Book Review: The Women by Kristin Hannah

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Women
Author: Kristin Hannah
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: February 6, 2024
Length: 480 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah’s The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over- whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.

I’ll put it simply: Kristin Hannah’s new book is a stunner. In this dramatic story of a young woman’s experiences as a nurse during the Vietnam War and the wrenchingly difficult life she comes home to, we live through hell and then some with the sympathetic, compelling main character.

Frances McGrath is a child of privilege, a lovely young woman fresh out of nursing school, the daughter of a wealth family living on San Diego’s Coronado Island. She comes from a family of military heroes — her father even has a “hero wall” in his study, with framed photos of the generations of men who served their country. That’s right — men. It’s not until her beloved only brother ships out to begin his naval tour, after a fancy family party, that Frankie realizes that women can be heroes too. Feeling a bit lost without her big brother and wanting to share some of her father’s admiration, she joins the Army Nurse Corps — the only branch that will allow a nurse with so little real-world experience to head to Vietnam.

Frankie is in for many rude awakenings, starting with her parents’ reaction. It turns out, she’s misinterpreted everything. Military service is something to be proud of only in the case of sons, not daughters. Frankie is an embarrassment, nothing more.

Still, she excels at basic training, but finds herself completely out of her depth when she arrives in Vietnam, where she quickly realizes that her quiet hospital rounds back home did nothing to prepare her for the horrors of Vietnam’s reality. Fortunately, she’s taken under the wings of her two roommates, Barb and Ethel, women whose experience and guidance help Frankie survive her first few weeks of war. Eventually, Frankie rises to the occasion, becoming a skilled, brave, and compassionate surgical nurse.

Vietnam also provides Frankie with romantic entanglements, and suffice it to say that the outcome is as tragic as you’d expect in a war zone. Frankie’s time in-country comprises the first half or so of the book. It’s harrowing, tragic, upsetting, and yet, gorgeously written. It’s so visceral that we feel we’re there with Frankie, and she herself is given space to grow, feel, and experience everything around her. Readers will walk away feeling that they truly know this person.

Frankie’s return to the States is yet another awful shock. As we know from history, returning vets were spat at, reviled, and called baby killers. Frankie is emotionally drained, distraught, and has nowhere to turn. In low moments, when she seeks help at the VA and tries to join a veterans’ “rap” group, she’s turned away by male vets who inform her that, despite what she tries to tell them, there were no woman in Vietnam.

Her downward spiral is awful, compounded by some shady people in her life, but even with the love and support of her close friends, she’s mainly alone in a very, very dark place. Frankie’s experiences are heartbreaking. Even as we see her making terrible decisions and using very bad judgment, we can sympathize and understand how hopeless and out of place she feels.

It’s probably obvious that The Women is not an easy book to read, but it’s absolutely worth the emotional investment. The writing is fantastic, descriptive and personal while also plunging us headlong into the scenes of wartime hell — but what really elevates this book is the in-depth look into the heart and soul of such a fascinating and complex woman.

The Women is also quite informative, relaying the experiences of women serving in Vietnam in a way that doesn’t often get the spotlight. The author’s notes at the end are very helpful, as are the reference books and additional sources she lists. (In fact, one of the books she recommends is A Piece of My Heart: The Stories of 26 American Women Who Served in Vietnam, which I read many years ago, but am now tempted to read again.)

The book also brought back memories of the TV series China Beach, which I loved… and which (sadly) does not appear to be available to stream anywhere. Bring back China Beach!

But back to The Women: It’s a beautiful, sad, disturbing, powerful read. After finishing the book a few days ago, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Another don’t-miss book from a talented author — highly recommended.

26Jan2024

Book Review: I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: I Must Betray You
Author: Ruta Sepetys
Publisher: Penguin
Publication date: February 1, 2022
Length: 321 pages
Genre: Young adult / historical fiction
Source: Library
Rating:

Romania, 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren’t free to dream; they are bound by rules and force.

Amidst the tyrannical dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu in a country governed by isolation and fear, Cristian is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer. He’s left with only two choices: betray everyone and everything he loves—or use his position to creatively undermine the most notoriously evil dictator in Eastern Europe.

Cristian risks everything to unmask the truth behind the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country. He eagerly joins the revolution to fight for change when the time arrives. But what is the cost of freedom?

A gut-wrenching, startling window into communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation, from the number one New York Times best-selling, award-winning author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray.

I picked up I Must Betray You with some trepidation. Reading a YA historical novel set during the last days of the Ceaușescu regime would not typically have been a go-to choice for me, but because this is my book group’s pick for the month, I decided to commit and give it a try. I’m glad I did.

I Must Betray You is a stark, brutal story of repression, cruelty and suffering, as experienced by 17-year-old Cristian. Cristian is a smart, kind teen living in Bucharest, worn down by the daily suffering and deprivation of life under the Ceaușescus. There’s little food, unreliable water and electricity, and constant fear. Anyone and everyone could be an informer. There are no secrets; there is no safety.

