This book takes place in WwII France A young architect, hungry for work and money is approached by a wealthy businessman to build a hiding spot in an apartment to hide a Jehw who is being sought by thr Germans. The deal is sweetened with the offer of a factory design contract. The young man is reluctant but eventually agrees.
He goes on to design more hiding spots and to get a factory design contract. He is surprised to meet one German officer who is interested in architecture and art.
Because the architect is so busy, he hires an assistant. The assistant is the nephew of a German officer. The assistant becomes suspicious of his boss when he sees some unusual drawings on the boss's desk. He starts to follow his boss tries to break into his desk.
Th architect is shocked when his wife tells him he is a traitor and is leaving him for another man.
The architect is asked to shelter a young jewish boy, despite the danger he agrees to do so and brings the young man on as a helper. This young man discovers what the other assistant is doing and eventually murders him to save his boss.
The book describes the brutal behavior of the Germans in their torture of people and methods to instill fear in the French. In the end the Architect is captured by the Resistance who enlist his help to destroy his precious factory, pointing out that the few lives he is saving in Paris will not make up for the many lives that will be lost if the factory is completed.
Eventually life becomes to dangerous for the architect and his German official helps him escape with his young boy, his lover, and the two Jewish children she has been sheltering. The book did an excellent job of portaying life in occupied France. It was suspenseful til the end.
Thursday, 6 August 2015
Friday, 5 June 2015
The Night Stages
by Jane Urquhart
I have read and enjoyed other books by Urquhart but I did not enjoy this one as much as the others. It seemed a bit disjointed.
The author has a beautiful way for writing and for conveying the atmosphere of Ireland where most of the story takes place.
The story is basically about a two women and two brothers and a dysfunctional family.
Niall and Kieran are brothers. Their mother has a difficult tie delivering Kieran the younger boy and seems to be depressed, self-absorbed after the birth. She has an affair with the local chemist and they commit suicide jumping over a cliff into the sea. The boys father is devastated at the death of his wife and at the fact that she was unfaithful. He keeps praising his older son and ignoring the younger one though both boys are also suffering. The older brother becomes a successful student, athlete and a meteorologist like his father. The younger boy begins acting out and is eventually taken on by the family's housekeeper, he goes to live with her and she is the mother he never had. The younger boy is of course jealous of all he attention his older brother gets and also of his lovely girlfriend.
The younger boy becomes and avid bicyclist and loves riding the rugged landscape. He meets a man who encourages him to enter an Irish bicycle race and puts the boy on a rigid training regime. There is some magical realism involved in some of his adventures.
The older brother has married his girlfriend but is having an affair with a woman from London who has moved to the area. The woman had been a pilot during the war, ferrying planes. Niall is now obsessed with finding out what happened to his brother. This is surprising considering how horribly he treated him. As the book opens she has decided to leave Niall by leaving Ireland for Canada. She arrives at the Gander International Airport for the plane to be refuelled but ends up stranded at the airport for several days because of fog. While she sits in the airport she thinks about her life and studies the famous, huge mural by Kenneth Lockhead. The story includes some background (real or fiction??) about his life.
When the race occurs we learn that Niall is competing as part of a team. He is shocked to learn that his brother is also competing, as an independent. He does not want to be bettered by his brother but Kieran wins many of the legs and becomes almost legendary, a crowd favourite. Near the end of the race Kieran crashes and Niall's wife runs to Kieran. Niall is shocked to realize there was something between them.
I found Kieran interesting, he was so passionate, so primal, so injured. I couldn't really see the value of the story of the painter of the mural, as part of the novel. I couldn't understand why Niall would all of a sudden be so interested in his brother. As the book ends the woman, Tam has decided to return to Ireland. Will she go back to Niall, or will she just live out her life there? Not sure, but don't really care.
Maybe things would hang together better on a second reading.
I have read and enjoyed other books by Urquhart but I did not enjoy this one as much as the others. It seemed a bit disjointed.
The author has a beautiful way for writing and for conveying the atmosphere of Ireland where most of the story takes place.
The story is basically about a two women and two brothers and a dysfunctional family.
Niall and Kieran are brothers. Their mother has a difficult tie delivering Kieran the younger boy and seems to be depressed, self-absorbed after the birth. She has an affair with the local chemist and they commit suicide jumping over a cliff into the sea. The boys father is devastated at the death of his wife and at the fact that she was unfaithful. He keeps praising his older son and ignoring the younger one though both boys are also suffering. The older brother becomes a successful student, athlete and a meteorologist like his father. The younger boy begins acting out and is eventually taken on by the family's housekeeper, he goes to live with her and she is the mother he never had. The younger boy is of course jealous of all he attention his older brother gets and also of his lovely girlfriend.
