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#238 ~ The Wives of Henry Oades ~ Review & Giveaway

The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran

Published by: Ballantine Books

Published on: February 2010

Page Count: 384

Genre: Historical Fiction

Format: ARC snagged through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program

Availability: paperback and eBook

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Today it is my great pleasure to be Johanna Moran’s host on her TLC Book Tour for her novel, The Wives of Henry Oades.  I would like to thank LibraryThing and her publisher for sending me a review copy.  I would also like to thank Random House for a copy to giveaway on this blog!  Please see the end of my review for a list of the blogs who are on this tour with me.

I have a lot of fun working as a tour host for TLC Book Tours.  They always have great books and authors on tour.  Check out their website for more information on this tour and the others that they are hosting.

My Review

During the late 19th century, Henry Oades was looking to get ahead in his career and make an even better life for his family when he agreed to take a position that required he move his family from England to a much less civilized New Zealand.  His wife Meg didn’t really want to leave her family, but supported her husband because it would only be for a few years.  What neither of them anticipated was the hostility between white settlers and the native Maori  increasing after their arrival. One evening, in revenge of a Maori beating, Henry’s family is kidnapped while he is away at work.  From there begins a heart wrenching nightmare almost beyond comprehension. After holding out hope longer than most people felt sane, Henry eventually leaves New Zealand for America.  In San Fransisco, he discovers a love for farming and eventually falls in love with a young widow.  Shorty after Henry and Nancy marry, Meg brings her family out of captivity.  When Henry and his first family reunite, a struggle of a much different kind begins.

When I saw information about The Wives of Henry Oades while reviewing the list of Early Reviewer books last year, I knew it was one that I’d have to read.  I could not imagine what it would be like to be in Henry Oades’ shoes.  He believed he had lost his entire family and it was only reluctantly that he set off to start his life over again.  Just when he found purpose and contentment, he learns that his original family was alive and well.  What would you do?  Worse yet, what would or could a woman in the late 19th century do if she was given up for dead and her husband remarried?  What would or could a young widow with a small baby do when her new husband’s dead wife shows up on her doorstep.  I was so thrilled to learn that I had snagged it because I was going to be able to find out.

This book was a perfect match for me.  I love that it was told mainly through the voices of Meg and Nancy, Henry’s two wives.  I was intrigued from the very first when Meg and Henry set off to New Zealand and I didn’t want to put the book down until it was finished.  Some parts were difficult to read, especially the scenes of the kidnapping and the direct aftermath, but I could not stop reading.  I also found it interesting how Berkeley society, now seen as such a liberal, accepting place, could not see the difference between purposeful bigamy and an accident of fate that fell upon both halves of Henry’s family.  The community was too busy titillating themselves with what might be happening behind the Oades’ doors to take take stock of what really did.

The Wives of Henry Oades was inspired by a legal extract  about the Oades case that Moran’s father brought home to her mother.  What an interesting launching pad of a novel.  I enjoyed it all the way through.  I do have one lingering question about a decision Henry makes along the way, but mentioning that here would give too much of the story away.  My question aside, there would be an evening’s worth of topics to discuss after reading this novel.  It would also be interesting to read this novel and The 19th Wife back to back and discuss the impact of bigamy on the women involved during the 19th century.  I highly recommend this novel.  There are so many ways to look at this novel and the events it brings to life.  I would love to hear what you think.

*****

Giveaway

I am excited to offer one lucky reader an opportunity to win a copy of this novel from the publisher.  To enter, leave a comment to this post with your thoughts about how bigamy impacts the women involved.  There is so much to say about it.  As much as I could never see myself coping well with that kind of living arrangement, I wonder how much cleaner my house would be if I had a sister wife around here…

This giveaway will be open for entries until Thursday, March 18 at 11:59 EST.  I will use the wonderful Randomizer to select the winner and will make the announcement soon thereafter.

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Check out Johanna Moran’s other TLC Book Tours Tour Stops:

Monday, February 15th:  Luxury Reading

Wednesday, February 17th:  Book Club Classics!

Thursday, February 18th:  My Friend Amy

Friday, February 19th:  Beth Fish Reads author guest post

Monday, February 22nd:  Jenn’s Bookshelves

Tuesday, February 23rd: The 3 R’s Blog

Thursday, February 25th:  It’s All About Books

Friday, February 26th:  Thoughts of an Evil Overlord

Monday, March 1st:  Rundpinne

Tuesday, March 2nd:  Peeking Between the Pages

Wednesday, March 3rd:  A High and Hidden Place

Friday, March 5th:  Stephanie’s Confessions of a Book-aholic

Monday, March 8th:  Bibliofreak

Tuesday, March 9th: A Lifetime of Books

Wednesday, March 10th:  Starting Fresh

Thursday, March 11th:  Savvy Verse and Wit

Monday, March 15th:  The Calico Critic

TSS ~ Sometimes It Even Happens Here

Every time I read about people getting the chance to meet authors on book tours, I get really jealous. Living in SouthWest Virginia, the opportunity to visit an author while on a book tour is few and far between.  Next Saturday, that will change at least for the day.

