by Nick Trout
I thought I would try a little light reading for a change. This is the story of a man, a veterinary pathologist, who was dismissed from his job in the southern U.S. and lost his license to practice. He is in the midst of a wrongful dismissal suit.
His father has died and he has returned to Vermont to sell the family veterinary practice to fund his lawsuit and get some money. However, he finds the practice is deeply in debt. The local banker tells him his best bet is to sell the practice to a big chain of vet clinics.
However, he gets a reprieve from the bank, if he can make enough money, in one week, to show the practice is viable he may not to have to sell it to the chain. His first patient is a man who wants his aged golden retriever euthanized. The man leaves, doesn't sign the consent form, but throws $20 at the man to do the deed. The man is puzzled by this behaviour and can't bring himself to kill the dog. He takes it to the apartment on the second floor of the clinic. He later finds that a mother and dauther are posting posters seeking the dog.... but he doesn't tell them he has the dog.
As the story moves along we learn that the man had become estranged from his father. As a young man he was hurt by the fact that his father put all his attention to his practice and patients and had little time for his own family. The boy is sent off to university and is distraught when he finds his mother had cancer, has died and his father didn't tell him until after she has been buried. He is so furious he changes his name to his mother's last name.
The man stumbles and bumbles his way through diagnosing and treating some of the local pets. He ends up figuring out some very difficult diagnoses. He also saves a cat and her kitten performing a difficult delivery and then delivering the cat's owners baby when she goes into labour right after the birth of the kitten. This celebrity is great for the clinic, but could be bad for him if it comes out that he is working with a suspended license. Then he finds out that someone knows his past and is threatening to reveal the truth.
At the vet clinic there is a heavy smoking assistant who knows everyone in town. She doesn't welcome the new doctor. He is befriended by a part-time vet who has been working at the clinic. This man gives him advice and actually reveals the truth to the man about his father and mother. His mother didn't want him to worry about her, didn't want him to fail his vet exams, so got her husband not to tell the son she was ill or dies until after his exams. He is understandably sad at this revelation.
By the end of the book he has become convinced not to sell the practice and an "angel investor" comes forward to help him meet his immediate financial difficulties. The golden retriever is returned to its owner, and it looks like he has found a woman to love. He leaves the clinic to settle his legal affairs. We assume all will end well.
This was a fun, funny light read. A great book for dog lovers.
Sunday, 19 January 2014
Three Souls
by Janie Chang,
This story takes place in China in the 1930's. It is the time when the country is in the midst of a civil war, with the Maoists pitted against the ruling party.
A young girl Song Leyin, is from an affluent family. As the story begins we find her floating in the rafters of a temple, with her three souls. She realizes that she has died but doesn't remember how. She is puzzled that she is still lingering in a soul state, and her starts to recall her life from a young girl.
When she was on the verge of completing her schooling her brother was associating with some communist sympathizers including a writer, translator, Hanchin. Song Leyin was taken to one of Hanchin's lectures in a rather sketchy neighbourhood by her brother. She falls in love with him and when her father finds out where she is been he is furious at her and her brother.
She steals secret moments with Hanchin and against her father's wishes applies for a scholarship to university so that she can become a teacher and go teach in villages, per Hanchin's wishes. When her father learns of the scholarship he insists that she decline it. She doesn't she runs off to live with one of her sisters and plans to go to univeristy. Her parents find her, bring her home and then very quickly arrange for her to be married to a young man, poorer than her family, in a rural city.
At first she is furious at her parents banishing her. The family she is married into is poor because the father keeps spending money on rare items and books. She is shocked to learn that her husband is illiterate as she loves books and obviously her father-in-law does also. She gives birth to a daughter, whom she loves dearly. She comes to accept her life and appreciate her kind husband. She teaches her daughter and her husband to read. Life seems content, if not affluent.
Then one day she receives a copy of a communist magazine that Hanchin had been writing for and it suggests she visit a local bookstore. She goes there and finds Hanchin, working as a clerk in the story. He is hiding from the authorities as he is accused of treasonous activities against the state. She and Hanchin have an affair and she considers leaving everything she has to follow him. He leaves her a manuscript and asks her to hide it. He leaves to hide elsewhere but promises he will return soon. She finds she is pregnant again, by Hanchin and is eager to be reunited with him.
