Theresa Smith's Blog, page 134
May 28, 2018
New Release Book Review: Burning Fields by Alli Sinclair
About the Book:
1948. The world is struggling to regain a sense of balance after the devastation of World War II, and the sugar cane–growing community of Piri River in northern Queensland is no exception.
As returned servicemen endeavour to adjust to their pre–war lives, women who had worked for the war effort are expected to embrace traditional roles once more.
Rosie Stanton finds it difficult to return to the family farm after years working for the Australian Women’s Army Service. Reminders are everywhere of the brothers she lost in the war and she is unable to understand her father’s contempt for Italians, especially the Conti family next door. When her father takes ill, Rosie challenges tradition by managing the farm, but outside influences are determined to see her fail.
Desperate to leave his turbulent history behind, Tomas Conti has left Italy to join his family in Piri River. Tomas struggles to adapt in Australia–until he meets Rosie. Her easygoing nature and positive outlook help him forget the life he’s escaped. But as their relationship grows, so do tensions between the two families until the situation becomes explosive.
When a long–hidden family secret is discovered and Tomas’s mysterious past is revealed, everything Rosie believes is shattered. Will she risk all to rebuild her family or will she lose the only man she’s ever loved?
My Thoughts:
I enjoyed Burning Fields so much, it really was such a treat to read. Alli Sinclair is a writer who never fails to deliver a great story, and while this newest release of hers is a little different to her previous novels, established fans can rest assured that it contains all of the usual Alli magic. For those who have not read any of Alli’s novels, this is a great one to start with.
I always feel a connection to the stories Alli writes. In this instance, it was the setting. I spent my teenage years living on a Queensland cane farm. It’s common for cane farms to have more than one house, harking back to the days when a farm supported multiple generations. These days, only one generation will usually work a farm and some farmers even live in town, rather than on the farm itself. That was the case for us, we were renting a farm house that was no longer needed, but the cane was at our back fence, and the work sheds were just outside our kitchen window, so we were very much in the thick of it. That roar of a cane fire, the snapping and popping, the sweet smell; it’s like no other sort of fire, the way it rears up and then burns itself out. While the town I was in was not as far north as the one in this novel, it still had a high population of Italian immigrants; my own husband is third generation. This novel was filled with so many familiar things, the nostalgia had me reading long into the night and over breakfast the next day. I loved Burning Fields and it’s going to remain a firm favourite of mine.
Peopled with a cast of all sorts, Burning Fields is a novel that is so rich in atmosphere and authenticity. From the traditionalist father/progressive daughter dynamic to the ease of best friends who have known each other forever, brothers and sisters, men and their Nonnas; the relationships and character interactions were second to none. I adored Rosie, her big heart, her progressivism, and her willingness to work to secure her family’s legacy, she was such a great heroine to follow. She never once frustrated me, I was championing her the whole way, no matter what, or who, she was turning her hand to.
I really enjoyed Tomas’s story and the way it was presented. War complicates so much, and for those who had to live under constant threat, their stories all no doubt contain many shades of grey. For countries such as Italy, who switched sides during the war and were also occupied by both the Allies and the Nazis, their people were put under enormous strain to resist and conform, in equal measure. I had so much admiration for Tomas and for Nonna, with her secret network of women. That’s a story I’d love to read more on! I thought Alli did so well with piecing together a valid picture of Australia post WWII. The roles of women reverting, the racism and suspicion attached to immigrants from certain nationalities, the contention associated with mixed marriages, men suffering from survivor guilt and PTSD expected to just pick up the reins and get on with it; all of these issues were woven tightly into the narrative and explored with thorough authenticity.
While Burning Fields is driven by a love story, it’s very firmly an historical fiction, an exploration of multi-cultural history within Australia against a background of social change. This novel has wide appeal and I will be recommending it highly far and wide.
Thanks is extended to Harper Collins Publishers Australia for providing me with a copy of Burning Fields for review.
About the Author:
[image error]Alli Sinclair is Australian born but spent her early adult years traveling the globe: scaling mountains in Nepal, Argentina, and Peru, rafting the Ganges, and riding a camel in the Sahara. She lived in Argentina and Peru and it was there her love of dance bloomed. When she wasn’t working as a tour guide, Alli could be found in the dance halls dancing the tango, salsa, merengue, and samba. Alli now lives in Geelong, Victoria.
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Paperback: ISBN 9781489256591 Mira AU $29.99
eBook: ISBN 1489256601 Mira $11.99
Out now
May 27, 2018
New Release Book Review: The Juliet Code by Christine Wells
About the Book:
It’s 1947 and the war is over, but Juliet Barnard is still tormented by secrets. She was a British agent and wireless operator in occupied Paris until her mission went critically wrong. Juliet was caught by the Germans, imprisoned and tortured in a mansion in Paris’s Avenue Foch.
Now that she’s home, Juliet can’t – or won’t – relive the horrors that occurred in that place. Nor will she speak about Sturmbannführer Strasser, the manipulative Nazi who held her captive. . .
Haunted by the guilt of betrayal, the last thing Juliet wants is to return to Paris. But when Mac, an SAS officer turned Nazi-hunter, demands her help searching for his sister, Denise, she can’t refuse. Denise and Juliet trained together before being dropped behind enemy lines. Unlike Juliet, Denise never made it home. Certain Strasser is the key to discovering what happened to his sister, Mac is determined to find answers – but will the truth destroy Juliet?
My Thoughts:
There are so many stories to come out of WWII. It awes me, how this never fades, no matter the years that pass and the distance that widens. The Juliet Code is a story about espionage and the high price spies paid if captured behind enemy lines. The author notes at the end indicate just how much of this story was inspired by real people and real events. It’s an absorbing read, filled with tension and quite a lot of harrowing moments. Juliet was a complex character and her story has touched me deeply.