Kathleen Grissom, the author of The Kitchen House, will be stopping in Lynchburg at Givens Books at 2pm on February 13th.  The book was published on the 2nd, so it’s hot off the presses.  It got me out of my reading blahs.  I just could not put it down.  I read The Kitchen House last month and absolutely loved it.  Check back here on Friday for my review.  I will also be posting about the book tour during my next Sunday Salon post.  If all goes well, I’m hoping to have a signed copy to giveaway.

In the meantime, you can check out Kathleen’s site.  On her About The Kitchen House page.  There are some great resources there, including pictures I wish  I had seen while I was reading the book.  There is a book trailer as well.  I just finished watching it.  A slight word of caution: if you don’t like to know much about a book before reading it, you might want to hold off on it.

Now, be honest.  How many of you thought I was referring to this weekend’s snow storm?  Well, that news also fits my post title.    We had a great time sledding in the snow and making a snowman.  Thankfully we were able to make it to church this morning and then to the mall.  I had a serious case of cabin fever since this weekend was the second in a row that we were snowbound.  Yesterday morning I took a short video of our front yard.  We didn’t get hit as hard as some of my book blogging girlfriends in Northern Virginia or Maryland, but it was an anomaly for the Roanoke Valley.  I want to thank everyone who stopped by on our Friday snow day.

Reading and Reviews This Week

This week I read and reviewed Tainted by Brooke Morgan as part of the author’s TLC Book Tour.  I’m hosting a giveaway of Morgan’s debut novel, so be sure to check out my review.

I also finished Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls.  I started that during my reading malaise and put it down because I didn’t want it to be ruined by my lack of reading enthusiasm.  I thought it was a great companion to The Glass Castle and will be reviewing this novel soon.

For those of you not watching the Super Bowl (I’m assuming anyone reading this isn’t – who watching the big event would also read book blogs during the show?), I hope you enjoy your evening snuggled up with a good book.  I’ll be reading Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliot.

#225 ~ Shanghai Girls

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Today it is my great pleasure to be Lisa See’s host on her TLC Book Tour for her novel, Shanghai Girls.  I would like to thank her publisher for sending me a review copy.  Please see the end of my review for a list of the blogs who are on this tour with me.

I have a lot of fun working as a tour host for TLC Book Tours.  They always have great books and authors on tour.  Check out their website for more information on this tour and the others that they are hosting.

My Review

Pearl and May are young women growing up at a time just after foot binding was banned and arranged marriages seemed to be heading in the same direction.  It was the 1930s in Shanghai, the Paris of the Orient. Pearl is oldest sister and college educated, but May has the love of her parents.  She is prettier, has a gorgeous complexion, and can seemingly get away with murder.  Pearl takes her role as being the oldest sister seriously and tries not to let her jealousy of May come between them.  They are not traditional Chinese women anyway.  They are out all night posing as Beautiful Girls.  Their painted  images used to sell anything and they live as if they own Shanghai.  They do until their father’s gambling debts force him to sell them into arranged marriages to a man whose sons lived in America.  At the same time, the Japanese attack Shanghai, shattering their hope completely.  They need to discover if they are more than simply Beautiful Girls, able to survive whatever fate life brings them.

Shanghai Girls is in equal parts a novel about Chinese life and immigration and the bond between sisters.  Just as in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See’s work brings Chinese history, particularly as it relates to women, to life.  In this novel, women have more freedom and options under the Republic than they had previously, at least for those women living in as cosmopolitan a place as Shanghai.  While these changes are for the good, they bring about additional stress within families.  This change in culture is so apparent in the opening scenes with Pearl, May, and their parents.  It was interesting to watch their attitudes and beliefs evolve with their life experiences.  Still, when you take away the Beautiful Girls, their heritage, and the environments in which they live, you are sisters.  They grew up in the same house with the same parents and they each notice anything and everything that is not the same.  Who has a sibling and doesn’t do that?  What I found exceptional about these particular sisters is how they loved each other so fiercely despite the jealousies and resentments that accumulate over time.  They each take their roles as older and younger sister every bit as seriously as their culture once dictated.

War makes up a great part of Shanghai Girls.  Pearl and May’s time as Beautiful Girls would have come to an end at the hands of the Japanese during World War II if it hadn’t been because of their father’s weaknesses.  This perspective of China under attack is something I haven’t read about before.  Even before the war, the scene with the girls stepping over a baby that had been left to die on the street was sickening.  When war broke out, it was that much more fascinating and horrific.  The fear and chaos came across so clearly in Pearl and May’s reactions to all that they witnessed and survived.  As this tied in to the girls’ experiences in Los Angeles as immigrants, I was reminded of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.  These novels would go together quite well if one wanted to explore the experiences of Chinese immigrants in the United States during WWII.

After reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, I bought Peony in Love very quickly.  I loved Snow Flower so much that I kept looking at my copy of Peony in Love with longing nearly every time I looked through my bookshelf.  I didn’t have to think very hard when I was asked to take part in this tour.  I wanted and needed the excuse to pick up another of Lisa See’s books.  I was not disappointed in the least.  Although there was much sorrow and darkness to this novel, I could not tear myself away.  There was one scene in particular between Pearl and her mother which will remain with me for a very long time.  It brought tears to my eyes and made me feel lucky to be alive, which is saying quite a lot under the circumstances.  I fully connected to this novel as a sister, a woman, and as a human being.  My only regret was not being able to make time with this book during the holidays in time to send questions to the author.  She remains one of my favorite modern authors.

