When we were in London, we visited The Forbidden Planet book store. While waiting for the other members of my family to browse, get excited, etc. I picked up this one.
Here’s the blurb …
If the whole of History lay before you, where would you go?
When Dr Madeleine Maxwell is recruited by the St Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, she discovers the historians there don’t just study the past – they revisit it.
But one wrong move and History will fight back – to the death. And Max soon discovers it’s not just History she’s fighting…
This was my second time travelling novel in a short period of time (the other being The Ministry of Time), so I am hoping I don’t mix up plots.
I enjoyed this, the writing was good – I never got dragged out of the story by a clunky sentence. Who hasn’t wanted to travel back in time and see things first hand? I am not sure I would choose to go back to the time of the dinosaurs, but seeing the library definitely. I also appreciated how all of the space-time continuum issues were solved. Plus there was a bit of romance, comradery, and a bit of an ethical conundrum.
This is a good entry point into fantasy for someone.
This is another of my scottish reads. I first heard about this novel from the Backlisted podcast and it was mentioned on the latest Slightly Foxed podcast.
Here’s the blurb …
In the tradition of Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, a darkly humorous modern classic of Scottish literature about a doomed adolescent growing up in the mid-20th century—featuring a new introduction by Maggie O’Farrell, award-winning author of Hamnet.
Janet lies murdered beneath the castle stairs, attired in her mother’s black lace wedding dress, lamented only by her pet jackdaw…
?Author Elspeth Barker masterfully evokes the harsh climate of Scotland in this atmospheric gothic tale that has been compared to the works of the Brontës, Edgar Allan Poe, and Edward Gorey. Immersed in a world of isolation and loneliness, Barker’s ill-fated young heroine Janet turns to literature, nature, and her Aunt Lila, who offers brief flashes of respite in an otherwise foreboding life. People, birds, and beasts move through the background in a tale that is as rich and atmospheric as it is witty and mordant. The family’s motto—Moriens sed Invictus (Dying but Unconquered)—is a well-suited epitaph for wild and courageous Janet, whose fierce determination to remain steadfastly herself makes her one of the most unforgettable protagonists in contemporary literature.
Janet is a fabulous character. Strong willed, curious, and very intelligent. The writing is beautiful. It reminded me of I Capture the Castle (although a lot more gothic). I think this is my favourite novel so far this year.
Emma of 83rd Street – Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding
This is an updated re-telling of Jane Austen’s Emma.
Here’s the blurb …
In this witty and romantic debut novel, Jane Austen’s Emma meets the misadventures of Manhattan’s modern dating scene as two lifelong friends discover that, in the search for love, you sometimes don’t have to look any further than your own backyard.
Beautiful, clever, and rich, Emma Woodhouse has lived twenty-three years in her tight-knit Upper East Side neighborhood with very little to distress or vex her…that is, until her budding matchmaking hobby results in her sister’s marriage—and subsequent move downtown. Now, with her sister gone and all her friends traveling abroad, Emma must start her final year of grad school grappling with an entirely new emotion: boredom. So when she meets Nadine, a wide-eyed Ohio transplant with a heart of gold and drugstore blonde highlights to match, Emma not only sees a potential new friend but a new project. If only her overbearing neighbor George Knightley would get out of her way.
Handsome, smart, and successful, the only thing that frustrates Knightley more than a corked whiskey is his childhood friend, Emma. Whether it’s her shopping sprees between classes or her revolving door of ill-conceived hobbies, he is only too happy to lecture her on all the finer points of adulthood she’s so hell-bent on ignoring. But despite his gripes—and much to his own chagrin—Knightley can’t help but notice that the girl next door is a woman now…one who he suddenly can’t get out of his head.
As Emma’s best laid plans collide with everyone from hipster baristas to meddling family members to flaky playboy millionaires, these two friends slowly realize their need to always be right has been usurped by a new need entirely, and it’s not long before they discover that even the most familiar stories still have some surprises.
I really like how the original story was updated. Moved to New York, Mr Woodhouse is obsessed by health and wellness, and Mr Knightley runs a venture capital firm. I particularly liked the relationship between Emma and Mr Knightley. If you are a fan of Emma or rom-coms, then I think you will find this novel fun.
