Six Degrees: Theory & Practice to Sisters of the Resistance

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

This month's starting point is Theory & Practice by Michelle DeKretser, winner of the 2025 Stella Prize.

I have only ever read one book by Michelle DeKretser and that was The Lost Dog which I read back in 2008. 

I could have picked one of many books with the word lost in the title. However, I decided to stick  with the dog theme so my next link is to To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. This is a book that I did a buddy read/joint review with Aarti from Booklust many, many years ago and it was a 5/5 read for me. (Part 1 post and then final post)

The most recent book that I did a joint review of was The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak which was with Bree from All the Books I Can Read but I have already used that book a couple of times, which is my limit, and so I am going to go even further back and use another joint review that we did as my next connection. We read and discussed The Dressmaker of Yarrandarah Prison by Meredith Jaffe.  I gave this book a 5/5 rating back when I read it  in 2021 and still think that the cover of this one is stunning! Here is the first part of our conversation and here is the second.

When I checked my spreadsheet where I record all my reads, I noticed that right before I read that book I had another 5/5 read and that was The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer. 

Kelly Rimmer has a new book coming out soon which is called The Midnight Estate. I am therefore going to use this as my link to The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte which is a book I gave a 5/5 rating to back in 2020.

I saw Steven Conte at the Williamstown Literary Festival back in 2022. In the same post where I talked briefly about that, I mentioned that I was reading Sisters of the Resistance by Christine Wells. This week I won a mug from Christine in a Facebook group I am in!

So there we have it. A couple of joint reviews, some 5/5 reads, and some WWII novels.

Next month, the starting point is 2025 Women’s Prize winner, The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden.

Will you be joining us?

 

Joint Review: The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

It's been a while since I have done a joint review of a book with Bree from All the Books I Can Read, but recently we realised that we were both reading The Island of Missing Trees so it seemed like a good idea to talk about this book. Especially since it was a book that we both loved!!

First, here is the Goodreads blurb

A rich, magical new book on belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature and renewal, from the Booker shortlisted author of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World.

Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. In the taverna, hidden beneath garlands of garlic, chili peppers and creeping honeysuckle, Kostas and Defne grow in their forbidden love for each other. A fig tree stretches through a cavity in the roof, and this tree bears witness to their hushed, happy meetings and eventually, to their silent, surreptitious departures. The tree is there when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, and when the teenagers vanish. Decades later, Kostas returns. He is a botanist looking for native species, but really, he’s searching for lost love.

Years later, a Ficus carica grows in the back garden of a house in London where Ada Kazantzakis lives. This tree is her only connection to an island she has never visited - her only connection to her family’s troubled history and her complex identity as she seeks to untangle years of secrets to find her place in the world.

A moving, beautifully written and delicately constructed story of love, division, transcendence, history and eco-consciousness, The Island of Missing Trees is Elif Shafak’s best work yet.

My thoughts are in purple and Bree's are in black.


M: I wish I could remember where I first saw this book.. I am pretty sure someone posted about it on Facebook and I immediately thought it looked like my kind of book. If I could remember who it was I would definitely be saying thank you because I loved this book, right from the first page. (Edited to say I remember now. Thanks again Mae!) How did you hear about this book?



B: I think it might’ve been on instagram and I’m not ashamed to say that I immediately added it to my buy list purely for the cover. I hadn’t even read the blurb, I thought that the cover was just so eyecatching that I knew I wanted it on my shelf. I ended up buying it in a little indie bookstore in the town where my husband was born when we visited my MIL and I went there with the specific goal of buying just that book. As soon as I walked in, it was on a big display. And when I finally read the blurb, I knew that it was something that I was pretty confident I was going to love.



M: I can see why the cover caught your eye. It is lovely. Let’s talk about the blurb and setting. This book tells the story of Cyprus from the 1970s through to the 2010s through the story of Kostas, a Greek Cypriot, and Defne, a Turkish Cypriot. Theirs was a love story that was going to be doomed from the start, forbidden due to the differences in culture and religion. The two young people used to meet at a tavern called The Happy Fig where the owners were happy to help them. However, as the ethnic tensions escalated, this relationship became even more forbidden.


How much did you know about Cyprus and the events of 1974?


B: Shamefully little I’m afraid. I know the bare basics of some of it and the divide between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. One of my dad’s lifelong best friends is a Greek Cypriot whose parents left when he was around 3 years old. But in terms of really knowing the island’s even modern history, I really only had the vaguest of understandings. I feel like this story definitely piqued my interest to learn a little more about it, especially because of The Fig Tree and it’s proprietors. If Kostas and Defne are a forbidden relationship, the owners of the tavern where they meet in secret are even more so - and it’s no wonder they are so understanding and supportive. Did you enjoy the way we learned about them and how they were woven into the story?


M: I could definitely understand why Yussuf and Yiorgis were so supportive of the young couple and I loved that The Fig Tree was such a welcoming place. It didn’t matter who you were, what you believed or where you were from you were welcome to meet and eat and drink. The atmosphere and ambience sounded so lovely, especially with the eponymous fig tree in the middle of the tavern. When the troubles started between ethnic groups, I was so sad to think of a place where tolerance was so embedded became one of early targets of those who are not tolerant. I guess that is probably not that unusual in such situations. And the tragedy only escalated from there.

Let’s talk about the fig tree shall we? I must confess that I was a little concerned initially about the role of the tree as a narrator. How did you feel about it?


B: The same! When I realised just who that narrator was in parts of the story I was definitely apprehensive about it. Maybe because I didn’t expect it to have that sort of element going in, it kind of took me by surprise. But I ended up absolutely loving that choice that the author made. It became this omniscient narrator that was able to give the reader this overarching view of things, from Cyprus and also after that. The author winds everything the fig has ‘seen’ and experienced into the story. I also really was surprised at how much I enjoyed learning about the actual tree itself - its growing cycles, its history. The idea of burying it for a British winter was fascinating to me and the fact that the book provided instructions including a little picture was great because it was different to how I pictured it in my head. I actually ended up googling “burying a fig tree in winter” after that and read about how it’s quite often done in places like Canada, etc as well, that have harsher winters than fig trees would be used to in their more native environments. It’s quite ingenious really! And quite amazing that the tree survives such a thing.


How did you find the way that portion of the narration played out for you? 

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Head over to Bree's blog to see my answer to this question and more! 

And if you would like a taste of the writing in this book, I recently shared an excerpt which you can find here.

Rating 5/5

Weekend Cooking: Nadiya Bakes by Nadiya Hussain

I am very excited this week to be sharing a collaborative post I have done with BethFishReads. Recently we discovered that we both had acquired the latest cookbook from British cook Nadiya Hussain which is called Nadiya Bakes.

BethFishReads was the original, longstanding host of Weekend Cooking and I was honoured to take over the hosting duties just over a year. I am glad that I have managed to keep Weekend Cooking alive so far! I do still feel like I have had big shoes to fill.