Lisa See’s TLC Tour  Dates

You’ve read what I think about Shanghai Girls.  Why don’t you check out what other have and will be saying this month:

Monday, January 4th:  Suko’s Notebook
Wednesday, January 6th: Stephanie’s Written Word
Thursday, January 7th:  She is Too Fond of Books
Friday, January 8th:  Book Club Classics
Monday, January 11th:  Luxury Reading
Tuesday, January 12th:  Diary of an Eccentric
Wednesday, January 13th:  Peeking Between the Pages
Thursday, January 14th:  Caribousmom
Friday, January 15th:  The Book Faery Reviews
Monday, January 18th:  Booking Mama
Tuesday, January 19th:  Savvy Verse & Wit
Wednesday, January 20th:  Dolce Bellezza
Thursday, January 21st:  Book, Line, and Sinker
Friday, January 22nd:  Word Lily
Monday, January 25th:  The Brain Lair
Tuesday, January 26th:  A Lifetime of Books
Wednesday, January 27th:  The 3 R’s: Reading, ‘Riting, and Randomness

#218 ~ When She Flew ~ Book Tour and Giveaway

When She Flew by Jennie Shortridge

Today it is my great pleasure to be Jennie Shortridge’s host on her TLC Book Tour for her novel, When She Flew.  I would like to thank her for sending me both a copy of her book for review as well as one to give away to a lucky reader.  Please see the end of my review for a list of the blogs who are on this tour with me.

I have a lot of fun working as a tour host for TLC Book Tours.  They always have great books and authors on tour.  Check out their website for more information on this tour and the others that they are hosting.

My Review

What our ancestors would have considered minimally acceptable living conditions greatly differs from what would be considered acceptable today.  Houses are not a recent invention, but even in the early 1900s people in the United States lived in sod homes as the America expanded West.  Those same ancestors survived and thrived, leading us to where we are today.  Regardless, choosing to live in the outdoors on property you don’t own is now against the law.  If you do so with your minor child, you run the risk of having your family broken up by Social Services and being charged with neglect.  Raymond Wiggs discovers just after bird watchers tip off the police after spotting his daughter Melinda alone after she wandered off too far entranced by a beautiful blue heron.  After locating the two along with several of her fellow police officers from Columbia, Oregon, Jess Villareal questions whether the state is capable of determining what is best for this family.  She questions whether she can actively participate in taking Lindy away from Ray – even for a short time.  As divorced mother estranged from her only daughter and grandson, her career in the police force is the only thing that makes her feel whole.  Is Jess willing to risk even that to ensure that this small, peculiar family remains together?

Birds play a prominent role in this novel.  The title evokes flight and Lindy is fascinated by them, devouring all that she can about the birds native to the Pacific Northwest.  It is not surprising that from the very  beginning of this novel, which opens with Lindy’s report on barn owls, I was reminded of the following verse from the Gospel of Matthew:

Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? ~ Matthew  6:26

While I might not want to live in a forest, many birds do and they are just fine.  Ray and Lindy had made peace with nature and lived there happily for many years before they were discovered.  Given that it has been done since the beginning of time, why couldn’t – and why shouldn’t – someone with the proper knowledge of the outdoors live in a well-constructed tree house?  If that person is a loving parent who makes his child’s well-being and education a priority, why  shouldn’t that person be left alone to raise his family as he sees fit?  Yesterday’s luxuries are today’s requirements it seems.  In another 100 years, would society find our homes and our parenting neglectful?  Has society lost sight of what is truly important to sustain life?  There isn’t an easy answer to these questions, which are sure to spark some interesting and lively conversations.

Until agreeing to host this TLC Book Tour, I had never read any of Jennie Shortridge’s fiction.  I am so thrilled that I took a chance on her and on When She Flew.  I found it to be thought-provoking, fast-paced, and fun to read.  The plot never suffered as we learned more about Jess and Lindy’s past, their insecurities, their regrets, and their joys.  It felt right that a mother longing to be part of her own daughter’s life again would fight so hard to see that Lindy and Ray stayed together.  She provides Lindy with the strong and secure female role model her mother could never be.  It also made me question my perceptions of what makes a home both physically and emotionally.  I was as entertained throughout this novel as I was satisfied when I finished it.

Giveaway

I have a copy of When She Flew to give away to one of my readers.  This contest is open to readers from the United States only.  I would love to make it international, but my shipping budget isn’t what it used to be earlier this year.

Entering this contest is easy.  Simply leave a comment here telling me what your favorite bird is and why.  The contest is open until 11:59 pm EST on Saturday, December 19th.  I’m planning on announcing the winner on December 20th, my dear husband’s birthday.

For the record, my favorite bird is the American Robin, the State Bird of Michigan.  Isn’t he beautiful against the backdrop of the tulips?  I wonder if he isn’t really Dutch like me?

