The Cue Card

Hi. Has your summer ramped up lately? It seems to be getting busier. I’m back from the mountains but still “on the go,” ha. It seems true that Canadians try to rush to get much into their relatively short summers … and still aren’t always successful. The longest day of the year — June 21— has already come and gone — yikes — and the midway point of 2021 will be next week so perhaps now is a good time to evaluate your reading goals and see where you are. Are you on target? hmm … I guess I could be doing a bit better, but I will see how the second half of the year goes. 

This past week was good because I received my second vaccine shot here and passed the Canadian citizenship test, so I’m relieved to have those two things behind me! Apparently I will be contacted sometime about the next steps in the application process. I’m hopeful it won’t be too much longer — it’s been more than a year so far. If it all works out, I will be a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada. I’m excited by this and studied quite a bit to know many particulars about this large and lovely country, where I’ve lived since 2010. 

Also you might have noticed that I didn’t post a June Preview post of new releases at the beginning of the month like I usually do. So I thought I’d just list about six June novels now that look good to me. I haven’t gotten to these yet — have you?  

• Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (came out June 1)— this is on my Summer Reading List and involves a party in Malibu that gets out of control. Oh yeah.
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• The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris (June 1) — this too is on my Summer Reading List though a couple bloggers I heard back from DNF’d it, uh-oh. It’s set in the publishing world so I think I still plan to give it a try. 
• The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo (June 1) — This debut novel is getting some good praise and seems to be a fresh retelling of The Great Gatsby from a queer Asian girl’s perspective. Ohh. 
• The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris (June 15) — This historical fiction debut is said to live up to the hype of being picked for Oprah’s Book Club and is about two freed black brothers in Georgia just after the end of the Civil War. 
• All Together Now by Matthew Norman (June 15) — Many bloggers seem to swear by this author who’s written a few other funny, warm-hearted novels, so this new one — about one last party between friends — could be just the right thing for the beach.  
• The Secret Keeper of Jaipur by Alka Joshi (June 22) — This is the sequel by the author of The Henna Artist, which I enjoyed as an audiobook in March. Will she deliver again with her lively storytelling? 

And now I’ll leave you with a couple reviews of what I finished lately. 

Northern Spy by Flynn Berry / Viking / 288 pages / 2021

This is a story about two sisters in Belfast, Northern Ireland …. and one of them Miriam has secretly been involved with the underground Irish Republican Army  for years, and the other sister Tessa, who shockingly learns of this, narrates the story and what happens thereafter. Tessa, who works at the BBC, is a new mother to Finn and doesn’t want to get involved with her sister’s troubles … but somehow she gets roped in along the way. 

The story is more of a slow-burn plot … and a lot of the meanderings seem to be the thoughts inside Tessa’s head … about her sister and her worries for her baby son and what to do. Admittedly I got a bit tired of Tessa by the end. And Miriam asks way too much of her sister … so you sort of want to shake some sense into them both along the way. 

It seems to take place in the present … and made me wonder how active the IRA is nowadays. Apparently there are splinter groups and one called the New IRA that has caused some violence. But I wasn’t sure how accurate this plot was exactly, though it made me think of being in that nerve-wracking situation, so it ended up being a fairly good audiobook. 

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan / Thomas Nelson / 416 pages / 2018

I first came to know about the 1950s love story between poet Joy Davidman and Narnia author C.S. Lewis from the 1993 movie Shadowlands starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger … which I recall being a real tear-jerker. Then after my beloved German shepherd passed away in 1995 a friend sent me C.S. Lewis’s book A Grief Observed about managing loss in the wake of a death, which left a big impression on me … so of course I had to revisit the love story between Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis once again, which this novel is about. And I wasn’t disappointed. 

Granted it’s a long biographical kind of story from Joy’s narration … and it goes on at length about her life in New York and how her first marriage turns bad and how she starts up a correspondence with lay theologian C.S. Lewis in Oxford, England, whom she thinks might be of help with her faith and her marriage. Later she meets the famous author, who’s called Jack and is about 54 years old while she is 37. He’s never been married and isn’t looking to be. Though she eventually moves with her two sons to England, and Jack and her continue for quite a long time to have a close platonic friendship, though Joy begins to want more after she divorces her first husband. That seems to be the angst of the plot … will they ever become more? Or will it be too late for them both? 

I listened to the novel as an audiobook and followed it closely as their lives went around and around and I realized how much they depended on each other creatively and as close friends. He taught at Oxford and then at Cambridge while writing his books, and she continued to write fiction and poems as well. In the end I was quite captured by the portrayal of the two. Theirs was a love story in the 1950s so improbable and great, yet it became a reality despite all the many obstacles. Though it gets a bit exasperating waiting for Mr. Lewis to get onboard. He’s a bit  immune to romantic love until finally he realizes Joy might not be there forever.   

