Book Review - Tasha Alexander's Tears of Pearl
Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: September 1st, 2009
Format: Paperback, 307 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
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What is one to do after a month of apologizing in Kent to one's family for eloping? Escape as soon as possible. Emily and Colin have taken themselves to the continent and are aboard the Orient Express speeding towards Constantinople for their honeymoon. Though they are able to use their cabin ingeniously, they occasionally have to go to the dining car to partake in sustenance. At one of their meals they meet Sir Richard. A diplomat with a sad past who seems to have overindulged. Before passing out he talks of the daughter he lost to kidnappers years and years ago, Ceyden. When they all disembark in Constantinople it becomes apparent that Sir Richard has lost more than his daughter, as some papers are missing from his compartment. The poor man is discombobulated and Emily and Colin feel sorry for him. Yet it is their honeymoon and Colin is determined it shall not be derailed by speculating on what really happened to Sir Richard so they leave him after a thorough search of the train and go to their lodgings. But Sir Richard feels their kindness should be repaid and invites them the next day to a performance of La Traviata at the palace.
Never has kindness so badly been repaid as an incident after the opera draws Emily and Colin into a plot that will blot out all thoughts of their honeymoon. A member of Abdul Hamit's harem has been murdered and the girl turns out to be none other than Sir Richard's missing daughter Ceyden! How could his daughter have been under his noise this whole time? Sir Richard begs Colin to investigate, knowing of his work for the crown, but it's really Emily's help that is needed, not just as Colin's partner, but as the only one able to go where the men can't, the harem. Soon Emily is embroiled in the politics of the harem, with the current valide sultan, Perestu hindering her investigation, while the former valide sultan, Bezime, holds her secrets close to her chest and offers Emily cryptic clues. While Emily tries to unravel all the secret allegiances, her Western mentality is rebelling at the idea that these women, while having access to the finer things in life, are really slaves. She is even willing to help one of them escape. Not just because Roxelana might be the key to Ceyden's fate, but because she is a Christian living in sin and Emily has a hero complex. As Emily gets closer to the truth Sir Richard's son is eyed by the authorities, but she knows this doesn't feel right, nothing feels right, and nothing may ever feel right again.
Taking a well loved couple from a flirtatious unmarried state to a married one can spell disaster for a series. What if the chemistry shifts and it just doesn't work after their relationship is consummated? Having just rewatched all of Moonlighting recently, it's amazing how quickly that show fell apart once Maddie and David did the deed. And they weren't even headed down the alter! They just headed to the bedroom! In fact for years I'd argue with anyone who would listen that it wasn't the consummation of their relationship but the outcome of the relationship that ruined the show, Maddie becoming pregnant to accommodate Cybil Shepherd's real life pregnancy and then having the baby die on the show! But I now see that it really was the consummation of the relationship and the shift this gave to the show that made it virtually unwatchable. So to all those people over the years talking about the Moonlighting Effect... you were right. Thankfully Tasha is able to keep the dynamic of the leads in this transition. There is no Moonlighting Effect, instead I think there is what I'll call the Peabody Effect. What is the Peabody Effect? Well, I'm of course referring to Elizabeth Peters' beloved Amelia Peabody series and how Amelia and her husband Radcliffe Emerson despite being married off in the first book continue to have a dynamic loving and playful relationship. Here's to Colin and Emily, the new Amelia and Emerson!
What I found really compelling in this installment is that Emily has so taken to her new life she is literally in wedding bliss. She is fully under the influence of the Peabody Effect! Therefore when she thinks that she might be pregnant, an expected outcome of marital relations, she is shook to her core. She has everything she could have ever wanted and the thought that after working so hard to achieve it, to get to work side by side with Colin as an equal, that she might be benched due to pregnancy scares her. It wasn't the pregnancy scare that I connected to, it was that feeling of everything going so right that any change could ruin it. Sometimes life is just perfect and anything, not to mention the enormity of having a child, could destroy it. Life is so rarely perfect, so rarely exactly how we want it, that you have to revel in the moments of perfection. Hoard them up and look back on perfect moments and perfect days. When Emily married Colin she saw her life being perfect from there on out. An adventurer solving crimes with Colin by her side. This vision didn't include a baby. Yes, an heir would be expected. Eventually. But not right at the beginning. Not right at the start of everything clicking into place. Oh, how I wanted to hug Emily and tell her, this is life, expect the unexpected.