I have shared the recipe for Chocolate Caramel Flan from this book previously. It is a recipe that wows everyone that eats it, and was our dessert for our family Christmas last year. I filled the middle of the flan with fresh berries which looked very festive!

I have the first half of the post here, and the second half can be found at BethFishReads blog here. My thoughts are in purple and hersare in black.

M: I first came across British cook Nadiya Hussain in the sixth season of baking Great British Bake Off. Since winning that show, she has gone on to have several TV shows. How familiar were you with Nadiya Hussain?

B: I first learned of Nadiya when I watched her in the Great British Bake Off. And because I (and the world) followed her journey under the tent, I feel like I know her. I haven’t seen very many of her television appearances here in the United States--only the ones that have been available through Netflix.


I have, however, followed her career from afar. She wrote several cookbooks before Nadiya Bakes, all of which I have checked out of the library. I’ve gone on to buy most of them to add to my permanent collection. Did you know she also wrote a memoir, a novel, and a children’s book? I haven’t read any of them, but I’ve added her memoir to my wish list.

M: Nadiya comes from a Bangladeshi background and she loves to mix up more traditional recipes with flavours from Bangladesh and the surrounding countries. She also loves exploring other cultures. Did you enjoy this aspect of the book?


B: I’ve always been a fan of well-done culinary mashups, and I think Nadiya is one of the best at this. For example, the way she added chiles to the cranberry brioche and her version of traditional Eastern European rugelach that incorporates harissa.


I am impressed with the variety of flavors she includes in this book, for example, let’s just take a few recipes from her “No-Bake Bakes” chapter: we have a Bengali-spiced blueberry cake, a tarragon flavored charlotte, chocolate rice cereal treats, a tea version of tiramisu, a vegan mousse, and a virgin mojito. So within just a few pages, we have traveled around the world and have had both fancy and casual treats.



M: You have made a couple of dishes from the book including Baked Ratatouille. How did you find that recipe? What other recipes are you thinking about trying?


One of my favorite things about this cookbook is learning new techniques that I can use in my everyday cooking and her Baked Ratatouille is an excellent example. First, let me explain how this recipe is different from traditional ratatouille, which is made almost like a stew, slowly simmering on the stove top; it’s brimming with late summer vegetables and is vegetarian.


Nadiya turns this classic dish into a more hearty meal by adding ground lamb, thinly slicing the vegetables (the expected tomatoes, eggplant, and zucchini) and layering them in a baking dish, and then topping with fresh mozzarella. The ratatouille is then baked for an hour, and the results are wonderful.


The new trick I learned was to *bake* the ground meat with the tomato puree directly in the baking pan before adding the vegetables. Once the meat is cooked through, you layer on the other ingredients. This not only saved me from washing a saute pan but allowed the lamb to make a bottom “crust” for the dish. I’m going to experiment with this method to make other riffs on this dish (a lasagna-type bake? a layered enchilada?). I will make this dish again and again--we loved it, and the leftovers heated up beautifully.


M: I have a healthier version of lasagne from British chef Tom Kerridge on my blog that uses this technique!!


I, of course, have a million bread and sweet recipes marked to try: cinnamon swirl bread, berry hot cross buns, and pecan pie empanadas are just three. Among the savory bakes on my list are the chicken and brie pithivier, onion pretzels, and the peach-baked salmon.


B: Which recipe do you have on your want to try list that will push you to try something new (a new skill, a new ingredient …)




M: I have tried several recipes so far from this book, and in many ways they have all pushed me to try something new. The first recipe that I made was actually several months before I bought the book when I made the Chocolate Caramel Flan which I was a little intimidated by but it was such a fun bake. You start with a cake base, then pour a custard on top and when you take it out of the oven, the custard has formed a firm layer and the cake is at the top. This is what we had as our Christmas dessert last year, with the whole in the middle filled with lots of berries.


The recipe that I tried a few weeks ago was actually only one of the elements in a recipe. I have wanted to try making honeycomb for a long time. When someone makes it on shows like Masterchef everyone always talks about how tricky it is so I took the instructions on how to make honeycomb from the recipe called Honeycomb Rolls. The technique itself wasn’t too difficult, although I do need to have another go as mine was a bit bitter as I went a bit far with the caramel.

I also am keen to try the Chicken, Brie, Cranberry and Pink Peppercorn Pithivier. In the TV series she talks about how it is simple to make, but I think  it will take a bit of patience to make it, which isn’t always my strong point!


I probably shouldn’t start naming individual recipes as there are a lot that I want to try eventually. It's a sign of a good cookbook that it hasn't yet made it onto the shelf. I keep on looking through it thinking I want to make that and that and that!

Head over to BethFishReads to read the second part of our conversation

I thought I would share the recipe for Filo Cream Squares, which is Nadiya's version of a Znoud El Sit, a Middle Eastern dessert. I made this for my husband because he likes Lebanese food as his ex comes from this background and so he has eaten a lot of it over the years.

Filo Cream Parcels

For the cream filling:

1.2 litres double cream
120g ground rice or rice flour
100g caster sugar
1 orange, zest only (save the juice for the syrup)

For the filo casing:

270g pack of filo pastry
100g ghee or butter, melted
For the syrup:
200g caster sugar
juice of 1 orange, adding extra water to make up to 200ml
1 tsp orange blossom water
3 cardamom pods, seeds removed and crushed
A small pinch of saffron strands


For decoration:

50g pistachios, finely chopped

Prep time: 30 minutes, plus cooling and soaking. Cook time: 40 minutes.

Add the cream to a fairly deep saucepan on a high heat. As soon as it comes to the boil, turn down to a medium heat and keep stirring for about 10 minutes until it has reduced and thickened to make it richer.

Lower the heat, pour in your ground rice and whisk for 2–3 minutes until it really begins to thicken up. As soon as it starts to thicken and come away from the sides, take off the heat, add the sugar and orange zest and mix through. Pour onto a flat plate, smooth out and leave to cool as much as possible.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 6 and have two large baking trays with sides at the ready.

Cut the pile of rectangular filo sheets down the middle into 14 squares. Lay them out and dollop an equal amount of the cooled cream mixture into the centre of each (if you want to be exact, it’s about 85g each).

Take a square, fold one side over, then the next, then the next and then the next, working your way round until you have encased the mound into a neat square, roughly 7cm. Repeat with the remaining squares.

Generously brush the base of the trays with the ghee, add the squares seam-side down and brush the tops with more ghee. Pop into the oven for 15–20 minutes to really crisp up the pastry.

Meanwhile, make the syrup by mixing the sugar, orange juice and water, orange blossom water, cardamom and saffron in a small pan. Give it a stir and, as soon as it comes to the boil, reduce the heat to low and leave for 10 minutes to thicken slightly.

As soon as the pastries are cooked and golden, pop them onto a serving dish and pour the syrup all over to soak into the filo. Leave to soak for 30 minutes.