As told through Cristian’s experiences, it’s a terrifying life, and even the small moments of friendship, family connection, and potential romance are weighted down by fear: Can he trust the person he’s speaking with? Who else is listening? Can he believe what he hears?

Cristian’s life falls apart when he’s forced into an informer role. If he complies, his ailing grandfather will be given medicine. If not? Well, as bad as things are for his family, they can get much worse.

Without giving too much away, I Must Betray You follows Cristian through the darkest of days and up through the revolution that overthrew the Ceaușescu regime in 1989. Cristian’s experiences are harsh, scary, and awful to read about, and given the ambiguousness of the book’s opening, it’s very much an open question throughout whether he’ll survive.

I appreciate the storytelling and sensitivity that the author brings to this harsh narrative. The chapters are very short and sharp, and as each ended, I wanted to know more. This is a hard book to put down once started.

For me, the collapse of communist regimes in the late 1980s is something that doesn’t feel like long-ago history, but even so, I really didn’t know much specifically about Romania and what the Romanian people suffered through on a daily basis. I Must Betray You is eye-opening. I can only wonder how this book is received by its target audience of contemporary teens — are they aware of this period of history, and do they connect with the characters and events?

I Must Betray You is powerful and clearly very well researched. Somehow, I can’t quite bring myself to give it 5-stars — possibly because it feels like there’s so much exposition throughout, occasionally at the expense of the characters’ development. Pieces of the outcome (again, trying to avoid giving away details) feel unlikely too me, perhaps a tad too optimistic about survival given the realities of what happened in Romania at the time.

Overall, I Must Betray is a compelling, intense read, and I’m glad I had the experience. I’ve only read one book by this author previously (Out of the Easy, which I didn’t completely love). I think I’d like to read more, although my impression is that her work tends to be about very dark subjects, so I’ll likely hold off for a bit.

If you have any interest in an in-depth look at this traumatic, terrible chapter of history, I recommend I Must Betray You.

If you’ve read other books by Ruta Sepetys, please let me know your recommendations!

4Jan2024

Book Review: Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Ghost Talkers
Author: Mary Robinette Kowal
Publisher: Tor Books Books
Publication date: August 16, 2016
Length: 304 pages
Genre: Historical fiction / fantasy
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Ginger Stuyvesant, an American heiress living in London during World War I, is engaged to Captain Benjamin Harford, an intelligence officer. Ginger is a medium for the Spirit Corps, a special Spiritualist force.

Each soldier heading for the front is conditioned to report to the mediums of the Spirit Corps when they die so the Corps can pass instant information about troop movements to military intelligence.

Ginger and her fellow mediums contribute a great deal to the war efforts, so long as they pass the information through appropriate channels. While Ben is away at the front, Ginger discovers the presence of a traitor. Without the presence of her fiance to validate her findings, the top brass thinks she’s just imagining things. Even worse, it is clear that the Spirit Corps is now being directly targeted by the German war effort. Left to her own devices, Ginger has to find out how the Germans are targeting the Spirit Corps and stop them. This is a difficult and dangerous task for a woman of that era, but this time both the spirit and the flesh are willing…

How might the Great War have been different if soldiers killed in battle could report back, in real time, on what they saw and experienced?

In Ghost Talkers, the British army employs a top-secret corps of mediums, known as the Spirit Corps, to receive the ghosts of newly dead soldiers and take their final reports. The ghosts appear to the spirit circles and can, in some cases, provide useful information — such as where the German soldiers were firing from, or what they saw immediately before dying. The information gathered is sent directly back to the front, and then the mediums take any final messages before the ghosts move on through the veil to the next plane.

Ginger is one of the lead mediums, working double shifts to take reports — an exhausting process that involves extending her soul beyond her physical body to interact with with ghosts on the spirit plane. This is dangerous for the mediums: Being on the spirit plane is freeing in many ways, and there’s a risk that the medium will lost contact with their body, perhaps never to return. The spirit circle grounds the medium to the physical realm, but the danger is constant.

These spiritual risks are amplified when evidence comes through the reports of the deceased that the Germans are aware of the Spirit Corps and have plans to sabotage them. Ginger finds herself pursuing leads that the top brass choose to ignore, and soon finds both her physical and spiritual self in grave peril.

Ghost Talkers has a fascinating premise, and I mostly enjoyed it. However a couple of small points kept me from fulling engaging. Chief among these is the lack of emotional connection. We’re thrust right into the action, and I did enjoy Ginger and Ben as characters, but because the plot is so in-the-moment, there’s no backstory. I don’t necessarily need every moment of their past to appreciate them in the present, but I would have liked to know more about how Ginger ended up in the war in the first place, what her family life back home was like, and most importantly, at least a little bit more about her romance with Ben.

My other issue is that the plot is rather convoluted, and there are so many soldiers and officers named and involved, some of whom only appear in the briefest of scenes, that it’s difficult to sort them all out. By the time the traitor is revealed, I’d lost track of some of the potential suspects, so the impact was a bit lost on me.

