by Cathy Ace
This book is by a BC author. It is the third in her mystery series.
The book is about a BC prof whose expertise is forensics. She arrives in Puerto Vallarta for a week holiday with her boyfriend, a retired cop. She is watching him from the condo window as he goes into a grocery store and then the flower shop next door. The next thing she knows he is hauled away by the police for murdering the owner of the flower shop.
She knows he is innocent and despite advice to stay out of it she starts to try to figure out what happened and why. She does take the advice to move from the condo to a local Tequila company/residential development. The local police chief recognizes her as he is taking online courses and has heard of her work. He asks for her assistance and she is only to eager to try to help. She is shocked to learn that her boyfriend has actually visited Mexico on several occasions in the past year, using various passports. When she contacts a mutual friend she finds out he has also been involved with CSIS. She starts to wonder what else she doesn't know about him. Her boyfriend refuses to say anything to the police.
The people at the Tequila place are quite strange, they seem like "lost boys". She finds her building was broken into and searched while she was asleep. She thinks she is making progress to help this man she thought she knew. Then, suddenly she is under arrest as an accomplice to the murder. The young eager police officer found a picture of her and her boyfriend on the Internet.
Fortunately, the Federales who come for her and her boyfriend are willing to her explanation of who committed the murder in question and others.... is is possible that the Federales were contacted by CSIS or the FBI?
It was a easy, entertaining read, a good book for a summer day.
Wednesday, 30 July 2014
Sunday, 27 July 2014
We Need New Names
by NoViolet Bulawayo
This is the story of a girl from Zimbabwe. The book starts with her young life in the country as she and her friends roam outside their neighbourhood to steal fruit on the trees, they are very hungry. The kids, despite their hunger, have some very creating games, Find Bin Laden, Country Game, etc. The all have unusual names. The main character is Darling and some of her friends include Bastard, Godknows, Jesus, etc. One of the girls, Chico, who is 10, the same age as Darling, is pregnant by her grandfather. The book can be graphic and brutal at times. At one point the children decide that Chico's belly is impairing her ability to play their games so they try to make the baby come out of her stomache. They are stopped before they hurt her.
Darlings father is away in South Africa trying to find work.We learn that the children used to have homes, and go to school but some fighters came and destroyed their homes and communities. This is why they are not going to school now and why they live in tin huts.
One day the children witness some blacks attacking a white house. They trash the house, and take away the owners. The children take this opportunity to eat the food in the house.
Darling's father returns, very ill, probably with Aids, and dies. Darling had been dreaming of going to America as she has an Aunt there who would take her in. She gets the opportunity to go to America and jumps at it. She misses her mother and friends but not enough to want to go back. When she gets to the States she is shocked by winter and how cold it is.
She does ask to go back to Zimbabwe for a visit but she can't because she is really an illegal alien. She came on a student visa but started working to send money back to her family and we find out that many immigrants are in the same boat. They think they are coming to America for "the good life" but instead they are working many low pay jobs, partly to send money back home, they have to hide from the authorities and if they get sick they don't have access to medical care. Her aunt is constantly dieting and exercising so she will be skinny like the women on TV and in the magazines. The uncle initially watches sports on TV all the time but when his son volunteers for the military he becomes fixated on war stories and news. He starts wandering around in his car.
The family in Africa think she is living a good life in America, they want her to come to visit and she tells them she will but she can't tell them the truth, that if she went back she couldn't get back in to the U.S. As the book ends she is trying to save money to go to university and get a career but she also misses her mother country. She misses or feels disjointed because she can't use her mother tongue. One day she starts writing phrases on the wall in her bedroom.
The book was very graphic and brutal at times. It does a great job of portraying the despair but also the remarkable resilience of the people in Africa. It also portrays the sad plight of the illegal immigrants. I found the book book more sad and upsetting than engaging.
