AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Mrs. Porter Calling by A.J. Pearce

I’ve been slow getting to book three in the The Emmy Lake Chronicles, Mrs. Porter Calling, by A.J. Pearce. (Book One - Dear Mrs. Bird and Book Two - Yours Cheerfully are both delightful, and I recommend reading the series in order.) I’m experimenting more with audiobooks, so I listened to Mrs. Porter Calling, read by Anna Popplewell, and it is just wonderful.

Emmy has settled into her role as the advice column editor at the now thriving women’s magazine, Women’s Friend. She works with people she loves and respects, particularly her brother-in-law, Guy Collins. (Emmy’s husband is a soldier, away at war throughout the book.) She lives with her best friend Bunty in Bunty’s grandmother’s large house. When her second-best friend, Thelma, needs a place to live with her three children, they are invited to take the top floor. Everything is chugging along as well as can be during wartime. Even the Blitz has slowed to a trickle of bombs and the news reassures them all that Hitler is on the run.

Then things fall apart. The owner of Women’s Friend has passed and left the magazine to his niece, the Honorable Cressida Porter. Mrs. Porter is a selfish, self-centered socialite who views the magazine as a way to show off. Instead of articles that serve women in wartime, she takes up the pages with photos of her dog and her society friends, as well as fashion that no one but her high society friends could ever afford. She cuts Emmy’s column down, claiming it is too dreary, and refuses to let her answer the hard questions that readers are desperate to hear about. Predictably, the magazine loses readers and advertisers. And the plucky staff, Emmy’s friends, begin to lose hope.

Just when I’m anticipating a cheery, if somewhat pat, resolution, the floor drops out from under Emmy, reminding me that there is a war on, and there are no pat answers.

Once again, A.J. Pearce delivers a heartwarming story of Brits on the homefront during WWII, doing their best to muddle through in the worst of circumstances. This is a wonderful series. I don’t know if there will be a book four, but if there is, I’ll read it!

BOOK REVIEW: Let the Dead Bury the Dead by Allison Epstein

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

Allison Epstein is now a must-read author for me. I loved her debut, A Tip for the Hangman, so I was eager to read her newest release, Let the Dead Bury the Dead.

Let the Dead Bury the Dead is an alternate history, so although the characters are all fictional, the story is placed in a historical context (Russia, 1812, just after Napoleon has been chased away) where it feels as if the events could be real. (Except, for the vila, the witch…) Slavic folklore is woven into the tale adding magical realism to the mix. I am not, in general, a fan of magical realism. And I admit that the first time Sofia turned into an owl, I was a bit put off. And yet, the characters were so compelling, the writing so beautiful, and the folk tales so perfectly adapted to fit in with the story, that it all worked to create a novel I couldn’t put down.

In the aftermath of Napoleon’s defeat in Russia, the tsar wants to consolidate his power at home. If this means crushing the life out of his own people, the very people who supported his army and country, giving their all, so be it. The tsar and his family live in obscene luxury while the common people, pretty much everyone else, starve. The tsar’s second son, Felix, the Grand Duke, dared once to speak up for the people and found himself banished to a palace 15 miles from St. Petersburg where he has given himself over to idle hedonism.

Felix’s lover, the soldier Sasha, has now returned from the war. On his way to find Felix, he comes across a woman of unearthly beauty (Sofia) nearly dead from the cold, lying in the forest. He rescues her. This is something he quickly comes to regret. Sasha comes from the poor peasantry and was raised on the old stories. He recognizes a witch when he sees one.

Sofia plays on Felix’s ambition to convince him he is the leader the people need, setting things in motion and tearing the two lovers apart. 

At the same time, Marya, a young woman involved with a group of revolutionaries and the right hand of the group’s leader, Isaak, is busily helping to organize a general strike. It’s exceptionally dangerous as the tsar will certainly crack down at the merest hint of dissent. Nevertheless, Marya has faith that good can come out of a popular revolt. It’s necessary. Sofia works her magic on Marya also, convincing her that she has more to offer than simply following Isaak’s lead.

