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Earlier, Thistle had blessed the torrential rain. Now, the smuggler cursed it.
Title: The Scottish Thistle
Author: Cindy Vallar
ISBN: 1592797121
Publisher: Amber Quill Press/2006
Pages: 404
About the book:
Loyalty and honor. A Highland warrior prizes both more than life, and when he swears his oath on the dirk, he must obey or die. Duncan Cameron heeds his chief’s order without question, but discovers his wife-to-be is no fair maiden. Although women are no longer trained in the art of fighting, Rory MacGregor follows in the footsteps of her Celtic ancestors. Secrets from the past and superstitious folk endanger Rory and Duncan as much as Bonnie Prince Charlie and his uprising to win back the British throne for his father. Rory and Duncan must make difficult choices that pit honor and duty against trust and love.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My views:
Notwithstanding the storyline, this book takes us into the highlands and lowlands of Scotland, a veritable journey into its history. We learn about its customs, culture and about its proud people. At a first glance, it looks like a romance, but it isn't so. Rory is fiercely independent. Duncan too knows that he can't tame her spirit. He loves her for it. When they have to choose sides to fight for causes, their love is truly tested. However, that is not the only interest. It is the historic bit which engrossed me. For all those history lovers, it is a book worth picking up.
Thanks to Tracee of Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Tour for the book.
"Augustus saved my brother like a bull for the slaughter, so why shoulsdn't I be next? And who better to do the job than you?"
~Page 393
Title: Cleopatra's Daughter
Author: Michelle Moran
ISBN: 9780307409126
Publisher: Crown/2009
Pages: 448
When Octavian's army arrives into Egypt, first Marc Antony and then Cleopatra kill themselves, leaving their children in the hands of their enemy. The 10-year-old twins, Selene and Alexander, along with 4-year-old Ptolemy are taken to Rome. The younger child dies at the sea.
Octavian brings both the children to his sister Octavia's house. She had been abandoned by Marc Antony yet she loves those children as her own. Selene and Alexander stick to each other, both dreaming of getting back to Egypt someday. They are educated as befitting as their age and class. Selene is encouraged to take up drawing and painting. Octavian, for all his faults, does not trwat then badly and he is also concerned about Rome and his people. He builds the city so that they live in it with convenience and no hardships.
The various relationships are complicated and everything does seem confusing for the young Selene, but she too can see the contrast in the workings of her father Marc Antony and Octavian (Augustus). The slave rebellion, and to make a home for the orphans are only a few issues taken up.
Historically, the Roman Civilization was much developed than we can envisage, much progressive in its thinking and most important of all, women had the right to marry as many times as they wished to. Poets, rulers, politicians and even the masses seem to have had visions for the future. No wonder, the Roman Empire lasted a long time.
Selene tries to understand her world with the world she is living in. She sees much ups and downs and yet knows how to survive. She also learns that serving the people, and having a sense of justice can never go wrong.
Thanks to the author for the book.
Also check out the following reviews:
Book Addiction
Historical Tapestry
Medieval Bookworm
S. Krishna's Books
Reading Rumpus
fashion_piranha
Diary of an Eccentric
Scaling Mount TBR
veens
Nevis Island.
February 1831
The slave woman fell over the cliff's edge toward the black swirl of water that churned over the boulders reaching from the sea.
Title: Receive Me Falling
Author: Erica Robuck
ISBN: 9780982229804
Publisher: Elysian Field Press/2009
Page: 266
Meghan Owen is engaged to be married. When her parents die in an accident on the night of her engage party, she calls of her wedding. Going through her father's papers, she finds, she has inherited land in Nevis. She leaves her job to travel there. When she reaches the old plantation House, Eden, she finds letter and papers and an ominous presence of dark secrets. She has to get into the bottom of it and also find out how she is involved in all this.
She learns about the Dall family who had leaved there in the 19th century. Just at that moment the British abolitionists had arrived to free the slaves. The daughter of the plantation owner Catherine Dall, is tormented between her sense of fairness and her family. She loves and cares for the slaves in her plantation. However, she can't escape her destiny. When Catherine discovers some unpleasant truth about her slave, leah, she gets maddeningly angry and tragic strikes in the form of Leah's death. Was it suicide, or was it murder?
Meg too finds that the land that she owns is tainted with the stigma of slavery and stolen money. It falls on Meg to find the secrets and let the ghosts rest forever. She has to balance her present with the historic events that took place so much before her time.