A few years ago I read the book Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. It takes place near the Himalayas and part of the story is about a man who dearly would like to have his son back with him but he thinks his son is having a successful life in America, so he doesn't urge him to return. The son would love to return home but he thinks his father is proud of him and he doesn't want to admit that he is only eking out an existence. He is working in low paying jobs and is essentially homeless., sleeping in empty buildings. I found the Desai book a lot more compelling than this one. You really felt for and cared about the characters in her book. I wasn't really engaged with the characters in Bulawayo's book --- it was a story and things happened but I didn't care about them as much. Maybe I am getting desensitized to these tales with so much tragedy in the world these days.
This is the story of a girl from Zimbabwe. The book starts with her young life in the country as she and her friends roam outside their neighbourhood to steal fruit on the trees, they are very hungry. The kids, despite their hunger, have some very creating games, Find Bin Laden, Country Game, etc. The all have unusual names. The main character is Darling and some of her friends include Bastard, Godknows, Jesus, etc. One of the girls, Chico, who is 10, the same age as Darling, is pregnant by her grandfather. The book can be graphic and brutal at times. At one point the children decide that Chico's belly is impairing her ability to play their games so they try to make the baby come out of her stomache. They are stopped before they hurt her.
Darlings father is away in South Africa trying to find work.We learn that the children used to have homes, and go to school but some fighters came and destroyed their homes and communities. This is why they are not going to school now and why they live in tin huts.
One day the children witness some blacks attacking a white house. They trash the house, and take away the owners. The children take this opportunity to eat the food in the house.
Darling's father returns, very ill, probably with Aids, and dies. Darling had been dreaming of going to America as she has an Aunt there who would take her in. She gets the opportunity to go to America and jumps at it. She misses her mother and friends but not enough to want to go back. When she gets to the States she is shocked by winter and how cold it is.
She does ask to go back to Zimbabwe for a visit but she can't because she is really an illegal alien. She came on a student visa but started working to send money back to her family and we find out that many immigrants are in the same boat. They think they are coming to America for "the good life" but instead they are working many low pay jobs, partly to send money back home, they have to hide from the authorities and if they get sick they don't have access to medical care. Her aunt is constantly dieting and exercising so she will be skinny like the women on TV and in the magazines. The uncle initially watches sports on TV all the time but when his son volunteers for the military he becomes fixated on war stories and news. He starts wandering around in his car.
The family in Africa think she is living a good life in America, they want her to come to visit and she tells them she will but she can't tell them the truth, that if she went back she couldn't get back in to the U.S. As the book ends she is trying to save money to go to university and get a career but she also misses her mother country. She misses or feels disjointed because she can't use her mother tongue. One day she starts writing phrases on the wall in her bedroom.
The book was very graphic and brutal at times. It does a great job of portraying the despair but also the remarkable resilience of the people in Africa. It also portrays the sad plight of the illegal immigrants. I found the book book more sad and upsetting than engaging.
A few years ago I read the book Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. It takes place near the Himalayas and part of the story is about a man who dearly would like to have his son back with him but he thinks his son is having a successful life in America, so he doesn't urge him to return. The son would love to return home but he thinks his father is proud of him and he doesn't want to admit that he is only eking out an existence. He is working in low paying jobs and is essentially homeless., sleeping in empty buildings. I found the Desai book a lot more compelling than this one. You really felt for and cared about the characters in her book. I wasn't really engaged with the characters in Bulawayo's book --- it was a story and things happened but I didn't care about them as much. Maybe I am getting desensitized to these tales with so much tragedy in the world these days.
Saturday, 26 July 2014
The Hundred-Foot Journey
by Richard C Morais
I have had this book for about a year but didn't get around to reading it. Now I seen a movie version will be coming out this summer so I thought I would read it.
This is the story of a young Indian man and his family and their lives as restauranteurs and how he came to be an acclaimed French chef and restauranteur. The family doesn't really fit in, in India. They are Muslims. The father, a high energy, bombastic person starts with a few food wagons and then expands to build a restaurant on the border of the slums and high wealth areas. They are very successful but suddenly the neighbours attack their restaurant and set it alight. The boy's mother, who was much loved by her family especially her husband, is killed in the fire. One of the boy's favourite memories of his mother is of a time he and she had lunch at a fashionable French restaurant in India. The unique flavours impressed him.