The story seems to hit on the right emotions of their lives together, as well as some of their written works. And the author’s enthusiasm for them — and getting right what happened — shines through. Granted you probably need to be a bit interested in C.S. Lewis or Joy Davidman beforehand to really enjoy this novelization, but I thought it was quite good. Joy shows a great deal of courage along the way and was a gifted writer in her own right. My only slight criticism is that the novel could’ve been edited shorter.  

As a footnote: there’s also an interesting seven-episode podcast at the end of the audiobook that interviews scholars and others, such as Joy’s son and Jack’s stepson who is still alive, that explores more about their faith, lives, and written works. You can find that free podcast separately wherever you get podcasts as Becoming Mrs. Lewis. 

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these and if so, what did you think? 

I hope everyone had a great weekend. We are away in the mountains for our anniversary and so I will leave just a short post with some pictures. We are bicycling with friends around the Banff and Lake Louise area and the sights have been pretty spectacular. It’s our first trip away since last fall so it’s been refreshing.

Visitors here are required to wear masks on the main streets, and the restaurants we’ve been to have been on outside patios or rooftops. But things are opening up and summer is pretty much here in all its glory! Our province is starting to roll out the second vaccine shots, which we will get by next week.  

I haven’t done much reading here, but we are “on the go” so it’s to be expected. I look forward to catching up with all of you and what you’re reading when we get back later this week. I wanted to thank all of those who stopped by and commented for my Q & A with author S. Kirk Walsh last week as that post was a bit new and special for the blog, so many thanks. And thanks to Kirk for making it possible. It was quite a treat to hear about the making of her terrific debut novel. 

Also congrats to Louise Erdrich whose novel The Night Watchman just won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in the U.S. Wow. I had enjoyed the audiobook of the novel last year, which follows members of the Chippewa tribe as they fight for their lands in the 1950s. Erdrich continues to be at the top of her powers and many of her latest novels have received awards. Have you read The Night Watchman and if so, what did you think? And now I’ll leave you with a few thoughts about what I finished lately. 

Petra by Shaena Lambert / Random House Canada / 304 pages / 2020

I can’t recall where I heard about this novel by a Canadian author, but I’m glad I did. I listened to it as an audiobook and knew nothing about the real person who it’s based on beforehand, but then I became quite captured by Petra’s life story. The novel is historical fiction about Petra Kelly, who was a political activist and a founding member of the German Green Party that rose to prominence in the 1980s. 

The story follows Petra’s days giving speeches and inspiring thousands at the height of the Cold War in 1980 to protest the placement of nuclear missiles in West Germany. Manfred Schwartz, an ex-lover of Petra’s and a Green Party colleague narrates the story, telling of their work together and how Petra gets involved with a NATO general, Emil Gerhardt who shocks the military by converting and campaigning for the Green Party’s peace cause.  

Uh-oh, it turns out the General had once fought with the Nazis, and Manfred, who clearly is still smitten with her, questions Petra about getting involved with him. Is the General for real or is there something else to his life and motives? You won’t know until near the novel’s end. Meanwhile Petra’s depicted as this very inspiring left wing figure fighting for peace and environmental causes, yet she also seems personally complicated. In the later 1980s-early 1990s, the story follows as she becomes more estranged from Manfred and the Party and her fate ultimately turns tragic. 

Apparently the author had seen Petra Kelly speak at a rally in Vancouver in the mid-1980s and was very taken with her. She seemed to be an electrifying force who had much success fighting for causes and leading Germany’s Green Party to prominence, but what happens to her felt like a light going out in the world, which the story heart-wrenchingly captures. I wish I had known about Petra then, but perhaps I was too caught up with going to university at the time. It’s a fascinating and moving novel of her real-life story, delving into both the movement and her personal relationships. Kudos to author Shaena Lambert for vividly bringing her and the Cold War era to life. It’s a novel deserving of accolades, and I will watch for whatever the author puts out next. 

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read this author or recall Petra Kelly? And how is your June going? 

Hi. I hope everyone had a great week. It’s been surprisingly hot here. I’m very excited this week to post a Q & A with author S. Kirk Walsh whose debut novel The Elephant of Belfast came out in April and I reviewed last week. Have you ever wanted to know the details behind the story of a great read? I find especially with enticing historical fiction I’m curious beyond all heck to know more after I turn the last page. Who were these people? And did what took place really happen like that? And how did the writing of the story come together? Do you ever wonder such things? Well lately such interesting historical fiction has piqued my curiosity. 

And as my review last week mentioned: The Elephant of Belfast is a story about a female zookeeper (Hettie) in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during WWII … whose home life has been tough and who comes to care for a three-year-old elephant (Violet) at the zoo. It’s about what happens to them when the Germans begin to bomb the city in 1941. It’s a wonderful, evocative story inspired by true-life events. I was quite taken with it, so I reached out to the author and she very kindly answered my questions and is letting our Q & A be posted here. (It doesn’t ruin the story.) I hope you find her novel and answers as fascinating as I do. She supplied the wonderful photographs.