The novel works so well because of its moral ambiguity. Each of the main characters is partly right and very much wrong. The world is overwhelmingly against them and no simple solutions are available. Good can’t conquer evil when there is no pure good and no pure evil. (Although Sofia certainly comes close to pure evil, even she makes some good points. The tsar is evil, but evil in the commonplace cruel dictator way, and eliminating him will solve nothing.)

If you want to lose yourself in a beautiful historical fairy tale, I can’t recommend Let the Dead Bury the Dead highly enough.

FRIDAY 56: The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

 

Anne@Head Full of Books invited me to participate in Friday56 with other book bloggers, so I'm giving it a go. I hope I do this right!

I'm also including it in Book Beginnings hosted by Rose City Reader.

Title: The Rose Code by Kate Quinn 

Book Beginnings Quote: The enigma arrived in the afternoon post, sealed, smudged, and devastating.

Friday56 quote (quote taken from page 56): Any other woman, Osla reflected, would have run to her husband-to-be if she got menacing letters from a madhouse inmate. It was the sort of thing fiances liked to know, if the woman they loved was being threatened by a lunatic. But Osla knew she was not going to tell a soul.

Summary: (Taken from goodreads):

1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of East-End London poverty, works the legendary code-breaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.

1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter—the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger - mdash - and their true enemy...

Review: Stay tuned!  This is my book group's next pick. I've just started it -- I'm not even up to page 56 yet, but I'm pulled in so far!

 

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The Duke Knows Best by Jane Ashford

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

I generally prefer reading books to listening to them, but I am in the midst of knitting a Christmas gift and I can’t read and knit. So I was very happy to receive The Duke Knows Best by Jane Ashford as an audiobook. It is wonderfully narrated by Naomi Frederick, who has just the right accent and tone.

This is the sixth book in Ashford’s The Duke’s Sons series. I haven’t read others in the series but I am a big fan of Ashford’s Regency Romances. 

Miss Verity Sinclair is the daughter of a clergyman (dean of a cathedral), and she is desperate to see more of the world. She starts with London where she hopes to find a husband who will sweep her out of the mundane into a life of adventure. Unfortunately, her plans for accomplishing this are half-baked. And, more unfortunately, one of the first men she is introduced to is Lord Randolph Gresham.

Lord Randolph, one of the duke of Gresham’s five sons, is exceptionally handsome, intelligent, and kind. But he is a country parson and so not that man she is looking for. Because she is attracted to him, she chases him away with incredibly rude words even though he has done nothing objectionable. The next time they come across one another, she does the same. Falling for him would ruin all her plans.

Randolph has come to London to look for a wife. Six years ago, he courted a young woman who died of a quick illness just after they had become engaged. He still grieves for her, but is ready to move on. But not with Verity Sinclair. Although she’s beautiful, her manner is off-putting.

At a ton musicale, the hostess drags Randolph and Verity to the front of the room and insists they provide a duet. All their disharmony fades away as they become engrossed in the music. Ultimately, music will bring them together.

Lord Randolph is a delightful, mature hero who grounds this novel. The family bonds of the Greshams are warm and engaging. Verity is not a particularly likeable heroine. She begins as immature and rather unpleasant, but she does grow during the course of the book.

Overall, while not my favorite Ashford romance, listening to this audiobook was enjoyable. And it made me curious about the duke of Greshams other four sons!

BOOK REVIEW: The Beautiful Misfits by Susan Reinhardt

I stepped into the current day to read another contemporary novel, The Beautiful Misfits by Susan Reinhardt. This gripping story drops you into a mother’s worst nightmare: a child’s drug addiction.

Josette Nickels is one of those women who seem to have it all. She is an Emmy-winning news anchor for an Atlanta station and has a devoted following. But she also has a 23-year-old son who is addicted to drugs, an unsupportive husband, and a three-year-old daughter with Down Syndrome. One night, on-air, she learns that a friend of her son has died of a drug overdose. While reporting on the story, she has a breakdown and commits the unpardonable TV sin of losing control.

Josette’s life falls apart. She ends up in Asheville with her daughter, trying to hold it together while working as a cosmetics salesperson at a department store. Her now ex-husband harasses her for money. (He quit his job as a dentist to become an artist. This worked fine while Josette was a highly paid news anchor, but now that she’s broke, she thinks he should suck it up and get a job.) Her mother is a narcissist. Her coworkers are a nightmare. She hates pushing overpriced cosmetics. She gains 50 pounds on a fast-food diet. She’s an alcoholic.