With alternate chapters, the present and past somehow merge and Meg has the big task of bringing justice to the ghosts of the past. With simplistic writing about the complex issue of slavery, Robuck has written a good readable nobel. The secondary characters too are very well etched out. Yes, there is so much sadness. No slave stoy can ever be happy. And every slave story needs to be told. Maybe that way we might be able to learn something from the past.
Do check out the following reviews too:
Bookjourney
Framed
Booklogged
Marcia
Historically Obssessed
booktumbling
Alipet
Musings of a Book Addict
Anna's Book Blog
Andi's Book Reviews
The Book Inn
Two Kids & Tired Book Blogger
Book Nook Club
Dan's Journal
I lie in bed watching the numbers on the digital alarm clock click in slow motin to 6:00 a.m., 6:01. My right hand, curled tightly beneath my head, is cramped, but I don't want to risk moving it.
Title: Best Intentions
Author: Emily Listfield
ISBN: 9781416576716
Publisher: Atris/2009
Pages: 338
I had won Best Intentions in The First Mystery Readathon and read it for The Second Mystery Readathon.
Lisa Barkley 39, is happily married to Sam and they have two beautiful daughters. They also seem to be moving in the right circles. But with the economic slide down, everything seems to change. Her job is in jeopardy and after listening to a voicemail in Sam's cellphone, she thinks that her husband might be having an affair. Her world is crashing all around her and she can't do anything about it. However, Deirdre, her best friend of long time is supportive of her. When Lisa tells Deirdre that Sam might be having an affair, her best friends tells her, it can't be.
Meanwhile, Deirdre is having an torrid affair with a photographer Ben, and both don't wish for any kind of long lasting relationship. When Deidre's old flame Jack turns up, everything seems to go topsy turvy for all involved. Lisa is forced to acknowledge some unpleasant truths about her husband. And she can't even trust Deirdre now. Before she can confront either, Deirdre is murdered. There are four suspects: Sam, Ben, Jack and Lisa.
As a women's fiction, this book works well. Lisa and Deirdre are really good friends, who meet almost every week for breakfast. Sam is not too fond of Deirdre but he doesn't come in the way of their friendship. Jack had wanted to marry Deirdre long time back but she had refused. Now he was married but still wants her. Ben has a complex relationship with her although Deirdre has no complaints about that. Lisa does have reasons to kill Deirdre.
I started it, thinking of it as suspense/mystery as the way it is pegged by the author. However, the murder happens too late and I could truly guess the murderer. Therefore, there was no surprise. I felt the book is a big let down for suspense and gets repetitive too after 3/4 mark. As a mystery it fails completely. It definitely is not a book for diehard Suspense/Mystery/Crime fiction readers.
I must say, if I had not read it assuming it as Suspense/Mystery, I might have liked this book.
Title: Mare's War
Author: Tanita S. Davis
ISBN: 9780375857140
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf/2009
Pages: 341
Talitha and Octavia are forced to spend their summer vacation with their Grandmother Marey Lee Boyden, journeying into almost all over USA. Their Grandmother, known as Mare is unlike any other grand mother, one can think of. She drives a red car, has long painted nails and wears push-up bras. The teenaged girls aren't too thrilled to spend their summer with her.
But Mare has a past, which she reveals to them while driving in her car. When her past is revealed, the girls slowly to come to learn about their grandmother. Mare had lied about her age to join the 6888th Africa American battalion of the Women's Army Corps during World War II.
Mare was only 17, when she decided to join the army. She had an younger sister Josephine. When their Mama sent Josephine to Philadelphia, Marey Lee had no reason to stay and do menial work. She enlisted herself into the army to serve her country. Marey did not wish for a life like her Mama's, where one depended on a man for ones happiness and she also had no plans of getting into trouble having babies.
Joining the army gave her purpose in life. She made lasting friendship with some other enlisted women. And she also travelled to war ridden places like England and Paris. Told in alternate chapters of Then and Now, Mare's character comes forth beautifully and her equations with her grand daughter's too slowly changes.
At a first glance, this might appear to be light read but it isn't so. It speaks of a girl, who knew what she wanted of her life and how and she also knew that she had to come back for her little sister "Feens". Mare had all her priorities right and she set an example for Feens and also for Talitha and Octavia. The journey in itself is a reunion. The girls understand that at the end of it and are proud of their Mare! Those who want to read about WWII, relationships, responsibilities and familiy values will find it all here. It also deals with the discriminations coloured people faced even during the war.
