Goodbye to All That

Finished August 9

Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves

I've had this book for a while and picked it up to meet a reading challenge. This memoir was first published in 1929 and was very controversial for its honest portrayal of the realities of World War I and of the author's personal life. My copy has an epilogue from 1957 that gives an brief overview of his life since then. The epilogue had an interesting Canadian connection as he mentions an officer he'd met during the war was now a Canadian politician. It was just after this was written that Pearson became leader of the Liberal party and later, our 14th prime minister. 

Graves work talks about his early life and growing up in Wales, with influences from his father's Irish side of the family and his mother's German side of the family. The main portion of the book covers his World War I experiences, and they are written almost dispassionately, telling of the horrors of being on the front lines, the violence and conditions of war, and of the friendships formed. Graves had many friends who were also writers and poets, and one of them that appears repeatedly is Siegfried Sassoon, another officer who had some German ancestry. The realities of the war are sometimes hard to read, and unfathomable for me to understand how anyone could have lived through it without psychological damage. 

He also talks about his marriage to Nancy Nicholson, who he first met in April 1916 at a friend's house he visited and who he corresponded with after that. She was just sixteen at the time, and they married when she was eighteen and he was twenty-two. Nancy was an artist and an ardent feminist who wanted a full life. I was surprised to see what an equal marriage it was, with them sharing the parenting of their four children, and him doing the cooking for the household. They struggled financially, with his writing providing their main income. They did go to Cairo for a year where he taught at a university, but he didn't enjoy it and they didn't fit into the expatriate society well. He had both a brother and sister in Cairo at the time, and while they were welcoming, particularly his sister, they didn't have the same outlook on life. 

The title of the book represents his feeling at the end of the time he was writing about. When his marriage to Nancy ended, he left England and lived in Majorca (except for the years of World War II, where he did return to England)

I am really glad I read this book as it offers a glimpse into personal experiences at the time.

The One Day You Were My Husband

Finished July 29

The One Day You Were My Husband by Rosie Walsh

This compelling read takes us through Carrie's situation as she is faced with revising her past. Carrie is married with six year old twins and is feeling ready to return to her career as a surgeon after stepping back when her children were born prematurely. Her mother is less present in her life; her stepmother is preparing to move her father, who suffers from advanced dementia, to a care home; her sister is now living in the U.S. and her husband is supportive of her decision. 

While planning a trip to Sweden to reconnect with her surgical mentor, and attend a conference for the short-term rental company she is part of, she comes across a rental owned by her first husband, Swedish Johan. She is taken aback. Twelve years ago, the two met through a patient brought into the hospital she was interning at and felt an instant connection. They had moved in together, and impulsively married when she visited Thailand to meet him when he was on location in Cambodia. Johan was apprehended violently by armed police on the evening of their wedding day as they were dancing on the beach. Despite her efforts, Carrie was unable to get Johan released and was actively discouraged from doing more by the threat of violence against both of them and others. It took her years to move on. She wasn't even aware he'd been released from Thailand. 

At first she isn't sure whether she should cancel her trip but, even after talking to her sister and mother, she checks that he isn't on the list of attendees at the conference and decides to go, as meeting with her mentor is important to her and will give her a better restart to her career. But she still wonders about what really happened back then, why he's been released, and why she didn't know about it. When she runs into him in person, the questions are even louder, and she decides she needs answers, even if they are difficult. 

I found this to be a real page-turner, with interesting plot twists and character dynamics. 

Two People

Finished June 25

Two People by A. A. Milne

Published in 1931, this understated novel follows a couple, Reginald and Sylvia through some changes to their lives. They live in the country and enjoy the life they have. Reginald is forty and Sylvia is twenty-five and they've been married for six years, which is somewhat more common an age difference in that time period. Reginald admires Sylvia for her beauty and kindness and they are well-suited in their physical relationship. When Reginald writes a book, he finds a publisher and then is a bit astonished when it does very well, becoming a talked about novel and made into a play. This success takes them to a rented house in London for the season, and they find themselves meeting new people and interacting in different worlds than they've been used to. They spend less time together, and while they enjoy themselves, there are moments where they worry about their relationship.

Through a series of incidents, Reginald begins to see that Sylvia is also smart and observant and he finds even more to love about her, but he worries about whether he is still appealing to her. 

I really enjoyed a side story that emerges at a dinner party of a missed opportunity for love for their host and how they seem to be the only ones who notice something about the story.

Wry with a dry humour, this novel was a satisfying and surprising read.