The father decides they no longer belong in India and relocates the entire extended family to a house in London, near other family. Things seem to go well until the young man kisses his cousin. A rift develops between the family and the father loads up all his family and they set off on a tour of Europe. The boy enjoys the various foods they experience. During their travels in France they are driving through the Alps into a little village called Lumiere. Their car breaks down in front of a French restaurant, across from a large house that is for sale.
The father decides that they will settle here and he decides to buy the house and set up an India restaurant, with his son, who has little if any cooking experience, as the head Chef. The owner of the French restaurant is outraged at these foreign interlopers and tries everything she can to intimidate them and drive them out, even threatening produce sellers if they deal with him. When she visits the restaurant to "check out the competition" she observes the young chef wipe some spilled food back into the cooking pot. She is appalled and is sure they will be closed by health inspectors. But when she tastes the food she is speechless. She realizes the young chef is a genius.
A confrontation takes place between her and the boy's father and the woman pushes the father in exasperation. He falls against his son, who falls against the stove. His uniform ignites and he is badly burned. The woman comes to apologize and is rebuked. When the son recovers and returns home. The woman returns and offers to take the son on as an apprentice and teach him french cooking. The father is outraged but the boy wants to do it so eventually he walks the hundred feet to the other establishment and begins his apprenticeship.
He initially is only trusted with cleaning, cutting, setting the tables, but the woman teaches and tests him and gradually he is allowed to cook. After a few years he is offered a job at a prestigious French restaurant and as they say.... the rest is history. He goes on to open his own restaurant using his inheritance money and with his sister as a partner.
The young man suspects that his mentor has been a silent promoter for him in his career but she always denies it.
They are very successful. The young man is awarded his first, then second and then his third Michelin Star (his mentor only ever achieved 2 stars).
It was an interesting story. The main character is passionate about food but not all that interesting but the supporting characters, his father, his aunt, his mentor add lots of life and colour to the story. This was a book for those who like food and a happy ending from the ashes.
I have had this book for about a year but didn't get around to reading it. Now I seen a movie version will be coming out this summer so I thought I would read it.
This is the story of a young Indian man and his family and their lives as restauranteurs and how he came to be an acclaimed French chef and restauranteur. The family doesn't really fit in, in India. They are Muslims. The father, a high energy, bombastic person starts with a few food wagons and then expands to build a restaurant on the border of the slums and high wealth areas. They are very successful but suddenly the neighbours attack their restaurant and set it alight. The boy's mother, who was much loved by her family especially her husband, is killed in the fire. One of the boy's favourite memories of his mother is of a time he and she had lunch at a fashionable French restaurant in India. The unique flavours impressed him.
The father decides they no longer belong in India and relocates the entire extended family to a house in London, near other family. Things seem to go well until the young man kisses his cousin. A rift develops between the family and the father loads up all his family and they set off on a tour of Europe. The boy enjoys the various foods they experience. During their travels in France they are driving through the Alps into a little village called Lumiere. Their car breaks down in front of a French restaurant, across from a large house that is for sale.
The father decides that they will settle here and he decides to buy the house and set up an India restaurant, with his son, who has little if any cooking experience, as the head Chef. The owner of the French restaurant is outraged at these foreign interlopers and tries everything she can to intimidate them and drive them out, even threatening produce sellers if they deal with him. When she visits the restaurant to "check out the competition" she observes the young chef wipe some spilled food back into the cooking pot. She is appalled and is sure they will be closed by health inspectors. But when she tastes the food she is speechless. She realizes the young chef is a genius.
A confrontation takes place between her and the boy's father and the woman pushes the father in exasperation. He falls against his son, who falls against the stove. His uniform ignites and he is badly burned. The woman comes to apologize and is rebuked. When the son recovers and returns home. The woman returns and offers to take the son on as an apprentice and teach him french cooking. The father is outraged but the boy wants to do it so eventually he walks the hundred feet to the other establishment and begins his apprenticeship.
