Queen Anne Is Dead

tags: historical fiction, politics, romance

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads 

First reissue in over a century of a lost classic by Patricia Wentworth • From the author of the hugely successful and enduring MISS SILVER crime series, QUEEN ANNE IS DEAD is a historical novel set England and France in 1714.Kensington Palace 1714, Queen Anne is dying. Assorted courtiers, flatterers, rogues and favourites are frantically positioning themselves ready to reap bountiful patronages from the new king. 

The scheming Lady Henrietta Clavering is in her element. But the machinations between Lady Clavering, her estranged son Philip and her much younger beau Jack Murray are about to take a surprising turn. Meanwhile, Philip is dispatched on a fool’s errand to the village of Mercy in the Duchy of Lorraine deep in rural France and into the life of the beautiful Hélène, daughter of a Jacobite exile.

The novel set in 1714 is hardly about the death of Queen Anne but more of the suffering of Philip at the hands of his own mother, the despicable Lady Henrietta Clavering. Philip was thought to be dead for 2 years and suddenly came back, His mother tried to make him disappear for good a second time but did not succeed, making Philip learn the truth about his mother's deadly schemes and find true love in young Hélène. 

Highly recommended.

The Friend Of The Family

tags: historical fiction, mystery, thriller

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads 

A girl liberated from a carnival sideshow discovers her mysterious purpose in a moving novel about family, sacrifice, and transcendent love by #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz.

The human “oddities” in the Museum of the Strange are less wondrous than the gawking rubes had been promised. But Alida is something else. The real thing. Traveling Depression-era America from carnival midways to speakeasies, Alida is resigned to an exploited and lonely life on the road as the museum’s golden ticket.

Until she’s rescued by two compassionate strangers. Franklin and Loretta Fairchild see in Alida a gifted and uncannily well-read girl in need of a loving touch and a family. With the openhearted couple and their three precociously imaginative children, Alida finds it.

Yet despite everyone’s overwhelming generosity and acceptance, Alida knows she is still a very different kind of girl. Her dreams bear that out. They’re vivid, unsettling, and threatening. Alida fears that they’re also warnings. And that it’s the Fairchilds who may need rescue from a bad, bad world.

Alida will do anything to help those she now holds nearest and dearest. Empowered with a purpose to vanquish evil, she will not fail her family.

The Friend Of The Family is different from all the Dean Koontz books I have read. The first person narrative is a first for me from Koontz. It is written as a sort of journal by the main character, Alida/Adiel.  

Alida is physically deformed but her mind is excellent. She has certain uncommon skills such as remembering word for word the books she has read, and she has read tons of books. She also has a precognitive ability and what the Japanese call Satori. Her dreams are very vivid that foretell future events and although she cannot prevent them, the family can prepare for their coming. She also did something almost supernatural as though she was an angel sent from heaven to help her adopted family and their German shepherd, Rafael. Her deformity was revealed only at the very last few pages which I think is just proper for the readers to see her as she is seen by the Fairchild family, a normal person.

The story is set from 1930 to 1944 when the USA was still suffering from the effects of WWI and up to the tragic WWII. The Fairchild couple work in the movie industry and the novel has many Hollywood biggies such as  Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Groucho Marx, Laurel and Hardy and their wives. etc. These people sort of lighten the story amid the dark events during that time. 

Highly recommended.

The Palace At The End Of The Sea

tags: bildungsroman, historical fiction 

⭐out of 5

From Goodreads

A young man comes of age and crosses continents in search of an identity—and a cause—at the dawn of the Spanish Civil War in a thrilling, timely, and emotional historical saga.

New York City, 1929. Young Theo Sterling’s world begins to unravel as the Great Depression exerts its icy grip. He finds it hard to relate to his father. His father, a Jewish self-made businessman, refuses to give up on the American dream, and his mother, a refugee from religious persecution in Mexico, holds fast to her Catholic faith. When disaster strikes the family, Theo must learn who he is. A charismatic school friend and a firebrand girl inspire him to believe he can fight Fascism and change the world, but each rebellion comes at a higher price, forcing Theo to question these ideologies too.

From New York’s Lower East Side to an English boarding school to an Andalusian village in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Theo’s harrowing journey from boy to man is set against a backdrop of societies torn apart from within, teetering on the edge of a terrible war to which Theo is compulsively drawn like a moth to a flame.

This novel is one of the choices on Amazon First Reads for June 2025. I downloaded it as soon as I saw the author: Simon Tolkien. I have read just one book by this author which I enjoyed. 

All the members of Theo's family, mother, father, and specially Theo are repulsive. The father is Jewish and the mother is a Catholic from Mexico. Theo as a child is very disrespectful to his parents. He is full of hate for his parents and it is not explained why. He just is. His parents are not likable but they do not deserve Theo's contempt for them. It doesn't make sense because the story is set first in 1929 and I don't believe children were like Theo at the time. The author wrote unfavorably the Catholic religion and its practices, capitalism, Republican (Herbert Hoover), and even Jews and seemed to sympathize with communism. Theo is a magnet to communist characters even as a 13 year old boy (huh?!!), first in New York, then England, then in Spain. What? Why is every communist leaning person whether adult, child, or teenager drawn to him? It's not credible. It is too contrived.

