"Earlier this morning, my ex-husband, Butch, was found murdered at his home in Pulaski...I'm here because I need a lawyer....Because I'm going to be arrested for Butch's murder."
-excerpts from conversation between Helen Lewis and Bo Haynes, from the novel
I'll admit I chose to read this novel after noting one of the settings is Huntsville, Alabama, the place my husband and I think of as our "hometown." We both spent our teenage years there, met and married there and still have 3 brothers between us who live there. It was a kick seeing references to places I was quite familiar with such as the Madison County Courthouse, the Von Braun Center and Maple Hill Cemetery. Also Huntsville High School, where my husband and I both graduated, Papou's Greek restaurant and Baskin Robbins off Airport Road, where we have eaten.
The plot was fast-paced with short chapters, making for a true page-turner! District Attorney General Helen Lewis of Pulaski, TN, is charged with the murder of her ex-husband and somehow feels the only one who can represent her successfully is Bocephus "Bo" Haynes, living in Huntsville and seemingly depressed after the death of his wife and other past traumas. Reluctantly Bo takes on Helen's case in which the evidence against her is extremely overwhelming.
The secondary plot has wealthy town VIP Michael Zannick being charged with the rape of an underaged girl and prosecuted by Attorney General Helen Lewis. Of course, that case is in limbo after "the General" is arrested but the two plots weave together as certain characters are involved in both.
The twists and turns in the story are difficult to predict. Around page 300 there is a real shocker and a couple of other BIG surprises by the end of the novel. I found it a very entertaining read and will likely look for another by this author. My rating is 5.
Monday, May 11, 2020
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling
…"He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: 'To Harry Potter---the boy who lived!'"
-from the first chapter of the novel
I must admit I read this juvenile fiction at the time I was teaching school, probably the late 1990's. It was released earlier in the UK as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first in what would be a series of 7 books about the boy wonder. It immediately caused a stir. I am not one to be drawn to fantasy often but this series grabbed me up with its amazing creativity. Back in the day, I read all 7 books and saw all the films. Many, many adults became fans as well as kids; in fact, it got the attention of numerous reluctant readers. Right about now I needed a reading adventure and it was provided!
Harry Potter is the unlikely hero---small, skinny and nerdy-looking with round glasses taped together, unruly hair and oversized hand-me-down clothes. But who doesn't like to see an underdog overcome great obstacles and beat stronger opponents? The overall theme of all the Harry Potter novels is good vs. evil and good always wins, although as the series progresses the plots become darker and some good guys die.
In my rereading of the novel, I thought at the beginning how similar Harry's first 10 years were to a few of Roald Dahl's characters, especially James of James and the Giant Peach---orphaned and forced to live with abusive relatives. This makes both stories more compelling as one is rooting for the poor child to "rise above his raisings."
Some of Rowling's inventions are so fascinating: the Remembral, an Invisibility Cloak, a Sorting Hat, the game of Quidditch, and the Mirror of Erised, in which one can see the deepest desire of their heart. (Erised is desire spelled backward.) I should not forget to mention the sorcerer's stone with its incredible powers which drives the plot, as someone is out to steal it. Add in some magical creatures like a huge 3-headed dog, dragons, unicorns and centaurs, and there is never a dull moment. The development of the friendship of Harry, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger is fun to follow. Hermione is one of my favorites because she is very smart and out-spoken. And one can hardly help but love Hagrid, the gentle giant.
I will rate Harry Potter #1 a 5. It was just what the doctor ordered after several intense reads!
-from the first chapter of the novel
I must admit I read this juvenile fiction at the time I was teaching school, probably the late 1990's. It was released earlier in the UK as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first in what would be a series of 7 books about the boy wonder. It immediately caused a stir. I am not one to be drawn to fantasy often but this series grabbed me up with its amazing creativity. Back in the day, I read all 7 books and saw all the films. Many, many adults became fans as well as kids; in fact, it got the attention of numerous reluctant readers. Right about now I needed a reading adventure and it was provided!