1) Can you tell me about how you found out about this real-life Irish female zookeeper who worked at the Belfast Zoo during the Luftwaffe bombing raids of WWII? And how much time you spent in Belfast researching parts of the story? It seems like you knew the city of Belfast well. 

Walsh: My novel was inspired by Denise Austin, the first female zookeeper at the Belfast Zoo. I heard about her story on the radio in 2009 after her identity had been discovered by the zoo. After hearing the story of Denise and her young elephant charge named Sheila, I thought the idea might make for a good novel. 

A few years later, in the summer of 2013, my husband and I spent about two weeks in Belfast. There, I interviewed zookeepers, historians, and survivors of the Belfast Blitz. Once I returned home, I did more research at the New York Public Library, where one can find maps of Belfast from the 1930s, wartime photography taken by The Belfast Telegraph, and microfilms of the Mass Observation Archive (which focuses more on the day-to-day life of wartime Britain). 

The scholar/historian Brian Barton—author of the definitive history of the Blitz titled The Belfast Blitz: The City in the War Years—also provided a lot of guidance and read the manuscript a few times for historical accuracy.

2)  Also can you tell me about what the real zookeeper was like and how long she lived?  Is she credited with saving the elephant? And did she really have to relocate the elephant during the bombings in WWII?

Walsh: Similar to my protagonist, Denise Austin was about twenty years old when the Germans bombed Belfast. She lived with her parents on the Whitewell Road. During the evenings leading up to the bombings, Denise walked Sheila to her home and then returned the three-year-old elephant to the zoo during the day (following the Crazy Path, as described in the novel). The zoo staff didn’t know about these activities until the elephant chased a dog one day and damaged a neighbor’s fence and property. “That was the end of the elephant taking a holiday every night,” David Ramsey, Denise’s cousin, explained to me when I met him in Belfast. Instead, Denise stayed with Sheila in her enclosure at the zoo during the bombings (a little different from my fictional retelling). It’s unclear how big of a role Denise played in saving Sheila’s life. 

After the war and her employment at the zoo, Denise went on to become a nurse with the Army and then traveled widely (mostly on international cruises). Ramsey described Denise as having “a great laugh.” She never married; her boyfriend drowned on the Princess Victoria ship when the ferry sank during a windstorm in the North Sea on January 31^st, 1953. Austin died in 1997.

3) Were the German bombing raids extensive in Belfast? 

Walsh: There were three nights of bombings in Belfast: April 7^th, April 15^th, and May 4^th. The Easter Tuesday raids depicted in my novel reflect what happened during these aerial attacks; many of the details are borrowed from the survivors who I interviewed for the novel. I decided not to include the May 4^th bombings (The Fire Raid) because I couldn’t put my characters through more devastation.

In addition to the interviews with the Belfast Blitz survivors, I drew from my own experience of living in Manhattan during the terrorist attacks of September 11^th.  

4) In the story, Hettie seems to be a very forgiving person — first with Samuel Greene and his actions and then with her brother-in-law Liam’s actions. Why do you think Hettie is like this?

Walsh: In a way, her father, Thomas, prepares Hettie for this kind of forgiveness. He is a father who has loved her, but hasn’t been present in her life in a consistent matter. Hettie is young, but by the end of the novel, she discovers an unexpected maturity due to the devastation and loss. As a twenty-year-old, I made a lot of mistakes and missteps, and it was only when I was a bit older that I could see my own flaws but also forgive the behavior of others around me. Hettie perhaps experiences this in a more compressed manner because trauma and crisis often accelerates growth and understanding.

5) The way you wrote about Violet and her bond with Hettie made it seem like you understand animals’ sensibilities and their specialness … Are you an animal person? Did that part draw you to write the story? And how much research into elephants did you do? The elephant Violet is just wonderfully portrayed in the book.

Walsh: I am an animal person. I grew up with cats and dogs, and they were important to me. That said, I was more drawn to the location of the novel (Northern Ireland) than the animal (Sheila the elephant). My dad’s side of the family comes from Ireland, and I knew that I would write something set there, but didn’t realize that I would end up writing about the North.

For the elephant research, I paid several visits to the Houston Zoo. They have a large family of Asian elephants, and at the time of my visits (late 2013), two of the elephants were three years old (the age of the elephant in the novel). I was very fortunate that the zoo allowed me to wash one of the young elephants (named Tupelo). I did write an essay for Texas Monthly about my research at the Houston Zoo: Readers can read it here.

6) Were you aware of or had you read Diane Ackerman’s book The Zookeeper’s Wife, which takes place in Poland? It’s quite a different story (about hiding people during the war) … but it is also an interesting look at a zoo during wartime and some of the animals.

