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★★★★★★★★★★ (7/10)
I didn't realize until after I started reading The Betrayal of the Blood Lily that I was coming into the series a bit late. I'd never heard of this series, and was a bit surprised to find that this was the sixth novel in a series of flowery named spy novels. Nevertheless, I forged ahead, regardless of what I might not be clued into (having no idea if this was the type of series where you would need to have read the previous ones to understand the current selection). And, I must say, this was a terribly delightful book! I felt like I was being thrown curve balls every few pages, and was kept on my mental toes to keep track of what happened, but the experience was wonderful.
The whole thing starts off with a grad student, Eloise, working on her dissertation. (Eloise is a bit of a strange name for an American, though. I think of Eloise as being a six-year-old children's book character.) Of course, she's writing about spies, but like many a grad, she'd rather keep researching than commit to writing out a thesis. Strangely enough, her boyfriend's family has a connection to her research and the story of Penelope Deveraux, or Lady Frederick Staines, comes about when Eloise in going through the boyfriend's aunt's notebooks from an office in India. So, there's a lovely change of time period and location throughout the novel; Willig takes me from London in the relatively present day, to India around 1804. I don't quite see how Eloise contributes to the novel, except that maybe she is what connects them all, or that she serves to increase my suspense about what will happen in Penelope's story. However, overall, I think that Eloise's life is believable, detailed, and amusing, in it's own way.
The bulk of the novel is devoted to a very short time in India. It must be only a month or two that goes by from beginning to end, and a good deal of that time is spent traveling from Calcutta to Hyderabad, so not too much goes on there. Willig starts off with a scandal, and gives more details about it as the story goes on. At first, there's just a vague hint that Lord and Lady Frederick's marriage is tainted somehow. It's a quick hook, and I took the bait and kept reading, but the story is about something more than their relationship, which isn't a good one. It's about so many things, and none of them are really more important than the others. Everything is necessary and vital to whatever happens next, and it's difficult to recap the novel without going through it in a ridiculously detailed way.
Suffice it to say that Penelope gets a happy ending, and I hope that means she learned from her mistakes. I wish there had been more spying involved, but the novel was lovely all the same. I also would like to know who/what the Blood Lily was meant to be, since it's not mentioned in the novel at all, as far as I can remember. I really liked the descriptions of India, and the relations between the British and Indian cultures, as well as the way Willig created such a twist at the end that I never saw coming. I've already purchased two other novels in this series, in no particular order, and look forward to being as delighted by the as I was by Blood Lily.
★★★★★★★★★★ (10/10)
My 10 star rating does coming with a warning: I am ridiculously partial to Jane Austen, all of her characters, and any novels either take part in, so it is likely that this estimation of Mr. Darcy's Diary is extraordinary biased.
However, it's wonderful to see that an author cared about the other side of Pride and Prejudice. I've read the novel, criticism of Jane Austen, essays on various characters, histories of the era, and I even own a book on the life of Miss Austen, but I've never come across a novel like Mr. Darcy's Diary. Amanda Grange covers every episode from P&P and creates what happened when Mr. Darcy was out of the picture, but best of all, I could really believe that Grange knew how Darcy would think. Each entry in his "diary" was true to character: logical, proud, sometimes a bit cold, not too embellished, and straight to the point. I don't think Austen herself could have done a better job with Darcy's inner workings.
Grange also includes insights into other characters as well, ones who are more connected to Darcy's world than the Bennets'. Bingley's mind is better known through this novel because Darcy includes their conversations, Bingley's flaws and virtues, and Darcy's own opinions of the way Bingley acts. Caroline Bingley's malice is even greater than in P&P because Grange allows the reader to see what she really thinks when Austen wasn't looking. There are even scenes where her almost shameless flirtation and pursuance of Darcy make her look more manipulative and disgusting than I already thought she was. Best of all, since this is Darcy's diary, there is more thought on Georgiana. There is very little in P&P, mostly because she just isn't that important. She is a vehicle for Wickham's downfall, and a soft spot for Darcy himself. Now, Grange imagines what Austen might have done with Georgiana if the story had taken a different tack. I'd want Georgie as a little sister if she could be anything like this!