The Days I Loved You Most

Finished June 10

The Days I Loved You Most by Amy Neff

This novel follows Joseph and Evelyn Myers from the beginning of their courtship in 1941 to 2002. Tommy, Evelyn's older brother, was best friends with Joseph and always included Evelyn in their adventures. Tommy and Evelyn's parents were somewhat distant, having a more formal relationship with their children. Joseph's parents ran a small inn, the Oyster Shell Inn, that he grew up in. They were loving and demonstrative affectionately. After a major storm damaged the inn, Joseph's father has started working another job while still repairing the inn. For her junior year of high school, Evelyn is shipped off to Boston to stay with her aunt Maelynn and go to the private school she teaches at. She connects with her aunt and finds her world expanding, particularly finding a love for the piano. But the entry of the United States into World War II means changes and loss. 

There are two timelines here. One is the long-ranging one from 1941 on, and the other begins in the spring of 2001 when Joseph and Evelyn ask their three children: Jane, Thomas, and Violet to visit, letting them know that they plan to end their lives together in a year, with the decision triggered by Evelyn's recent diagnosis of a rare version of Parkinson's that advances quickly. There are a lot of emotions: anger, sadness, and confusion among them. We see into their children's relationships and some of their grandchildren. Thomas is married to Ann and they both lead busy lives in the city. Jane is a television news journalist and her daughter Rain is also newly married. Violet and her husband Connor have only one child still at home, and are adjusting to lives that have more time available for each other. 

The novel has a languid pace and an unusual premise. However I didn't feel that I got as much depth for the characters as I would have liked. 

Appointment in Samarra

Finished June 3

Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara

This novel, written in 1934, is set in 1931, and was the first novel by O'Hara. It is considered a modern classic. The main character is Julien English, a manager of a Cadillac dealership in the town of Gibbsville, Pennsylvania. He has been married to his wife Caroline for five years, and has recently turned thirty. We know that he had a previous relationship, that wasn't public, with a Polish immigrant woman named Mary. 

Julien's father is a doctor in town and Julien has always been somewhat of a disappointment to his father, from his antics as a boy to his lack of ambition as a man. Julien and his wife are active socially, belonging to clubs and part of a friend group that parties regularly. It is the Christmas season and we see Julien begin a series of self-destructive incidents that compromise his friendships, his position in society, and even his marriage. They start with throwing a drink in the face of a friend and important business associate.

There are issues of mental health, infidelity, and economic difficulties as the Depression has begun in the country. We see things from Julien's perspective, but also from others such as his wife Caroline's, has salesman, and some of his friends. 

The title comes from an ancient Mesopotamian tale about a man who tries to escape death but can't. It speaks to the inevitability of Julien's self-destruction. 

An interesting psychological read. 

The Nature of Fragile Things

Finished May 11

The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner

In 1905 Sophie Whalen is a young immigrant from Ireland sharing a tenement room in New York City with other young women. She answers an advertisement from a San Francisco man, Martin Hocking, who is looking for a wife and a mother to his young daughter Kat. He sends the money for her to take the train west and marries her the day she arrives, but he doesn't push her to have a physical relationship until she's comfortable. Martin works for an insurance company and travels a lot for his job, sometimes being away multiple days at a time.

There are things that cause Sophie to have questions, but she is also happy to be living in the circumstances she is in now. Martin is very handsome and well off enough to live in a nice neighbourhood and well-equipped home. Why would he have to advertise for a wife? Why is Kat so quiet? Is it just the loss of her mother or are there more reasons? Why doesn't Martin introduce her to any of his work colleagues since that was part of the reason he said he needed a wife? What is going on with the second business line that he is suddenly working with? 

More than a year after she arrived in the city, Belinda Bigelow, a young pregnant woman, appears on her doorstep looking for Martin, hoping he has some information on Belinda's husband, but the women soon learn that the connections are closer than expected. As the two women piece together their stories and Kat's history, and make plans to leave, a massive earthquake takes place. They flee the house together with Kat, first to a temporary hospital, then to a city park filled with other refugees from the quake and subsequent fires. Eventually they make their way to Belinda's home south of the city, but soon learn that Martin has been there since she left. Sophie must return to the city to see if Martin is there, and if not, to file a missing persons report. That and the ongoing police interest in the case cause Sophie to worry about her own secrets that she hoped to leave behind. 

A story of relationships, those that mistreat others in a variety of ways, and what women might do to ensure their own safety and the safety of those they care about.