She asks her brother to send a tutor for her daughter because she wants her to be well educated. She is delighted but puzzled when the person who arrives is a woman who was her best friend. This woman says she is Hanchin's wife. Song Leyin is shocked that Hanchin would have deceived her. Hanchin's wife is there to try to find the manuscript. Song Leyin is even more devastated when one of the staff admits that she is pregnant by Hanchin. She is so angry about the betrayal by Hanchin that she insists the servant be sent from the house. She discloses what she knows about Hanchin's travel plans and he is caught and killed.
Song Leyin dies after falling over a rickety railing on a veranda in the house. Her father-in-law's spending never allowed for money to repair the house. Both she and her unborn child die. The family is devastated at her death and at the news that the unborn child was a son. However, they quickly marry off their son to another woman. Song Leyin is happy to see that the new wife is kind to her daughter, but she learns that the woman's father is a child molester.
She learns that if people dream about her she can enter their dreams and make suggestions... She decides to suggest that the pregnant servant be allowed to return to the household and when she learns that her daughter is to be betrothed to a friend of her brothers. She influences a dream so that this will not occur, because she has "seen" that her daughter would be molested in the future if sent to that household. Her brother is murdered because it has been discovered he was working as a double agent
At the end of the book her husband and his wife and children are leaving the family home to get away from Japanese bombing. They are going to go to a small cottage in the mountains and hope they will be safe there.
It seems that it is time for Song Leyin to move on.... she feels very heavy, has she atoned enough for her actions?
It was an interesting story, the mystery of knowing that she died, but not why, and having it slowly revealed was interesting. However, I don't understand the presence of the three souls hovering with her, they seemed to make editorial comments at times but seemed basically superfluous to me. And the idea of staying around as a spirit, until you could make some amends, protect your family members - can all people do this? I don't think so because then more people could help their family from the grave? Maybe they are and I am just unaware of it? That part of the story line was a bit far fetched.
Initially she thinks that she must make peace with her father, who had died, or with Hanchin
This story takes place in China in the 1930's. It is the time when the country is in the midst of a civil war, with the Maoists pitted against the ruling party.
A young girl Song Leyin, is from an affluent family. As the story begins we find her floating in the rafters of a temple, with her three souls. She realizes that she has died but doesn't remember how. She is puzzled that she is still lingering in a soul state, and her starts to recall her life from a young girl.
When she was on the verge of completing her schooling her brother was associating with some communist sympathizers including a writer, translator, Hanchin. Song Leyin was taken to one of Hanchin's lectures in a rather sketchy neighbourhood by her brother. She falls in love with him and when her father finds out where she is been he is furious at her and her brother.
She steals secret moments with Hanchin and against her father's wishes applies for a scholarship to university so that she can become a teacher and go teach in villages, per Hanchin's wishes. When her father learns of the scholarship he insists that she decline it. She doesn't she runs off to live with one of her sisters and plans to go to univeristy. Her parents find her, bring her home and then very quickly arrange for her to be married to a young man, poorer than her family, in a rural city.
At first she is furious at her parents banishing her. The family she is married into is poor because the father keeps spending money on rare items and books. She is shocked to learn that her husband is illiterate as she loves books and obviously her father-in-law does also. She gives birth to a daughter, whom she loves dearly. She comes to accept her life and appreciate her kind husband. She teaches her daughter and her husband to read. Life seems content, if not affluent.
Then one day she receives a copy of a communist magazine that Hanchin had been writing for and it suggests she visit a local bookstore. She goes there and finds Hanchin, working as a clerk in the story. He is hiding from the authorities as he is accused of treasonous activities against the state. She and Hanchin have an affair and she considers leaving everything she has to follow him. He leaves her a manuscript and asks her to hide it. He leaves to hide elsewhere but promises he will return soon. She finds she is pregnant again, by Hanchin and is eager to be reunited with him.