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Jennie Shortridge’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Thursday, December 3rd:  The 3 R’s Blog: Reading, ‘Riting, and Randomness

Monday, December 7th:  Linus’ Blanket

Tuesday, December 8th:  Book, Line, and Sinker

Wednesday, December 9th:  Luxury Reading

Monday, December 14th:  Book Addiction

Tuesday, December 15th:  Hey, Lady!  What’cha Readin’?

Wednesday, December 16th:  A Novel Menagerie

Thursday, December 17th:  Book Club Classics

Monday, December 21st:  Entertainment Realm

Tuesday, December 22nd:  Dolce Bellezza

Monday, December 28th:  Book Chatter

Tuesday, December 29th:  Caribousmom

Wednesday, December 30th:  Presenting Lenore

Monday, January 4th:  The Brain Lair

Tuesday, January 5th:  Redlady’s Reading Room

#208 ~ Looking After Pigeon

Looking After Pigeon by Maud Carol Markson

Today it is my great pleasure to be Maud Carol Markson’s host on her TLC Book Tour for her novel, Looking After Pigeon.  I would like to thank her for sending me a copy of her book for review.  Please see the end of my review for a list of the blogs who are on this tour with me.

I have a lot of fun working as a tour host for TLC Book Tours.  They always have great books and authors on tour.  Check out their website for more information on this tour and the others that they are hosting.

My Review

Pigeon is five.  She is the youngest of three children, all named after birds.  Her sister Dove is about 10 years older than her and her brother Robin is 10.  Her mother, Joan, married their father to get away from her family and has found herself disillusioned with motherhood.  Things only get worse when Pigeon’s father loses his job and leaves the family with no means of support.  They are forced, in the dead of night, to flee their New York apartment to go live with Joan’s brother Edward, who lives in a beach house not far from Atlantic City.  It is there that those left in her family are forced to pick up the pieces and figure things out on their own.

At the beginning of the novel, an adult Pigeon is encouraged by her unnamed live-in boyfriend to write about the summer she moved to live with her Uncle Edward when she refuses to see a psychiatrist.  That, in conjunction with the book’s title, leaves me waiting from the first page for something extremely terrible to happen to Pigeon.  What I imagine never takes place.  Part of me is relieved because of this as I finished the book, but part of me is also wondering why the novel began that way.  Having a father desert you at the age of five and then be left alone a good deal of the time to take care of yourself would be traumatic.  Still, I never was able to relax into the story because I was waiting for the “real” reason summers made her blue and her lover wanted her to do something to look after her mental health.  I could never really warm up to Uncle Edward or her mother’s boyfriend Cary for fear of what they were going to do to her.

I never really warmed up to Dove or Pigeon’s names, although Robin’s name seemed like a good fit.  He was by far my favorite character in the book.  Likewise, I never really warmed up to Joan.  Even in the scene after Pigeon comes back from her trip to New York City with Edward, I found her extremely cold.  Just that little  bit of warmth wasn’t enough to change my opinion of her.  Living that summer the way she did, lost in the current of everyone else’s  drama, I can also understand why Pigeon holds everyone at arm’s length, even down to leaving her current day lover nameless.  He could be anyone from her romantic life past, present, or even future.  Despite the glimmer of hope that she might one day open herself up more fully to someone else, she never names him.  I found that quite sad, yet authentically Pigeon.

I wish I could say that I enjoyed Looking After Pigeon more than I did.  The detachment I felt from the narrator from the very beginning carried through for me as a reader.  Because I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop as soon as Uncle Edward entered the picture, I didn’t really engage with otherwise sympathetic characters.  There was one touch I found very nice.  Pigeon would make her own paper dolls from people in magazines and spend her time creating stories of their lives.  More than anything else, it was in this detail that I felt closest to Pigeon.   Still, I found myself wondering how this story would have been told from Robin’s perspective.  There was that touch of magic in his soul that might have added just the right touch for me.

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Maud Carol Markson’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS

Wednesday, October 21st: Dolce Bellezza

Monday, October 26th: A Sea of Books

Thursday, October 29th: Steph and Tony Investigate

Monday, November 2nd: A Reader’s Journal

Tuesday, November 3rd: The Scholastic Scribe

Wednesday, November 4th: Raging Bibliomania

Monday, November 9th: Clever Girl Goes Blog

Tuesday, November 10th: Book Club Classics

Thursday, November 11th: Caribousmom

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#197 ~ The Lace Reader ~ Book Tour and Giveaway

Today it is my great pleasure to be Brunonia Barry’s host on her TLC Book Tour for her novel, The Lace Reader.  I have had this book on my shelf now for almost exactly a year, so when I was asked to take part in this tour I was excited to say yes.  Because I already had a copy of this novel, I am making the copy from the book tour a giveaway.

I have a lot of fun working as a tour host for TLC Book Tours.  Check out their website for more information on this tour and the others that they are hosting.

Review

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

My name is Towner Whitney.  No, that’s not exactly true.  My real first name is Sophya. Never believe me. I lie all the time.