The Tudor Prophecy

Finished April 25

The Tudor Prophecy by Julie Strong

This historical novel takes place in 1541 in the latter part of the reign of King Henry VIII. Hester Vaughan and her younger brother Dickie have lived in England with her maternal uncle Sir Hugh Grantmire and his family, consisting of his wife and daughter. The daughter, Lady Alice, is close in age to Hester and they are close friends. Hester's father is Welsh and still lives at his property there. His grief at the death of Hester's mother precipitated this move. 

Hester has teenage dreams of healing King Henry from his leg tumours and being chosen as his next wife, but her attempt to make this happen results in disaster. At the same time, Sir Hugh has finally come to the point where his refusal to make an oath to King Henry's new church means that his life and lands are in jeopardy. 

When Hester is summoned to join her father in Wales, she goes, but unwillingly. She has strange dreams that she struggles to understand. In Wales, she finds her father in his dying days, and struggles to hold off the strange and disturbing fates that her uncle there plans for her. A young bard and her Welsh maid are the only ones she can trust. 

Meanwhile Lady Alice, her mother, Dickie, and his minder John struggle to make ends meet in their reduced circumstances. Dickie, who is developmentally delayed and has seizures, is unpredictable and loyal to his family, which sometimes puts them in dangerous situations. 

When Hester's path crosses that of the young Elizabeth, Kind Henry's daughter, she realizes that she has been led to show her that her father's way is a cruel one and she can make different choices. 

I was really engaged with this novel and while I was sometimes frustrated with Hester's choices, I see how they all led in a certain direction. Hester grew through the course of the novel, as did Lady Alice as she adjusted to her new reality. As the book neared its end, the final scene leads me to believe there will be a sequel to this book, which I look forward to. 

The main parts of history were adhered to, with the real historical figures being where they were at the time. But the introduction of Wales and the Welsh people was interesting as it showed how religion disrupted the lives of the people in ways that I hadn't thought about. 

Memorial Days

Finished March 2

Memorial Days: A Memoir by Geraldine Brooks

This memoir moves back and forth between two times: one beginning on May 27, 2019, when her husband Tony Horowitz died suddenly; and one beginning in February 2023 when Geraldine went on a solo retreat to a small beach house on Flinders Island in Australia, her home country. 

Tony was on a book tour at the time, after writing a book that required intense research, and a tight deadline. She had met up with him at other points on the tour, but decided not to on this weekend. Their older son was on his way to Australia with his girlfriend, and her younger son was at boarding school. Tony's mom and siblings were at a family get-together in Maine. 

Geraldine was notified of Tony's death through a terse phone call from a hospital. When the follow-up call from the police came, they were, at least, kind. 

Because she was alone and far from where he died, on a holiday weekend where travel was difficult, she felt that she couldn't react the way that she wanted to. She had to hold herself together, and do what needed to be done. It wasn't until the trip she went on nearly four years later that she was able to truly grieve. 

The book moves back and forth between these two times, as she points out flaws in the system that she dealt with, the lack of planning for death she and Tony had done, and the various bureaucratic issues that she had to deal with immediately after her terrible loss. 

Geraldine grew up in Australia, and until she met Tony, an American, had every intention of living there and making her career there. Flinders Island, part of an archipelago between Tasmania and the rest of Australia had drawn her early in her adulthood, and in 2023, she tries to imagine what her life would have been like if she had spent it there instead of where her life took her. 

The beauty of the island, the nature that she describes paints a picture that is both wild and immersive. She watches the ocean, the sky, the land, and its creatures as she comes to terms with her loss and where it leaves her now, facing a future that is different than what she had imagined. 

This is a moving book, one that brought out emotions in me as I read it. She is an author I have read a lot and enjoyed immensely for her beautiful prose. Highly recommended. 

Rose Addams

Finished February 5

Rose Addams by Margie Taylor

Rose Addams is in her early sixties and working at a Vancouver area public library. She's a woman who enjoys her work, and takes an interest in her children's lives. On her way home one day in late August, her daughter Morgan calls and asks her to call back when she gets home. Morgan, who lives in Toronto with her fiancé Ian, and is nearing the final portion of her Ph.D. dissertation tells her that the engagement is off.

A few days later, she on her way to work when a young man she's seen sitting outside the nearby grocery store approaches her and tells her how he knows her. Rose is surprised and saddened. This reminds her of the early days of motherhood and how her and her husband Charles had handled an earlier childcare challenge in their lives. 

When she arrives home, she has more surprises in store. Her husband Charles, just a few years older than her, informs her that he has retired from his job as a university professor, and chair of his department. He tells her that it is due to a conversation that he had with an undergraduate student around student expectations. She is surprised and disappointed that he made such a big decision without even talking about it with her first. She is further surprised by a call from Morgan saying that she is coming home in a few days, just after the Labour Day weekend. 

