The Prisoner

Finished August 13

The Prisoner by B.A. Paris

The main character, Amelie, lost her mother when she was young and afterwards her father sued the hospital where she died for malpractice, a case which has dragged on, and the pair moved to England. They are very close. As the book opens we see Amelie in the present, where she has been kidnapped from her husband's home and is being held prisoner in a dark room, with minimal contact with her captors, none of which is verbal.

We are also taken to a past timeline, beginning when Amelie is in high school, caring for her father whose health is bad. As we watch her make choices to move to London, to befriend an older woman, and to enter into a problematic marriage, we also see how she has ended up where she is now. 

She is a young woman with an independent spirit who doesn't want pity or sympathy, just wants a chance to be the best she can be. Her circumstances limit her or change the timeline for her dreams, but they don't take the dreams away. She is kind and friendly and somewhat naïve, and thus others take advantage of her. 

In the present we soon learn that her husband is also a prisoner in another room of the building she is in, and that his security guard has been recently killed. We watch Amelie learn about her environment, use any tool that she can find to work for her, and try to figure out what the kidnappers want. She also fears being released with Ned for reasons that become clear. 

This is an interesting psychological suspense novel, as are all the ones I've read by this talented writer. 

St. Agnes' Stand

Finished December 25

St. Agnes' Stand by Thomas Eidson

This historical western was a real page-turner for me. I wanted to find out what happened to the party of nuns and orphans that was under siege by the natives. 

I did have issues with how the Apaches were portrayed, and the violence they enacted on the people they captured. Even in the scenes between the indigenous people, they lacked depth and were stereotypical. 

The main character, Ned Swanson, is on the run from two men who want to exact revenge for him killing a friend of theirs. He wants to get to California where he has a deed to land and intends to make a fresh start. He's been on his own since he was a child and his family was killed by a passing group of Comanches. He's learned to look after himself and not depend on anyone else. 

When he comes across a group of Apaches standing near a couple of overturned wagons in a rocky gully, he makes a small act and kills one of them from afar. When he observes the wagons through his telescope, he sees a woman's face, an older woman. He determines that he can do nothing for them, and has to get moving. 

The leader of the small group under siege, Sister St. Agnes travelled with the other nuns from Philadelphia to ransom back children that were ransomed from natives by the Mexicans, who, in turn, wanted money for them. She was somewhat successful, and is now returning home with the children and her fellow nuns, with the wagons driven by Mexicans. Now, the sieged group consists of three nuns and seven children. Sister St. Agnes has been praying for God to send someone. 

When Nat goes against his better judgement and makes his way to the wagons, he wasn't expecting such a large group, nor a group so ill-equipped to outrun their captors. 

The story is a suspenseful one, with many tense moments, as Nat's skills and the Sister's calm demeanor sometimes work against each other. 

I found the book captivating, and wanted to know how things worked out. There were many surprises. 

The Ever Open Door

Finished November 29

The Ever Open Door by Julie Band

This debut novel was inspired by the author's own grandfather coming to Canada as a Barnado Homes orphan. Here the Barnado is a small but essential part of the plot. 

The main character here is Rachel Gilmore, oldest daughter of a shipowner in Liverpool in 1888. As the story begins, Rachel is at an event where her stepmother is being honoured. Because her stepmother is ill, Rachel is accepting the honour on her behalf and is escorted by her father. 

Rachel is a smart young woman and has been helping her stepmother with the household accounts as well as her father with his business accounts. 

Her stepmother is a trained midwife and has been working with the city's poor for years, and lately Rachel has been accompanying her on many of her visits. Now she has volunteered Rachel to help another agency with their books. Mrs Birt runs an agency that send orphaned children to Canada, and hopefully to a better future. 

Rachel's father's business is tight financially, and the investors and banks are applying pressure, and her father is considering all his options for the protection of the business, but when he is injured during the unloading of one of his ships, the family faces more immediate difficulties. 

Rachel is a girl who is smart and observant, and she notices the expressions and actions of the people around her. But she is also naive, despite her charitable activities and some of her choices get her into difficult situations. With her stepmother still not well, and her father's business tied up in legal situations, she tries to protect her younger sister Emily and herself. But sometimes she finds herself out of her depth and put into circumstances that place her and her reputation in danger.

I liked the spunk of the main character, and her resolve to do the right thing, even when it is a difficult one. She looks for opportunity and has ingenuity in her ideas. She is also a kind girl, raised to treat people of all classes with respect, and this serves her well. 