Walsh: Yes, I’m aware of Ackerman’s novel, but I didn’t read it because I didn’t want to be influenced by her story. There are several World War II novels that I haven’t read yet: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, and others, which I hope to read at some point in the future.

7) How long did the novel take to write? And are you working on another novel now? If so, will your next one be historical fiction?

Walsh: It took me about six years to write and research The Elephant of Belfast. I wrote about sixteen drafts of the manuscript. It took a long time to develop the emotional narrative arc of Hettie and Violet even though I already knew a great deal about their story. I’m working on a new novel about Detroit, Michigan, during World War II. Same time period, different location, and a different set of complications and tensions. It’s tentatively titled Detroit Days.

And that’s a wrap for the Q & A. Wow, thanks so much to S. Kirk Walsh for all her wonderful info and photos and letting us in on the writing and research of her terrific debut novel The Elephant of Belfast. I hope many get to read it. In learning more about it, I was amazed by how much the novel followed what actually happened there in 1940-41 and brought it to life.

Let me know what you think of the Q & A … as I might try to do more in the future. Have a great week everyone. 

Hi there. I hope those in the States are having a very lovely Memorial Day weekend. In Canada we had our long weekend last weekend so we are beyond that now, ha. The weather has turned gorgeous here, and I’m madly planting my tomato plants, and my husband and I are bike riding into the countryside. It’s been a quick and welcome change.  

But I had a busy past week so I didn’t get to see as much of PW’s U.S. Book Show as I wanted to, though I heard the interview with author Anthony Doerr about his new novel “Cloud Cuckoo Land,” which is coming out in September. It sounds pretty wild as it apparently follows three separate storylines in different eras: from the past, present, and future. I hope I won’t be lost by it. I did like his last novel “All the Light We Cannot See,” so I plan to check it out once it’s available.

Other than that I’m holding off on putting together a June Preview post as I ran out of time this past week — summer must be here! — but I’ll leave you instead with a couple reviews of what I finished lately. 

The Elephant of Belfast by S. Kirk Walsh / Counterpoint Press / 2021

This moving debut novel, which is based on a true story about a female zookeeper in Northern Ireland during WWII, captured me hook, line, and sinker. And like much good historical fiction it opened up a world little known to me and taught me a bit in the process. 

When the story opens in 1940, the protagonist Hettie Quinn, age 20, is down at the docks helping the zoo director and others to off-load a three-year-old Asian elephant coming off a ship and to guide her to the Belfast Zoo. Lately Hettie’s life has been full of sorrow ever since her sister Anna died in childbirth a few months ago. Her father has also flown the coop, and a sad pall has settled over the house where she lives with her mother. Her one outlet is the zoo where she works and wants to become a full-time zookeeper … hopefully to the captivating new elephant Violet. In time she’s given the chance when the male zookeepers go off to fight in the war.  

Hettie and Violet come to form an endearing bond and caring for the elephant gives Hettie a new sense of purpose, helping to heal some of the sadness over the loss of her sister. Though there’s worrisome talk in town about whether the Germans will bomb Belfast, or if they will be spared. Along the way, Hettie gets mixed up in the attention of three boys, namely Ferris, another zookeeper who’s her friend from her school days; and Samuel Greene, the butcher’s son who’s a ladies man and is training to become a cop; and also Liam, her brother-in-law who’s the father to her niece Maeve and involved with the IRA. Uh-oh. 

How it plays out with them is all quite intriguing, especially when tragedy strikes and the German bombs being to fall on Belfast on the evening of Easter 1941. Hettie runs to the zoo to check on Violet and there they get set on a path that will end up changing their lives. You’ll want to read on to find out what happens to them as the city becomes thrown into carnage and ruins. It’s a story that brings vividly to life the horrifying bombing effects and what people there went through. I guess I didn’t realize beforehand that the Luftwaffe bombed that far north and west, but tragically they did with devastating results. 

There’s some sad, unsettling parts to the story but also some very moving parts amid the chaos. I can’t say too much else, or I’ll give it away. But as a total animal lover, I particularly liked how the story captured the goodness and the bond with Violet the elephant, who is wonderfully portrayed in the novel. It also in many respects shined a light on the resilience of those — like Hettie — who under such dire circumstances withstand and rise to the occasion. The characters are all well-drawn as are the setting and the era. I’m sure the novel will end up on my list of favorite debuts of 2021 … as the story hit the mark quite indelibly.  

Stay tuned here next week for an interesting Q&A with the author!!  

The Truants by Kate Weinberg / G.P. Putnam’s Sons / 320 pages / 2020

Many of us love a good (sort of) creepy school campus-set story, right?  Isn’t that why Donna Tartt’s novel “The Secret History” was so popular? Well if you do, then you might want to toss this novel onto your stack. It’s probably less creepy than Tartt’s but still unsettling.  