Marblehead, MassachussettsPlot summary:
Connie Godwin, a Harvard graduate student is looking forward to do research for her post-doctoral. She gets a phone call from her mother Grace to go over to Salem to check out her grandmother's House, which has not been occupied for the last twenty years. With some misgivings Connie agrees as it is summer. When she reaches Salem, she can feel something strange happening to her. The house is indeed in a bad shape, hidden by creepers and trees. However, Connie is not detered by it and manages to make it somewhat liveable. While going over the old books, Connie finds a key in a bible along with a parchment with Deliverance Dane written on it. There is a mention of some short of Almanac or Receipt or Shadow book. To know more about it, she goes around visiting old Church and the library. Meanwhile she meets Sam, who works as restorer. Her mentor in Harvard is after her to find the book and soon.
What did you think of the writing style?
With historical facts, and folk lore, the writing style does not jar. At some point, one simply doesn't wish to put down the book. I read it four hours straight!
Which of your readers are most likely to enjoy this book? Why?
Those who wish to know more about Salem witch trials and history leading upto it will like the book. Also those readers who have read The HERectic's Daughter will love it.
What did you think of the main character?
Connie is not one to give up. She has to know who is Deliverance Dane and how is she (Connie) connected to her. She has some power but she isn't aware of those until she arrives in Marblehead.
Share a favorite scene from the book:
Connie does find the book and reads it save Sam. Finally she resorts to spells to save him. A non-believer, she cannot escape her legacy and her power hitherto unknown. Also the fact that she burns the book when she realises that in the wrong hands it would do much damage.
I used to love this season. The Wood stacked by the door, the tang of its sap still speaking of forest.
Title: Year of Wonders
Author: Geraldine Brooks
ISBN: 184115458
Publisher:Fourth Estate/2001
Pages: 304
Year of Wonders is about plague that took place in 1666, in an isolated Mountain village. The plague might have come there with an bolt of cloth from London. Anna Frith, the narrator, is a housemaid. In the midst of all this madness, she emerges as a strong heroine, who tries her best to heal. The plague destroys almost all of the village and also reason. Poeple go frenzy with madness and resort to witch hunting. Anna comes out stronger out of all this with faith, and love for people.
She loses here own family. That doesn't deter her from offering her services for healing those who need her. The minister of the village insists that they quarante their village so that it does not spread far and wide. Apart from a few handful, everyone agrees to it. In a way, 1666 becomes an Year of Wonders instead of Year of Plague.
Anna Firth comes out to be strong woman. She has faith in their minister and most important in the young wife of the minister. Their relationship is not that of a mistress and a servant but more like two sisters. Both love each other. Elinor teaches Anna to read too. Mr Mompellion, the minister loves his wife Elinor, which seems to be reciprocated well.
For all her goodwill, her healing powers, Anna is torn with misplaced love too. She is one of the survivors of the plague and she knows what she has to do at the end of it. We don't see Anaa failing us at any time and she has got her priorities right too. In those times when a woman was taken for a witch just because she could heal, Anna survives in more ways than one. With good writing, this makes an extremely readable book. Brooks has made that period of time come alive for us.
That house in Manawaka is the one which, more than any other, I carry with me. Known to the rest of the town as "the old Connor place" and to the family as the Brick House, it was plain as the winter turnips in its root cellar, sparsely windowed as some crusader's embattled fortress in a heathen wilderness, its rooms in a perpetual gloom except in the brief height of summer.
Title: A Bird in the House
Author: Margaret Laurence
ISBN: 0771099851
Publisher: M&S/1970
Pages: 191
A Bird in the House can be read both as short story collection or a novel as the short stories are interconnected and yet stand alone. The stories speak of childhood, and girlhood very beautifully, depicting, pathos, wonder and also the joys of growing up.
The protagonist Vanessa MacLeod, is a keen observer and she is attuned to everything that is connected to her. This books speaks of family love, duty and the pain of death too. The conflict too is shown in a very fine way. When Vanessa's father dies suddenly due to flu, she misses him terribly and doesn't know how to cope with her grief. Her relationship with her Grandfather Connor is interesting. He is forceful, dominating yet a steady force. No one expects him to die all of a sudden although he is ninety-four.