Though Emily had very legitimate reasons to fear this change, and not just because it was change, but because pregnancy is dangerous, even in this day and age among my friends I think there was only one who didn't have scary complications or lasting problems. As for Victorian childbirth? Let's put it this way, Queen Victoria and her healthy brood were aberrations for the time period. Death was very commonplace, for the mother, for the baby, or for both. We read historical fiction and think that female confinement is quaint and antiquated, but it was necessary for the safety of all involved. And Emily is constantly reminded of the dangers of childbirth because her dear friend Ivy is in the midst of a precarious pregnancy. Being constantly reminded of the risky situation Ivy is in, that the next time Emily's in England Ivy might be no more makes her realize that she is just as susceptible, no matter how healthy she appears. Add to that the fact of her childhood experiences, loosing twin brothers, having her Aunt Clarabelle come to visit one Christmas and instead of celebrating a new addition to the family there was a joint funeral, and you can see why Emily is scared. And as for those anguished screams that woke her one December night? They now haunt her dreams.
With the plot of this book dealing with pregnancy and the harem, this is very much a book about women and the world they live in. I love that this book is taking real history and showing us aspects we would never have expected and yet they are 100% true. Tears of Pearl gives us a new way to look at history that we didn't necessarily do before. Because the truth is I'm sure almost everyone picking up this book has the same lurid ideas of what a harem is as Emily did from reading popular literature. We've been conditioned to think of the harem as sex slaves through sensational literature to films to television. I can even remember they did a harem episode on Jack of All Trades with Bruce Campbell, so you can imagine what impression that left... But the truth is far more complicated and political. Some of the women might never even meet Abdul Hamit! This is more a community of women with factions, but it's a family too, with children and love. So while it may be a gilded cage, the cage has it's advantages in education and wealth. The harem encourages education, unlike the Western world Emily hails from. In fact Victorian society is very much a cage too, just more invisible and therefore perhaps far more insidious.
Speaking so much about how Victorian yet feminist this book is makes me almost want to end my review here, but there's something odd that happened to me in reading this book that I must share. As I'm sure some of you know because of my Pink Carnation Dream Casting for Lauren Willig's books I have a tendency to cast actors as characters when I read books. It might have to do with being such a film buff before I turned to literature or my love of Star Wars novelizations, but it's just what I do. I know, it's a little weird, especially if you can't find the right actor. I know a lot of people would object to this way of thinking, especially because it indicates that the final form of a book isn't what's bound between the covers but what eventually makes it onto a screen, which I don't agree with, so let's just put it down as a quirk and move on. So one of the characters, who I will NOT mention because it's the murderer, was instantly cast the second he spoke as David Bamber, he of Mr. Collins fame in the Colin Firth adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Now I greatly admire David Bamber, but the truth is, I always think he's up to no good, even when playing good characters! So there was just something in the way the character first appeared that subconsciously triggered me to his guilt. I didn't even knowingly suspect him until near the end of the book! I say that proves what I great writer Tasha is, suspect everyone, but deep down, you sense the evil and despair!
First Impression: The Great Gatsby. OK, it wasn't so much the ill-advised 2000 adaptation with Paul Rudd of all people that was my first impression, it was an article in People Magazine about the adaptation that got my attention. The article was about Toby and his breaking into America with The Great Gatsby. The real reason I found this so fascinating is that Toby is Maggie Smith's son! Even if you aren't a British dilettante you know who Maggie Smith is! Toby Stephens was quite literally born to be a great actor, though not in The Great Gatsby. 
