BOOK REVIEW: To Chase the Glowing Hours by Katherine Kirkpatrick

 I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

To Chase the Glowing Hours by Katherine Kirkpatrick transports the reader to the 1920s and the heady days of the archeological discovery of King Tut’s tomb.

Lord Carnarvon is an English earl, fascinated by the ancient Egyptians. He spends a great deal of the family wealth supporting the efforts of Howard Carter, a brilliant but difficult (and possibly mentally disturbed) archeologist in a quest for an undisturbed royal Egyptian burial chamber. In 1922, Carter finds King Tut’s tomb.

The novel tells the story from the point of view of Carnarvon’s daughter, Lady Eve. Eve is devoted to her father and shares his love of Egyptology. When Carter’s telegram arrives telling Carnavon he’s found the burial chamber but will await the earl’s arrival before entering it, Eve tags along. A 22-year-old socialite, Eve is far more interested in archeological discoveries than in London balls and parties. And she is far more interested in Howard Carter than in any London beau.

Kirkpatrick does a splendid job of including the reader in the excitement of the find. Lady Eve, Lord Carnavon, Howard Carter, and Carter’s assistant are the first people to step inside the chamber in over 3000 years. Although there is some evidence that grave robbers may have tapped into the chamber, the astounding array of artifacts and absence of disarray indicate that whoever was there didn’t take much, if anything. Lady Eve’s awe brings the setting to life.

The novel is meticulously researched. The artifacts are lovingly described. The political situation in Egypt is both peripheral and central to the story. And the ethical questions are explored. Who really has the right to possess these artifacts? Who has the right to tell the story of the dig? Is a little bit of grave robbing OK, compensation for all the effort?

An enjoyable read. Highly recommended.

BOOK REVIEW: John and Julie and Robert by Michael Strelow

 Coming soon! (can be pre-ordered here.)

John and Julie and Robert by Michael Strelow is a beautiful literary exploration of the ills of the modern world, softened by the cushion of an indestructible friendship. John, Julie, and Robert have grown from a trio of small-town children, bonded by intelligence and imagination, into three thirty-somethings who rely on that bond for unconditional love and support as they deal with the broken world they have inherited. While Julie wanders the continents to tackle head-on everything all at once, and Robert, at home, chooses the very tangible tool of the law, John takes on environmental devastation as represented by the leaf-blower. John’s cause unites them at a moment in time for one remarkable battle. Strelow’s erudite novel delves deep into the psyches of three gifted crusaders and will lead readers to cheer them on.

My thanks to the author and Regal House Publishing for an advance review copy!

BOOK REVIEW: Purely Academic by Stringfellow Barr

If you enjoy satirical novels about the world of academia, you won’t go wrong with Purely Academic by Stringfellow Barr. (How’s that for an author name?) Although first published in 1958, it feels surprisingly contemporary. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The novel largely focuses on Dr. Schneider, chairman of the history department, but other characters also share their views: the pompous but effective university president who’s seeking a bigger, better job; the chairman of the economics department, a schmoozer who vacuums up all the funding for his own department and who wants to succeed the president; the schmoozer’s very young, beautiful, charming wife who is bored with their marriage; the president’s Machiavellian secretary, the power behind the throne; a high-living member of a large philanthropic board, who may be the most clear-sighted of all, and others.

Although the jockeying for power, the politicking, the complaints about low salaries and unteachable students are timeless, the novel is written in an older style. It starts fairly slow as Barr maneuvers all the characters into place for the finale. He also head-hops, making the prose a bit clunky. But once you settle into the read, the style becomes less noticeable. What stands out is the irony. This novel is clever.

The characters are all unpleasant in their own way. Even Schneider, who you can’t help but root for, has some fairly large character flaws. And yet, I was entranced. Once the stage is set, the president gets the call to move up to a large state school. Then things start happening fast. 

Stringfellow Barr was a history teacher himself, who moved on to administration as a college president, and then to president of a research foundation. So it seems this book is written from the voice of experience. 

This is another old novel found in the library, but it’s available on kindle or used copies can also be found. If you’d like to see the academic world lampooned, give it a try. 

BOOK REVIEW: Seeds of the Pomegranate by Suzanne Uttaro Samuels

 I received this e-galley for free from Edelweiss. That did not influence this review.

Seeds of the Pomegranate by Suzanne Uttaro Samuels (releasing on September 2) is a propulsive historical novel set in early 20th century Sicily and New York. (I could not put this one down!)