These can be eaten as they are or are also delicious served chilled, which lets them firm up a little. Sprinkle on a tiny bit of pistachio just before serving.

Best eaten on the day they are made but will keep in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

Weekly Meals

Saturday - Baked Ratatouille

Sunday - More  Baked Ratatouille

Monday - Chicken parmigiana with mash potato and vegies

Tuesday - Zucchini, tomato parmesan and chorizo zucchini

Wednesday - Spanish Tuna Pasta Bake

Thursday - Mexican Chicken and Rice

Friday - Takeaway

Here

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Joint Review: The Dressmakers of Yarrandarrah Prison by Meredith Jaffe

Some days I feel a bit sorry for Bree from All the Books I Can Read. She just has to mention that she is reading the same book as me or that I have read recently and enjoyed,  and next thing you know we are doing a joint review together. It's been a year or so since we did the last one, so it is about time I guess!!

This time, Bree has the first half of the discussion and I have the second half here. So, go on, go and read the first half and then come back here for the second half. I'll wait.....

Right, so, you're back! Yay!!

My thoughts are in purple and Bree's are in black.

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I think Derek feared rejection and getting outside his comfort zone. He writes faithfully to his daughter regularly, has done for five years, but has never heard back. She’s never been to visit him. Derek’s daughter was quite young when he went to jail, about 16 and I think his downfall affected her life considerably. Derek struggles to make the decision to make her the dress because I think that if his daughter rejects it, rejects him, then he has to confront the idea full on that their relationship is over.


The idea about prisons and their purpose is a really interesting one. I know a lot of people get up in arms when you talk about things prisoners are allowed access to, such as television, etc. But the reasons people are there are wide and varied and if you don’t give them the chance to educate themselves or further that education, to build skills and develop healthy habits, what chance do they have of getting employment or not sliding back into previous habits when released? Doc is incredibly creepy but when the prison library is threatened, he does have a point. Libraries provide education and recreational opportunities and surely bored prisoners are more dangerous than engaged and occupied prisoners!


I really enjoyed the prison sewing group - there was something really sweet about imagining these men sewing cushions and quilts and learning new and more intricate sewing skills and imagining the idea of making this wedding dress. I thought Joey was a standout character and I also quite enjoyed Sean and I love the idea that this is based on a thing that actually exists. I have to admit, I did quite a bit of googling after I finished this and looked at the Fine Cell Work website - there’s a lot of stuff for sale! As someone who cannot sew to save her life, I admired the work done. They even offer the chance to commission something bespoke, which I thought was fantastic.


Did you find it easy to “picture” the dress the men made?


M: I had read somewhere that the book cover was a good representation of the dress so I kept that in mind as I was reading. And that in itself was enough to blow me away as I am not a sewer either. I mean, I learnt when I was young, but misplaced my sewing machine about 20 years ago and haven’t really missed it since!


Joey was definitely a standout character for me. His spirit and joy balanced against his harrowing story was a pleasure to read. I like to think that I can imagine exactly where Joey is in his life right now. I think that one of the real skills that the author exhibited is telling us enough about each prisoner's story without losing track of the fact that these men are in prison for a reason.


We’ve talked a lot about the prisoners but there were other layers to the story. We got insights into Debbie’s life and how her parents dysfunctional relationship as well as small town politics and more!


It really is a complete, well rounded story.

B: Yes, I agree that the author was able to convincingly portray these men as complex and although they all came together to accomplish this wonderful thing, they were all still in prison for a variety of reasons ranging from white collar crime to arson to straight up multiple murders. But even a prisoner who would never be released had a role to play in educating others and making sure they left prison more literate than when they arrived.


I really did love everything about this book. The whole story was just so engaging and had me hooked from the very start. I loved the way it played out and like you, enjoyed the glimpses we got into the lives of other characters, including the prison guard and also the volunteer who teaches the sewing (I can’t believe I forgot to mention them before now!).


Highly recommend this one. It’s a 5 star read for me. How about you?


M:I feel like there’s actually quite a few things we haven’t touched on yet! Goes back to my point at the beginning about gushing! It’s a 5/5 from me too!

About the book:

Can a wedding dress save a bunch of hardened crims? The Full Monty meets Orange is the New Black in a poignantly comic story about a men's prison sewing circle.

Derek's daughter Debbie is getting married. He's desperate to be there, but he's banged up in Yarrandarrah Correctional Centre for embezzling funds from the golf club, and, thanks to his ex-wife, Lorraine, he hasn't spoken to Debbie in years. He wants to make a grand gesture - to show her how much he loves her. But what?

Inspiration strikes while he's embroidering a cushion at his weekly prison sewing circle - he'll make her a wedding dress. His fellow stitchers rally around and soon this motley gang of crims is immersed in a joyous whirl of silks, satins and covered buttons.

But as time runs out and tensions rise both inside and outside the prison, the wedding dress project takes on greater significance. With lives at stake, Derek feels his chance to reconcile with Debbie is slipping through his fingers ...

A funny, dark and moving novel about finding humanity, friendship and redemption in unexpected places.

Joint review: The Silk House by Katye Nunn

Bree from All the Books I Can Read and I have been discussing books and life for a very long time now! Every now and again we happen to read the same book at a similar time and so we take the opportunity to do a discussion post.

My thoughts are in purple and Bree's are in black

M: Katye Nunn is an author I haven’t read before. I meant to because I am sure I would like her books. She writes dual history time lines which is something that we both like a lot, with a touch of darkness. Have you read this author before, and if so, how did this compare to her previous books?

B: I have read 2 of her books before - The Botanist’s Daughter and The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durant, both of which I absolutely love and recommend highly (I’m pretty sure you’d like them both!). So I was very excited to read this, Kayte Nunn has definitely become a must read author for me. And I did really enjoy this, probably almost as much as I did her two others, which were both strong 5-star reads for me.

For me, dual time-lines sometimes result in favouring one over the other, and wanting the story to skip back to that particular timeline. Did you find that here?

M: I have a natural tendency to lean towards the past in any dual time line, and that was definitely the case here. In effect there are two stories in the past in this book. Initially they are separate storylines until they converge together. The first storyline feature a young woman by the name of Rowan Caswell who has moved from her village to come to the home of the silk merchant, Patrick Hollander. She is to be the maid in the house, but it isn’t too long before her talent for healing draws the attention of others living in the house. But this isn’t a time in history that you want to be known for this kind of talent. How did you feel about Rowan’s introduction into the story?


B: I found Rowan’s introduction to the story intriguing. She was a capable, brave young woman, who was somewhat forced into her circumstances due to several factors. Her successful gaining of a position seems relatively beneficial for someone in her place at first - she’s safe, warm, fed and although she works hard, she’s taken care of within the household. However it doesn’t take long to notice that the mood of the house has ebbs and flows and things are not always what they seem, which eventually ties in with the second of the historical narratives. I also really enjoyed the element of healing that was incorporated into the story and the ways in which this was regarded suspiciously at times in the past {mostly by men}.