The younger boy becomes and avid bicyclist and loves riding the rugged landscape. He meets a man who encourages him to enter an Irish bicycle race and puts the boy on a rigid training regime. There is some magical realism involved in some of his adventures.
The older brother has married his girlfriend but is having an affair with a woman from London who has moved to the area. The woman had been a pilot during the war, ferrying planes. Niall is now obsessed with finding out what happened to his brother. This is surprising considering how horribly he treated him. As the book opens she has decided to leave Niall by leaving Ireland for Canada. She arrives at the Gander International Airport for the plane to be refuelled but ends up stranded at the airport for several days because of fog. While she sits in the airport she thinks about her life and studies the famous, huge mural by Kenneth Lockhead. The story includes some background (real or fiction??) about his life.
When the race occurs we learn that Niall is competing as part of a team. He is shocked to learn that his brother is also competing, as an independent. He does not want to be bettered by his brother but Kieran wins many of the legs and becomes almost legendary, a crowd favourite. Near the end of the race Kieran crashes and Niall's wife runs to Kieran. Niall is shocked to realize there was something between them.
I found Kieran interesting, he was so passionate, so primal, so injured. I couldn't really see the value of the story of the painter of the mural, as part of the novel. I couldn't understand why Niall would all of a sudden be so interested in his brother. As the book ends the woman, Tam has decided to return to Ireland. Will she go back to Niall, or will she just live out her life there? Not sure, but don't really care.
Maybe things would hang together better on a second reading.
An Evil Eye
by Jason Goodwin
This is one of a series of mysteries set in Turkey. The new Sultan is taking over and the women of the deceased Sultan are bundled off to another palace. Yashim feels that he is lucky, he is not entombed in the life of the palace. He is asked to investigate the report of a body being found in the well of a monastery. There is some unrest as some people feel the dead person might be a muslim.
Yashim goes to examine the body and comes to the conclusion that the dead person must be Russian, partly based on a tatoo he finds on the body. He slices off the skin with the tattoo.
While this is going one we learn about the power struggles going on among the women in the harem.
Yashim is friends with a former Diplomat from Poland. The country no longer exist because of re-configuring of Europe but the gentleman is allowed to stay in Istanbul and receive a small living allowance from the Government of Turkey. The two men are drinking buddies and share other interests. One of the young boys being raised to be a scholar/soldier in the harem runs away, Yashim finds him and asks the Pole to take him in.
As Yashim is proceeding with his investigations he is shocked and saddened to meet a man who was formerly a mentor but whom he now despises for his brutality. The man has done a treacherous act, as leader of the fleet he has taken all the Turkish fleet and surrendered them to Egypt. The man asks Yashim's help in getting his daughter out of the Harem and Yashim agrees to help him. He is evenutally able to figure out why the original murder occured.
As a work of historical fiction and a mystery this was a nice read. The historical details and the descriptions of Turkey are interesting and colourful.
This is one of a series of mysteries set in Turkey. The new Sultan is taking over and the women of the deceased Sultan are bundled off to another palace. Yashim feels that he is lucky, he is not entombed in the life of the palace. He is asked to investigate the report of a body being found in the well of a monastery. There is some unrest as some people feel the dead person might be a muslim.
Yashim goes to examine the body and comes to the conclusion that the dead person must be Russian, partly based on a tatoo he finds on the body. He slices off the skin with the tattoo.
While this is going one we learn about the power struggles going on among the women in the harem.
Yashim is friends with a former Diplomat from Poland. The country no longer exist because of re-configuring of Europe but the gentleman is allowed to stay in Istanbul and receive a small living allowance from the Government of Turkey. The two men are drinking buddies and share other interests. One of the young boys being raised to be a scholar/soldier in the harem runs away, Yashim finds him and asks the Pole to take him in.
As Yashim is proceeding with his investigations he is shocked and saddened to meet a man who was formerly a mentor but whom he now despises for his brutality. The man has done a treacherous act, as leader of the fleet he has taken all the Turkish fleet and surrendered them to Egypt. The man asks Yashim's help in getting his daughter out of the Harem and Yashim agrees to help him. He is evenutally able to figure out why the original murder occured.