This is Book 1 of 2 books and I won't be reading the second. Not recommended.

The New Confessions

tags: British, favorites, historical fiction

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

In this extraordinary novel, William Boyd presents the autobiography of John James Todd, whose uncanny and exhilarating life as one of the most unappreciated geniuses of the twentieth century is equal parts Laurence Stern, Charles Dickens, Robertson Davies, and Saul Bellow, and a hundred percent William Boyd.

From his birth in 1899, Todd was doomed. Emerging from his angst-filled childhood, he rushes into the throes of the twentieth century on the Western Front during the Great War, and quickly changes his role on the battlefield from cannon fodder to cameraman. When he becomes a prisoner of war, he discovers Rousseau's Confessions, and dedicates his life to bringing the memoir to the silver screen. Plagued by bad luck and blind ambition, Todd becomes a celebrated London upstart, a Weimar luminary, and finally a disgruntled director of cowboy movies and the eleventh member of the Hollywood Ten. Ambitious and entertaining, Boyd has invented a most irresistible hero.

William Boyd is a great story-teller and has again written an unforgettable character in John James Todd who is maybe a genius but is also clueless half of the time, resulting in his many failures. I love it and is worth a reread. 

Highly recommended. I also recommend The Blue Afternoon.  

Punishment Of A Hunter

tags: historical fiction, mystery, Russia

⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

1930s Leningrad. As a mood of fear cloaks the city, Investigator Vasily Zaitsev is called on to investigate a series of bizarre and seemingly motiveless murders. In each case, the victim is curiously dressed and posed in extravagantly arranged settings. At the same time, one by one precious old master paintings are going missing from the Hermitage collection. As Zaitsev sets about his investigations, he meets with suspicion at practically every turn, and potential witnesses are reluctant to provide information. Soon Zaitsev himself comes under suspicion from the Soviet secret police. The embittered detective must battle increasingly complex political machinations in his dogged quest to uncover the truth.

The novel is good but I didn't enjoy the style of the author constantly dropping parts of the story and left hanging after building tension. The continuation is revealed later on but what was her intention because I lost interest. I also was able to guess the who and the why. I think this will be a series and I'm not sure if I will read the sequel.

The Pale Blue Eye

tags: gothic, historical fiction, mystery 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

At West Point Academy in 1830, the calm of an October evening is shattered by the discovery of a young cadet's body swinging from a rope. The next morning, an even greater horror comes to light. Someone has removed the dead man's heart.

Augustus Landor—who acquired some renown in his years as a New York City police detective—is called in to discreetly investigate. It's a baffling case Landor must pursue in secret, for the scandal could do irreparable damage to the fledgling institution. But he finds help from an unexpected ally—a moody, young cadet with a penchant for drink, two volumes of poetry to his name, and a murky past that changes from telling to telling. The strange and haunted Southern poet for whom Landor develops a fatherly affection, is named Edgar Allan Poe.

This book was recommended to me when it came out many years ago but I didn't read it because I was disappointed in some books with fictional version of real people *cough* The Alienist*cough*.  After watching the Netflix movie based on this book, I immediately borrowed and devoured the book in 2 days. 

The movie is mostly accurate and some of the dialogue are lifted from the book almost word for word. My only regret is I should have read the book first to know if I would miss the early clues scattered here and there, beginning at around page 50. Maybe I noticed them because I already know the outcome. 

Knowing the ending did not lessen my enjoyment of the book because the parts with Edgar Allan Poe are the highlights of the novel as well as the movie. The book is so much better IMHO and there are many parts from the book that are altered for the movie. Both are highly recommended.

************************************************************************************

A Gentleman In Moscow

tags: historical fiction, Russia

⭐⭐

from GoodReads

He can’t leave his hotel. You won’t want to.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility—a transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel.

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.

The novel published in 2016 has an impressive 4.5 star rating on GoodReads and Amazon but I was reluctant to read any books recommended by Oprah which are usually smarmy overly dramatic chick lit.

I was not wowed by the novel unlike most of the readers on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and pretty much all the book sellers with rating system. The writing is fine but I skipped tons of pages that aren't interesting. One of my complaints is the children, Nina and her daughter Sofia having the same voice as the adults as though they have no personality. It took me more than 5 days to finish the 460+ page novel. I would have devoured it in 2 days if the book is really good. 2 and a half stars.

Not recommended.

Blackwater: The Complete Saga

tags: fantasy, historical fiction, mystery, Southern Gothic, supernatural

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From GoodReads

Michael McDowell was proclaimed “the finest writer of paperback originals in America” by Stephen King, and “one of the best writers of horror in this country” by Peter Straub.

