Hired for the Billionaire's Secret Son

Finished April 17

Hired for the Billionaire's Secret Son by Joss Wood

This novel offered few surprises over how much in this genre has changed since I read Harlequin romance novels as a teenager. The main female character, Olivia Cooper grew up with parents who ran their own accounting business. She took an accounting degree and was expected to join the business, but found during her studies that this wasn't something that she would enjoy as a career. She took some time away and has worked as a nanny for several years, for a respected agency used by famous and wealthy families. She's grown close to the owner and is considering buying a share in the company and working to take it over some day. She had a difficult experience where she grew very close to a family she was working for during a very difficult time in their lives and then had to leave their employment. After that she decided to only do short term contracts to avoid getting emotionally involved in the lives of her clients. When she took a break from her family obligations, she knew she had a deadline and that deadline is fast approaching. Her parents expect her to join the family business at that time. She doesn't want to and doesn't know how to go about talking to them about this. 

The main male character, Bo Sorenson, is a respected architect. He saw his parents' marriage fall apart, and saw his father live a life that was less focused on responsibility. He determined not to follow in their footsteps and has had clearly communicated expectations from his relationships over the years, that they would never lead to children. 

When his recent ex-girlfriend, about to be married, dies with her partner in an accident, he finds he was a father despite his best plans. He doesn't want his child to go into the system, and he can afford to care for his son, but he has no idea how to be a parent, having less than stellar role models. He knows he wants to be a good parent and hires Olivia to be there for the first few months (although he would prefer a longer contract) to show him the ropes, while integrating his son into his life. 

Olivia is a strong woman in most areas of her life, and knows her value. It is only with her parents she is less confident. This was one area that struck me as she had a good childhood despite their busy careers, and she seems a good communicator in the other parts of her life. Bo is also a strong character, but he doesn't have traditional expectations. His mother is a good businesswoman, although not a loving mother, and he knows women are equally capable. I think setting this story in Europe feels believable and the situation never feels like a forced plot or outside the characters' personalities. 

A light, entertaining read. 

Meet Me at the Museum

Finished April 30

Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson

This delightful novel is told entirely through letters between two people. In East Anglia in England, Tina Hopgood is the wife of a farmer, who she married decades ago when she got pregnant. Both parents thought it was for the best. Tina had had other plans, but she agreed. She and her husband have three grown children, all of them also working at the farm, which has many side projects, like renting out hay bales and having vacation cottages. After her childhood friend Bella has died, she is remembering her youth and an interaction with a professor from Denmark about the Tollund Man. She writes a letter to him at the Silkeborg Museum where she talks about the interaction, her thoughts about the Tollund Man who she intended to visit years ago but didn't, and about her thoughts around aging.

The professor she writes to is long dead, but a curator at the Museum, Anders Larsen writes back, trying to answer questions that he thinks are implied in her letter. And so the conversation begins. 

The letters cover around a year and a half in time, but cover so much more as the two share their histories, their thoughts on life, ask advice over issues that have presented themselves, and become a friendship. 

Both have suffered loss, and are faced with changes through the lives of their children. Their conversation also leads them to examine their own lives and decide whether they want to change things for themselves as well. 

This is a lovely novel, with beautiful writing, and many emotional moments. It is a novel that talks about life, love, selflessness, and so much more. Definitely one of my favourite books of the year. 

Childhood, Youth, Dependency

Finished October 6

Childhood, Youth, Dependency by Tove Ditlevsen, translated by Tiina Nunnally and Michael Favala Goldman

The first two parts of this memoir, Childhood and Youth were first published in 1967, and the third Dependency in 1971, with the translations in 1985 and 2019 respectively. Here, they have been brought together in one volume. 

Ditlevsen was born to a working class family in Copenhagen with a father involved in unions and socialism and a mother who valued reputation and looks. She was close to her brother, who was a few years older. Despite her teachers' encouragement, she was not able to go on to high school, leaving at the age of fourteen to work, first as household help and eventually in officework. 

From a young age, she wrote poetry, inspired by the world and people around her and her own imagination, writing beyond her own experiences, "lies" as her brother put it, and hoping to become a published writer someday, despite her father telling her that women weren't poets. 

She found a couple of men that encouraged her, but it was only with the third, the editor and publisher of a small literary newsletter that she gained success, as well as her first husband. 

She was very focused on her own life and needs, and the men that cared for her, living an insular life of sorts, surrounded by literary people and academics, and not largely affected by greater world events. 

I found it interesting that despite being a young woman during World War II, when Denmark was occupied by the Germans, she seemed hardly affected by their presence or their actions. The men in her life continued to go about their normal lives, with some entering the world of the resistance in small ways. 

She is very frank about her relationships and her personal life in general including her addiction to drugs that arose through her fourth husband, and her choices around him. 

This is not a happy book, despite her success as a writer, but it is a compelling read and one written with skill. 

