Review of 'Where Rainbows End'* by Anne Marie Brear

I love a good comforting chic-flick read. I recently read The Savage Detectives (review here), and whilst it was a very interesting book, it was also a very heavy one. Where Rainbows End* provided the perfect respite. I was actually lucky enough to read another one of Brear's novels before publication, and loved it, so I was excited for this one.

Where Rainbows End* is set in 1850. The Noble family have travelled to Australia to rid themselves of the black mark against their name in England. Despite being a loving father, Gerald Noble has a gambling problem. Time and time again, the family has had to be bailed out by their wealthy relatives. Gerald has taken one last loan to get them to Australia and create a new life.  

Pippa, Gerald's eldest daughter, is more than happy to leave England. Not only is she ashamed of how her family has fallen down in the ranks, but she also declared her love to Gil Ashford, only for him to throw it back in her face. 

The family are to move into a valley and breed valuable horses there. Pippa is determined to make this venture a success. When her father falls ill, Pippa breaks tradition and becomes the head of proceedings. She orders the work men building their home in the valley about, processes invoices and manages the family's finances scrupulously. But is it enough? And will people accept this woman as their boss?

I'm all about the girl power, and I LOVED seeing this 1800s lady stake her place in the world of business. Things aren't idealised in the novel either; she faces real challenges due to her femininity.

Have you read this?

Review of 'The White Queen' by Philippa Gregory

I've always loved historical novels, and up until I went away to uni, me and my Nan used to swap them all the time, especially Philippa Gregory ones. One of us would pick up a new one, or an old one from a charity shop, read it and then send it on to the other one. She loved it, and it was a fab way to get twice as many books as I otherwise would have!

So, when I was 16 or 17 Philippa Gregory was probably one of my favourite authors, and I snaffled her books up as often as I could. But, going to uni changed all of that, as I simply no longer had the time to read for 'fun' anymore. I then pretty much fell out of love with historical novels, and haven't really picked one up since, so I was feeling a little bit 'meh' about The White Queen. 

Once I started reading it however, all the reasons why I love Gregory's writing came flooding back to me. The period of history that she writes about - circa the Tudors and Plantaganets - is one that has always fascinated me. She also writes with an incredible clarity, and I love the fact that she reads a variety of sources before writing, and then chooses her own angle from them. She also tends to write from a woman's point of view, and explores her thoughts and actions - things which were fairly overlooked at the time. 

The White Queen is the first of Gregory's books that focuses on the Plantagenet family. We come in during a period of time when The Yorks and Lancasters are at loggerheads, and the York family has just come into power. Elizabeth Grey, the novel's protagonist, has been widowed of her Lancastrian husband during the wars, leaving her and her two sons forced to fend for themselves. 

So, when the new York King Edward rides through her husband's lands, Elizabeth seeks him out in supplication for a dowager's income. What she gets however, is a lot more than that. Her beauty and a little bit of magic help the King fall in love with her at first sight, and she cannot stop thinking about him either. Elizabeth's mother has told all of her children about the legend of Melusina, a water goddess who helps their family out in love. With a little enchantment and word to Melusina, Elizabeth and her mother are sure that Edward will return to his new love.

And return he does. Soon Elizabeth finds herself the secret wife of this York king, and has no idea how life changing (or destroying) their love might be to both of them. Elizabeth must now learn what it takes to be the Queen of England in a time during which plots are rife, not least from their closest quarters.

Have you read it before? What did you think?

Review of 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' by James Joyce

I warned you guys that I'd be reading a few more classics in the coming months, so here we are with a novel by Irish author James Joyce from the early part of the twentieth century. If you've been following my blog for quite a while (well over a year!), you'll know that I read and reviewed The Dubliners some time ago. This was one of the very first Modernist texts I ever read and quite frankly I was baffled. It took a hefty amount of googling and a cheeky peek at Sparknotes (aka the English student's bible) until I even had a vague idea of what was going on with it.

Thankfully, A Portrait wasn't quite as difficult to get into, although it did feel a little like wading through treacle at times. Despite having a partly Irish heritage, I've actually read hardly any Irish literature, apart from the reams of Seamus Heaney poetry that was forced upon me during my A-Levels. I really want to start broadening my horizons to this little island a bit more in the future, so hopefully you'll hear some more Irish authors popping up here and there on this blog!

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man follows the story of Stephen, a young Irish boy who begins to abandon the Catholic faith as he grows older. It is said that the book is greatly influenced by Joyce's own life as a boy and teen, which goes some way in explaining the title. Stephen grows physically, intellectually and spiritually as the novel progresses, and the reader gets to witness how these three aspects of his persona come together to form the almost-adult Stephen. As he grows, he begins to question the very things we see him preaching early on in the novel, until he eventually rejects Catholicism altogether. It is incredibly interesting from a historical/cultural point of view to witness a character do so, and I would definitely recommend reading it if you have an interest in Irish history.

Have you read it? What did you think?

Review of "Elephant Moon"

(image taken from www.johnsweeney.co.uk)

This book examined the direct negative side of Empire in Burma in the early 1940s. The quotation I've chosen expresses what is finally beginning to change about how people consider various Western Empires. Attitudes are slowly but surely beginning to change in opposition to the very notion of Empire, and this is the only way we can move forward away from the heinous crimes which occurred under this hierarchical system.

Grace, schoolteacher to 62 half-caste orphans in Burma, realises that things are getting more dangerous as invasion strikes and she, alongside the children, need to leave. However, the schoolmistress refuses, and Grace must acquiesce to her decision. Moreover, these half caste orphans, the result of lusty imperialist soldiers enacting their desires, are outcast from society, and refused help because of their race on a seemingly never-ending basis.

