strange and random happenstance

What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust by Alan Bradley
Published by: Bantam
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Amateur sleuth Flavia de Luce, along with her pestilent younger cousin, investigates the murder of a former public hangman and uncovers a secret that brings the greatest shock of her life.

Flavia de Luce has taken on the mentorship of her odious moon-faced cousin Undine, who has come to live at Buckshaw following the death of her mother. Undine's main talent, aside from cultivating disgusting habits, seems to be raising Flavia's hackles, although in her best moments she shows potential for trespassing, trickery, and other assorted mayhem.

When Major Greyleigh, a local recluse and former hangman, is found dead after a breakfast of poisonous mushrooms, suspicion falls on the de Luce family's longtime cook, Mrs. Mullet. After all, wasn't it she who'd picked the mushrooms, cooked the omelet, and served it to Greyleigh moments before his death? "I have to admit," says Flavia, an expert in the chemical nature of poisons, "that I'd been praying to God for a jolly good old-fashioned mushroom poisoning. Not that I wanted anyone to die, but why give a girl a gift such as mine without giving her the opportunity to use it?"

But Flavia knows the beloved Mrs. Mullet is innocent. Together with Dogger, estate gardener and partner-in-crime, and the obnoxious Undine, Flavia sets out to find the real killer and clear Mrs. Mullet's good name. Little does she know that following the case's twists and turns will lead her to a most surprising discovery - one with the power to upend her entire life."

For the past five years I have been desperately missing Flavia de Luce. The Golden Tresses of the Dead just couldn't be our last adventure! What's more that volume didn't seem a fitting end. Whereas this volume? So many of my questions answered! So much fulfilment! And we still have another book to come! Brava! Brava!

The Little Sparrow Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
Published by: Pushkin Vertigo
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
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The official patter:
"As several bodies are discovered staged in bizarre poses echoing the lyrics of a children's song, the quirky, endearing Japanese detective must string together the clues to solve this fiendish puzzle.

The scruffy detective Kosuke Kindaichi returns to solve another satisfying stand-alone murder mystery.

An old friend of Kindaichi's invites the detective to visit the remote mountain village of Onikobe, the site of a 20-year-old unsolved murder case. But no sooner has Kindaichi in the village than a new series of murders strikes - several bodies are discovered staged in bizarre poses, and it soon becomes clear that the victims are being killed using methods that eerily echo the lyrics of an old local children's song...

As the legendary sleuth investigates, he soon realises that he must unravel the dark and tangled history of the village, as well as that of its feuding families, to get to the truth.

The Little Sparrow Murders is the sixth classic Detective Kindaichi mystery to be published by Pushkin Vertigo. Kosuke Kindaichi is Japan's best-loved and most famous fictional sleuth, and Seishi Yokomizo one of the country's greatest crime writers. His whodunnits have sold an astonishing 55 million copies in his home country."

I am so happy these classics are getting a larger audience.

Murder at the Matinee by Jamie West
Published by: Brabinger
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Kindle, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Renowned murder mystery playwright Bertie Carroll returns, this time in London's West End, to solve the mystery of an impossible murder and the newspaper advert that preceded it.

Following on from the success of Death on the Pier, gay playwright detective Bertie Carroll returns for the second book in this golden-age-style whodunnit series, set in the exciting world of theatreland in 1930s London.

An unexpected phone call from a rival playwright puts Bertie centre stage in another mystery. Can he help unravel the motive behind a mysterious newspaper advert that boldly declares a murder will take place during a show's third act? There's only one problem, there is no murder in the third act of the play!

When a victim is discovered and the police are brought in, Bertie and Inspector Hugh Chapman get thrown awkwardly back together as they both work to find the killer.

The spotlight falls on each suspect in turn and, this time, even Bertie is not above suspicion. But can rivalries and differences be put aside to solve this devious murder?"

I love the trope of announcing a murder will happen, combine it with theatrical thrills, and this is just the book for me.