Weinberg’s debut novel is a slow-burn of a coming-of-age kind of story that has a couple twists toward the end. British girl Jess Walker narrates the story, looking back on what traumatic thing happened during her college days six years ago. She went to university in East Anglia and there signs up for a class by professor Lorna Clay who becomes her mentor and someone she idolizes for her mind and her book called “The Truants” about creative types who’ve succeeded by breaking the rules. Jess signs up for Lorna’s lit class on Agatha Christie in which Lorna mentions the circumstances surrounding Christie’s mysterious disappearance for 11 days in 1926 after finding out about her husband’s affair. (Hmm note to self: be on the look out for clues in this novel.) 

In time Jess becomes friends on campus with Georgie, Nick, and a South African journalist named Alec who’s on a fellowship. The good looking Georgie and Alec pair up, and then Jess and Nick … and you get to know them all quite well … but love triangles emerge that threaten their friendships … as well as Jess’s obsessive friendship outside of class with her enigmatic professor Lorna Clay, who eventually reveals her past with one of them.

You have to hold on for quite awhile to find out about all the betrayals and tragic consequences in this novel … but how it affects Jess feels quite palpable even many years later. It’s a college-age story with quite a bite … as one in their group ends up dead and you yearn to find out how and why. I listened to the audiobook version and it held me for many miles of walking and a week or two of listening. I’ll be curious to see what the author puts out next.

That’s all for now. The good news is: the outdoor tennis and golf Covid restrictions are lifting here this coming week, and hair salons and a few other things are going to open again. What a relief. What about you — how have you been and have you read these novels, and if so, what did you think? 

I hope everyone had a good week. Last week most of the leaves on the trees and flowers came out here. We have Canadian long weekend now and usually we are away, but not this year. We are still waiting on authorities to lift Covid restrictions. So not much is new, but I listened to an enjoyable virtual book chat this week through the History Book Festival with author Lisa Scottoline. She usually writes thrillers but came out with her first historical novel called “Eternal” in March. It appears to involve a love triangle between three childhood friends who come of age in Italy during WWII. I haven’t read it yet but will add it to my ever-growing pile. Scottoline was a hoot during the talk and also quite informative about her writing of the book. She seems to have done a lot of research for it and it looks good, which is awesome since I’ve been hooked on historical fiction lately.  

Also you might remember it was announced in December that the trade show BookExpo would be discontinued … but luckily this week Publishers Weekly is putting on a new virtual U.S. Book Show (May 25, 26, 27), so I plan to check it out. I’m a reviewer for PW so I’m getting access, though I think you can still sign up for a fee if you want to attend. It should have numerous virtual publisher “booths” and “rooms” to listen to panels and author events. Some of the panels will discuss aspects of the publishing industry, while others will be geared towards libraries and librarians, and others towards bookselling. I think it will also highlight books coming out in the fall. So there should be a lot to hear about. I will try to report back about it next week. 

And for this week, while I don’t have any reviews to post, I thought instead I would post my Summer Book List. I know Cathy over at the blog 746 Books is hosting this summer challenge, which will basically go from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend, so I thought I’d join in the fun. I guess to me an iconic “summer read” is something one can read at the beach or on their back deck. A beach read to me shouldn’t be too angst-filled, depressing, violent, dense, heart-breaking, preachy, or overly serious. It should instead be more: riveting, suspenseful, fun, well-paced, readable, easily accessible, escape-filled, and something you can totally sink into. You know what I’m talking about. So with that in mind: below are my 12 summer reads (all from 2021!) that I hope to get to by Labor Day weekend. I purposefully made it 12 Books because it fit my graphic ha … and because I will likely get distracted and read others along the way. In the fall, I can return to more serious, deeper reads, right?

The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood (February)
Who Is Maud Dixon by Alexandra Andrews (March)
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (March)
Northern Spy by Flynn Berry (April)
The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz (May)
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (June)
When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain (April)
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead (May)
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave (May)
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris (June)
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy (August)
The Guide by Peter Heller (August)

What do you think of my summer list? Much to enjoy I hope. And of course making the list is half the fun. Do you have a summer list? That’s all for now. Have a great week and I’ll chat with you next time. 

Greetings. I hope you’ve had a good week. It seems the CDC created a bit of uncertainty lately when they announced suddenly that fully vaccinated people in the U.S. can now be indoors and outdoors without wearing masks in most places, which prompted such companies as Walmart, Trader Joe’s, and Costco to lift mask mandates, but other businesses to keep them. As of May 15, 36.7 percent of the country’s population has been fully vaccinated. I just wonder: whether it’s too soon to drop masks? I’m sure the vaccines are highly effective, but I sort of thought they’d wait until more of the population was vaccinated. And who’s to know who’s been fully vaccinated. Hmm, the CDC it seems has jumped from one end of the spectrum to the other in their recommendations. 

