Books Set in Europe and Asia: Turkey

The Towers of Trebizond, by Rose Macaulay (1956)

The Towers of Trebizond, by Rose Macaulay is a very amusing book that is partly autobiographical.  It follows the adventures of Laurie, the narrator; her eccentric Aunt Dot; an Anglican Priest; and a camel.  They trek from Istanbul to Trebizond, partly by vehicle, partly by foot and camel.  Aunt Dot’s primary focus seems to be converting the women she meets along the way to Anglicanism, believing this will liberate the women from the confines of Islam.

Along the way, they meet all sorts of interesting characters, including Seventh Day Adventists, Billy Graham on tour, Turkish policemen and British travel writers.  In their travels, they come perilously close to the Russian border.  The priest is hesitant to cross into Russia on the grounds that it would be perceived as condoning a country that persecutes Christians.  Aunt Dot convinces him otherwise, noting that even in Britain there are elements of the government that one need not agree with.

While Aunt Dot and the priest explore Russia, Laurie remains in Turkey with the camel.  While on her own, Laurie begins her search into her Anglican faith.  She is left alone with her thoughts of faith and the conflict about her love affair with a married man.

Having traveled through Turkey, albeit not a camel, I found the author’s descriptions of places fascinating.  Despite there being 50 years between when this book took place and my visit to the country, I still recognized facets of Turkish life.

Read: December 2019

4 Stars

Books Set in Europe: Poland

The Tattooist of Auschwitz, by Heather Morris (2018)

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is based on the experiences of Lale Sokolov and Gita Furman who were deported to Auschwitz in the early 1940s, and remained there until the end of World War II.

Lale was a young Slovakian Jew who was rounded up, ostensibly for construction work, in 1942.  He soon found himself a prisoner at Auschwitz.  At the time he was taken, he was not aware of the full extent of Nazi actions.  Because he spoke several languages, he became the assistant to a French Jew named Pepan, the tattooist.  Pepan took Lale under his wing and taught him the art of tattooing.  Although he despised the work, he learned to keep his head down and tattooed the numbers on the arms of Jews entering the camp.  One day his tattooist mentor disappeared, he Lale became the primary tattooist.  This position gave him privileges not afforded other prisoners.

One day, he tattooed the arm of a young women.  Although she had already been shorn of her hair, he thought she was beautiful.  He learned her name was Gita and she was a prisoner at Birkenau.  She, too, was given a “job” at Auschwitz, which provided her with some protections.  The two young people were able to arrange meetings and they fell in love.

Because of Lale’s position and privileges, he was able to smuggle extra rations of food and clothing to some of the other prisoners.  Lale did what he had to do to survive and to try to keep some of his fellow prisoners alive.

When the War ended, Lale and Gita were separated, however, they continued to search for each other, as well as their family members.  Ultimately, they found each other and after the War, they married.  They ended up living in Australia.  He kept his work as at tattooist secret for many years for fear that he would be considered a Nazi collaborator since his work in the Auschwitz kept him alive.

After Gita died, Lale met with the author and told his story.  It is a fascinating tale of love and survival amid unthinkable horror.

Read:  November 19, 2019

4 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States: New York

The Grammarians, by Cathleen Schine (2019)

The Grammarians is a novel about a set of identical twins, Laurel and Daphne Wolfe, who were obsessed with words and the English language.  Their favorite book as a child is an old dictionary, which they pore over intently.

As children, they are inseparable, but as they grow up, the language that was the glue that kept them together, becomes the cause of their separation.

I didn’t care for the characters and their mundane lives.

This book was recommended by one of my book groups that focuses on Jewish-themed books.  This was billed as describing growing up in a middle-class Jewish family from the 1950s to present.  There was virtually no Jewish content to this novel.

Read:  November 8, 2019

2 Stars

Books Set in Europe: France, Austria, and England

The Hare with Amber Eyes, by Edmund de Waal (2010)

The Hare with Amber Eyes is a memoir of the author’s paternal ancestors, who were once of the wealthy European Jewish Ephrussi’s of the banking dynasty.  The memoir starts with a telling of the author’s great-uncle Charles Ephrussi, an art collector in Paris.  In the 1870’s, Charles acquired over 260 Japanese netsuke, the small wood and ivory carvings of plants and animals.  One of the netsuke was a hare with amber eyes, hence the title of the book.

Charles gave the netsuke to his Viennese cousin, Viktor Ephrussi, as a wedding present.  Viktor was the author’s great-grandfather, which is how the items came into the possession of the author’s family.

Because the Ephrussi’s were Jewish, albeit secular, during the Nazi regime and World War II, they lost everything, including the extensive art collection.  Amazingly, the netsuke survived and remained in the family.  (We learn the story of their survival in the book.)  The author inherited the netsuke collection, which led him to explore his family’s history.

His grandmother, Elizabeth Ephurssi, converted to Anglican Church when she married the Dutch Hendrik de Waal.  The author father, Elizabeth’s son, became an Anglican priest, thus the memoir is in part a search into the author’s Jewish past.  I found it a rather uncomfortable search.

I read this book because it was a selection of one of my book discussion groups.