He initially is only trusted with cleaning, cutting, setting the tables, but the woman teaches and tests him and gradually he is allowed to cook. After a few years he is offered a job at a prestigious French restaurant and as they say.... the rest is history. He goes on to open his own restaurant using his inheritance money and with his sister as a partner.
The young man suspects that his mentor has been a silent promoter for him in his career but she always denies it.
They are very successful. The young man is awarded his first, then second and then his third Michelin Star (his mentor only ever achieved 2 stars).
It was an interesting story. The main character is passionate about food but not all that interesting but the supporting characters, his father, his aunt, his mentor add lots of life and colour to the story. This was a book for those who like food and a happy ending from the ashes.
Wednesday, 23 July 2014
The Jackal Man
By Kate Ellis
This is the fifteenth book in the series about Detective Wesley Peterson. It is the first book I have read by this author.
The story involves two time frames. One story is about a young governess who comes to work for a widower with a grown son and two young children. She has an affair with her employer and becomes pregnant. He insists she give the child up. She takes drastic measures to get her revenge on the man and his son.
The second story takes place in the present. A serial killer is killing young women. The attacker is reporting to be wearing a dog mask.
In another story a young woman has inherited a "castle". It was the estate where the governess worked. The house is full of Egyptian antiquities. The woman asks an archeologist to come and give her an idea of the value of the collection. As Eqypt is not his area of expertise, he calls in another colleague to document the collection.
As the murders continue the attacker is starting to mimic Egyptian burial rites, cutting out bodily organs and wrapping the victims in linen sheets.
The police try to determine if the attacker is a local skirt chaser or a researcher working on a biography of the Egyptian antiquities collector. The police find out that the modern murders are mimicing four murders carried out on the estate in the time of the governess.A lot of evidence seems to be pointing to the researcher especially when they find he has a book with sketches of the four women killed years before. The police also enlist the services of a profiler.
While Detective Peterson is trying to catch the killer, a former boss of his comes and seeks his assistance in tracking down an Egyptian antiquities theft ring. This seems a minor concern to him given all the murders but he tries to help his boss. It turns out that the researcher was actually stealing items from the estate and planning to sell them.
The book explores the idea of evil.It has many plot twists and then a surprise ending with the appearance of someone who was thought dead. The ending is very disquieting.
In my opinion this is one of the better mystery writers. There is more meat to this story than some and I don't like the stories which get tied up in romantic entanglements.
This is the fifteenth book in the series about Detective Wesley Peterson. It is the first book I have read by this author.
The story involves two time frames. One story is about a young governess who comes to work for a widower with a grown son and two young children. She has an affair with her employer and becomes pregnant. He insists she give the child up. She takes drastic measures to get her revenge on the man and his son.
The second story takes place in the present. A serial killer is killing young women. The attacker is reporting to be wearing a dog mask.
In another story a young woman has inherited a "castle". It was the estate where the governess worked. The house is full of Egyptian antiquities. The woman asks an archeologist to come and give her an idea of the value of the collection. As Eqypt is not his area of expertise, he calls in another colleague to document the collection.
As the murders continue the attacker is starting to mimic Egyptian burial rites, cutting out bodily organs and wrapping the victims in linen sheets.
The police try to determine if the attacker is a local skirt chaser or a researcher working on a biography of the Egyptian antiquities collector. The police find out that the modern murders are mimicing four murders carried out on the estate in the time of the governess.A lot of evidence seems to be pointing to the researcher especially when they find he has a book with sketches of the four women killed years before. The police also enlist the services of a profiler.
While Detective Peterson is trying to catch the killer, a former boss of his comes and seeks his assistance in tracking down an Egyptian antiquities theft ring. This seems a minor concern to him given all the murders but he tries to help his boss. It turns out that the researcher was actually stealing items from the estate and planning to sell them.
The book explores the idea of evil.It has many plot twists and then a surprise ending with the appearance of someone who was thought dead. The ending is very disquieting.
In my opinion this is one of the better mystery writers. There is more meat to this story than some and I don't like the stories which get tied up in romantic entanglements.