The Second Winter

Finished January 20
The Second Winter by Craig Larsen

This historic novel begins with a woman, Angela, in 1969 who has just visited East Berlin. She has visited an aunt she hasn't seen in years, since before the wall went up, and brought some things back with her. One of them is a picture, taken by her father who died in the war. The picture is of a young woman and a name on the back says Polina. In a later section we see how the separation came to be between Angela and her East German family members.
We see the young Polina in Poland, with her family and her good friend Julian, and we see the war begin for them, and the family get separated.
But the bulk of this story is told over the winter of 1941-42 in Denmark. The first section her follows Frederik, a farmhand in Jutland. We see how he lives under the occupation, and how he and his two young adult children must work very hard and long to survive. We see the risks they take, and we see the desperation in the actions Frederik takes. The next story during this time is that of Hermann, Angela's father, a wartime photographer for the Germans. And we see his connection to Polina and how he came to have the things that Angela has been given.
Other sections from this time cover the experiences of other characters, Frederik's daughter Amalia, his son Oskar, other members of the rural community they live in, and the family that Frederik is estranged from. We see how Polina is connected to Frederik.
This is a story of people connected through small accidents of fate that through them together, of what people will do to survive and keep their families alive during times of war.
A fascinating tale.

The Northern Queen

Finished March 3
The Northern Queen by Kelly Evans

This historical novel follows the life of Aelfgifu, a highborn woman of northern England. When Aethelred gained the throne, he took his revenge against Aelfgifu's family, creating in her a strong antipathy for her new ruler. The Danish king, Sweyn, is determined to dethrone Aethelred for his actions on St. Brice's Day in 1002 when Aethelred murdered thousands of Danish immigrants and their families with little warning. As Sweyn looks for allies within England, Aelfgifu is approached. Not only does she ally with Sweyn, but she soon marries his son Canute.
Thus begins the battle for England, that has Aethelred's wife Emma proving a strong force to maintain control of the land, and creating a personal rivalry between these two strong-willed women that will last throughout their lives.
Aelfgifu is a very interesting women, taught to read and write and do figures by her father who saw her potential, and an able ruler in her own right. She understands how to not only run a household, but an estate, a region, and possibly a kingdom. She doesn't abide fools however, and her disdain for those that don't see the logic of her actions can lead to the making of new enemies. She has a real love for Canute that is mutual, but their relationship also has political implications that sometimes forces them apart.
This novel brings Aelfgifu to life, letting the reader inside her experiences, her emotions, and her thoughts. The battle scenes are detailed, and the day-to-day activities drawn in a natural way that shows the real people. A great read.
This is a excellent first novel by a Canadian historian, and more is planned for this time period.

For another view on this time in history try Queen Emma and the Vikings by Harriet O'Brien.

I Curse the River of Time

Finished February 16
I Curse the River of Time by Per Petterson, translated from the Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund with Per Petterson

This novel is in 1989. The barriers are falling between Eastern and Western Europe, and Arvid Jansen, in his late thirties is in the early stages of a divorce. His mother has just been diagnosed with stomach cancer and has gone back to the land of her youth, Jutland in Denmark, before facing treatment. Arvid chases after her, looking to reconnect with the mother he once had a special relationship with, but has lost over the years.
The story takes place over only a few days, but Arvid's recollections keep taking him into the past. As a child, he was differentiated from his siblings by his physical appearance, looking more like his father than any of his brothers. As a young man with a promising university degree ahead of him, he chose a different route that estranged him from his mother. His idealogical loyalty to the working class led him to reject the opportunities his parents' hard work offered him. The relationship he began shortly after this is a problematic one right from the start.
Arvid is a young man struggling with his life, still looking for approval from the parent he feels closer to, but not showing the maturity that would gain him the approval he wants.
A difficult book, with lots of emotion, but also lots of compassion for human weakness. The relationship between this mother and son is a complex one still.

Another Scandanavian Novel

Finished September 27

To Siberia by Per Petterson

This wonderful novel is narrated by a young Danish girl from her childhood through the German occupation of Denmark during World War II to a few years after the war. She is very close to her older brother Jesper, who watches over her, teases her, and cares deeply for her. He calls her Sistermine, which I found a lovely term. They live in a small town, with their father, a cabinetmaker, and their mother, a religious zealot who writes her own hymns. The family also moves before the war to an apartment over a dairy and they run the dairy as well. They go regularly to visit their grandfather's farm and help with harvest. The Germans arrive when the girl is 14 and the occupation from her point of view is described very well. She and Jesper grow ever closer until he must run from the Germans. After the war, her wanderlust, always a part of her, takes her away and she tries various jobs in various places, always set apart from others around her. The characterization here is very well done and you feel the loneliness of her life and her longing for something else. The title comes from her plans, even as a child to someday go to Siberia.