I felt rather betrayed on behalf of these young women who were British spies sent into France. They were literally being sent to their deaths, knowingly by the powers that sanctioned it, and I can’t really fathom whether it was worth it or not. What was learnt from spies parachuting into France and being captured immediately by Nazis? How many times did this happen before they stopped sending them in? It seemed to me to be a futile exercise that only benefited the enemy. These spies were informed during training that they shouldn’t expect to last long. Juliet kept saying to herself, over and over, that she had lasted for months, so she had therefore done so much more than what was expected – how debilitating, to have an expiration date put onto you from the outset. And how fortunate, that a case of nerves led to Juliet initially landing in France at a location different to her fellow spies. The conspiracy around British spy units sabotaging other British units was another eye popping notion to come out of these pages, yet, oddly enough, I found it entirely plausible. I was also disturbed by the bargaining that went on after the war, over Nazi war criminals. To offer sanction in exchange for intelligence is a horrific act of betrayal to all of the people who suffered through the war. It’s like this novel has opened up a can of worms full of things for me to be incensed about. There’s a lot of thought provoking material contained within its pages, that’s for sure.
The legacy of espionage and collaboration is explored throughout the narrative extensively, along with the heavy burden of guilt associated with survival. The Juliet Code is excellent historical fiction that doesn’t hold back. It’s not all grim, there is a love story woven into the mix and a joyously happy ending to temper the more harrowing sections of the novel. All in all, I highly recommend this as a really great read.
Thanks is extended to Penguin Random House Australia for providing me with a copy of The Juliet Code for review.
About the Author:
[image error]Christine Wells worked as a corporate lawyer in a city firm before exchanging contracts and prospectuses for a different kind of fiction. In her novels, she draws on a lifelong love of British history and an abiding fascination for the way laws shape and reflect society. Christine is devoted to big dogs, good coffee, beachside holidays and Antiques Roadshow, but above all to her two sons who live with her in Brisbane.
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Trade Paperback: ISBN 9780143788355 Michael Joseph
EBook: ISBN 9780143788362 Penguin eBooks
May 23, 2018
New Release Book Review: Into the Night by Sarah Bailey
About the Book:
Sarah Bailey’s acclaimed debut novel The Dark Lake was a bestseller around the world and Bailey’s taut and suspenseful storytelling earned her fitting comparisons with Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins. Into the Night is her stunning new crime novel featuring the troubled and brilliant Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock. This time Gemma finds herself lost and alone in the city, broken-hearted by the decisions she’s had to make. Her new workplace is a minefield and the partner she has been assigned is uncommunicative and often hostile. When a homeless man is murdered and Gemma is put on the case, she can’t help feeling a connection with the victim and the lonely and isolated life he led despite being in the middle of a bustling city. Then a movie star is killed in bizarre circumstances on the set of a major film shoot, and Gemma and her partner Detective Sergeant Nick Fleet have to put aside their differences to unravel the mysteries surrounding the actor’s life and death. Who could commit such a brazen crime and who stands to profit from it? Far too many people, she soon discovers – and none of them can be trusted. But it’s when Gemma realises that she also can’t trust the people closest to her that her world starts closing in… Riveting suspense, incisive writing and a fascinating cast of characters make this an utterly addictive crime thriller and a stunning follow-up to The Dark Lake.
My Thoughts:
[image error]I was a big fan of The Dark Lake, it was a top read for me last year and I am thrilled to discover that Into the Night more than lives up to its predecessor. Dark, gritty, teeming with atmosphere, Into the Night is police procedural crime fiction at its very best.
Gemma has moved on from her hometown and we now follow her around the streets of Melbourne as she works on a massively high profile case alongside a new partner in a new squad. She’s just as damaged as before and I loved her just as much as I did the first time around. Gemma is filled with opposing forces: tough, yet vulnerable; craving connection, yet rejecting it at every opportunity. She wants a normal life yet can’t ever fully picture herself inhabiting it. Yet, I feel these complexities within her character hone her focus as a detective. They make her sharper, more instinctive, and more inclined to understand the depths and range of human emotions that come into play when picking apart a crime. I really enjoyed the growing dynamic between Gemma and her new partner Fleet. He’s another complex character and I liked that Gemma couldn’t quite figure him out. He’s a bit of a contradiction himself, easy to love and easy to hate, he walks that line with a definite air of not giving a shit about what anyone thinks, and I took to him immediately. I enjoyed this working partnership immensely, but Gemma and Fleet share many of the same bad habits, so I’m not sure if we’re going to see more of them together, or less.
Sarah Bailey has a real knack at bring her settings to life. This novel just oozed with atmosphere, particularly Melbourne at night. I had such a strong sense of place while reading, and even though I’m familiar with Melbourne, I expect that someone who isn’t would get a good grasp on the city and its vibe from the pages of this novel. I loved that whole anonymity that Sarah brought to the fore, not only with Gemma, but with other characters as well. A city teeming with people that never sleeps affording the perfect cover for those who want to disappear and be alone, be unnoticed, who they are stripped away and reinvented into whoever and whatever they want to be for the duration. This concept merged with the setting in a powerfully heady way creating a most immersive experience.
There’s an undercurrent of sadness bleeding into tragedy that runs through this novel, much in the way it did with The Dark Lake. It mirrors real life and adds a layer of authenticity to the story. What police face, on a daily basis, is front and centre in this novel, and reading it will make you appreciate their bravery in doing a job that has very real dangers at any given time. This is smart crime fiction, sophisticated in its imagining and its delivery. I’ve always enjoyed police procedurals more than thrillers within the crime genre and Gemma Woodstock is the type of detective an author – and a reader – can go the distance with (that’s a heavy hint Sarah!). The follow up to an outstanding first novel is always tricky, the anticipation of it living up to the bar of expectation, but we’re over that now. We have two terrific novels, the start of a cracking good crime series, and I’m excited to see what more there is to come.