The Lady Vanishes by Ethel Lina White
Published by: Pushkin Vertigo
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Paperback, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The ingenious classic thriller behind Hitchcock's famous film, set on a steam train travelling across 1930s Europe and boasting "intrigue, mystery, and spine-chilling horror." (Saturday Review)

First published as The Wheel Spins in 1936 and adapted for the screen by Alfred Hitchcock in 1938, Ethel Lina White's The Lady Vanishes established the author as one of the greatest crime writers of the Golden Age.

After a summer holiday in a remote corner of Europe, the glamorous socialite Iris Carr is looking forward to returning to the comforts of home. But having stayed on at the resort after her friends' departure, Iris now faces the journey home alone. On the train to Trieste, she is pleased to meet a kindly governess, Miss Froy, and strikes up a conversation. Iris warms to her companion, and is alarmed when she wakes from a sleep to find that Miss Froy has suddenly disappeared from the train without a trace. Worse still, she is horrified to discover that none of the other passengers on the train will admit to having ever seen such a woman.

Doubting her sanity and fearing for her life, Iris is determined to find Miss Froy before the train journey is over. Only one of her fellow passengers seems to believe her story. With his help, Iris begins to search the train for clues to the mystery of the vanished lady at the center of this ingenious classic thriller."

I am in love with this beautiful reissue of this classic mystery. How classic? I once tried to get an Iris Carr inspired haircut... It did not end well.

Saving Susy Sweetchild by Barbara Hambly
Published by: Severn House
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Welcome to Hollywood of the 1920s: a world filled with glamour, fake names...and the occasional felony!

July, 1924. After nine months of living in Hollywood and working as a companion to her beautiful silent-movie star sister-in-law, young British widow Emma Blackstone is settling into her new role: doctoring film scenarios whenever the regular scenarist is overwhelmed with work, which seems to be most of the time.

Shoots for the Western movie Our Tiny Miracle are in full swing, with little seven-year-old Susy Sweetchild playing the lead and acting most professionally. Maybe too professionally, Emma thinks, shocked to the core when the child star is nearly killed in a stunt scene and her mother - former screen siren Selina Sutton - seems only to care that Susy gets the job done.

But Emma's concerns only worsen when news reaches her that Susy and her mother have been kidnapped. The ransom note says to keep the cops out of it, so it's up to Emma and Kitty to find them before the unthinkable happens and Emma is forced to rewrite Our Tiny Miracle with a far more tragic ending...

New York Times bestselling author Barbara Hambly once again brings the glamour and intrigue of Hollywood to life! An unputdownable mystery for fans of female-fronted historical mysteries set in the roaring twenties."

Personally, why not rewrite it to have a far more tragic ending?

The Many Lies of Veronica Hawkins by Kristina Perez
Published by: Pegasus Crime
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A cursed woman. A beautiful socialite. A tragic heiress. Just who was Veronica Hawkins?

When Martina Torres arrives in the glamorous and vibrant metropolis of Hong Kong, newly married to her high school sweetheart, the world seems to be her oyster. But looks can be deceiving. Adrift in a foreign city, with no job and no friends, Martina chafes in her new role as Expat Wife. But her luck changes when she meets Veronica Hawkins. Beautiful, sophisticated, and very, very rich, Veronica is the epitome of Old Hong Kong - the last surviving member of a British mercantile dynasty that built the city during its colonial heyday. Martina can hardly believe her fortune when she's taken under Veronica's wing and into her confidence, with Veronica helping her to find a new apartment, a new career, and most importantly, a new self. Veronica transforms Martina's life and then, shockingly, she dies. She disappears over the side of a yacht during a party attended by Hong Kong's most influential people - yet somehow there are no witnesses. Was it murder? Suicide? A terrible accident? What really happened to Veronica Hawkins? Somebody knows but nobody's telling."

And who better to solve the crime then somebody who's just arrived on the scene?

Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson
Published by: Doubleday Books
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The highly anticipated return of "irresistible" (New York Times) private eye Jackson Brodie in the newest installment of the bestselling series hailed as "unputdownable" by Time.

Welcome to Rook Hall. The stage is set. The players are ready. By night's end, a murderer will be revealed.