Finally, Grace gets her way, and the entire school packs provisions and attempts to leave, but is it too late? Gone are traditional methods of getting away from Burma and there is no choice but to commence a long bus journey on a decrepit old vehicle which is never going to last the entire journey. When Grace meets Jem, it seems as though things may just work out, and her and the children will survive, but when tragedy strikes Grace is going to be forced to question everything she's previously believed. Especially when they are rescued by a group of elephant herders and begin to understand these beautiful but potentially deadly creatures.

This was a truly touching novel. This expressed for me in a better way than anything I've ever read just how debilitating it is for someone who is prejudiced against by people even during times of emergency. It speaks out about the blind inhumanity people can be reduced to. The fact that John Sweeney spent 12 years with this novel in the process of being written really highlights just how much thought is put into every step of the journey Grace and her orphans took. Moreover, it is inspired by a true story; if you want to learn more about this, check out Sweeney's explanation here.

Have you read it? What did you think?

Steph x

Review of "Some Veil Did Fall"*

I was kindly given Some Veil Did Fall by Choc Lit to review before it is published. Sadly, as much as I've loved Monsoon Mists (see review here) and Follow Me Follow You (see review here) I really wasn't amazed by this book. A quick description of the book made it sound really good and I was so looking forward to it, but unfortunately it didn't quite live up to expectations. Perhaps I expected too much, or perhaps the uncanny effect of it was lost on me after just completing The Woman in the Dunes, which captured the uncanny perfectly, but either way, it just didn't thrill me.

The plot centres around two sets of characters: Jon and Becky, and Adam and Ella. However, these characters aren't entirely separate. Jon and Becky are old friends who by chance are reunited in Gothic Whitby (aka the setting of Dracula). Adam and Ella similarly live in Whitby, but over 100 years before Jon and Becky. Their paths overlap in spooky and occasionally unnerving ways. Without giving away too much of the plot, Ella and Adam manage to communicate from beyond the grave, so that their story can be told, even if it is through someone else's eyes (literally!). 

There are a couple of reasons why I wasn't enamoured with this book, but also one or two which kind of redeemed it. I really felt as though Jon and Becky's characters weren't developed in the book. Becky herself was also not an entirely believable character at all. Maybe it's just me being cynical, but I certainly wouldn't immediately tell someone that I thought a ghost was trying to channel something through me ... The book really picked up when Ella and Adam got to tell their own story, without all this "ghost" business. It felt as though a lot of effort had been put into the historical aspect of the novel, which is potentially why the whole beyond the grave aspect didn't really feel explained well enough, or have enough of an introduction to make it believable.

Anyway, we're done with the negatives now. What probably saved this novel in my opinion was the last few chapters. Once I'd stuck it out to about 80% of the way through the novel (you can thank my kindle for those figures) it actually got to be quite good. The plot picked up a great deal and eventually got me hooked. And the ending ... well, let's just say it was (almost) worth waiting for! It really made you think about the rest of the book, and personally, I love endings that do that.

Would you read this? 

Steph x 

A Historical Reading of White Oleander

Janet Fitch was born in 1955 in Los Angeles. Not only had she lived there for the entirety of her life when she wrote White Oleander, but as two previous generations of her family lived in the city she clearly has an expansive and personal knowledge of it which allows her to inject a level of geographical accuracy into the novel which not only heightens its interest for local readers, but also for those worldwide for whom the accuracy gives the text a level of authenticity. As a child she had a difficult relationship with her mother, whom she believes lacked the necessary skills for motherhood  (there appears to be a slight insertion of her own history into the text on this theme). She studied history for a period in Keele University in England, having been inspired by the concept of stories within history. However, she eventually realised at the age of 21 that she did not want to merely read stories; she wanted to write them, and thus began her journey as a writer.

Fitch finally finished writing White Oleander in 1999. This was a turbulent time in Los Angeles as certain parts of America, including here, had undergone a rapid economic decline and resurgence within just over a decade. The tension at this time was further heightened by the fact that the Cold War finished only 8 years earlier, whilst Fitch was in the process of creating a text; the uneasiness of American citizens was not immediately extinguished by this time, as they had suffered over thirty years of fear and anxiety. Moreover, perhaps the most significant cause for anxiety for the citizens of Los Angeles during this time however was the 1992 riots and their aftermath. They commenced after a video of a black man being beaten by a group of white policemen was filmed and realised to the public and the trial saw the all-white jury acquit the men of this crime; the riots broke out within hours. People lived in fear for their lives, and some did not make it. Not only were there violent, sporadic killings, but over $1 Billion worth of damage was caused, largely through arson. This rupture in the quotidian social climate meant that life has not been the same in Los Angeles since. These factors which induced high levels of anxiety in citizens are reflected in the book: Astrid constantly fears for something; Ingrid is unsettled and eventually finds happiness in the structure of prison; the instability of the various domestic lives of the foster homes, particularly Claire’s depression and anxiety issues.

The novel also reflects movements in the world as a whole at the time in which it was written as the 1990s in the Western world in particular was recognised as being a time in which the growth of multiculturalism was seen. This is seen through the variety of races which Astrid encounters on her journey through life and the way in which Fitch allows them to each have their own identities within their race. However, as capitalist markets in the Western world boomed so did racial and class tension, which is again explored in the text. This was a time in which the world saw the rise of Third Wave feminisms, which not only differ from the second wave in that this was more racially motivated than before, but it also saw the rise of antifeminisms, some key ideas of which are included in the text.