Read:  November 4, 2018

2 Stars

Books Set in Europe: England and France

I'll See You in Paris, by Michelle Gable (2016)

I’ll See You in Paris is loosely based on the life of Gladys Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (née Gladys Deacon; Feb. 7, 1881 ~ Oct. 13, 1977).  A bit of background: Gladys was born in France into a wealthy, but eccentric American family.  When she was a child, her father killed her mother’s lover.  Her father spent a few years in prison, but when he got out, he was given custody of his children.

As an adult, Gladys travelled in an artistic social circle and encountered many major authors and artist of the time.  She became close friends with Consuelo Vanderbilt, who was married to the 9^th Duke of Marlborough.  Theirs was an unhappy marriage.   Gladys became the Duke’s mistress.  It was a happy arrangement for decades.  When Consuelo and the Duke divorced, Gladys and the Duke married, making Gladys the Duchess of Marlborough.

In her later life, the Duchess became a recluse.  She lived in a small village in England with a host of cats and dogs. She was known to threaten visitors with firearms.

This is where the novel begins.  The novel goes back and forth in time and we slowly learn about Gladys’s life.  The novel begins in 2001 with Annie Haley, a young woman newly engage to a marine who has been shipped to Afghanistan.  Annie was raised by her single mother, Laurel.  Annie never knew her father ~ her birth certificate lists her father as being “unknown.”

Laurel has business in England and invites Annie to accompany her.  While her mother is tending to business, Annie wanders through the little village and encounters Gus, an aging aristocrat.  They strike up a friendship over a book entitled The Missing Duchess.  Gus knew the woman who was the subject of the book, although she adamantly denied she was the Duchess.  His recounting of the Duchess brings us to the 1970s, where a young American woman named Pru was hired to be a companion to the aging Gladys.

This was a fun and quick read.  The style of moving back in forth in time, while not entirely seamless, was smooth enough to keep me turning the pages.  It is not necessary to know the background of Gladys Deacon to enjoy this book.  While reading this book, I did a little research to see how closely the novel tracked the life of the Duchess.

Read:  Oct. 28, 2019

4 Stars

Books Set in Asia and Australia

A Town Like Alice, by Nevil Shute (1950)

A Town Like Alice, by Nevil Shute was published nearly 70 years ago, and although it clearly reflects the prejudices prevalent at the time (treatment of women and Australian aborigines), it is also a very fascinating novel about the resilience of humans in the face of adversary.

The novel follows Jean Paget, a young English woman, during and after World War II, and is narrated by her solicitor, a man old enough to be her father.  At the outbreak of World War II, Jean was working for a British company in Malaya.  When the Japanese invaded, women and children were taken prisoner.  The Japanese commander was reluctant to be responsible for the women and children, and as a result, they were forced to walk all around the country for duration of the War, always being told they were headed for a camp.  Finally, they were able to settle in a Malaya village, where they worked with the towns people until the end of the war.  By the end of the War, about half the women and children had died.  [Note:  this was based a historical event that actually took place in Sumatra.]

Before joining the Malaya village, however, during their travels, they encountered some Australian prisoners of war.  One of the prisoners was Joe Harman.  He and Jean struck up a friendship.  When he steals 5 chickens from the commander to give to the women, he his caught and crucified.  The women march on, believing that Joe is dead.

After the War, Jean returns to England, where she gets a job as a secretary at a leather goods factory.  She soon learns that she has come into a considerable (for the time) inheritance from an uncle she barely remembered.  She has enough money that she no longer needs to work.  She decides that she wants to use some of her money to build a well for the women in the Malaya village where she had been during the War.  She returns to the Malaya village, where she learns that Joe Harman survived.

Before returning to England, she decides to go to Australia to try to find Joe to thank him for his help during their trek around Malaya.  Six years have passed since they last saw each other.  She thought he was dead, and he thought she was married.  When he learns that she was single, he decided to go to England to find her ~ while she in in Australia looking for him.  Ultimately, they get together and truly fall in love.

While she is in Australia, she visits Alice Springs, which at the time was a bustling town in the Australian outback.  Joe runs a ranch in the middle of the outback, and the nearest town, Willstown, can hardly be considered town.  There is little there to attract families.  Jean doesn’t want Joe to change his life’s work, but at the same time doesn’t want to live in Willstown.  As she had proven during her trek around Malaya, Jean is a very resourceful and ambitious woman.  She decides to use her money to build up the town.  She opens a leather shoe factory and an ice-cream parlor.  She hires young women to work in these establishments.  These endeavors thrive, and Jean uses her inheritance to continue to invest in Willstown to make it a “town like Alice.”

As noted, this book was written 70 years ago.  As a result, the references and attitudes towards the Aborigines in the book were reflective of the time.  I found this to be very uncomfortable.  Still, this book is a wonderful story of facing and surviving hardships

I first read this book about 30 years ago.  I re-read for one of my book group discussions.  I’m glad I read again.

Read: October 12, 2019 (first read in October 1984)

4 Stars

Books Set in Europe: Germany, Bavaria

The Ludwig Conspiracy, by Oliver Pötzsch (2011).

I have enjoyed Oliver Pötzsch’s Hangman’s Daughter books, which are a historical mysteries that focus on Bavaria in the 1660s.  So, I though I would give The Ludwig Conspiracy a try.  It is a novel loosely based in King Ludwig II, the Mad King of Bavaria.  He’s the king who built the famous fairy-tale Neuschwanstein Castle.

