by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
This book is about a young woman in Afghanistan whose education is halted and whose family is threatened by the incursion of the Taliban. Initially the girl's life is disrupted as girls are no longer allowed to go to school. Then her older brother leaves for Pakistan to avoid being forced to join the Taliban and her father and mother leave for northern Afghanistan to avoid prosecution by the Taliban as her father was a government official prior to his retiremnt.
The young girl is left in Kabul with a young brother and several sisters. She worries about how they will survive and support themselves and comes up with the idea of sewing clothes and selling them to local stores. She doesn' know anything about sewing but her oldest sister, who is married but lives in Kabul, teaches her and her sisters how to sew and bead items.
The girl produces some dresses and then, escorted by her young brother, goes to seek orders from a local tailor. She succeeds and is so successful she ends up recruiting other women to help sew the dresses. This provides her family and also other women with money to survive. She later becomes involved with NGO's mentoring other women,
The book was written almost like a novel, with dialogue, etc. It is interesting to read about how creative people can be in very difficult circumstances. It is sad that after decades there is still no stability in Afghanistan.
Thursday, 31 May 2012
Monday, 21 May 2012
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
by Deborah Moggach
I picked up a copy of this book because a movie version has just come out. The book is the story of several British seniors who find it hard to survive financially in Britain and who are enticed by promotional material about a senior's hotel in India.
The characters include a woman who doesn't trust coloured people, a couple who have done a lot of world travel, the skirt-chasing father of one of the partners in the project who has been kicked out of many senior's residences in England, a woman whose son is on the run from the law and a retired BBC producer.
The book is quite funny in places and also bittersweet. The hotel and the medical staff aren't quite as promised in the promotional material. The "Doctor" is actually a specialist in veneral diseases and the nurse (wife of the hotel owner is actually a foot care technician). The country seems to have a powerful impact on all the people. As the story progesses many of the characters, including family members and the owner of the hotel, start to evaluate their life decisions and make changes or think about making changes.
I enjoyed the book. It was poignant and funny.
We saw the movie yesterday, it stars Judy Dench and Maggie Smith. The movie is quite different from the book however it also was very enjoyable.
I picked up a copy of this book because a movie version has just come out. The book is the story of several British seniors who find it hard to survive financially in Britain and who are enticed by promotional material about a senior's hotel in India.
The characters include a woman who doesn't trust coloured people, a couple who have done a lot of world travel, the skirt-chasing father of one of the partners in the project who has been kicked out of many senior's residences in England, a woman whose son is on the run from the law and a retired BBC producer.
The book is quite funny in places and also bittersweet. The hotel and the medical staff aren't quite as promised in the promotional material. The "Doctor" is actually a specialist in veneral diseases and the nurse (wife of the hotel owner is actually a foot care technician). The country seems to have a powerful impact on all the people. As the story progesses many of the characters, including family members and the owner of the hotel, start to evaluate their life decisions and make changes or think about making changes.
I enjoyed the book. It was poignant and funny.
We saw the movie yesterday, it stars Judy Dench and Maggie Smith. The movie is quite different from the book however it also was very enjoyable.
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Villa Triste
by Lucretia Grindle
This is a mystery story set in Florence, the setting for the story shifts between WWII and the present.
Two aged partisans are murdered and both have salt in their mouths. As the police officer investigating the crimes tries to solve the murders he is drawn back into activities in WWII and the lives of the two men and a women whose diary is in the safe of one of the murdered men.
The police officer becomes obsessed with learning more about the life of the women who wrote the diary and he is being shadowed by an American woman who is trying to find out the true identity of her Italian grandfather. In the end it turns out that her genealogy is intertwined with the lives of the people the police officer is tracking.
The story is well told and provides good historical details. The obession of the police officer and the American, in the present, add to the intrigue in the story. It was a book that I didn't want to put down, you wanted to know what would happen next, or what new detail would be uncovered. The ending was a bit of a surprise but the story neatly tied things together.
I would certainly recommend this book as an engaging read.
This is a mystery story set in Florence, the setting for the story shifts between WWII and the present.
Two aged partisans are murdered and both have salt in their mouths. As the police officer investigating the crimes tries to solve the murders he is drawn back into activities in WWII and the lives of the two men and a women whose diary is in the safe of one of the murdered men.