How did you find the dynamics in the ‘Silk House’ during the time of Rowan’s employment?

M: It was definitely an interesting house. One thing that we haven’t mentioned about Rowan has a distinctive appearance (white blonde hair and a scar on her face which in that time and place already marked her out as different) so from the first moment she entered the house she was distrusted, especially by the other servant girl in the house, Alice. Thank goodness, the cook took a liking to Rowan and because otherwise I can’t imagine that it would have been a very pleasant place to live and work.

The master of the house, Patrick Hollander, was something of a wheeler dealer, someone for whom appearances mattered much more than insignificant things like ethics or morals whether it be in his business or his private life. More than happy to do things get the town’s first piano delivered, maybe not so happy to actually pay for it. His wife, Caroline, was long suffering, believing that the one thing that could keep her husband’s affection was a baby, something she has struggled with for many years.As you can tell, I didn’t find much in the way of redeeming qualities in Patrick, which brings us to the other part of the historical story. In the course of his business travels, Patrick hears about a young woman, Mary Louise Stephenson, who is trying to break into the very male dominated world of designing the patterns that are then woven into silks which in turn are made into the beautiful clothes for the well to do.

I found the details regarding the designs and the weaving of the silk fascinating. Was there anything that surprised you in this part of the story.

B: Patrick was certainly a representation of a man who had ideas of grandeur but little to no idea, he had big schemes but seemed to lack the work ethic and business know how to make these things come together. He certainly had opportunity - but wasn’t able to capitalise on this and the household reflected their uncertain incomes. Regarding Mary Louise Stephenson, I have to admit at first, I wasn’t quite sure where that portion of the story was going. She and her sister are in quite an impoverished state and at first Patrick seems like the answer to so many of their prayers. Mary Louise’s designs seem stunning with very unique ideas - and also a bit intriguing, with the reaction that various people have with them. This is a very superstitious and suspicious time of history, with women being accused of being witches and the like, which is actually a danger that Rowan, with her knowledge of healing, has to be very careful about. But as for surprising me…...well, when these two stories in the past finally met up, I think everything after that felt like it was quite unexpected!

Back to the present….what did you think of the prestigious school, admitting female students for the first time in its illustrious multi-century (or however long it was) history?


__________________________________________

Head over to Bree's blog to see the answer to this question and the rest of our discussion.

Sunday Salon: Joint review of Just One Year by Gayle Forman

Bree from All the Books I Can Read and I often find ourselves emailing back and forward about what we are reading or thinking about reading. Recently we realised that we were both about to read Just One Year by Gayle Forman and so it seemed to be a good time for a discussion style review.

Bree has the first part of the discussion here, and I have the second part. My thoughts are in black and Bree's are in purple. Turns out that I enjoyed this book more than she did so it was an interesting discussion.

Enjoy

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M: Did you find the similarities of Willem’s experience with those mirroring aspects of Willem’s parent’s story interesting with his own story or too convenient?

B: I would totally agree with you recommending If I Stay and Where She Went as books to start with. I think they better showcase Forman’s true emotional range as a writer. To be honest, I would’ve liked to see a little more emotional growth from Willem in this novel as a gradual thing. I feel like a lot of it was crammed right in to the end of the book and it didn’t seem to evolve as naturally as it could have. Willem seems to rely on other people to do things for him, or for things to fall into his lap - rarely does he display much effort in going out and getting something and making it his so I did applaud him when he played the acting role in the play to his own ability and didn’t take the direction that was given to him. I think that the end of the book shows his best side - he’s ready to move on with his life now, from the wanderlust that took him away from the unhappy circumstances his family found themselves in. He’s also, as you say, probably at that place where he’s able to deal with Allyson reappearing in his life.

I think that there were too many coincidences in the end, between Willem’s parents’ story and Willem’s and actually, I’d liked to have known more about his parents. There’s a few details sprinkled throughout but it sounded quite interesting. It actually took me a long time to even remember who Yael and Bram even were, given he refers to them by their given names. I was all prepared not to like Yael much but once Willem finally went to India and she began to get a voice, I was surprised by how much I found her voice compelling. There was definitely more there that I’d like to know, but it wasn’t their story which is kind of unfortunate!

Ultimately do you think the two books work together? Do you think there was even a need for Willem’s story? Would anything be different if there was only Just One Day?

M: Hmm, good question, one I am not sure that I know the answer for. I think you could probably have put more of Willem’s story into Just One Day and then come back together again, but I think that perhaps that would have diluted some of the more important parts of Allyson’s story. For example, one of the key issues in Just One Day was depression and how it impacts on a young girls life, and it would have been quite difficult to contrast that depression with some of the ways that Willem’s story played out and end up with a well balanced story.

What would your answer to those questions be?

B: Short answer? No and no. Honestly, I know I’m being pretty negative here but this book really didn’t add much to the overall arch of Willem and Allyson. We got maybe two seconds more of story after Just One Day left off and I didn’t get the explanations and reconnection that I really wanted to see. Allyson’s story definitely delves deeper into that depression and struggle to find yourself and balance that with expectations of parents, etc which I’m sure many young people go through when they move out of home and into a college dorm. Some people really struggle with that pressure, especially when they don’t want to know what they want to do with their lives or think that it won’t be approved of. In contrast, Willem kept wandering around the world, never wondering why his money didn’t run out...how did that not cross his mind? If I was backpacking I’d be making sure I always had enough money to pay for my next meal, next bed, next flight or whatever out of there. I wanted this book to give me so much more of the bigger picture and honestly, if I hadn’t read it, I don’t think I’d be missing out on anything. I definitely can’t say that about If I Stay and Where She Went. I know, I know, I keep coming back to those two books. They’re different, I shouldn’t be comparing them. But when I think of them, they’re a story. Together, they make two parts of the same story. There’s a beginning, there’s a middle and then there’s an end, both of them get a satisfactory story and ending. This doesn’t feel the same way.

I’m overthinking it probably!

M: Actually, I think that If I Stay has a beginning, a middle and a not ending in a way. Anyway, that’s an aside!

I went looking to see what Gayle Forman is publishing next and I couldn’t see anything. On the basis of how much you loved If I Stayed and Where She Went and how much you ... didn’t love this one, will you be excited about what comes next?

B: I found a book on Goodreads scheduled for 2015 which is apparently about a girl exploring her best friend’s suicide. Look, I know that I haven’t given this one a glowing review but it’s not a terrible book. It’s just not the book I wanted to read. Gayle Forman has written two of my favourite YA books read in recent times so I’m still going to be pretty keen for anything she has coming out. I kind of hope it’s a stand alone though!

M: Yes, I would hope for standalone too, but I would be surprised if it is because series are such a cash cow in genre fiction that I think that publishers look for series rather than stand alone and she has been successful with these kind of connected books.