Ghost Talkers has been on my shelf for several years now — it was my last remaining book by Mary Robinette Kowal that I hadn’t read, and now I can say that I’ve read all of her novels! This author is one of my favorites, and I’m glad to have experienced Ghost Talkers, but in terms of total immersion and investment, it doesn’t quite reach the greatness of many of her other books.

Still, I appreciated the interesting premise and the spotlight on women’s roles during a time when their contributions were not valued. If you enjoy historical fiction with a ghostly twist, this is a good one to check out.

Washington Post review
The Guardian review

24Dec2023

Book Review: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
Author: James McBride
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Publication date: August 8, 2023
Length: 385 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating: n/a

The new novel from the bestselling, National Book Award-winning, Oprah Book Club-picked, Barack Obama favourite James McBride.

In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighbourhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows.

As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community-heaven and earth-that sustain us.

I was tempted to skip writing a review of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, because I simply didn’t know quite how to summarize my reading experience.

In terms of artistry, it’s an impressive achievement. Probaby 4 – 5 stars. And yet, I didn’t actually enjoy the process of reading this book all that much… so 3 stars? Rather than attach a number, I’ll just share a few thoughts, and leave it at that.

Let me start by saying that “literary fiction” isn’t especially my jam, precisely because of the sort of dilemma I’m having here. I can appreciate beautiful use of language and original, artistic storytelling — but if the plot doesn’t pull me in and make me hate to put the book down, it’s just not going to be all that fun for me.

For The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, I was intrigued by what I’d heard even before picking up the book. In brief, the book tells the story of the poor neighborhood of Chicken Hill in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. In the 1930s, Chicken Hill is where the Jewish and Black communities find a home, since the white, Protestant residents of Pottstown — including the town doctor, who dons a hood and marches with the KKK each year — don’t want them polluting the nicer areas of their town.

Here in Chicken Hill, there are jazz theaters and speakeasies, a synagogue and mikveh, and the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, run by Chona, the daughter of the man who first built the store, who was also the local rabbi. Chona’s husband Moshe runs the theater and is madly in love with Chona. Chona has a beautiful heart and welcomes the entire neighborhood to her store, where she isn’t particularly picky about who can pay and who can’t — she makes sure people have enough to eat, and sends the children on their way feeling cared for and loved.

The book opens in 1972, when a body is found in a well. We then go back 50 years to the main story of the book, which is essentially a profile of the lives of Chicken Hill’s families, showing their connections, stories, conflicts, and secrets, building up by the end to the revelation of the truth about that body.

The resolution of the mystery isn’t what drives the book, though. Instead, the book weaves in and out of people’s lives, showing their relationships, their differences, and how the people of the different communities within Chicken Hill hold themselves separate yet also come together in a crisis.

The storytelling meanders quite a bit, especially for the first third or so of the book, as we get to know the essence of the neighborhood and its people. This is probably why I didn’t have a great time reading this book — I wanted a bit more forward motion, and that’s hard to come by until later in the book.

Ultimately, the intricate interconnections between the various characters, as well as their backstories and hidden motivations, make this book a literary achievement. While the style wasn’t what I typically enjoy, I still appreciated the historical elements, the sprawling cast of characters, and the depiction of a memorable time and place.

This is just one reader’s response! The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is listed on a huge number of notable and “best of” lists for 2023, and I recommend looking into it further if you think this might be a book for you.

To read more about The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store:

New York Times review
NPR review
Washington Post review
The Guardian review

20Oct2023

Book Review: The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Bell in the Fog
Author: Lev AC Rosen
Publisher: Forge Books
Publication date: October 10, 2023
Length: 261 pages
Genre: Historical fiction/mystery
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

The Bell in the Fog , a dazzling historical mystery by Lev AC Rosen, asks―once you have finally found a family, how far would you go to prove yourself to them?

San Francisco, 1952. Detective Evander “Andy” Mills has started a new life for himself as a private detective―but his business hasn’t exactly taken off. It turns out that word spreads fast when you have a bad reputation, and no one in the queer community trusts him enough to ask an ex-cop for help.

When James, an old flame from the war who had mysteriously disappeared, arrives in his offices above the Ruby, Andy wants to kick him out. But the job seems to be a simple case of blackmail, and Andy’s debts are piling up. He agrees to investigate, despite everything it stirs up.

The case will take him back to the shadowy, closeted world of the Navy, and then out into the gay bars of the city, where the past rises up to meet him, like the swell of the ocean under a warship. Missing people, violent strangers, and scandalous photos that could destroy lives are a whirlpool around him, and Andy better make sense of it all before someone pulls him under for good.

Last year’s Lavender House was an unexpected delight — a taught, page-turning mystery set in the bad old days of 1950s San Francisco, a time especially dangerous for a closeted gay cop whose life is almost destroyed after he’s brutally outed.

