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 Siege Winter

Finished November 15

The Siege Winter by Ariana Franklin and Samantha Norman

Ariana Franklin was the pen name of Diana Norman who died before finishing this book. Samantha Norman is her daughter who completed the manuscript. 

This novel takes place in 12th-century England, when the Empress Matilda and King Stephen were battling for control of England. There are several groups of characters whose lives intersect at Kenniford Castle where Maud, who inherited the castle, as well as several other estates, is trying to save the estate and its people. 

As the novel opens she is forced by King Stephen to take an oath to him, and to marry John of Tewing, an odious man who has brought his mistress with him.

In the nearby fenlands, a group of mercenaries who have been joined by a sociopathic monk, come across a small red-headed girl named Em, abuse her and leave her for dead. Em survives and is nursed to health by another mercenary, Gwyl, an archer from Breton. Gwyl has been horrified by the acts of the mercenaries he previously travelled with, and agrees to take Em under his wing, disguise her as a boy named Penda, and train her in archery. Em has no memory of who she is and what happened to her, but Gwyl is afraid for her if her memory returns. 

The monk has unfinished business with both Gwyl and Em, and won't hesitate to come for them if her finds out where they are. 

The Empress Matilda is on the run from King Stephen and travelling through the winter storms with only two men looking for a place she can wait in safety while a more permanent refuge is prepared for her. 

I really enjoyed the depth of the characters here. Maud is an independently-minded woman, raised to be so by her father and his men, and she plots how she can regain her sovereignty over her holdings and her self. She is supported by several other women, relatives and servants, who are loyal to her, as well as her men. Em/Penda is a resilient and skilled girl, who thrives under Gwyl's tutelage and protection. I found myself rooting for both these female characters as they battled evil men and found support and respect from other men who were more honourable. 

The Book Collectors

Finished October 16

The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them Through a War by Delphine Minoui, translated by Lara Vergnaud

The author, Delphine Minoui, is a journalist who has covered the Middle East, and lives in Istanbul. She also directed a documentary on the same subject as this book. During her work, she heard about a group who had created a library from books they found in the rubble of their town, Daraya. Daraya is a town outside of Damascus which fell under a siege in 2012 and became cut off from the outside world for four years. 

The young men who found the first batch of books and began actively collecting them in one place, where they built shelving and provided studying, reading, and meeting space, had a collection of fifteen thousand books within a month of their start. The collection had range, from poetry to plays, history to science. 

First Minoui tracked down one of the library's founders, Ahmad Muaddamani, twenty-three, who was studying civil engineering before the war. He told her the story of the library, but also the story of this small community, its history of discourse and democracy, the effects of the siege, and the others who supported and used the library. Residents from children through seniors visited and borrowed material, and they even arranged Skype lectures from a variety of speakers. Other men that she spoke to were Omar Abu Anas, a soldier in the Free Syrian Army, who kept a small collection of books protected by sandbags at the front lines; Shadi Matar, who joined the media center of the town and documented the war through photographs; Hussam Ayash, who launched a small local magazine during the siege; Abu Malek Al-Shami, who painted graffiti and murals on the ruins to keep spirits up; Abu el-Ezz, another co-founder of the library; and Ustez, a slightly older man who served as a mentor for the others.

As Monoui tracks the ongoing siege, she also documents the types of attacks they endured, including barrel bombs, sarin gas, and napalm. 

With limited access to internet, most of the communication was through media such as Whats App, with reliance on short messages, and video. 

A book that brings this group of men to life and highlights the situation that they lived in during this difficult time. She also includes a list of the most popular books in the collection and ones mentioned in her conversations with the men.