She asks her brother to send a tutor for her daughter because she wants her to be well educated. She is delighted but puzzled when the person who arrives is a woman who was her best friend. This woman says she is Hanchin's wife. Song Leyin is shocked that Hanchin would have deceived her. Hanchin's wife is there to try to find the manuscript. Song Leyin is even more devastated when one of the staff admits that she is pregnant by Hanchin. She is so angry about the betrayal by Hanchin that she insists the servant be sent from the house. She discloses what she knows about Hanchin's travel plans and he is caught and killed.
Song Leyin dies after falling over a rickety railing on a veranda in the house. Her father-in-law's spending never allowed for money to repair the house. Both she and her unborn child die. The family is devastated at her death and at the news that the unborn child was a son. However, they quickly marry off their son to another woman. Song Leyin is happy to see that the new wife is kind to her daughter, but she learns that the woman's father is a child molester.
She learns that if people dream about her she can enter their dreams and make suggestions... She decides to suggest that the pregnant servant be allowed to return to the household and when she learns that her daughter is to be betrothed to a friend of her brothers. She influences a dream so that this will not occur, because she has "seen" that her daughter would be molested in the future if sent to that household. Her brother is murdered because it has been discovered he was working as a double agent
At the end of the book her husband and his wife and children are leaving the family home to get away from Japanese bombing. They are going to go to a small cottage in the mountains and hope they will be safe there.
It seems that it is time for Song Leyin to move on.... she feels very heavy, has she atoned enough for her actions?
It was an interesting story, the mystery of knowing that she died, but not why, and having it slowly revealed was interesting. However, I don't understand the presence of the three souls hovering with her, they seemed to make editorial comments at times but seemed basically superfluous to me. And the idea of staying around as a spirit, until you could make some amends, protect your family members - can all people do this? I don't think so because then more people could help their family from the grave? Maybe they are and I am just unaware of it? That part of the story line was a bit far fetched.
Initially she thinks that she must make peace with her father, who had died, or with Hanchin
Thursday, 16 January 2014
The Crooked Maid
By Dan Vyleta
This was an amazing book. One the best I have read in a long time. The story starts with two people travelling to Vienna on a train in post WWII Europe. The woman (Anna) is returning to see her husband from whom she has been estranged. The woman's husband has been a prisoner of war and only recently released. She is returning to Vienna to see if they can reconcile. The young man, whose eye is disfigured as a result of a schoo fight, is returning home to his family as his stepfather has been seriously injured.
The boy (Robert)is intrigued by the woman and copies down her name and address from her luggage while she is sleeping.
When they arrive in Vienna, the woman takes a taxi home, the boy walks home. Their arrival is observed by a scruffy man in a army coat with a red wollen scraft "of better appearance than the rest of him".
When the women arrives at her apartment, her husband is not there but there is a red mark, that looks like blood) on the wall. When the boy arrives home he is greeted at the door by a young hunch-backed girl. He is appalled to see the condition of the house, it is not clean, there is no food. The girl is living in the house with his mother and pregnant sister-in-law. The girl seems to have befriended a flock of crows who are now living in the attic of the house. The boy becomes enthralled by the girl and by the end of the story wants to marry her... to his mother's displeasure. The man with the red scarf is often seen standing outside the boy's house. It is making his family very nervous.
A drunk, whom people later refer to as a giant, arrives at the woman's house. He lets himself in with a key. He claims to know her husband, to have been in prison with him. The woman is warry of him and kicks him out. He meets and starts living with an American woman, a widowed reporter, who lives in the same building.
The boy's father dies, he had fallen, or been pushed out of a window in the house. The boy's brother, who had been in jail charged with assault is now charged with murder and goes on trial. While all this is happening the woman has reported her husband missing to the police. The police officer, a widower, is attracted to her but she spurns his attention. The young boy comes to visit her and she kisses him... he is very puzzled by this, he had thought of becoming a priest. He is more perplexed as his affection for the young girl. She is cool to him and cruel to his family, she has her own hoard of food which she hides from them. The strange thing is the family is supposed to be rich and own a factory. Why are thy living in poverty.