In The Bell in the Fog, we continue the story of Andy Mills, now an ex-cop working as a private investigator from his office and apartment located above Ruby’s, a gay nightclub whose owner decides to give Andy a home and a chance at a fresh start. Andy is trying to pay his way and establish himself as a detective, but it’s hard to earn the trust of the wary gay community, which has every reason to mistrust and fear the police.

When Andy’s ex-lover from his Navy days shows up in his office, his life gets even more complicated, as unwelcome memories and feelings bubble up from his past. James is now a naval officer up for promotion, but he’s being blackmailed by a casual lover and has everything to lose. Reluctantly, Andy accepts the case, and is soon immersed in the search for a missing person, the blackmail photos, and the person pulling the strings.

Author Lev AC Rosen once again expertly manages to tell a compelling, intricate mystery story while also painting a picture of a particular time and place in history. Through Andy’s experiences, we see the sharply dangerous life of the underground gay community as well as the joys and love of found family. The mystery itself is well-constructed, with danger, plenty of red herrings, and plot twists galore.

The range of people that Andy interacts with presents yet another view into the time period, as we get to know drag performers, closeted lovers, wannabe stars, and various allies and enemies. Andy himself is a wonderful character, carrying the weight of past persecution and guilt, looking to rebuild a life, and figuring out where he fits in in his new chosen community. I loved seeing the through-lines and connections to Lavender House, and enjoyed Andy’s ongoing soul-searching and journey toward strength and self-acceptance.

Overall, The Bell in the Fog is a terrific mystery as well as a moving portrait of gay life in the 1950s. It’s a page-turner with heart — highly recommended! I hope there will be much more to come in this series.

27Aug2023

Book Review: Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Sprig Muslin
Author: Georgette Heyer
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Publication date: 1956
Length: 298 pages
Genre: Historical fiction/romance
Source: Purchased
Rating:

A dashing man of honor…

En route to propose to his sensible acquaintance Lady Hester, Sir Gareth Ludlow finds young, pretty Amanda wandering unattended and knows it is his duty to bring her back to her family. This turns out to be a challenge as Amanda seems to possess an imagination as intriguing as it is dangerous.

A shocking refusal…

Lady Hester stuns both him and her family when she refuses him. At her age, no one would expect her to turn down such an eligible suitor. But Lady Hester has met the indomitable Amanda. How can the quiet, intelligent Hester hope to compete with such a lively young lady?

After finishing Georgette Heyer’s Cotillion, I felt like my appetite for her books was reignited, and turned to Sprig Muslin, a paperback I’d picked up a few years ago. I’m so happy I did! Sprig Muslin is silly, sweet-natured, fun — and a refreshing contrast to some of Heyer’s more dramatic books about rakes and rogues and dashing men with terrible reputations.

In Sprig Muslin, the two anchors of the story are good-natured, respectable adults who nonetheless find themselves caught up in a whirlwind of shenanigans. Sir Gareth Ludlow, at age 35, is fashionable, well-off, and after losing his fiancée in a tragic accident many years earlier, still single. It’s time for him to take a wife and start producing heirs.

Sir Gareth decides to propose to Lady Hester Theale, a kind, intelligent woman he’s been friends with all his life. Lady Hester, at age 29, is on the shelf and seemingly content with her lot, although she does seem to get bossed around by her overbearing brother and sister-in-law quite a bit. Hester is appalled to learn that Sir Gareth has declared his intentions to her father and is en route to propose to her; although she won’t give a reason, she definitely does not want this proposal.

Sir Gareth’s plans are interrupted when he stops for refreshment along the way and discovers a young girl on the verge of trouble. Amanda, not quite 17, has apparently run away and is determined to remain at large. Clearly belonging to an upper class family, she states that she intends to marry an up-and-coming soldier, and by running away, she intends to force her grandfather to give his consent. Amanda is headstrong and passionate, and Gareth realizes that his duty is to see her safely returned to her family rather than leaving her to make her way unchaperoned and without an actual plan.

There’s a hitch, however: Amanda refuses to name her family, where they live, or even who her soldier fiancé is. She spins story upon story, and while initially thankful that Gareth seems willing to help her, she soon realizes that he’s going to keep her from her schemes, and attempts to get away from him too.

Thus begins a madcap series of escapades, as Amanda creates one fabulous story after another to explain her situation, drawing in Gareth and then others met along the way. Each tale leads to further complications, and before too long even Hester is drawn into Amanda’s web of stories and fake identities.

Sprig Muslin is utterly delightful. As Amanda’s stories get more and more inventive, various bystanders take on roles, and her tales result in all sorts of rescue attempts, misguided escapes, and even a daring kidnap attempt that goes disastrously wrong. It’s all quite ludicrous, and so very, very enjoyable.