Now, McDowell’s masterpiece—the serial novel, Blackwater—returns to thrill and terrify a new generation of readers, with all six volumes available for the first time as a single e-book.

Featuring an insightful new introduction by John Langan, Blackwater traces more than fifty years in the lives of the powerful Caskey family of Perdido, Alabama, under the influence of the mysterious and beautiful—but not quite human—Elinor Dammert.

The Flood heralds the arrival of a visitor who will change the Caskey family—and the town—forever…

When the town builds The Levee, it proves a vain attempt to control a horrific power that can never be contained…

The House hides terrible secrets that whisper in closed rooms and scrabble at locked doors…

The War reveals family secrets more deadly and devastating than anything Perdido has ever dreamed in its deepest nightmares…

The Fortune brings happiness and power—but even greater terror… And finally, the mysterious saga of the Caskey family ends the only way it can—in terrible judgment and fury delivered under the cover of a relentless, earth-shattering Rain.

The book was originally published as a series of six volumes in 1983 and issued recently as one book. Wow! I didn't notice it has more than 800 pages. I couldn't put the book down, kept on reading from the first word to the last. It is a family saga a la Dallas, set in early 1900 but is more Southern Gothic than ordinary soap opera. It is equally sweet and creepy and I like the author's wit and sense of humor. 

A river monster crawls out of the river, takes the form of a human, and marries the eldest son of the wealthiest family, disregarding the matriarch opposing the union. They have 2 daughters, one a full human and one half river monster.

The book is hard to categorize and some readers put it under the horror genre. It is a little bit specially when some characters unexpectedly are torn limb by limb like a ragdoll while still alive, one character's head torn and impaled with lumber from a moving truck. Yikes! There are also a few vengeful ghosts living in a closet, mother-in-law from hell who has unreasonable behavior towards everyone including her children and grandchildren. Very Southern gothic. And the children, oh my, the children. 

The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure

Today, March 2, 2022 on Netflix streaming - The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure

tags: comedy, historical fiction, Korean movie, Netflix streaming

⭐⭐⭐⭐

from AsianWiki

A search takes place over the ocean to find the lost treasure of the Goryeo royal family, which disappeared without a trace.

Kang Ha-Neul has frizzy wiry hair and he screams a lot. There's too much screaming in this movie but I still like it.

Kang Ha-Neul

*********************************************************************************

The 2014 The Pirates movie with Kim Nam-Gil and Son Ye-Jin is better IMHO. It is no longer streaming on Netflix.

A Train To Moscow

tags: historical fiction, Russia

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

from GoodReads

In post–World War II Russia, a girl must reconcile a tragic past with her hope for the future in this powerful and poignant novel about family secrets, passion and loss, perseverance and ambition. In a small, provincial town behind the Iron Curtain, Sasha lives in a house full of secrets, one of which is her own dream of becoming an actress. When she leaves for Moscow to audition for drama school, she defies her mother and grandparents and abandons her first love, Andrei.

Before she leaves, Sasha discovers the hidden war journal of her uncle Kolya, an artist still missing in action years after the war has ended. His pages expose the official lies and the forbidden truth of Stalin’s brutality. Kolya’s revelations and his tragic love story guide Sasha through drama school and cement her determination to live a thousand lives onstage. After graduation, she begins acting in Leningrad, where Andrei, now a Communist Party apparatchik, becomes a censor of her work. As a past secret comes to light, Sasha’s ambitions converge with Andrei’s duties, and Sasha must decide if her dreams are truly worth the necessary sacrifice and if, as her grandmother likes to say, all will indeed be well.

It's been a while since Amazon offered a worthy First Reads book. A Train To Moscow is one of  2 free First Reads book for March 2022 I downloaded. I hope there will be more quality books in the future.

The novel starts when Sasha was just 6 or 7 years old and ends when she's in her 30s. The precocious girl is strong-willed and defies her mother and grandparents. She sets her mind in becoming an actress after hearing on the radio Anton Chekov's play Three Sisters because she wants to be a thousand characters instead of living as Sasha. I like the author's writing style, the vivid descriptions of Russia and its caste system during that time, and the story. This is the author's first fiction book.

Highly recommended.

Warriors Of God

tags: fantasy, historical fiction, Polish, religious wars

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From GoodReads

WARRIORS OF GOD, the second volume of the Hussite Trilogy by Andrzej Sapkowski, author of the bestselling Witcher series, depicts the adventures of Reynevan and his friends in the years 1427 to 1428 as war erupts across Europe.

Reynevan begins by hiding away in Bohemia but soon leaves for Silesia, where he carries out dangerous, secret missions entrusted to him by the leaders of the Hussite religion. At the same time he strives to avenge the death of his brother and discover the whereabouts of his beloved. Once again pursued by multiple enemies, Reynevan is constantly getting into and out of trouble.

