We Need No Wings

Finished December 19

We Need No Wings by Ann Dávila Cardinal

This novel really caught my attention and kept it. The main character is Tere Sanchez, an English professor at a New England university. She is currently on leave, almost a year after her husband was unexpectedly killed in an accident. She has been having a very hard time moving on. As the book opens, she is out looking after the garden that her husband loved so much when she found herself having a very unusual experience, she levitates. At first she thinks she might be going crazy, but after having more such experiences, and making some discrete inquires of an older aunt, she remembers that her family is said to be descended from the family of Saint Teresa of Avila, who was also known for levitation. 

On an impulse, she decides to travel to Spain, to Avila, and see what she can learn, both from the place and from a distant cousin who lives there. Her Puerto Rican Spanish will make it relatively easy to get along. 

She lets her son, who lives in California, as well as a university colleague who was a close friend of her husband, know that she's gone to Spain. Once in Avila, she starts by trying to find her relative, a task harder than she expected, and unexpectedly begins to make friends with some locals. The landlord at her apartment helps, as well as a young homeless man that she takes under her wing. When she decides to rent a bicycle, she also finds an friendship forming with the owner of the bike shop.

Her inquiries into Saint Teresa lead her to churches and museums, and give her insight into how women were treated then, and how little has changed in some ways. 

I loved this book and Tere's story of mid-life change. 

The Life Impossible

Finished October 31

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig

This is a story of life, of loss, of connection. It is about appreciating the world, and how everyone has their own story. 

The story is structured around emails by a man to his former teacher, and her response. Her response is the major portion of the novel and tells of her life, particularly when she received an inheritance from a former fellow teacher of a house in Ibiza, Spain. 

The narrator, Grace Winters is a retired math teacher. She tells of the brief friendship she had with Christina, an art teacher, particularly one Christmas that they spent together. Christina left for Spain soon after, and Grace went on to marry, have a child, and experience loss. Mathematics is both a comfort and a coping mechanism. Whenever she feels overwhelmed, she does math in her head. 

When she decides to go to Spain to see this house, she doesn't know what to expect, but it certainly isn't this ugly little house in the middle of nowhere. She finds she has also been left a car, and a list of recommended things to do. There is also a plan that she isn't aware that involves one of Christina's friends. The experience she undergoes changes her life forever. It takes her grief and loss, and her depression and takes her out of them, to see the world around her, in all its beauty and pain. Grace finds that she has been given a task, but also an opportunity, and she must open herself up to this experience as she faces her past and her pain and recognizes that others have their own stories that also resonate with her.

There is an amorphous being that is part of this story, a life presence from another place, that has power that Grace learns to draw from. This is a tale that feels both fantastical and relatable. A very interesting book that is hard to define. 

Kiss Me First

Finished September 7

Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach

I found this novel hard to classify into a genre. The narrator is Leila, a young woman who has felt that she doesn't fit in most of her life. She was raised by her mother, but her mother was diagnosed with MS, and died when Leila was a young woman. 

The book begins with an online conversation she has with a woman called Tess, which she describes as the last conversation that she would have with her. 

The next section is dated in August 2011 where Leila is at a commune in Spain. She is living in a tent and has gone there looking for Tess. While she is there she has decided to "write an account of everything that has happened'. And that is what this novel's structure is. As a reader, I felt a bit like I'd come into the middle of a story, as Leila talks about people she's interacted with and describes her life and the situation that she entered into with Tess.

Leila hadn't gone to college, and the two made a plan for her future together. Leila would do online training for computer coding and they would sell the house and buy an apartment for her to live in when it came time for her to live by herself. 

One thing that Leila was interested in was philosophy, and she found her way to a site called Red Pill where she discussed philosophical questions. There she interacted with a man called Adrian who offered her a job he calls "Project Tess" where she will get to know Tess, a woman who wants to disappear from her life, so that Leila can interact with people Tess knows later once Tess is gone. Tess is a little older than Leila, but still a young woman, and as Leila lays out her interactions with Adrian and with Tess, we get a sense of the unusual situation that this is. 

To me, Leila seemed bright in some areas of her life, but very naive in others. She also seems to have a lack of emotions at times when it would be normal to show emotion. 

