Second Helping Equally Satisfying

I just completed Rosemary Poole-Carter's new book "The Women of Magdelene." I recently wrote of her first novel "What Remains" which was a throughly delightful book. This one didn't disappoint.

Her new novel takes place in Louisiana after the Civil War. Dr. Robert Mallory is arriving at the Magdalene Ladies' Lunatic Asylum to begin practicing general medicine there after a stint as an army surgeon. Upon his arrival, he finds a dead body of a patient floating in river. This starts his journey of discovery regarding the morals, ethics and practices of the asylum's owner and practicing psychiatrist, Dr. Kingston.

Dr. Mallory is a wounded soul when he arrives. The novel explores his situation and that of some of the women there, most notably Effie, a "mad" woman who is not really mad and who uses her silence to protect herself.

This is a wonderfully lyric novel. It is easy to see the growth of the novelist in terms of parallelism of themes, symbolism and character development. Again she has succeeded in creating the genteel South struggling after the "recent unpleasantness."

I highly recommend this one! You can listen to Rosemary Poole-Carter's KUHF interview here.

Until next time, may your reading be both pleasurable and profitable.

Introduction to the Bard

"Tales from Shakespeare" by Charles and Mary Lamb was our homeschool literary adventure for the past several months. This book contains retellings of many of Shakespeare's plays including tragedies (Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Othello, Macbeth, etc.) and comedies (Comedy of Errors, The Tempest, Midsummer Night's Dream, Two Gentlemen of Verona, etc.).

First published in 1807, this brother and sister team split the work. She wrote the comedies; he wrote the tragedies.

The language, to children of this century, is rather challenging, but not so much that they cannot understand the gist of the storyline. It is indeed a wonderful introduction to the works of the bard.

Until next time, may your reading be both pleasurable and profitable.

Murder in an Upscale Square

Anne Perry's second mystery following Charlotte Pitt and her husband Inspector Thomas Pitt focuses on the discovery of two dead babies buried in a fashionable London square. Charlotte's sister, a member of the upper-crust, helps Charlotte out by weaving in and out of society and reporting the gossip the ladies discuss at their afternoon callings for tea.

While this is a good mystery, I was certainly hoping to see and learn more of Inspector Pitt. Charlotte is such a likable character, but I want to know more of Pitt and his background. There is a good cast of characters and suspects, and Perry's treatment of General Balantyne is quite wonderful. He is a true Victorian gentleman, and apparently the only honest one of the bunch.

We see a lot more of the unseemly side of Victorian England in this novel, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the first one, Cater Street Hangman. All in all, an OK read, but something was missing for me.

Southern Gothic from a New, Local Author

I recently tuned into KUHF, the local classical station, and heard an interview with a local author on her new book. The author had the finest voice; her pacing in her comments was perfect as was her enunciation. I wanted to read the book just after hearing her.

Her name is Rosemary Poole-Carter, and her new book is Woman of Magdelene. Well, it wasn't available at the library yet, so I ordered a book of hers that they did have entitled "What Remains."

This story centers around Isabelle, a woman recently bereft of her Civil War beau, and a journalist named Paul Delahoussaye who has come to the family home of Belle Ombre to return a packet of loveletters Isabelle had written to her fiance. He has fallen in love with her through his surreptitious reading of the letters.

Also residing at Belle Ombre are the deceptive and graciously Machiavellian Aunt Delora, her great-uncle Babcock Vasseur and his wife Lydie Vee, a young and rather mischievous cousin Euphrasie and a vital assortment of former slaves who still live at Belle Ombre.

Almost immediately a murder (?) and then another takes place and Delora asks Paul to stay on and use his skills as a journalist to find out who is behind this second death. Family secrets are revealed as more sinister things seem to be going on behind the scenes at this plantation home.

The language, mannerisms and culture are vibrant in this well-researched book. It feels completely of its time, and one is easily transported there. The character development is wonderful, and the pacing of the mystery is fabulous. It truly is a page-turner. The author truly has a gift, and I really look forward to reading the book she was promoting.

Allow me to relate the first sentence as it is just fabulous: "It was Isabelle's turn to sit with the body." I love that! Just 9 words, but do they ever pack a punch! I defy you to not be able to continue reading after that line!

Until next time, may your reading be both pleasurable and profitable.

