BOOK REVIEW: The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon

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

Have you ever heard of the Irish folk hero Grace O’Malley? I had not, until reading The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon (author of The Frozen River). Now, I’m fascinated by her.

A contemporary of Queen Elizabeth, Grace was the daughter of an Irish chieftain who took over his fleet after his death, and continued his warlike and pirating ways. She expanded her sphere of influence through war and marriage (not always her choice) until she was one of the most powerful leaders in Ireland. Unfortunately, not only was she beset by rival clans, but also beleaguered by the grasping English.

The novel brings her story to life in a nonlinear way, moving back and forth through time, highlighting the big events, of which there were many. This works surprisingly well, keeping the pace taut and the interest level high. Each chapter has a heading stating the year and Grace’s age, so the reader never gets lost when the timeframe switches.

Grace is a strong woman, who manages to rise above the limitations placed on her by others because of her sex. She develops a devoted following. After a disastrous first marriage, she eventually finds love.

Fans of historical fiction featuring true-life, strong, female protagonists, and fans of swashbuckling adventure, will find much to love in Lawhon’s new novel.

BOOK REVIEW: The Farther Shore by Seth Fleisher

 I received a free e-galley of this novel from the publisher. That did not influence this review.

For me, one of the best ways to learn something about a historical time period, place, or event that I know little to nothing about, is to read a biography, or even better, a well-researched biographical novel, about a person living through it.

I’ve mentioned before my love for biographical novels, so when offered the chance to read The Farther Shore by Seth Fleisher, I jumped at it, despite my promise to myself that I wouldn’t add more books to my TBR pile until I had read a bunch that are already on it.

The Farther Shore is a dual biographical novel, primarily exploring the life of Eugène Marais (1871-1936), who was one of southern Africa’s leading academic lights. As a devoted Afrikaner, he was involved with the politics of his day. He was a journalist and poet. He was a determined preservationist of the Afrikaans language. He also studied law, medicine, and science (naturalism with its implications for anthropology). This was at the time of the Boer War (about which I’d known nothing except that it happened) and rampant British colonialism. Nowadays, in the post-apartheid era, it is difficult to read about the difficult life of a privileged, white man in this geographical setting without getting a bit of an icky, “yes, but…”  feeling; and yet, this is one of the reasons I found the book powerful. It took me back in time to prewar southern Africa, before the development of apartheid as an all-encompassing legal/political system of oppression (which came about only after WWII.) That is not to say there was no racial discrimination before that. There most certainly was, and Marais was guilty of racism, classism, and some horrifying acts of dehumanization of aboriginals. The man himself was a morally gray character, but the novel shows his multiple facets, and makes him fascinating. (He was also a morphine addict, so there is that to grapple with.)

I said it was a dual biographical novel. The other protagonist is his son, Charles Marais. Charles definitely existed. And he was abandoned by his father after the death of his mother from puerperal sepsis. But that is the extent of the factual information underlying the fictional creation of this man. In the novel, Charles does counterbalance some of the moral grayness of his father, by being (at least becoming) staunchly anti-Nazi and anti-racist in the years leading up to WWII. And there is a love story woven into this part of the narrative. 

The Farther Shore is beautifully written and emotionally complex. Highly recommended for readers of historical fiction and biographical fiction.

BOOK REVIEW: Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi is one of the most buzzed-about books of the last year or so, but it’s taken me this long to get to it. It’s a sweet novel, something of a modern-day fairy tale.

Theo (first name only!) is in his late eighties, mentally sharp, physically fit, with inexhaustible funds, and a deep, deep appreciations for beauty in the physical world and in people. He is devoutly Christian and that message permeates the book in a way that is not subtle and not meant to be.

Theo comes to the small southern town of Golden, and one of his first stops is a coffee shop where he finds pencil portraits of locals decorating the walls. These are all done by the same artist, also local. Theo is amazed by the skill of the artist and by the way the pictures bring out the true personality and hidden sadness in the people portrayed. He makes it his mission to buy all the portraits, one-by-one, and gift them to the subjects. Each time he bestows a portrait, he sits and talks with the recipient a while, learning their stories but never revealing his own.

During his time in Golden, he forms deeps friendships and helps others to heal their wounds.

It’s an engaging novel, though slow paced at times. Each person’s story is given its due, and the book can read as a series of vignettes, showing multiple facets of the human condition. The vignettes are linked by Theo’s mission. As the story draws to its conclusion, the people are linked, through Theo, into more of a community.

Have you read this novel? What did you think?

BOOK REVIEW: The Firing: Eleanor Coade and her Remarkable Stone by Theresa Shiban

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

The Firing: Eleanor Coade and her Remarkable Stone by Theresa Shiban is a beautifully written biographical novel telling the life story of the eighteenth-to-early-nineteenth century British businesswoman, Eleanor Coade.