Sapkowski's deftly written novel delivers gripping action full of numerous twists and mysteries, seasoned with elements of magic and Sapkowski's ever-present - and occasionally bawdy - sense of humour. Fans of the Witcher will appreciate the rich panorama of this slice of the Middle Ages.

There is no shortage of dead bodies in this bloodier second volume of The Hussite Trilogy. The book has more magic, witchcraft, shapeshifting, and dark humor. Most interesting is the almost complete revelation of the true nature of my favorite character, the half-wit looking giant, Samson Honeypot.

The Hidden Palace

tags: fantasy, favorites, golem, historical fiction, jinni

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

from GoodReads

Chava is a golem, a woman made of clay, able to hear the thoughts and longings of the people around her and compelled by her nature to help them. Ahmad is a jinni, a perpetually restless and free-spirited creature of fire, imprisoned in the shape of a man. Fearing they’ll be exposed as monsters, these magical beings hide their true selves and pretend to be human—just two more immigrants in the bustling world of 1900s Manhattan. Having encountered each other under calamitous circumstances, Chava and Ahmad’s lives are now entwined—but they’re not yet certain of what they mean to each other.

Each has unwittingly affected the humans around them. Park Avenue heiress Sophia Winston, whose brief encounter with Ahmad left her with a strange illness that makes her shiver with cold, travels to the Middle East to seek a cure. There she meets a tempestuous female jinni who’s been banished from her tribe. Back in New York, in a tenement on the Lower East Side, a little girl named Kreindel helps her rabbi father build a golem they name Yossele—not knowing that she’s about to be sent to an orphanage uptown, where the hulking Yossele will become her only friend and protector.

Spanning the tumultuous years from the turn of the twentieth century to the beginning of World War I, The Hidden Palace follows these lives and others as they collide and interweave. Can Chava and Ahmad find their places in the human world while remaining true to each other? Or will their opposing natures and desires eventually tear them apart—especially once they encounter, thrillingly, other beings like themselves?

I waited 8 long years for this sequel to one of my favorite fantasy novels and it is worth the wait. Chava and Ahmad spend their time bickering and start doing things separately. When Ahmad's only friend and business partner Arbeely dies, he holes himself up in their building for more than 3 years forging and constructing a 4 story steel spiral staircase with glass landings. He doesn't go out and nobody has seen him nor the inside of his building, the neighbors are getting worried.

Chava leaves the bakery where she teaches newly hired bakers. When the people around her who don't know she is a golem notice that she doesn't age, she leaves the bakery and attends college. She changes her name to Charlotte Levy and starts working as a teacher at the Asylum for Hebrew Orphans. 

Highly recommended for fans of the first book, The Golem And The Jinni.

The Tower Of Fools

tags: adventure, dark humor, fantasy, historical fiction, medieval, Polish, religious wars

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

from GoodReads

Reinmar of Bieława, sometimes known as Reynevan, is a doctor, a magician and, according to some, a charlatan. And when a thoughtless indiscretion finds him caught in the crosshairs of powerful noble family, he is forced to flee his home.

But once he passes beyond the city borders, he finds that there are dangers ahead as well as behind. Strange mystical forces are gathering in the shadows. And pursued not only by the affronted Stercza brothers, bent on vengeance, but also by the Holy Inquisition, Reynevan finds himself in the Narrenturm, the Tower of Fools.

The Tower is an asylum for the mad, or for those who dare to think differently and challenge the prevailing order. And escaping the Tower, avoiding the conflict around him, and keeping his own sanity might prove a greater challenge than Reynevan ever imagined.

I've watched and liked but never read Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher. After reading the synopsis of the newly translated from Polish to English The Tower Of Fools, I got the book because I love novels set in the Middle Ages. It became an instant favorite and I'm eagerly awaiting for the second book, Warriors of God.

This book is the first of a trilogy set in Silesia during the late Middle Ages Hussite Wars - Christians against Christians. The names and places are Polish and it took me longer to finish reading because I had to familiarize myself with the correct pronunciations. For example, the city of Wrocław is pronounced Vrotswahf. There are also plenty of passages in Latin and other languages with no English translations, much like Umberto Eco's novels. The passages are not that hard to understand if read in context. I didn't spend too much time in understanding songs and poems in Latin or German as they don't affect the overall story. The language in the book is a bit modern for the period and it has a tolerable amount of cussing.