Collectively, I think that Mr. Darcy's Diary only took me about 5 or 6 hours to read. It was quick, but I think that it had something to do with my delight in the subject. Even with it being over so quickly, I was immensely happy with the book as a whole. I especially enjoyed Grange's imaginings on how Elizabeth and Darcy's married life would be. They are married in November, but Grange continues on into March with his entries. What happens after the wedding is probably one of the biggest questions ever asked about P&P and I loved Grange's ideas about how Darcy would think and feel about his new life. The changes in characters like Kitty and Anne de Bourgh, after November, are particularly to be noted.
This novel is best read after reading P&P for the first time or knowing it front to back by heart, otherwise, you might be tempted to compare the two as you go, which defeats the purpose of Diary. It's written by a person who obviously loves P&P, and who has taken great care to be accurate and to to Austen's original. As quoted on the back of the paperback edition, "Amanda Grange has perfectly captured all of Jane Austen's clever wit and social observations to make Mr. Darcy's Diary a must read for any fan." She's spot on for every detail, every scene, and every wish that readers have had for years.
I know that Grange has a whole series of these diaries from characters throughout Austen's novels, and I can't wait to read them all! I'm glad I started here, with Mr. Darcy's Diary, because retellings, or alternate tellings, of Pride and Prejudice can be very tricky. I've seen some fail utterly. Yet, if an author can do such a superb job with it, I can only imagine other writings in the same vein can only be as good, if not better.
★★★★★★★★★★ (8/10)
Stealing Athena is a wonderful comparison of the differences and similarities of the lives of women in ancient Greece and the world of nineteenth century Great Britain, but through the narrative stories of two women who are as alike as they are different. The novel gives a taste of European and Middle Eastern affairs during Napoleon's exercises in Imperialism, the philosophic age of ancient Athens, and the troubles women faced in both. I was highly entertained reading this novel, and hope others will be as well.
The novel is divided between two women: Aspasia, who is the courtesan of Pericles, and Mary Nisbet, who becomes the wife of Lord Elgin, a British ambassador. Aspasia lives in a unique time when the great buildings and temples of the Acropolis are just being built, and philosophy, logic, and democracy are the highlights of Grecian society. She becomes Pericles's lover when she is basically sold by her brother in law to Pericles as a concubine. Luckily for Aspasia, Pericles is not the brute that her brother in law is, and she comes share a loving relationship with the most powerful man in Athens.
Yet, Aspasia is unique, because she studied with a well-known philosopher, and is a woman who will speak her mind, and her mind is filled with some of the sharpest logic Athens had ever seen. This causes problems that bring forth the conflict in her tale. Through all this, Aspasia sees the cultural standards of the treatment of women in her new city of Athens. She is appalled that women are expected to be silent and anonymous, regardless of their intellect or worth. Even well-born women are kept at home, almost the same as the women in Turkey's harems were in Mary's time.
Speaking of Mary, there is a tragic story to tell. Life began for Miss Nisbet as happily as it possible could have. She was beautiful, intelligent, clever, and ridiculously rich, and she was content with her life. Mary knew that her duty to her family was to marry and have children, and this was something she did aspire to. Her life led her to Lord Elgin, who lived just over the hill. He wooed her and married her just in time to take her to Constantinople for his next ambassadorial assignment, while she was pregnant with their first child. This woman went through more pain, discomfort, and bizarre circumstances than any noble woman would be expected to, and oddly enough, she handled it much better than her new husband.
Unfortunately for Mary, her happy life was not to be happy forever. Constantinople brought the Elgins to financial difficulties due to the upkeep of the embassy, and Lord Elgin's personal belief that he would be the savior of the Fine Arts in Britain by bringing home some of the most celebrated art in Athens: the Parthenon's artistic treasures, Acropolis temples, and other works by the master Phidias. Lord Elgin spends money left and right because he believes he has the money to spend. Little does he know that Mary's father planned for just such a possibility, and didn't give Elgin any control over Mary's inheritance.