The police officer becomes obsessed with learning more about the life of the women who wrote the diary and he is being shadowed by an American woman who is trying to find out the true identity of her Italian grandfather. In the end it turns out that her genealogy is intertwined with the lives of the people the police officer is tracking.
The story is well told and provides good historical details. The obession of the police officer and the American, in the present, add to the intrigue in the story. It was a book that I didn't want to put down, you wanted to know what would happen next, or what new detail would be uncovered. The ending was a bit of a surprise but the story neatly tied things together.
I would certainly recommend this book as an engaging read.
Friday, 4 May 2012
The Midwife of Venice
by Roberta Rich
This is the story of a young Jewish midwife who risks prosecution or worse trouble for the Jewish Ghetto in Venice by agreeing to help with a difficult birth of a Christian woman. The woman agrees to do so, despite the warnings of her Rabbi, because the man offers to pay her enough money to free her husband.
Her husband is in Malta and will not be released by the Knights until a large ransom is paid for him.
The book alternates between the lives of the young woman and her husband who is ekking out an existence trying to survive until his ransom is paid or he can escape.
The young midwife uses birthing spoons (forceps) to deliver the baby and both the baby and mother survive. However, the midwife loses or misplaces her birthing tool and fears that the tools will be used to get her imprisoned or worse. However, she later finds that the brother-in-law of the woman who gave birth wants to hold the spoons for ransom to get the money the midwife made from the delivery -- he wants to settle gambling debts. Things get worse when the baby's parents leave the child and the uncles of the child plot to kill him so that they can inherit the estate. The young midwife saves the baby's life but kills one of the uncles to do so. She is on the run and doesn't know where to turn, she goes to see her estranged sister who offers her shelter, but this results in the sister being murdered by the other brother.
When the midwife tries to return the baby to his home she learns that his parents have died of the plague.
What is she to do with the child, she heads off with him for Malta to rescue her husband. While enroute to find her husband she meets a woman who is so appreciative of her contraceptive assistance that she offers to help her find a job in Constantinople. With her skill at midwifery and the silk worms her husband have, and the baby they have decided to raise as their own, it would seem that a good future would lie ahead for them.
The book was an interesting read, it kept you engaged in what would happen. I have to say that it seemed strange to me that a mother who worried about her newborn son would abandon him so soon after his birth, but perhaps that would be customary with the artistocrats fo the time. And, as it was historical fiction I think there could have been a bit more descripiton of life and the settings of the story.
This is the story of a young Jewish midwife who risks prosecution or worse trouble for the Jewish Ghetto in Venice by agreeing to help with a difficult birth of a Christian woman. The woman agrees to do so, despite the warnings of her Rabbi, because the man offers to pay her enough money to free her husband.
Her husband is in Malta and will not be released by the Knights until a large ransom is paid for him.
The book alternates between the lives of the young woman and her husband who is ekking out an existence trying to survive until his ransom is paid or he can escape.
The young midwife uses birthing spoons (forceps) to deliver the baby and both the baby and mother survive. However, the midwife loses or misplaces her birthing tool and fears that the tools will be used to get her imprisoned or worse. However, she later finds that the brother-in-law of the woman who gave birth wants to hold the spoons for ransom to get the money the midwife made from the delivery -- he wants to settle gambling debts. Things get worse when the baby's parents leave the child and the uncles of the child plot to kill him so that they can inherit the estate. The young midwife saves the baby's life but kills one of the uncles to do so. She is on the run and doesn't know where to turn, she goes to see her estranged sister who offers her shelter, but this results in the sister being murdered by the other brother.
When the midwife tries to return the baby to his home she learns that his parents have died of the plague.
What is she to do with the child, she heads off with him for Malta to rescue her husband. While enroute to find her husband she meets a woman who is so appreciative of her contraceptive assistance that she offers to help her find a job in Constantinople. With her skill at midwifery and the silk worms her husband have, and the baby they have decided to raise as their own, it would seem that a good future would lie ahead for them.
The book was an interesting read, it kept you engaged in what would happen. I have to say that it seemed strange to me that a mother who worried about her newborn son would abandon him so soon after his birth, but perhaps that would be customary with the artistocrats fo the time. And, as it was historical fiction I think there could have been a bit more descripiton of life and the settings of the story.
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