With plenty of interesting observations, Vanessa manages to tell us so much about Manakawa. Despite liking the book, I find it hard to review it. Each and every character has a place in the book and are necessary for Vanessa's growing up phase. This book starts when she is 9 years old and finishes when she is around 40 years of age. Vanessa's narration is filled with interesting snippets and beautuful poignant emotions.
Book 1 of The Canadian Book Challenge 3
All my tiredness flies out of the window when I see Grandma Faith standing in the mountain mists that drift in and out of the trees.
Title: Tender Graces
Author: Kathryn Magendie
ISBN: 9780982175620
Publisher: Bell Bridge books/2009
Pages: 316
Tender Graces is one of those books which stays in mind even after you put it down. One doesn't wish the book to end at all. One is with Virginia Kate right from the beginning reliving her saga at every moment. This book begins with the mountains of West Virginia and in a way ends there. Virginia Kate does find a home in the swamps of Louisana and also frees herself from the burdens of love for her momma, Katie Ivene. In a way the setting is a metaphor for the turbulent feelings within Virginia Kate, and her brothers Micah and Andy for their momma.
Frederick is a salesman but quotes Shakespeare at every step, meets Katie Ivene, a wildly passionate girl-woman, who wants the good life, and they elope and get married. They have three children, Micah, Virginia Kate and Andy. Their married life has its ups and downs but goes totally bust after a few years of marriage. Frederick goes back to Texas to get enrolled in a school. Katie wants him back but he gets married to Rebekha. This makes Katie mad at Frederick and she sends away Micah with them. Meanwhile Virginia Kate misses her brother Micah, and after a while, Katie sends her away too keeping Andy with her.
Virginia Kate resents being away from her momma but is happy to see her brother Micah, although she misses Andy too. Rebekha does her best to make both the children feel at home and cares for them. After a while she has a boy Bobby but she doesn't change towards the older children. Katie Ivene meets a man and Andy too is made to go to his father without as much as a goodbye. Micah and Virginia Kate are thrilled to be re-united with their brother. Both the boys hate their momma for giving them up but Virgina Kate has mixed feelings. She cannot come in terms with their momma giving up on them.
Rebekha is a good mother, she gives them a solid base, and although she doesn't say it, she loves them for themselves. There is a strong bonding between the brothers and Bobby too takes to Andy, always tagging behind him.
Katheryn Magendie has created solid characters, and is very clear about inter-personal relationships. There is a strong supernatural element in this book, which in no way intrudes but makes it flow smoothly. And just when things get harder to bear, Virginia Kate gets the wisdom from her thoughts, what to do next. Her Grandma Faith is with her, to guide her. Miss Darla too senses when the girl needs her.
Katie Ivene is in no way evil, although her father and sister were. She is one of those woman, high strung and wild, who do not know what they themselves want. The reader does not hate her. Or doesn't pity her either but accepts her as she is. Kathryn managed to do that and that is what is the best part of reading this novel. One gets an inkling why she sent her children away from her before Virginia Kate does.
One just can't help loving Rebekha, long before the children do. She might be quiet and in the first appearance colourless, compared with Katie Ivene but she is grounded and knows what is best for the children. Frederick pales in comparison to her. Right since childhood Micah has loved to draw and he follows that calling. Andy and Bobby to go about excelling in their callings. And Virginia Kate finally understands why their momma let them all go. In the same home, in her momma's room. And at last she is at peace with herself.
With beautiful setting, strong characters, Magendie has written a very good book. One of the best books I read so far. One simply resents it when it ends. Thanks Kathryn, for the ARC.
Title: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming
Author: Joshilyn Jackson
ISBN: 9780446697828
Publisher: Grand Central/2008
Pages: 308
This is one of those novels which totally takes you in from the first line. With magical realism along with a murder mystery it has all those elements which sustains the interest till the end. The ghost part of it felt more like vision to me, which works well too.
Laurel is happy enough in Victorianna, Florida along with her daughter Shelby and husband David, who is into developing codes for PC games. Laurel too is into quilting which gets her good money. One August night she finds Molly, her daughter's best friend, standing beside her bed, who leads her to the swimming pool. Molly is floating lifeless in there and no amount of revival works. Laurel's main concern are her daughter and another girl Bet, she has almost adopted from a lower strata neighbourhood.