Thanks is extended to Allen and Unwin for providing me with a copy of Into the Night for review.
About the Author:
[image error]Sarah Bailey is a Melbourne based writer with a background in advertising and communications. She has two young children and currently works as a director of creative projects company Mr Smith. Over the past five years she has written a number of short stories and opinion pieces. Her first novel, the bestselling The Dark Lake, was published by Allen & Unwin in 2017. Into the Night is her second novel.
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Into the Night is published by Allen and Unwin and is available in paperback and eBook.
ISBN: 9781760297480
May 22, 2018
Behind the Pen with Karly Lane
It’s such a treat to welcome a long time favourite author of mine to Behind the Pen today: Karly Lane. Karly has just released her eleventh novel, Someone Like You. I thought it was about time we found out about a few of her favourites.
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What is your favourite…and why…
Scene from one of your books?
I really love the final scene in If Wishes were Horses with Clarrie and Cobber. It gave me goosebumps when I wrote it and every time I think of it, it makes me smile.
Movie of all time?
The Man from Snowy River. I can never get enough of it. Had it memorized as a child and still to this day can only watch it alone, because my family get annoyed that I speak all the parts.
Book that you always keep a copy of and recommend to others?
Cross Stitch (Outlander) by Diana Gabaldon. This was the first book where a character made a huge impression on me which prompted me to get serious about writing.
Fashion accessory that despite having plenty of, you still keep collecting?
Handbags and Boots.
Drink that you enjoy everyday?
Coffee. Why? It’s for everyone else’s safety.
Treat you indulge in?
Ice Cream. Why? Ice Cream needs no reason.
Place to be?
Home. My happy place will always be where my horses are… oh, and my family too.
Person you admire?
Anyone who has gotten back up and had another go at something.
Season of the year?
Winter. So I can wear my boots.
Someone Like You
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From the best-selling author of Third Time Lucky comes an intriguing, funny and romantic story about past lives and new beginnings.
When bestselling author, twenty-nine year old Hayley Stevens, walked in on her husband, Paul, and her best friend in bed together, she knew her life would never be the same again.
One year later, Hayley stowed her last bag in her much-loved Audi Coupe and said goodbye to the city. She was excited to be heading west to Lochway, a small colonial village sitting on the beautiful Macdonald River. Wanting peace and quiet, Hayley had impulsively bought a cosy sandstone cottage there surrounded by lush rose gardens, with a small overseer’s cottage – ideal for a writer’s retreat.
What she didn’t expect was the almost immediate ‘gift’ of a very noisy donkey named Errol. Nor did Hayley expect to meet her handsome new neighbour, Luke Mason, when she was covered in mud trying to drag Errol out of Luke’s dam. The strange thing was though that Luke seemed very familiar to her.
As Hayley slowly gains acceptance into her small community and starts writing again she becomes almost afraid of the inexplicable visions she sees. What does it all mean? And why does Luke refuse to listen to her?
Written with warmth and humour, Someone Like You is an intriguing, funny and romantic story about past lives and new beginnings.
May 21, 2018
New Release Book Review: The Yellow House by Emily O’Grady
About the Book:
Even before I knew anything about Granddad Les, Wally and me sometimes dared each other to see how close to the knackery we could get. It was way out in the bottom paddock, and Dad had banned us from going further than the dam. Wally said it was because the whole paddock was haunted. He said he could see ghosts wisping in the grass like sheets blown from the washing line. But even then I knew for sure that was a lie.
Ten-year-old Cub lives with her parents, older brother Cassie, and twin brother Wally on a lonely property bordering an abandoned cattle farm and knackery. Their lives are shadowed by the infamous actions of her Granddad Les in his yellow weatherboard house, just over the fence. Although Les died twelve years ago, his notoriety has grown in Cub’s lifetime and the local community have ostracised the whole family. When Cub’s estranged aunt Helena and cousin Tilly move next door into the yellow house, the secrets the family want to keep buried begin to bubble to the surface. And having been kept in the dark about her grandfather’s crimes, Cub is now forced to come to terms with her family’s murky history. The Yellow House is a powerful novel about loyalty and betrayal; about the legacies of violence and the possibilities of redemption.
The 2018 winner of the prestigious literary award for an unpublished manuscript to an author under the age of 35 – the Australian/Vogel’s Literary award.
My Thoughts:
There’s an ugliness that simmers within the pages of The Yellow House, the kind of ugliness we all want to avoid and turn away from, yet at the very centre of this ugliness is a young girl on the cusp of adolescence, a girl who has grown up under the shadow of an evil legacy that she is only just becoming aware of. Her grandfather was a notorious serial killer who buried his bodies on the property that Cub’s family still live on. They are ostracised by association and up until her eleventh year, Cub is not aware of this legacy; her twin brother, older brother and father have all kept it from her; her mother hides from it and never speaks of it, never goes into town, and never does much of anything at all except wallow and neglect her children. This family is feral, I’ll mince no words about it, but the challenge here is to see past that, and to really examine how deep the stain of a criminal legacy really is. Can you ever rise above it or are you damned until generations have passed? A lot of guilt and shame is borne by these characters and it’s such a weight for young children to shoulder.
“I wasn’t sure why she was being so nice to me. She didn’t know anything about Les, I could tell. But she’d find out soon enough and, when she did, she’d treat us how we deserved to be treated.”
The novel is entirely from ten year old Cub’s perspective. She’s a great little busy body so we know a fair bit about what’s going on, but it is of course filtered through Cub’s limited understanding of many things. She’s only ten, and while she’s not stupid, there are some things that are so evil, and so big, that she is only just beginning to scratch the surface. Emily O’Grady has such a talent for clearly conveying the unstated, and the visual imagery that she injects into her writing just leaps from the page.