Harry Potter is the unlikely hero---small, skinny and nerdy-looking with round glasses taped together, unruly hair and oversized hand-me-down clothes. But who doesn't like to see an underdog overcome great obstacles and beat stronger opponents? The overall theme of all the Harry Potter novels is good vs. evil and good always wins, although as the series progresses the plots become darker and some good guys die.
In my rereading of the novel, I thought at the beginning how similar Harry's first 10 years were to a few of Roald Dahl's characters, especially James of James and the Giant Peach---orphaned and forced to live with abusive relatives. This makes both stories more compelling as one is rooting for the poor child to "rise above his raisings."
Some of Rowling's inventions are so fascinating: the Remembral, an Invisibility Cloak, a Sorting Hat, the game of Quidditch, and the Mirror of Erised, in which one can see the deepest desire of their heart. (Erised is desire spelled backward.) I should not forget to mention the sorcerer's stone with its incredible powers which drives the plot, as someone is out to steal it. Add in some magical creatures like a huge 3-headed dog, dragons, unicorns and centaurs, and there is never a dull moment. The development of the friendship of Harry, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger is fun to follow. Hermione is one of my favorites because she is very smart and out-spoken. And one can hardly help but love Hagrid, the gentle giant.
I will rate Harry Potter #1 a 5. It was just what the doctor ordered after several intense reads!
Friday, May 1, 2020
The Dressmaker's Gift by Fiona Valpy
"But if the 'ordinary people' do nothing then who is going to step forward and take a stand against the Nazis? Not the politicians in Vichy who are puppets of the new regime; and not the French army whose battalions lie rotting in shallow graves along the Eastern Front. We are all that is left, Claire. Ordinary people like you and me."
-Mireille, from the novel
I recently read The Winemaker's Wife by Kristin Harmel which was centered around the WWII French Resistance movement among winemakers in France. The Dressmaker's Gift is an excellent companion novel involving the same setting and some comparable situations. Both were well-written with fascinating stories of heroism during horrible times. I do believe the former was a little less-intense since the latter ventured more deeply into German atrocities.
In 2017 British protagonist Harriet Shaw, who is reeling after the suicide of her mother, accepts a one-year internship in Paris with a PR agency specializing in fashion. She had found a photograph among her mother's keepsakes that revealed 3 young women of the 1940's standing in front of the shop window of Delavigne, Couturier. One woman she knows is her grandmother, Claire. Harriet says, "I don't usually believe in fate, but it felt as if a force was at work, drawing me to Paris. Leading me to the Boulevard Saint-Germain. Bringing me here. To the building in the photograph." Harriet ends up working and living in the same building as her grandmother so many years before. Naturally she begins learning all she can about her maternal grandmother, including from a coworker, Simone, who happens to be the granddaughter of one of the other two women in the photograph, Mireille.
I have visited Paris, so I enjoyed reading about familiar sites. The author has Harriet experiencing, indirectly, the terrorist attack in Nice on Bastille Day. That was a shockingly memorable event. I thought it was an interesting comparison/contrast to atrocities of the '40s.
While Harriet narrates her own story, the rest is in third person---telling the WWII experience of Claire, Mireille and their friend, Vivienne, all seamstresses at Delavigne who become involved in the dangerous Resistance Movement standing up to the German occupation of France. Their story is gripping although not really entertaining. I am sure you can guess what I mean. I will rate this historical novel a 5 and likely look for another by this author.
-Mireille, from the novel
I recently read The Winemaker's Wife by Kristin Harmel which was centered around the WWII French Resistance movement among winemakers in France. The Dressmaker's Gift is an excellent companion novel involving the same setting and some comparable situations. Both were well-written with fascinating stories of heroism during horrible times. I do believe the former was a little less-intense since the latter ventured more deeply into German atrocities.
