Inland

Finished June 26

Inland by Téa Obreht

This historical novel follows two characters in the late 19th century in the United States. Lurie has some memories of when he and his father were on a ship, running from something in his father's past. He knows from things his father said, that he was from Turkey, but he doesn't know what drove him to leave. He knows his father's name was Hadziosman Djuriƈ, although the landlady in the house they lived in made it Hodge Lurie when the hearse took him away. Lurie lived with her a while, doing chores, until she hit harder times and sold him to the Coachman, the man who collected the dead. Later, he was sent west with other boys, and worked for a man that ran a mercantile. As Lurie's life unfolds, one thing becomes clear: he can hear the dead that aren't at rest. From men he helped the Coachman collect, to a friend that dies from illness, he begins to understand what he is hearing. In the Midwest, where he now lives, he hears many voices, of the indigenous people, settlers good and bad, and many others. He becomes a man who makes his way by chance and wit, and spends a long time with a camel section of a military group. 

The other main character is Nora Lark, a wife and mother who lives with her family on a small plot in the Arizona Territory. 1893 is a drought year that followed other drought years, and Nora's husband Emmett left to go for water days ago. Her two older sons, Rob and Dolan, have now gone out after him, leaving Nora with her elderly mother-in-law who doesn't speak and has limited mobility, her youngest son Toby, who was injured in the eye, and a serving girl Josie. Josie, like Lurie, senses connections to the dead, and Nora finds this both fascinating and annoying and doesn't know whether to believe her or not. Of late, Josie and Toby have been claiming they see a monster near the property. 

As we gradually see the two stories connecting, we see the reality of life for people at the time, struggling to survive amid threats both human and nature. Emmett Lark owns a printing press and ran a local newspaper in town, but he hasn't been that willing to go against the political force that is in the process of both making their town less prosperous and denying a recent widow her property. Nora is a fighter that is impulsive and this has made her more willing to fight, and less able to see the consequences until they are upon her. 

The writing is beautiful and often speaks to larger truths. At one point Lurie says to a companion "The longer I live, Burke, the more I have come to understand that extraordinary people are eroded by their worries while the useless are carried ever forward by their delusions." There is a haunting quality to the novel, and I often had trouble putting it down. 

A definite literary gem. 

Two previous series reads that somehow got missed: Blue Moon by Lee Child and The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley

While following up on some of the series I read, I noticed gaps for two them where I seemed to have missed a book. I've taken them out of the library, but as soon as I started reading them I remembered them. I've searched all my notes and don't seem to have written reviews, which is very odd for me. They both date from the same time period, published in late 2019 read either in late 2019 or early 2020 and I guess that I missed them in the busyness of other things at the time. So here they are, now.

Blue Moon by Lee Child, read by Scott Brick

This is the 24th book in the series and once it again it begins with Reacher on a Greyhound bus in the middle of America. He assists an older man after the man is attacked in the street after exiting the bus, and one thing leads to another as he first helps him to the place where the payment the older man needs to do is to take place, and later to his home. The man and his wife are worried about their daughter whose story unfolds for him. He soon finds himself impersonating the old man, and getting between the Ukrainian and Albanian gangs who run the town and are vying for expansion under the new police commissioner in the small city. 

As each gang makes moves and Reacher makes some to protect himself and the older couple, there is luck that happens, as they say, once in a blue moon. Reacher's investigations lead him into the world of paid healthcare in the U.S., IT startups successes and failures, money trails and extortion rings. 

This is classic Jack Reacher, satisfying for the little guy, with the bad guys in deep trouble. 

The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley

This is the 10th book in the Flavia de Luce series. Her oldest sister Ophelia is getting married as the book opens, but there's a shocking item in the wedding cake when she slices it. Flavia is quick on her feet and manages to take the item while the focus is on Ophelia's hysterics. 

Flavia has also teamed up with her father's valet, Dogger, as a private investigation firm. The wedding discovery turns out to be the start of their first case, leading them to a special railway for the dead, a visit from missionaries, and a client who dies before the case is resolved. 

Dogger serves as a guide for Flavia's enthusiasm, putting her on the right track, and encouraging her good ideas. To their clients and the police they present a team that can put things together faster than the officials can. 

This isn't my favourite of the series, but it does offer some interesting scenes, and cousin Undine plays a larger role than in earlier books. 

Egg Shooters

Finished April 20

Egg Shooters by Laura Childs (A Cackleberry Club Mystery, #9)

This cosy mystery is set in the small town of Kindred in the Midwest. Suzanne Dietz is the co-owner of the Cackleberry Club a diner specializing in breakfast, lunch, and tea. They also put on a variety of special events, many related to fundraising for different organizations in town. The cafe also has two small nooks, one is the Book Nook and it sells books and magazines. The other is the Knitting Nest and it sells a variety of yarn and supplies and has classes.

As this book begins, Suzanne is on her way to the hospital to delivery a hot meal of chili and cornbread to her fiance, Dr. Sam Hazelet who is on shift there. On her way, she is passed by an ambulance. Once she gets there and goes in to the small ER, she and the intake nurse Ginny are surprised by a man dressed in black rushing to them from inside the hospital. He is carrying a black duffle bag and a gun, and they are in no doubt he will use the gun if they challenge him. When he shoots at the chasing security guard and then at Ginny, Suzanne finds anger builds in her so that she comes out swing her thermos at him, and chili explodes everywhere. When she follow him out to the parking lot though, he has disappeared. 