As the story goes on we learn that the women left her husband because he was having an affair with a man. The boy's brother is believed/hated as a vicious SS interogator and his father a Nazi sympathizer. His mother was a Hitler devotee and still has a picture of him in the house. A dead body is found in a basement of an abandoned building, it has a glass eye. The body is so badly beaten and decayed that the woman is not able to make a positive ID of the body. She did not think her husband had a glass eye, but.... with the war anything could have happended. Strangely, the body has had the internal organs removed, it has been sewn up and some chemicals sprinkled on it... who? why?
We later find out that the women's husband knew of the young girl, an orphan and wanted to help her. Why we don't know. They boy's father took her in to his household, why? The girl is going by another name, why did she change her name? Because she was a Jew? We also found out that the stepfather had struck a deal with a Jewish factory owner to take over his factory and home, with the understanding that after the war the Jewish man could come back and claim all his property back. The family thinks the man with the red scarf is the Jew waiting to reclaim his property.
The boy's brother appears to be on the verge of being convicted for his father's murder but the testimony of the hunch-backed girl (she lies) saves him. She had made a deal with the boy and his mother, if she saved the brother, she would be allowed to marry the boy. When she comes home she plans to marry but finds that someone has poisoned all her crows, She is furious and leaves the house, going to stay with the man (the giant) whom she met outside the woman's apartment. She is familiar with the apartment, obviously had been there at some time with the woman's husband.
It is puzzling as to why so many people are enthralled with the young girl, she seems to entrance men.
As the story concludes we learn that the dead body was indeed the woman's husband. The man in the red scarf got involved in thing as he took the dead man's coat in which there was a letter from the woman announcing her planned arrival in Vienna and a picture of the hunch backed girl. This man too seems intrigued by the girl.
The family receives a letter, suppposedly from the Jew, asking to be paid off. The brothers go to meet him, it seems that the older brother plans to kill him. The letter has actually been sent by the giant and the girl who hope to use the money to escape to America. The boy's brother is killed in an altercation.
Another story line in the book is about the woman's husband, a psychiatrist. He befriended his prison camp commander, who was suffering from depression, and helped him through it. When the woman's husband loses his eye to an infection the camp commnander gets him him a state of the art glass eye to thank him for his help. Later this commander is charged and imprisoned because it is assumed he was having a homosexual relationship with the prisoner, which he wasn't.
The book ends with the giant and girl making it to America, on their own means. The woman marries the young boy even though he is much younger than her. He takes over the family business and seems to do a good job organizing things.
In addition to the main story line there is a lot of animosity demonstrated against homosexuality, jews and nazis.
As I was reading the book I was reminded very much of Dickens, Great Expectations, for example. At the end of the book the author makes reference to his admiration for both Dickens and Dostoyevsky. Interesting, I had been thinking about Dostoyevsky recently, but not in connection to the book.
There were a lot of characters in the book and at first it was difficult to figure out how they all fit together. However, this was an amazing book. It was complex and puzzling with many quirky characters (like Dickents). This is definitely a book I will want to read again.
This was an amazing book. One the best I have read in a long time. The story starts with two people travelling to Vienna on a train in post WWII Europe. The woman (Anna) is returning to see her husband from whom she has been estranged. The woman's husband has been a prisoner of war and only recently released. She is returning to Vienna to see if they can reconcile. The young man, whose eye is disfigured as a result of a schoo fight, is returning home to his family as his stepfather has been seriously injured.
The boy (Robert)is intrigued by the woman and copies down her name and address from her luggage while she is sleeping.
When they arrive in Vienna, the woman takes a taxi home, the boy walks home. Their arrival is observed by a scruffy man in a army coat with a red wollen scraft "of better appearance than the rest of him".
When the women arrives at her apartment, her husband is not there but there is a red mark, that looks like blood) on the wall. When the boy arrives home he is greeted at the door by a young hunch-backed girl. He is appalled to see the condition of the house, it is not clean, there is no food. The girl is living in the house with his mother and pregnant sister-in-law. The girl seems to have befriended a flock of crows who are now living in the attic of the house. The boy becomes enthralled by the girl and by the end of the story wants to marry her... to his mother's displeasure. The man with the red scarf is often seen standing outside the boy's house. It is making his family very nervous.