I also liked how the plot developed, slowly at first and then becoming a real page turner. I want to know more of Rachel's story to see where it leads. 

Fin & Lady

Finished January 4
Fin & Lady by Cathleen Schine, read by Anne Twomey

This enchanting novel tells the story of young Fin Hadley and his older half-sister Lady. As the book begins Fin is eleven years old and has just lost his mother to cancer. He has already lost his father and both his maternal grandparents. Now Lady comes into his life as his guardian and companion. Fin had met Lady when he was five, after their father had taken Fin and his mother Lydia on a trip to Europe to hunt down the elusive Lady. They had finally found her on Capri, and Fin was enchanted by her at the time, and on the boat trip back to the U.S.
Now Fin and his collie dog Gus go to New York City with Lady to live. At first they live in her late mother's apartment which is well-managed by the black housekeeper Mabel. Mabel is the grounding influence in the home, especially when they move to a newly renovated brownstone in Greenwich Village.
Fin discovers that Lady is well-meaning, but not necessarily dependable in an everyday way. She is a bit of a misfit and a rebel, even for the early '60s when this story begins. Fin soon discovers that he has another guardian, a financial one, represented by the young Tyler, a lawyer for Fin and Lady's father's law firm. He manages Fin's inheritance including the farm and cows that were his grandparents'. Tyler also has a history with Lady that Fin doesn't learn of right away. What he does learn is that Lady has the ability to enchant, and not just Fin. Lady seems to draw people to her, and she has many suitors. In a moment of togetherness, Lady assigns Fin the job of finding her a husband among these many, and set a deadline a year away.
We soon see there are three men who seem closer to success in terms of suitors, and Lady seems to rotate from one to another as time goes on. They are Tyler, the long-term suitor; Jack, the younger man, a sportsman who gets off to a bad start with Fin; and Biffy, a Hungarian emigrant and World War II survivor. Biffy is the favourite of Fin, and we even get to meet his eccentric mother, who is a darling.
As the years go by, and the deadline for Fin's task gets moved further out, he finds a life in the city. He befriends an older girl Phoebe, who lives across the street; attends a non-traditional school; explores museums, galleries, parks, and becomes a baseball fan of the Mets. During these years, Lady lives a life in limbo, not really advancing, just treading water. It is a pleasant life, but Fin can see that Lady isn't truly happy.
When, in a moment he regrets, Fin tells her what he truly thinks, Lady sets off on a new adventure. She ends up in Capri again, and the story changes. Lady changes, and Fin sees how. When even more change begins to come into their lives, Fin knows that he needs help, and his true friends come through.
This is a story of two siblings, who become friends. A fairy-tale type story with an ending both unexpected and inevitable. I loved it.

Love and Other Consolation Prizes

Finished December 5
Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford, read by Emily Woo Zeller

This historical novel takes us first to China, and then to Seattle in the early twentieth century. Both these are memories of Ernest Young's decades later, as one of his daughters, a reporter, digs into the past for stories on the upcoming world's fair of 1962. Ernest is living in a small apartment in Chinatown, with his ailing wife Grace living with his journalist daughter. She's been having memory issues, and outbursts, and it has been thought best to leave her there.
Ernest remembers his last moments with his mother and what happened to his baby sister. It was then his journey to the west began. First there was a days long walk with other young Chinese children and youths. Then a voyage by ship. Ernest remembers the other passengers, the spartan quarters and and a few of the men on the ship that they interacted with. He was lucky to survive.
The book then takes us to 1909, when Ernest has been a charitable case by a local female dogooder. When he finds enough courage to challenge her idea of his future, she changes her mind, and uses him as a fund-raising raffle prize. This throws him into a new world, one that is more freeing, but also limited. He is won by the madam of a high-class brothel, to the consternation of his dogooder. Other than the piano player, who lives elsewhere, Ernest is the only male in the house, and becomes an object of affection by the upstairs girls, and a companion to one of the servants near his own age, Fahn. He also connects with the madam's young daughter Maisie, and the three hang out together, explore portions of the town, and on one eventful evening go to the fair.
As Ernest looks back at this time in his life, he recognizes that he loved both girls, for different reasons, and in different ways, but, in the end, could only commit to one.
As the memories continue to come, and Ernest deals with the events of the present, Grace begins to improve and begins to share her own memories. Ernest has been trying to protect her, and the shared history that may not be what she really wants shared, but again, he finds that fate has taken things into her own hands.
This is a fascinating story, based on a newspaper article the author came across of a baby being auctioned off at the fair. Ford looked at other real historical events such as the drive for suffrage and against alcohol and other vices, and used them to tie the story together. I loved it.

