Archive for historical

Stone’s Fall

June 1, 2009 at 21:52 · Filed under books, historical, mystery ·Tagged ,

Stone’s Fall by Iain Pears

stoneI’ve enjoyed Iain Pears’ art mystery series, but haven’t read his standalone works. Financier John Stone fell to his death from a window of his London home. This is presented in three parts, all with different narrators. It has an interesting structure – it’s told in a backwards fashion; starting in London 1909 it then jumps to 1890 Paris and then to 1867 Venice. I did skim quite a bit of the financial parts and was lagging by the time part three came around, despite the Venice setting. But if you can stick with it until the end, you’ll be rewarded with a whaaat? At least, that was my reaction. Cannot say I saw that coming, but everything falls into place.

3.5/5

Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2009, 978-0676979848

jacket blurb:

A panoramic novel with a riveting mystery at its heart, Stone’s Fall is a quest, a love story, and a tale of murder. It centres on the career of a very wealthy financier and the mysterious circumstances of his death, cast against the backdrop of WWI and Europe’s first great age of espionage, the evolution of high-stakes international finance and the beginning of the twentieth century’s arms race.

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Very brief roundup

May 3, 2009 at 14:20 · Filed under books, historical, mystery, various, young adult ·Tagged , , ,

merrybegot

The Minister’s Daughter, Atheneum Books / The Merrybegot (UK title) by Julie Hearn, 2005
17th century England, young adult book. Nell is a merrybegot, a child conceived on the first of May. She and her grandmother are the village healers. Among the fairies and piskies, Nell gets tangled up in a pregnancy coverup carried out by the minister’s daughter Grace and her sister Patience. I liked the use of olde language without being too distracting and the dual narrative worked for me. 4/5


secretcountessThe Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson, Young Picador, 2007 (also called A Countess Below Stairs, 1981)
1919 England, young adult book. Anna, a young Russian countess, decides to take up a servant position in the Westerholme house to earn much needed money for her newly arrived and impoverished family. She falls for the new Earl in the process.  3/5


silentsanc2Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn, Mira, 2008
Second book of the Lady Julia Grey series. I didn’t think this had the page-turning quality of Silent in the Grave, but I enjoyed the mystery of this one more. I liked getting to know more of Julia’s siblings and family; it’s still two steps forward, two steps back with Julia and Nicholas Brisbane. 4/5

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Silent in the grave

March 8, 2009 at 13:42 · Filed under books, historical, mystery ·Tagged , ,

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

silentgraveFirst book of a series, a Victorian mystery with a dash of romance. Lady Julia’s husband Sir Edward Grey has passed away seemingly of natural causes. But Edward had hired private investigator Nicholas Brisbane due to some threatening notes he received. Brisbane thinks murder is possible; Lady Julia doesn’t believe it though.

One year later and coming out of mourning, she finds evidence of the threatening notes in her house, and concedes it may have been murder as Brisbane suggested. Despite the one year-old cold trail, Lady Julia wants to know the truth of the matter and we begin our mystery. So Mr. Brisbane is back on the case, this time with Lady Julia’s help.

Mystery books can be hit or miss for me but I found the chapter pacing and unravelling of the mystery pretty riveting, and easily finished this in two sittings. Nicholas Brisbane is so interesting – half gypsy, half Irish, well travelled, mysterious, and rather sneaky when it suits (for instance, telling Julia he’s going to Paris, but then not going and secretly following her around instead). The relationship between Nicholas and Julia is complicated but it shines. The March family – Julia’s father and her many siblings, and Aquinas, her former circus performer butler were also great characters in the mix.

4.5/5

Mira, 2007, 978-0778325246
Deanna Raybourn’s site with excerpt

series reading order so far – Silent in the Grave, Silent in the Sanctuary, Silent on the Moor (just released this month)

cover blurb:

“Let the wicked be ashamed. Let them be silent in the grave.”

These ominous words, slashed from the pages of a book of Psalms, are the last threat that the darling of London society, Sir Edward Grey, receives from his killer. Before he can show them to Nicholas Brisbane, the private inquiry agent he has retained for his protection, Sir Edward collapses and dies at his London home, in the presence of his wife, Julia, and a roomful of dinner guests.