Reynevan is a 23 year old doctor of medicine [studied in a university in Prague] who also dabbles in herbal medicine and simple magic. Reynevan, because of his age, is very foolish falling in love with a married girl, got caught by her husband's brothers who vowed to capture Reynevan in order to torture him to death. He tries to elude them, yet he continues acting irresponsibly throughout the whole novel putting his two companions/protectors and himself constantly in peril. He always gets rescued by the two and twice by the fair and beautiful Katarzyna of Bieberstein who insists in calling him "my Aucassin" and herself Nicolette. Reynevan is a male Damsel in Distress. 😏

I love that the novel is bursting with action and gore, a little magic, plenty of dark humor, fantasy, satire, witches, real historical people such as Johannes Gutenberg and Master of the Playing Cards, plus a scary creepy shapeshifter assassin and some odd characters. One of his companions, Samson Honey-Eater, is a giant who looks like a half wit. He at first reminds me of the characters the giant Turk Fezzik in The Princess Bride and the monk Salvatore in The Name of the Rose. The difference is, Samson actually is erudite, knows several languages, and is agile. He pretends being dumb when necessary. The most interesting are the inmates in The Tower of Fools, one in particular reminds me of Umberto Eco's weird characters. 

Highly recommended for historical fiction and fantasy readers.

Adam Bede

tags: classics, George Eliot, historical fiction
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

from Wikipedia

According to The Oxford Companion to English Literature (1967), "the plot is founded on a story told to George Eliot by her aunt Elizabeth Evans, a Methodist preacher, and the original of Dinah Morris of the novel, of a confession of child-murder, made to her by a girl in prison."

The novel follows four characters' rural lives in the fictional community of Hayslope, a rural, pastoral, and close-knit community in 1799. The novel revolves around the beautiful but self-absorbed Hetty Sorrel, Captain Arthur Donnithorne - the young squire who seduces her, Adam Bede - her unacknowledged suitor, and Dinah Morris - Hetty's cousin, a fervent, virtuous, and beautiful Methodist lay preacher.

Adam Bede is the first novel written by George Eliot, published in 1859, the story set in 1799 spanning 8 years. The novel is a little over 600 pages and I initially found it a bit difficult to read because of the language at the beginning and scattered throughout the book. Once I got used to the language, it became easier to follow the story and I couldn't put it down. The book has it all - normal village life, death, romance, religion, tragedy, comedy, satire, and a tiny bit of politics. There are pages and pages of religious teachings by Dinah Morris, the young travelling Methodist lay preacher, which readers may not appreciate. They can be skipped and won't affect the story. I actually read them and didn't get bored.

Dinah Morris as a Methodist wears the drabbest clothing and discourages suitors, telling them she will never marry. At 22 years old, she does nothing but preach and minister to the sick and poor. Her aunt, Mrs. Poyser, once stated that she will only marry a Methodist and cripple. Mrs. Poyser is proven wrong. Dinah eventually marries the man she loves who is neither a Methodist nor a cripple.

The book has numerous characters to keep track of, summary from Wikipedia:

• The Bede family:
  • Adam Bede is described as a tall, stalwart, moral, and unusually competent carpenter. He is 26 years old at the beginning of the novel, and bears an "expression of large-hearted intelligence."
  • Seth Bede is Adam's younger brother, and is also a carpenter, but he is not particularly competent, and "...his glance, instead of being keen, is confiding and benign."
  • Lisbeth Bede is Adam's and Seth's mother. She is "an anxious, spare, yet vigorous old woman, clean as a snowdrop."
  • Thias (Matthias) Bede is Adam's and Seth's father. He has become an alcoholic, and drowns in Chapter IV while returning from a tavern.
  • Gyp is Adam's dog, who follows his every move, and looks "..up in his master's face with patient expectation."
• The Poyser family:
  • Martin Poyser and his wife Rachel rent Hall Farm from Squire Donnithorne and have turned it into a very successful enterprise.
  • Marty and Tommy Poyser are their sons.
  • Totty Poyser is their somewhat spoiled and frequently petulant toddler.
  • "Old Martin" Poyser is Mr. Poyser's elderly father, who lives in retirement with his son's family.
  • Hetty Sorrel is Mr. Poyser's orphaned niece, who lives and works at the Poyser farm. Her beauty, as described by George Eliot, is the sort "which seems made to turn the heads not only of men, but of all intelligent mammals, even of women."
  • Dinah Morris is another orphaned niece of the Poysers. She is also beautiful – "It was one of those faces that make one think of white flowers with light touches of colour on their pure petals" – but has chosen to become an itinerant Methodist preacher, and dresses very plainly.
• The Irwine family:
  • Adolphus Irwine is the Rector of Broxton. He is patient and tolerant, and his expression is a "mixture of bonhomie and distinction". He lives with his mother and sisters.
  • Mrs. Irwine, his mother, is "...clearly one of those children of royalty who have never doubted their right divine and never met with any one so absurd as to question it."
  • Pastor Irwine's youngest sister, Miss Anne, is an invalid. His gentleness is illustrated by a passage in which he takes the time to remove his boots before going upstairs to visit her, lest she be disturbed by noise. She and the pastor's other sister Kate are unmarried.
• The Donnithorne family:
  • Squire Donnithorne owns an estate.
  • Arthur Donnithorne, his grandson, stands to inherit the estate; he is twenty years old at the opening of the novel. He is a handsome and charming sportsman.
  • Miss Lydia Donnithorne, the old squire's daughter, is Arthur's unmarried aunt.
• Other characters
• Bartle Massey is the local schoolteacher, a misogynist bachelor who has taught Adam Bede.
• Mr. Craig is the gardener at the Donnithorne estate.
• Jonathan Burge is Adam's employer at a carpentry workshop. Some expect his daughter Mary to make a match with Adam Bede.
• Villagers in the area include Ben Cranage, Chad Cranage, his daughter Chad's Bess, and Joshua Rann.