Back to my Scottish reading. I had seen this book in various book stores and then I went to the National Gallery and saw the painting. So I decided I had to read it.
Here’s the blurb …
When you look at a painting, what do you really see?
When eighteenth-century poet Alison Cockburn accepts a light-hearted challenge from her good friend Katherine Hume to live as a man, in order to infiltrate the infamous Edinburgh Skating Club, little do they both realise how her new identity will shape their futures. Together they navigate their way through the sights, sounds and faces of Enlightenment Edinburgh, from Old Town to New Town and from joyous friendship to a deep affection.
In twenty-first-century Edinburgh, art historian Claire Sharp receives a mysterious request: to settle once and for all the true provenance of the iconic painting The Skating Minister. But when she and friend Jen Brodie dig deeper, they discover the incredible truth behind the painting and two extraordinary women Enlightenment Edinburgh forgot.
This was a great story – I would love it to be true. I do like a novel about art – The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, Goldfinch, One Illumined Thread, etc. Like many of these novels we have two time periods; contemporary and the time when the painting was painted. I think it brings Edinburgh in the 18th century vividly to life. The characters are well-written and the plot hums along nicely. It was a charming, warm and interesting novel. And I particularly liked the ending of the narrative from the past.
I like Towles, my favourite is Rules of Civility, but I have read all of his novels. Table for Two is short stories and I listened to it (this version)
Here’s the blurb …
From the bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway, A Gentleman in Moscow, and Rules of Civility, a richly detailed and sharply drawn collection of stories set in New York and Los Angeles.
The millions of readers of Amor Towles are in for a treat as he shares some of his shorter six stories set in New York City and a novella in Los Angeles. The New York stories, most of which are set around the turn of the millennium, take up everything from the death-defying acrobatics of the male ego, to the fateful consequences of brief encounters, and the delicate mechanics of compromise which operate at the heart of modern marriages.
In Towles’s novel, Rules of Civility, the indomitable Evelyn Ross leaves New York City in September, 1938, with the intention of returning home to Indiana. But as her train pulls into Chicago, where her parents are waiting, she instead extends her ticket to Los Angeles. Told from seven points of view, “Eve in Hollywood” describes how Eve crafts a new future for herself—and others—in the midst of Hollywood’s golden age.
Throughout the stories, two characters often find themselves sitting across a table for two where the direction of their futures may hinge upon what they say to each other next.
Written with his signature wit, humor, and sophistication, Table for Two is another glittering addition to Towles’s canon of stylish and transporting historical fiction.
I really enjoyed these stories – in particular Eve in Hollywood (it is a continuation of Rules of Civility). All of the stories are beautifully written. Sometimes witty, sometimes poignant, always clever and sometimes a bit sneaky.
When I was in Edinburgh, I wanted to read something by a Scottish writer set in Scotland. I found a fabulous book store – Topping and Co – and I bought a signed copy of Queen Macbeth.
Here’s the blurb …
Shakespeare fed us the myth of the Macbeths as murderous conspirators. But now Val McDermid drags the truth out of the shadows, exposing the patriarchal prejudices of history. Expect the unexpected . . .
A thousand years ago in an ancient Scottish landscape, a woman is on the run with her three companions – a healer, a weaver and a seer. The men hunting her will kill her – because she is the only one who stands between them and their violent ambition. She is no she is the first queen of Scotland, married to a king called Macbeth.
As the net closes in, we discover a tale of passion, forced marriage, bloody massacre and the harsh realities of medieval Scotland. At the heart of it is one strong, charismatic woman, who survived loss and jeopardy to outwit the endless plotting of a string of ruthless and power-hungry men. Her struggle won her a country. But now it could cost her life.
Macbeth was one of the assigned texts when I studied English Literature at school, I still remember some of my quotes.
Lay on McDuff and damned be he who first cries “Hold! Enough!”
This is not the story that you know, in fact it is set after Shakespeare’s MacBeth (with flashbacks to that time). I enjoyed reading it. There is lots of detail about medieval Scotland – particularly the weaving and the herb lore). The writing is evocative; you feel cold, hungry, scared and angry (at the way women are treated). And I will just add that the ending is unexpected (I don’t want to ruin it for anyone).
A friend recommended this one, one of those forgotten novels of the 20th century (it was first published in 1979), but the action takes place in 1914.