Mimi Inglese is an extraordinarily talented young artist whose rise is cut short by tuberculosis infection. At least, that is what she believes and what her family wants to believe. Her father is struggling and failing to keep the estate he inherited profitable. He decides, with the “help” of a wealthy friend, Vito Cascioferro, to move his family to New York and start over by opening a store. What he doesn’t admit, to himself or to Mimi, is that Vito has little interest in the store. Or in him. Vito has been following Mimi’s artistic education and plans to make use of her skills as an engraver in his counterfeiting business.

Readers will sympathize with Mimi’s plight as she is dragged deeper and deeper into the mob’s increasingly competitive and violent dealings in New York. Although presented with opportunities to escape, family obligations keep holding her back. 

The beautiful prose and complex family dynamics combine with an omnipresent sense of menace that kept me turning pages, anxious to see what would come next. Highly recommended!

BOOK REVIEW: Word of the Wicked by Mary Lancaster

 I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

I love Mary Lancaster’s latest mystery series, Silver and Grey, so I’m trying not to fall behind. The latest (book 5) is Word of the Wicked.

Solomon Grey and Constance Silver are now engaged to be married, but they are prioritizing the private investigator business that brought them together. The business has grown so successful that the two have taken to divvying up the jobs, which is professionally satisfying but personally miserable. They miss each other, but are left wondering if the missing is mutual.

Fortunately, a case comes along that they both jump into in order to work together again. A physician from a small country town hires them to look into an anonymous letter sent to his wife. It is mildly insulting and lightly threatening. He can’t imagine who could have sent it or why. His wife is upset. And although he doesn’t truly think there is any danger, he wants to know who was behind it.

His wife is not the only one to have received a letter. In each case, it’s the same. A small chastisement followed by a vague threat.

Constance and Solomon go off to the countryside to investigate, but soon find themselves as baffled as the doctor. Questioning the townspeople, they uncover small-town secrets, but the identity of the letter writer continues to elude them.

At the same time, Solomon is caught up in the investigation of a murder at a London tavern that may or may not have been committed by his long-lost (and newly found) twin brother. 

The letter mystery is well-plotted and kept me guessing along with the detective pair. The relationships (Constance and Solomon; Solomon and his brother) continue to grow. I’ll have to wait for the next installment to see where they go next!

BOOK REVIEW: Asylum Piece by Anna Kavan

I’m on a mission to read more “forgotten” women authors of the 1920s through 50s. (Like Nancy Hale and Maude Hutchins.) I just finished a short story collection by Anna Kavan called Asylum Piece. 

Anna Kavan (a pen name) was a British writer whose works were “nouveau roman”, semi-autobiographical, and difficult to categorize. She suffered from a difficult family life, depression, and heroin addiction. After a number of hospitalizations and suicide attempts, she eventually died from a heroin overdose. It’s a tragic life for a woman of enormous talent.

Asylum Piece is a dark, surreal collection of stories written from a first person viewpoint, a voice tinged with paranoia, delusions, and a painful loneliness. The stories are captivating, beautiful, and terrifying. The viewpoint characters (who generally seem to be the same woman, progressing in her madness) all imbue their tales with a sense of impending doom that is all the more frightening for being vague. Some are set within the asylum, and the desperation of the woman (and in one case, a man) abandoned there is gut-wrenching. What makes the work so powerful is the realism of the surrealism. In the character’s head, the goings-on are very real. 

Originally published in 1940, the book was re-released in 1972 and in 2001, so used copies are not hard to find. (I found it in my public library.) It’s well worth reading!

BOOK REVIEW: Raising Hel by Cynthia J. Bogard

Raising Hel by Cynthia J. Bogard is the powerful story of a young woman coming of age in the tumultuous 1970s in Madison, Wisconsin. The site of the University of Wisconsin, Madison was a hotbed of student activism, with particular focus on anti-war demonstrations and the feminist movement.

Hel has escaped from her small farming town and her family’s expectations that a woman’s role is to settle into a life of wifehood and child-raising. But, confused, naive, and with no real vision for her own future, she becomes involved in the anti-war protests and enamored of an older man, a Vietnam veteran, who is addicted to heroin. In short order, they are married, and Hel finds herself just as trapped as she would have been had she stayed in her small town.

It is with the help of two women that she begins to break free. Thorpe is a smart, focused, botany student who seems to have it all together. Iris is a charismatic beauty with a gift for organization who wants to start a feminist magazine. With their friendship and example, Hel begins to find herself. When her husband abandons her, she is free to start over again. Working on the magazine brings her into contact with more strong-minded women eager to grab opportunities that are beginning to open up to them. Hel meets a man who is, in every way, the opposite of her absent husband, who makes her believe in love again. But her road to personal achievement and happiness is threatened when her husband returns.

This is an inspiring story of the hard-won achievements of the women’s movement that can serve as a reminder of how far we have come, and bolster our determination not to go backwards.