And she has no idea, day-to-day, if her son is using or not. Or if he is dead or alive.

The novel does a superb job of showing the all-consuming worry, guilt, and grief associated with being the parent of an addict. No matter what else is going on in her life, her son Finley is never out of her thoughts 

The novel carries the reader along with Josette on her journey. Alongside the wrenching addiction story there is an entertaining send-up of the department store cosmetics industry. (You’ll steer clear of those free samples from now on!)

While ultimately redemptive, the story drives home the crisis of the substance abuse epidemic.

BOOK REVIEW: Toward the Corner of Mercy and Peace by Tracey D. Buchanan

Toward the Corner of Mercy and Peace by Tracey D. Buchanan is a beautifully poignant historical novel with a dash of quirky Southern humor. Set in the early 1950s in small-town Kentucky, the novel focuses on the prickly widow Mrs. Minerva Place. A church organist who supplements her income giving children piano lessons, Mrs. Place is self-contained and introverted. Yes, she has a tendency to eavesdrop and sometimes spy on her neighbors from behind her curtains but she isn’t nosy. She prefers solitude. However, her unusual hobby keeps bringing visitors into her home. Her hobby is visiting the local cemetery, researching its inhabitants, and writing their fictionalized biographies. Her visitors are the dead people she writes about.

To Minerva, these manifestations are very real. She talks to these people and the conversations inform her writing. Still, she recognizes that if anyone knew what she was up to, they would think her crazy.

To a historical novelist, this sounds like a perfectly wonderful hobby – except for the talking to ghosts part.

Minerva’s life takes a turn when a new family moves into her neighborhood: a young widower, Robert McAlpin, and his 6-year-old son George. Robert is a gentle ever-smiling man. George is a rambunctious child who has a habit of intruding into Minerva’s space. Interacting with the two (and with her dead visitors) causes Minerva to remember/relive the trauma and disappointments of her life, things that shaped the woman she came to be. A horrible accident brings everything to a head, and Minerva has to learn to accept forgiveness and to forgive in order to grow as a person. 

I’ve read several novels of curmudgeonly middle-aged men whose lives are transformed by quirky young neighbors, but this is the first book I’ve read where a somewhat cranky older woman has a renewal of spirit thanks to the friendship of a young man and a child. Readers will be rooting for Minerva every step of the way.

BOOK REVIEW: Miss Morton and the Spirits of the Underworld by Catherine Lloyd

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

I read book 1 of Catherine Lloyd’s Miss Morton Mysteries series (Miss Morton and the English House Party Murder) so that I would have the background for book 2, Miss Morton and the Spirits of the Underworld. I enjoyed book 2 even more than book 1, but recommend reading them in order.

Miss Caroline Morton and her intrepid employer, Mrs. Frogerton, have returned to London so that Dorothy Frogerton (the daughter) can have a London Season and snare herself a lord. Dr. Harris has also come to London to take a position at the hospital. 

Mrs. Frogerton has visited a medium who supposedly communicates with the dead. Caroline goes with her on a second visit to try to keep her from being defrauded, but is disturbed by a message that seems to be legit – from her dead father. Although Caroline is skeptical, she has to admit the woman has an uncanny talent. She asks Dr. Harris to accompany her on another visit to help convince her it is a scam. When he does, the medium says something that seems to frighten/offend him. They go to pay her yet another call during the daytime and find her dead.

Although there should be plenty of suspects, the investigator is in a hurry and pins the murder on Dr. Harris. Caroline and Mrs. Frogerton know he is innocent, but his gruff demeanor and secrecy do him no favors with the police. It is up to Caroline and Mrs. Frogerton to once again solve the murder(s).

The two sleuths are fun to watch. Caroline’s interactions with Society are interesting, as she is made to go about in Society circles with people who shunned her after her father’s bankruptcy and suicide. And the developing relationship between the calm polite Caroline and the rude Dr. Harris promises an interesting slowly progressing romance.