Here’s the blurb …
A Small Country is the story of the Evans family, farmers in Carmarthenshire. In the summer of 1914 son Tom returns from Oxford to find the family falling apart. His handsome father has gone to live with schoolmistress Miriam Lewis, who is to have his child. His mother, broken-hearted, lies ill in bed, while his beautiful sister Catrin longs to leave for London and art college. Soon Tom’s university friend Edward will arrive to holiday with them, half-aware of his attraction to Catrin, but already engaged to Rose, a supporter of the Suffragettes. And Tom himself is in debt and disillusioned with his proposed legal career. He would like to manage Hendre Ddu, the family farm, but finds his family troubles and the approach of war set him on a very different course.
When I sat down to write my thoughts, I was astonished to find it published in 1979. It seems so of its time (world war one, women’s choices are limited – marriage, nursing or teaching). However, I did think Miriam Lewis was quite modern – she didn’t care about being married. The world-building was very good, it felt very much like rural Wales in the first world war. It is not a particularly happy novel, lives are hard – especially for women, and the characters all seem to struggle on in isolation. However, it is beautifully written and highlights a different time and place (lost to us now).
This is the first of my holiday reading (I went to the UK and France). This book was everywhere, so I decided to give it a go.
Here’s the blurb …
A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all: Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley.
In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.
She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.
Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.
An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks: What does it mean to defy history, when history is living in your house? Kaliane Bradley’s answer is a blazing, unforgettable testament to what we owe each other in a changing world.
I enjoyed this novel. The writing, the world-building, and the characters were all magnificent. It made me think about time travel in a new way – how hard would it be to travel to the future (particularly the one who came from the 16th century – although she didn’t seem to find it difficult) and then have to acclimatise and fit in?
When I was in London, I went to the maritime museum and there was a whole section on Franklin’s Lost Expedition – they have the Victory Point Note and many artifacts from the doomed expedition. It was very interesting.
While this is science fiction – there is time travel after all, it’s probably more crime, thriller or adventure. It could also be called a romantasy (but I think it has more to say than a typical romantasy). There is something mysterious going on at the Ministry of Time – strange people and weapons. So if SciFi is not your thing, don’t be put off you will still enjoy this novel. It has things to say about the strength of the human spirit, and about climate change, and about selfishness or self-repservation.
I have read Tremain’s Restoration, which I enjoyed and then a friend recommended this one (very different from Restoration)
Here’s the blurb …
A piercing short novel of thwarted love and true friendship from one of our greatest living writers
Marianne Clifford, 15, only child of a peppery army colonel and his vain wife, Lal, falls helplessly and absolutely for Simon Hurst, 18, whose cleverness and physical beauty suggest that he will go forward into a successful and monied future, helped on by doting parents. But fate intervenes. Simon’s plans are blown off course, and Marianne is forced to bury her dreams of a future together.
Narrating her own story, characterising herself as ignorant and unworthy, Marianne’s telling use of irony and smart thinking gradually suggest to us that she has underestimated her own worth. We begin to believe that – in the end, supported by her courageous Scottish friend, Petronella – she will find the life she never stops craving. But what we can’t envisage is that beneath his blithe exterior, Simon Hurst has been nursing a secret which will alter everything.
This is the second novel I have read recently where a character can’t move on – the first being Good Material(It’s not my favourite plot device).
The setting – 50s and 60s England, was fabulous and I loved the relationship between Marianne and Hugo. The writing is exquisite, people are captured in a few deft sentences.
The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England – Brandon Sanderson
My daughter loves Brandon Sanderson novels and when I saw that this was a stand-alone novel and not too thick, I decided to give it a go.
Here’s the blurb …
A man awakens in a clearing in what appears to be medieval England with no memory of who he is, where he came from, or why he is there. Chased by a group from his own time, his sole hope for survival lies in regaining his missing memories, making allies among the locals, and perhaps even trusting in their superstitious boasts. His only help from the “real world” should have been a guidebook entitled The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, except his copy exploded during transit. The few fragments he managed to save provide clues to his situation, but can he figure them out in time to survive?
This was lots of fun to read – witty and a bit tongue in cheek. In fact, it reminded me of Jasper FForde’s The Last Dragonslayer (the style or the humour not the plot). I think it would make a great movie or TV series.