Thus begins The Lace Reader, a novel about a young woman, a family, and a city plagued and, in some cases, haunted by history.  Towner has spent a good portion of her adult life in mental hospitals or dealing with her mental illness and the complications of the shock treatments she willingly underwent.  She grew up on Yellow Dog Island, just off the coast of Salem, Massachuttes.  After leaving the mental hospital, she leaves for California in hopes of running away from the death of her twin sister Lindley.  She does not get on well with her agoraphobic mother, and may not have ever returned to Salem if it weren’t for a call from her brother telling her that Eva, her grandfather’s second wife, was missing.  She was recovering from a hysterectomy, but she could not stay away from her hometown.  Eva, a woman reknown for her lace readings who encourages Towner to embrace the gift she has as well, means so much to her.  What Towner finds when she  returns is that the more things change, the more they stay the same.  She must pull the pieces of her life together and come to terms with her past because running away mearly delayed the inevitable.

If you’ve read my blog long enough, you know that I really enjoy an unreliable narrator when that character is done well.  Towner fits into this category so very well.  How could I not be drawn into her life through those opening lines?  Brunonia Barry goes one step further and makes the reader wonder if Towner is as unreliable as she thinks she is and then, in my case, forget altogether.  This is accomplished throughthe vivid characters, a truly awful set of religious fanatics that take the city back to the 17th century, and the introduction of Rafferty, a Salem police  officer, who takes over the narration.  The interplay between Towner and Rafferty’s narration is suble and the outcome is one terrific read.

I like to think of myself as an equal opportunity reader in that I enjoy and can relate to male characters just as well as female characters.  It’s been a long time since I have felt for male characters in a novel the way I felt toward Rafferty.  He is not originally from Salem. He’s worked in the police force there for two years.  He as a teenage daughter and an ex-wife in New York City.  He is a recovering alcoholic looking to live a useful, sober life.  While Towner was living in exhile in California, Rafferty grew close to Eva and, for lack of further explanation, learnned to rely upon her readings and opinions.  His desire to make Salem a safe place for all and to protect Towner and Angela, another lost soul, endeared him to me.  As much as I grew to love Towner, Rafferty made this novel for me.

The Lace Reader was fantastic. This modern view of Salem and how the ciy’s history plays a role in the lives of her citizens, such as Ann, the local wiccan spokeswoman, is interesting and thought provoking (where is a local book club when I need it?).  Although I’ve never been to Salem, I got the feeling of what it would be like to live in such a popular vacation destination, one where people reenacted the city’s darkest and most shameful historical periods on a daily basis. I bought this in hardcover when it first came out after reading many wonderful reviews, but it sat on my shelf for almost exactly a year.  It waited patiently on my shelf until I joined this tour.  As much as I really enjoyed my first read, I’m kicking myself because this could have been my opportunity to re-read it.  As soon as I had finished it, I wanted to start all over again.  Novels don’t get much better than that.

Brunonia Barry’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS

Monday, August 24th – books i done read
Wednesday, August 26th – Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?
Monday, August 31st - Savvy Verse & Wit
Tuesday, September 1st – Cindy’s Love of Books
Thursday, September 3rd - Eclectic Book Lover
Friday, September 4th – Shhh I’m Reading
Monday, September 7th – Literate Housewife
Wednesday, September 9th – Bookopolis
Thursday, September 10th – The Book Lady’s Blog
Monday, September 14th – Biblioaddict
Tuesday, September 15th – Trish’s Reading Nook
Thursday, September 17th – Books and Movies

Contest

For a chance to win a paperback copy of this novel, please leave a comment.  I’ll use List Randomizer to draw the winner on Friday, September 11.

*****

To buy this novel, click here.

#188 ~ Hugh and Bess

Hugh and Bess by Susan Higginbotham

Hugh le Despenser has an unfortunate family background.  His once proud name has been brought down by the scheming of the two previous Hugh le Despensers, who are both executed for treason while he is barely a young man.  Had he not held the castle where he last saw his father alive, he, too, would have been executed.  Instead, he spent four years inprisoned by Queen Isabella and Lord Mortimer.  It was only after the execution of Lord Mortimer that Hugh was able to win his freedom from King Edward III.  He had his freedom, but not much else.  His family had been brought low and it was an uphill battle for him to gain the trust of first his tenents and then his King.  Knowing the background of his family, 14 year-old Elizabeth Montacute, daughter of William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, was not at all happy at her parents decision to make a match between her and the much older heir to the Despenser family.  Hugh loves his childhood friend and long-time lover Emma, but he has to marry someone from the nobility in order to have any chance to regain his family’s status.  Can he find a way to make Bess happy and, more importantly, will Bess let him?

After reading historical fiction taking place in Tudor England, I found myself tracing England’s royalty backwards and the story of the Despenser family is anything if not memorable.  Both the Elder and the Younger Hugh were depicted as vile people.  Although the story in this novel takes place after both of their executions, Higgenbottom wrote Hugh the Younger to be a good father and a good man who just made some poor choices in the political arena as well as in his personal life.  He may have made his bed, but he was a man who would be loved and missed by his family.  Hugh the Younger was given much more depth, making it possible for me to put myself in the place of his children and family.  I wanted the Hugh of this novel to suceed financially and in love.  My heart broke for him when he had to let Emma go, but I held out hope that he could melt Bess’ icy heart.  I was rooting for the Despenser family throughout.