Unlike the Hangman series, this book goes back and in the present and during the life of King Ludwig.  Ludwig died under mysterious circumstances on June 13, 1886.  His death was officially deemed to be a suicide by drowning, although there was no water in his lungs.  As a result, there have been lots of theories and conspiracies about whether or not he was actually murdered.  This novel delves into some of those conspiracies.

The novel opens when Steven Lukas, the owner of a bookstore that specialized in rare books finds that he has a journal, written in code, that explains how Ludwig actually died.  The journal was hidden in Lukas’ store by a professor, who, in the opening scene of the novel is killed by thugs after the book.

Lukas soon finds that these shady characters are after him for the journal.  Enter Sara Lengfeld, who claims to be the niece of the dead professor.  She, too, wants to find out the truth of King Ludwig’s death.  Together she and Lukas attempt to decipher the journal, all the while being chased by mysterious hooligans.

After Lukas’s bookstore is broken into and ransacked, he and Sara find themselves on the run from the police as well.  Unfortunately, there was too much in this novel that stretched the imagination.  There were car chases, shootings, murders, etc.  It read more like a thriller movie, than a good satisfying book.  The scenes narrated by Ludwig's physician, however, are more interesting.

I’ll stick with the author’s Hangman series.

Read:  Sept. 12, 2019

2 Stars

Books Set in North America; United States; North Carolina

Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens (2018)

The title of Where the Crawdads Sing refers to deep in the marsh of North Carolina, where there is only nature, untouched by human activity.  The novel mostly focuses on the life of Kya Clark, from a young child of 6 to adulthood.

Kya was the youngest child of a poor family that lived deep in the Marsh.  One hot August day, her mother just up and leaves.  Shod in her faux alligator heels, Ma walks away from the house, never to be seen again.  The older children had previously left, leaving only Kya and her brother Jodie to fend with their drunken father.  Soon Jodie departs, leaving Kya alone with her father.

She learned to avoid his violent temper, but one day, he, too, took off, leaving the young girl alone in the Marsh. Before her mother left, Kya would sometimes walk into to the nearby town for groceries.  Although she was unable to read or write, she managed to get by. On one of her first solo trips into town, she was nearly hit by Chase Andrews, who was riding his bicycle with his friends.  It was her first encounter with children her own age.

Soon thereafter, she encounters Tate, a young town boy, who fishes and spends time in the Marsh.  He realized that Kya cannot read, so teaches her.  He brings her books, which she scours.  They see each other nearly every day until he leaves for college.  Although he promises to return, Kya once again feels abandoned.

Chase chose not to pursue college, but instead remained in town to work in his father’s automotive store.  He is attracted to Kya and the two begin a tenuous relationship.  Kya begins to think of marriage and a family, even though she knows that the town folks think of her as trash.  She hears rumors that Chase is seeing other girls, but choses to believe this hints of marriage.

Early on in the novel, the reader learns that Chase is dead.  The circumstances of his death are somewhat mysterious.  Was it an accident, or was he murdered?  The novel slowly peels back the layers of life in the Marsh, how Kya learned to survive in the world, and the activities of Chase.

The book has come highly recommended.  It is a good book and will most certainly be made into a movie.

I enjoyed it, but it is probably not a story that I will remember for long.

Read: August 25, 2019

4 Stars

Books Set in England; London

The Weight of Ink, by Rachel Kadish (2017)

In late 2000, British academic Helen Watts come across a cache of Jewish papers written in the 1660s.  She quickly realized that they might be important and enlists the assistance of an American graduate student, Aaron Levy, to review the documents before turning them over to the university for preservation.  In their initial review, they realize that the documents contain scholarly writings between the Sephardic communities in London and Amsterdam. They soon discover, too, that the documents are written by a scribe who is a woman, very unusual for the 1660.

The novel goes back in time between the early 2000s and the 1660, where we are introduced to Ester Velesquez, the scribe.  The Jewish communities in the 1660s were still in the midst of the Inquisition.  The Amsterdam Jewish community had recently excommunicated Baruch Spinoza. Additionally, at this period in time the Jewish community was confronted by Sabbetai Zev, a Sephardic rabbi who claimed to be the Messiah.

Ester, being a woman, had been educated, hence her ability to serve as the scribe for the aged and blind rabbi.  The rabbi had Ester copy the letters he sent to Amsterdam, hence the newly found documents contain both the rabbi’s correspondence as well as the return replies. The letters seem to discuss arguments regarding the Sabbetai Zev’s influence throughout Europe, especially Florence.

A good portion of the beginning of this novel provides a concise history of Sephardic Jews.  This portion of the novel is very interesting and very readable.  Later portions of the novel, however, become bogged down with too many people and too many details that are seemingly irrelevant to the main ark of the story.  Ester becomes a companion to Mary, a spoiled rich young woman, who herself becomes involved with a rowdy cast of British actors.  This portion could have been trimmed down into another book, as I found this to be a distraction to the thesis of the novel.

Ultimately, we learn that Ester had taken the name of one of the British actors and written theological arguments to many Jewish thinkers, including Spinoza.  Her letters showed her intellectual curiosity and thirst for learning in her well-laid out arguments.  Some of the thinkers responded.  We also learn that her letters, written under the name of Thomas Fallow, presented Spinoza’s arguments.  The aged rabbi for who Ester was acting as scribe, would respond to Fallow’s letters with his own theological arguments.  Only as the old rabbi is dying does he confess to Ester that he knew she was Thomas Fallow.