Whilst these two books didn’t stand up against the excellent If I Stay and Where She Went I do think that Forman is a very talented author who has the ability to write some amazing books. She has such a way with words. and there are time when I just have to stop and reread a phrase or a sentence, as in the example below from page 250.

The breath that comes out of me isn't a sigh or a sob or a shudder. It's something alive, like a bird, wings beating, taking flight. And then it's gone, off into the quiet afternoon.

I’ll take a quiet afternoon to read whatever she comes up with next!

B: Definitely! I think that she has many amazing stories still to come.



Rating 4/5


Synopsis

Twenty four hours can change your life....

Allyson and Willem share on magical day together in Paris, before chance rips them apart.

The romantic, emotional companion to Just One Day, this is a story of the choices we make and the accidents life throws at us.

But is one day enough to find your fate?

Currently Reading

A Feast for Crows by George R R Martin and listening to The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith.

Next up

Bellagrand by Paullina Simons and Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt

Joint review: The Debt of Tamar by Nicole Dweck

Today I am pleased to be participating in a discussion style review of The Debt of Tamr by Nicole Dweck with Kelly from The Written World. My thoughts are in black and Kelly's in purple. Don't forget to head on to Kelly's blog to read the second part. Alternatively head over to Historical Tapestry where you can read the whole thing and there is a also a chance to win a copy of the book (open to US residents only).

Enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Its been a while since we have done one of these Kelly!

I thought I would start this discussion by talking about the story and hopefully along the way we will be able to touch on how the book is structured and how that helps or hinders the plot.

The book opens in 16th century Spain. Dona Antonio Nissim is friend to royalty, well respected and wealthy but none of that will protect her when she upsets royalty by refusing a match for her beautiful young daughter. And there is especially no protection when it is found that you are actually Jewish, something which comes as something of a surprise to her daughter Reyna and her nephew that she has been raising to become the head of her family, Jose. Forced to flee, the family is accepted into Turkey under the auspices of the sultan Suleiman and the family settles into a new life which is complicated by the fact that Reyna and Jose fall in love.

The action then moves forward a few years as their daughter Tamar is given the great privilege of being educated within the walls of the sultan’s harem, where she meets and falls in love with the heir, Murat. But theirs is a love that crosses culture and faiths and it isn’t long before the young lovers are torn apart but not before he gives her a ruby ring that ends up being passed from generation to generation. Murat goes on to rule the realm, but he and his descendants are forever to be cursed, in effect the debt of Tamar that the title of the book refers to.

I have to admit, I think I was confused about the curse when it was first mentioned in Murat’s part of the book. I think it was only when the book shifted to the Present Day that I fully understood. I guess that’s because I thought if anyone should be cursed, it should be her father because it is him that sends her away.

What did you think of the curse?

I was a bit confused by the curse at first too, almost as though the injured party was cursed rather than the injurer (is that even a word?). It did work itself out by the end of the book though!

But, after Murat’s time has come to an end, the book flashes to the present day. The Sultan’s reign has come to an end and now Selim Osman, the grandson of the last Sultan, is a successful business man. He is still living in the shadow of his ancestors. His father and brother are deceased and his mother left to go live with her aunt. He is essentially an orphan who finds himself diagnosed with a life-threatening disease. When he goes to New York to seek treatment, the stories of his ancestors and Tamar start to intertwine. Then, the time changes again, and we are in WWII-torn Paris, France.

In Paris we meet Davide. His parents were the victims of the Holocaust and he was raised by a kindly baker and his wife. Unfortunately, he can not live that idyllic life forever and his ancestors catch-up with him. He quickly changes his entire life to embrace his heritage and decides to leave Paris behind to visit the land of his ancestors. Then it is back to the future again for the stories to come together. I will leave it there for readers to get a taste of how things are going to come together.

What did you think of the characters? Did you have a favourite?

As we will discuss below, I find that the characters didn’t have a time in the book to really stand out. I thought that Reyna and Jose’s relationship was sweet, but it was so rushed there was no build up or drama. And, I really liked Reyna’s mother, but again, I didn’t really get a chance to get to know who she was. She was a strong and intriguing character that I would love to see an entire book about! Again, Murat and Tamar, sweet relationship, but for having lasting consequences through a curse it was again rushed. I didn’t get the tension because there was no time to get to feel it. Basically, though, the characters are all interesting. I just wish we had got to know them a bit better.

I am probably the same as you. I didn’t feel connected enough to any one story to say I had a favourite character.






Head over to Kelly's blog for the second part of the discussion where we talk more about the structure of the book and out overall reactions to the book.

About the tour

Link to Tour Page: http://hfvirtualbooktours.com/thedebtoftamartour
Tour Hashtag: #DebtofTamarVirtualTour
Nicole Dweck's website
Nicole Dweck on Twitter
Nicole Dweck on Facebook

About the book

Publication Date: February 4, 2013
Devon House Press
Paperback; 332p
ISBN-10: 061558361X

During the second half of the 16th century, a wealthy widow by the name of Doña Antonia Nissim is arrested and charged with being a secret Jew. The punishment? Death by burning. Enter Suleiman the Magnificent, an Ottoman “Schindler,” and the most celebrated sultan in all of Turkish history. With the help of the Sultan, the widow and her children manage their escape to Istanbul. Life is seemingly idyllic for the family in their new home, that is, until the Sultan’s son meets and falls in love with Tamar, Doña Antonia’s beautiful and free-spirited granddaughter. A quiet love affair ensues until one day, the girl vanishes.

Over four centuries later, thirty-two year old Selim Osman, a playboy prince with a thriving real estate empire, is suddenly diagnosed with a life-threatening condition. Abandoning the mother of his unborn child, he vanishes from Istanbul without an explanation. In a Manhattan hospital, he meets Hannah, a talented artist and the daughter of a French Holocaust survivor. As their story intertwines with that of their ancestors, readers are taken back to Nazi-occupied Paris, and to a sea-side village in the Holy Land where a world of secrets is illuminated.

Theirs is a love that has been dormant for centuries, spanning continents, generations, oceans, and religions. Bound by a debt that has lingered through time, they must right the wrongs of the past if they’re ever to break the shackles of their future.

The Captive Sun by Irena Karafilly

Today I am bringing you the second half of a discussion between Lauren from Australian Bookshelf about The Captive Sun by Irena Karafilly.

Lauren's thoughts are in green and mine are in black.

You can read the first half of the discussion here.

Lauren: Calliope was against re-marrying when she became a young widow as she didn’t think she was fit to be a wife. That with her numerous, publicly known relationships was quite controversial in this traditional village (not that she cared what people thought!). What did you think of some of Calliope’s other relationships over the years?

Marg: While the sense of connection to Lorenz was pretty strong, and I do think that they loved each other deeply, I was surprised by at least two of the other relationships that Calliope had. There was one other relationship that I thought was really right for her, but unfortunately fate in the form of a civil war stepped in and it wasn’t to be. As a reader I was very moved when that particular relationship ended, in a way that I wasn’t when it came to many of the others.