In his sleepy Yorkshire town, ex-detective Jackson Brodie is staving off boredom and malaise. His only case is the seemingly tedious matter of a stolen painting. But Jackson soon uncovers a string of unsolved art thefts that lead him down a dizzying spiral of disguise and deceit to Burton Makepeace, a formerly magnificent estate now partially converted into a hotel hosting Murder Mystery weekends.

As paying guests, impecunious aristocrats and old friends collide, we are treated to Atkinson's most charming and fiendishly clever mystery yet, one that pays homage to the masters of the genre - from Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers to the modern era of Knives Out and Only Murders in the Building."

I want to read this so badly. I mean, it's not out yet and I'm debating if I have the patience to wait out my library's hold list or not... Because of course I have it on hold already. I have for awhile now.

Jekyll and Hyde: Consulting Detectives by Tim Major
Published by: Titan Books (UK)
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Dr Jekyll and his monstrous alter-ego join forces with his ex-fiancée to solve a series of disappearances across Victorian London in this thrilling mystery, perfect for readers of Stuart Turton and James Lovegrove.

When Muriel Carew attends a lavish society party, the last person she expects to bump into is her ex-fiancée Henry Jekyll, a man she's not seen for many years. When Jekyll turns out to be investigating a series of missing persons in London, Muriel is intrigued. But Jekyll is not working alone, and if Muriel wants to aid in the investigation, she must work with both Henry and his partner, the monstrous and uncouth Mr Hyde.

As their search takes a dark turn and a missing persons case becomes a murder investigation, Muriel finds herself deep in a mystery involving a nefarious group exploring their own hidden alter-egos within the beating heart of London's high society.

To solve the case and bring those responsible to justice, Muriel must find a way to place her trust in Mr Hyde, which might mean uncovering secrets about her own life she never dreamed of discovering."

I think Jekyll and Hyde would make a surprising effective duo solving crimes.

The Haunting of Moscow House by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this elegant gothic horror tale set in post-revolutionary Russia, two formerly aristocratic sisters race to uncover their family's long-buried secrets in a house haunted by a past dangerous - and deadly - to remember.

It is the summer of 1921, and a group of Bolsheviks have taken over Irina and Lili Goliteva's ancestral home in Moscow, a stately mansion falling into disrepair and decay. The remaining members of their family are ordered to move into the cramped attic, while the officials take over an entire wing of grand rooms downstairs. The sisters understand it is the way of things and know they must forget their noble upbringing to make their way in this new Soviet Russia. But the house begins to whisper of a traumatic past not as dead as they thought.

Eager to escape it and their unwelcome new landlords, Irina and Lili find jobs with the recently arrived American Relief Administration, meant to ease the post-revolutionary famine in Russia. For the sisters, the ARA provides much-needed food and employment, as well as a chance for sensible Irina to help those less fortunate and artistic Lili to express herself for a good cause. It might just lead them to love, too.

But at home, the spirits of their deceased family awaken, desperate to impart what really happened to them during the Revolution. Soon one of the officials living in the house is found dead. Was his death caused by something supernatural, or by someone all too human? And are Irina and Lili and their family next? Only unearthing the frightening secrets of Moscow House will reveal all. But this means the sisters must dig deep into a past no one in Russia except the dead are allowed to remember."

I love the combination of a not oft explored aspect of history with a Gothic vibe.

The Headmaster by Tiffany Reisz
Published by: 8th Circle Press
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Paperback, 232 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Nestled in the shadow of the Appalachians is where Gwen Ashby stumbles upon the William Marshall Academy, and she's given a trial position as a literature teacher. The gothic boarding school seems trapped in time yet it feels like home the moment Gwen arrives.

She's charmed by the lovely buildings, bewitched by the eager students...and utterly seduced by the headmaster. Edwin Yorke is noble, handsome and infuriatingly proper. But his tweedy exterior and courtly manners conceal a raw sensual power that Gwen longs to unleash.

It's strangely thrilling to be the only woman on campus - save one other. An eerie white-clad figure roams the grounds by night. She never speaks. She leaves no trace. But this ghostly blight on Gwen's new dream life is the key to the Marshall Academy's mysterious allure.