Sunday, 20 July 2014
All the Light We Cannot See
By Anthony Doerr
This is a world war II story that centers around the lives of two young people: a young blind girl in Paris and a young orphan, who lives with his sister at an orphanage in Germany.
The young girl's mother has died. Her father wants her to be able to navigate her way in the world so he builds her a model of their immediate neighbourhood. He then takes her out into the streets and helps her learn how to navigate her way around. Her father is the locksmith for Paris museums and issues keys to employees every day. As the German invasion of Paris is imminent her father is called to the Director's office and given an assignment to take his daughter out of Paris to a friend of the museums. They had planned to take a train but the trains don't arrive so they walk all the way to the man's house. When they arrive they find the house abandoned. Not knowing what else to do they decide to head to St. Malo on the Normandy coast to seek safety with the Girl's strange uncle. He is scarred from the first world war and won't leave his house. He also has panic attacks. He welcomes the girl and her father warmly.
We find out that the Paris museums are thought to have a rare diamond and that they have sent this diamond out of the city, possibly making forgeries to trick people who might be seeking it. The girls father was given one of the diamonds and has hidden it inside a model of the Uncle's house. One day he is contacted to ask to return to Paris. He leaves the diamond in the little model and is never heard from again.
Meanwhile the young German boy Werner is a precocious young man. He finds a radio that has been thrown away and brings it home and fixes it. He and the other inhabitants of the orphanage enjoy listening to the broadcasts. The boy especially enjoys some stories he hears spoken by a man who also plays music at times. Werner gets books to teach himself more about radios and other things and is successfully in getting selected to a very special school your young men. This quasi-military school is straining young men to the nazi philosophy. It is a brutal place but one of Werner\s teachers notices his skill and knowledge and gets him to be his assistant to build radio signal triangulating equipment. This role keeps Werner from being abused.
As the war goes on Werner moves to Berlin to help build more of the equipment but as the German defeats increase he is tasked with going on the road to track down radio signals.
Marie-Laure is looked after by her uncle and his housekeeper. The housekeeper and some other ladies start to plan ways to sabotage the Germans who have arrived in their town. She later convinces the uncle, who has a radio hidden in his attic, to join the resistance activities and he finally agrees to do so.
The housekeeper dies and then the uncle is arrested. Marie-Laure is all alone in the house with no food and very little water. She is terrified, especially when a German officer comes to the house looking for the diamond. He is seeking it for its purported healing properties (he has advanced cancer) not for the glory of the Third Reich.
Although it is dangerous, Marie-Laure reactivates her uncles radio and reads from her braille book. Werner hears her signal, but is reminded of the man he used to hear on the radio so he does not turn her in. In the end he turns up at her home and saves her from the German officer.
This was a very engrossing novel, another amazingly well written story. The author did a wonderful job of portraying the climate and life during the war and it was ingenious how he wove all the elements of the story together. I was very impressed.
This is a world war II story that centers around the lives of two young people: a young blind girl in Paris and a young orphan, who lives with his sister at an orphanage in Germany.
The young girl's mother has died. Her father wants her to be able to navigate her way in the world so he builds her a model of their immediate neighbourhood. He then takes her out into the streets and helps her learn how to navigate her way around. Her father is the locksmith for Paris museums and issues keys to employees every day. As the German invasion of Paris is imminent her father is called to the Director's office and given an assignment to take his daughter out of Paris to a friend of the museums. They had planned to take a train but the trains don't arrive so they walk all the way to the man's house. When they arrive they find the house abandoned. Not knowing what else to do they decide to head to St. Malo on the Normandy coast to seek safety with the Girl's strange uncle. He is scarred from the first world war and won't leave his house. He also has panic attacks. He welcomes the girl and her father warmly.
We find out that the Paris museums are thought to have a rare diamond and that they have sent this diamond out of the city, possibly making forgeries to trick people who might be seeking it. The girls father was given one of the diamonds and has hidden it inside a model of the Uncle's house. One day he is contacted to ask to return to Paris. He leaves the diamond in the little model and is never heard from again.