This is when their relationship starts to fall to pieces, but the story continues with other interesting adventures for all parties. Aspasia is prosecuted, Mary finds true love, and Pericles learns to respect women, even if he only listens to Aspasia. Stealing Athena brings two eras and two cultures together by linking them with time-tested truths: money always divides people, women will forever be considered inferior (even if they are declared equals), and you should always pick which battles you fight. Still, it's always painful to read about the strange ways past societies treated their citizens, even when that history isn't too far in the past. It makes me grateful to my recent predecessors that I am not forced to be dependent on marriage or friendly, albeit distant, relations. If Aspasia and Mary could have lived lives without such dependencies, I wonder how their lives would have differed.
Stealing Athena was a lot of fun to read, both for the historical aspects of it, and for Essex's imagination of Aspasia's and Mary's fortitude and character. A story lost to the memory of time is brought back to light, and a controversial acquisition forgotten in shame is remembered through one woman's perseverance. Athens rises again in this tale of love, politics, money, and exotic travel that seems to be a hope for a better future. For my part, I hope Lord Elgin rots in whatever grave he was put in for his crimes against his friends and against history.
★★★★★★★★★★ (9/10)
Who ever said that unexplained rumors weren't fascinating? This novel delves into the "what if" of Arthur Dudley, the man who claimed to be the son of Elizabeth and Robin Dudley. His claims were never validated, but the rumor still circulates to this day as to whether he spoke the truth. The Queen's Bastard uses what little information was known about Arthur Dudley, and the known events of Elizabeth's life to piece together what might have happened.
Like any good story, Maxwell begins at the beginning. She starts with Arthur explaining the purpose of the memoir he is writing, and why he believes his words to be important. This also helps to explain who he is in terms of his relationship to the royal family and England. Then the story jumps to the history of Elizabeth's and Robin Dudley's decades-long affair, that everyone at court seemed to know about. While the private-life events are fictional, they do make Elizabeth a much more interesting monarch. She is always described as stubborn and determined, but Maxwell wants to show that this applied to how she lived her personal life as well as her public life.
As the novel continues, Arthur grows up. Maxwell shows his whole life, from birth to age 25, which is when all record of him disappears, although she does speculate what happened to him after that through his trip to the Americas. He grows up in a completely different world than the one his parents live in. Arthur is adopted as a younger son to a family that owns a dairy, and later, take care of a chase park (where hunting parties can hire horses to chase down deer and other animals). He has a remarkable amount of fortitude, even from a young age. He bears things that a child would not usually put up with. Despite his royal birth, he is subject to the pain, poverty, and difficulties of the life of a commoner: nothing in his life is certain, and he must take the best out of every situation.
Arthur is an amazing character, although a little unbelievable. His is a life meant to be fantastical because of the secrets surrounding his past, but some of the situations Maxwell puts him in are too much to swallow. One example is that he is made a spy, and though he has no training, no experience, no way to know what he is doing, Arthur is a genius. He has been able to acquire information no one else could. Also, he decides to become a soldier and ends up in the company of William of Orange. Not only does he meet William, he becomes recognized by him, and even becomes commonly known to William's family. This is highly unlikely for a young man from a chase, with only knowledge of horses to recommend him, to accomplish. Yet, it happens in this novel, and I take these plot points as just part of the larger story. They are important, but I was more interested in how Maxwell would portray his meeting with Elizabeth and Dudley.
In the meantime, between snippets from Arthur's memoirs, Maxwell puts the reader in the court, but with an intimate view of the happenings of Elizabeth's private life. I got to see the behind the scenes arguments, the passion, the anger, the intrigues, the inner workings of Elizabeth's mind and why she ruled as she did. Maxwell gives this perspective for almost 30 years of Elizabeth's life, from when she assumed the throne, to after she meets Arthur. It is a tragic life because of all of the obstacles she needed to overcome, both as Queen, and as a person. She dealt with foreign powers, betrayals from those she trusted, and the deaths of those she loved.
Through it all, Maxwell keeps up a steady stream of interesting scenes that kept me turning the pages as if my life depended on it. I even loved that in Arthur's memoirs, Maxwell added in the occasional misspelling, strange punctuation, or odd word choice that might have happened during the time period. I had never heard this rumor about Elizabeth having a secret child, who later came back into the picture, but I was enchanted by Maxwell's imaginative story about what might have happened. Like all good historical mysteries, there will never be a way to prove or disprove this scandal, but it's a little bit more fun to have stories like The Queen's Bastard to imagine "what if."