As Rose and Charles host a dinner party the following evening with friends and colleagues, and he announces his retirement, the guests are surprised and dismayed. They include another professor and friend, Garnet, and his newest paramour a young graduate student, Lauren; the department secretary Bernadette and her brother Richard; and Rose's best friend Marie, a children's author, and her accountant husband Jeff. Bernadette is particularly dismayed and surprised, but Garnet is also disappointed that he wasn't consulted about the move, since he originally took Charles under his wing when Charles joined the department as a young professor. 

Rose likes Morgan's partner Ian, but is less enamored of her son Jason's partner Lee, who she feels judges her. She hasn't spent much time with Lee though, and not everyone see what Rose feels. 

As Rose deals with all these changes, and more, she questions her own feelings, second guesses her impulses, and finds herself dealing with a future she didn't imagine. 

I really enjoyed this book, and many of the issues that Rose is faced with felt very real and relatable. A book from a Canadian writer new to me, that I will definitely look out for. 

The Golden Hour

Finished January 24

The Golden Hour by T. Greenwood

This is a book I plucked off my shelves to meet a reading challenge, and it was so much more than I expected. The central character here is Wyn Davies. She is an artist who has started selling custom art featuring birch trees to match clients' decor. She doesn't love this work, but it pays some of her bills. Wyn is unhappy about a lot of things in her life, and she recently asked her husband Gus for a separation. She now lives in the other half of their New York duplex and their four-year-old daughter Avery moves back and forth.

When Wyn was thirteen, she took a shortcut home from school through the woods and was violently attacked. The police found the boy involved, Robby Rousseau, walking home with blood on him and he soon confessed. He has spent the last twenty years in prison, but now his supporters are fighting for DNA testing on the evidence and a new trial. Wyn can't face that, and when she receives a threatening phone call, she decides to take her friend Pilar up on her offer to stay with her for a few months in an old house she bought on an island in Maine. 

As Wyn struggles to identify all her feelings, her fears, and her hopes, she must face the truth about her past, one that is gradually revealed over the course of the novel, and figure out what she wants for her future. In the house she discovers another woman's story, and gets caught up in that .

This is a very intriguing book, one that had me reading into the wee hours. I liked the way that art was so important here, and how Wyn worked through her fears. A great read. 

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. 

Illyrian Spring

Finished December 30

Illyrian Spring by Ann Bridge

This novel came to me as part of a subscription from Mr. B's Emporium, a bookstore in Bath, England. It was originally written in 1935 and was a popular read at the time. 

The main character Grace Kilmichael is married with three adult children. Her husband Walter is a well-known economist. Before she was married, she studied art, and she gave it up when she married. Once the boys were grown and her daughter Linnet away at school, and her husband travelling a lot for work, she started up again, studying at the Slade, and spending some time in Paris with another artist Moru. She became a success, with her first important picture ending up at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. She's won awards. She's made sure not to inconvenience her family, working around their needs and expectations, and painting under her middle name as 'Grace Stanway,' to avoid drawing undue attention to the family. But she feels her successes have been belittled by her husband, with he and the children teasing her about her art. 

Lately Walter has been spending a lot of time with a female economist, Rose Barum, and extolling her intelligence and accomplishments. Even Linnet, who she had a close relationship up to recently, has been pushing her away, growing irritated at her suggestions, and spending less time at home. 

As the book starts Grace is leaving, planning a long getaway for herself, going first to Paris to see some galleries, then on to Venice to visit Tortello, and then for a long stay on the Dalmation coast in Croatia. She has put it about that she is visiting her mother in Antibes, and she has accepted a commission for drawings for American papers. She had not planned to paint, and had not brought her painting things, but she changes her mind and has her mother send her things to Venice after all. 

At Torcello she meets a young man who helps with a technical drawing she is doing for her son, and the two reconnect on a boat as she makes her way to Dalmatia. 

The novel is a telling of their journey, their art, their growing closeness, and how it affects their lives in significant ways. 

This is a lovely novel, in some ways of its times, but in others much ahead of them. I truly enjoyed it. 

The Sweetest Dream

Finished December 16

The Sweetest Dream by Doris Lessing

This novel takes us from the early 1960s through the late 1980s, following generations of one family and their friends. We see relationships, both intimate and friendly, come and go, and we observe how the political landscape changes over time. 