Hugh and Bess is a delightful love story. Amidst the tragedy of the Despenser family and the arranged marriages of King Edward’s court, two unlikely people find love. It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a love story so much – let alone one taking place in medieval England.  Although you know that there is conflict and scheming among people of royal courts, it was refreshing to read a novel about people who wanted the most they could make out of life, but through loyalty and chivalry.  Higginbothom made the relationship between Hugh and Bess come alive while painting a picture of where they lived and the places they visited.  The scene with Bess and Hugh at Tewkesbury Abbey, pictured above, before their wedding was especially vivid. From that moment, it became a “must see” location if (hopefully when) I visit England.  This novel will appeal to lovers of historical fiction as well as romance. With England’s vast and intriguing history, I’m so glad that Higginbothom chose to champion Hugh and Bess le Despenser.

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Here are links to other blogs who have or will be reviewing Hugh and Bess as part of this book tour:

Musings of a Bibliophile (7/28)
Passages to the Past (8/1)
My Friend Amy (8/1)
Reading Adventures (8/2)
Jennifer’s Random Musings (8/2)
Peeking Between the Pages (8/3)
Historical Novels.info (8/3)
Grace’s Book Blog (8/4)
The Written World (8/5)
Mrs. Magoo Reads (8/5)
Historical Fiction (8/6)
Jenn’s Bookshelf (8/6)
The Tome Traveller’s Weblog (8/7)
Galley Cat (8/8)
Galley Cat (8/8)
Book Addiction (8/9)
Book Addiction (8/9)
Steven Till (8/10)
Carla Nayland (8/11)
Diary of an Eccentric (8/13)
Bookfoolery and Babble (8/14)

*******

To buy this novel, click here.

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#181 ~ Last Light over Carolina ~ Review and Blog Tour

Last Light over Carolina by Mary Alice Monroe

Life is hard in McClellanville, South Carolina.  It was built on shrimping, a difficult and demanding industry that had once been good.  With the easy access to foreign shrimp and the decreasing catches over time, more and more people are leaving McClellanville behind.  Carolina and Bud Morrison have lived the shrimper’s life.  They married with much passion and high hopes for the future, but they’re marriage is about as vital as Bud’s credit.  Bud leaves for work on his boat, the Miss Carolina in the morning without making Carolina get up to fix him breakfast.  She was up with a toothache most of the night and he wanted to allow her some more sleep. Still, they had faught the night before and he left without a kiss.  They both remember the glory of their early days together and wonder if the lethargy and lack of forgiveness that has engulfed their marriage is just part of being married for so long.  They had no idea what would happen to Bud that day on the Atlantic and how it would change their perspective on everything.

My favorite scene of the novel was the scene where Bud, his father Oz, his brother Buddy, and his cousin Pee Dee found their own secret sweet spot of shrimp and brought in the haul of their lives.  Despite the harsh lifestyle required to be a shrimper, it was easy to see why the exhilaration of that day would keep a man working in that craft for life.  It’s equally easy to understand why a man looking to regain his place in his community and his stature in his family would choose to return to that spot even when the conditions were not favorable.  His marriage is rocky and the fact that he can’t provide basic dental care for his wife makes him feel even worse.  He found magic in that spot of the ocean where the Morrison family stacked their claim thirty years ago.  Going back was the only logical thing he could do to save them.

This is the first novel I’ve read by Mary Alice Monroe. I’ve only heard good things about her writing and now I see why. From the beginning there was something comfortable and familiar about her prose. There was just something about this story and the way that it was written that felt like home. The simple introduction of Carolina barely awake with a toothache while Bud prepared for the day felt so lived. That passage brought to mind flashes of Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson from In the Bedroom, a movie with just the right tone and lighting for their home and their marriage. Just as in the movie, the characters are real. They don’t sleep in full make-up and they are almost simply resigned to their fate.

Last Light over Carolina is a beautiful novel that tells the story of a marriage, a  family, and a struggling coastal South Carolina town.  What happens to McClellanville and the Morrison’s marriage mirror each other.  They both have lost the passion that made them what they were.  From the moment I picked it up, I never wanted to put it down.  Reading this book made it so easy to understand why the life surrounding shrimp is so often romanticized.   Despite the hard work and awful hours, the world opens up in a special way only for them.  It’s no wonder when you Google shrimp boat, you’ll find so many oil paintings and watercolors. Just like Monroe’s writing, it captures and keeps your imagination.  I cannot recommend this novel highly enough.