★★★★★★★★★★ (7/10)
Harsh, depressing, morbid, yet oddly uplifting. Simply put, this is a story about a prostitute, a doctor, body-snatching, and cholera in 1831. It's a stark retelling of the vast differences between the lower and upper classes of England, and the fears that each had about the other. It's a story about survival, death, hope, and resignation. And it's confusing as hell.
Gustine, our heroine, is a fifteen-year-old prostitute with a baby. She works in a pottery factory by day, and by night, she wears an elaborate blue gown (rented from her landlord) and roams Sunderland for hopefully higher-class men who will pay her well. She's a strange person, because she doesn't seem to really care that she sells her body, as long as she has a place to live, and can provide everything her child needs. Gustine seems to have no idea of love beyond the feelings she has for her child, even when it looks like she might be developing a crush on a young doctor. It turns out that she simply wants to use him, and Gustine sinks down in my regard for her.
The doctor is a completely different case. He is trying to escape his past; a past haunted by the knowledge that he and his teacher were unknowingly involved in one of the worst murder cases in Edinburgh. They purchased the bodies of murdered bodies, killed by two men, Burke and Hare, who killed anyone they wanted because they knew they could sell the bodies of those they murdered. It was the doctor, Henry Chiver, and his teacher who purchased these bodies, and encouraged the criminals to continue on their spree. Henry left town, to end up in Sunderland, where he tried to become a teacher as well, but was too terrified to produce a body with which to give his students practical knowledge. He was deeply afraid that his past would come back and destroy whatever life he had made for himself. He was only too right.
All through Gustine's and Henry's personal tribulations, the Cholera Morbus is threatening the lives of everyone in Europe. This is where the struggles between rich and poor take center stage. The rich (educated, wealthy, arrogant) believe the disease is real and deadly, and are willing to take whatever measures are necessary to prevent its spread. The poor (uneducated, striving to survive, and underprivileged) believe that the disease is something either made up or created by the rich to kill the poor. Characters like Whilkey Robinson, Gustine's landlord and pimp, are convinced that Cholera Morbus is nothing to fear, and refuse to submit to any sanitary precautions the Health Board set forth or suggest. By the time the story is over, most of Robinson's lodgers are dead from the disease, and many from the rest of the town as well.
This feels like a story about the educated vs. the uneducated, science vs. belief, morality vs. immorality. The classic struggles that face cultures around the world are what drive the plot. What makes this difficult to read is the setup. There are breaks in the novel where the narrative voice changes completely, and it's never quite clear who is speaking. Time jumps around as well in places, and it would take me a few pages to figure out what had happened. Still, it was a very engaging novel, and full of little historical tidbits (such as Napoleon's death, and the global spread of this strain of cholera). It was painful to read about such a debilitating disease, but I learned about the way the study of medicine was perceived, in contrast to how most people see it today.
The Dress Lodger was an adventure in the past, consisting of body-snatching, a deadly illness, and the ways of life in a seaside city. The ending had a weird ray of hope tossed in, that came from a thread that was woven since the beginning, and made a depressing plot seem not so terrible. Given enough time to recover from the terror of an epidemic, which I've never had to experience, I would probably read this again. It was a great find from the library, and kudos to Sheri Holman for a great read.
★★★★★★★★★★ (4/10)
First thoughts: "Wow! A alternate telling of Emma. This should be good."
Thoughts now: "Didn't really have all that much to do with Emma. Even Mrs. Goddard doesn't sound the same, and she's just repeating events I've already heard before."
This is Jane Austen's great-great-great niece retelling Emma from the point of view of Mrs. Goddard, the mistress of the school that Harriet attends, through a series of letters between Mrs. Goddard and her recently remarried sister in London, Mrs. Pinkney. I found the story Mrs. Pinkney was telling to be a great deal more interesting than the gossipy version of Emma that Mrs. Goddard gives.