In the early part of the book, the main character is Frances Lennox, a divorced woman, who sacrifices her own dreams to support her children, Andrew and Colin. Her ex-husband, Johnny, is deep into communism, travelling and speaking about his politics not just across the country, but internationally. Johnny's mother Julia had tried to give money to Frances when he didn't pay maintenance, but Frances found work and managed. Both boys agreed to go to schools funded by Julia, Andrew to Eton and Colin to St. Joseph's. It was only when Frances realized how much their living situation was resented by the boys, that she agreed to move into Julia's house, with Julia living on the top floor and them having the rest.

Frances soon found herself catering to more people, as the boys friends and girlfriends, ex-friends and girl-friends came to meals and some ended up moving in. 

The reader can see how Frances is resigned to her situation, and keeps Johnny at a distance as much as she can, but accepts whoever of the younger generation appears at her table, and even those young African men that Johnny brings as young communist idealists. She deals with the issues of the time, rebellion against her generation, rebellion against traditional expectations, experimentation with drugs, the sexual revolution, and more. She even deals with the added presence of Tilly (Sylvia) the daughter of Johnny's second wife, when she is moved into the house. 

The later part of the novel follows Sylvia as she goes to Africa as a doctor, working in a remote community and trying to help the local people who are starved for medical, and educational assistance. The country she goes to, Zimlia, is a fictional one, but has strong parallels to the former Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. 

The writing is so good, and the story interesting. The only issue I had with the novel is that there are no chapters, just occasionally a few blank lines, indicating a change in time, setting, etc. For me, as a reader, I like to have a feel for when I can make a pause in my reading and the lack of chapters in a book is something I find personally frustrating. 

That aside, this is an amazing read, with so much depth, both of characters and of setting, that it is worth reading. It immersed me into the story. 

The Holiday Honeymoon Switch

Finished November 12

The Holiday Honeymoon Switch by Julia McKay

This fun holiday romance has a lot happening, and was a page-turner for me. On the evening before her wedding, Holly Beech's fiancé Matt tells her that he won't go through with the wedding, that they aren't really 'in love' with each other, and that he's met someone else. Holly is at her best friend, Ivy Casey's apartment getting ready for the wedding, and Ivy is left consoling her and feeling that she was right in her sense that Matt wasn't the right man for Holly. 

Holly can't bear to go to the luxury Hawaiian resort that her parents paid for, and since it is nonrefundable, she suggests that her and Ivy trade vacations. Ivy, a graphic designer, has an art vacation every year, where she uses her favourite oil pastels to create landscape pictures. Ivy has compartmentalized her art and makes it special for this time only. She has booked an eco-cabin in the Hudson Valley for this year. 

Both women are in for surprises when they arrive at their destinations. Holly finds the host of her cabin, who drops by to help her figure out some of the technology involved, is her high school academic rival Aiden. Ivy finds that someone else is already in the honeymoon suite at the Kauai resort, Matt and his new girlfriend. As she tries to find a place to stay in the popular season there, the extremely attractive bartender at the resort, Oliver, comes to her rescue. As both women weigh the decision to engage in a new relationship, they also must come to terms with their own issues, of confidence and routines. 

This is a novel of friendship, of unexpected love, and of taking chances. Thoroughly enjoyable. 

Paris by the Book

Finished November 8

Paris by the Book by Liam Callanan

This is a novel I really enjoyed. Leah and her family live in Milwaukee. She is the primary breadwinner and her husband Robert is a writer. He often goes away for short periods of time without notice to write. This time, he doesn't return. As Leah reports him missing and begins to search for clues to his disappearance, she finds a reservation for four plane tickets to Paris, a place they had dreamed of visiting for years. 

Once in Paris, they sightsee, planning to return before school starts again in the fall, but when they find an unfinished manuscript that Robert had been writing, and that it is set in Paris, Leah and her daughters Daphne and Ellie find a bookstore that mirrors the one in the manuscript, and buy it from the woman who owns it. They move into the building, living above the bookstore, with the owner, an older woman, living above them. 

They also begin looking after the woman's twin grandchildren, who are younger than Daphne and Ellie, and whose father travels a lot for his job. 

As the trio adjust to their new life in Paris, they also all privately keep an eye out for Robert, sure that he will appear at some point. 

There is also an interesting layer about two of the most popular French children's books, Madeline by Bemelman and The Red Balloon by Lamorisse. 

The book is told from Leah's point of view and captures her emotions well. She thinks back on how she and Robert met and ended up together, and about some of the difficulties they had in their marriage. She feels both loss of his presence and relief of him not being there. Leah had wanted to be a filmmaker, and had studied in that field, but her need to create a stable environment for her family had her giving up her dream, while Robert still pursued his. 

