Astra

by Cedar Bowers

This book is the first book by this B.C. author.  It is the story of a girl/woman called Astra.  Each chapter is told by a different person who meets her in her life.  Astra is a very complex, damaged creature who people feel obliged to help.

Astra was born on a commune.  Her mother died in childbirth and her biological father refused to acknowledge her as his child.  He lets her run wild on the commune and she has lots of accidents which leave her scared physically.  The lack of her father's attention and love leaves her scared emotionally.

She eventually leaves the commune and lives with several people, threeboyfriends; one of whom gets her pregnant, a rich one who keeps her and her baby in find style until she decides to leave and a man she marries an later divorces; a family she babysat for and a woman she knew from the commune who turns out to be her most enduring supporter.  As Astra leaves a  path of confusion behind her she loves her son in her way but they don't necessarily have a good relationship.  Eventually the boy leaves her to go to Toronto to meet his birth father.  Against his mothers wishes he moves in with his girlfriend, they eventually marry and have a child.  After a few months they take the baby to meet Astra.

Eventually the old lady from the commune dies, leaving Astra not only her house but also the deed to the commune land.  Astra is shocked to find out that the woman had been sending her father money for years as he couldn't make enough money to support himself on the commune.  At first Astra thinks about selling the commune land but she keeps pay her father some money.  Eventually she finds out her father has dementia and she is called to deal with her father.  He is moved to a demetia ward.  She goes to visit him.  He asks if she knows his daughter, she eventually says she does.  He tells her he didn't want Astra to be beholding to him or something like that.  That seems to make her forgive him for all the hurt he caused her.  I am sorry I don't think that would make me forgive a jerk who abandoned me my whole life.

It was an interesting read the way we got the story of her life from various people's persepectives.  The author did a great job of portraying this poor troubled girl but in the end she seemed to be getting herself together.

Dark Tides

 by Philippa Gregory

This book takes place in the 1670's in London and New England.

The story is about two families.  One of the families consists of a brother who has decided to settle in the U.S. because he doesn't agree with having a King back in authority in England.  His hope for living in the U.S. was to be able to live free without hurting or stealing from anyone else. He lives a reclusive life and is befriended by some of the local natives who teach him and give him things to help him survive the brutal winters.  He eventually learns that the settlers are going to fight the natives to take land away from them by force.  He cannot agree with this so just heads off heading north.  

The man had been communicating with his sister in England and sending her some produce/products to sell.  His sister and her daughter are running a small export business with a warehouse.  They are surprised when a man, a former love interest of the woman arrives at their place one day and offers to adopt the woman's son. He tells her he is without and heir and is wealthy.  He would like to make his illegitimate son his heir.  Eventually he learns that his son had died.

While he is visiting the women he meets a woman who has shown up on their doortstep from Venice with a baby.  She claims she is the widow of the woman's son.  They believe her and though they are very poor they agree to finance her sheme to bring antiquities (from her first husband's estate) to England to sell.  She promises to pay them back and eventually buy them a house and a warehouse in a better part of town.

The women meets up with the man who visited and convinces him to sell her products out of his house.  The man should be cautious when his brother says he does not think the pieces are authentic but the woman keeps him wrapped around her finger and he continues to support her.  She gets some money from her sales but doesn't share them with her relatives.

The mother of the family gets suspicious.  She cannot believe her son is dead so she sends her granddaughter to Venice to investigate.  The girl finds out that they widow is really a con artist.  She betrayed her second husband to the authorities and he is now languishing on a plague island serving as a doctor.  The man who was helping her prepare fake antiquties in Venice believes she plans to marry him but when he is told the woman is now engaged to the man in England he goes back to England with the granddaughter.  They arrive as the widow is marrying the man she conned.  Her husband says he is alive so she shouldn't be able to marry to other man but the courts rule that Venetian law has no place in England so they let the new wedding stand.  The rich man is devastated, his reputation is ruined and he doesn't want to live with the woman he is now married to.

The book was a bit slow at times but it did a great job of describing life and the time and portraying the various characters.  An intesting read.

Murder in Chianti

 by Camilla Trinchieri

This story is set in Tuscany.  The main character is a former New York Police Officer.  He and his Italian wife spent a lot of time in Italy and after he is dismissed from the force because he destroyed evidence in a case he and his wife return to Italy.  His wife dies of cancer.  The man is now renting a house and trying to figure out what to do with his life.  He helps out for free in a local cafe.

One day as he is having breakfast he hears a gunshot.  Shortly after when he goes for a walk in a nearby forest he finds a dead man whose face has been shot off.  The man is wearing an expensive watch and gold running shoes, the shoes make the man think the victim must be American.

He contacts the local police who have limited experience with murder cases.  When the local police officer finds out the man is an ex-cop with homicide experience he seeks his help with the case.

The book then follows the police work as they find out the man was actually an Italian who is now living in California.  As they try to figure out why he had an expensive bracelet in his pocket with a charm with a specific date on it, they interview various local people.

There are lots of quirky characters in the book, including one man who constantly spouts Dante or his version of Dante.  The main character wants to help but he finds his affection for some of his friends, who might be potential suspects, clouding his judgement.  There are rumours about the victim having raped a woman and possibly fathered a local child,

Eventually we find out that the victim's estranged sister hired a local young man to kill her brother so she could get some inheritance from him.  

The book was an okay story with lots of local colour.

Silverview

by  John Le Carre

This book is about the British spy establishment at the present time.  

In one part of the book a "spy chief" is sent to investigate a former spy to determine if there could have been some leaks in the past.  He goes around interviewing various retired members of the spy service.