In 2017 British protagonist Harriet Shaw, who is reeling after the suicide of her mother, accepts a one-year internship in Paris with a PR agency specializing in fashion. She had found a photograph among her mother's keepsakes that revealed 3 young women of the 1940's standing in front of the shop window of Delavigne, Couturier. One woman she knows is her grandmother, Claire. Harriet says, "I don't usually believe in fate, but it felt as if a force was at work, drawing me to Paris. Leading me to the Boulevard Saint-Germain. Bringing me here. To the building in the photograph." Harriet ends up working and living in the same building as her grandmother so many years before. Naturally she begins learning all she can about her maternal grandmother, including from a coworker, Simone, who happens to be the granddaughter of one of the other two women in the photograph, Mireille.
I have visited Paris, so I enjoyed reading about familiar sites. The author has Harriet experiencing, indirectly, the terrorist attack in Nice on Bastille Day. That was a shockingly memorable event. I thought it was an interesting comparison/contrast to atrocities of the '40s.
While Harriet narrates her own story, the rest is in third person---telling the WWII experience of Claire, Mireille and their friend, Vivienne, all seamstresses at Delavigne who become involved in the dangerous Resistance Movement standing up to the German occupation of France. Their story is gripping although not really entertaining. I am sure you can guess what I mean. I will rate this historical novel a 5 and likely look for another by this author.
Monday, April 27, 2020
If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood by Gregg Olsen
"Enduring their mother was what bound them together. And while they might have had three different dads, they were always 100 percent sisters. Never half sisters. Their sisterhood was the only thing the Knotek girls could depend upon, and really, the only thing their mother couldn't take away. It was what propelled them to survive."
-from the Prologue
Oh, my goodness!! I hardly know where to begin! This is a story about the ultimate dysfunctional family. I have read some memoirs that made me cringe: The Glass Castle, Educated, Hillbilly Elegy and Angela's Ashes, but this one made those narratives look like a walk in the park! I am hooked on TV series like "Criminal Minds" and "Law and Order: SVU" so I can tolerate exposure to evil people and ugly things they do but nothing really prepared me for this book! When I read The Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King a few years ago, I described it as a real-life horror story. If You Tell... is the same except the perpetrator is a mother, which makes it even more appalling!
There was evidence that Michelle "Shelly" Lynn Watson Rivardo Long Knotek was a bad seed from childhood. Her stepmother, Lara, and siblings learned the hard way. As she married 3 times, had 3 daughters and took in boarders, she took her manipulative tactics and torture methods to the Nth degree. I was shocked at the way she treated her own family and later, so-called friends that she took in. And it was amazing that Shelly's third husband, Dave, a spineless individual I must say, was an accomplice for 15 years. He was either in denial or just plain stupid!
The upside is that the 3 daughters---Nikki, Sami and Tori---survived "Psycho Shelly" and lived to tell their story to Gregg Olsen. Unfortunately, others who crossed paths with this sadistic woman were not so lucky. The Afterword was especially interesting---written by a professor of forensic psychology, Katherine Ramsland, who sheds light on the making of a monster such as Shelly Knotek and explains some reactions of their victims.
At times, the cruelty almost took my breath away but my morbid curiosity kept me reading. I could hardly put the book down before knowing there would be some justice. If You Tell.... was a riveting story, though definitely not recommended for the faint of heart. My rating is 5.
-from the Prologue
Oh, my goodness!! I hardly know where to begin! This is a story about the ultimate dysfunctional family. I have read some memoirs that made me cringe: The Glass Castle, Educated, Hillbilly Elegy and Angela's Ashes, but this one made those narratives look like a walk in the park! I am hooked on TV series like "Criminal Minds" and "Law and Order: SVU" so I can tolerate exposure to evil people and ugly things they do but nothing really prepared me for this book! When I read The Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King a few years ago, I described it as a real-life horror story. If You Tell... is the same except the perpetrator is a mother, which makes it even more appalling!
There was evidence that Michelle "Shelly" Lynn Watson Rivardo Long Knotek was a bad seed from childhood. Her stepmother, Lara, and siblings learned the hard way. As she married 3 times, had 3 daughters and took in boarders, she took her manipulative tactics and torture methods to the Nth degree. I was shocked at the way she treated her own family and later, so-called friends that she took in. And it was amazing that Shelly's third husband, Dave, a spineless individual I must say, was an accomplice for 15 years. He was either in denial or just plain stupid!