As the story unfolds, and we see Leila's business-like and organized approach to this job, we get a sense of what her own life is like and how she has trouble connecting with people in real life. 

A strange and intriguing look inside someone else's head. Some have labeled the book as mystery or suspense, and I can see aspects of that, but it is also a sort of dark character study of the narrator as we get to know so much about her and how she thinks. 

Poison

Finished July 27

Poison by Kathryn Harrison

This historical novel of the late 1600s follows two women, born on the same day, one a real figure and one not. Francesca de Luarca is the daughter of a Spanish silk grower. Her father's family has been in the business for years, and owns their own fields. Her grandfather held to tradition and what has worked in the past, but her father Felix has other ideas. He has heard about new mulberry trees that offer better yields, and wants to try them, but is thwarted by Francesca's grandfather. After the grandfather's death, Felix makes the changes he has dreamed of, but the results are not as he hoped. And so Francesca's mother, Conception takes on work as a wet nurse, eventually in the king's household.

Maria Luisa, first wife of King Carlos (Charles II) was born a French princess, niece to the Sun King, Marie Louise D'Orleans. She married the King on the way to the capital, shortly after crossing into Spain, in Quintanapalla. It is here that the two women first cross paths, as Francesca is in the crowd of people observing the couple as they emerge from the church. 

This is also the time of the Inquisition where there is much suspicion arising from any unusual events or behaviour outside of the norm. So when Francesca becomes involved with a priest, and is eventually discovered, she finds herself marked as a witch. 

Marie Louise's inability to conceive also arouses suspicion and when she is discovered in deception, things deteriorate for her as well. 

This is a story of women and their strong ties to their mothers, how love and fate determine their lives, and how society's reaction to their actions bring about their downfall. 

The stories of the two women only touch slightly, but Francesca's story winds around that of the Queen, and the narrative moves fluidly between them and across their lives to show the commonalities. 

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning

Finished April 23

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee

This memoir covers from the summer of 1934 to late 1936. 19-year-old Laurie has never left the area of England he grew up in before this time, but he sets off on foot from his home in the Cotswolds heading for London. He has never seen the sea and so decides to go via Southampton, adding about 100 miles to his journey. As he walks he either eats what he has brought with him, what he finds on the land, or what he is given by those he passes by or stays with. He is not the only one on the road, and he at one point he travels with a long-term wanderer named Alf. I have to say that this reminded me of a homeless man I was once acquainted with, also named Alf, and made a connection to this fleeting glimpse of a person. Laurie finds a room in London and a job working construction and trying out various entertainments in the city. After nearly a year, when the building project he is one comes to an end, he realizes that he is free to go anywhere and he buys a one way ticket on a ship to Viga, Spain.

In Spain, he resumes his walking, stopping and playing his fiddle in the streets for what money people are willing to give. He has rudimentary Spanish, and lots of curiosity and he meets a wide variety of people from other travellers to locals from all walks of life. The heat he encounters is one thing he is unprepared for, and he finds himself suffering badly at times. 

We follow him as he goes to Valladolid, on to Madrid, and then to Toledo, stopping for varying lengths of time depending on how people react to his music and where he can afford to stay. He continues south, crossing the mountains into Andalusia stopping in Seville and then going down to the coast. After a brief visit to Gibraltar, he goes on along the coast, ending up in the town of Castillo. He had planned to go further, but at this point the Spanish Civil War breaks out in the area, and he finds himself going to ground there with the townspeople. Soon after, a British warship stops and offers a way out for him and the British writer who has been living there.

There is an epilogue that comes six months later when he finds himself once again at the Spanish border, looking to help those he grew to care about in his journey.

This is a very personal story, that gives a real sense of the world of the time, and the places and people that he met along the way. He wrote it more than three decades after the events contained in the book, with an eye to the bigger picture he didn't see at the time, so one gets a sense of the looming unrest, but it doesn't overtake his personal story. 

An enlightening read with a real sense of place and time. The language is beautifully descriptive. 

