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