As a work of historical fiction and a mystery this was a nice read. The historical details and the descriptions of Turkey are interesting and colourful.
Dear Thief
by Samantha Harvey
I was enthralled with the last book I read by this author, The Wilderness, so I was looking foward to this book.
This woman is an incredible writer!! This book apparently inspired by the Leonard Cohen song "Famous Blue Raincoat", is a letter, or series of letters that a woman is writing to a friend who has had a big and devastating role in her life. "You were going to work your way into my marriage and you were going to call its new three-way shape holy". This even sounds like Leonard Cohen...
The story starts with the main character relating to being present around the time of her grandmother's death and finding some bones, probably from an animal along the river, she also meets a man there.
The woman's friend drifts into and out of her life, she is somewhat of a free spirit. The woman's son calls the friend Butterfly because of a shawl she wears. As the character writes the letter to her friend she is wondering where she is, she goes from interest to pain to anger. At one point she says she imagines having killing her friend. She is angry at the fact that her friend seduced her husband and seems to have captivated her son too. The son is now off wandering in Europe perhaps based on some things butterfly told him. The woman was devastated by the betrayal of her friend and husband. She and her husband separated but never divorced. Now the husband is back asking her to marry him again. She doesn't seem to keen on the idea. At the end of the book she looks out the window and thinks she might have seen her friend in the street but when she runs outside she cannot see her. She tells her friend that if the friend wants her husband she can have him.
The story sounds simple but the emotional turmoil of the main character is developed/displayed in such an amazing way, we get little vignettes until the story builds to the end.
I am looking forward to re-reading it.
I was enthralled with the last book I read by this author, The Wilderness, so I was looking foward to this book.
This woman is an incredible writer!! This book apparently inspired by the Leonard Cohen song "Famous Blue Raincoat", is a letter, or series of letters that a woman is writing to a friend who has had a big and devastating role in her life. "You were going to work your way into my marriage and you were going to call its new three-way shape holy". This even sounds like Leonard Cohen...
The story starts with the main character relating to being present around the time of her grandmother's death and finding some bones, probably from an animal along the river, she also meets a man there.
The woman's friend drifts into and out of her life, she is somewhat of a free spirit. The woman's son calls the friend Butterfly because of a shawl she wears. As the character writes the letter to her friend she is wondering where she is, she goes from interest to pain to anger. At one point she says she imagines having killing her friend. She is angry at the fact that her friend seduced her husband and seems to have captivated her son too. The son is now off wandering in Europe perhaps based on some things butterfly told him. The woman was devastated by the betrayal of her friend and husband. She and her husband separated but never divorced. Now the husband is back asking her to marry him again. She doesn't seem to keen on the idea. At the end of the book she looks out the window and thinks she might have seen her friend in the street but when she runs outside she cannot see her. She tells her friend that if the friend wants her husband she can have him.
The story sounds simple but the emotional turmoil of the main character is developed/displayed in such an amazing way, we get little vignettes until the story builds to the end.
I am looking forward to re-reading it.
Sunday, 24 May 2015
The Wonders
by Paddy O'Reilly
This book, by an Australian author is about three people that become part of a modern day travelling freakshow.
Leon needs a heart transplant and his life is saved by a doctor and his wife who give him a mechanical heart, if he promises never to divulge the details. The doctor dies within a year of performing the surgery.
Kathryn receives a treatment for Parkinson's the side effect of which causes lambs wool to grow all over her body.
Christos a performance artist has mechanical parts implanted in his body so that he can have wings inserted in his back.
A woman, with a background in a circus, approaches the three people to be part of an act she wants to call The Wonders. She has a large home and acreage where she rescues wild animals, e.g. monkeys, elephants, etc. Her plan is to have the three wonders do little performances to very select audiences. They become very famous and the celebrity of course leads to papparazzi and security issues. They seem to enjoy living the high life, especially Christos. Kathryn is the most troubled, religious groups seem to target her as an abomination. She had an abusive husband and is recovering from that. The group gets along reasonably well but Christos is a bit of a primadonna and causes some conflicts. Not everyone is happy with what they are doing, handicapped people feel they are exploiting and thus demeaning the handicapped.
Some private photos turn up in the media/internet and this upsets them. They later find out that their publicist has done this to fuel interest in them. They are upset with him, but don't do anything to stop or reprimand him.
