Fiction audio book review: The Summer Before the War

Title: The Summer Before the War
 Author: Helen Simonson; read by Fiona Hardingham
Publisher: Random House Audio, 2016 (original hardback by Random House, 2016, 496 pages).
Source: Library digital services

Publisher's Blurb:
East Sussex, 1914. It is the end of England’s brief Edwardian summer, and everyone agrees that the weather has never been so beautiful. Hugh Grange, down from his medical studies, is visiting his Aunt Agatha, who lives with her husband in the small, idyllic coastal town of Rye. Agatha’s husband works in the Foreign Office, and she is certain he will ensure that the recent saber rattling over the Balkans won’t come to anything. And Agatha has more immediate concerns; she has just risked her carefully built reputation by pushing for the appointment of a woman to replace the Latin master.

When Beatrice Nash arrives with one trunk and several large crates of books, it is clear she is significantly more freethinking—and attractive—than anyone believes a Latin teacher should be. For her part, mourning the death of her beloved father, who has left her penniless, Beatrice simply wants to be left alone to pursue her teaching and writing.

But just as Beatrice comes alive to the beauty of the Sussex landscape and the colorful characters who populate Rye, the perfect summer is about to end. For despite Agatha’s reassurances, the unimaginable is coming. Soon the limits of progress, and the old ways, will be tested as this small Sussex town and its inhabitants go to war.

My Review:
I enjoyed this story heartily. I admit that I thought for some reason that it was a humorous book, and indeed some parts, especially early on, do seem to be poking gentle fun at all the Downton Abbey fans. But ultimately, it's a well-written bit of historical fiction, with the story coming first and the romance growing organically if somewhat predictably from events (I have to say right here that I knew by the end of the first chapter who was going to marry whom. It was the rest of the story that was interesting).

There are a number of good subtexts in the book, regarding feminism (fairly obvious) as well as issues of homosexuality, racism, and serious class divides. Helen Simonson doesn't seem to be afraid to tackle any of those, while writing a good story at the same time. Beatrice, for example, wouldn't have the problems she does if her father hadn't written a rather Victorian will, which gave his daughter (his only child) the inheritance, but didn't give her control of it--her money is controlled by a trust until she marries, and there's damn-all she can do about it. I felt her frustration, maybe even more than she did--I really wanted her to break the will and get her hands on the money. :)

Other issues, especially the class issue, are even grimmer. The children to whom Beatrice is teaching Latin aren't actually expected to go anywhere with their educations, and various people make that clear to any child who gets "above himself." The effects of that are, in one instance, far-reaching and devastating. In the end, the book I began as a light-hearted romp, proved to be solid and a bit sobering. I give the author full credit for a well-crafted piece of historical fiction.

The narration is well-done, and had no technical glitches or anything else to distract from the story.

My Recommendation:
Despite what I said, I'll definitely recommend this for fans of Downton Abbey, and anyone else with an interest in the WWI era and the social complexities of that period. It's also not bad as a romance, not in the least of the steamy sort, just a story of lives that converge, and a bit of a coming-of-age novel, albeit the characters who are coming of age are already what we would think of as adults. They just have some growing up to do.


FTC Disclosure: I checked The Summer Before the War out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." 

Middle Grade Audio Review: The War that Saved My Life

Title: The War That Saved My Life
Author: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley; narrated by Jayne Entwistle
Publisher: Dial Books, 2015 (316 pages). Audio book by Listening Library, 2015
Source: Library (digital download)

Publisher's Summary:
Nine-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him.

So begins a new adventure of Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan—and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to hold them together through wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother?

My Review:
I found this a gripping story, complete with the sort of ill-treatment of children that makes me want to go strangle someone. Ada & Jamie's mother is almost unbelievably cruel; her behavior is made convincing only by the author  showing us that she is not alone in her strange ideas about physical differences as marks of the devil, signs of sin, or just plain curses. I'm not sure that the mother needed to be quite so over-the-top, but it certainly leaves the reader with less ambivalence about who you want to have continue as the children's guardian! The war in question is, of course, WWII, setting the book well before modern education reached the working classes.

With Ada as the narrator of her own story, we get insights into how foreign a world a small country town is to a pair of inner-city kids. Ada has it worst, because until she runs off with Jamie, she has never been outside her apartment. So she doesn't know many things that he does, and neither of them has any experience of things as commonplace as daily baths and tablecloths. She has many an internal struggle when she has to ask what things are or what words mean--Ada doesn't like being in the dark.

I think the real thing that saves her life and helps her to learn to be a real human being, though, is the pony. Riding Susan Smith's pony allows Ada, for the first time in her life, to move about without pain. And that opens the world to her, however cautious she may be about accepting that world. In the beginning, Ada sees everyone as a potential enemy or threat; as she herself becomes more comfortable and confident that she will not be abused by Susan, she also begins to see her new neighbors as humans--as they see her.