Eleanor’s first passion was not business, but sculpture. A skilled sculptress in her own right, it took her father’s bankruptcy, and her desire to support herself and her beloved consumptive younger sister, to inspire her remarkable talent for business. Her success was unusual for a woman of the time. Infuriatingly, the law of the land entitled the men in women’s lives to claim all their earnings for themselves. This law, and Eleanor’s father’s willingness to exploit it for his own benefit, provides much of the conflict in the story.

Eleanor made her first fortune as a linen draper, and this allowed her to return to sculpture. She eventually bought a failing factory that made “artificial stone.” The product was of poor quality, but Eleanor saw its potential. With her workers, she perfected the formula for a mixture of clay and stone that could be molded into statuary and architectural adornments, and it is largely for this that she became famous and very wealthy.

The blending of Eleanor’s personal life and professional achievements drive this novel along. It’s an engrossing story of a woman who deserves to be better remembered. Biographical fiction at its finest!

BOOK REVIEW: The Case of the Curate by Mary Lancaster

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

Mary Lancaster has a new Regency Mystery series, The Irreverent Clergyman. And while I’ll miss the previous series, Silver and Grey, I’m excited for this one. Book 1 is off to an excellent start.

The Case of the Curate introduces the intrepid Lady Ambrose (Kate) and a more-or-less reformed rake, now a curate, Mr. Rupert Grande. Kate is married to Sir Gilbert Ambrose, an up-and-coming Member of Parliament. She has been sent by him to the country-house party of Lord Chadbon, which is not so much a party as a gathering of politically active men, to use her charm to further his cause and that of her host. (He is unable to attend.) While there, she is surprised and delighted to discover her childhood friend, Rupert, in attendance. (He is only a substitute curate while the local vicar is ill.)

There is another woman present, an exceptionally pretty housemaid, who once had a fling with Rupert back in London. She’s in trouble, pregnant by a man who is too far above her to even consider marrying her. Rupert has promised to help her. But before he can, the maid is brutally murdered. Rupert is a relative stranger in town, whose aristocratic connections are not known. (He’s the son of a marquis, serving incognito.) So he rapidly becomes the prime suspect and is promptly arrested. Only Kate knows he could not possibly be guilty. She sets out to find the true murderer, which is much riskier than she anticipates.

These are two appealing protagonists, whose relationship is affectionate, nostalgic, and perhaps more. Lancaster brings them to life with her careful character development and credible relationship. The mystery is engrossing. I look forward to more in this series!

BOOK REVIEW: Switzy by Emma Cline

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

Switzy by Emma Cline is a gripping novel by the author of The Guest. Like The Guest, Switzy is unsettling. Readers with loved ones who suffer or suffered from dementia may find it triggering.

Cline is able to get inside the failing brain of David, a wealthy businessman who was once highly respected and an asset to an unnamed company. He was an important person. But now, he is necessarily accompanied everywhere by a hired male companion/keeper who navigates his memory lapses, wandering, and irrational flashes of irritability, anger, and paranoia with patience and understanding.

The pain in this extraordinary novel comes from David’s awareness of his advancing dementia and his efforts to say his last goodbyes to people to whom he was once close. But he finds he may not have been as significant to them as he thought. Did he lead a worthwhile life–this important person? Or not?

Cline does a remarkably empathetic job exploring the broken thoughts of a dementia sufferer in a way that is believable, beautifully written, heart-breaking, and terrifying. Highly recommended.

BOOK REVIEW: Whistler by Ann Patchett

I love it when a book lives up to the hype. I just finished Whistler by Ann Patchett and my heart was thoroughly warmed. This is a novel about a messy modern family, and people who are very good at life.

The protagonist, Daphne Fuller, is a high-school English teacher with a complicated backstory that includes an often-absent father (divorced from her mother when Daphne was young, and now deceased) and two stepfathers. She is very close to her sister Leda, but not so much to her much younger stepbrothers. She’s married to a wonderful, supportive older man. In her own middle-age, life is good. She experienced a significant, traumatic event in her childhood but is not traumatized. Her sister, a family therapist who now writes an advice column in the local paper, has unpacked her own trauma and is also happily married and well adjusted.

What throws them for a loop is the reappearance in their lives of stepfather #1, Eddie. Who is an editor for a big name publishing company. Daphne hasn’t seen him since she was nine. She had packed away the memory of him, despite the fact that they experienced a pivotal event together all those years ago. And despite the fact that he had been, for a very short period of time, the most stabilizing influence in her young life, and something of a soul mate.

The novel takes the reader back and forth in time to experience the modern day lives of the family as well as to circle around the pivotal event, yielding up the story little by little. No one has ever really talked about it, and everyone has a somewhat different view of what happened. Daphne and Eddie know best, but even they had no opportunity to discuss it afterward. And now, as they process it, all the feelings come out. It is remarkably healing.

And the story of Whistler the horse ties it all together.

Patchett writes people who are so interesting and so real that you wish you knew them. At one point, Eddie explains to young Daphne that the vast majority of people are inherently good. And when you read this, you can believe it.