Through Mrs. Goddard, Austen-Leigh gives us the behind-the-scenes reactions of characters that are important, but not as vital as Emma herself. Mostly, we hear about Harriet and her emotional turmoil, Mrs. and Miss Bates (who talk of almost nothing but Miss Fairfax), and the local gossip about what's going on. This Mrs. Goddard is just as motherly, but not as elegant, as she is in Emma. I find myself wondering why she's trading idle gossip, other than that her sister asked her to. Austen-Leigh tells a great deal about the daily goings-on of a school, such as cleaning, problems with the students, teacher issues, and disputes between the cook and the baker, but I didn't really learn any more about Emma. I guess I was hoping to find out something new, and was disappointed because it wasn't there, and maybe wasn't even meant to be there.
Mrs. Pinkney, on the other hand, is very engaging. She's a widow who recently married her late husband's friend out of convenience. She was left with little money, and decided that the safety of a new marriage would be her best option. Little does she know that she's in for a lot of work with her new husband, Mr. Pinkney. It's fascinating seeing how they work out their misunderstandings and form a bond I never expected when the novel started. Mrs. Pinkney's "adoption" of young Charlotte is also exceedingly interesting. She is supposedly an orphan and at the mercy of a great-aunt who cares nothing for her. Charlotte was sent to a school in London, with the expectation that when she turned 18, she would find a position as a governess. Mrs. Pinkney makes Charlotte her protege, and Charlotte leads a life full of fun, happiness, and love. Her other adventures in the novel, I'll let you discover for yourself.
I don't think I'll read this book again. Which is convenient because I borrowed it from a library. It just didn't have the same level of involvement as Jane Austen's Emma. I can't really expect this, but if anyone is going to try to write a sequel, retelling, or reinvention of an Austen novel, they need to try a bit harder than Joan.
★★★★★★★★★★ (9/10)
On the cover of Mistress of the Revolution, the Associated Press is quoted as saying that this novel is "Definitely a contender for one of the best reads of the year." Usually I don't believe the comments from book reviews because they are written by only one person; you only get one opinion, and it's usually not in keeping with my own view of a book. However, this one was spot on. I was so eager to finish this novel because I wanted to know how it would all end, and I was not disappointed.
Mistress of the Revolution centers around Gabrielle de Montserrat, the daughter of impoverished aristocrats in the French countryside. It starts when she is about eleven years old and ends when she is forty-six. As the author states in the historical note, Gabrielle is entirely fictional, but I found myself sharing her hopes, dreams, fears, and sorrow. Her story really brings French history to the forefront by giving a "first hand" (not really, because she wasn't real, but still) account of what life would have been like for the aristocracy during such a time of turmoil. The story of the French Revolution is widely taught, and most students learn of the fates of King Louis and Marie-Antoinette, but little is said about their supporters, their enemies, or those caught in the middle. Gabrielle is one such person caught in the middle, and as a woman at this time, she was mostly without any way of saving herself from the Revolutionary horrors.
Delors reveals the atrocities that existed within the nobility, those that were to come during the Revolution, and after. Gabrielle survived it all, but her journey was one that was filled with sadness, dashed hopes, and only fleeting moments of happiness. The novel begins with Gabrielle being dominated by her mother and brother, to the point where they deny her the only this she wants, and force her into a life of misery and physical pain. She is passed from one authority figure to the next, and when she can finally be happy with the one person she loves, this too is taken from her, leading to her life in exile (from where she begins this novel of her memoirs).
I couldn't help but cry at the end at Gabrielle's final revelations, when she admits truths that she concealed, even from her family. By the last page, I can assume that Delors means Gabrielle to be content with her life, but she is not happy. If anything, she regrets what happened, but does not give herself the pain of wondering "what might have been." Gabrielle accepts that nothing can be changed, but she writes that "I have the memory of love, and I have hope." That is enough to keep her moving forward, hoping that her future, or her death, will bring her happiness at last.
I thought that this book was amazing. I haven't read any historical fiction about French history, so I learned a lot about the events the Revolution (the big things such as the execution of the monarchy, as well as other historical figures and dates were true). Yet, what I got through to me most of all were Gabrielle's relationships. For the most part she was lucky, but Delors tried to show that by being honest, maybe a little backward, and true to yourself, you can make the best of friends, and keep your head. Gabrielle is a true heroine, despite her fictionality, and I'm glad to have known her in these pages.