Daring Tour de Force

I don't know why I haven't read Sharon Kay Penman's "The Sunne in Splendour" before now. Although it is over 25 years old and has recently been reprinted, I had never heard of it. I am sad that it took me this long to discover it. I think it is one of the finest books that I have ever read. I cannot praise it highly enough. It is quite simply phenomenal. There isn't a dull moment in the entire 900+ pages.


But, I should tell you something about this book. It is such a daring tome. Can one imagine turning King Richard III, he of the hunched back, he of the murder of the Princes in the Tower,
he of the lame foot/leg, into a likable, heroic character, even a noble prince?

It is difficult to imagine such an undertaking. It is even difficult to consider that it might be plausible. But Penman's writing, research and gifts make the impossible not only plausible but possible and probable. Yes, she did it. She has literally turned everything most of us think we know about Richard III.

The story is a complete cast of characters including Richard's parents, Richard's older brothers King Edward IV (Ned), and George, Duke of Clarence, as well as the various relations associated with the house of York including the Kingmaker, Warwick, his family and daughters who were both married to George and Richard. Even with a overabundance of characters who share names and the various alliances, marriages, etc., within the nobility, Penman manages to draw out character traits of each one and convincingly portrays Richard as perhaps the only principled, noble, earnest man in the lot!

I don't want to give away Penman's solution to who killed the Princes, but I do believe her conclusion to be possible. We shall never know, and again, this is a work of historical fiction, but I daresay that William Shakespeare has some explaining to do! (Not really .... we know he wrote populist history, and how could one very well portray the house of York sympathetically when it was not so far in the past and the Tudors were the very killers of Richard.)

In any case, if you enjoy historical fiction, if you think you know all there is to know about the War of the Roses, if you enjoy some romance with a bit of history, then you must read this book. You won't regret it.

And if you really get interested, check out the Richard III Society, dedicated to research and scholarship on the king.

Until next time, may your reading be both pleasurable and profitable.

Peach Cobbler Murder is a Treat

Our library had a large display of mystery books in the lobby. Now, I'm not entirely sure that for me this was a good thing --- all it did was convince me that I don't have enough time to read all that I want to read. I limited myself to picking up one new book off the display. That took some discipline.

The book I selected was "Peach Cobbler Murder" by Joanne Fluke. This is the seventh in a series featuring bakery shop owner Hannah Swenson of Lake Eden, Minnesota. I like Hannah. She is a somewhat plump woman with frizzy red hair. It would have been frustrating to me to have a skinny woman running a bakery. She has a penchant for correct grammar (how could I not like that?!). She has two love interests who are strikingly different ---- one a handsome cop, the other a dependable dentist. Hannah's sister, mother and niece figure prominently in her escapades. And Hannah also has the obligatory overweight cat.

My only complaint about the book was that it seemed to take too long to get to the murder, and it wasn't that complicated at all to figure out. The murder victim in this book is Shawna Lee, the Georgia flirt who opens up a competing bakery almost directly across the street. I hadn't figured out the entire thing, but I was completely on target for who the murderer was.

The author intersperses some recipes for various treats throughout the book which is nice. I may have to try some of those!

This book is reminiscient of Monica Ferris' series for needlework. She has a new book coming out this year, and I can't wait to read that one. It is also similar to Laura Childs' Tea Shop Mystery series featuring amateur sleuth Theodosia Browning. I don't think I've written much about them in this blog, but I've read all the Ferris books and most of the Childs books. I love them.

I am not sure when I'll pick up another of the Hannah Swenson mysteries, but it is a nice, light read. Quite a nice break from those grueling, rather ominous Victorian tales.

Until next time, may your reading be both pleasurable and profitable.

Face of a Stranger

I picked up the first book of Anne Perry's other Victorian mystery series entitled "The Face of a Stranger." This book shows a bit more maturity in writing, and it is a bit more introspective in that we get to know the main character William Monk in a more personal and intimate way than we do Inspector Pitt in "Cater Street Hangman."

The story begins with Monk waking in a hospital suffering from a head injury. This sounds trite, but Perry really pulls it off. We get to watch Monk go through the process of recovering his memory while attempting to hide it from his superiors and his other associates. We watch Monk struggle to find out what kind of man he was/is, and not liking what he discerns and learns. We also cheer when his intuition and abilities surface, as he instinctively navigates through the maze of Victorian culture.

This story is replete with plot twists and great characters. I really enjoyed reading it, and I'm looking forward to see what else Monk does in the future. The ending was satisfying, but there are plenty of loose ends to make future developments quite interesting.

All in all, this one is another winner!

Until next time, may your reading be both pleasurable and profitable.