strange and random happenstance

The Poison Thread by Laura Purcell
Published by: Penguin Books
Publication Date: June 18th, 2019
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
Rating: ★★★
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Dorothea Truelove is a wealthy young woman. And wealthy young women need something to occupy themselves. Yes, she could marry, but her father would never approve of the policeman who has stolen her heart so she has turned to charitable works. And while visiting female prison inmates might be considered a normal outlet for someone of her class, her reasoning is more unnatural. She has taken up an interest in phrenology and wants to study the head of a murderer. Which is how she comes across Ruth Butterham at Oakgate Prison. The young seamstress doesn't deny she's a murderer, she just claims that her method of delivery is unintentional and otherworldly. She believes the items she sews are imbued with her emotions and that those emotions go on to kill those who wear her wares. She begs Dorothea to listen so that she will see she isn't insane. Her tale is a dark one. Her mother was from affluence and ran away with her father, a painter. But as time wore on they fell farther and farther down the social ladder. Ruth helped her mother with sewing she took in and it turned out she had an aptitude for it. After her father died they could no longer go on as they were and Ruth was indentured to a Mrs. Metyard. Ruth might have been better off on the streets with her mother the way she is treated by Mrs. Metyard and her daughter. The punishments were brutal and deadly. But Ruth had noticed something. Anyone whose clothes she had worked on had an ill will befall them. Little accidents and injuries. So she started to put her grievances into her labors and then there was a death. One of her classmates from her old life. They believe it was the dye from the fabric, a beautiful arsenic green. But Ruth knows better. Because this wasn't the only death. Dorothea doesn't believe Ruth's story. Besides being beyond the pale, she doesn't have the right shape of skull to be a killer. But then Ruth is forced to do some mending for the prison and illness breaks out. Could she really be telling the truth? Or is this just a poor misguided young girl whose life was stolen by circumstance?

The Poison Thread threads the needle (see what I did there) between the plausible and the supernatural, which is what Laura Purcell specializes in. Having only read The Silent Companions when I picked up this book I was slightly bemused and baffled that it handled the ending in such a similar manner. Through the whole book Purcell never spells it out if there is actually supernatural elements at play until the last few pages where the supernatural is confirmed and the book just ends. So ended The Silent Companions so ended The Poison Thread. I was worried that all her books would end in this kind of cliched manner. It almost feels like a cop out. Because admitting the existence of the supernatural and then not leaving room to explain how after all the why leading up to it makes the book somehow less than. But thankfully she has seemed to grow out of this from my further reading. And the truth is, this abrupt ending doesn't take away from this book the way it did in The Silent Companions. It just is. Or perhaps I was just prepared if it happened again... What set this book apart from other Victorian female prison fare, and yes, there are others, I'm looking at you Affinity, is the craft of Ruth Butterham. Ruth believes she has the supernatural ability to kill with her sewing. That her emotions transfer to the clothes she is working on. I totally buy this. Why you might ask? Well, as a maker, from artwork to theatre productions to clothing, I look at something I've made and I'm travelling into my past. My old work effects me when I see it, emotions, thoughts, what was happening in my life comes back to me, and I have wondered, what if that was visible to others? What if what I put in actually remains and then that would effect someone else? Could they feel the late night struggle on a seam? Could the joy I felt at burning something be tangible to another? That what if is what drives Ruth's belief. And maybe that is why I was fine with the ending, because I bought into the premise. I had wondered about my own work so it would obviously be possible for another artist to feel the same. It's logical, not necessarily supernatural.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Affinity, Arsenic, Artwork, Dorothea Truelove, Going Gothic, Laura Purcell, Maker, Mrs. Metyard, Murder, Phrenology, Prison, Ruth Butterham, Sewing, Supernatural, The Poison Thread, The Silent Companions, Victorian

Madame Bovary isn't exactly a show to watch for some light fare unless you like watching someone die from eating arsenic. Emma Bovary literally has a "breakdown" in each of the four episodes. And by breakdown, I mean she throws a shit fit and takes to her bed because she didn't get what she wanted and "collapsed." Such causes for shit fits range from abandonment by lovers to not liking the shitty town her husband has stuck her in because he lacks ambition to financial ruin. Literally the only one worthy of a breakdown was the financial ruin she brought on herself. Because losing it over a young admirer whom you gave a rug to, seriously!?! You have got to admit that in older literature it's sometimes hilarious what causes women to suffer. Especially when they blame her second breakdown on plums. Yes. A doctor and a pharmacist blame her "illness" on plums! The absurdity of plums aside, this is worth watching for two reasons, the first is Tom Conti. I believe I first some him in an adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's The Inheritance, where I first saw his patented air of benign absentmindedness. He is, in my mind, Mr Bennet in the flesh. Just sitting there in a room with a smile plastered on his face, exuding goodwill, and being baffled at the tumult around him. That is what he brings to Madame Bovary as her husband Charles. This wonderful vulnerable bafflement that makes you just want to protect him from his scheming wife. Out Emma! Let Charles just stick to what he does best and stop trying to make something of him. Ugh, if I had a husband as good as him I wouldn't treat him like filth. But, then again, by now you should have guessed I hated Emma. Though she did have a redeeming aspect, AKA, the second reason to watch this show, and that is that Emma was played by the always wonderful Francesca Annis! But the real reason is that this miniseries "reunites" her with Dennis Lill. Dennis Lill played Bertie, the Prince of Wales, in Francesca's career defining turn as Lillie Langtry in the miniseries Lillie. And while technically this was made first, I saw Lillie first, so I view this as them reuniting to have another affair. There should be some weird French or German word when you're someone's lover in different incarnations shouldn't there? Well, it sure tickled me to see them up to their adulterous ways once again. And it really tickled me when he dumped her ass. Oh, the blithe acting in that scene was perfection.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Affair, Arsenic, Bertie, Dennis Lill, Emma Bovary, Fifty Years a Masterpiece, Francesca Annis, Lillie, Lillie Langtry, Louisa May Alcott, Madame Bovary, Mr. Bennet, Plums, Suicide, The Inheritance, Tom Conti