Lauren: I think in some ways I was surprised and some ways not. I was surprised about the same two love interests partly because I was pretty hung up on the fact I wanted Calliope and Lorenz to reconnect (and I never really got over that!) and also because the development of her relationships outside of Lorenz was never really shown. A chapter or scene usually just picked up from a point in her life and it was like.. oh by the way she’s in a relationship with this guy. Whereas with Lorenz there was a lot of time and space provided in the story to watch their friendship grow into a romance. On the other hand, I wasn’t surprised by her choice in lovers. Each lover was a man whom she had a deep connection with that was built on a strong friendship and those relationships were quite lengthy.

Marg: Do you think that Calliope’s freedom and lifestyle choices would have been fundamentally different if she had of had children and how did you feel when she changed her mind on the question of marriage?

Lauren: Yes, I don’t think she would have had the autonomy to pursue the causes she was passionate about. Particularly because of the traditional role of the mother and wife within her community.

I was happy that she changed her mind about marriage, because I felt she was really quite hard on herself for a long time. She always thought of herself as a selfish person- because her mother believed that- and yet I never felt she was. In fact she did many things that were quite selfless. She was very loyal to those she cared about. Another belief about herself that was challenged was that she didn’t think she was made for marriage. She feared she couldn’t be faithful in a marriage and yet (from what I recall) she was never disloyal within her romantic relationships.

Marg: You touched on something a few paragraphs ago that I wanted to explore a little in our conversation, and that is the structure of the book. The book covers a long period of time and as such there were times when I did feel like we were skipping from one episode to the other. The fact that the book does cover the war as well as the civil war and then on into the political upheavals of the 1970s does give the book a point of difference, but there were times when it did feel as though it was missing a bit of depth, or a maybe focus is a better word. I am not sure if I wanted it to just focus on WWII but I wanted more of the really interesting parts. It may just have been that the story was too big to be contained!

Don’t get me wrong. I still enjoyed the book and ended up giving it a rating of ⅘ but I was left thinking there was more story that could have been told.

Am I making any sense at all?

Lauren: Yes, you are making sense Marg! I think you pretty much summed up my thoughts too, the story definitely was too big to be contained. Sometimes there were just snippets of time and then years would pass and I did feel a little disconnected from Calliope at times because I kind of had to re-learn who she was and what she was up to. I would have liked to see more of the time during the war, that’s what I thought the focus of the story would be on. But I think it was really meant to track Calliope throughout her life and the efforts she made on the various causes she was passionate about. Because my expectation for the story was about the war (and her relationship with Lorenz), I too felt the story lacked focus at times but maybe that was because it wasn’t focussing on what I wanted it to focus on. Now I’m not making sense! haha

Overall, I thought The Captive Sun was an enjoyable story even if I got a little too hung up about the relationship between Lorenz and Calliope, once I finished the book and set that aside I could really appreciate the journey Calliope took me on. I too gave it a rating of 4/5


Synopsis

Calliope Adham – young, strong-willed, and recently widowed – is schoolmistress in the village of Molyvos when Hitler's army invades Greece in 1941. Well read and linguistically gifted, she is promptly recruited by the Germans, who force her to act as their liaison officer. It is the beginning of a personal and national saga that will last well over thirty years.

Calliope's wartime duties bring her into close contact with Lieutenant Lorenz Umbreit, the Wehrmacht officer in command of her village. Their improbable friendship blossoms despite Calliope's clandestine work for the Resistance, in a fishing village seething with dread and suspicion.

Amid privation and death, the villagers' hostility finally erupts, but the bond between Calliope Adham and Lorenz Umbreit survives the Occupation, taking unforeseeable turns. Their complex, defiant relationship continues through several tumultuous decades, as Greece is ravaged by civil war, oppressed by military dictatorship, and finally liberated in the mid 1970s.

A bestseller in Greece, The Captive Sun is a haunting, sumptuous novel, weaving the private and the historic into a vivid tapestry of Greek island life. At once informative and spellbinding, it chronicles the story of an extraordinary woman and her lifelong struggle against social and political tyranny.

The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley

Today I am very pleased to be posting a discussion about Susanna Kearsley's new book which is released in the UK tomorrow and then in the US in April/May! I can't tell you how excited I was when I got an early copy of this book! (There may have been squeeing and happy dancing!) When I knew that Rosario also got an early copy, the idea of doing this discussion post was born. A conversation about one of my favourite authors with one of my favourite bloggers! What could be better?

Rosario has the first part of the discussion, which ended with the question "Were you surprised by the journey that both the present and past characters took?" Her thoughts are in red and mine in black.

On with the discussion...

Rosario: I was, actually. First, although I’d read the blurb, and knew the story would have something to do with Russia, I really didn’t expect for it to be mostly set there. I absolutely loved that it was. I’ve come to expect Kearsley’s books to include settings that are so vivid that they almost become characters in their own right, and I wasn’t disappointed here. You can picture every single place clearly, to the point you can almost smell and taste! It’s not just that she includes a lot of detail, it’s that she includes just the right things and in just the right way. It really isn’t easy to do. I read a mystery recently where the author went into just as much detail (even some of the things that Kearsley does, such as which streets they took to get to X, that sort of thing) and it was incredibly tedious. I just wanted her to get to the flipping point, whereas with Kearsley, I wallow. That’s the only word for it. 

I was also surprised by the plot, especially that of the historical story. One of the things I most appreciate about Kearsley’s books is how she often uses events from history that I really don’t know anything about. It means she can write plots which are very influenced by big-picture historical events and based on real people, and still not dilute the tension, because most readers (me, for instance) will have no idea of how things will turn out. This was just perfect. I had no idea of the history involved, and it was fascinating.

I suppose the romances themselves weren’t as surprising, as they are very much vintage Kearsley, but they were both beautifully done and very satisfying. You mention you had a bit of a preference for the historical story. What was it about it that you preferred? Me, I kept switching sides. My favourite was always whichever one I was reading!

Marg: It wasn’t so much the romance aspect where I preferred one over the other story, although I will say that while Rob feels like a quintessential Kearsley hero, the man in the past didn’t as much! It was more in the historical details like the fact that there were Jacobites that were trying to drum up support for their leader in courts as far away as Russia. I knew that they were in France and Italy, but Russia really surprised me. I also do have a fondness for books that are set in Russia, so the chance to read more about Russian Tsars and spies and St Petersburg back in the day (St Petersburg is high up on the list of places I need to get to one day).

I liked the modern story a lot, but in a lot of ways the relationship between Rob and Nicola felt like it was both their journey (both emotionally and physically) but more importantly it was the gateway to the past story.

While Rob was a character from The Shadowy Horses, this book for me sits more comfortably as a sequel to The Winter Sea. It would work fine as a stand-alone book but better as a sequel. Should we talk about how these two books are connected and a bit about the historical plot?