Back at the cafe the following day, Suzanne and her co-owners discuss the crime and the truck heists that have been happening near them as they try to make sense of them. The gunman at the hospital had robbed the pharmacy there and when Suzanne hears about the two first-time drug offenders the local pastor is working with, her suspicions rise. Every little lead that arises, from a compound of ex-military men to a new warehouse rental in town gets Suzanne's attention. 

In between her sleuthing, she helps prepare food for the cafe, catering orders, a fundraisers for the local library, and a specially themed dinner event. 

There is lots going on here, with many red herrings, and some clues that not everyone will pick up on. Suzanne gets herself into some tricky situations with her sleuthing, and makes some bad guesses in terms of suspects. 

The novel includes several recipes at the back. 

I picked up this novel to meet a reading challenge and finished it in just a few hours, so it is a quick read. 

Golden Age

Finished November 5
Golden Age by Jane Smiley, read by Lorelei King

This is the third book in a trilogy. I read the second one Early Warning a while back. This novel opens in 1987 and takes us up to the present.
The books follow the Langdon family. Here we see twin brothers Michael and Richie, who take very different paths in their lives, separate and come back together, and separate again. Their relationship is very complicated. Their lives involve politics and high finance, fraud and betrayal. Their sister Janet is distant, dealing with her own baggage and finds solace in horses and solitude.
The youngest generation from the family line still on the Iowa farm chooses different paths away. Two of them go into the military, serving in Iraq, and dealing with the effects of that experience. The daughter, Felicity, focuses on the environment and worries about health and sustainability.
I was completely drawn into the character's lives, reacting strongly to the betrayals suffered and the pain felt. This, along with the earlier books, is a story of America over generations, one that is as complex as the lives of the characters. We see their world evolve and priorities change, and we see how they react and how they connect.
A wonderful read.

Egg Drop Dead

Finished March 21
Egg Drop Dead by Laura Childs

This light mystery takes place in the small town of Kindred in the Midwest. Suzanne, Petra, and Toni own the cafe that they've named the Cackleberry Club. Offshoot niches in the cafe also include a yarn store and a book store. Petra does the majority of the cooking, but all the ladies chip in. Suzanne is making a trip to a local dairy farmer for a wheel of his tasty cheese, but when she gets to the farm, he doesn't come out to meet her like he normally does and she gets a feeling that things aren't right. Sure enough, she finds him dead.
Suzanne has found herself in situations before where she has worked to assist the police to get to the bottom of a crime, but she isn't encouraged to do so here. Her knowledge of the crime scene and her observations of what she saw afterwards make her determined to find out who killed Mike Mullen.
There is also increasing development in the area, where farmlands are sold for development. Is this a factor in this murder? Suzanne finds other shady characters that she considers the motives of, even while hosting a visit from a mobile yarn retailer, and a outdoor party.
The book includes a number of recipes from the various scenes in the cafe,

The Excellent Lombards

Finished July 1
The Excellent Lombards by Jane Hamilton

This novel is narrated by Mary Frances Lombard, As the book begins, she is eleven years old, her brother William is twelve and they are helping their father with haying on the farm. Her father and a cousin Sherwood co-own the farm along with a great-aunt.
Mary Frances is passionate about the farm and wanting to stay there farming when she grows up. She is intimidated by Aunt May Hill, who lives on her own floor of the main house, doesn't talk a lot, but is very handing at repairing things. As Mary Frances grows up, you see her relationships change with her earnest, hardworking father Jim, her librarian mother Nellie, her younger cousin Amanda, her brother William, and all the rest of the people in her life, family and others.
She and William have christened the two houses on the farm Velta and Volta, and are aware the partnership is a relationship that can be fraught at times.
Sherwood's father owned the farm, but when it became necessary, Jim came and worked hard and stayed and was thus rewarded for his loyalty and hard work, but it created a resentment. Aunt May Hill owns the right of way to the barn, an important piece, and while she has no children, she does have a nephew Philip, who also develops a closer relationship with the farm.
As Mary Frances watches the changes in interests, in the way the future might develop, she reacts in ways not always logical.
This is a story of people making a living off the land, but realizing there is a wider world out there, and finding their own way to live in it.
As always, Hamilton is a wonderful writer, giving us access to a character in a way that feels like we really know her.

The Qualities of Wood

Finished August 20
The Qualities of Wood by Mary Vensel White

This novel is set near an unnamed town in the Midwest. The farmhouse where most of the story takes place was the home of Betty Gardiner. After her death, the house was passed down to her children, and her grandson Nowell has just moved into the house with his wife Vivian. Sherman, Nowell's father passed away years before, and his mother Beverley is managing the portion of the house that would have come to him. Nowell is working on his second novel and the couple has agreed to move into the house for a year while he writes and they fix up the house for sale.
Vivian works her way through the accumulated contents, sorting things into piles to keep, sell, donate and throw away. She had stayed on in the city for a while to earn more money to see them through the year and as she arrives the police have found a young woman's body in the woods behind the farm. Nowell's brother Lennie arrives a few days later with his new wife Dot, and the tension between the two brothers grows.
Vivian feels pushed away by Nowell as well as he retreats into his writing, and although she gets along with Dot and has made a friend in a local woman Katherine Wilton, she feels ill at ease. The two neighbours through the woods, bachelor Mr. Stokes and single mom, Kitty Brodie, now grieving her daughter, both have her wary.
With memories of her own lost in the woods experience, Vivian tries to make sense of what is happening, in the woods, in her new home, and in the small town dominated by descendents of the founder William Clement.