Laurel needs her sister Thalia, with whom she had not spoken for two years. Now Laurel and Thalia have a past, which threatens to spill over the Hawthorne household. Laurel's perfect life goes haywire and she doesn't know what to do. Shelby and Bet too have a secret about Molly which they aren't willing to share. Molly's death is closed as accidental but Laurel knows it is a murder. In the midst of all this, there is supposedly a pedophile roaming about. And he is a suspect in Laurel's eyes. In their journey towards unravelling the truth, Laurel has to face a lot of unpleasantness and the explosive ending leaves us shattered.
Whatever differences Laurel and Thalia have, it doesn't affect their strong bonding. Laurel knows Thalia would stand by her always. David is not too fond of Thalia but he too realises that Thalia can go to any length to keep Laurel and Shelby safe. The ghost part too works well and as a mystery it manages to keep that alive too. With beautiful prose, it was a pleasure to read it. Thanks Joshilyn, for sending me a copy!
Title: The Heretic Queen
Author: Michelle Moran
ISBN: 9780307381750
Publisher: Crown/2008
Pages: 370
Synopsis
In ancient Egypt, a forgotten princess must overcome her family’s past, and remake history.
The winds of change are blowing through Thebes. A devastating palace fire has killed the 18th dynasty’s royal family—all with the exception of Nefertari, niece of the reviled former queen Nefertiti. The girl’s deceased family has been branded as heretical, and no one in Egypt will speak their names. A relic of a previous reign, Nefertari is pushed aside, an unimportant princess left to run wild in the palace. But all of this changes when she is taken under the wing of pharaoh’s aunt, and brought to the Temple of Hathor where she is educated in a manner befitting a future queen.
Soon Nefertari catches the eye of the crown prince, and despite her family’s history, they fall in love and wish to marry. Yet all of Egypt opposes this union between the rising star of a new dynasty and the fading star of an old, heretical one. While political adversity sets the country on edge, Nefertari becomes the wife of Ramesses the Great. Destined to be the most powerful pharaoh in Egypt, he is also the man who must confront the most famous exodus in history.
I will review this book by answering questions by other bloggers.
Becky: Did you enjoy The Heretic Queen? Have you read Michelle Moran's other novel, Nefertiti? If you did, how do you think they compare? Do you have a favorite? What is it about this book that you love most? (Or if you didn't like it, what didn't you like about it!)
Gavin: I am curious about Michelle Moran. Did you enjoy The Heretic Queen?
Louise: Why do you read historical fiction? Or is this one of the few ones you've read?
I liked The Heretic Queen. Though the author says it is mostly fiction, it seems plausible. It might have happened that way. I liked the plotting and the love between Nefertari and the Pharaoh comes through very strongly. However, I liked the intelligent, far sighted, learned Nefertari much better. She is skilled in languages and knows the politics of her place. What she doesn't know, she makes it a point to learn. She is considered the daughter of a heretic queen and she has to prove herself at every step. She does it with poise. She knows that she can only do it by beind calmness and with sanity. Anger has no place in her life. She does not even hate Iset, the other wife of the Pharaoh. Filled with historical details, it unravels many intruing part of politics and works for peace for Egypt.
It is my first novel by Moran and I do plan to read more. As and when I get them.
My mother's name was Mercy Stone Goodwill. She was only thirty years old when she took sick, a boiling hot day, standing in her kitchen, making a Malvern pudding for her husband's supper.
Title: The Stone Diaries
Author: Carol Shields
ISBN: 9780007666232
Publisher: Ted Smart/1993
Pages: 361
born on the kitchen floor
mother died at birth
taken away from father at two months
THE STONE DIARIES
returned to father at eleven years
from housewife to garden columnist
death at ninety in a nursing home
~~NaiSaiKu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another story about a woman having an uneventful life.
Housewife and mother with three children, another almost adopted.
At seventy two, travels to Canada to find her forgotten roots.
~The American Sandwich
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The above two verses summarise the novel in different ways. The novel narrates the story of Daisy Goodwill, who lost her mother when she was born in Manitoba in 1903, separated from her father at two months, again lost her adopted mother at 11 years in Winnipeg in 1916, to go and live with her father, in Indiana USA. She gets an college education. In 1927 she gets married and on her Honeymoon in Paris, her husband dies.
Feeling a certain something lacking in her life, at the age of 31 she travels to Winnipeg, gets married to Barker Flett, who is twenty three years older than her and whom she called Uncle as a child. They have three children. He dies in 1955. She could have led an easy life but not so. She has always been good at gardening, a legacy from her adopted mother, Clarentine Flett. She goes on to become a garden columninst. Meanwhile her children go their various ways. One of her niece Beverly, comes to live with her and gives birth to a girl Victoria. Daisy kind of adopts both.