I started reading this book several months ago, but had to put it down because it is so busy.  Then, one of my book groups selected this as a reading, so I picked it up again.   I liked it better on the second try, but it is still too busy.  There is simply too much going on in this novel.

Read: August 18, 2019

3.5 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States

Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933 ~ 1934, by Bryan Burrough (2004)

In the late 1980s, the files on the activities of the early years of the FBI were released.  The author, while watching a documentary on the Barker Gang, became intrigued by the first spate of criminals deemed Public Enemies.  This book is the result of his interest.  He poured over FBI files and wrote this comprehensive look at the FBI’s pursuit of four groupings of criminal gangs that were active in the early 1930s ~ Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger and the Barker Gang.

Although the FBI had been in existence since 1908 (as the Bureau of Investigation), in the early years, the agents were forbidden to carry weapons.  The philosophy was that they were an investigative branch ~ the arrests were to be accomplished by the local jurisdictions.

This changed in the 1930s.  The Great Depression brought with it a new kind of criminal ~ bank robbers.  It was the deadly Kansas City massacre of a number of law men that changed the face of the FBI.  In June 1933, a criminal gang led by Vernon Miller set out to free fellow criminal, Frank Nash, who was in Federal custody and was being transported in Missouri.  Miller’s gang ambushed and opened fire on law officers, killing four.  Nash was killed in the ensuing gunfire.  This massacre got the attention of the J. Edgar Hoover. It has been speculated that Pretty Boy Floyd was involved in the massacre, but this has not definitively been proven.

The FBI had few trained agents, and none with any really experience with weapons and very limited jurisdiction.  At the time, robbing banks was not under the jurisdiction of the Feds.  The FBI had to work with local law enforcement officers, some of which were also ill-equip to handle major crimes, or were not willing to work with the federal officers.

This book shows the growing pains of the early years of the FBI.  Homer Cummings, the United States Attorney General, had to convince Congress to expand the power and authority of the FBI.  Soon after the Kansas City massacre, the FBI was training its agents to use weapons.  Some of their interrogation procedures, however, left much to be desired.

The book delves into the activities of Machine Gun Kelly, John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, and the Barker Gang.

Dillinger came from a middle-class background.  He was good looking and was known to jump over bank railings when he robbed banks.  He was exceedingly polite.  He captured the public’s attention and was seen as a Robin-Hood figure in robbing banks. It was not his aim to hurt anyone during his crime sprees.  When he was ultimately betrayed and killed outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago, he had achieved near national folk hero status.

During this same period of history, Bonnie and Clyde were ruthlessly crossing the country, leaving a bloody path in their wake.  During their lifetime, they were largely unknown, except for the locales of their robbing and killing.  The FBI sought the couple, but bungled their investigative efforts.  In the end, it was a posse of local law officers who ambushed the two criminals.

The author also followed the exploits of the Barker Gang.  Although Hoover publicized that the “brains” behind the Barker Gang was the criminal’s mother, Kate “Ma” Barker, the FBI files showed that she was actually more concerned with jigsaw puzzles and had little before-the-fact knowledge of the gang’s criminal activity.

The FBI had a tip that Dillinger and his gang were holed up in an inn called Little Bohemia in northern Wisconsin.  The FBI agents, still without expertize in weaponry, badly misjudged the situation. In the dark of night, in a raid lead by Melvin Purvis, came upon the inn.  The FBI, mistaking local patrons leaving the inn for the Dillinger gang, began a shootout, killing the innocent patrons.  One federal agent was also killed, but Dillinger slipped through their fingers.

Baby Face Nelson was one of the most brutal criminals during this era.  He seemed to delight in terrorizing and killing victims during his robberies.  Agents trailed him all across the country before he was finally killed in another shoot-out in Illinois.

By the end of the 1934, the FBI had gained its footing and overcome the fumbles of its earlier year and was well on its way to the power and prestige is has today.

A fascinating and very readable book.

Read: August 2, 2019

5 Stars

Books Set in Europe: Germany, Bavaria

The Werewolf of Bamberg, by Oliver Pötzsch (2014)

This is the 5th novel in the Hangman's Daughter series.  The year is 1668, and the Kuisl family has traveled from Schongau to Bamberg to celebrate the marriage of Barthalomäus, the estranged brother of the Kuisl patriarch, Jakob.  Until recently, his children were unaware that their father even had a brother.  A misunderstanding years earlier had caused a split between the brothers.

When the family arrives in Bamberg, they learn that the city has been terrorized by a series of murders.  Several elders of the city have gone missing, only to have their mangled bodies appear scattered around the city.  Rumors spread that the deaths are caused by a werewolf.

What I like about this mystery series is the careful research the author does in his novels.  In the afterward, he explains the history behind this mystery.  While the events seem supernatural to the citizens of this German town in the late 1660s, they actually have a basis in science.

I have enjoyed the other books in the series, and this one was no exception.

Read: July 21, 2019

5 Stars

Books Set in Europe and South America

The Rhythm of Memory, by Alyson Richman (2004)

The Rhythm of Memory is about how the human is capable of overcoming tragedy even though it takes years to conquer the past. The novel follows two couples ~ Octavio and Salomé, and Samuel and Kaija, each with their own secrets of their respective pasts.