“I followed the path of pale, flattened grass until I reached the dam, and when the track disappeared I trod carefully and whipped through the grass with my hands, ripping up snatches with my fists. The knackery was at the bottom of the hill. It was the size of a small house, painted pale pink like the colour of marshmallows, and as I got close to it I started to get that sick feeling in my stomach. The mist had started to clear, the sun becoming buttery, but still I couldn’t help turning around to see if anyone was following me, though I knew I was all alone.”
The element of sustained dread is present throughout the entire novel. You just know that something bad is on the horizon, the threat is always there, pressing in and keeping you alert. Not only for the reader, but for Cub as well, and there was a seamless symmetry to what Cub was feeling and what I was feeling as I read about Cub. The entire novel was very well done, that ebb and flow of normal everyday life balanced against that which was not normal, and there was plenty of not normal in this family.
I mentioned above that the family was feral so I’ll spend some time elaborating on this. Were they feral because they lived under the shadow of the legacy of a serial killer or were they feral anyway, regardless of this? It’s a chicken and egg conundrum but it still weighed on my mind. There was clearly not much money, which would account for why they had never just packed up and left. It would have been impossible to sell up, notoriety has its limits, so they instead stayed and hid out. I have to insert one small, very minor quibble, more of a gross out, but seriously, people were just ‘spewing’ all the time in this family. It was a little overdone so that when there were moments when it could have had more impact, the effect was lost. Anyway, moving on. I had admiration for Colin, the father, who really was just trying to get through each day. He probably never planned to end up marrying the daughter of a serial killer; to have made that realisation and then gone to the police upon the discovery of evidence; that is a heavy burden. He could have deserted the family and started over, many probably would have in his place, but he stayed and did the best he could. Christine, the mother, is a different story. Clearly suffering mentally from the strain of finding out your father was a serial killer, she would have episodes where she would take to her bed. I understood this, and at first I sympathised. But over time we saw just how slovenly and neglectful of her children she really was. She was steeped in self-pity and I could see no way out of it for her. From the moment she pointed to her daughter and said that “youse kids have caused me nothing but pain”, I wanted to shake her and take her kids away from her. I hate, absolutely loathe women who blame their children for their problems, so she was lost to me. I kept hoping she would die, I kid you not, she was an absolute drain on the family and Colin would have been able to look after the kids so much better without her sucking up what was good out of him. Collectively though, there was not much parenting, and aside from the obvious physical neglect, it was the emotional scarring of this that broke my heart for all three of the children. Cub though, seemed to bear the burden of this. Because she was a girl? I’m not sure. Maybe because she was more capable, more intelligent. I don’t really know. Perhaps it was just perceived and not implied at all, but in the end, Cub felt it, and it therefore matters.
“Something prickled in the air. I didn’t know what was going on. I wanted to ask Dad where Cassie was but I couldn’t open my mouth, couldn’t speak. I was supposed to be watching him, only no one had told me that. No one had told me it was my job to look after him, and now Cassie was gone because I hadn’t done my job properly.”
For Cub, her twin Wally was always there, mostly to be endured, but it was expected that he was always on her side, and for the most part, he was. I thought Wally was a bit of a trooper, a canny little fellow who knew more than he let on and seemed to find out everything he needed to know without even trying. He was rough as guts but he was stamped as a survivor in a way his brother wasn’t. Cassie was the only one of the three who remembered his grandfather, and with affection too. The difficulty of that was not lost on me, and you could see how vulnerable this made him for those who seek association with notoriety, such as his ‘friend’ Ian. Cub idolised Cassie, and for the most part, it was a good relationship, although doomed, because Cassie had no way to live up to Cub’s high expectations of him. Wally’s relationship with Cassie was more grounded, a typical brother dynamic. What happened to Cassie was hard for Cub, he was the only member of her family she felt sure of, and it broke me a little to see her realise that he was not the person she wanted, and needed, him to be. Cub saw the writing on the wall with Ian and Cassie from the beginning, but her child status limited her from articulating, and fully understanding, what was really going on. Emily O’Grady was so precise in her narration of this, traversing with ease that often confusing terrain within childhood where one is grappling to make sense of their family and their place within it. I always felt the narrative was solidly within Cub’s capability and never out of her age range.
“I suddenly went from feeling embarrassed for him to afraid of him, which I’d never felt before…I hated him. Hated him for messing things up again. For being so weak.”
While I wouldn’t bill this novel as a coming of age story, there was a glimmer of this for Cub towards the end. She was smart enough to want to live a different life, and tough enough to know that she would have to do this alone.
“Every afternoon when I got home from school I spent ages on my homework, made sure my handwriting was perfect. I decided I was going to be the best in the class, so I could go to a school far away where no one knew me, where no one thought I was strange or that my blood was rotten.”
Cub’s growing self-awareness encompassed all that was around her and it evolved much like a bud blooming in the middle of a pile of manure. Yes, she was the grand-daughter of a serial killer, but that didn’t have to define her. Her mother had let it define her, as had her uncle and her older brother, and her cousin had paid the gravest price for it, but she was not going to let it break her. The implication of this was apparent and I rejoiced, knowing that this novel didn’t need a happy ending for me to see this future path for Cub. And this is where Emily O’Grady shines, in the way she implies beyond her words what you need to know. One sentence has a ripple effect extending beyond the page. She is a great new talent to the Australian literary scene and I have a sense of anticipation about her work, that it’s going to just go from strength to strength and I really can’t wait to see what she writes next.
The Yellow House is highly accessible literary fiction, perfect for fans of Little Gods and The Choke. The child narration hits a perfect note and balances the horror and evil that is present within the story. In examining the legacy of violence and crime within a family, it challenges the reader to examine their own conscience and perceptions about how far reaching guilt exactly is. Where does the line of guilt end? When does judgement stop? I’m still thinking about this novel and expect to be for some time.