Crooked Heart

Finished March 28
Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans

Set just before and during World War II, this novel follows two characters, both misfits. Noel is a schoolboy who lives in London with his godmother Mattie. Mattie is quite well off, but also older than Noel's parents were, and she is beginning to suffer from dementia. Noel works hard to assist her in hiding this from her nephew and his wife, who come to visit once a week. But as she gets worse, he begins to worry about her. When other children are evacuated to the countryside, Mattie and Noel hold firm and he stays with her in London, but when something happens to Mattie, Noel is forced to go into evacuation. He is sent to St. Albans, where he is taken in as an evacuee by Vera (Vee) Sedge, a middle-aged woman who lives with her mother and her son Donald. Vee's mother is mute and writes a lot of letters, to friends, family, and public personages, including the prime minister. Donald is a bit lazy, but he also has a bad heart, something that excused him from the draft, but also tires him easily.
Vee works hard, but finds it difficult to keep up with the needs of the household, even with Donald working too. So, taking in Noel is looked at as a way to get a bit of extra cash. Noel, despite what she thought, is a very intelligent boy, having had an unusual education under the tutelage of Mattie. He reads voraciously, and is very observant of the world around him. He knows that he doesn't fit in with his peers, and when he figures out what Vee is up to to get some extra cash, he is quite open to assisting. Vee is surprised at the growing closeness between herself and Noel, accustomed to being taken for granted by her mother and Donald, and not considered as a person unto herself. As the two spend time together, through difficult circumstances, they find a way to move on together despite the difficulties the war brings to them.
An intriguing story of two likeable characters, I really wanted to know what happened to them as the story unfolded.

The Willoughbys

Finished December 4
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry

This classic children's tale is great fun. As the cover states, it is "nefariously written and ignominiously illustrated" by Lowry.
It is a  book about a family of old-fashioned children, who try to plan their lives differently. When their parents go off travelling and hire a nanny to look after them, things do go differently, but not in the way they imagined. The book is a very tongue-in-cheek send-up of those classic children's books, in a very amusing style. Full of nice big words, interesting characters and with the requisite happy ending, this will keep the reader entertained throughout. A glossary is provided.

The Language of Flowers

Finished April 22
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Victoria Jones, the main character here, was abandoned as an infant and spent her young life in foster care and group homes. Her last foster home, when she was nine still haunts here, and it was there she learned the language of flowers.
Victoria has reached the age of 18 and is emancipated, but doesn't know how to begin her life on her own. She plants a small garden in a park and her talent is recognized by a local florist who offers her work. As Victoria grows more secure in her skills with flowers, she also finds herself drawn to the past, unsure if she can find peace with what she left behind.
This is a love story, a story of independence, a story of families, and of course a story of the language of flowers. I'd long been aware that flowers had meanings, but hadn't taken the time to investigate them. The author includes a listing of flower language at the end that is an interesting beginning. Diffenbaugh was inspired to write this novel by her own experiences as a foster mother.
As a person with two adopted siblings, I found that side of it interesting too.
Great read.

Wonderstruck

Finished December 5
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
I love how writers can take nuggets of information and create wonderful stories from them. Selznick's love of film history plays a role here, as well as a long ago backstage tour of the American Museum of Natural History. Selznick's unique books with their combination of text and drawings captivate the reader and make the stories come to life. The drawings offer more than the story, there are hidden themes and inspirations here as well. The story is a good one in and of itself.
This is a great book to engage children in reading and give them interest in history and nature besides. Set both in the 1920s and 1977, this book shows how events link over time. The theme around deafness is also interesting, showing how society viewed this disability and treated its victims. I learned quite a bit myself, and will make a point of visiting the Panorama next time I go to New York City.
All-in-all a very cool book that will appeal to all ages.

Prequel

Finished April 23
Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson
I've been a huge Anne of Green Gables fan since I was a kid, visiting the tourist centre in PEI on a summer vacation once and buying all the books, so I was eager to read this.
The book includes references made in LM Montgomery's books to Anne's earlier life, and had a number of interesting episodes. However it just didn't do it for me. That said, the author didn't try to copy Montgomery's style, which is probably good, and yet that may be why it didn't feel a part of the whole to me. Prequels are always difficult anyway, and when written by someone other than the original writer, the difficulty only increases.
The story was interesting, and there were many good characters, although they aren't written as deeply as I would have hoped. I think that fan's of Anne will still find it an enjoyable read, and it offers a interesting idea of how Anne's personality began.