Octavio was an impoverished young student when he first met Salomé, a young girl from a wealth family.  They met in Santiago, Chile in the 1960s.  He sent her love poems by the famous Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda.  They married and soon Octavio became a successful and well-known movie star.  Because he became famous, one day in 1973, Neruda approached Octavio and asked for his help in coaching Salvador Allende with his political campaign.  Octavio became involved in politics and felt he had come to real meaning in his life.

After Augusto Pinochet staged a coup and Allende was killed, Octavio continued to speak out against Pinochet, never realizing that it would be his wife who would ultimately pay for his political decision.  Salomé was abducted and tortured for several months before being released.  Octavio, to protect his family, sought political asylum and his family relocated to Sweden.

Meanwhile, Samuel, whose Jewish family fled Europe and bounced around in South America before settling in Sweden, experienced his own feelings of tragedy. He met the beautiful Kaija and fell in love with her.  Kaija was a Finnish war “orphan”.  Her family was extremely poor, and during the Finnish-Russian War, sent her to Sweden to be with a temporary family in order to give her a better life.

Some of the family members intersect in Sweden, but secrets are still kept, which threaten to tear families apart.

I enjoyed this novel, although I found the author sometimes repeated herself in several places once the action moved to Sweden.  Still, the characters were vivid and really came off the page.

Read: July 6, 2019

5 Stars

Books Set in the United States: Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.

American Wife, by Curtis Sittenfled (2008)

This novel is a not-so-thinly disguised fictional account of Laura Bush’s life before and after meeting George Bush, although in the book, they appear as Alice Lindgren and Charlie Blackwell. The novel is written in 4 parts. In the first part, we meet Alice Lindgren as a young girl who comes from a working-class background.  In Part 2, she meets and marries Charlie Blackwell. Charlie is the buffoon of his family and a drunkard.  In Part 3, Charlie is pushed into politics and Alice learns to be a politician’s wife. By Part 4, Charlie has been elected President of the United States and Alice must learn to navigate her political convictions and beliefs while not compromising her husband’s policy positions.

The first part was an interesting view into young Alice’s life.  She is a likable and moral character.  She has a crush on young Andrew Imhof.  Throughout high school, Alice has her eye on Andrew.  Later, when she is in high school, she is driving the car that causes an accident that kills Andrew.  This is a turning point in Alice’s life.  The decisions she makes within the next few months will impact her life and have repercussions years later.

Alice becomes a librarian and meets Charlie. He comes across as a jerk.  What the smart, articulate Alice sees in Charlie strains the imagination.  After having been together for a mere 6 weeks, they become engaged.  He is from a rich, privileged family from Wisconsin whose family is in the meat-packing business.  Charlie has no flair for business, so goes into politics.  Alice isn’t so enthused about this, but thinks that it will be a one-shot trial into that field.

When Charlie becomes President, Alice has learned to keep her political opinions to herself, although she is a Democrat and her husband has Republican values.  She keeps things to herself until forced to confront an important issue.  Will her actions, she wonders, jeopardize her husband’s career.

I found the first and fourth part of the novel to be interesting.  The middle sections were just plain frustrating.  Charlie was such an unlikable character.  What was the attraction between to two.  They seemed to have no intellectual common interests.

It was somewhat interesting to read this book in today’s political climate.  Although written in 2008, the issues raised in this novel are the same as what we are reading today.

Read:  June 28, 2019

2 Stars

Books Set in the United States: Oklahoma and California

Mary Coin, by Marisa Silver (2013)

The cover photograph is the famous photograph by Dorothea Lange entitled Migrant Mother ~ the mother and baby taken during the Depression in 1936.  At the time, Dorothea Lange was working for the United States’ Farm Security Administration and taking pictures as part of the work program.

Mary Coin is a novel based on this photograph. In the novel, Vera Dare is the photographer, and Mary Coin is the mother.  Mary was of a poor family living in Oklahoma in the 1920s, shortly before the Dust Bowl.  She falls in love with Toby Coin, and at age 17, marries him and begins her family.  Toby was of poor health and quickly dies, leaving Mary with a growing family.  She moves from place to place finding work in farms so to feed her family, ultimately finding her way to California.

The novel spans nearly 100 years, from Mary’s early life to the present day.  The novel opens in present day with Walker Dodge emptying his father’s house after his father died.  Walker is a history professor with little knowledge of his own family’s history.  He meticulously goes through his late father’s possessions in hopes of learning more of his mysterious grandfather.

Then we switch to Mary and her life.  The book describes the life of the migrant worker. One day, Vera comes across Mary as she is holding her new born, pondering how to get her broken down car started.  Vera asks to take her photograph.  Mary agrees, but doesn’t really know what she is agreeing to.

Soon the photograph is plastered in all the papers. Years later, Mary locates the photographer and, thinking Vera made money off the picture, makes a plea for funds. This briefly touches upon ownership issues of work done at the behest of a governmental entity.  It would have been interesting to have explored this issue in more detail.

The novel does, however, explore how lives touch and become intertwined.  It was interesting, but not one of my favorite books.

Read:  June 15, 2019

3 Stars

Books Set in the United States: South Carolina

South of Broad, by Pat Conroy (2009)

South of Broad is a novel narrated by Leopold Bloom King.  His mother was a James Joyce scholar, hence his name.  The novel begins on Bloomsday (June 16), 1969 in Charleston, South Carolina when young Leo is a troubled teenager.