Meanwhile the young German boy Werner is a precocious young man. He finds a radio that has been thrown away and brings it home and fixes it. He and the other inhabitants of the orphanage enjoy listening to the broadcasts. The boy especially enjoys some stories he hears spoken by a man who also plays music at times. Werner gets books to teach himself more about radios and other things and is successfully in getting selected to a very special school your young men. This quasi-military school is straining young men to the nazi philosophy. It is a brutal place but one of Werner\s teachers notices his skill and knowledge and gets him to be his assistant to build radio signal triangulating equipment. This role keeps Werner from being abused.
As the war goes on Werner moves to Berlin to help build more of the equipment but as the German defeats increase he is tasked with going on the road to track down radio signals.
Marie-Laure is looked after by her uncle and his housekeeper. The housekeeper and some other ladies start to plan ways to sabotage the Germans who have arrived in their town. She later convinces the uncle, who has a radio hidden in his attic, to join the resistance activities and he finally agrees to do so.
The housekeeper dies and then the uncle is arrested. Marie-Laure is all alone in the house with no food and very little water. She is terrified, especially when a German officer comes to the house looking for the diamond. He is seeking it for its purported healing properties (he has advanced cancer) not for the glory of the Third Reich.
Although it is dangerous, Marie-Laure reactivates her uncles radio and reads from her braille book. Werner hears her signal, but is reminded of the man he used to hear on the radio so he does not turn her in. In the end he turns up at her home and saves her from the German officer.
This was a very engrossing novel, another amazingly well written story. The author did a wonderful job of portraying the climate and life during the war and it was ingenious how he wove all the elements of the story together. I was very impressed.
Hunting Shadows
by Charles Todd
This is the 16th title in the Inspector Rutledge mystery series. I have read about 1/2 dozen of them. These are quite reliable mysteries, they keep you guessing. This one involves the deaths of two men by sniper shots in two different towns. Rutledge can't figure out why they would be killed nor how the two victims could be connected.
Rutledge at first thinks he has his man, but then that person, professing his innocence tags along with him as he investigates further. He ends up identifying two murderers. We learn that the two original victims were blamed for the death of a third victim, a young woman. We also learn of a family secret.
These stories are interesting because of the descriptions of the characters, the English landscape and of life in England following the second world war. Soldier carrying war wounds and war memories figure frequently in the stories. Hamish, the dead soldier who used to torment Rutledge is still around but Rutledge doesn't seem so rattled by him anymore.
This is the 16th title in the Inspector Rutledge mystery series. I have read about 1/2 dozen of them. These are quite reliable mysteries, they keep you guessing. This one involves the deaths of two men by sniper shots in two different towns. Rutledge can't figure out why they would be killed nor how the two victims could be connected.
Rutledge at first thinks he has his man, but then that person, professing his innocence tags along with him as he investigates further. He ends up identifying two murderers. We learn that the two original victims were blamed for the death of a third victim, a young woman. We also learn of a family secret.
These stories are interesting because of the descriptions of the characters, the English landscape and of life in England following the second world war. Soldier carrying war wounds and war memories figure frequently in the stories. Hamish, the dead soldier who used to torment Rutledge is still around but Rutledge doesn't seem so rattled by him anymore.
Saturday, 12 July 2014
The Orchardist
by Amanda Coplin
This is a book that I picked up quite a while ago, the reviews were very good. However, for some reason I never took it up to read. I am glad that I finally decided to read it, it is a book that will stay with me for a long time.
At the turn of the century a reclusive orchardist, who lives in the pacific northwest, finds two you girls, both of whom appear pregnant hanging around his farm. They won't come into his house but they will eat the food he leaves for them.
Talmadge has had a sad and lonely life. His mother brought he and his sister to this land but she died young leaving the young people on their own. And then, one day Talmadge's sister goes for a walk into the woods and never returns. He is haunted by her absence.