Lasting Impression: OK, this is a really close call between Cambridge Spies and Jane Eyre, it's a dead heat tie in fact. In Cambridge Spies I really got a sense of the range of his acting skills, I mean he's such a wicked good actor that you are actually rooting for him to outwit the British. But it was in Jane Eyre that I fell in love with him. He IS my Rochester. Before I had read Jane Eyre and in all the adaptations I have watched I just couldn't get why anyone thought Rochester was so broody and wonderful. Orson Welles, nope. George C. Scott, Timothy Dalton, William Hurt, and even Michael Fassbender didn't work for me. As for Ciarán Hinds? Spare me. No no and no. It's Toby Stephens and only Toby!
Can't believe it's them: Space Cowboys! Really!?! He played a young Clint Eastwood!?! This is too hilarious to have not known. This is now forever in my mind as the funniest fact about Toby. Might actually have to watch the movie now...
Bio: Toby Stephens was literally born into acting royalty, his mother being Maggie Smith, his father was no less a great actor, being Robert Stephens. After his parents divorced he followed his mother around the world for her various acting jobs. Therefore it is not at all surprising that both him and his brother became actors. While offered so many television and film roles he has almost always shunned Hollywood, turning instead to his first love, theater. When he first started out he quickly garnered many awards, winning the Sir John Gielgud Prize for Best Actor and the Ian Charleson Award for his performance in the title role of Coriolanus at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1994 when he was only twenty-five! He is also a prolific narrator of books, which I didn't know and must now hunt up, oh, looks like he does Flashman, makes total sense for Jack Reid, as well as performing in broadcast radio dramas, yadda yadda, Flashman! He is married to the actress Anna-Louise Plowman, whom he has stared with several times and with whom he has three children. He is also totally and completely awesome. He can be good or evil and whatever he is you will root for him. Doubt me? Watch Black Sails STAT, especially if you want to see him get "reacquainted" with his Cambridge Spies co-star Rupert Penry-Jones.
First Impression: I believe the very first time I saw JJ was in The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton, oddly enough with 
Lasting Impression: Northanger Abbey, oddly this time with 
Can't believe it's them: The Musketeers, seriously, he's so gruff and yum all at once. Literally, I didn't even recognize him when he first showed up on the screen. About half-way through his two-parter arc I sat up and was like JJ!?! That just shows what an amazing actor he is. He can so thoroughly inhabit a role that you don't even recognize him and are so involved in the story that this knowledge comes as a shock. I wish they hadn't killed your character so that you could come back.
Bio: Despite that luscious accent, John Joseph Feild was born in Boulder, Colorado, making him, shock, gasp, American! Though he comes by that accent naturally, moving with his family to England as a baby. In school he found his love of acting going to the Fine Arts College followed by the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. In his year off he backpacked around Tibet with his two older brothers. He quite literally got his first acting job the year he left school and in the past sixteen years has amassed quite a repertoire from period dramas to theatre. Besides stealing my heart as Mr. Tilney, he has stolen the heart of Neve Campbell, the Scream actress with whom he has a child. Hopefully TURN will soon be cancelled and we can look forward to JJ showing up on our big and small screens in something fabulous in the near future. WTF, TURN was renewed!?! Can they kill JJ's character, he needs off this show now!
First Impression: While I am not at all a fan of The Office, because I am true to the original British version, this is the first place I saw Kellie Kemper as poor Andy's love interest.
Lasting Impression: Bridesmaids! But then again, there isn't anything in this movie that didn't make a lasting impression; from the bathroom scene to Chris O'Dowd to that one lone cupcake. But Kemper will probably best be known for making out with Wendi McLendon-Covey before being thrown off a plane. Though I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me why they don't wear the bridesmaids dresses from the movie poster in the movie. Yes, this is a weird thing that really annoys me. More then the fact that it's so not filmed in Wisconsin and Illinois. 