George Eliot was a great writer, IMHO. I love her satirical, lyrical, and often times comedic scenes. I laughed out loud at the following conversation among the men of the village having a drink, almost at the end of the book. I wonder if Alexandre Dumas who called Adam Bede the masterpiece of the century was also amused. 

Meanwhile the conversation at the head of the table had taken a political turn. Mr. Craig was not above talking politics occasionally, though he piqued himself rather on a wise insight than on specific information. 

 "I'm not again' it - mark my words - I'm not again' it. But it's my opinion as there's them at the head o' this country as are worse enemies to us nor Bony and all the mounseers he's got at his back; for as for the mounseers, you may skewer half-a-dozen of 'em at once as if they war frogs."

"Aye, aye," said Martin Poyser, listening with an air of much intelligence and edification, "they ne'er ate a bit o' beef i' their lives. Mostly sallet, I reckon." 

I also laughed at the village misogynist's descriptions and reasons why he doesn't like women which are always funny and most of his complaints are true anyway. He has a dog which he named Vixen after discovering it is a female but kept it. He refers to Vixen as woman and her puppies babbes as if they are humans. Feminists and the easily offended won't like Mr. Bartle Massey. 

Highly recommended.

Hetty and Arthur story

Can You Forgive Her?

tags: historical fiction, politics, romance, Victorian era, 1000 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

from GoodReads

Alice Vavasor cannot decide whether to marry her ambitious but violent cousin George or the upright and gentlemanly John Grey - and finds herself accepting and rejecting each of them in turn.

Increasingly confused about her own feelings and unable to forgive herself for such vacillation, her situation is contrasted with that of her friend Lady Glencora - forced to marry the rising politician Plantagenet Palliser in order to prevent the worthless Burgo Fitzgerald from wasting her vast fortune.

In asking his readers to pardon Alice for her transgression of the Victorian moral code, Trollope created a telling and wide-ranging account of the social world of his day.

Wow. I finished reading this thousand-page book and I loved it! I've been on a Regency and Victorian era reading period because there are no new books worth my time. I reread some of Jane Austen's books then suddenly remembered I wanted to read Anthony Trollope's books written during the Victorian period. Goodreads readers recommend to start with more-than-a-thousand-page Can You Forgive Her? But what's up with the title? 

“Poor Alice! I hope that she may be forgiven. It was her special fault, that when at Rome she longed for Tibur, and when at Tibur she regretted Rome.”

My answer is of course, I forgive her, Alice Vavasor that is, regardless of her being hard-headed and wishy-washy. She is a very independent young woman, growing up without a mother who died when she was a baby, and her father who hardly pays attention to her. Alice resents her elderly aunts telling her whom to marry and makes a mistake in taking back her promise to marry the handsome and moderately rich gentleman, John Grey. During this time, it's disgraceful for both parties to cancel the engagement and Alice feels she has sinned by doing so and doesn't deserve to be forgiven. 

The other young woman, the wealthy heiress Lady Glencora Palliser, is married to a duke's heir, Plantagenet Palliser. Lady Glencora was in love with a beautiful idler, wastrel, and gambler, Burdo Fitzgerald but was "jumped on" by her titled aunts to marry the better man, Palliser. Both aunts are indeed correct for jumping on Lady Glencora and Alice Vavasor.

The third woman, the rich young widow Mrs. Greenow, the sister of Alice's father spends her time on  matchmaking. She and the characters in her universe provide lots of funny moments although there are plenty of LOL scenes all throughout the book.

One of the love-to-hate characters is the heir to Vavasor Hall, George Vavasor, Alice's first cousin whom she was engaged to briefly when she was only 19 and then again after her disengagement from John Grey, but rejected him both times eventually. He is described as short in stature, with very dark hair and eyebrows, has small hands and feet, and has a scar running from under his left eye down to his jaw. He got the scar when he was just a boy for confronting a burglar in their home. In other words, he is as ugly as sin, even his grandfather says so often. He is also a penniless ne'er do well wastrel and even though a pauper wants a seat at the Parliament, carelessly using Alice's money. He is a brute and a violent man, a total villain. Alice who thinks she is still in love with him but realizes she isn't, is lucky to escape his clutches. 