Thanks is extended to Allen and Unwin for providing me with a copy of The Yellow House for review.
About the Author:
[image error]Emily O’Grady was born in 1991 in Brisbane. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in, or are forthcoming in Review of Australian Fiction, Westerly, Australian Poetry Journal, The Lifted Brow, Kill Your Darlings, The Big Issue Fiction Edition and Award Winning Australian Writing. In 2012 she won the QUT Undergraduate Writing Prize, and in 2013 she won the QUT Postgraduate Writing Prize. In 2017 she placed second in the Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction, was shortlisted for the Queensland Premiers Young Publishers and Writers Award, and was longlisted for the Elizabeth Jolley Prize for Fiction. She co-edits Stilts Journal, and is currently completing a PhD in Creative Writing at Queensland University of Technology, where she also works as a Sessional Academic.
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The Yellow House is published by Allen and Unwin and is available in paperback and eBook now.
May 20, 2018
Book Review: The Virgin’s Lover by Philippa Gregory
About the Book:
A sumptuous historical novel set in the court of Elizabeth I, from Sunday Times No.1 bestseller Philippa Gregory, the author of The Other Boleyn Girl.
Now I can be the queen that my mother intended me to be . . . the queen I was born to be. 1558. After years of waiting, Princess Elizabeth accedes to the throne of England. But the country is divided, the restoration of the Protestant faith ignites opposition from the church and beyond, and court remains a treacherous place. Many believe that Elizabeth must marry if she is to survive. For Robert Dudley, Elizabeth’s ascension is a glorious new dawn, and he quickly positions himself as the young queen’s favourite. Dudley is a man of powerful lineage; his father had been a kingmaker at the court of Henry VIII. But Dudley has many enemies, amongst them William Cecil, the queen’s most trusted advisor. As powerful families vie for stakes in the emerging kingdom, Elizabeth must secure her own future.
My Thoughts:
And so my pilgrimage with Philippa Gregory’s Plantagenet and Tudor novels continues, this time with The Virgin’s Lover, the story of Queen Elizabeth I in her early years of ascending to the throne. Clearly, I am not reading these novels in order, instead approaching the series in hodge-podge manner based on whatever character I’m interested in at the time. Such as these novels are though, they hold up perfectly well as stand-alone reads and I haven’t encountered any instances that have given me a reason to regret this approach. Now, I’m going to approach this review as more of a character study and while the novel is about Elizabeth I and her paramour, Robert Dudley, for me, The Virgin’s Lover became the story of Lady Dudley, the wife Robert Dudley cast aside most brutally upon Elizabeth’s ascension to the throne.
I have always had high admiration for Elizabeth I, yet after reading this, I have to question my previous opinion. I’m not a fan of Henry VIII, he might have been a tremendous King but he was a fairly despicable man. Out of his six wives, there were two I really didn’t like, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. I didn’t approve of the way Henry disposed of them, but the manipulations of these two women had me questioning their royal worth. In The Virgin’s Lover, Elizabeth comes across as the very worst of both of her parents. Ruled by her desires (Henry) and prone to hysteria (Anne), manipulative (Anne) and hot tempered (Henry), disloyal (Henry and Anne) and arrogant to the point of blindness (Henry). She’s also what you get when a monarch is so focussed on his male heir that he fails to prepare the much healthier and robust women for the role his son is unlikely to ever fill. Elizabeth, and Mary before her, ascended to the throne with no preparation. The nature of their upbringing had also ensured that they had never experienced court life with any consistency. So they both made a hash of it. And while Elizabeth reigned supreme in the end, she got through those early years by luck and chance and the advice of men who had been there before, and not on her own merits at all. This also made her vulnerable and open to manipulation; enter Robert Dudley, childhood friend and A-one womaniser. The Dudley family was disgraced in the whole Jane Grey saga, father and brother executed as traitors, so when Elizabeth took the throne, Robert was pretty much at the bottom of the barrel in terms of social status, so he worked on his shared history with Elizabeth to butter her up and worm his way into her favour. It worked and he quickly rose as her favourite, much to the disgust of many and the concern of even more.
I don’t like Robert Dudley. Not even a little bit. He was married quite young, a love match he defied his parents over, to a woman slightly older than him, Amy Robstart. From the moment Elizabeth ascended to the throne, Robert cast Amy aside, steadily ignoring her until it got to the point that he had openly abandoned her and publicly shamed her. At first, I found Amy naïve and irritating, but I very quickly realised her worth and my heart just burst with sorrow for all this poor woman had to endure. She was not nearly as stupid as Robert, and indeed others around her, supposed her to be. Robert provided her with no home, merely moving her from one house to another with a purse of coins, rarely visiting her and hardly ever writing to her. As news of his affair with Elizabeth spread, Amy’s shame grew deeper and such was society back then that friends began to shun her, close their doors to her and refuse to be seen with her for fear of reprisals if Robert ended up marrying the Queen and becoming King consort. As Robert increasingly pressured her and threatened her with divorce – granted by none other than his lover, Elizabeth – Amy’s health, both mental and physical, declined steadily. It got to the point that a doctor refused to see her when she was ill for fear of reprisals and being blamed for her death if treatment went wrong. I was so incensed by this stage, at the fickle nature of society back then and the downright cowardice of men, and I say men because the women were all for helping Amy and were appalled at her treatment but they were of course unable to do much because the men at the head of their households forbade it. Robert Dudley could not have asked for a better wife, but instead of setting her up in the manner she deserved and treating her with the respect she was entitled to as a human being, he harangued her to death with the Queen’s encouragement. This line broke my heart, poor Amy, the low she had reached:
“I keep my eyes shut in the morning in the hope that I have died in the night, but every morning I see daylight and know that it is another day I have to get through.” – Amy Dudley in conversation to a trusted priest.