Can't believe it's them: Important thinks with Demetri Martin. Mainly because I really dislike him. I mean really really dislike him. Seriously, I can't watch anything with him in it even if it contains someone I really like, like Ellie Kemper. This also explains why I've never watched House of Lies despite my love of 
Bio: Born and raised in Missouri she has the odd distinction of knowing Jon Hamm before he became famous. Ellie Kemper was a student at John Burroughs School in St. Louis where Jon Hamm was her drama teacher. They have ironically gone on to star together on the big and small screens. While being a studious scholar from Princeton to Oxford, she never gave up acting and doing improve. But comedy and comedy writing is in her blood, her sister and her husband are television writers and she has contributed to The Onion as well as McSweeney's. While she was turned down by SNL and Parks and Recreation, it was the second of these auditions that led to her role on The Office. Since then her career has just been on the rise and with getting the title role in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt she is sure to be around and lauded for years to come. 
First Impression: Penny Dreadful all the way. This show is so stylish and is such an interesting combination of literary characters in the demimonde. How could I not love it? Plus, Reeve brings something sexy and enigmatic to the character of Dorian Gray, something that is really lacking from Oscar Wilde's book. Yes, I said it. 
Lasting Impression: Penny Dreadful. Seriously folks, one and done for this actor. Rarely does an actor so capture me the first time I've seen him, but everyone on Penny Dreadful, including those actors, like Reeve, who I'd never seen before, were truly memorable. In other words, WATCH PENNY DREADFUL PEOPLE! 
Can't believe it's them: And speaking of things that I can't believe and Julie Taymor, Reeve was the star of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark! Seriously, I will never be able to get this hilarious information into a proper place in my brain where it makes sense. He was in the most lampooned Broadway show like ever! And he was the star! Oh, I wonder how many limbs he broke...
Bio: Reeve was born in New York and from the beginning performing was in his blood seeing as his great uncle was the wonderful actor Art Carney. His family moved to California where he attended the Academy of Music at Alexander Hamilton High School where he met his future band mates. In fact by the age of fifteen he was playing guitar professionally at B.B. King's night club in L.A. Though he continued his education majoring in college in studio jazz guitar, not forsaking study for fame. His first band opened for such groups as Arcade Fire and U2. While still doing music it's his acting chops on Penny Dreadful that are really getting him noticed. Mmm, Penny Dreadful. 
First Impression: I first saw Eleanor in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, a lackluster adaptation of a fun book series by Louise Rennison. Eleanor wasn't at all how I had pictured the character of Jas, but nowhere near as bad as the casting of Georgia, and Alan Davies surprised me in how much I didn't feel like killing him. I have Alan Davies issues. But needless to say, this blah movie made me notice a good actress.
Lasting Impression: The White Queen, totally. I mean, yes, I've seen her in practically everything she's been in, but her portrayal of Isabel Neville in the addictive miniseries The White Queen made you have a real, human connection with someone who is just a name in history. Plus, you realize what serious acting chops she has.
Can't believe it's them: The Sarah Jane Adventures! I am excused though because, seriously, look at all that makeup! But what amazes me more is that this two part episode "The Mad Woman in the Attic" is easily my favorite story arc on this show all because of the character Eleanor played. She was able to make an alien so very human and vulnerable and up the quality of a show that is usually pandering crap to something worthy of the Doctor Who canon. 
Bio: Eleanor was born when I graduated 8th grade, making me feel very old. She comes from a family of performers, her mother is a singer and actress, while her father and her brother, who is ironically (in my mind) named Ross, are both actors. She was born in London and grew up in Yorkshire, getting her first acting gig at thirteen, by basically strong arming her father's agent into representing her. She seems to be a pretty private person, which I strongly applaud her for, seeing as she's in the limelight a lot. But what IS known is that she's a dog person and, instead of falling for Aidan Turner, she fell for his stuntman on Poldark. Ah romance.
First Impression: Lost in Austen! Usually in any adaptation or Pride and Prejudice inspired movie or miniseries I always fall for Darcy. I mean, it's Darcy, how can you not? But there was something so naively sweet about Tom's portrayal of Bingley that I instantly loved him. If you doubt his awesomeness just watch his face as 
Lasting Impression: Sleepy Hollow, oh yeah. I had pegged him as the sweet dimwit for so long that to find he had this range, amazing. Almost kept me watching the show when it went into a step downward decline. Almost. 