Anthony Trollope had managed to make George's character evil, murderous, and pathetic but funny in a way. When George was desperate and mad at everyone and everything whom he deems has wronged him including his grandfather, his sister Kate, Alice, John Grey, his uncle, the city, the country, the sun, the universe, he curses at them mightily and thinks of a thousand ways to murder them. Trollope had a way with words that I really like. I wasn't bored at all reading about the countless number of characters and the political parts of the novel. I'll try to read the rest of the series, 5 more books, that are more about the Pallisers and politics.

 Highly recommended for British Victorian historical fiction readers.

The Face Of A Stranger

tags: historical fiction, mystery, police procedural, reread 

⭐⭐

from GoodReads

His name, they tell him, is William Monk, and he is a London police detective. But the accident that felled him has left him with only half a life; his memory and his entire past have vanished. As he tries to hide the truth, Monk returns to work and is assigned to investigate the brutal murder of a Crimean War hero and man about town. Which makes Monk's efforts doubly difficult, since he's forgotten his professional skills along with everything else...

I finished reading one of Anne Perry's new mystery series - the Daniel Pitt series - and I didn't like it one bit, I gave it 1 star. 

I've read several of her books including this first book in the British Victorian mystery series with Police Detective Monk and I remember liking it at the time. That was in the early 90s. I reread the first book, The Face Of A Stranger, and to my dismay, I thought it was tedious and meandering with Monk's frequent internal monologues because he's suffering from amnesia. Get on with the dang crime investigation instead of wondering what he did in the past and things, music, etc he liked. Sheesh! I also discovered my utter dislike for the nurse character, Hester Latterly who also has frequent internal monologues. Ugh! I'm wondering why I now have a different view of the characters and Anne Perry's writing style. 

I will tackle next time one of her stand alone novels, Tathea, which I read almost 20 years ago, I can't remember it anymore. A fantasy and if I recall has some religious themes. 

**********************************************************************************

Bit of trivia re Anne Perry

Anne Perry was born Juliet Marion Holme in England. She and her family moved to New Zealand when she was very young and there she committed a serious crime although it was her friend who did the deed. She was the subject of the 1994 Peter Jackson movie Heavenly Creatures starring Kate Winslett. I remember watching it but never knew the 15 year old murderess is one of my most read authors. The movie is based on the murder of the mother of Juliet's friend, Pauline Parker. The girls killed the woman, were both found guilty and "detained", whatever that means, then released to their parents after 5 years. She and her family moved back to England after her release. 

The Woman In The Moonlight

 

tags: Amazon First Reads, Beethoven, Giulietta Guicciardi, historical fiction, "Moonlight" sonata

from GoodReads

A stirring and romantic historical novel about nineteenth-century Vienna and the tragedy and dynamic passion that inspired Ludwig van Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.

Vienna, 1800. Countess Julie Guicciardi’s life is about to change forever. The spirited eighteen-year-old is taking piano lessons with Ludwig van Beethoven, the most talented piano virtuoso in the musical capital of Europe. She is captivated by his volatile genius, while he is drawn to her curiosity and disarming candor. Between them, a unique romance. But Beethoven has a secret he’s yet to share, and Julie is harboring a secret of her own, one so scandalous it could destroy their perfect love story.

When Beethoven discovers the truth, he sets his emotions to music, composing a mournful opus that will become the Moonlight Sonata. The haunting refrain will follow Julie for the rest of her life.

Set against the rich backdrop of nineteenth-century Vienna, The Woman in the Moonlight is an exhilarating ode to eternal passion. An epic tale of love, loss, rivalry, and political intrigue. A stirring portrait of a titan who wrestled with the gods and a woman who defied convention to inspire him.

Ugh! What did Beethoven ever do to deserve disgusting fictionalized stories about him and his ladies.  First, the hokey movie, Immortal Beloved, which is tolerable because Gary Oldman was good as Beethoven and I like the soundtrack. 

I cannot say the same for this new historical fiction novel featuring the Hungarian Countess Giulietta Guicciardi who was supposed to be the dedicatee to Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14, or what is known as "Moonlight" sonata. I can understand fictionalization for romantic novel purposes but this book made me cringe so much. The book reads like a Wikipedia entry with emotionless main character narrating in the first person, Julie/Giulietta. The language IMHO is too modern for the 1800s. Julie describes Beethoven as a short man at 5 feet 4 inches tall and she 5 feet 8 inches tall. What young woman in the 1800s contemplates on stature? Nothing to do or think about? Geez. There is so much "telling" instead of showing events and their relationship. The author did a lot of research but she also trivialized Beethoven and his fictional lady love. I also hated the stupid maid of Julia, Lucy, who is so annoying and does not know her place. She's written as if she's an equal to the countess. SMH. Stupid author. I bet Beethoven will be needing very sturdy straps to prevent him from turning over and over in his grave. *Julie in real life did not fall in love with Beethoven, nor did he with her although he dedicated Piano Sonata No. 14 to her.*

This novel is one of the choices for September 2020 Amazon First Reads. Avoid it if you love Beethoven and his music and/or if you want to keep your IQ points.