Meanwhile we remain under strict restrictions here in Canada, many public places are closed and in our province they continue to ban outdoor golf and tennis for those from different households, ugh. Recently there was an interesting British study that found that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine generates antibody responses three-and-a-half times larger in older people when a second dose is delayed to 12 weeks after the first injection. I guess this is good news for us since people here must wait months apart to be able to get their second vaccine shot. So apparently the shot will be quite a protector once we are (finally) called up to get it.  

Meanwhile it’s been a warm and wonderful weekend with much gardening and bike rides here. We will likely be ready to plant the vegetable garden next weekend. Hooray, spring will soon be in its full glory. Above are some tulips that wanted to be the first to bloom. And now, I will leave you with a review of what I finished lately. 

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell / Knopf / 320 pages / 2020

This novel was on many Best-Of lists last year and picked up quite a few awards, namely the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Awards among others. I took my sweet time getting to it, but I knew I eventually would. It’s historical fiction, which I’ve been loving lately, and I knew beforehand that it would be about Shakespeare’s family and the apparent loss of his son, age 11, who I never knew about (he was a twin!) and who happened to have the same-ish name as one of the bard’s most famous plays — “Hamlet.” My curiosity was piqued.

Apparently much remains unknown about Shakespeare’s life … but it’s true he lived more than 400 years ago (1564 to 1616) and grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. His father (who’s abusive in the novel) was said to be a leatherworker who made gloves, and Shakespeare married when he was 18 to Anne Hathaway, age 26, (called Agnes in the novel), who was already expecting their first child Susanna. Then three years later in 1585 they had twins: Judith and Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son. At some point Shakespeare moved to London to work in the theater, while his wife stayed in Stratford with the children. Then something happened that struck at home. Was it the Plague? 

Perhaps it’s likely. O’Farrell’s novel takes these threads of Shakespeare’s real life and weaves quite a realistic story about the family’s domestic existence. The novel, which I listened to as an audiobook, started slowly for me while I was getting my bearings about the family and the late 1500s, but by the story’s end I was totally immersed in their world. It’s very lyrically told and alternates between two storylines: the past — about how Shakespeare and his wife come to meet and their marriage; and the present — with Hamnet looking for help for his twin sister Judith, who’s become ill. 

It surprised me a bit that the tale comes mostly from Shakespeare’s wife Agnes. She’s the central character of the book. And the name of William Shakespeare never really appears in the novel — early on he’s the “Latin teacher” and later Agnes’s husband. The story focuses on their marriage quite a bit, which makes it interesting … as scholars apparently have wondered whether their marriage was a strained one. He lived in London a lot of the time, which is about 80 miles from her in Stratford, so it might not have been all roses. The Plague, too, features prominently in the story, which gives it a timely perspective to our own pandemic. Both forced closures and sometimes crazy remedies. And there’s plenty of birthing, dying, and plague and pestilence in this … as well as heartbreaking grief. 

O’Farrell does a wondrous job opening up the family’s world and putting you there. It made me imagine the playwright’s life and times in ways I’d never thought about before. The ending too is cleverly done … with Agnes winding up in London and seeing and reacting to her husband’s play. The last chapter, which is a long one, was my favorite of the novel. I’m sure it’ll make me see the play “Hamlet” in a whole new light, knowing now about what Shakespeare went through just four years before. 

Kudos to O’Farrell for her talent in writing this. I’m curious to go back sometime and read her 2017 memoir “I Am, I Am, I Am,” which others have liked. I also want to go back and watch Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 movie of “Hamlet,” which I never saw. Did you? 

That’s all for now. What about you — have read this novel or author, and if so, what did you think? And how are you doing? 

Hello. Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! I’m relegated in life to being a dog mom, but I admire all the hard work and support that human moms give, especially my own mother who lives far away in California. I’m sad not to be there with her on this occasion, but I had this bouquet delivered to her, which I think she is enjoying. I like all the colors and its feeling of spring. It makes me happy, especially during these pandemic times. 

In fact, we are experiencing more severe Covid restrictions here, many public places are closed again, and even outdoor tennis and golf have been regulated. Now in order to play these sports, we must be from the same household. Ugh, it’s going to be at least three weeks of this, or more. So we hang on … again. At least bike riding and gardening are still allowed. I send my thoughts to India, which is really struggling now with Covid; let’s hope the country can overcome its dire situation. Meanwhile I’ll leave you with a couple reviews of what I finished lately. 

Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce / Dial Press/ 368 pages / 2020

This is a novel I read for my book group that wanted something “uplifting” to read and discuss. Rachel Joyce is known for her feel-good stories … and I think this is about my third novel I’ve read of hers over the years. They’re often sweet, rousing  stories that usually entail a quirky or very lonely character who unpreparedly takes a journey of some sort and discovers friends and a lot about themselves and the world in the process. 