This is not a light novel, but it is one that is very relatable in the complexity of relationships and life dreams. 

Murder Road

Finished October 12

Murder Road by Simone St. James

This novel takes place in the summer of 1995. April and Eddie have just got married and are off for a few days at a motel on Lake Michigan. On their drive to the motel, April falls asleep and wakes as they are on a seemingly deserted road. They notice an odd light in the trees, and shortly after come across a woman walking slowly, and ask if she needs a ride. She says yes, and gets in, and as Eddie drives April talks to the woman, who responds slowly and April notices the blood seeping from her coat. About the same time, they both notice a a truck chasing them and Eddie drives as fast as he can, until they see the turnoff for a town. Eddie sees something in the truck that disturbs him, and when they take the young woman to the hospital, she dies soon after.

April and Eddie find themselves suspected of murder, and soon discover that there have been a series of murders on the road they found the woman on, taking place over many years, starting in the 1970s with the discovery of a woman's body that still hasn't been identified. 

As they have to stay in town, the two begin to investigate on their own and discover a few townspeople willing to help them. 

We also learn that April has an interesting past, one she has only partially revealed to Eddie. We also know that Eddie also has a previous life, as he was adopted as a young child. The two have a strong connection to each other, and form a strong team as they tackle this strange situation.

As always St. James writes a fascinating plot, and her characters come alive on the page. I really enjoyed this suspense novel and liked the two main characters.

A great read. 

Justice

Finished August 9

Justice by Larry Watson

This novel is a prequel to Watson's bestseller Montana 1948. It covers earlier years of the Hayden family and events that led to the events in the earlier novel. There are seven sections in the novel, each dealing with a specific event in the family's history. These are mostly in chronological order, except the first section. 

The first section, titled Outside the Jurisdiction and set in the winter of 1924, involves teenagers Frank and Wesley Hayden and two of Frank's friends, Tommy Salter, and Lester Hoenig. The group is travelling in a Model T from their home in Bentrock, Montana to the Dakota Badlands on an annual hunting trip. This is the first year the young men haven't gone with the Hayden boy's father. It is snowing hard, and the weather leads them to stop in a small North Dakota town that some of them visited to play baseball in the summer. Frank and Wesley, as the sons of the sheriff in their region feel that they can's escape that connection at home. But in a different state, they might be any young men, and their and their friends' actions lead them to a difficult situation and a learning experience. 

The second section, Julian Hayden is set in 1899 and involves Julian's move west to Montana at the age of sixteen from his childhood home in Iowa after his father's sudden death. His mother had accompanied him, but his sister Lorna stayed behind, taking a job looking after the children of the local Methodist minister. Julian worked hard to homestead his land, but the increasingly plaintive letters from his sister lead him to make a short trip back to Iowa to deal with things. This section gives a real sense of his character and his ruthlessness that also showed in the first section. 

The third section, Enid Garling is set in 1906, and tells the method and circumstances in which Enid escaped a controlling father in her home in North Dakota to marry young Julian Hayden for a different, yet still controlled life, in Montana. This shows more of Julian's character, but also Enid's and explains the weak role she played in the raising of her own sons. 

The fourth section, Thanksgiving, takes place in 1927 when Wesley returns home from his North Dakota university for the holiday. His mother has included a local girl, Iris Heil, that Wesley had dated in high school, expecting that someday this woman would be her son's wife. The thoughts of Wesley take us back to their courtship, but the conversation at the table after Enid has taken the plates and leftover food to the kitchen is enlightening for Wesley and us. He gets a different view of Iris, and one he doesn't entirely like of his father and brother. 

The fifth section, Len McAuley, is set in 1935, but has history about Len's earlier days in the community that give us a sense of who he is and what is important to him. Len is Julian's deputy and to stay within the bounds of term limits, he takes the position of sheriff every few terms. Len came to town with his family at the age of twelve. That was in 1898, the same year that Julian arrived. A traumatic event soon after they arrive has Len making his own way, and he finds companionship with his neighbour Julian. When Julian stopped serving as sheriff and Wesley took the position, Len tried to guide him to do as his father would have done, but found himself unable to express himself properly. Len married soon after Julian did, as he felt it was expected, but never felt towards her the way other men expressed themselves about the women in their lives. He thinks he is incapable of these feelings until a woman finally awakens them, but she is already taken and he can only admire her and be offended by the way some other men disrespect her. What we see here is very informative as to both his character and his interaction with the community. 