A Silent Death

Finished March 20

A Silent Death by Peter May

This standalone thriller is set around a Scottish police officer, John Mackenzie. Mackenzie has always wanted to be a police officer because his father was one. Not that he really knew his father, who died when he was a child. Mackenzie is a man who is highly intelligent, always curious, and is unflinchingly direct. It is this last characteristic that has caused him the most trouble. It has caused him to be separated from his wife, with her having custody of their two young children, and has caused him to leave his job at the Met. 

As the book opens, he is just starting a new job at the National Crime Agency and is given the task of going to Spain to pick up a prisoner, Jack Cleland. Cleland has been a wanted man for some time, intelligent and wealthy before venturing into the world of international drug crime. His arrest in Spain was a bit of a fluke and opens the book. Cleland has declared vengeance against Christina Sanchez, one of the police officers who arrested him, and is a very dangerous man.

Christina has been fighting her superiors for some time, trying to get the respect and cases that her skills and abilities would normally get her, if she wasn't a woman. She took the assignment that netted Cleland as a favour to a fellow officer, and she soon finds that it was one of the biggest mistakes of her life.

Christina has a beloved aunt, Ana, that she and her sister visit regularly. Ana is deaf and blind, both disabilities affecting her as a young woman. Technology has opened her world to some extent, but she is still often trapped by her limited senses. 

As Cleland escapes custody and looks for ways to exact his revenge on Christina, her family, including Ana, come into his plan. Mackenzie's skills make him a good investigator to assist in the hunt for Cleland, but his personality also means that his choices don't always lead him to make good decisions. 

The setting is a big part of the story, The town of Marvina, on the Costa del Sol, is a small enough place to navigate, with lots to interest tourists. As Mackenzie walks through the town and drives to locations in the nearby hills, we get a real sense of the landscape and the economic reality of the people who live there. 

A fascinating read, with an interesting and complex character at the centre of action. There is lots going on here and the story held my interest until the end. 

Ties That Tether

Finished February 25

Ties that Tether by Jane Igharo

Azere Izoduwa is a creative director at an advertising agency in Toronto. She, her mother, and her younger sister Efe immigrated to Canada from Nigeria when she was twelve, after her father's death. They were sponsored by her father's brother, a widower with a son slightly older than her, Jacob. Before her father died, he insisted that she promise him that she would marry a man from the same tribe, Ebo, to stay true to her culture. Azere's mother keeps setting her up with eligible Ebo men, but nothing has clicked for Azere. As the book starts, she has been on yet another dinner date, and this one has definitely not gone well. When she walks out of the restaurant, a high end on in a luxury hotel, she decides that she could use a drink, and she stops at the bar. She starts a conversation with a man there, and finds herself drawn to him in a very strong way. 

Rafael Castellano is a Toronto native who has been living in New York City and is back in town for an interview. When he sees Azere and begins to talk to her, he too finds himself inexplicably drawn to her. In the heated moment, they both give in to their impulses and the two end up in Rafael's hotel room. 

A month later Azere finds herself meeting her one-night stand again, only this time as her co-worker. As the two maneuver this unexpected situation, Azere finds herself pulled between her promise to her father and her strong feelings for this man. 

I liked the way the book moved back and forth between the two main characters in voice. We could see the secrets that each was keeping from each other, secrets that drew them together, and secrets that pushed them apart. They both come from cultures that I am not that familiar with. Azere is very active in the Nigerian Canadian community, and her culture is a strong part of her identity. She eats Nigerian food, watches Nigerian movies, and listens to Nigerian music. She has been a compliant daughter, and still performs regular tasks for her mother, like mowing the lawn. 

Rafael spent his childhood summers with his grandmother in Spain, and his family still spends regular time there. As the story begins, the rest of the family is in Spain for an extended holiday. 

As the two spend time together both at work and in their personal lives, they both must make difficult decisions, and deal with a situation that brings them even closer. 

This was a different romance for me, with the additional of the cultural elements and the larger than life character of Azere's mother playing a big part in the story. Enlightening and entertaining. 