Leo adored his older brother, Steve.  After Steve committed suicide, it was Leo who found his brother’s lifeless body.  No suicide note was found, so his death remained a mystery to the family.

Leo was an under achiever and feels that his mother somehow wished that it was him and not Steve who had died.  Leo’s family is devoutly Catholic ~ a theme that runs through the novel.

Shortly after Steve died, Leo was caught with a large amount of drugs in his pocket. Although the drugs did not belong to him, Leo refused to name the individual to whom the drugs belonged. As a result, Leo was under court probation and community service.

On that fateful day in June 1969, Leo met his new neighbors who were about his age ~ Sheba Poe, the drama queen, and Trevor Poe, who was gay and proud of it, along with their alcoholic mother.  Their father may or may not be in the picture.  He was also ordered by his mother (who was principal in the public high school), to befriend two orphans ~ Niles and Starla.  Then, he attended a luncheon at the ritzy yacht club where he met Chad, and his sister Fraser, and Chad’s girlfriend, Molly.  They were kicked out of their private school and must attend the public school.  These three were of wealthy families with nothing in common with Leo’s middle-class upbringing.

As if that were not enough, integration has come to Charleston, and the new football coach is Black.  Leo it told by both his mother and the new coach to befriend the coach’s son, Ike. Eventually, Leo, Sheba, Trevor, Niles, Starla, Chad, Fraser and Molly become inseperable.  This all seems so improbable.

The novel recounts their trials and tribulations, which the reader learns involves domestic abuse, sexual abuse, the AIDS epidemic, class differences, racial integration, and Hurricane Hugo ~ all of which happens to these teenagers. The novel goes back and forth in time from the late 1960s to the early 2000s.

It was a bit of a mess, with all the “social” issues occurring to the main characters.  The novel would have been more interesting if the author had focused on one or two of these issues, rather than try to discuss them all in one book.

I enjoyed the first 300 pages, but the book went off the rails in the last 200 pages. I finished reading this book at Starbucks.  A young college student saw that I was reading a book by Pat Conroy and asked me about it.  He said that he liked Pat Conroy.  After I finished the book, I gave it to him.

Read: May 19, 2019

3 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States: New York City

The Wife Between Us, by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen (2017)

Read: May 5, 2019

4 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States: New York

The Woman in the Window, by A.J. Finn (2018)

The Woman in the Window, by A.J. Finn is similar to the book The Girl on the Train, except not as good. Anne Fox experienced a traumatic event that left her an agoraphobe. She hasn't left her house in years, but sits and drinks wine all day. (She has food and wine delivered.) She has very little contact with the outside and has virtually cut herself off from other people. She has a somewhat mysterious tenant living in her basement.

One day, while sitting in her window she sees something happening in a house across the park. Then, she meets the family who lives in that house, or does she?

This book kept me entertained during my plane trip, but I probably would have left it alone if I had picked it up while at home.

Read: May 2, 20189 (on plane to New Hampshire)

3 Stars

Books Set in the Middle East: Israel, Syria and Lebanon

Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, by Matti Friedman (2019)

This book focuses on the beginning of the Israeli intelligence force that began before the creation of the State of Israel.  The book focuses on four spies who were born and grew up in the Arab countries and were familiar with Muslim customs, culture and language.  They were of families who had lived in the Middle East long before the European Jews began to migrate to what would become the Land of Israel.

Gamliel Cohen was the most educated of the four spies.  He was a Syrian Jew from Damascus.  Isaac Shoshan was also Syrian, from Aleppo.  Havakuk Cohen was a Yemeni Jew and Yakuba Cohen was a wild “street child” from Jerusalem.  They were recruited by Palmach to be a part of the Arab Section ~ Jews who could “pass” for Arabs while gathering intelligence.  They were deep undercover in Syria and Lebanon for a country that had yet to exist.

The author emphasizes that the State of Israel could not have been built without the Middle-Eastern Jews.  It is hubris to believe that Israel was solely the creation of European Jews. After Israel became a State, Jews from around the Arab world were suddenly expelled from their homes and found their way to Israel.  Today over 50% of Israeli Jews have roots in the Arab world.  This is what makes Israel so unique and so difficult for Western countries to fully appreciate and understand Israel.

The author carefully researched this book, poring over archival materials and oral histories.  Isaac Shoshan was an old man in his 90s when the author wrote this book.  He met with the author several times and provide his recollection of his days in Palmach’s Arab Section.

This book was very enlightening on the beginnings of the State of Israel.  The author, Matti Friedman, also wrote the Aleppo Codex, which I read in February 2013.

Read: April 29, 2019

4 Stars

Books Set in North America: American South and Canada

The Saints of Lost Things, by C.H. Lawler (2014)

This novel begins as Hurricane Betsy is about to hit the Louisiana coast in 1965.  Sammy Teague, the wealthy young son of a Louisiana planter, was about to leave the plantation and head back to college at Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi. Instead, he is the sole member of his family left at home to keep an eye on the plantation.

Betsy Duplechain lives across the field in the plantation’s tenement house where she lives with her mother and grandmother. She, too, is left alone in the house to sit out the storm.  Although Betsy and Sammy have lived on the same plantation all their lives, until the hurricane, their lives never intersected.