The sixth section, The Sheriff's Wife, takes place just a couple years later in early 1937, and is centered on Wesley's wife, Gail Hayden, a very capable woman who works as a secretary in a local government office, her commute just across the street from her home. As she watches her father-in-law and judges his behaviour, she sees her own husband taking on some of his father's mannerisms as he takes on the role of sheriff, and begins to question whether she has made a bad choice. 

The last section, The Visit, also takes place in 1937 and is also centered on Gail. She has a baby now, and is visiting her own parents in North Dakota, showing the child to her relatives there. Back in her childhood room, she finds herself mulling her marriage again, wondering about Wesley's behaviour, and considering whether she should allow the urges she is having to stay with her parents and not go home to become a real choice. These last two bring us back to Wesley, who was the main character in the first and fourth sections. We see how he has different feelings than the other men in his family, and struggles between wanting to please his father and wanting to be different from him, true to his own morals. It also shows how this struggle sometimes appears to others and makes him harder to understand, even with those close to him. I have the novel Montana 1948, but haven't read it yet. This novel intrigued me enough to want to continue reading about these characters. 

Clear

Finished August 8

Clear by Carys Davies

This historical novel is set in 1843, which is the year when about one-third of the ministers in Scotland rebelled against the patronage system whereby landowners would confer the position of minister in their parish or on their estates. This breakaway group was known as the new Free Church, and the ministers had to leave their homes (the manses the ministers lived in) and their church buildings and start from scratch. At first many held services in the open, with their parishioners asked to give what they could towards renting or building a new place for services and supplying an income for the ministers to live on. 

This was also towards the end of the period of Clearances, which had begun in the mid-eighteenth century. The Clearances consisted of landowners forcibly removing whole communities of the rural poor from their homes and livelihoods to make way for crops, cattle, and sheep, which would be managed centrally by the landowner. The landowner could then call on these desperate people for labour during the busier seasons and the people would be forced to make do with smaller, less fertile pieces of land, and piecemeal work. Some died, some went to larger industrialized cities, and many emigrated to North America or Australia. As the author notes in the afterward, when the potato blight began in 1846, these people still in Scotland began to starve. 

One of the three main characters here is John Ferguson, a minister that has chosen the Free Church, and is struggling to find money for a place for his parishioners to worship. He is middle-aged, well-read, curious, and recently married. Another character is Mary, his wife. She is also middle-aged, and had given up on ever marrying until chance brought the two of them together at a lecture. They are very much in love, and had spent money on two items that showed this. For Mary, it is a wedding ring that was important to her, and for John it is a calotype picture of Mary that he can take with him when he is away from her. John had made his decision to resign his living in Edinburgh a few months after their marriage.

The third central character is Ivar, a man living alone on a remote island near the edge of the Hebrides. Years before a storm had taken most of the young men on the island when they were fishing. There were two families, and one had left soon after. Ivar's mother, sister, and grandmother left a few years later for a new life, but he refused to leave, staying with his small horse, Pegi, his cow, his sheep, and his chickens. He made a living for himself, but barely survives, and spends his time when he isn't out on the land spinning yarn and knitting. 

Desperate for money, John accepts a favour from his brother-in-law and goes to work for a landowner. One of the tasks that has been given to him is to go to the island Ivar lives on and give him the notice of clearance. He is provided with documents, some scant help with the language Ivar speaks, food, and a pistol in case of trouble. A ship drops him off and will return for him in a few weeks. But John falls in an accident soon after landing on the island and it is Ivar who finds him, and some of his drenched possessions, and takes him in and cares for him. We see how the two form a relationship, a friendship, and how John learns his language gradually as he recovers his strength and decides how he can deliver the news he has been sent to deliver. 

After he has been gone a while, Mary worries about his safety after hearing stories of some of the more violent encounters during the Clearances, and sets out after him. 

The book description gives us these basic elements of the plot, but the way that Davies puts it all together is beautiful. There are many surprises, delights, and disappointments, but the characters here are so wonderfully drawn that I found it hard to leave the story. The book is short, but not fast-paced and the language is lovely. 

In the afterward Davies explains what she based Ivar's language on, and how she came to the idea for the book, which are related. 

The Summer without Men

Finished June 28

The Summer without Men by Siri Hustvedt.