Rosario: I agree that Rob is THE quintessential Kearsley hero, but “the man in the past” (guess who we’re talking about could be seen as a spoiler!) does have the sense of honour and caring as well, it’s just that he has reasons to present a slightly different façade to the world.

Anyway, yes, the historical plot. Ah, this is going to be delicate, because I don’t want to spoil The Winter Sea for those who haven’t read it, and the very basics of Anna’s story are closely related to the end of that book. I’ll try to keep the particulars of that relationship quite vague.

As you mentioned earlier, Marg, when holding the object belonging to the old lady, Nicola sees an image from the past. One of the two women in that image is Empress Catherine, but the other is a young woman, presumably the ancestor who got given the object. Nicola and Rob realise that their best bet is to find out more about this young woman, and travel to the village by Slains Castle, where the old lady had said she was from (and readers of The Winter Sea are going ding-ding-ding!).

It turns out that using Rob’s powers, they are able to find the young woman, Anna, as a young girl, and by listening in on different episodes in her life, they’re able to follow her. Even though she’s a young girl, the circumstances of Anna’s life mean that she doesn’t stay put in Scotland, but ends up embarking on quite an adventure, first in Belgium, and then travelling to St Petersburg, where she grows up amongst Jacobite families who are still very involved in the fight to put their leader on the throne.

I have to agree with you, Marg, although there are connections to both The Shadowy Horses and The Winter Sea, the fact that Rob is Robbie is just a lovely easter egg (i.e. it’s a nice surprise for those who’ve read TSH, but those who haven’t read it won’t feel like they’re missing anything). The connection to TWS, on the other hand, makes it more of a sequel, as you rightly say. It’s a “what happened next” in the life of several characters, and we even get info that’s quite key to the HEA of TWS’s protagonists. Did you like this about it?

Marg: I did! It’s funny because when I read The Winter Sea, I was completely satisfied with how it ended, and I wasn’t longing to find out what happened next to the main characters. I may have thought about it briefly, but that was about it,. When we found out what happened during The Firebird though, I was really pleased that we did get that glimpse.

One of the key things that I have come to expect from Susanna Kearsley is that there will be a twist in the tale. She is so good at telling a story and then suddenly including something that makes you look back at what you have read and see it a little differently and it all makes perfect sense in the context. For example, when I read the twist in The Rose Garden I literally gasped out loud! Whilst my reaction wasn’t as visceral in this book, it was very much an a-ha moment! I am trying very hard not to give anything away, but did you see the big reveal about one character’s identity coming or were you surprised by it?

Rosario: I did not see it coming in the least, but once I knew, I flipped back frantically and saw the clues I’d missed. And I’d read The Winter Sea, and everything, so you’d have thought I’d have been less oblivious! It was a good way to close that particular element of the story, left me feeling very satisfied.

In fact, satisfied is how the whole book left me. I enjoyed it thoroughly as I was reading: romances, plot, setting, everything! And then I closed it with a smile. It was an A- for me. How about you Marg?

Marg: I knew I was going to like the book it was just a question of how much. It is a Kearsley novel after all and I have said before that I am genetically predisposed to loving her books! It was a 9/10 read for me, so we are about the same in our grading!

Thanks for discussing the book with me Rosario! I enjoyed our discussion!

Rosario: So did I, Marg, thank you!

Sunday Salon: On reading Les Miserables

If you have been taking note of the books that I have listed as Currently Reading at the bottom of every Sunday Salon post, you may have noticed that I have had the same book listed there for a couple of months. My intention was to finish Victor Hugo's Les Miserables before I went to see the movie. In the end, I went to see the movie a couple of weeks ago, so today I am going to post about my experience of reading the book because I finished it this week (yay!) as well as about how seeing the movie when I did affected my reading experience. Bree from All the Books I Can Read started the book around the same time as I did but finished it much earlier. It seemed like a good chance to have a discussion about the book.

This is the first part of the discussion post. You can read the second part of the discussion at Bree's blog.

Marg: In a way I am often a little bit concerned about trying to review a classic like this book. While I felt a profound sense of achievement when I closed the book for the last time a few days ago, the reality is that I am not the first one to do so! Having said that, I often find when I do read such well known stories that I assume that everyone knows what the book is about, and often it isn't the case. I haven't seen the musical of Les Miserables, but I knew that the main characters were Jean Valjean and Fantine, and and so I expected the novel to focus on them I was therefore somewhat surprised when Fantine played a pivotal but short role. Other than that, I didn’t really know a lot about the story. Did you know much about the story before you started it?

Bree: To be honest - absolutely nothing! Some classics I have a vague idea of the plot and the characters but Les Miserables is one of the ones where I really didn’t know anything at all about it before beginning. I picked it up on a whim really - after you’d mentioned a read-a-long you were going to participate in, my original reaction was 1200p over 4 weeks? No way! But the more I thought about it, the more it interested me. I’ve made it a resolution to read more classics (don’t ask me how I’m going with that) and this one is iconic. So I decided to tackle it. Like you, I felt a huge sense of achievement when I finished the novel. It’s a long book, it’s quite involved and quite honestly, after the first 60-odd pages, I wasn’t even sure I was going to continue. Victor Hugo never met a tangent he didn’t love to embrace and at times I struggled with some of these. But there’s a great core story weaving through the book, isn’t there?

Marg: Definitely, the story itself is great, but oh, those tangents. The book begins on a tangent, with many pages talking about the bishop in a small town, about his habits, his background. Now, he was important in terms of his impact on the former galley slave Jean Valjean and he certainly shaped the man that Jean was to become, but that was a lot of background! Those kinds of tangents continued with pages and pages about Waterloo, and even towards the end lots of pages about the Paris sewer system.

I couldn’t help but wonder what this book would have looked like had it been published today. It would probably have been at least halved in size! There would not have been the slow build up at the beginning and a lot of the other extra information, like an extended discussion about the difference between a riot and a revolution, would most likely have not been included!

In terms of the core story, Jean Valjean is a man who was imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family. Originally imprisoned for 4 years, his sentence was extended several times because he kept on trying to escape before finally being released after 19 years. The rules for released prisoners are very strict, so when Valjean breaks the rules, he is in effect once again a fugitive.

Bree: I totally agree about what would’ve happened to the novel, should it have been published today. Chunksters of the 1200p variety aren’t too common these days and it seems like most stories get a pretty ruthless edit and anything not immediately useful to the story gets the chop. For me, the novel started when Jean Valjean appeared, that’s when I became interested and every time it deviated from that, I lost a little bit of interest until he reappeared again. He reinvents himself so many times during this novel, he’s such a fascinating character. He loses 25 years in a prison, so he’s already middle aged when he’s released the first time and really ‘begins’ his life on the outside. Then he chooses to devote himself to raising Cosette and he’s more than just a guardian to her. He’s a father, a grandfather, a friend - for a long time he’s all she ever really had. Their relationship is a real triumph in the novel, I think. Hugo says a lot about them with the glimpses he gives the reader into some of their time together at various stages of Cosette’s life. I think the two of them might have been my favourite part.