A drunk, whom people later refer to as a giant, arrives at the woman's house. He lets himself in with a key. He claims to know her husband, to have been in prison with him. The woman is warry of him and kicks him out. He meets and starts living with an American woman, a widowed reporter, who lives in the same building.
The boy's father dies, he had fallen, or been pushed out of a window in the house. The boy's brother, who had been in jail charged with assault is now charged with murder and goes on trial. While all this is happening the woman has reported her husband missing to the police. The police officer, a widower, is attracted to her but she spurns his attention. The young boy comes to visit her and she kisses him... he is very puzzled by this, he had thought of becoming a priest. He is more perplexed as his affection for the young girl. She is cool to him and cruel to his family, she has her own hoard of food which she hides from them. The strange thing is the family is supposed to be rich and own a factory. Why are thy living in poverty.
As the story goes on we learn that the women left her husband because he was having an affair with a man. The boy's brother is believed/hated as a vicious SS interogator and his father a Nazi sympathizer. His mother was a Hitler devotee and still has a picture of him in the house. A dead body is found in a basement of an abandoned building, it has a glass eye. The body is so badly beaten and decayed that the woman is not able to make a positive ID of the body. She did not think her husband had a glass eye, but.... with the war anything could have happended. Strangely, the body has had the internal organs removed, it has been sewn up and some chemicals sprinkled on it... who? why?
We later find out that the women's husband knew of the young girl, an orphan and wanted to help her. Why we don't know. They boy's father took her in to his household, why? The girl is going by another name, why did she change her name? Because she was a Jew? We also found out that the stepfather had struck a deal with a Jewish factory owner to take over his factory and home, with the understanding that after the war the Jewish man could come back and claim all his property back. The family thinks the man with the red scarf is the Jew waiting to reclaim his property.
The boy's brother appears to be on the verge of being convicted for his father's murder but the testimony of the hunch-backed girl (she lies) saves him. She had made a deal with the boy and his mother, if she saved the brother, she would be allowed to marry the boy. When she comes home she plans to marry but finds that someone has poisoned all her crows, She is furious and leaves the house, going to stay with the man (the giant) whom she met outside the woman's apartment. She is familiar with the apartment, obviously had been there at some time with the woman's husband.
It is puzzling as to why so many people are enthralled with the young girl, she seems to entrance men.
As the story concludes we learn that the dead body was indeed the woman's husband. The man in the red scarf got involved in thing as he took the dead man's coat in which there was a letter from the woman announcing her planned arrival in Vienna and a picture of the hunch backed girl. This man too seems intrigued by the girl.
The family receives a letter, suppposedly from the Jew, asking to be paid off. The brothers go to meet him, it seems that the older brother plans to kill him. The letter has actually been sent by the giant and the girl who hope to use the money to escape to America. The boy's brother is killed in an altercation.
Another story line in the book is about the woman's husband, a psychiatrist. He befriended his prison camp commander, who was suffering from depression, and helped him through it. When the woman's husband loses his eye to an infection the camp commnander gets him him a state of the art glass eye to thank him for his help. Later this commander is charged and imprisoned because it is assumed he was having a homosexual relationship with the prisoner, which he wasn't.
The book ends with the giant and girl making it to America, on their own means. The woman marries the young boy even though he is much younger than her. He takes over the family business and seems to do a good job organizing things.
In addition to the main story line there is a lot of animosity demonstrated against homosexuality, jews and nazis.
As I was reading the book I was reminded very much of Dickens, Great Expectations, for example. At the end of the book the author makes reference to his admiration for both Dickens and Dostoyevsky. Interesting, I had been thinking about Dostoyevsky recently, but not in connection to the book.
There were a lot of characters in the book and at first it was difficult to figure out how they all fit together. However, this was an amazing book. It was complex and puzzling with many quirky characters (like Dickents). This is definitely a book I will want to read again.
