The Stockholm Octavo

Finished August 12
The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann

This historical novel is set in the 1790s in Stockholm, Sweden. The narrator is Emil Larsson, a young man, who has worked hard to raise himself to the level of a secretaire in the government. His position is in the Customs and Excise office, and he has a sideline in reselling confiscated goods. He has come to his position through hard work, and hard play, teaching himself to be a skilled card player, and betting wisely, gaining the money to buy his position.
Now his Superior has decided that all the secretaires should be married, and Emil is one of the few who has no wife or fiance. Emil's favourite place to go to play cards is the house of Mrs. Sofia Sparrow, an older widow, who both runs a gaming parlour, and is a fortune-teller. She doesn't always use cards in her prognostications, but fairly often. When Emil is next at her house playing cards, she approaches him, and says she's had a vision for him concerning love and connection. She would like to lay an octavo for him, but first she must explain the rules around it. The cards serve as a guide to realizing the vision. Eight nights in a row she will lay cards until a card makes itself known as one of the Octavo. Laying the cards helps to identify who the people are in each role, and can then make it possible to manipulate them so the vision goes in the direction the seeker wishes. The seeker, in this case Emil, must swear an oath to complete the laying. Then he must work to identify who the people are in each role. The roles are: The Companion; The Prisoner; The Teacher; The Courier; The Trickster; The Magpie; The Prize; and The Key.
Along with this plot line, there is also one of royal intrigue. The King, Gustav has recently changed the law to give commoners rights and privileges previously reserved for the nobility. This has caused some of the nobility to rebel by refusing to sign the law, and be imprisoned for that rebellion. The group refers to themselves as the Patriots. Once released, they take their rebellion less openly, and choose the king's younger brother, Duke Karl as their leader. Duke Karl is a weak man, easily influenced by the flattering idea of becoming king. One woman in particular, the widow of one of the rebels, is determined to see the plot through. Her name is the Uzanne, and she has power beyond most women.
Another big theme to this novel is the use of the folding fan. A recent addition to the town's merchants is a skilled fanmaker, Christian Norden. He studied fanmaking in France and married a French woman, but with the growing unrest in France, they came to Christian's home country to make a new start. The Uzanne is a big collector of fans and uses them to get what she wants, whether it be a man or something else. She has some lovely and special fans in her collection and one of them plays a large role in this novel.
There is a lot going on here, and as Emil gradually identifies the people who have roles in his Octavo, we also see the plots developing. Some things, I could guess at ahead of time, but others took me by surprise. A very different and interesting novel.

Hope Has Two Daughters

Finished July 18
Hope Has Two Daughters by Monia Mazigh, translated from French by Fred A. Reed

This author is the wife of Maher Arar, a Canadian man imprisoned, tortured, and cleared of terrorism charges. Monia was thrust into the limelight during her fight for her husband and his rights.
This novel takes place in two time periods: 1984, and 2010-2011, both periods of revolution in Tunisia. In 1984 Nadia is in her final year in the lycee when a short-lived revolution takes place. Nadia has been exposed to a wide variety of books and thinking through her father's extensive library, and finds her actions lead to her suspension from school. She begins studying English at the American Cultural Center where she meets a young Canadian man, Alex, who is adding technology to the school's library. Nadia's best friend Neila has been dating a young man Mounir, who is from the disadvantaged part of town, Ettadamoun Township, and has been studying to be a lawyer. Mounir is implicated in the uprising and sentenced to 7 years in prison. Nadia finds that her future in Tunisia is limited due to her actions, and believes moving to Canada as Alex urges her to do is a wise move despite her parents' feelings.
In the more recent time period, Nadia's daughter Lila is visiting Tunisia for the summer to improve her Arabic. She is staying with her mother's old friend Neila and her husband, but finds the school boring and not offering the learning she expected. When she is unexpectedly befriended by a neighbour woman her own age, she finds herself drawn into a new group of friends, young people who come from both the wealthy neighbourhood and Ettadamoun Township, and who believe the time is ripe for a new kind of society, beginning with the revolution dubbed the Arab Spring.
As both mother and daughter go through their own enlightenment during each revolution, they also find the Arab Spring bringing them together not only with each other, but with family and friends.
A very useful glossary to terminology is supplied at the back of the book.

A Girl Called Fearless

Finished June 15
A Girl Called Fearless by Catherine Linka

This teen novel is set in the present, but a different present that what we live now. It begins in California where Avie lives with her father in a gated community and goes to a school with other girls like herself. Ten years or so ago, women started getting cancer and dying at inexplicable rates. By the time they finally traced it to a hormone in beef it was too late and all women past puberty and before menopause who had eaten beef were dead or dying. At first, it was just dealing with the grief, but now women's lives are becoming more restricted and when Avie discovers that not only are U.S. colleges closed to women, but her own father has arranged a marriage contract for her that will save his business. Avie finds that she has been sold, and there is nothing she can do about it. Or can she?
Childhood friend Yates has become a student revolutionary and he is urging her to escape to Canada. Avie wants to listen to him, but is that just because she has stronger feelings for him than that of friendship?
There is a lot going on in this book. It draws from other dystopian novels with women losing rights, echoes of novels like The Handmaid's Tale show here. But it also speaks to the limited lives of real women in many countries now, where the men in their lives control what they can do and where they can go and what their futures hold. Avie has definite challenges, but she is luckier than many, having an education, connections, and training to make a real stand for herself.

Children of the Jacaranda Tree

Finished June 15
Children of the Jacaranda Tree by Sahar Delijani

This is the first novel by Sahar Delijani and draws from her own family history.
Azar and Ismael are taken to Evin prison when Azar is pregnant with their daughter. Neda is born while her mother is in prison. Parisa and her husband were eating dinner with their son Omid when the police came for them. Later, Parisa's sister Leila came for him, finding Omid sitting at the table surrounded by the violence of a search of the apartment. Omid's sister Sara was also born while Parisa was in prison. Their cousin Forugh also came to life with Leila and her parents after her birth. Her parents, Simin and Behrouz, Ismael's younger brother, were also in prison. There are many other children whose parents were imprisoned following the revolution; some were reunited, and other' parents never came out of Evin.
This is a novel not just of those times, the young people who felt betrayed after the revolution and were imprisoned for their passionate and dedicated belief in their country's future, but also of their children. Children who lost those early years with their parents; children who lost one or both parents entirely. Children who knew the truth of their history; children who were protected from the secrets of their parents' youth. Children who grew up in Iran; children whose parents took them out of their country in hopes of a better future. Children who now find themselves either participating in or observing another rebellion against the government. This is a story of Iran, its history, and its people.
I was able to meet Sahar Delijani and learn from her the makings of this story. Her own parents were imprisoned and she drew on the facts of their experiences and the experiences of other relatives and friends, but chose to tell her own story of the inner lives of those imprisoned. This is a story of two generations that love their country passionately, but don't always feel that their country is seen by the rest of the world as they see it.