Leon always felt a bit weird because of his heart and never thought he would ever be loved. He falls in love with the doctor hired to look after them and they eventually marry. He is so happy to be loved.
The group travels and gets rich over several years. They are planning to wind down the act and go their separate ways.... but they plan few more shows. They are asked to travel out into the desert in Dubai. While they are driving through the desert their vehicle hits a IUD/landmine and their vehicle overturns. They are all shaken up but Christos is quite badly injured. Was this an accident? Or an intentional attempt on their lives? Christos eventually recovers and they plan few final shows.
One day they are walking through a long hallway, in the bowels of a hotel or convention centre and Kathryn is kidnapped. They get a ransom demand and are prepared to pay up but Kathryn has been injured by her kidnappers and dies. This shocks them all to the core. The public reaction is a lot of grief but also some celebration by fundamentalists. Leon has been trying to track down the wife of the doctor who operated on him and eventually she contacts him to tell him that the battery in his chest may run down soon and it cannot be replaced. He is so upset, he assumed he would have a long life with his wife after the wonders.
The remaining wonders are upset at Kathryn's death but decide to continue with a few more performances. It becomes obvious that the fickle celebrity hungry public are losing interest in the wonders and switching their attention to other people. They are at one of their final public performances. A "fan" in the side of the red carpet has come because she is convinced that Kathryn died because Leon wanted her heart. She wants to kill Leon to avenge Kathryn. She makes an attempt to stab Christos, but Leon sees what she plans to do and jumps in the way getting wounded by her knife.
He is happy to have survived with only a minor wound. He feels glad that he has finally done something useful with his life. He and his wife settle down on their new house in Australia. He loves walking around the property and enjoys seeing all the life around him. This he decides is what life should be about. Christos has left to pursue a life of more performance art.
I think the book raises issues of what it means to be human, the meaning of life, to what lengths will we go to be alive/healthy? What will people give up to be healthy? famous? rich? What do you do after the public loses interest in you? Is it worth the loss of freedom/privacy?
This book, by an Australian author is about three people that become part of a modern day travelling freakshow.
Leon needs a heart transplant and his life is saved by a doctor and his wife who give him a mechanical heart, if he promises never to divulge the details. The doctor dies within a year of performing the surgery.
Kathryn receives a treatment for Parkinson's the side effect of which causes lambs wool to grow all over her body.
Christos a performance artist has mechanical parts implanted in his body so that he can have wings inserted in his back.
A woman, with a background in a circus, approaches the three people to be part of an act she wants to call The Wonders. She has a large home and acreage where she rescues wild animals, e.g. monkeys, elephants, etc. Her plan is to have the three wonders do little performances to very select audiences. They become very famous and the celebrity of course leads to papparazzi and security issues. They seem to enjoy living the high life, especially Christos. Kathryn is the most troubled, religious groups seem to target her as an abomination. She had an abusive husband and is recovering from that. The group gets along reasonably well but Christos is a bit of a primadonna and causes some conflicts. Not everyone is happy with what they are doing, handicapped people feel they are exploiting and thus demeaning the handicapped.
Some private photos turn up in the media/internet and this upsets them. They later find out that their publicist has done this to fuel interest in them. They are upset with him, but don't do anything to stop or reprimand him.
Leon always felt a bit weird because of his heart and never thought he would ever be loved. He falls in love with the doctor hired to look after them and they eventually marry. He is so happy to be loved.
The group travels and gets rich over several years. They are planning to wind down the act and go their separate ways.... but they plan few more shows. They are asked to travel out into the desert in Dubai. While they are driving through the desert their vehicle hits a IUD/landmine and their vehicle overturns. They are all shaken up but Christos is quite badly injured. Was this an accident? Or an intentional attempt on their lives? Christos eventually recovers and they plan few final shows.
One day they are walking through a long hallway, in the bowels of a hotel or convention centre and Kathryn is kidnapped. They get a ransom demand and are prepared to pay up but Kathryn has been injured by her kidnappers and dies. This shocks them all to the core. The public reaction is a lot of grief but also some celebration by fundamentalists. Leon has been trying to track down the wife of the doctor who operated on him and eventually she contacts him to tell him that the battery in his chest may run down soon and it cannot be replaced. He is so upset, he assumed he would have a long life with his wife after the wonders.