Jayne Entwistle is an excellent narrator (she does the Flavia du Luce novels of Alan Bradley, which I adore), and brings the characters to life, voicing each clearly and distinctly.

Recommendation:
Suitable for middle grade readers, probably 3rd grade and up (from age 8 or 9). The writing is accessible, though there will be things that are strange, especially to American children. The lessons the book teaches about accepting difference--driven home (perhaps unnecessarily) by Jamie's struggles with a teacher who sees his left-handedness as a curse and tries to beat it out of him--are valuable to all children. The other lesson in this book is that of persistence and endurance, because Ada manages to escape only because she is extremely strong-willed and determined from the start.

Full Disclosure: I checked The War That Saved My Life out of my library, and received nothign from the author or publisher in exchange for this review. The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." 

Historical Fiction: The Care and Management of Lies

 

Title: The Care and Management of Lies

Author:  Jacqueline Winspear

Publisher: Harper Collins, 2014. 319 pages.

Summary:

This book is subtitled "A novel of the Great War," and Ms. Winspear has made a study of WWI in England. In this novel she tells the story of one family, and how the war affected them. Kezia Marchant and Dorrit Brissenden have been friends since their schoolgirl days, and as the novel opens, Kezia is about to marry Dorrit's brother Tom. Much is changing between the two young women, who have chosen different paths, and their struggle is represented by Dorrit--Dorothy--changing her name to a different diminutive, Thea. That change represents her dive into the world of women's suffrage and, while Kezia shifts from parson's daughter and self-supporting teacher to farmer's wife. When war breaks out only months after the marriage, everything shifts again, and the heart of the story is how they all cope.

Review:

Ms. Winspear couldn't write a bad book, but this is a bit unexpected for fans of her Maisie Dobbs mysteries. It took me a bit to engage with the characters, and to find the rhythm and direction of the story. Once the war begins, and (this is no spoiler, really--it's the inevitable plot development) Tom goes to fight, the book began to fall into place for me. The "lies" of the title are the letters each writes to the other, making light of their struggles and creating a comforting fiction for the other. In particular, Kezia keeps up Tom's spirits by describing the meals she is cooking for him--completely imaginary meals, as shortages leave her with little food. What Winspear does with those "lies" is imaginative and powerful.

Ms. Winspear depicts the war from both sides--the trenches and the "home front"--very well, and this may be the strongest aspect of the book. The story is about the three-way relationship between the two girls and the man they both love, but I admit those relationships felt a bit thin to me. I didn't quite believe in them, but I completely believed the world and the lives Winspear painted. That's almost enough.

Recommendation:

Though I felt that something was a bit off in the book, and I was discontented with the ending (not necessarily because it was bad, but because it wasn't the one I wanted), The Care and Management of Lies is a moving look at the Great War, and well worth the reading. Just don't look for Maisie Dobbs here. This is a different kind of book, meant for those who like more serious fiction and for those who (like me) are fascinated by that period of history.

Full Disclosure: I checked The Care and Management of Lies out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher in exchange for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Mystery Monday: Unnatural Causes, by P.D. James

Title: Unnatural Causes
Author: P.D. James; Narrated by Penelope Dellaporta
Publisher: G.K.Hall & Co., 1967 (original). Audio: Books on Tape, 2008
Source: Library (Overdrive)

Summary:
In this 3rd book about Scotland Yard's Adam Dalgliesh, the DI has come to spend a quiet holiday with his Aunt Jane. But no sooner has he arrived than the neighbors show up to complain that one of their number, mystery writer Maurice Seton, has disappeared. And then the local police show up to say he's been found. . . dead and mutilated. Dalgliesh has no official standing on this case, but he can't keep out of it, and naturally finds his way to the solution before the local police, but not before there is another death.

Review:
The 1967 publication date explains a great deal about this book, which did feel dated in some ways. Jame's style is always a bit formal and distant (rather like Dalgliesh, actually), so as I was listening I wasn't sure about the time period, but felt that the story had a tone that was out of step with modern novels. It did seem to be set in another era, and several things make a great deal more sense in that context!

Not surprisingly (James is one of the masters of the genre), the plot is complex, but not byzantine, and hangs together beautifully, with all the clues present in retrospect, though I didn't see it coming. There was one annoying point when Dalgliesh tells the local police the key to everything, and sends them off to find it, but we (the readers) are not told what it is. That always strikes me as a bit unfair, and frankly even if I had been told what the thing was I wouldn't have figured out who did it, so she might as well have played straight with us.

Ms. Dellaporta's narration is excellent, and adds to the enjoyment of the story.