Daisy travels with Victoria to Manitoba to find her roots. She does find her husband Barker's father Magnus, still alive at 114 years of age but he does not remember much. It was his wife, Clarentine who had brought up Daisy. Daisy dies in a nursing home in Florida. She is almost ninety at that time.
It is a fictitious piece of work, which almost seems real at places. Daisy's life in todays context, does not appear to be much but it isn't like that. She makes a life for herself in her middle age. She is a much sought after garden columnist. Carol Shields work is not meant for everyone. I too wanted to give up reading it at one point. However, I am glad I read it. It speaks of a woman's inner thoughts and her strength too. She can succeed if she wishes to attain the heights. Certainly it doesn't make an easy read. But whoever said, a book has to be easy?!
Running on fear alone, Sarah Lucas follows her dog Sylvie down a long meadow and onto a disintegrating ski trail in the woods.
Title: Every Last Cuckoo
Author: Kate Maloy
ISBN: 978156126756
Publisher: Algonquin Books/2009
Pages: 277
This novel starts when we think that life has almost ended. When one thinks there is no more to be done, no more to be seen, suddenly one finds new arenas.
Sarah Lucas is secured in her husband's love. She is seventy five and is happy with her life with Charles. She loves their peaceful existence in rural vermont living in the midst of friends and occasional visits from family. When Charles dies unexpectedly, she is assailed by loneliness and thinks her life has ended. And then she finds herself with un-expected boarders, a motley crowd, who need a place to live one way or the other. All end up caring for each other forming a family of sorts. Sarah feels fulfilled and happy. She still misses Charles but her love for him sustains her, does not break her apart. Sarah also finds a new hobby in the form of photography and nature walks.
Every Last Cuckoo is a very good book, with a beautiful relationship between Sarah and Charles, and their various friends. The little girl Hannah, is specially very endearing. She is the child of Tess, David's girlfriend.
This novel teaches us that no matter what, life is very beautiful. There is so much within us to give and and make a difference in the lives of others and in doing so, we enrich ourselves too. Maloy's writing is good too, the flora and fauna is so vivid and also the interactions between the various people. The essence goodness within all of us is shown very beautifully. Once I started it, I couldn't put it down. It is not a sad novel in anyway. In Charles passing away too, Sarah can recall his love and passsion for her. That in no way diminishes. The title is so befitting. When a few leave, few more arrive...
Author's Bio from her website in her own words:
The story of Zenia ought to begin when Zenia began. It must have been someplace long ago and distant in space, thinks Tony; someplace bruised, and very tangled.
Posting the senryu first, as a short review for Weekly Geeks:
Parsifal is dead. That is the end of the story.
Title: The Magician's Assistant
Author: Ann Patchett
ISBN: 8790156006217
Publisher: Harcourt Brace/1997
Pages: 357
Give a brief summary of the book:
After the death of Parsifal, a magician, his wife Sabine...who was also his assistant for twenty years..is astounded to learn that the family he always denied having is very much alive. Sabine is devastated by this and triels to unravel the secrets of his life. When Parsifal's family invite her to visit them in Nebraska, she leaves Los Angeles for the cold, bitter planes of Nebraska. And she is somehow sucked into that family, into the love they share
Likes:
Patchett manages to build up a great story. She slowly reveals the secret of Parsifal's deception. Sabine might have married him but he has a steady relationship with someone else. His family takes some time to assimilate this. But they love Sabine for herself, not because she is Parsifal's widow. Sabine is the magician's assistant... a lesser known personality...but she knows about magic as much as any magician. No magician can do without any assistant.
Dislikes:
I felt it got a bit repetitive in the middle. Although I wanted to know Sabine's feelings and emotions but somehow it was diluted by the slow pace. It did pick up in the end though.
Additional Thoughts:
Ann Patchett's prose is good. Her thoughts are lucid. Her characters are very much real. They are endearing too despite foibles and follies. Patchett has added fantasy elements in the dream sequences. I especially liked that. Sabine can interact with those characters in her dreams. Also the fact that Sabine is practical and a realist. On her quest to find the truth, Sabine too finds herself and experiences love in a way, which had been denied to her.
Also reviewed by
Margaret of BooksPlease