The remaining wonders are upset at Kathryn's death but decide to continue with a few more performances. It becomes obvious that the fickle celebrity hungry public are losing interest in the wonders and switching their attention to other people. They are at one of their final public performances. A "fan" in the side of the red carpet has come because she is convinced that Kathryn died because Leon wanted her heart. She wants to kill Leon to avenge Kathryn. She makes an attempt to stab Christos, but Leon sees what she plans to do and jumps in the way getting wounded by her knife.
He is happy to have survived with only a minor wound. He feels glad that he has finally done something useful with his life. He and his wife settle down on their new house in Australia. He loves walking around the property and enjoys seeing all the life around him. This he decides is what life should be about. Christos has left to pursue a life of more performance art.
I think the book raises issues of what it means to be human, the meaning of life, to what lengths will we go to be alive/healthy? What will people give up to be healthy? famous? rich? What do you do after the public loses interest in you? Is it worth the loss of freedom/privacy?
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
Snow
by Orhan Pamuk
Quote lifted from Amazon:
"The reader is exposed to a panoramic view of Turkey's political and religious conflicts and ethnic tensions. His multitude of characters represents every conceivable strand of Turkish society: Ataturk secularism and pro-European modernism on the one hand and various religious factions of Muslim faith on the other. By compressing the events into one locale, a remote, poor and backward town, Kars, in Eastern Turkey, he creates a charged playing field. A major snowstorm has cut off the access roads to the town, bringing the conflicting positions to boiling point. An artistic performance, including a poetry reading by Ka are marred by a "massacre". A couple of murders occur. The mayoral election, which would have been won by an Islamist over a local Secularist, is cut short by a military coup. In addition, the town has become notorious in the Istanbul headlines for several suicides and suicide attempts by the so-called "headscarf girls". The assumption being that the girls decided to end their life because they were not allowed to wear their headscarf in school. Yet, their motivations are more complicated than that.
Within this complex political turmoil, wanders Ka, the protagonist of the story. A recently unproductive poet, he returned from Germany to attend his mother's funeral. He has also reasons for coming to Kars. Presenting himself as a journalist, he claims to be interested in the stories behind the headscarf girls' suicides. On a personal level, he wants to find a "Turkish girl" to marry and take back to Germany."
Ka finds the interminable snow beautiful, probably the only thing of beauty in the town. He later arranges his poems on the structure of a six sided snowflake.
Ka finds the environment, or his experiences, or both, stimulating and he finds his creative juices start to flow resulting in several poems. The characters in the book are quite eccentric, even comical in their behaviour. I have to say that I found Ka infuriating, tremendous things were happening in the town and his main concern seemed to be his puppy love for his female friend. He seemed to be willing to go along with everyone, never challenging them or stating his own position. An avowed atheist he seemed to come to believe in god after meeting some of the mystics in town. What was that about??? I found his behaviour very irresponsible and unforgivable. I wanted to give his shoulders a shake. He did not leave with the supposed love of his life, nor did he deserve to do so. The main character reminds me of a character from Dostoevsky.
This was a very complex and powerful book. The book is not an easy read but the story is certainly relevant in today's world with the controversy about secular and non secular government, etc.
Quote lifted from Amazon:
"The reader is exposed to a panoramic view of Turkey's political and religious conflicts and ethnic tensions. His multitude of characters represents every conceivable strand of Turkish society: Ataturk secularism and pro-European modernism on the one hand and various religious factions of Muslim faith on the other. By compressing the events into one locale, a remote, poor and backward town, Kars, in Eastern Turkey, he creates a charged playing field. A major snowstorm has cut off the access roads to the town, bringing the conflicting positions to boiling point. An artistic performance, including a poetry reading by Ka are marred by a "massacre". A couple of murders occur. The mayoral election, which would have been won by an Islamist over a local Secularist, is cut short by a military coup. In addition, the town has become notorious in the Istanbul headlines for several suicides and suicide attempts by the so-called "headscarf girls". The assumption being that the girls decided to end their life because they were not allowed to wear their headscarf in school. Yet, their motivations are more complicated than that.
Within this complex political turmoil, wanders Ka, the protagonist of the story. A recently unproductive poet, he returned from Germany to attend his mother's funeral. He has also reasons for coming to Kars. Presenting himself as a journalist, he claims to be interested in the stories behind the headscarf girls' suicides. On a personal level, he wants to find a "Turkish girl" to marry and take back to Germany."
Ka finds the interminable snow beautiful, probably the only thing of beauty in the town. He later arranges his poems on the structure of a six sided snowflake.