She died of a broken neck, but by whose hand remains a mystery to this day. It is almost certain she had breast cancer but had refused to seek treatment as she attributed the pain in her breast to heartache, rather than a medical condition, and bore the pain as evidence of her shame. Historical records show it was suspected she had a ‘canker in her breast’.
Robert was entirely self-absorbed in his quest to be a ‘Dudley on the throne’, so much so, that despite loving him obsessively, Elizabeth threw him over in the end. When faced with a choice between her throne or her beloved, she chose the throne. I was not sorry for Dudley and history shows he recovered from the rejection enough to later marry Elizabeth’s lookalike cousin, although the shame of what had happened with Amy apparently tainted him for the rest of his life. GOOD!! He deserved it! I am unconvinced he truly loved Elizabeth. He certainly wouldn’t have cast his wife aside and risked all for Elizabeth is she had been a commoner. The throne was what seduced Robert Dudley, even Elizabeth came to see that. The author note at the end says Elizabeth loved Dudley for her entire life and died with a letter he wrote beside her. That she didn’t marry speaks volumes because she probably had her pick of men. I really don’t feel he was worth such devotion, not even a little bit. He was never truthful, not even to himself.
The Virgin’s Lover is a deeply passionate novel, not just in the romantic sense, but in the way people thirst for something, whether it is love, ambition, peace, or spirituality. This was such a volatile time to live in England, where money was worth nothing, worshipping was dangerous and the walls had ears. For Lady Amy Dudley, there was no hope at all, no helping hand, and no settled life. Out of the trio, I don’t think any of them were left unscathed, but at least Elizabeth and Robert escaped the scandal with their lives. The Virgin’s Lover is top drawer historical fiction, completely absorbing and with richly created characters based on the lives and historical records of notable historical figures. It is a novel though, and must be regarded as such, but as usual, Philippa Gregory has done a remarkable job of recreating events from the past in an accessible and engaging format. I highly recommend this novel with enthusiasm.
About the Author:
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Photo credit Santi U
Philippa Gregory is the author of many bestselling novels, including The Other Boleyn Girl, and is a recognised authority on women’s history. Her Cousins’ War novels, reaching their dramatic conclusion with The King’s Curse, were the basis for the highly successful BBC series, The White Queen. Philippa’s other great interest is the charity that she founded over twenty years ago: Gardens for the Gambia. She has raised funds and paid for over 200 wells in the primary schools of this poor African country. Philippa graduated from the University of Sussex and holds a PhD and Alumna of the Year 2009 at Edinburgh University. In 2016, she received the Harrogate Festival Award for Outstanding Contribution to Historical Fiction. Philippa lives with her family on a small farm in Yorkshire and welcomes visitors to her website, www.PhilippaGregory.com
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The Virgin’s Lover was published by Harper Collins in 2005. Available as paperback and eBook.
May 18, 2018
Bingo! The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland
It’s bingo Saturday once again – that rolled around fast! The square I’ve filled for this entry is:
A book everyone is talking about
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The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart has been steadily popping up in my book circles for several weeks now – everyone seems to have read it, is currently reading it or wants to read it, but either way, they’re all talking about it! I’ve been talking about it myself for quite awhile and now that I’ve read it I’ll keep on talking about it because it is a stunning novel, truly beautiful, and one that I recommend widely to all.
Guilt, grief, and the toxic effect of harbouring family secrets play out in this enchanting and heartfelt novel by debut Australian author, Holly Ringland. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a story that orbits around wildflowers.
There’s something about Holly’s writing that really gets under your skin. It’s more in what she leaves unsaid than in any explicit renderings. The narrative sweeps along, visually appealing as well as deeply heartfelt. There were many moments throughout where I breaked from reading for reflection.
This year I’m playing book bingo with Mrs B’s Book Reviews. On the first and third Saturday of each month, we’ll post our latest entry. We’re not telling each other in advance what we’re currently reading or what square we’ll be filling next; any coincidences are exactly that – and just add to the fun!
Follow our card below if you’d like to join in, and please let us know if you do so we can check out what you’re reading.
Now I’m off to check out what square Mrs B has marked off for this round. See you over there!
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May 17, 2018
Thoughts on a Bookish TV Series: The White Princess
A few weeks ago, I was hopelessly addicted to the historical drama, The White Queen. I went on to read The White Princess by Philippa Gregory straight after and while the book didn’t deliver quite in the way I had hoped, I did enjoy it and I did fall in love Henry and Elizabeth, so I took a chance on watching the TV adaptation and this is definitely a case where the adaptation trumps the original book.
In brief, the series synopsis reads as follows:
[image error]In a tale of power, family, love and betrayal, “The White Princess” — adapted from Philippa Gregory’s best-selling novel of the same name — follows up the BBC/Starz miniseries “The White Queen.” It’s told from the perspective of three noblewomen waging an ongoing battle for the English throne at the conclusion of the War of the Roses. Promised in marriage to the newly crowned King Henry VII in hopes that it will unite the Kingdom, Princess Elizabeth (aka Lizzie) instead resents and plots against him. She matches wits and wills with Lady Margaret Beaufort, King Henry VII’s mother, each maneuvering to gain his trust. Meanwhile, Lizzie’s mother, Dowager Queen Elizabeth Woodville, struggles with rumors that her long-lost son Prince Richard is alive — forcing Elizabeth into choosing between her new Tudor husband and the boy who could be her own blood and the rightful York King.