Can't believe it's them: Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Really Tom!?! Yes, yes, I know lots of good actors were on this series, and yes, I can shamefully say that I know this because I watched all four seasons. But still? At least you were in the first episode, before it got really into the tacky. 
Bio: Tom was born in England, obviously because of that drool-worthy accent. Instead of what would be his time spent in a typical high school stateside he went to Hurtwood House which specializes in drama and music. He then went on to Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Acting where he won a trust award named after Sir John Gielgud! The teachers there advised him that he should go for period pieces, and I can not disagree on their recommendation! When he left school he found steady work in theatre which he still loves and goes back to nearly every year. In fact, when does Tom have a spare minute? He's balancing stage, film, television, and even radio, having 35 credits in only ten years! But it was with Sleepy Hollow that his fame really rocketed into the stratosphere creating a huge fandom. And despite his saying "I can't be described as a sex symbol; I think it's ridiculous." Ridiculous or no, it's now a fact of life you're going to have to adjust to Tom. Also, please come to Wizard World Chicago, I will discreetly fangirl all over you. 
First Impression: Was actually in Deadwood. I have a tendency to forget it's her, but her fate on those two episodes, um, that's not hard to forget. It was fun recently re-watching all of Deadwood and seeing her again now that I'm such a fan.
Lasting Impression: Um, Veronica Mars people! I am a Marshmallow! I kickstarted the movie! I was seriously hooked after just seeing part of one episode, it didn't hurt that in that episode they were watching Colin Firth's version of Pride and Prejudice. But in all seriousness, if I could I would totally be Veronica Mars when I grow up.
Can't believe it's them: She's in Pootie Tang!?! Seriously? She was actually in this? I can't stop laughing! Pootie Tang!
Bio: Bell was born in Michigan where she got the acting bug freshman year in high school, going on to star in her school's production of The Wizard of Oz. Right after graduation she went to New York to study at the prestigious Tish School of the Arts majoring in musical theatre, but failed to graduate because she was offered the role of Becky Thatcher in the Broadway musical version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. After staring in many plays and musicals on Broadway she finally headed to LA where in under two years she was headlining her own show for UPN, aka, the fabulous Veronica Mars. Since then she's been constantly working in both big budget movies, she's freakin' Anna from Frozen! And small movies, Veronica Mars is back! With her husband Dax Shepard they made commercials for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S that are hugely popular and also showcase their expanding family. She also does tons of work for charities, from the ASPCA to Invisible Children. Basically she is all round awesome! 
First Impression: I remember the new adaptation of Richard III was really hot when I was taking Shakespeare in High School (yes, it's been awhile). What everyone was talking about though was a young actor who was stealing the movie, that young actor was Dominic West. He was fine, but overall the adaptation felt flat to me, like it was trying too hard to reinvent the wheel. Dominic's next Shakespearean appearance would be more successful in my mind. It was A Midsummer Night's Dream if you must know. 
Lasting Impression: If, like me, you knew Dominic's work and respected it but are still not wowed by him, check out The Hour. He seriously blew me away with his performance of Hector Madden and how he could be arrogant and vulnerable and sexy all at the same time. The house party where he seduces Romala Garai's character Bel Rowley, just wow. Why did they cancel this show again? Seriously. I want it back. 
Can't believe it's them: He was in Star Wars - The Phantom Menace? Seriously, I can't stop laughing. Make it stop, the tears, the pain in my side. Look at that outfit. Hahahahaha.
Bio: Oh, posh, Dominic went to Eton before going to Trinity College in Dublin, and then going to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where my choice for his Miss Grey also went, coincidence? I think not! Despite starting on stage at the young age of nine he spent some time in Argentina as a cattle herder! Because, why not. He has rarely been out of work and is always well regarded, but his recent performance opposite Ruth Wilson in The Affair has once again put him in the spotlight garnering many award nominations and laurels. Catch the laurels Dominic! He is also known for turning down a role in Game of Thrones! Of course while he might have been a better Mance Rayder, he is the definitive Noah Solloway. 