M. C. Beaton's Poor Relation Series

from goodreads and Amazon

1 - Lady Fortescue Steps Out

After her husband’s death, Lady Fortescue knows she must work, even though the thought will appall her society relatives. So she decides to transform her once-grand Bond Street home into a hotel, the Poor Relation, offering society guests the pleasure of being waited upon by nobility.
 
With the help of other down-and-out aristocrats, London’s newest, most fashionable hotel is born. And it is the perfect venue for Lady Fortescue to play with the love lives of her guests and staff, starting with her nephew, the dashing Duke of Rowcester. Lady Fortescue has it on good authority that the duke once shared a dance with darling Harriet James, the hotel cook. When the duke comes to London, Lady Fortescue orchestrates a reunion that is sure to scandalize the ton. 

2 - Miss Tonks Turns To Crime

The fashionable Poor Relation hotel has rescued its six owners from genteel poverty, but they need ready cash for its upkeep. Once more, one of them must discreetly rob a rich relative.

The faded spinster Miss Letitia Tonks is dispatched to disguise herself as a highwayman and hold up the carriage that is transporting her nip-farthing sister and her lovely young niece, Cassandra. But by a twist of fate, their dashing prankish neighbor, Lord Eston, himself masked as a highwayman, does the deed for her--and grabs the opportunity to dazzle Cassandra with a swift kiss.

3 - Mrs. Budley Falls From Grace

The Poor Relation is in need of money to survive. Widow Eliza Budley wants to help save her new home, but with her fortune lost due to her deceased husband’s gambling debts, how can she? With no rich relative to go to, Eliza calls on the senile, elderly Marquess of Peterhouse, and pretends to be a relation while she steals just enough of his worldly goods to fund the hotel. But when she arrives at his bleak castle, she learns the Marquess is deceased, leaving his handsome nephew in charge of the estate. Once the dashing heir learns of her devious plot, can he get past her criminal leanings long enough to fall in love with her?

4 - Sir Philip's Folly

The owners of the Poor Relation Hotel are busy once again. This time, Sir Philip Sommerville has installed a vulgar, grasping woman in the hotel, and his co-owners are frantic to remove her. At the same time, they decide they must help a young guest find a husband. These experienced schemers almost make and break the wrong matches, but greed is revealed, and love triumphs.

5 - Coronel Sandhurst To The Rescue

Due to a bad wager by one of its founders, the popular Poor Relation hotel is in financial trouble. Fortunately, founder Colonel Sandhurst has a plan. Offering the hotel as a sanctuary to a bride running from her arranged marriage, the colonel plans to return her to her father in exchange for a ransom rich enough to settle the hotel’s debts. But the colonel’s plan goes awry when the bride’s jilted fiancé shows up instead, mistakes a hotel maid for his future wife, and promptly falls in love. To make matters worse, the ransomed bride herself is now smitten with another dashing guest, a nobleman unhappily betrothed to another woman. Now it will take all the matchmaking prowess of the eccentric staff of the Poor Relation to get these romantic affairs in order—and save their beloved hotel from bankruptcy.

6 - Back In Society

Life is finally looking up for the eccentric owners of London’s Poor Relation hotel. The Prince of Wales’s coat of arms gleams over the entrance. All but one of the rooms are filled by the open-handed Prince Hugo and his entourage. The owners have taken on a popular actor as a new partner. Finally, these once-impoverished aristocrats have reached a position comfortable enough to allow them to consider offers to buy the hotel.
 
But their hard-earned success stands in stark contrast to the plight of their latest guest, Lady Jane Fremney. The slight, beautiful daughter of the Earl of Durby has been cast out of her family for refusing to marry the man her father has chosen. Lonely and bankrupt, Lady Jane has decided to commit suicide. But when hotelier Miss Tonks uncovers her plans, the entire staff tries to rescue Lady Jane by finding her a suitable husband—fast! Fortunately, these lovable hoteliers have a knack for matchmaking.

I have read all of the Hamish Macbeth [set in fictional Lochdubh, Scotland] and Agatha Raisin [set in The Cotswolds, England] mystery books by Marion Chesney Gibbons writing as M. C. Beaton. She passed away December 2019 and I'm awaiting the last books for both series to be issued later this year. Although I have tired of both characters, I still read them as soon as they are published hoping Hamish will finally marry either Priscilla or Elspeth, and Agatha, Sir Charles Fraith. Now I'll never know.

I'm no fan of romance novels but I read a few of her romance series years ago and a couple of her Edwardian mystery series. I decided to read one of her romance novelette series, Poor Relation, set in the Regency period, which I finished in 4 days. They are very short, 150 and up to 220 pages, and I liked all of them. Her sense of humor and engaging writing style easily earned 4 stars from me.