The upside is that the 3 daughters---Nikki, Sami and Tori---survived "Psycho Shelly" and lived to tell their story to Gregg Olsen. Unfortunately, others who crossed paths with this sadistic woman were not so lucky. The Afterword was especially interesting---written by a professor of forensic psychology, Katherine Ramsland, who sheds light on the making of a monster such as Shelly Knotek and explains some reactions of their victims.
At times, the cruelty almost took my breath away but my morbid curiosity kept me reading. I could hardly put the book down before knowing there would be some justice. If You Tell.... was a riveting story, though definitely not recommended for the faint of heart. My rating is 5.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
The Forgotten Hours by Katrin Schumann
"She'd started to understand there was a chasm between how people saw their lives, how they wanted others to see them, and how they really were. A chasm that was too deep and dark to explore."
-Katie's musings, from the novel
This was another free book from Amazon First Reads which happens to be the debut novel for this author. Not long ago I read This Terrible Beauty by the same author; I liked it better than this one, perhaps because of the historical aspect.
The Forgotten Hours begins with the summer of 2007 and moves forward to 2016 where characters are still consumed by what happened 9 years before, especially Katherine "Katie" Amplethwaite nee Gregory, our protagonist. Katie's family was summering at Eagle Lake in June of 2007 as they had done regularly. Katie has great memories of times with best friend, Lulu Henderson, and falling for Jack Benson while all were in their teens. But something happened that shook those relationships to the core. Lulu accused Katie's father, John Gregory, of rape and he was tried and sent to prison for 6 years.
As the story begins, John is soon to be released from prison and Katie is still as convinced as ever that her father was innocent. Her relationship with Lulu ended when charges were brought and Katie cannot forget her betrayal. Issues of loyalty and a restlessness of spirit keep Katie from being able to move forward. She begins to dwell on "forgotten hours" and jumps into a search for the truth of what really happened that summer.
I give this novel a 3----liked it, didn't love it. It was compelling enough that I wanted to finish it. There was a lot of introspection and not much action and the time transitions could have been smoother. The title is a bit of an enigma because the "forgotten hours" seemed not to have been forgotten at all.
-Katie's musings, from the novel
This was another free book from Amazon First Reads which happens to be the debut novel for this author. Not long ago I read This Terrible Beauty by the same author; I liked it better than this one, perhaps because of the historical aspect.
The Forgotten Hours begins with the summer of 2007 and moves forward to 2016 where characters are still consumed by what happened 9 years before, especially Katherine "Katie" Amplethwaite nee Gregory, our protagonist. Katie's family was summering at Eagle Lake in June of 2007 as they had done regularly. Katie has great memories of times with best friend, Lulu Henderson, and falling for Jack Benson while all were in their teens. But something happened that shook those relationships to the core. Lulu accused Katie's father, John Gregory, of rape and he was tried and sent to prison for 6 years.
As the story begins, John is soon to be released from prison and Katie is still as convinced as ever that her father was innocent. Her relationship with Lulu ended when charges were brought and Katie cannot forget her betrayal. Issues of loyalty and a restlessness of spirit keep Katie from being able to move forward. She begins to dwell on "forgotten hours" and jumps into a search for the truth of what really happened that summer.
I give this novel a 3----liked it, didn't love it. It was compelling enough that I wanted to finish it. There was a lot of introspection and not much action and the time transitions could have been smoother. The title is a bit of an enigma because the "forgotten hours" seemed not to have been forgotten at all.
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
The Winemaker's Wife by Kristin Harmel
"When you're young, you see only the future. When you grow older, you see the past. And the past has a way of showing you things clearly, whether you like it or not."