This short novel is very engaging. Mia Fredrickson, the narrator and central character, had a breakdown after her husband of thirty years left her for another woman, a French woman that Mia refers to as 'The Pause'. She was hospitalized for a short time, diagnosed with a Brief Psychotic Disorder, and once she was well, decided to return for a few months to the small Minnesota town of her childhood. She rents a small house near the senior complex where her mother lives in a small apartment. She also gets a job teaching a group of teen girls poetry. 

Her mother has a group of friends that spend a lot of time together, and Mia thinks of them as the Five Swans. She regards them as women who "shared a mental toughness and autonomy that gave them a veneer of enviable freedom". We get to know these women. George is one hundred and two and has a great sense of humour. Regina is eighty-eight had married a diplomat and lived in several countries and had several relationships after her husband's death. Peg, at eighty-four spent her life in a smaller town nearby, and has six children and numerous grandchildren that she keeps detailed track of. Abigail, at ninety-four has osteoporosis and hearing issues, worked as a teacher, but is a textile artist with hidden depths that she gradually reveals to Mia. 

We also get to know the teenagers. Mia has taught graduate students for years, but she adjusts quickly to this younger group of students. Peyton, thin and tall, is still getting used to her longer limbs. Jessica is small but has a woman's body, and talks in a babyish voice. Ashley is self conscious, but confident of her developing body. Emma is shy. Nikki and Joan function in tandem and giggle a lot. Alice has moved recently from Chicago, and is interested in books and art. Mia teaches them three times a week for six weeks, giving them interesting exercises and prompts for their writing. 

Mia also starts getting anonymous emails that are nasty and critical. When she begins to engage with this unknown person, the conversation becomes very interesting. 

She also has emails with her husband Boris and her daughter Daisy. During the summer both Daisy and Mia's sister Bea visit her. 

She also engages with the family living next door to her house, Lola and Pete, and their children Flora, and Simon. Flora makes quite an impression with her stuffed animal menagerie and her Harpo wig. Lola makes and sells jewelry and is a calm and capable mother. Pete travels a lot for work and Mia seldom interacts with him. She hears the arguments between the couple and helps sometimes with the children when Lola gets overwhelmed. She describes Flora so well, I can see her in my head. 

Scattered throughout the novel are poems, some by other poets, some by the teen characters, but many of Mia's own, and this is part of the skill with language that Hustvedt has. She also has insights that touched me. One example is this:

Sitting across from her in the small apartment, I had the thought that my mother was a place for me as well as a person. ...But it was my mother herself whom I had come home to.

Her other insights about her mother were also interesting to reflect on. Mia cooks for her mother and visits, listening to her talk about earlier times in her life, and walks back to her rented house reflecting on her own life. She has weekly telephone sessions with her psychiatrist Dr. S. and spends time writing poetry. 

This is a novel that drew me in, that made me read slowly with attention, and that made me care about the characters. A gem. 

The Guest

Finished June 27

The Guest by B.A. Paris

A twisty mysterious suspenseful tale of the type I've come to expect from B.A. Paris. The couple at the center of this novel, Iris and Gabriel have been married a long time. Their daughter Beth is taking a gap year volunteering in Turkey for an organization that works with abandoned and abused dogs. 

Recently Gabriel was the first one on the scene when a teenager, Charlie died after going over the edge of a nearby quarry. Charlie was still alive and said some things to Gabriel before he died. Gabriel had coached Charlie a few years back, and was deeply affected by this tragic experience. He is now on leave from his medical practice for an indeterminate time. Iris has a home-based business where she works with homeowners to decorate and furnish their spaces. The experience that Gabriel had has made for a distance in their marriage. 

As the novel begins, they arrive home a day early from their holidays and find an old friend Laure in their home. Laure is distraught, and says that Pierre, her husband has told her he had a child with someone and has just discovered her. He hasn't told Laure who the woman is, but Laure has suspicions. Iris had long wanted children, but Pierre did not, so she feels very betrayed at this point and is trying to figure out what she wants to do. As Iris tries to escape Laure's presence, she finds new friends in the village, a couple near her age that recently moved into a large property that had been abandoned for years. Hugh and Esme are in a second marriage for both of them, with Hugh widowed with a grown child and Esme divorced. Esme is now pregnant and eager to make new friends as well as bring the old house back to life. Along with them is Joseph a gardener that Esme's parents knew, who has recently lost his job. Joseph is helping with the grounds of the house. 

As the friendship begins, the presence of both Laure and Joseph bring tension to the atmosphere. Most of the characters have secrets that they haven't shared that will soon come to be uncovered, unless circumstances allow them to stay secret. 

There is lots of suspense here, with tension between many of the characters, and the ending is unexpected and unnerving. A real page-turner.