This synopsis truly gives little away in terms of story development, but The White Princess is every bit as good as the series it follows on from, The White Queen, and both are now at the top of my list of favourite historical dramas. Interestingly, The White Princess picks up two days after the point where The White Queen left off. However, four years separate these two series and a whole new set of actors are in The White Princess (bar one – Caroline Goodall plays the same character in both, the Dowager Queen Cecily, a nice dash of continuity). I thought this might have been disconcerting but it in the end, it didn’t bother me a bit. The 2017 cast is terrific and mould themselves to their characters exceptionally well. An old Game of Thrones face plays the King’s mother – Michelle Fairley, who was Caitlin Staark in GOT – and she’s pretty sensational as the devout and scheming Lady Margaret.
[image error]But who do I love the most? Henry and Elizabeth, of course. In the TV series, I got what I was missing from the book. The TV series is as much an examination of their relationship as it is a portrayal of court politics. Both of these characters are far stronger on the screen than they ever were on the page. Within the book, Elizabeth was more Henry’s Queen, yet in the TV series, she becomes THE Queen, with her royal heritage coming to the fore. Henry is more solid within the TV series, his honour showing through and its weight on his decisions more apparent. Elizabeth is shown to have more influence, not only over him, but with the people too, which makes a lot of sense given her royal upbringing. She also stems from a long line of strong women and as she grows into her Queendom, she becomes more formidable, more intent on cleaning up the kingdom and taking care of business. She is forced to make a heartbreaking choice, yet she is not the first monarch in history to have secured the throne by means of murder. In fact, holding the throne without murdering someone seems to be more of a modern inclination! I wanted so much to like Henry throughout the book but the author seemed determined to not let us. With the TV series, this was not the case. Henry still doubted and feared, but he was honourable and devoted, in love with his wife and deferred to her opinion increasingly as the years went by. She brought an army to battle for him and secured the house of Tudor in his name. There is nothing he wouldn’t have done for her, including giving up the throne to secure her safety. Theirs was a splendid love story and a monarchy ruled as a partnership. They may have entered the marriage agreement as enemies but they soon realised they had more in common, and more to gain in partnership, than they had initially thought. These two were the parents of King Henry VIII and the grandparents of Queen Elizabeth I, two long reigning and historically significant rulers. While this TV series is only an interpretation of the true history, I liked the way it played out.
“We are as one.” – Elizabeth to Henry after the removal of the last York heirs.
If you love historical dramas, I urge you to give this one a view. While it follows on from The White Queen, it still does well as a stand alone, and there’s also no real need to read the book beforehand. The costumes were glorious, Elizabeth looking every inch the magnificent Queen and Henry splendid as King. I’m not sure of the authenticity to the era of some of the plunging necklines worn by Elizabeth, but all in all, stunning fabrics and headpieces. I’m not sure if the history allows for a second season, but if it was to eventuate, I’d definitely be watching!
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May 16, 2018
Book Review: The White Princess by Philippa Gregory
About the Book:
The haunting story of the mother of the Tudors, Elizabeth of York, wife to Henry VII. Beautiful eldest daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville – the White Queen – the young princess Elizabeth faces a conflict of loyalties between the red rose and the white. Forced into marriage with Henry VII, she must reconcile her slowly growing love for him with her loyalty to the House of York, and choose between her mother’s rebellion and her husband’s tyranny. Then she has to meet the Pretender, whose claim denies the House of Tudor itself.
My Thoughts:
Having recently watched the television mini-series, The White Queen, I was keen to continue with that story and The White Princess picks up where that left off rather nicely. The story follows the first dozen or so years of the marriage between Elizabeth York and Henry Tudor. Henry is the first Tudor King and thus Elizabeth becomes the ‘mother of Tudor House’. Philippa Gregory is known extensively for her historical novels about the royal families of England, but I first came to her work with a novel on slavery, A Respectable Trade. This was a novel of profound significance and it’s one that has never been culled from my bookshelf in the twenty years since I purchased it. I have a lot respect for Philippa Gregory’s writing and I don’t think anyone could dispute her devotion to research and historical re-imaginings. This novel, like her other royal historicals, follows a familiar pattern whereby Philippa seems to line up the historical facts and then ‘colours in’ the gaps as she feels appropriate for the history that she has imagined. It’s a technique that appeals to me and you always know, that while some of what you are reading occurred, the rest is an interpretation by the author, the distinction of which she identifies in her end notes.
Elizabeth Tudor (nee York) is a woman who demonstrates her strength more through her inaction rather than her actions. She differs greatly from her own mother in this and I felt she was incredibly Queenly and dignified. I don’t particularly hold to Philippa’s interpretation of Elizabeth’s relationship with her uncle, King Richard III. She was simply too fertile to have been his mistress in everything for 16 months and she never carried nor birthed a child until she married King Henry. Which brings me to another point that I didn’t like. I don’t think there was any need for Henry to have assaulted Elizabeth prior to their marriage in the manner that he did. Historical records indicate that the two were wed in January and their first child was born in September. I kind of feel as though Philippa wanted to set Henry up as a man the reader should not like, right from the get go. I don’t believe that he would have acted in this way in real life, not to a high born lady who was destined to be his wife. Likewise, later in the novel, his open courting of the pretender’s wife in front of his own was extremely out of character. I felt as though each time we grew to like Henry, Philippa would snatch that away and give us some reason not to. And I resented that because I actually really wanted to like Henry. I felt such compassion for him, coming to the throne unloved by his people and guided by the wrong hands. Elizabeth was in a position to coach him and yet she held back from this at first, grieving her uncle/lover and holding herself and her heart at arms length from Henry. Each time she offered advice on being a King, he lapped it up. She could have moulded him so much more thoroughly.