-Grandma Edith, from the novel
Kristin Harmel is a local author and an article about her visit to a nearby bookstore was the impetus for the selection of this novel for the Page Turners. Our plan was to ask her to join us for our meeting to discuss her book. Sadly, with stay-at-home orders in place currently, that will not be possible. We have held a couple of Zoom meetings so perhaps we will invite her to join us virtually. I am hoping!
Those who follow my blog know that historical fiction is my favorite genre. I have read many novels set during or just after WWII and almost always find them intriguing. I think I love reading about heroes and survivors. I found The Winemaker's Wife to be a fascinating story of the French resistance movement during Nazi occupation.
In 2019 Liv Kent is dealing with a personal crisis as her husband of 12 years has left her. Just as Eric has moved his things out, Liv's 99-year-old Grandma Edith shows up unexpectedly with airline tickets for Paris and insists they leave immediately. Liv is confused but Grandma Edith is unwilling to explain her reasoning.
Periodically the reader is sent back in time to the 1940's in the Champagne region of France where much of the plot takes place among vignerons or winegrowers. The Maison Chauveau is owned by Michel Chauveau, married to Ines. The chef de cave, Theo Laurent, and his wife, Celine, are invaluable employees in the winemaking operation and significant to the plot. (Chef de cave is French for head winemaker or cellarmaster.) Other important characters are Edith and Edouard Thierry, owners of a brasserie in Reims. Several of these characters, courageous and patriotic, are involved in La Resistance, at great peril to themselves.
Back to 2019 Paris---Grandma Edith has Liv meeting a family lawyer but still refusing to tell her why they are in France. Later they visit Maison Chauveau and the truth eventually comes out.
A story of secrets, danger, romance, betrayal and attempts at redemption---all the elements of a page-turner, The Winemaker's Wife gets a 5 rating from me! By the end of the month we will see what the group thinks.
---------------------------
We had hoped to have our meeting outdoors with a champagne brunch. With current stay-at-home orders, that wasn't possible so our group met virtually via Zoom to discuss The Winemaker's Wife.
The author, Kristin Harmel, who lives in our area, joined us for a while. What a treat that was! Everyone liked the novel to some degree. The average rating was 4. Some liked the characters while others thought they were not developed fully. Some thought Ines was immature and self-centered but others thought she was more interesting because she was imperfect. Most of us appreciated the writer's style and a satisfying ending.
-Grandma Edith, from the novel
Kristin Harmel is a local author and an article about her visit to a nearby bookstore was the impetus for the selection of this novel for the Page Turners. Our plan was to ask her to join us for our meeting to discuss her book. Sadly, with stay-at-home orders in place currently, that will not be possible. We have held a couple of Zoom meetings so perhaps we will invite her to join us virtually. I am hoping!
Those who follow my blog know that historical fiction is my favorite genre. I have read many novels set during or just after WWII and almost always find them intriguing. I think I love reading about heroes and survivors. I found The Winemaker's Wife to be a fascinating story of the French resistance movement during Nazi occupation.
In 2019 Liv Kent is dealing with a personal crisis as her husband of 12 years has left her. Just as Eric has moved his things out, Liv's 99-year-old Grandma Edith shows up unexpectedly with airline tickets for Paris and insists they leave immediately. Liv is confused but Grandma Edith is unwilling to explain her reasoning.
Periodically the reader is sent back in time to the 1940's in the Champagne region of France where much of the plot takes place among vignerons or winegrowers. The Maison Chauveau is owned by Michel Chauveau, married to Ines. The chef de cave, Theo Laurent, and his wife, Celine, are invaluable employees in the winemaking operation and significant to the plot. (Chef de cave is French for head winemaker or cellarmaster.) Other important characters are Edith and Edouard Thierry, owners of a brasserie in Reims. Several of these characters, courageous and patriotic, are involved in La Resistance, at great peril to themselves.
Back to 2019 Paris---Grandma Edith has Liv meeting a family lawyer but still refusing to tell her why they are in France. Later they visit Maison Chauveau and the truth eventually comes out.