Summary:
As long as you don't have any issues with older mysteries with a more restrained style, this is an excellent yarn. I have tended to read this series in random order as the books cross my path, but I suspect a perusal in order would reward the reader, who could not only see the characters develop, but watch Britain and the Yard transform from the 60s to the early 2000s (without aging the characters any significant amount). If you are a fan of the classic mystery, have at it!

Full Disclosure: I checked  Unnatural Causes  out of my (digital) library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher in exchange for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Review: The Weirdstone of Brisingamen

by Alan Garner, published 1960.  268 pages.


Alan Garner's exciting--and somewhat dark--tale of a magical threat to the world blends magical and real worlds in a manner reminiscent of Narnia.  However, unlike Lewis's books, where the characters travel distinctly between the worlds, in Garner's novel the worlds interact continually and the boundaries are indistinct. 

Set in Cheshire (England), The Weirdstone of Brisingamen tells of Colin and Susan, brother and sister, who stumble into the magical world that exists under and around the everyday world they know.  Susan wears a curious stone on a bracelet inherited from her mother, and the local corps of witches, wizards and evil beings recognize it as a magical artifact essential to a plan to protect the world from the forces evil (them).  They are as determined to get it as the far weaker forces of good are to protect it, and the children, and their powers are twisted and terrifying.  Garner paints them vividly enough to frighten those prone to nightmares.

Through the early chapters, the children stumble in and out of mysteries and dangers with no understanding of what they have (the stone) or what is at stake.  Gradually, they learn the truth, and the action shifts more and more to the magical world, where they are repeatedly attacked and pursued by the evil beings.  Or rather, the magical beings more and more take over what we thought was the everyday, magicless world.  By the second section of the book, the children have gained a pretty good idea what is at stake, and set out to put things right.  They have courage enough, but still lack understanding and the skills they need to survive the adventure.  At the point when all seems lost, they pick up a couple of dwarfish protectors and magic has firmly taken over Cheshire.

In an  unusual move for juvenile fiction of this nature, Gowther, the older farmer who is the children's guardian, not only comes to a quick understanding of the issues and acceptance of the magic world, but accompanies the children and the dwarves on their wildly exciting escape.  Gowther proves invaluable to the escape and a stalwart fighter in the battles they have along the way.  Garner manages to do something I think is very difficult in this kind of story, which is to allow children to be autonomous agents who face situations with courage, and also to allow them to interact somewhat realistically with adults.  It seems like in most such stories, the adults in the lives of the child heroes are an obstruction at best.  Here, while the adults wish to protect Colin and Susan, they also recognize that they have an important role to play, and allow them to take the necessary risks to play it (I only regret that Bess, the mother-figure, is packed off and not part of the party).  You might say that is the lesson of the book for all us parents who read it: trust the kids but be prepared to fight alongside them when necessary.

Garner does not do anywhere near the world-building that, for example, Tolkien does.  He doesn't need to.  His story takes place in our world--and yet not.  As a result we feel very much as Colin and Susan must--disturbed by a growing sense of danger, and frightened by vague or unimaginable threats and a growing sense that things are not what we have always assumed them to be.  We also learn as they do, in bits and pieces, of the world that exists in and around them, and which they might have gone through their lives never knowing existed (as most of their neighbors do, apart from the ones who are in fact evil witches and warlocks).  I kept expecting them to make that one, definitive "through the wardrobe" move that would take them out of our world until the adventure ended.  The fact that, instead, the other world invades ours, is part of what makes the stakes so high and kept me from putting the book down.

Now, I have to admit that despite leaping fairly quickly into adventures and great dangers, the story did not initially grab me.  Looking back at the opening chapters, I frankly can't see what my problem was (perhaps that it faced too much competition from the half dozen other books I was reading?).  Certainly by the time I reached the midpoint, the book had acquired "don't put me down" status, and I read the last hundred and a quarter pages more or less in one sitting (leaving all the other books to sit around whining that it was their turn).

The writing is smooth, editing is professional (as one would expect), and the book does not read particularly as a "children's book," even while it is clearly accessible to at least the more advanced middle grade readers.  A pair of maps at the beginning help set the scene and make a good reference as our heroes were being chased about the countryside.  Looked at in one way, it could be said that Brisingamen is stereotypical (though I would argue that there are elements that I have seldom seen elsewhere), but it is well to remember that in 1960 there was very little yet written in the fantasy genre, and Alan Garner was one of the writers who developed the genre.  More than 50 years and thousands of fantasies later, the story continues to pull us in and carry us ever-faster to the all-too-sudden ending.  That seems worth 5 stars.



***********************************************************************************
It's not too late to get your copy of Love Middle Grade, Actually.  You have until Feb. 14 to enter to win a Kindle, a $10 gift card, or a copy of one of the 14 books showcased in this great sampler.