He continues to be kind to the young girls and learns that they have run away from a man who was abusing them, having sex with them and selling them and other girls to men for sex. Talmadge eventually enlists the help of a woman friend from the town to help to get the girls into his house when they go into labour. One of the girls was pregnant with twins but loses them both. The other girl, Jane, gives birth to a a baby girl Angelene. Jane tries to get Della interested in helping with the girl including nursing her but Della ignores the girl.
One day the man the girls ran away from comes looking for them as someone has told them they are at Talmadge's. The girls run away into the forest and hang themselves. Jane dies. Della almost dies. Talmadge finds the baby where Della hid it. He choses to raise the baby and takes good care of her, with advice from his lady friend.
At times some horse rustlers arrive on the property with horses they have captured. Della is very interested in the horses and the wranglers and then goes off with them, against Talmadge's wishes. Della leads a very independent almost wild life. She works hustling horses, gambling, cutting down trees.
Talmadge and the child have a good life, he teaches her how to tend the orchard and lets her have her own garden with full independence as to what to grown. He keeps listening for word of Della and even tries to track her down. Angelene seems puzzled ad even jealous by the time Talmadge spends thinking about Della. She has absolutely no interest in Della.
Then he finds out that Della has confessed to a murder and is in jail in a nearby town. He goes to see her but is not able to see her as she is in isolation for attacking another prisoner (the man who abused her). Talmadge tries to give her an opportunity to escape from prison but she won't take it as she still wants to kill her abuser. As a result Talmadge and another man he asked to help receive small jail sentences for plotting to help her escape. Even when he gets out of prison he worries about Della and is devastated when he finds out she has been killed in an accident at the prison. When Talmadge dies he leaves all his property to Angelene who sells the farm to a family. She is shocked when she returns a few years later to find the orchard had been sold and is not well tended.
This was a very interesting book. Most of the book is told simply in the actions of the characters. We rarely get an idea as to what they are thinking. We never really understand what would have caused Della to leave the safety of Talmadge's orchard and care for a life of danger and poverty. The disregard that Della and Angelene feel for each other is understandable. Although they are relations they don't really develop any relationship with each other til the end of the book. This is largely Della's fault, if she had been kind to the child, she might have reciprocated. The contrast of the innocent and kind orchardist and the wild, almost feral girls is fascinating.
This was a very powerful book, leaving one with lots to think about.
This is a book that I picked up quite a while ago, the reviews were very good. However, for some reason I never took it up to read. I am glad that I finally decided to read it, it is a book that will stay with me for a long time.
At the turn of the century a reclusive orchardist, who lives in the pacific northwest, finds two you girls, both of whom appear pregnant hanging around his farm. They won't come into his house but they will eat the food he leaves for them.
Talmadge has had a sad and lonely life. His mother brought he and his sister to this land but she died young leaving the young people on their own. And then, one day Talmadge's sister goes for a walk into the woods and never returns. He is haunted by her absence.
He continues to be kind to the young girls and learns that they have run away from a man who was abusing them, having sex with them and selling them and other girls to men for sex. Talmadge eventually enlists the help of a woman friend from the town to help to get the girls into his house when they go into labour. One of the girls was pregnant with twins but loses them both. The other girl, Jane, gives birth to a a baby girl Angelene. Jane tries to get Della interested in helping with the girl including nursing her but Della ignores the girl.
One day the man the girls ran away from comes looking for them as someone has told them they are at Talmadge's. The girls run away into the forest and hang themselves. Jane dies. Della almost dies. Talmadge finds the baby where Della hid it. He choses to raise the baby and takes good care of her, with advice from his lady friend.
At times some horse rustlers arrive on the property with horses they have captured. Della is very interested in the horses and the wranglers and then goes off with them, against Talmadge's wishes. Della leads a very independent almost wild life. She works hustling horses, gambling, cutting down trees.
Talmadge and the child have a good life, he teaches her how to tend the orchard and lets her have her own garden with full independence as to what to grown. He keeps listening for word of Della and even tries to track her down. Angelene seems puzzled ad even jealous by the time Talmadge spends thinking about Della. She has absolutely no interest in Della.