As with all Georgette Heyer books, the unusual words and expressions make the reading experience extra entertaining — here are a few from Sprig Muslin that I highlighted:

nodcock (fool or idiot)
marplot (one who ruins a plan through meddling)
bosky (drunk)
daffish (stupid, silly)
spinney (small area of trees and bushes)
gammon (trick)
nonesuch (a person or thing unrivaled or unequaled)
gaby (a foolish person)
elbow-crooker (drinker)
bobbery (a squabble, a noisy disturbance)
humdudgeon (loud complaint or noise)
flat (as in, “A flat, my child, is one who is easily duped”)

And as for phrases, can’t beat:

a fashionable fribble
a real top-of-the-trees, slap up to the echo (top-of-the-trees = someone of high esteem)
chuffy thing to do
in the petticoat line (associating with women of “easy virtue)

While I always enjoy Georgette Heyer’s books, Sprig Muslin may have just become my new favorite. It’s so good-natured, and the sense of fondness for Kitty’s exploits makes this a sweet read. I came away from it really appreciating all the main characters, and had plenty of giggles along the way. If you’re looking for a GH book but aren’t crazy about rakish men being cast as heroes, Sprig Muslin is a great choice!

17Aug2023

Book Review: Cotillion by Georgette Heyer

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Cotillion
Author: Georgette Heyer
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Publication date: 1953
Length: 355 pages
Genre: Historical fiction/romance
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Almost an heiress
Country-bred, spirited Kitty Charings is on the brink of inheriting a fortune from her eccentric guardian — provided that she marries one of his grand-nephews. Kitty has spent her secluded life pining for the handsome, rakish Jack, who is well aware of her attachment.

A plan of her own
But when Jack fails to respond to his great-uncle’s ultimatum, Kitty hatches a strategy of her own — a counterfeit betrothal to mild-mannered Freddy Standen (who neither needs nor wants the money).

A most unlikely hero
And when Kitty’s generous heart leads to all sorts of unintended troubles, there is only one man who can rescue her from more than one dreadful fix, pick up the pieces of her plotting and in the process, win her heart…

Cotillion is a light-hearted addition to Georgette Heyer’s huge collection of Regency romances, and it’s a silly read that still manages to surprise.

Main character Kitty is the ward of a grumpy, gouty, rich old man who has named her his heiress — but only if she marries one of her many eligible cousins-by-adoption. Great-uncle Matthew summons the lot of them to his gloomy estate, but not all show up: Jack, the dashing rake whom Kitty has loved since girlhood, has declined the invitation.

Several others do arrive as ordered — Lord Biddenden, the oldest cousin — already married and there to keep an eye on things; Lord Dolphinton, the sweet but slow-witted Earl of an Irish estate (and apparently Irish nobility isn’t considered nearly as impressive as English nobility); Hugh, a rector who’s entirely too upright and stodgy to suit Kitty… and then there’s Freddy, a “Pink” of the ton, a nice guy who likes Kitty well enough but has no interest in Great-uncle Matthew’s schemes (and as an eldest son, doesn’t need the money that comes with marrying Kitty).

Kitty is stuck — she’ll get nothing if she doesn’t marry one of the cousins, and she’s more than a little heart-broken that Jack hasn’t come to her rescue. She’s been raised in this boring home with no opportunity for society, and is desperate for at least a taste of what’s she’s missing before resigning herself to a life working as a governess or a chambermaid. What Kitty wants above all else is the chance to spend time in London — even just a month would be a treat! And so she comes up with a scheme — she asks Freddy to “offer” for her and enter into a fake betrothal. If they were betrothed, it would be proper for him to take her to London to stay with his family and introduce her to society. If they don’t publicly announce the betrothal, there will be no harm in calling it off after a month. Kitty feels quite sure that after that small taste of fun and freedom, she’ll be ready to face the rest of her life.

Freddy is a friendly, affable sort and agrees to the plan, which soon gets even more complicated. Freddy’s mother is unavailable to chaperone, so he installs her with his married sister, who’s quite a lot of fun, and soon Kitty is enjoying fashion, parties and outings. She also can’t refrain from befriending unusual people and wanting to help them, and before long, she’s caught up in the affairs of two different couples who seem to have all the odds stacked against them — but Kitty is determined to sort out their challenges and get them all a happy ending.

A note on the title: According to an essay on Tor.com:

A cotillion is a Regency dance where you change partners, and Georgette Heyer’s Cotillion is a Regency Romance where everybody twirls and faces their partners and ends up in a happy set of not-entirely predictable couples.

What’s more, a cotillion is a dance for four couples, and that’s pretty apt for this book.

Cotillion is quite a fun read. Sure, I could quibble with the terribly sexist attitudes portrayed here, but they’re a product of their time — so I can despise the seemingly admirable rake who’s known for his string of mistresses without despising the book itself.

Reading Georgette Heyer’s Regency books is a lesson in idioms, slang, and speech patterns. Freddy in particular speaks without including subjects in his sentences:

“Thing is,” said Freddy, recognizing his cue, “never thought my uncle would permit it. Thought it was useless to approach him. As soon as I read his letter — bespoke a chaise and came at once! Trust you’ll allow me to speak to him in the morning.”