I did think this novel was going to be about how Elizabeth rose Henry up to the throne, but it was instead consumed with the mystery of the great pretenders, boys putting themselves forward as Elizabeth’s long lost, and presumed dead, younger brother Richard, true heir to the throne. This mystery peaked when a rebellion was raised in Richard’s name, funded by his aunt and his mother. Yet the real ‘pretender’ proved so slippery that I couldn’t help thinking, prior to his capture, that he was nothing more than a myth, created to drive Henry mad. Henry nearly destroyed himself, and his marriage, chasing after this legend for years, and when he finally did capture him, the end result did not pan out for Henry as expected, weighing on him heavily. The conspiracies, the treachery, the secrets and lies – even Elizabeth’s own mother betrayed the King and Queen for the pretender. What a volatile and dangerous time to have lived. I had expected a novel of peace, but this was brutal and unsettled, from beginning through to the end.
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Elizabeth had a hard time as Queen. Despised and mistrusted for her York heritage, she did everything that was ever asked of her, including having to reject her long lost brother, bearing witness to her own mother’s treasonous betrayal of the house of Tudor, remaining powerless to her cousin Edward’s imprisonment, suffering insult after insult; and yet, no sacrifice seemed enough for her husband and her mother in law. She was as Queenly as a Queen could be, and even when she at last came to love Henry, he pushed her away, over and over, his own lack of confidence and low self worth extending to his marriage like a poisonous river he couldn’t help but let flow over him. History says the two of them had a good marriage, and that Henry loved Elizabeth so much he never remarried after her death. Perhaps these good years came after the turmoil that closed this novel. I would have liked to have seen more of this between them, but again, it seems as if Philippa was determined we see Henry’s worst side and very little of his best. Elizabeth was a beautiful mother and one thing I particularly liked was her devotion to her cousin Maggie. That was a truly lovely relationship. Another aspect of this story I enjoyed was Elizabeth’s foretelling of a red haired Tudor Queen who would reign in a blaze of glory in her own right. Now, while she was initially envisaging this for her own infant daughter Elizabeth with her reddish gold hair, it’s later mentioned again beyond the passing of that poor little infant’s life, a prophecy that we all know was really Philippa’s not so subtle nod to the future Elizabeth I – the first Elizabeth Tudor through to the last — all of the threads of history weaving together into a beautiful tapestry of history in motion.
I did enjoy this novel, for all of my quibbling above. It was incredibly absorbing and quite easy to follow, despite the amount of politicking and sabotage that was taking place. I did feel at times as though the story telling was a little too descriptive rather than experiential, with Elizabeth and Henry coming off as rather wooden than flesh and blood. But it was still a good book and it will not be my last Philippa Gregory, not by a long shot.
About the Author:
Philippa Gregory is the author of many bestselling novels, including The Other Boleyn Girl, and is a recognised authority on women’s history. Her Cousins’ War novels, reaching their dramatic conclusion with The King’s Curse, were the basis for the highly successful BBC series, The White Queen. Philippa’s other great interest is the charity that she founded over twenty years ago: Gardens for the Gambia. She has raised funds and paid for over 200 wells in the primary schools of this poor African country. Philippa graduated from the University of Sussex and holds a PhD and Alumna of the Year 2009 at Edinburgh University. In 2016, she received the Harrogate Festival Award for Outstanding Contribution to Historical Fiction. Philippa lives with her family on a small farm in Yorkshire and welcomes visitors to her website, www.PhilippaGregory.com
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Photo credit Santi U
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The White Princess was published in 2013 by Simon and Schuster Australia.
May 15, 2018
Behind the Pen with Kirsty Manning
I’m delighted to welcome Kirsty Manning to Behind the Pen today. Kirsty is the author of a recent favourite of mine, The Jade Lily. Kirsty was kind enough to divulge a few of her favourites to me. Over to you Kirsty…
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What is your favourite…and why…
Character from one of your books?
I love all my women, but I think I love Nina from The Jade Lily the best. I am so with Alexandra when she says: ‘There was such ferocity to Nina’s love and Alexandra missed her constant stream of insults and tight hugs.’
Scene from one of your books?
Final scene in The Jade Lily (shhh can’t tell!)
(I know that one and yes! I can see why)
Movie of all time?
Hidden Figures. Took my kids to see it to show them what is possible if you dare to work hard enough.
Book that you always keep a copy of and recommend to others?
Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan.
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.
Fashion accessory that despite having plenty of, you still keep collecting?
I can’t go past a pretty earring, or a long necklace.
Drink that you enjoy everyday?
Coffee.
Treat you indulge in?
Shamefully, too many to list. But in order: books, chocolate, wine and a good massage. I am also partial to a martini.
Place to be?
The beach with my family.
Person you admire?
So many. But at the moment, Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, for showing the rest of the world what true leadership and reform looks like, opening the German borders to refugees and taking the right stance.
It’s also hard to go past Emma Gonzalez, the student that is leading the charge against guns in America. Brave, bright, passionate and articulate.
And Beyonce. Because she is everything…
Season of the year?
Summer (refer to note above about the beach!) I love being hot.
The Jade Lily
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In 2016, fleeing London with a broken heart, Alexandra returns to Australia to be with her grandparents, Romy and Wilhelm, when her grandfather is dying. With only weeks left together, her grandparents begin to reveal the family mysteries they have kept secret for more than half a century. In 1939, two young girls meet in Shanghai, the ‘Paris of the East’: beautiful local Li and Viennese refugee Romy form a fierce friendship. But the deepening shadows of World War Two fall over the women as Li and Romy slip between the city’s glamorous French Concession and the desperate Shanghai Ghetto. Eventually, they are forced separate ways as Romy doubts Li’s loyalties. After Wilhelm dies, Alexandra flies to Shanghai, determined to trace her grandparents’ past. As she peels back the layers of their hidden lives, she begins to question everything she knows about her family – and herself. A gorgeously told tale of female friendship, the price of love, and the power of hardship and courage to shape us all.