A story of secrets, danger, romance, betrayal and attempts at redemption---all the elements of a page-turner, The Winemaker's Wife gets a 5 rating from me! By the end of the month we will see what the group thinks.
---------------------------
We had hoped to have our meeting outdoors with a champagne brunch. With current stay-at-home orders, that wasn't possible so our group met virtually via Zoom to discuss The Winemaker's Wife.
The author, Kristin Harmel, who lives in our area, joined us for a while. What a treat that was! Everyone liked the novel to some degree. The average rating was 4. Some liked the characters while others thought they were not developed fully. Some thought Ines was immature and self-centered but others thought she was more interesting because she was imperfect. Most of us appreciated the writer's style and a satisfying ending.
 |
Vineyards, Reims, France  |
 |
| Notre-Dame de Reims |
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
This Terrible Beauty by Katrin Schumann
"That woman's days were spent
In ignorant good-will,
Her nights in argument
Until her voice grew shrill.
What voice more sweet than hers
When, young and beautiful,
She rode to harriers?
This man had kept a school
And rode our wingèd horse;
This other his helper and friend
Was coming into his force;
He might have won fame in the end,
So sensitive his nature seemed,
So daring and sweet his thought.
This other man I had dreamed
A drunken, vainglorious lout.
He had done most bitter wrong
To some who are near my heart,
Yet I number him in the song;
He, too, has resigned his part
In the casual comedy;
He, too, has been changed in his turn,
Transformed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born."
-excerpt from "Easter, 1916" by William Butler Yeats
Another novel from Amazon First Reads and a lucky choice! I get the impression the author is fairly
new but I like her style very much. In looking through my Kindle library I find I have another by
Schumann called The Forgotten Hours. I will likely read it soon.
In 1961 Bettina Heilstrom, a celebrated photographer, meets a figure from her past who has news
from the Old Country that gives her hope of reuniting with important people she was forced to leave
behind years before. The flashback takes us to the spring of 1943, to Rugen, Germany, an island in
the Baltic which becomes part of East Germany under Russian control post WWII. Though I have
read a number of novels set during WWII, this was a place and time period with which I was
unfamiliar. In Rugen, as an 18-year-old orphan, Bettina meets and marries the much older man,
Werner Nietz, who is climbing the ladder of leadership in the new government. This political regime
seems just as oppressive and frightening as the Third Reich.
The reader learns in the prologue that Bettina has a daughter she has been separated from for many
years but one must read further to find out why and in so doing, unveil her tragic past. It made me
think of "Sophie's Choice." When Bettina returns to her homeland, she finds some satisfaction but
learns she cannot fulfill all of her dreams. More than this I dare not say---I try to never spoil the plot.
If you enjoy historical fiction, I think you will like this one! I am rating This Terrible Beauty a 5.
Another novel from Amazon First Reads and a lucky choice! I get the impression the author is fairly
new but I like her style very much. In looking through my Kindle library I find I have another by
Schumann called The Forgotten Hours. I will likely read it soon.
In 1961 Bettina Heilstrom, a celebrated photographer, meets a figure from her past who has news
from the Old Country that gives her hope of reuniting with important people she was forced to leave
behind years before. The flashback takes us to the spring of 1943, to Rugen, Germany, an island in
the Baltic which becomes part of East Germany under Russian control post WWII. Though I have
read a number of novels set during WWII, this was a place and time period with which I was
unfamiliar. In Rugen, as an 18-year-old orphan, Bettina meets and marries the much older man,
Werner Nietz, who is climbing the ladder of leadership in the new government. This political regime
seems just as oppressive and frightening as the Third Reich.
The reader learns in the prologue that Bettina has a daughter she has been separated from for many
years but one must read further to find out why and in so doing, unveil her tragic past. It made me
think of "Sophie's Choice." When Bettina returns to her homeland, she finds some satisfaction but
learns she cannot fulfill all of her dreams. More than this I dare not say---I try to never spoil the plot.
If you enjoy historical fiction, I think you will like this one! I am rating This Terrible Beauty a 5.
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