And here are just a few of the words or phrases I had to stop, highlight, and look up:

objurgations (harsh reprimands or criticisms)
retroussé (a nose that turns up at the tip)
wear the willow (to grieve a death)
fustian (pompous or pretentious speech)
out-and-outer (possessing a particular quality to an extreme degree)
bamming (hoaxing, tricking, cheating)
percipience (perceptiveness)
gudgeon (a credulous or easily fooled person)
Joliffe-shallow (type of hat)
cognomen (nickname)
cicisbeo (the professed gallant or lover of a woman)
havey-cavey (dubious, shady)

And as for dialogue, here are a few choice selections:

“Dashed bacon-brained notion to take into your to your cockloft!”

Jack’s too downy to play cards with a leg. But he ain’t a flat either.

When I go into wedded shackles in will be in my own time, and in my own fashion.

Kitty’s adventures are not to be taken terribly seriously. Having read a bunch of GH’s Regency romances already, I was sure from the start that I knew where the story was going, but — surprise!! — about midway through I realized that my expectations were way off base, and the way it all worked out really charmed me. (I’ve seen a few Goodreads reviews say that the surprise is most effective if you’ve read at least a few other Heyer romances first — and that makes sense to me!)

I can’t say that Cotillion is my favorite of Georgette Heyer’s books, but I’m certainly glad to have read it, and found it really entertaining the whole way through.

Any Georgette Heyer fans out there? Which of her books do you recommend? This is #8 for me, and I’ll happily read more (although I think about 1 or 2 per year is probably the most I can handle).

9Aug2023

Book Review: California Golden by Melanie Benjamin

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: California Golden
Author: Melanie Benjamin
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication date: August 8, 2023
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Two sisters navigate the turbulent, euphoric early days of California surf culture in this dazzling saga of ambition, sacrifice, and longing for a family they never had, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator’s Wife

Southern California, 1960s: endless sunny days surfing in Malibu, followed by glittering neon nights at Whisky A-Go-Go. In an era when women are expected to be housewives, Carol Donelly is breaking the mold as a legendary female surfer struggling to compete in a male-dominated sport–and her daughters, Mindy and Ginger, bear the weight of her unconventional lifestyle.

The Donnelly sisters grow up enduring their mother’s absence–physically, when she’s at the beach, and emotionally, the rare times she’s at home. To escape questions about Carol’s whereabouts–and chase their mom’s elusive affection–they cut school to spend their days in the surf. From her first time on a board, Mindy shows a natural talent, but Ginger, two years younger, feels out of place in the water.

As they grow up and their lives diverge, Mindy and Ginger’s relationship ebbs and flows. Mindy finds herself swept up in celebrity, complete with beachside love affairs, parties at the Playboy Club, and USO tours to Vietnam. Meanwhile, Ginger–desperate for a community of her own–is tugged into the vibrant counterculture of drugs and cults. Through it all, their sense of duty to each other survives, as the girls are forever connected by the emotional damage they carry from their unorthodox childhood.

A gripping, emotional story set at a time when mothers were expected to be Donna Reed, not Gidget, California Golden is an unforgettable novel about three women living in a society that was shifting as tempestuously as the breaking waves.

Content warning: Parental neglect, child abandonment, partner abuse, cults, violence.

In California Golden, a legacy of neglectful parenting leads sisters Mindy and Ginger to the Southern California surf culture of the 1960s. Ignored and starved for affection by their mother Carol, whose own dreams were cut short by an unplanned pregnancy and the marriage that followed, the sisters throw themselves into surfing as a way to follow their mother and make sure she doesn’t abandon them completely. But while Mindy takes to surfing almost instinctively and displays a huge talent for it, Ginger struggles to keep up.

Over time, Mindy becomes a champion surfer, a surfing stand-in for the stars of beach party movies, and a spokesmodel for sponsors keen to have her sunny good looks and popularity attached to their brands. As Mindy becomes more involved with the club and music scene, Ginger instead gets caught up in the personal aura of a self-proclaimed “Surf God”, a charismatic beach bum who deplores surfing’s commercialization and who demands absolute devotion.

As years go by, Mindy and Ginger are pulled farther and farther apart by their different worlds — Mindy immersed in celebrity and stardom, while Ginger falls deeper into an abusive, all-encompassing relationship that leaves her powerless and penniless.

Meanwhile, Carol seems to live in her own world, always resentful of the sacrifices she had to make for the sake of motherhood, and wanting more than anything to reclaim her own body and her own passions.

With the Vietnam War ramping up and the surfing craze finally passing its peak, the lives of these three women intersect again and again, not always in ways that they’d expected or wanted.