Friday, 10 January 2014
The Mysterious Death of Miss Jane Austen
by Lindsay Ashford
Following on a Jane Austen theme.... I noticed this book in the bookstore so thought I would check it out.
This book is written in the person of a woman who knew, and loved, Jane Austen. She was the governess for one of Jane Austen's brothers. This woman's story is very much like some of Jane Austen's stories, she is an educated woman from a fairly well-off family but is thrown onto her own after her parents die and her father had squandered all the family money through poor management. She is dismissed from her job as a governess when she implies that Jane's other brother is having an affair with her employer's wife. She manages to find a job as a lady's companion and has a pretty good life. She manages to keep up her friendship with Jane, even after her dismissal as a governess.
In the book she writes about her memories of Jane, and also her suspicion that Jane, and perhaps other family members have been poisoned. She starts off by describing the tough life that Jane, her sister, and mother have once their father/husband dies. They have to leave their family home and are then bounced around from one location to another because of lack of money. Ideally the brothers would be expected to look after them but women are entirely dependent on the generosity of their male relatives.
She then relates her various interactions with Jane and her family, threats she receives from the filandering brother. She does a great job of portraying life at the time.
It was an interesting story, especially as the author relates in an afterword that tests done on Jane's hair do indicate evidence of significant arsenic, much more than normal levels.
A good historical and mystery novel.
Following on a Jane Austen theme.... I noticed this book in the bookstore so thought I would check it out.
This book is written in the person of a woman who knew, and loved, Jane Austen. She was the governess for one of Jane Austen's brothers. This woman's story is very much like some of Jane Austen's stories, she is an educated woman from a fairly well-off family but is thrown onto her own after her parents die and her father had squandered all the family money through poor management. She is dismissed from her job as a governess when she implies that Jane's other brother is having an affair with her employer's wife. She manages to find a job as a lady's companion and has a pretty good life. She manages to keep up her friendship with Jane, even after her dismissal as a governess.
In the book she writes about her memories of Jane, and also her suspicion that Jane, and perhaps other family members have been poisoned. She starts off by describing the tough life that Jane, her sister, and mother have once their father/husband dies. They have to leave their family home and are then bounced around from one location to another because of lack of money. Ideally the brothers would be expected to look after them but women are entirely dependent on the generosity of their male relatives.
She then relates her various interactions with Jane and her family, threats she receives from the filandering brother. She does a great job of portraying life at the time.
It was an interesting story, especially as the author relates in an afterword that tests done on Jane's hair do indicate evidence of significant arsenic, much more than normal levels.
A good historical and mystery novel.
Saturday, 4 January 2014
Longbourn
by Jo Baker
This fictional book presents life at Longbourn (the Bennet household in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice) from the perspective of the servants. The book starts with four servants, a husband and wife and two young girls who were taken on as housemaids.
It is quite an innovative idea and the author carries off the task quite well. While the story mirrors the activities in Pride and Prejudice they are only given coincidental mention in the book except for the escapeds of Lydia running off with the scoundrel soldier. She portrays the long hours of labour the staff have, the difficult work they have to do, washing clothes, cleaning stains, serving meals, cleaning and cleaning up after the family, helping the family dress, including dressing their hair.
The author doesn't attempt to write the way Jane Austen does, she writes in more modern, simple language and she doesn't do the character analysis that Austen does. Three of the servants are quite reconciled to their fate, but the oldest girl longs to have love and a life beyond being a servant.
One new plot twist the author introduces is that Mr. Bennett, had a child out of wedlock with the Housekeeper, prior to his marriage to Mrs. Bennett. The Housekeeper is devastated that he did not marry her and that she had to give their son to another family. Mr. Bennett provides money to the family that adopts him and is told that the boy is doing well. What they don't know is that their son ran away and became a soldier, fighting in Portugal and Spain against Napoleon. At one point he gets separated from his troop. When he catches up with them he is whipped for desertion. He continues to serve as a soldier until the soldiers are forced to retreat to the shore and they intend to return to England. He doesn't return on the ships. He wanders down the shore and is befriended by a woman and her daughter. He helps them repair their fishing boat as they have no man to help them. He also helps them fish. But one day he decides he needs to leave and he signs on a merchant ship that travels between Europe and America. When the ship lands in England he jumps ship and travels to Longbourn, where he asks for and is given a job as a footman.
