his pain, he enlists and finds himself in Korea just as the battle for the Chosin Reservoir is starting, and the war scenes are brutally honest. In many ways, Henry is still a boy, but he finds himself taken under the wing of a man named Lew, also from Charleston, and the two stick together through the worst of it. 

We also see how Henry, broken in some ways, returns to Charleston, to find some things changed and some things the same as they were. He has trouble adjusting to civilian life, marked as he is by his wartime experiences. 

This is an emotional read, graphically violent at times, but so beautifully written that it captured me entirely.