Through these characters, California Golden shows the incredibly strong pressure (and hypocritical stances) imposed on women of the late 1950s and 1960s — to fit in, to become wives and mothers, to put men and children first, and to always do it with a smile. Carol is a hard person to sympathize with, but when later in the book, we get more of the story of her younger years, it’s clear that she faced a no-win situation where every last ounce of agency was stripped away from her. It’d hard to feel sorry for a neglectful mother, but at least we get to see how she ended up where she did.

The dynamic between Mindy and Ginger is complicated and sad, and it’s excruciating to see Ginger become pulled further and further into abuse, neglect, and a cult-like life revolving around drug smuggling and obedience.

The depiction of SoCal surf culture is evocative, although Mindy’s time in the music and celebrity life of the Sunset Strip feels somewhat repetitive of other books set in that era — the surf elements feel new and fresh, but the rest less so.

I appreciated the web of relationships and connections, but would have liked certain romantic connections to have more time to grow and breathe, and a conflict over racism isn’t especially well developed. I got the sense at various points that this book was trying to cram in too many iconic elements of the 1960s, sometimes to the point of overwhelming the central focus on the sisters and their mother.

The chapters focused on Mindy and Ginger’s childhood are so hard to read, so that when we do finally get the opportunity late in the book to learn about events from Carol’s perspective, it’s too late to salvage much in the way of good feelings toward her… but at least we get the chance to understand, even if we don’t condone or feel much empathy.

Reading California Golden, it’s impossible not to be grateful for reliable birth control and freedom of choice, endangered as that may be. If you want to convince someone that pregnancy and childbirth are traumatic, you might want to give them a copy of this book.

After a slow start (hampered by some weird chronology early on), the book begins to pick up steam — so while I wasn’t sure about it at first, by the midpoint, I was hooked and couldn’t put the book down. While I eventually got very caught up in the characters’ lives, I felt the ending tried to shoe-horn in too much, and left me with questions that I couldn’t ignore, despite the deliberate emotional fireworks.

Overall, I found California Golden entertaining, but questioned some of the plot choices, and didn’t feel that certain 1960s touchpoints added anything new or fresh to the book. It’s an interesting work of historical fiction, and for anyone interested in the era, it’s worth checking out.

5Aug2023

Book Review: Mrs. Porter Calling by AJ Pearce

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Mrs. Porter Calling
Author: AJ Pearce
Publisher: Scribner
Publication date: August 8, 2023
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

London, April 1943. A little over a year since she married Captain Charles Mayhew and he went away to war, Emmy Lake is now in charge of “Yours Cheerfully,” the hugely popular advice column in Woman’s Friend magazine. Cheered on by her best friend Bunty, Emmy is dedicated to helping readers face the increasing challenges brought about by over three years of war. The postbags are full and Woman’s Friend is thriving.

But Emmy’s world is turned upside down when glamorous socialite, the Honorable Mrs. Cressida Porter, becomes the new publisher of the magazine, and wants to change everything the readers love. Aided by Mrs. Pye, a Paris-obsessed fashion editor with delusions of grandeur, and Small Winston, the grumpiest dog in London, Mrs. Porter fills the pages with expensive clothes and frivolous articles about her friends. Worst of all, she announces that she is cutting the “Yours Cheerfully” column and her vision for the publication’s future seems dire. With the stakes higher than ever, Emmy and her friends must find a way to save the magazine that they love.

Emmy Lake is back! Mrs. Porter Calling is the third in a series of books about a magazine journalist and her group of close friends and colleagues, navigating life on the homefront in WWII-era London. In the first two books, Dear Mrs. Bird and Yours Cheerfully, we see Emmy land a job at Woman’s Friend magazine, where she eventually takes over the advice column, seeing it as her mission to offer compassionate, practical advice to women in need. Over the course of these two books, she also meets and marries a lovely man, and supports her best friend through horrible loss and recovery.

As Mrs. Porter Calling opens, the year is 1943, and Emmy continues her work at Woman’s Friend as well as with the fire service, which monitors and responds to disasters caused by air raids. Emmy’s beloved husband Charles is off on the front lines, the couple having had only a few short days together following their wedding before his deployment. Emmy shares a home with her best friend Bunty, and they lead busy, productive lives — they’ve learned to adapt and carry on, despite the constant fear and rationing.

Emmy’s professional life is thrown into a tailspin when the magazine’s owner dies. He’s bequeathed ownership to his niece, who turns out to be a spoiled upper-class woman who feigns delight with the magazine, provided they implement just a few of her “tiny ideas”. She finds the current version “A Bit Mis” — miserable — and decides that what the readers really need is more stories that are pleasant. Rather than focus on food columns about how to make good meals with limited rations or knitting/sewing clothing when supplies aren’t available, she wants glamour, fashion, and a focus on the beautiful lives of her own class. The staff of the magazine is appalled — this is not what their readers rely on them for — but having no choice, the magazine is changed to Mrs. Porter’s standards, and of course, readership and then advertising drop off. Soon, the future of Woman’s Friend is in doubt, and Emmy and her colleagues become desperate to save it.