++++++

Thanks to Sarah from Pocket Books for sending me a copy of this novel for review.  I’m so happy to be participating in my first Pocket Books Blog Tour.  This was a wonderful first novel to get my feet wet (no pun intended – only caught that myself on the re-read).  Here are some of my fellow tour hosts and hostesses:

All About {n}: www.bookwormygirl.blogspot.com
Bookin’ with “BINGO”: http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com/
My Guilty Pleasures: http://www.mgpblog.com/
Just Jennifer Reading: http://www.justjenniferreading.blogspot.com/
Chick With Books: http://www.chickwithbooks.blogspot.com/
Bella’s Novella: http://www.bellasnovella.com/
BermudaOnion’s Weblog: http://www.bermudaonion.wordpress.com/
Books and Needlepoint: http://booksandneedlepoint.blogspot.com/
Booksie’s Blog: http://booksiesblog.blogspot.com/
Beth Fish Reads: http://bfishreads.blogspot.com/
Medieval Bookworm: http://chikune.com/blog/
Living Life and Reading Books: http://ilovelovebooks.blogspot.com/
Book N Around: http://booknaround.blogspot.com/
The Eclectic Book Hoarder: http://eclecticbookhoarder.blogspot.com/
Pick of the Literate: http://bookrevues.blogspot.com/
A Book Bloggers Diary: http://abookbloggersdiary.blogspot.com/
My Friend Amy: http://www.myfriendamysblog.com/
The Tome Traveller’s Weblog: http://thetometraveller.blogspot.com/
Gaijin Mama: http://gaijinmama.wordpress.com/
Blog Business World: http://blogbusinessworld.blogspot.com/
ScarpettaJunkie’s Blog: http://scarpettajunkie.wordpress.com/
Frugal Plus: http://frugalplus.com/
Carolina Gal’s Literary Café: http://susansliterarycafe.blogspot.com/
This Book For Free: www.thisbookforfree.com
Marta’s Meanderings: http://martasmeanderings.blogspot.com/

*******

To buy this novel, click here.

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#167 ~ The Painter from Shanghai ~ Review and Blog Tour

The Painter from Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein

Today it is my pleasure to serve as Jennifer Cody Epstein’s hostess on her The Painter from Shanghai blog tour organized by TLC Book Tours.  Mine is the first of many stops this month.  Please see information on her entire tour and the giveaway at the end of this post. For more information on TLC Book Tours, their authors and all of their tour dates, please click here.

Pan Yuliang wasn’t always an artist. Before she became famous, she was known as Xiuquing, a child who was orphaned at an early age.  She  went to with her uncle, who was an opium addict. At the age of 14, her uncle sold her into prostitution. Her uncle did give her one thing, the love of poetry and this is whateventually attracks Pan Zanhua, a customs inspector. He makes Yuliang his second wife and sets up a home for her in Shanghai.  It is here were she is free to learn to read and write and, eventually, cultivate her love of painting. Her husband, whose views on life and society do not prevent him from falling in love with and taking a whore as his concubine when they first met, constricted over time, fueled by his insecurity over losing her. Still, her studies take her to Paris where the buring wick of a Chinese revolution is never far away.

Pan Yuliang is a historical figure and Jennifer Cody Epstein brought her to life for me in the way she imagined and wrote Yuliang’s life.  Her story brought me back to The Blue Notebook, reminding me of how lucky Yuliang was to have been bought out of slavery by a man list Pan Zanhua.  He loved her for who she was and encouraged  her to learn to read and write.  He even prompted her to reverse the damage done to her feet by the binding that was never completed when she was a child.  The scene where Zanhua rubbed circulation into her feet was touching and beautiful. Despite his love and kindness, Yuliang is not able to give herself over to him completely. Her experiences as  a prostitue in the Hall scared her in ways that she cannot express in words.  It all came out of her through her art.

Yuliang and Zanhua’s relationship was equal in Zanhua’s estimation, but as she pushed to expand her education beyond the politcal writings and other reading and writing lessons he provided her, it became evident to Yuliang that she was still in a cage of sorts. When forced to choose, she could not afford to take a decision that was not in her own self-interest. Zanhua may have viewed her as selfish and ungrateful, but living so near the art that she loved and being kept form it was would have been worse than never having it in the first place.  The fight between them resulting from her nude self-portrait brought this out very clearly. Had Zanhua’s opinions become more conservative over the course of his relationship, or had Yuliang’s perception of the freedom offered to her by his love shrink exponentially when she fully came up against the boundaries he  set up? As fascinating as I found Yuliang’s life, the study of their relationship was the element that really kept me engaged in The Painter from Shanghai.

I knew nothing of Chinese art or Pan Yuliang when I picked up this novel and started reading The Painter from Shanghai, but I wouldn’t have enjoyed this novel any more if I had.  Jennifer Cody Epstein writes about Yuliang with passion and fluidity.  She made Yuliang and her world come alive.  Her novel picked me up out of a reading funk.  I was half way through it before I gave it a second thought.  I enjoyed the way that Epstein made art of a part of Yuliang, a way for her to understand and come to terms with her world. She made sense out of Yuliang’s choices and painted the complicated portrait of a woman who learned to live life by her own rules at a time and in a place where doing so was more shameful than prostitution.  The Painter from Shanghai is the best Historical Fiction I’ve read this year.

+++++++

In addition to introducing me to a wonderfully engaging woman, Jennifer Cody Epstein opened my eyes to Pan Yuliang’s beautiful art.  Her nudes, which created so much controversy, are lovely, but her still lifes are just as gorgeous.  The following, in addition to those I used within my review, are some of my favorites.  I would love to find some prints for my home.

There are even more on Epstein’s website.