Marg: That is definitely the strongest relationship in the book by far, especially seeing as the thread that connects them was rather obscure in the beginning, although I did enjoy Marius’ story a lot as well.

One of the things I found myself pondering when I finished the book was the links between the characters, the way that they were all connected and were drawn back together even after years apart. Jean Valjean, Fantine and her daughter Cosette, Marius and his father, the Thenardiers, and even Inspector Javert seemed to be locked into a connection that just would not let them go.

Bree: There are a lot of.... coincidences in this novel! I’m not entirely sure how large a city Paris was at this time, but I’m assuming it was big enough for all of these to be extraordinarily unlikely, but they do make the book quite fun, puzzling out all of the different ways in which characters are related to one another, or how they have crossed paths in their past.

Marg: When I saw the movie, I did lean over to my friend and wonder if Javert was the only policeman in France at the time!

I know that you haven’t seen the movie (you really should!), but I did find it helped me get through the last half of the book, because I had a fair idea what was coming. Given that we talked before about all the tangents, I actually missed some of the details that were in the book. For example, when we first meet Fantine in the movie, she is working in the workshop and her baby is already being looked after by the Thenardiers, with Fantine sending money to them regularly. What we didn’t see is anything about the relationship, about how she came to leave Cosette at the inn. We also didn’t get the background on Marius and his family and their complicated relationships.

Getting back to the plot, Valjean reinvents himself once he gets out of prison and becomes a gentleman of independent means. When he decides that he is going to rescue Cosette from her living hell with the Thenardiers, they come to Paris. Having narrowly escaped from being arrested by Javert again, the two of them settle into a quiet, contented life. One day, at a park in Paris, a young man named Marius notices the beautiful Cosette and so begins a period of unrequited passion between the two.

How did you find this section?




You will need to go and read the second part of the post to find out the answer to this question, plus a discussion about translations, footnotes and more!


Rating 4/5

Synopsis

Sensational, dramatic, packed with rich excitement and the sweep and violence of human passions, Les Miserables is one of the greatest adventure stories ever told. It is a novel peopled by colourful characters from the nineteenth-century Parisian underworld; the street children, the prostitutes and the criminals. In telling the story of escaped convict Jean Valjean, and his efforts to reform his ways and care for the little girl he rescues from a life a cruelty, Victor Hugo drew attention to the plight of the poor and oppressed. Les Miserables is a masterful detective thriller, a comic and tragic story of romance and revolution, and ultimately, a tale of redemption and hope.

This counts for the 'Book with an emotion in the title' category of the What's in a Name 6 challenge, and I read this for the Historical Tapestry readalong

Currently Reading

The Captive Sun by Irena Karafilly

Up Next

The Wedding Shroud by Elisabeth Storrs

The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Yesterday at around this time, I was supposed to post the first half of a joint review of The Doomsday Book which I read with Aarti. Unfortunately it is now a day late because of some internet issues I suddenly had yesterday that required the purchase of a new modem. Sorry again Aarti!

Aarti's thoughts are in purple and mine are in black. You can read the second part (even though it has already been up there for a day) of the discussion over at Aarti's blog.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marg: A couple of years ago now we read To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis and we both loved it! It has taken us more than two years to do so, but finally we have gotten around to reading The Doomsday Book which was actually the first book that Willis set in this world!

How did you find coming back to this world after so long? Did you slip straight back in or did it take you a little while to get used to it again.

 Aarti: It took me a little while to get used to it again. I think I was trying to understand the rules of time travel for the first bit and then just gave up. For example, I still have no idea how Kivrin was sent to the wrong year! I think I jumped straight back into the atmosphere, though - I could imagine the snow falling, all those bells tolling, the shoppers hurrying to get home, the university deserted for Christmas vacation, and later on, the terror people had about the possibility of another pandemic.

Marg: Yes, I never quite got my head around how she ended up in the wrong year.

If I was to pick just one word to describe this book it would be frantic. In both the present and the past there was such a feeling of impending disaster as both people at both ends of history tried to work out what was going on and would they be able to figure out how to save their people.

Aarti: Oh, yes! I felt like we just kept getting peeks into a very complicated scenarios and were left in the dark about everything else. It was strange because the “present” in the book was so frantic and stressful, whereas the past seemed so quiet, without much action at all.

I admit I thought that the plague would have showed up a lot earlier in the book. It only really came more than halfway through. I guess I can see why, as Kivrin’s entries became somewhat repetitive at that point, just about the exhausting work of having to care for other people. I didn’t expect so much build-up to the action. What did you think of that?

Marg: I had been warned that this was very much a plague book so I kept on waiting for it to turn up in the pages. I initially thought that Kivrin had caught it very early on so when it finally did show up, I guess I wasn’t surprised. There was a lot of caring for the other characters, and I was moved when some of the characters died but there were others where it was more an afterthought reaction - oh, so and so finally died.

Let‘s talk about the characters. I loved the character of Colin. I couldn’t remember any of the characters from this book appeared in TSNOTD but I do know that they are in BlackOut and All Clear and I can’t wait to see him again.

Aarti: I really had fun with Colin, too! He had such a hilarious vocabulary :-) I don’t know if any of these characters appeared in TSNOTD, either - no memory of them!

I had trouble feeling connected to the characters in the 14th century. It wasn’t that there were too many, it was just that they didn’t seem to have much personality. Kivrin seemed so isolated from everyone except Agnes and the priest. They were all so absorbed in their own problems and I didn’t get to know them at all. In contrast, I thought I knew the people in the present much better. Colin, for example, had a great force of personality. I also understood better the relationships between the characters in the present. They had history together, and interacted much more often than those in the past. Did you have a similar reaction or a very different one?

Marg: Definitely! I think part of the reason that we didn’t feel connected to any of them is that Kivrin was trying to live up to her created persona rather than be herself and therefore she was always on edge trying to ensure that she didn’t say or do the wrong thing and behave in a way that would be inappropriate for a young woman in that time.

Aarti: Very true - that probably had something to do with it. I just got the impression that Kivrin hardly ever TALKED to anyone except Agnes. So even when the plague hit and people started dying, I felt completely distanced from the action and didn’t even really know who was

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Synopsis

Kivrin knows everything about the Middle Ages - she's read all the books. She knows it's dangerous: cutthroats in the woods, witch hunts, cholera, and millions dying in the plague. For a young historian, it's fascinating.

When Kivrin's tutors in Oxford's history lab finally agree to send her on an on-site study trip, she jumps at the chance to observe medieval life first-hand. But a crisis that strangely links the past and future leaves her stranded in the most deadly and terrifying era in human history, face to face with the heart-rending reality behind the statistics. And while she fights for her own life, Kivrin finds she has become and unlikely angel of hope in this dark time.

This book also fulfills the "something you would carry in your purse/handbag" category for the What's in a Name challenge as I always carry at least one doom book around in my handbag!