Meanwhile, at home, Emmy and Bunty welcome a woman with three young children into their home, and soon their days are filled with activity and joyful chaos — but the realities of war are always present, and soon enough Emmy’s woes at the magazine are eclipsed by a more personal tragedy.

I enjoyed Mrs. Porter Calling so much! Mrs. Porter herself is an insidiously vapid character who acts sweetly haughty, until she hits the team with her “ideas”, all with the most saccharine of smiles and eyelash batting. As Emmy reflects:

I was beginning to feel as if I was being run over by a steamroller made from petals and kittens. It was delightful, but also somewhat immobilizing.

Beyond the work crises, where we can’t help but root for the underdogs — the hardworking, dedicated team of Woman’s Friend — the book delves sensitively into the lives of the women and children struggling to make ends meet on the home front.

“Don’t worry, Em, we’ll do what all the other women in Britain are doing.”

“What’s that?” I said.

“Cope,” said Bunty.

Again and again, Emmy, Bunty, and their circle of friends show what true bravery is, as well as devotion and determination.

While there’s sorrow and conflict in Mrs. Porter Calling, there’s a chipper, upbeat air that carries the story along — the “Keep Calm and Carry On” attitude that lets the characters find happiness even in the darkest of days. I loved the found family aspect of the characters’ lives — despite fears for loved ones on the battlefield or sorrow for those lost, they bond together to get through it all, and clearly show how love and friendship can mend broken hearts.

“War’s bad enough as it is. Imagine if you’re trying to get through this on your own.”

The Emmy Lake books are emotional, entertaining, and heart-warming. I recommend starting at the beginning of the series, and continuing on from there. I understand there’s at least one more book planned, and also read a comment by the author that she hopes to continue writing books that will take Emmy and friends through to the end of the war. I hope that’s the case! I’d really love to see more of Emmy’s story (and will be waiting to see what I hope will be a happy ending for her once the war ends).

22Jul2023

Book Review: The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Personal Librarian
Authors: Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: June 29, 2021
Length: 347 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased

The remarkable, little-known story of Belle da Costa Greene, J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian—who became one of the most powerful women in New York despite the dangerous secret she kept in order to make her dreams come true, from New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict and acclaimed author Victoria Christopher Murray.

In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture on the New York society scene and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps build a world-class collection.

But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. Belle’s complexion isn’t dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white—her complexion is dark because she is African American.

The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths to which she must go—for the protection of her family and her legacy—to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.

The Personal Librarian is a fictionalized depiction of the life of historical figure Belle da Costa Greene, a powerful figure in the New York art and rare book world of the early 20th century. A novel about Belle should have been powerful, but instead, it left me cold (and very tempted to DNF).

The set-up is intriguing: Belle’s family is Black, and her father is a renowned, outspoken figure in the fight for racial equality, justice, and civil rights. Yet (according to the novel), her mother realizes that her light-skinned children will have a better shot at successful lives, free from the rampant racism, violence, and segregation of their time, if they pass as white.

From her teens onward, Belle presents herself socially and professionally as white, and uses an invented Portuguese ancestor (and the invented name “da Costa”) as a way to explain her darker complexion. She makes connections while working at the Princeton library that lead her to J. P. Morgan, whose driving ambition is to create an unrivaled personal library full of rare and valuable treasures. When he hires Belle as his personal librarian, her ascent to influence, social acceptance, and power in the world of collectors and dealers gets its start.

Belle’s story should have been fascinating, but I have a feeling I would have been better off reading a biography rather than reading this novel. Too much is invented or assumed. Belle’s internal musings on race and identity provide the background for her decisions and actions throughout the book, but given that the real-life Belle destroyed all her papers and letters before her death, we can’t actually know what she was thinking or feeling.

There’s a romance (of sorts) with a married man that lasts for years of Belle’s life, and this is documented in real life through her letters to him (which he kept, while she destroyed any letters that she’d received) — but the fictionalized version of this story makes assumptions and adds incidents that apparently are not established by more than speculation.

Beyond the question of fact versus fiction, I simply did not enjoy the writing. I felt at arm’s length from Belle throughout, and frankly, I was often bored. The writing is surface-level, jumps ahead by months at a time, and didn’t let me feel connected to Belle as a person. Her emotions are understandable only because we’re told what she’s feeling, not because they’re tangible in any way.

Reading this book made me ponder a bit too about what I appreciate in historical fiction — and what I don’t. In general, I think I appreciate historical fiction more when it focuses on ordinary/unknown people in historical settings, even up to and including brushes with or relationships with real people, rather than taking a historical figure and inventing thoughts and feelings for them that may be nothing more than speculation. I’m sure this factors into why I didn’t especially care for The Personal Librarian.

As I’ve mentioned, Belle herself seems like a fascinating historical figure. You can read more about her via the Morgan Library & Museum’s website, here. I’ve given The Personal Librarian three stars — I’m glad that this book introduced me to Belle’s life, even if it didn’t particularly work for me as a reading experience.