Mr, Bennett and the Housekeeper know he is their son and are happy to have him there. He and the older servant girl fall in love and things look like they will end well. However, one day Lydia's Beau (future husband) tells the footman that he expects that he is a deserter and threatens to out him. The footman flees, not telling anyone where he is going or why.
With the footman gone, the Housekeeper tells the older servant girl that a Footman of Mr. Bingley's would like to marry her, she thinks this would be a good alternative for the girl. She declines the offer and sets off to be a maid to Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy's bride. While she has far less work, and far less harsh work in her new position she is unhappy. She finds out from Mr.Bingley's footman that the man she loves is working on a road crew. She ask's Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy for permission to leave her employment with them. They are puzzled as she admits they are treating her well.
She heads off to find him and evetually does. They return to Longbourn, with their baby, and are greeted warmly.
I enjoyed the story and the new twists she brought to the P& P tale.
This fictional book presents life at Longbourn (the Bennet household in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice) from the perspective of the servants. The book starts with four servants, a husband and wife and two young girls who were taken on as housemaids.
It is quite an innovative idea and the author carries off the task quite well. While the story mirrors the activities in Pride and Prejudice they are only given coincidental mention in the book except for the escapeds of Lydia running off with the scoundrel soldier. She portrays the long hours of labour the staff have, the difficult work they have to do, washing clothes, cleaning stains, serving meals, cleaning and cleaning up after the family, helping the family dress, including dressing their hair.
The author doesn't attempt to write the way Jane Austen does, she writes in more modern, simple language and she doesn't do the character analysis that Austen does. Three of the servants are quite reconciled to their fate, but the oldest girl longs to have love and a life beyond being a servant.
One new plot twist the author introduces is that Mr. Bennett, had a child out of wedlock with the Housekeeper, prior to his marriage to Mrs. Bennett. The Housekeeper is devastated that he did not marry her and that she had to give their son to another family. Mr. Bennett provides money to the family that adopts him and is told that the boy is doing well. What they don't know is that their son ran away and became a soldier, fighting in Portugal and Spain against Napoleon. At one point he gets separated from his troop. When he catches up with them he is whipped for desertion. He continues to serve as a soldier until the soldiers are forced to retreat to the shore and they intend to return to England. He doesn't return on the ships. He wanders down the shore and is befriended by a woman and her daughter. He helps them repair their fishing boat as they have no man to help them. He also helps them fish. But one day he decides he needs to leave and he signs on a merchant ship that travels between Europe and America. When the ship lands in England he jumps ship and travels to Longbourn, where he asks for and is given a job as a footman.
Mr, Bennett and the Housekeeper know he is their son and are happy to have him there. He and the older servant girl fall in love and things look like they will end well. However, one day Lydia's Beau (future husband) tells the footman that he expects that he is a deserter and threatens to out him. The footman flees, not telling anyone where he is going or why.
With the footman gone, the Housekeeper tells the older servant girl that a Footman of Mr. Bingley's would like to marry her, she thinks this would be a good alternative for the girl. She declines the offer and sets off to be a maid to Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy's bride. While she has far less work, and far less harsh work in her new position she is unhappy. She finds out from Mr.Bingley's footman that the man she loves is working on a road crew. She ask's Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy for permission to leave her employment with them. They are puzzled as she admits they are treating her well.
She heads off to find him and evetually does. They return to Longbourn, with their baby, and are greeted warmly.
I enjoyed the story and the new twists she brought to the P& P tale.
Wednesday, 1 January 2014
Saints of the Shadow Bible
by Ian Rankin.
This is the newest Rankin book. This book involves both Rebus and Malcolm Fox.
Rebus has applied to be a police officer again (after retiring). He is accepted but not at his retirement level. He is working under a supervisor who is more interested in benefitting his career than in the work his team is doing. He also ends up working with a woman supervisor who formerly was a subordinate of his.