######

Jennifer Cody Epstein’s TLC Blog Tour is just beginning, here is the rest of her schedule this month.  I’m so curious to see what everyone else thought.

Wednesday, June 3rd:  Book-a-Rama

Thursday, June 4th:  Book Nut

Monday, June 8th:  She is Too Fond of Books

Tuesday, June 9th:  S. Krishna’s Books

Wednesday, June 10th:  Becky’s Book Reviews

Thursday, June 11th:  Redlady’s Reading Room

Monday, June 15th:  Dolce Bellezza

Tuesday, June 16th:  Peeking Between the Pages

Wednesday, June 17th:  A Work in Progress

Thursday, June 18th:  Beth Fish Reads

Monday, June 22nd:  Pop Culture Junkie

Tuesday, June 23rd:  Do They Have Salsa in China?

Wednesday, June 24th:  Bookworm with a View

Thursday, June 25th:  So Many Precious Books, So Little Time

Friday, June 26th:  Savvy Verse and Wit

Monday, June 29th:  Nerd’s Eye View 

******

To buy this novel, click here.

#166 ~ Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Happy Memorial Day everyone! I am happy to be Jamie Ford’s tour host today as part of his Pump Up Your Book Promotion blog tour. I won a signed ARC copy of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet from Marcia at The Printed Page last year and have been looking for an opportunity to read it ever since. When Tracee asked if I would like to be a tour host, I jumped at the chance. I didn’t realize that today was a holiday when I committed, but in actually it’s the best possible date for this novel because today we remember those who fought for and served our country throughout the years.

Thank you Jamie and Tracee!

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Henry Lee is an unassuming man in his 50s who has lived in Seattle most of his life. His wife Ethel has recently passed away from cancer and he finds himself free to reminisce about his life during the “war years.”  He was born to a traditional Chinese couple who, although they lived and supported the United States, were Chinese first.  What they wanted for their only son is what feels like being torn in half by so many first generation Americans – to grow up being totally American while being totally Chinese.  It is all that much more difficult during WWII, when he had to wear a button announcing his race so as not to be mistaken for being Japenese.  To make his parents happy, he goes “scholarshipping” at a caucasion school.  He never fit in, until a Japenese girl named Keiko started ”scholarshipping” with him.  Their friendship began while serving food to the other students and grew as they discovered a shared love for jazz.  Their world is torn apart after Keiko and her family are forcibly evacuated and Henry’s parents learn of his relationship with the enemy.  When, the Panama Hotel undergoes renevations in 1986, the new owner discovers a basement full of family mementos from Japenese families forced to leave the city.  Can what is found in there help Henry find peace in his decisions he made during and after the war and find a way to bridge the gap between him and his only son Marty?

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a story about men and their relationships.  You have Henry in his youth struggling in his relationships with his father, the bullies at his caucasion school, they way he should feel about his country, and the still steady influences from his father’s homeland.  He also has positive relationships with Sheldon, the black jazz street musician who teaches him how to survive as an American minority, with Keiko and her family, and Mrs. Beatty, the caucasion lunch lady who isn’t as tough and uncaring as she would make herself out to be.  The older Henry still has not come to terms with the outcomes of some of those relationships.  He doesn’t quite get over his differencess with his father until he realizes that through his son’s eyes that he is not that much different.  There was one thing I wish that I could have told Henry from the very beginning.  I would tell him not to feel guilty or less loyal to Ethel because he wants to move on by way of taking care of the past.  A man who so lovingly and carefully takes care of his wife as she dies of cancer has nothing for which to feel guilty.

The strength of this novel for me were the scenes where Henry remembers history taking place.  I felt the great pain of those who believed the need to burn or otherwise destroy family pictures to keep themselves safe from coming under suspicion with the American govenerment.  I could feel the panic and anxiety experienced by the Japenese families being forced to leave behind their homes and belongings while their fellow citizens cheered.  Best of all were the feelings of relief and joy felt when VJ Day was announced.  After living through such a long period of war, the people needed that celebration.  Perhaps it would have been taking on too much, but I was surprised that the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were not mentioned. I would have liked to have seen the emotions that Henry experienced when he found out what happened, especially if he was told by his father.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet told a story about World War II I had never read before and it was set in a city I would love to visit.   I enjoyed this novel, but it didn’t engage my imagination the way that I had anticipated that it would. As much as I liked Henry, Keiko, Sheldon, and Marty the story felt like it was at an arm’s distance from me, as if I were sitting at the breakfast table along with Henry and his father. Jamie Ford has a unique voice and and he used it well in this debut novel. I felt the details of Chinese and Japenese culture were interesting and added depth to the story.  There were times when I was fully engaged, such as when Kenry and Keiko try to listen to Sheldon play with Oscar Holden at the Black Elks Club and when Henry visits Keiko at the internment camps.  Stll, I never got to the point where I couldn’t put it down.  I had heard such wonderful things about this novel and assumed that I would devour it ravenously.  I wonder how my reading experience might have been had I only gone by the description? Sometimes expectations and anticipation can put undue burden on a book.  Have you ever experienced that?

+++++++

This book was also read as part of my War Through The Generations 2009 Challenge.

********

To buy this novel, click here.

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