Then he finds out that Della has confessed to a murder and is in jail in a nearby town. He goes to see her but is not able to see her as she is in isolation for attacking another prisoner (the man who abused her). Talmadge tries to give her an opportunity to escape from prison but she won't take it as she still wants to kill her abuser. As a result Talmadge and another man he asked to help receive small jail sentences for plotting to help her escape. Even when he gets out of prison he worries about Della and is devastated when he finds out she has been killed in an accident at the prison. When Talmadge dies he leaves all his property to Angelene who sells the farm to a family. She is shocked when she returns a few years later to find the orchard had been sold and is not well tended.
This was a very interesting book. Most of the book is told simply in the actions of the characters. We rarely get an idea as to what they are thinking. We never really understand what would have caused Della to leave the safety of Talmadge's orchard and care for a life of danger and poverty. The disregard that Della and Angelene feel for each other is understandable. Although they are relations they don't really develop any relationship with each other til the end of the book. This is largely Della's fault, if she had been kind to the child, she might have reciprocated. The contrast of the innocent and kind orchardist and the wild, almost feral girls is fascinating.
This was a very powerful book, leaving one with lots to think about.
Monday, 7 July 2014
Dark Moon Walking
by R. J. McMillen
The mystery involves retired police officer, Dan Connor, who is sailing the islands off of Vancouver Island trying to overcome his grief at the murder of his wife. He is surprised to get a radio call from an indian man he had imprisoned years before. The man, Walker, tells him that a young researcher, Clare is missing, and her boat has been sunk. He asks Walker for help finding her.
Clare is safe, but in hiding. She had returned to her boat one day, travelling in a kayak to hear men talking about tracking her down. She runs to the far side of the island and hides out without food or warm clothing.
Walker and Dan find her and take her to safety but not before they see a sleek black yacht that seems to have something illegal going on. The boat has brought crews of men in and sent them out in dinghy's to search for Clare. The boat has large tubes of materials that they initially hide in the water and later bring onto the wharf to load onto other vessels.
Dan tries to get his former police colleagues interested but they have a big international event in Vancouver occupying their attention. the story develops another loaner living in the area is enlisted to keep Clare safe. She contacts Dan to tell him that a local hermit has shown up at her boat mumbling about a dead man with red hair. Clare fears this is her boss.
As Dan doesn't think he can get the police attention that is needed he and Walker discuss how to investigate or stop the black ship. Walker enlists some fellow native men. They disable the ship and the plans of the terrorists start to unravel. It is Dan who figures out that these terrorists will actually be a diversion so that a sniper can carry out an assasination.
This was an interesting mystery. The setting is an interesting part of the story. You feel the environment as much as the action of the story. I enjoyed it.
The mystery involves retired police officer, Dan Connor, who is sailing the islands off of Vancouver Island trying to overcome his grief at the murder of his wife. He is surprised to get a radio call from an indian man he had imprisoned years before. The man, Walker, tells him that a young researcher, Clare is missing, and her boat has been sunk. He asks Walker for help finding her.
Clare is safe, but in hiding. She had returned to her boat one day, travelling in a kayak to hear men talking about tracking her down. She runs to the far side of the island and hides out without food or warm clothing.
Walker and Dan find her and take her to safety but not before they see a sleek black yacht that seems to have something illegal going on. The boat has brought crews of men in and sent them out in dinghy's to search for Clare. The boat has large tubes of materials that they initially hide in the water and later bring onto the wharf to load onto other vessels.
Dan tries to get his former police colleagues interested but they have a big international event in Vancouver occupying their attention. the story develops another loaner living in the area is enlisted to keep Clare safe. She contacts Dan to tell him that a local hermit has shown up at her boat mumbling about a dead man with red hair. Clare fears this is her boss.
As Dan doesn't think he can get the police attention that is needed he and Walker discuss how to investigate or stop the black ship. Walker enlists some fellow native men. They disable the ship and the plans of the terrorists start to unravel. It is Dan who figures out that these terrorists will actually be a diversion so that a sniper can carry out an assasination.
This was an interesting mystery. The setting is an interesting part of the story. You feel the environment as much as the action of the story. I enjoyed it.
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