Initially Rebus is investigating a car crash. A girl is found in the driver's seat but her boot is in the passenger side of the car and the trunk of the car has been pried open. While this is going on Malcolm Fox is trying to investigate the police team that Rebus was part of early in his career, the Saints of the Shadow Bible. Fox is convinced that they were unethical and may have protected a murderer, for reasons unknown.
Fox is interviewing Rebus and three of his colleagues, one of whom is dying. Rebus is loyal to his teammates. However, when another person is killed, with a gun that Rebus's team had in their possession his loyalty starts to waver. Initially he and Fox are in conflict and sparing, but over time they come to begrudgingly respect each other.
Then, a man is killed in his home. He is a member of parliament and the father of the boyfriend of the girl in the car accident. Rebus conivinces the bosses that the two crimes are related. Fox assigns Rebus to the task of going through case files from the Saint, in part to test him to see if he will remove anythin incriminating, but gradually they both start working together. Despite the fact that he is told to leave the two cases alone Rebus does some reconnaisance on his own and eventualy figures things out and it implicates his team.
As the story ends the police departments are being reorganized, Fox will no longer be in complaints, we learn a little about him. He is a former alcohlic who is committed to avoiding alcohol and wishes Rebus would admit his addiction. He has a father who criticizes him constantly and a sister who is in trouble but doesn't seem to appreciate his assistance -- his father wants/expects him to try to help his sister. Fox is worried about going back to being a regular cop after all the animosity he created with other police officers in his job in complaints
As the book proceeds it seems that Rebus admits and accepts that old police methods were not necessarily legal and don't fit in tody's force. However, he then takes steps for punishment to be delivered on a criminal by a family member of a deceased person, so you wonder if he has really changed after all.
Rankin writes an entertaining mystery. His characters Fox and Rebus are very complex. He keeps you interested and it isn't easy to guess who "dunnit" or why.
This is the newest Rankin book. This book involves both Rebus and Malcolm Fox.
Rebus has applied to be a police officer again (after retiring). He is accepted but not at his retirement level. He is working under a supervisor who is more interested in benefitting his career than in the work his team is doing. He also ends up working with a woman supervisor who formerly was a subordinate of his.
Initially Rebus is investigating a car crash. A girl is found in the driver's seat but her boot is in the passenger side of the car and the trunk of the car has been pried open. While this is going on Malcolm Fox is trying to investigate the police team that Rebus was part of early in his career, the Saints of the Shadow Bible. Fox is convinced that they were unethical and may have protected a murderer, for reasons unknown.
Fox is interviewing Rebus and three of his colleagues, one of whom is dying. Rebus is loyal to his teammates. However, when another person is killed, with a gun that Rebus's team had in their possession his loyalty starts to waver. Initially he and Fox are in conflict and sparing, but over time they come to begrudgingly respect each other.
Then, a man is killed in his home. He is a member of parliament and the father of the boyfriend of the girl in the car accident. Rebus conivinces the bosses that the two crimes are related. Fox assigns Rebus to the task of going through case files from the Saint, in part to test him to see if he will remove anythin incriminating, but gradually they both start working together. Despite the fact that he is told to leave the two cases alone Rebus does some reconnaisance on his own and eventualy figures things out and it implicates his team.
As the story ends the police departments are being reorganized, Fox will no longer be in complaints, we learn a little about him. He is a former alcohlic who is committed to avoiding alcohol and wishes Rebus would admit his addiction. He has a father who criticizes him constantly and a sister who is in trouble but doesn't seem to appreciate his assistance -- his father wants/expects him to try to help his sister. Fox is worried about going back to being a regular cop after all the animosity he created with other police officers in his job in complaints
As the book proceeds it seems that Rebus admits and accepts that old police methods were not necessarily legal and don't fit in tody's force. However, he then takes steps for punishment to be delivered on a criminal by a family member of a deceased person, so you wonder if he has really changed after all.
Rankin writes an entertaining mystery. His characters Fox and Rebus are very complex. He keeps you interested and it isn't easy to guess who "dunnit" or why.
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