Ka finds the environment, or his experiences, or both, stimulating and he finds his creative juices start to flow resulting in several poems. The characters in the book are quite eccentric, even comical in their behaviour. I have to say that I found Ka infuriating, tremendous things were happening in the town and his main concern seemed to be his puppy love for his female friend. He seemed to be willing to go along with everyone, never challenging them or stating his own position. An avowed atheist he seemed to come to believe in god after meeting some of the mystics in town. What was that about??? I found his behaviour very irresponsible and unforgivable. I wanted to give his shoulders a shake. He did not leave with the supposed love of his life, nor did he deserve to do so. The main character reminds me of a character from Dostoevsky.
This was a very complex and powerful book. The book is not an easy read but the story is certainly relevant in today's world with the controversy about secular and non secular government, etc.
The Miniaturist
by Jessie Burton
This book is set in the 1680's in Holland. A young girl, 18 year old Nella, arrives at her new home in Amsterdam, having married a successful merchant. She had dreams of a happy family life and children but her husband seems aloof and the marriage is never consummated.
Her husband gives her a cabinet, which is a model of their house, as a wedding present. These types of items would normally be playthings for younger girls. She contacts a miniaturist to obtain some objects for the cabinet and pieces start arriving, some of which she had not requested. These items demonstrate that the creator has an intimate knowledge of the household.
Nella is not really happy in her new home, her sister-in-law nags her husband about her business dealings and is rude to Nella. Nella is befriended by the young woman who cooks and cleans for the household. She was an orphan who was rescued by Nella's husband. He also has a black man servant whom he "bought" to rescue him from a life of slavery.
Nella tries to surprise her husband at his office one day and is shocked and dismayed to find out that her husband is homosexual. There are grave consequences for this in the strict dutch society. As time goes by she gets to like her husband even though he does not approach her. She is distraught when she finds out that her sister in law is pregnant, and when her husband is caught and reported to the authorities. Both the sister in law and husband die, one in childbirth and one drowned for his crime of sodomy. We find out the sister in law was approached to marry but she refused, wanting her independence more than marriage.
The story ends with Nella heading the household with the young girl, black man and the mulatto baby (child of the black man and the sister-in-law). How will she survive? Will she be able to overcome all the shame? Will she be able to assume her husband's business? He did a lot of travel to obtain produce, not something a woman could do.
It was an interesting story but I would have liked to see the main character meet and confront the miniaturist who it seems was impacting many lives in the city. Nella grows up rapidly during the course of the story but you wonder how she will survive in this city with its many prejudices given her husband and sister-in-law's shame. I think a theme of the book is women doing unconventional things in the face of a very staid society.
This book is set in the 1680's in Holland. A young girl, 18 year old Nella, arrives at her new home in Amsterdam, having married a successful merchant. She had dreams of a happy family life and children but her husband seems aloof and the marriage is never consummated.
Her husband gives her a cabinet, which is a model of their house, as a wedding present. These types of items would normally be playthings for younger girls. She contacts a miniaturist to obtain some objects for the cabinet and pieces start arriving, some of which she had not requested. These items demonstrate that the creator has an intimate knowledge of the household.
Nella is not really happy in her new home, her sister-in-law nags her husband about her business dealings and is rude to Nella. Nella is befriended by the young woman who cooks and cleans for the household. She was an orphan who was rescued by Nella's husband. He also has a black man servant whom he "bought" to rescue him from a life of slavery.
Nella tries to surprise her husband at his office one day and is shocked and dismayed to find out that her husband is homosexual. There are grave consequences for this in the strict dutch society. As time goes by she gets to like her husband even though he does not approach her. She is distraught when she finds out that her sister in law is pregnant, and when her husband is caught and reported to the authorities. Both the sister in law and husband die, one in childbirth and one drowned for his crime of sodomy. We find out the sister in law was approached to marry but she refused, wanting her independence more than marriage.
The story ends with Nella heading the household with the young girl, black man and the mulatto baby (child of the black man and the sister-in-law). How will she survive? Will she be able to overcome all the shame? Will she be able to assume her husband's business? He did a lot of travel to obtain produce, not something a woman could do.
It was an interesting story but I would have liked to see the main character meet and confront the miniaturist who it seems was impacting many lives in the city. Nella grows up rapidly during the course of the story but you wonder how she will survive in this city with its many prejudices given her husband and sister-in-law's shame. I think a theme of the book is women doing unconventional things in the face of a very staid society.
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