The other part of the story involves a young man who had a successful career in the financial sector in London but decides to leave it all behind to buy a bookstore in a small town.  Shortly after he opens a local man comes and after a few casual meetings the man convinces the young man to devote part of his store to a special collection of rare, intellectual books.  The young man agrees and sets the man up with a computer to help him develop a list and even source books for this collection.

The man asks the young man to deliver a letter to a woman in London for him.  The young man assumes the woman is the man's mistress and awaits a reply to the letter.

The young man finds out that his "partner" lives in a house called Silverview with his wife who is dying of cancer. The young man is invited to dinner and meets the man's wife and their daughter, who has a small child.

We find out that the man's dying wife was a key official in the spy service, her husband also played a role.

One day the young man comes to his store and finds all the computers, including the one his book partner was using have been stolen.

As the story goes on we learn that the person the "spy chief'" is investigating is the young man's partner.  The man's wife dies and the spy service is about to descend on the husband but he has anticipated this and escapes by jumping in the van of the local mailman when he comes to drop off the mail.

The book concludes with the service assuming the man was indeed leaking information because he had fallen in love with a woman who lives in the middle east.  They assume he is off to unite with her.

The young man seems to be falling for the man's daughter.

This was Le Carre's last book, finished by one of his sons.  It was an okay book but as I haven't read any of his other books I am not sure how it compares to his other books.

The Man Who Died Twice

 by Richard Osman

This is the second book about the Thursday Mystery Club, about some seniors who like to solve crimes.  This time a crime comes to them.... One of the women was a former MI-5 person receives a note to meet a man who is supposed to be dead.  He was from a case years before where they faked a death as part of a case.

When she goes to meet the person she is shocked to find that the man who contacted her was actually an ex-husband.  He has still been working and is now in protection because he has been accused of stealing diamonds from a case he was working on.

Soon after the ex and his "keeper" are both found murdered.  The faces are so damaged that they suspect one or the other of the bodies are not really who they think they are.

The woman is convinced her ex probably did steal the diamonds.  He leaves her various clues.  Eventually after dealing with some really nasty characters they do find the diamonds and donate the proceeds to a good cause.

These are entertaining books, there are a lot of spunky characters and a lot of humour. The plot development was really interesting.

The Island of Missing Trees

 by Elif Shafak

This is a beautiful, very unique book.  I really enjoyed it though the basic stories were quite sad.

The story opens with a young girl, daughter of a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, in London having a meltdown in class.  She has been asked to interview a family member about their life.... she has no family that she can contact.  She is devastated further when she finds her meltdown has made it onto the Internet.

The girl's mother has died and she feels that her father cares more about his job and the plants he works on than he does about her.  

The book then describes how the father buries a fig tree he brought from Cypress (illegally) every fall.  The tree cannot survive the English winters so he buries it every year til spring.  He doesn't just bury it he goes out and talks to it.

We then learn that the girl's parents were lovers in Cypress just before all the violence started.  Their parents would not approve of their relationship but two gay men who run a tavern, which has a fig tree growing in the centre of the tavern, let the kids meet at their restaurant.  The boy's mother has seen one son killed and another join the fighting and she fears for her youngest son so she ships him off to England to live with a relative.  The boy doesn't know that his girlfriend has become pregnant.

Suddenly the girl's aunt arrives from Cypress for a visit.  The girl doesn't trust her and is rude to her.  She is angry the woman never came sooner.  She learns a little about her parent's love affair as young people and also that the aunt couldn't come sooner because she had to look after her mother.

A unique and fascinating part of the book is that part of the story is told by the fig tree in the tavern.  It is a branch of this tree that the girl's father brought to England.

As the story progresses we find out the girl's mother gave her baby up for adoption but the baby died of a fever that plagued Cypress killing many infants.  The two gay guys were tortured and murdered.

Eventually the girl's father returned to Cypress on a business trip and reconnects with his lover.  At first the father thinks his girlfriend had an abortion and he is furious with her.  But eventually he finds out the truth. She is a forensic scientist trying to document and identify all those who died in the conflict.  He convinces her to marry him and they return to England where the daughter was born.

The mother, perhaps because afflicted with depression or PTSD eventually dies of an overdose.  The father is devastated.

As the book ends we find that the girl now has an understanding of what has happened in her family and is starting to re-develop her relationship with her father.

As the book ends we find the spirit of the mother has moved into the little fig tree.

A sad, but powerful, fascinating and well crafted story.

Blue Sky Kingdom

 by Bruce Kirby

This is a memoir by a BC adventure traveller from Kimberly BC.  The man takes his wife and two young sons, one of whom is autistic, on a very challenging journey to stay for several months in a monastery in the Himalayas.  First they canoe to Kamloops, or somewhere near there, to catch the Rocky Mountaineer Train to Vancouver.  There they board a container ship to sail across the ocean to Korea.  After that they eventually trek up some steep and dangerous paths, with the man carrying one of his sons a lot of the time, til they get to the monastery.

They spend six months or so living with one of the monks and trying to teach the young buddhist trainees English.  Their host is quite a character and the man and his family are welcomed into the monastery.  They are pleased at how their sons thrive, even sitting still to do some meditation.

The book talks a lot about their interactions with the locals, the changes that have occurred and will occur and what impact this will have on the valley and the monastery.  The trip was life changing for them in more ways than they expected.

One of the sad things is of course how the world is encroaching on the monastery, but also in the past the monastery used to provide the young buddhist monks with an excellent education, this seems to have declined so what future will face them.

It was a fascinating story with a lot of engaging stories and great description of the people and the country.