This novel is about two quirky ladies circa 1950 — one is a former teacher, spinster Margery Benson and the other is her assistant, talkative Enid Pretty who Margery hires at the last minute to go with her. They embark on a journey to New Caledonia in the South Pacific to find a particular gold flecked beetle, not yet documented. The two women are opposites, who while facing many obstacles to their island expedition, become close friends. Enid has always wanted a baby … and Margery has always hoped to find the gold beetle. They are the yin to each other’s yang so to speak, often in a humorous way. But because of their backstories that begin to get revealed … things with Enid are not exactly what they seem, and they appear to have some people after them, including a deranged WWII POW and a prim society type on the island who has a feeling that something must be amiss with these two riffraffs. 

I think my favorite part of the novel was not exactly all the shenanigans that go on and the obstacles the two ladies face, but more the part about New Caledonia and their trek on the mountain in the north of the Island to find the beetle, which are quite visual. I was enticed by the island and jungle in the story and how the two ladies come to appreciate it. I wanted them to settle up and make things right with all so they could stay at their endearing rundown bungalow at the base of the mountain. 

But the ending sort of gets crazy and didn’t exactly do, or resolve it, for me. Still it’s a quick, fun read about women who being held back by society and at work in the 1950s — finally instead of accepting it — just go out and do the adventurous things they’ve always dreamed about doing in order to fulfill their lives, which is an admirable theme. In a way perhaps, it might be a little reminiscent of the free spirit of Thelma and Louise. Ha.

Dear Ann by Bobbie Ann Mason / Harper Books / 352 pages / 2020

In the 1980s, I remember reading and liking author Bobbie Ann Mason’s novel “In Country,” which must have made an impact on me when I was younger …  about the Vietnam War and a veteran who has PTSD. There was even a 1989 movie of it starring Bruce Willis and Emily Lloyd. Though I’m sort of foggy about it now, I’ve thought pretty fondly of Bobbie Ann Mason’s writing since then. But I haven’t picked up another of her books until I saw the audiobook of this novel, which she put out when she was 80.  

Dear Ann is a story about a woman looking back on her life and wondering what might have been if she had gone to Stanford for graduate school in literature in the 1960s instead of Harpur College in Upstate NY. She imagines a whole storyline of what her life might have been like in California at the center of all the cultural changes, delving into the atmosphere of the 1960s amid the antiwar protests, hallucinogenic drugs, summer of love, and music and literature. 

The woman, Ann from Kentucky, narrates about her life during her Stanford years so convincingly with her friends, her literature studies and profs, and her relationship with her college boyfriend Jimmy … that after a while I was a bit confused whether Ann indeed goes to California and if Jimmy is there. But Ann tells us early on which direction she takes (so I promise I’m not ruining the book) and by the end it becomes more clear. 

One thing I liked is its love story between Ann and Jimmy, who is quite the character … and seems to be really struggling with his idealism during those days. He has a bad trip on a drug and is bothered that the poor are bearing most of the brunt of being drafted to Vietnam, which causes him a dilemma. There’s quite a bit to think about with this novel and you’ll want to stay tuned to see what happens to Ann and Jimmy. With a tinge of sadness, it lends perspective to life’s paths and loves that could’ve been taken and the paths that were taken instead. The homage to the 1960s surely comes through with details about the music, events, and thoughts of the era. 

It’s a bit weird because early on I almost quit on the novel as I wasn’t sure where it was going, or what it was doing, and I was getting impatient, but I’m glad I stuck with it and took my time. In the end, I was rewarded by going back in time with author Bobbie Ann Mason and her characters. Surely she knew the 1960s, and perhaps the idealism squashed back then. Sometime I hope to check out her 1999 memoir “Clear Springs,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these novels or authors before, and if so what did you think?  Have a great week. 

Greetings. I hope your spring is going well. Brrr, it’s still cold and windy here. April is considered a shoulder season month, so we await May when the real spring and blooms come.

Meanwhile I see all the pretty azaleas are out at Augusta National for the Masters golf tournament. They remind me of the azaleas I had when I lived in Virginia — pretty in pink. And good luck to Canadian golfer Corey Conners in today’s final round. He had a hole-in-one yesterday at Augusta’s sixth hole. Wow, love that kind of luck.

Meanwhile we finished watching the Ken Burns/ Lynn Novick three-part documentary about “Hemingway” on PBS. Did you see it? It was quite good though the big game hunting they showed Hemingway doing in Africa as well as the bull fighting from Spain were ghastly. The final episode too was quite grim, as he struggled with mental illness. I guess I didn’t remember that Hemingway and wife #4 had miraculously survived two successive plane crashes in Africa in 1954, yikes. He sure endured a lot of head concussions during his life, which they note in the series.