After the first wave of the storm hits, Sammy sees Betsy struggling at her home.  The storm has caused damage to the little hut.  Sammy invites Betsy to wait out the storm with him in the main house.  They are immediately attracted to each other and become inseperable.  After the storm, when their families return to the plantation, Sammy and Betsy’s lives are changed forever.

When Sammy’s family learns of his attraction to Betsy, he is cut-off financially.  He can no longer afford his college life-style.  Because he is no longer a college student, he no longer has the draft deferment.  He can either enlist or head to Canada.

When Betsy’s mother learns she is pregnant, Betsy is disowned and kicked out of the house.  She, thinking that Sammy is in college in Oxford, heads there to find him.

In the meantime, the Deputy Sheriff of the fictional St. Matthew’s Parish, Louisiana, feels that the Teague family had stolen his family’s land.  He decides Hurricane Betsy provides him with the best opportunity to get his land back if only he can get to Sammy.  This is where the story goes off the rails.  The deputy is depicted as a stereotypical corrupt and cruel country law enforcement officer.  He schemes to follow Sammy and Betsy through their travels.

Eventually, Betsy and Sammy find each other.  They decide to head towards Canada.  On the way, they stop in Arkansas, where they are married by a kindly and psychic priest.  The priest warns that that the sheriff is following them and assists in providing a way to their destination.

Much of the story didn’t make logical sense. It was an interesting read, but not one that will remain with me.

Read: April 26, 2019

3 Stars 

Books Set in Asia: India: Sambalpore

A Necessary Evil, by Abir Mukherjee (2018)

I read Abir Mukherjee’s first book, A Rising Man, 2 years ago.  That book introduced the reader to Captain Sam Wyndham, a former detective with Scotland Yard, who relocated to India during the final years of British Rule in that country.  I loved the mix of mystery and history, so was looking forward to the second book in the series.  I was not disappointed.

This mystery novel explores the princely state of Sambalpore, which existed within the borders of India, but was exempt from British rule.  The novel, sent in 1920, begins in Calcutta with the assassination of the heir apparent of Sambalpore.  Captain Wyndham and his sidekick, Sergeant Surendranath Banerjee, known as “Surrender-not”, travel to Sambalpore with the body of the prince. Surrender-not is the official British representative, while Captain Wyndham is ostensibly on holiday.  They hope to track down the assassin.

On the surface, the prince’s death seems to be at the hands of religious fanatics. The prince, however, had informed that that he had received vague death threats.  Because Sambalpore is not under British rule, Wyndham has no jurisdiction within the principality.  The Maharaja, the prince’s father, however, authorizes Wyndam and Banerjee to look into the matter.

Complicating the matter is the fact that much of the wealth of the principality comes from the diamond mines.  A British company is hot to procure the mines, but if sold, how would that impact the principalities economy?  When the royal accountant goes missing, it appears there may be a link between his disappearance and the death of the prince.

The Maharaja has three wives and hundreds of concubines living in the zenana (harem), who are guarded by loyal eunichs.  Wyndham needs to question the prince’s mother, who is the Maharaja’s second wife, but the women in the zenana are generally forbidden to meet with the outside.  The Maharaja’s first and eldest wife, however, finds a way to meet with Wyndham and provides insight into the running of the principality.  Women, it seems, have a great deal of influence, albeit,  unseen, role in ruling the country.

I loved this book as much as the first novel.  The author has a wonderful way with describing the scenery and flavor of India in the 1920s.  In addition to a fun mystery, there is a great deal of history of India and these little kingdoms that co-existed with British rule.

Read: April 22, 2019

5 Stars

Books Set in Asia: Korea

The Island of Sea Women, by Lisa Sea (2019)

For centuries on the island of Jeju, off the southern coast of Korea, the women have been the main source of income for their families by diving to gather shellfish, abalone and sea urchins.  These women, known as haenyeo, learn how to dive deep into the ocean, without the benefit of diving equipment to gather their harvest.

This novel follows two such divers from their budding friendship in the 1930s through island’s uprising in the late 1940s and the Korean occupation.  Young-souk was taught the art of diving from her mother, who was the head of the women’s diving collective.  Her friend, Mi-ja was the daughter of a Japanese collaborator, hence, suspect.  Her mother died giving birth to Mi-ja, and she was pawned off to live with in aunt and uncle who lived in Young-souk’s village.

The novel describes the hardships, yet joy, that comes from the diving.  The women are the main breadwinners of the family, while husbands stay home with the children, and drinking or gambling their wives hard earned money.

Life of the haenyeo is not easy, as the sea can easily take a life it the diver is not careful.  The life, however, has its long traditions, which are carefully observed and treasured by divers.

Their life is shattered with the events taking place in the Pacific theater of World War II and its aftermath.  The novel describes the history of the divided Korea, as seen from the inhabitants of the Island.

In parallel, Young-souk and Mi-ja reach marriageable age during this time.  Tainted by the sins of her father, Mi-ja fears she will not find a suitable husband.  She is suddenly married off to the handsome and wealthy son of another Japanese collaborator.  Young-souk, to is married, but to the son of her mother’s best friend.  Young-souk works to help pay for her husband’s education.  He becomes a teacher, and although he would prefer his wife not to work, he knows that the sea is in her blood.