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Published by: Penguin
Publication Date: 1962
Format: Paperback, 160 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
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"Merricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea?
Oh no, said Merricat, you'll poison me.
Merricat, said Connie, would you like to go to sleep?
Down in the boneyard ten feet deep!"

Mary Katherine Blackwood, called Merricat, and her sister Constance have lived their life for the past six years shut away from the world caring for their Uncle Julian. Their only other companion is Merricat's cat Jonas. Merricat is the only one ever to leave the house, on Tuesdays and Fridays, which are bad days. As she walks to the store she can feel the eyes watching her. A good trip into town is one with minimal contact with the outside world, a bad trip is one that ends in taunting. The three remaining Blackwoods have been beyond the bounds of society behind the fence that Constance and Merricat's father erected before that fateful and fatal dinner. Constance was arrested six years ago because she was the only one who didn't use the sugar laced with the cyanide. Constance was the only one at the table to survive that dinner without any aftereffects... Uncle Julian survived, but he was never able to walk again and his mind wanders, though that night never leaves him. He is dedicating what remains of his life to recounting that final day. The day when he lost four of his family members, one of them his wife.

The aftermath of Constance's acquittal, despite everyone believing in her guilt, was that she shut out the world. Connie never ventures past her garden anymore. She spends her time cooking and looking after her two charges, keeping the world shut out. Merricat is just as paranoid of others as Constance, but she has buried treasure and symbolic items scattered throughout their land in a type of rustic magic to ward off everyone. One day she finds that her wards have failed and at that moment there is a knock on the door. Their cousin Charles has arrived. His branch of the Blackwoods severed all connections at the time of the trial, not even willing to take Merricat in, that night she was sent to bed without dinner, and though it saved her life it meant she was banished to an orphanage for a time. Charles does not have the best of intentions. He is avaricious, only seeing the money in everything. And in his alliance with Connie, Julian and Merricat are just obstacles to be dealt with, nothing more. But Merricat won't go down without a fight, because this kitty has claws. She has a feeling that it will be her left in the house with Constance, not Charles. Charles should remember, bad things have been known to happen to members of the Blackwood family. Especially those who send Merricat to bed without her supper.

This book is the most terrifying and accurate story of paranoia I think I have ever read. There's a part of me that is very antisocial and would rather be left to my books. I have easily gone a week without leaving the house and I can see some things in Merricat that I can relate to in her OCD behaviors. During times of stress I notice that certain ticks I thought I had gotten over return. Washing hands a certain number of times, needing to touch objects in a certain order, things needing to be placed just so. But I remind myself that despite a genetic propensity for agoraphobia, my paternal great-grandmother never left her room for forty years, that at least I do leave the house. I do go out into the world. I don't have a reason to be paranoid. I am not a Blackwood. The difference is their isolation isn't without just cause. Yes, it's odd and haunting the way they lock themselves away, but they do so for a reason. The villagers, more than the crime, made them what they are, or at least exacerbated the situation enough to cause them to turn inward. Coming to the house, taunting, cat calling, daring each other to go to the home where everyone died. Asking Connie to come out so they can see what a mass murderer looks like. "Merricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea?" Childish glee in their hatred of the hoity-toity and reclusive sisters is evident in the villagers.

The mob mentality of people who appear normal is a far scarier thing than two agoraphobic girls peering through slits in the windows at a life they will never have nor want. The bile that is brewing in the town has far greater scope then the murders that happened to the Blackwood family. It's the age old fear, fear of the unknown. The girls are distinctly "other" and not so much because of the family legacy or their aristocratic airs but because of their problems. If the girls went out into the world more, interacted with the town, much like Charles does, the constant reminder of the crime would diminish over time. It wouldn't be a talking point anymore, just something that happened in the past. Instead, by locking themselves away they are, in the mind of the villagers, antagonizing them and making themselves a target. In fact the more I think about it the more I realize that not only is this a book about prejudice and paranoia but it's about the stigma of mental illness. These girls need help, but instead they are ostracized. I am lucky enough to have friends around me who support me during my dark days and when I'm having problems. I don't deny that I have issues with depression. But on a larger stage it's still verboten to talk about it. This book shows in the most graphic way that compassion not fear should be how mental illness is treated.