And it appears wife #3, Martha Gellhorn, didn’t cave to him but continued to pursue her own career … which I remembered from Paula McLain’s novel about Gellhorn “Love and Ruin.” All in all, the documentary has some excellent photos and film footage of Hemingway’s life as well as some interesting perspectives about his writing from such authors as Edna O’Brien, Tobias Wolff, Mary Karr, and Abraham Verghese among others. I recommend it if you get a chance. Now we’re on to watching PBS’s drama series “Atlantic Crossing” about the Norwegian Crown Princess Martha and Roosevelt during WWII. So far, so good.  

I have been reading and reviewing but mostly for Publishers Weekly, and recently I switched my category from memoirs to fiction there, yay. I’m told they don’t want me to link to the reviews I did as they are meant to be anonymously reviewed and they can’t be reviewed here either … so I guess I’m out of luck in mentioning the titles, bahhh. But below are reviews (not for them) of two audiobooks I listened to lately. 

The Push by Ashley Audrain / Pamela Dorman Books / 320 pages / 2021

Synopsis: What starts as some kind of dream marriage between Blythe and Fox Connor soon begins to show its holes once they have a baby girl named Violet, and Blythe, who narrates the story, doesn’t take to her as much as she thought she would. Is she having postpartum depression or is something wrong with the child’s behavior? Or is it a bit of both? The husband thinks his wife is making a mountain out of a molehill about the child and doesn’t think anything is wrong, but he seems to feel Blythe is not being the capable mother that he thought she’d be. Uh-oh. 

Then all becomes heightened when Blythe has a second baby Sam whom she loves to the max for a couple years (and who saves their marriage), but later something happens in a freak accident. Was someone at fault and if so who? Their worlds are soon turned upside down and their bonds come unglued. On the story goes … to her husband’s new family … as Blythe recedes into an insular, lonely person. Was she the one? You’ll have to check it out to see. 

My Thoughts: This debut story was fricked up, ha … just the kind that’s creepy, disturbing, manipulative, and provocative. It’s labeled a psychological drama, thriller type and that’s about the level you should prepare for yourself going in. 

As such, I liked how the author keeps you guessing about whether it’s the child, or the mother who’s got something wrong. Though I wasn’t really pulled in to the second interweaved storyline about Blythe’s mother and grandmother … and how they had it rough and weren’t good mothers themselves. So their mothering skills are sort of perceived to be like it’s handed down, which I guess adds more doubt about Blythe into the equation. 

Actress Marin Ireland does a great job once again in reading for the audiobook. I’ve listened to three by her so far. She’s one of my favorites. The novel explores facets of motherhood that seem taboo to even think about …. about a mother inherently having negative feelings for her own child, or a child being born a bad seed. If you’re not turned off by things that provoke that border, then check it out, otherwise stay clear.

Summerwater by Sarah Moss / Farrar, Straus & Giroux / 208 pages / 2021

Synopsis: It takes place over a single summer day in the Scottish Highlands at a woodsy cabin park along a loch, where there’s various tourists and families staying. The chapters follow a handful of different characters (with their inner monologues) as they go about their day, complaining about the torrential rain and each other, especially the “Romanian” partyers and their loud music at night, which is keeping them awake.

There’s a jogging mom meditating on various things while she runs, and her retired husband who thinks about the park’s better days, and a woman’s thoughts during sex with her boyfriend, and a teenage girl sneaking out at night. My favorite chapter was the teenage boy who goes kayaking across the loch in a storm and things get dicey. The writing in that one is particularly transporting and has a lot of atmosphere. 

My Thoughts: If you are looking for a lot of story or plot or action, then this novel will likely not be for you. (I was looking for a bit more story.) But if you like slice of life kind of situational /multi-character based vignettes then check it out. The author writes really well about the inner dialogues people have with themselves … and also is excellent at atmosphere and description. There were times I had to laugh at what these people were thinking and other times I had to cringe at their insensitivity. By the end I felt like I was there in Scotland among these vacationers as they struggled to cope with the rain and the tedium and each other. There’s also brief interludes between chapters of nature and the park that adds a touch of place and buffer. 

The ending takes an interesting and a bit of a dramatic turn amid these strangers. While I didn’t get to know any of these characters well, I got a sense of their troubles, self-absorption, and what was on their mind. The novel’s exploration of isolation and community, kinship and cruelty was thought-provoking. This was my first time sampling a book by British author Sarah Moss, who’s written six other novels besides this one. At one point I almost DNF’d it because I was looking for more story instead of interlocking pieces. But I’m glad I didn’t — Moss is a perceptive, gifted writer and I’ll  stay tuned for whatever she writes next.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read either of these books or authors?  And if so, what did you think?  And how is your spring going?