Ma-ji moves to the “big city” and changes is ways that Young-souk fails to fully appreciate.  When a tragic event occurs on the island, Young-souk breaks off all ties with Ma-ji.  Still tied to Ma-ji, however, she still secretly yearns for her friend.

I knew virtually nothing about Korea and the occupation following World War II.  This gave me an overview, which piqued my interest to research other materials for the events described in this novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

Read: April 10, 2019

4.5 Stars

Books Set in Europe and North America: England and Canada

The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding, by Jennifer Robson (2019)

After Heather Mackenzie’s grandmother died in 2016, Heather received a box containing some samples of beautiful embroidery on delicate silk.  The box had only the message “For Heather” with no other explanation.  She realized that she knew virtually nothing of her grandmother’s past, only that she had immigrated to Canada in late 1947 and that her mother had been born a few months later.  The embroidery must contain some clue into her grandmother’s past.

The novel alternates between the present (2016) and post-war England in 1947 with the announcement of the engagement of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Ann Hughes, Heather’s grandmother, was a young woman working an embroiderer for the real-life Norman Hartnell, couturier to the royal family.  She befriends Miriam Dassin, a young French Holocaust survivor, who had worked as an embroiderer in a French fashion house before moving to London.

Both young women are highly skilled.  When the royal family commissions Norman Hartnell to design the wedding dress for Princess Elizabeth, both Ann and Miriam are selected to be a part of the team to embroider and sew the dress.  All the women working on the dress are sworn to secrecy ~ if the press gets wind of the design, they will be fired.

Ann meets the handsome Jeremy, who appears to be a wealthy businessman.  She wonders why he has selected to take her out on dates, knowing that he is out of her class, but decides to go along for the ride.  Heather travels to England hoping to find out about her grandmother’s early life and her grandfather.

The novel gives a lot of historical information about the making of the wedding dress for the future Queen of England, and describes in detail the motifs found on the dress and its train.

I found this to be a fun read.

Read: April 1, 2019

4 Stars

Books Set in Europe and North America: England, Russia and United States

Heads You Win, by Jeffrey Archer (2018)

This novel begins in 1968 when Alexander Karpenko is a 16-year-old living in Leningrad, Russia with his parents.  His father has plans to form a union for dockworkers, but his plans are thwarted when he is assassinated by the KGB.  Alexander suspects that his former friend, Vladimir may have had a hand in the assassination.

Knowing that their lives are in danger, Alexander and his mother must escape Russia.  Alexander’s uncle has a plan for their escape ~ to hide in a crate intended for a container ship.  Alexander flips a coin, which will determine their destination ~ England or America.

From here, the story takes a turn.  We go back and forth between both alternatives.  One alternative finds Alexander, now known as Sasha, in England.  His mother starts her life as a cook, and ultimately the owner of several restaurants.  Alexander is a stellar student and finds himself at Cambridge University.  Eventually, he enters politics and becomes a member of parliament.

In the other alternative, Alexander, lands in New York City and becomes known as Alex.  Life in New York is more hard-scrabbled.  He quickly becomes a hustler and runs several stalls in a market, before being shipped to Vietnam in the war.  After his stint in the army, he becomes involved in the banking industry.

Both versions of Alexander, however, retain an interest in the political intrigue occurring in his native Russia.  After 30 years, both feel the pull to return.

There is a “surprise” ending, however, all the hints to the ending are scattered throughout the novel and I guessed the end.  Alexander's former childhood friend turned out to be Vladimir Putin.

This was a fun read.  Not high literature, but an easy and enjoyable book.

Read:  March 29, 2019

4 Stars

Books Set in Asia: North Korea

The Orphan Master’s Son, by Adam Johnson (2012)

I purchase this book several years ago, but it just sat on my bookshelf until recently.  I had no idea what the book was about, so it is just serendipity that it is about North Korea, just at a time that the United States President has been meeting with the leader of that country.

The novel follow the live of Pak Jun Do, whom we first meet when he is a young boy living in a work camp orphanage.  He claims that he is not really an orphan, though ~ he claims that his mother is a beautiful singer and his father is the master of the orphanage.  Why else would his father take pains to treat him in a manner not show him special treatment among the other boys in the orphanage.

People are told what to do and learn not to question. As a young man, Jun Do catches the eye of the government and is trusted for his loyalty to the Dear Leader.  He is placed on a fishing boat even though he knows nothing of fishing.  His job on the boat is to become a professional kidnapper for the government. While on the ship, he listens on the boat’s radio and follows the adventures of two young American girls who, while rowing around the world, some into North Korean waters.

The other sailors on the boat have images of their wives tattooed on their chests.  Jun Do isn’t married, so has no such tattoo.  His shipmates decide to give him a tattoo of Sun Moon, North Korea’s most beautiful singer and actress.  She is also the wife of Commander Ga, an elite member of the Dear Leader’s inner circle and Minister of the Mines.

As the author describes North Korea, the citizens are routinely terrorized and fed propaganda through daily announcements blasted through loud speakers.  People occasionally “disappear” and the surviving spouse may be given a “replacement” spouse.

Thus, due to his tattoo of Sun Moon, Jun Do find himself her replacement husband.  Due to his new high rank in the government, he is sent on a mission the United States to meet with a Texan Senator.  This gives him ideas of defection.

Although this book is rather dark, I found in very intriguing and hard to put down.

Read:  March 21, 2019

4.5 Stars