Because there is no doubt that Merricat and Constance are mentally ill. Merricat is 18 in this book, yet her behavior is more like that of a 12 year old, her emotional development and well being stunted when the poisoning happened. Constance wonders if she was right to shut Merricat away from the world, but it seems to me a mutual decision. Merricat, despite being more willing to leave the house, is really suffering more, and very much a sociopath. She has far more rituals and dark thoughts than Constance ever had. There is the rigid schedule to maintain, there are the coins buried in the river bank, the doll under the rock, the blue marbles, and the book that was nailed to the tree. Even when Merricat isn't checking on them her thoughts dwell on the powers these items give her, the layer of protection she has. Like a person who has to turn the light on and off so many times before leaving, Merricat's life is built around these rituals that have evolved around her to protect the two sisters, who, despite everything, deeply love each other. These are really ingenious coping mechanisms. Because it keeps them busy, keeps them active. For Constance cooking and cleaning, for Merricat there's her magic. While others might say these rituals are symptoms of their disease, I'm more forgiving, I see them as ways they can survive. Whatever you need to do to get by right? And they aren't hurting anyone.

Yet, even with the best coping mechanisms there is always that hope, that light at the end of the tunnel that someone will come and save you. That a hero will emerge from the darkness and make everything OK. Who hasn't dreamt of a knight in shining armor? When you're lost in the deepest recesses of your mind sometimes the idea that you can be rescued by someone else is all that gets you through. Which is why it makes sense that Constance responded to Charles. She's trying to find a hero, sadly Charles isn't it. He's a morally corrupt human being willing to pit two mentally ill sisters against each other in order for monetary gain. I mean, seriously, this family has issues. Lots of them. Yet he's the socially acceptable one, which again highlights how we need to remove the stigma of mental illness. I was seriously hoping that Charles might go the way of the previous Blackwoods. Though much more painfully. Though the war that Merricat wages on him is something not to be missed. Because Merricat knows the truth, in the end you have to rescue yourself. She's the hero of this tale, not some loser cousin looking for a handout. She's a flawed heroine, but the best ones are.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agoraphobia, Arsenic, Blackwood, Cats, Going Gothic, Greed, Knights, Mental Illness, Merricat, Mob Mentality, Money, Murder, Paranoia, Poison, Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Nightmares! The Sleepwater Tonic by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller
Published by: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 8th, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Nightmares! The Sleepwalker Tonic is the sequel to the hilariously scary New York Times bestselling novel Nightmares! by multitalented actor Jason Segel and bestselling author Kirsten Miller. You thought the nightmares were over? You better keep the lights on!

Charlie Laird has a dream life.

1) He has a weirdo stepmom who runs an herbarium.
2) He lives in a purple mansion with a portal to the Netherworld.
3) Since they escaped from the Netherworld, he and his best friends have been sleeping like babies.

But Charlie can’t shake the feeling that something strange is afoot. Charlotte’s herbarium used to be one of the busiest stores in Cypress Creek. Now her loyal following is heading to Orville Falls for their herbal potions.

Weirder, though, Orville Falls is suddenly filled with . . . zombies? At least, they sure look like the walking dead. Rumor has it that no one’s sleeping in Orville Falls. And Charlie knows what that means.

Things are getting freaky again."

Oh, Jason Segel, how I love you.

A is for Arsenic by Kathryn Harkup
Published by: Bloomsbury USA
Publication Date: September 8th, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"People are fascinated by murder. The popularity of murder mystery books, TV series, and even board games shows that there is an appetite for death, and the more unusual or macabre the method, the better. With gunshots or stabbings the cause of death is obvious, but poisons are inherently more mysterious. How are some compounds so deadly in such tiny amounts?

Agatha Christie used poison to kill her characters more often than any other crime fiction writer. The poison was a central part of the novel, and her choice of deadly substances was far from random; the chemical and physiological characteristics of each poison provide vital clues to the discovery of the murderer. Christie demonstrated her extensive chemical knowledge (much of it gleaned by working in a pharmacy during both world wars) in many of her novels, but this is rarely appreciated by the reader.

Written by former research chemist Kathryn Harkup, each chapter takes a different novel and investigates the poison used by the murderer. Fact- and fun-packed, A is for Arsenic looks at why certain chemicals kill, how they interact with the body, and the feasibility of obtaining, administering, and detecting these poisons, both when Christie was writing and today."

For those who think all Agatha Christie does is poison...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A is for Arsenic, Agatha Christie, Arsenic, Jason Segel, Kathryn Harkup, Kirsten Miller, Nightmares, Poison, Tuesday Tomorrow