The Altogether Unexpected Disappearance of Atticus Craftsman

Finished October 20

The Altogether Unexpected Disappearance of Atticus Craftsman by Mamen Sánchez, translated by Lucy Greaves

This light book has some mystery, some romance, and a lot of fun. Atticus Craftsman is the younger son of a British publisher. He is a bit of a playboy, but hasn't travelled much after his jaunts as a youth, and never goes anywhere without a good supply of Earl Grey tea. His father's company has set up small magazines in a number of countries to promote their books and the literary scene in general. They are all making money expect for the one in Spain, and so the senior Craftsman, Marlow, has decided it is time to shut it down. He is sending Atticus to do the job. 

The head of the Spanish office, former librarian Berta Quiñones, has been given a heads up about what is coming, and calls her staff in on a Sunday to discuss strategy. She has worked hard to keep costs low and doesn't understand why their publication is failing from the corporate view. 

The staff consists of Soleá, a young Andulasian woman with a journalism degree and literary aspirations, Maria a worried married woman with childcare issues, Asunción, a divorced mother who loves food and books, and Gaby a young bride eager to start a family. will

When the five women confer, they agree that Soleá will use a ruse about her family secret to get him away to Granada to distract him from his task until Berta can come up with a better plan. 

The book starts six months after this has happened and Marlow has become concerned after not hearting from Atticus for six months. He has traveled to Spain to talk to Berta and the police to try to track him down. Berta denies all knowledge of Atticus' whereabouts, and Inspector Manchego, the policeman in charge of the case is a man who doesn't speak English well, and who doesn't have a lot of experience. He is a real character, but a good man at heart. Manchego uses some unusual methods to do his investigation, and mostly they don't work very well, but end up getting him in trouble. 

As he meets with Berta and continues his work, things become more interesting. We see what Atticus has been up to, and what happened to him when he first arrived in Spain. 

There are several romances and assignations here and some surprising revelations. I quite enjoyed this unusual book. 

Blitz

Finished November 26
Blitz by David Trueba, translated from the Spanish by John Cullen

This short novel begins in Munich, when Beto, a young landscape architect from Spain, in town as a finalist in a landscape-planning competition at a conference, finds himself dumped by his girlfriend, who is also his office assistant. As Beto makes the decision not to return to Spain with her, he engages with others at the conference, including Helga, an older woman who volunteers as a guide/facilitator for the conference. He also challenges a rival, also from Spain, in a way that doesn't help his image.
As Beto reflects on his situation, his actions, and his future, he is forced to deal with the consequences, both good and bad.
Home in Madrid, he moves out of the apartment he shared with his girlfriend and finds himself a job using the skills he has developed. Living in a new city, he finds himself spending too much time alone, and not moving forward in his personal life.
The spontaneous action he takes near the end of the book is interesting and leaves me wanting to know more.

The Web and the Wing

Finished July 26
The Web and the Wing by Teresa Raftery

This novel covers the time period from November 11, 1918 to the late days of 1930, and is the first book in a planned trilogy. The story begins in the village of Ardleagh in Lancashire, where the Earl of Eglinton and his family are returning following the was. The eldest son was killed, and James is now the one who will inherit the title, a development that will mean that his father will determine a different course of study for him than James wants for himself.
Claire has returned to the estate to help out, after working as a teacher in the village recently. She was taken in years before by her aunt Anna when Claire's father was killed in a mine accident, and her mother having died when she was just a toddler.
Over the years Claire and James had been playmates, Claire introducing James to the unstructured play of village children and a world his privileged upbringing wouldn't have normally exposed him to. The two also became close in other ways and feelings have developed between them, feelings that Claire knows can lead nowhere due to their difference in class. She determines to find herself a life of her own elsewhere and a chance encounter provides her an opportunity that will lead her farther than she thought.
The Earl's sister Amelia married a Spanish nobleman, and has a daughter Leonora a few years younger than James, and Leonora is allowed to attend boarding school in England and have her social debut there.
Leonora's father, Alva, Duke of Arradova, has a close friend, Raimundo de Conde, a general in the Army. As Spain sinks into political turmoil, Alva and Raimundo are involved and Leonora's future is being determined by her father.
As the plot moves the characters from Lancashire to London, Cordoba to Biarritz, Paris to Berlin, we see the lives of these three young people develop. We also see the political history that leads to the Spanish Civil War and World War II developing.
This is a novel that ties in the personal stories of these characters to history in a very real way. I will be looking forward to the continuation of their stories.