Prepared to accept that Edward’s death was due to a longstanding physical infirmity, Julia is outraged when Brisbane visits and suggests that Sir Edward has been murdered. It is a reaction she comes to regret when she discovers the damning paper for herself, and realizes the truth.

Determined to bring her husband’s murderer to justice, Julia engages the enigmatic Brisbane to help her investigate Edward’s demise. Dismissing his warnings that the investigation will be difficult, if not impossible, Julia presses forward, following a trail of clues that lead her to even more unpleasant truths, and ever closer to a killer who waits expectantly for her arrival.

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Wallflower Christmas

December 8, 2008 at 12:59 · Filed under books, historical, romance ·Tagged ,

A Wallflower Christmas by Lisa Kleypas
awcWe get to meet another member of the Bowman family – Lillian and Daisy’s eldest brother Rafe. Our heroine is Hannah Appleton, cousin/companion to Lady Natalie Blandford, Rafe’s intended bride. But she (Hannah) isn’t even mentioned in the cover blurb – what’s up with that? Rafe has arrived from the States and joins the gang at Stony Cross Park. Lillian/Marcus and Evie/Sebastian (yay!) get some spotlight time among decorating for the holidays, the adventures of a misplaced toupee and a love letter. It’s too bad the book isn’t longer; it clocks in at a little over 200 pages. An enjoyable but short holiday-themed read for Wallflower fans.

This could be read on its own. The previous Wallflower books in order are Secrets of a Summer Night, It Happened One Autumn, Devil in Winter, Scandal in Spring.

4/5

St. Martin’s Press, October 2008, isbn 13: 978-0312533786

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With Violets

November 2, 2008 at 16:48 · Filed under books, historical, romance ·Tagged , , , ,

With Violets by Elizabeth Robards

I wasn’t familiar with the name Berthe Morisot before reading this – she was successful in showing at the Paris Salon, and she was involved in the Impressionist shows. She didn’t seem to get much attention then, but is now considered a worthy Impressionist painter in her own right. It was thought Berthe and the married Éduard Manet had an affair, and this book is an imagining of how that relationship unfolded. I like art from this time period, which is what initially drew me to the book.

I wasn’t really able to get swept up into Berthe and Éduard’s relationship. Maybe it’s because their connection was angst-filled, a bit periodic, and just somewhat doomed from the beginning with Manet being married. I did like the glimpses into the Impressionists/ anonymous cooperative society and into the connections between the artists – Degas pops up in places throughout the story, and others like Monet, Pissarro, and Sisley are mentioned a couple of times.

There’s a note from the author at the end of the book detailing use of these things to help form the backbone of her story: Manet painted Berthe several times during the years 1872–1874, more than any other of his models. One of his paintings of Berthe has her ring prominently displayed (see end of post). And after she married, he never painted her again.

I didn’t really get into the romance, which is the bulk of the book. But after reading up on Berthe Morisot a little and taking the historical gaps filled in and details into account, it grew on me a bit more.

3/5

cover blurb excerpt:

Berthe Morisot is determined to be recognized as an important painter. But as a woman, she finds herself sometimes overlooked in favor of her male counterparts – Monet, Pissarro, Degas.

And there is one great artist among them who captivates young Berthe like none other: the celebrated genius Édouard Manet. A mesmerizing, breathtaking rogue – a shameless roué, undeterred and irresistible – his life is a wildly overgrown garden of scandal. He becomes Berthe’s mentor, her teacher… her lover, despite his curiously devoted marriage to his frumpy, unappealing wife, Suzanne, and his many rumored dalliances with his own models.

But Berthe refuses to resign herself to the life of quiet submission that Society has dictated for her. Undiscouraged, she will create her own destiny… and confront life – and love – on her own terms.

Avon A, October 2008, isbn 13: 978-0061579127
available at amazon.ca

on to the art…
Paintings featured in With Violets


at.lorientThe Harbour at Lorient by Berthe Morisot, 1869

Berthe’s sister Edma at Lorient

A cropped thumbnail – click to see the full size painting (too big to put in the post)


The balcony by Éduard Manet, 1868
Manet asked Berthe to model for him, she’s the woman seated

Repose/Study of Berthe Morisot by Éduard Manet, 1869
The image the book cover is from

Two more paintings from the book plus links

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