This 10th Anniversary expanded print edition of Tiffany Reisz's gothic romance The Headmaster is newly updated and expanded, with revised text and black-and-white illustrations throughout."

I mean, just look at the perfection of that cover. Why can't we have more covers like this?

The Fallen Fruit by Shawntelle Madison
Published by: Amistad Press
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Combining history and fantasy, a sweeping multi-generational epic in the vein of Kindred and The Time Traveler's Wife about a woman who travels through time to end a family curse that has plagued her ancestors for generations.

On a rainy day in May 1964, history professor Cecily Bridge-Davis begins to search for the sixty-five acres of land she inherited from her father's family. The quest leads her to uncover a dark secret: In every generation, one offspring from each Bridge family unit vanishes - and is mysteriously whisked back in time. Rules have been established that must be followed to prevent dire consequences:

Never interfere with past events.

Always carry your free Negro papers.

Search for the survival family packs in the orchard and surrounding forest. The ribbon on the pack designates the decade the pack was made to orient you in time.

Do not speak to strangers unless absolutely necessary.

With only a family Bible and a map marked with the locations of mysterious containers to aid her, Cecily heads to the library, hoping to discover the truth of how this curse began, and how it might be ended. As she moves through time, she encounters a circle of ancestors, including Sabrina Humbles, a free Black woman who must find the courage to seize an opportunity - or lose her heart; Luke Bridge, who traverses battlefields, slavery, and time itself to reunite with his family; Rebecca Bridge, a mother tested by an ominous threat; and Amelia Bridge, a young woman burdened with survivor's guilt who will face the challenge of a lifetime - and change Cecily's life forever. It is a race through time and against the clock to find the answers that will free her family forever.

Shawntelle Madison's historical fiction debut is an enthralling, page-turning family saga about the inevitability of fate, the invincibility of love, and the indelible bonds of family."

And hopefully it has a nice happy ending after all that generational trauma.

We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A cat a day keeps the doctor away...

Discover the award-winning, bestselling Japanese novel that has become an international sensation in this utterly charming, vibrant celebration of the healing power of cats.

Tucked away in an old building at the end of a narrow alley in Kyoto, the Kokoro Clinic for the Soul can only be found by people who are struggling in their lives and genuinely need help. The mysterious clinic offers a unique treatment to those who find their way there: it prescribes cats as medication. Patients are often puzzled by this unconventional prescription, but when they "take" their cat for the recommended duration, they witness profound transformations in their lives, guided by the playful, empathetic, occasionally challenging yet endearing cats.

Throughout the pages, the power of the human-animal bond is revealed as a disheartened businessman finds unexpected joy in physical labor, a young girl navigates the complexities of elementary school cliques, a middle-aged man struggles to stay relevant at work and home, a hardened bag designer seeks emotional balance, and a geisha finds herself unable to move on from the memory of her lost cat. As the clinic's patients navigate their inner turmoil and seek resolution, their feline companions lead them toward healing, self-discovery, and newfound hope."

I might relate to the geisha too much. I want to be prescribed a cat, but I'm worried it will hurt.

Prime Time Romance by Kate Robb
Published by: Random House Publishing Group
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Is love on the small screen better than the real thing?

Newly divorced on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, Brynn is sick of heartbreak. She thought she had found her happy ending, but now she's living with a roommate, Josh, to afford her mortgage, and she's trying to adjust to her new single life. At least she's got Carson's Cove to binge, her beloved 2000s teenage soap. The show ended unexpectedly on a cliffhanger after five seasons, and the two main characters, Sloan and Spencer, never got to declare their love for each other. The show is still perfect in Brynn's eyes; despite all the drama that goes down, things always have a way of working out in Carson's Cove...unlike her own life.

So when a birthday cake surprisingly shows up on her and Josh's doorstep, Brynn makes a wish for the one thing she's always wanted (but has failed to achieve herself): a happily-ever-after.

The next morning, she doesn't wake up in her apartment. She's in Carson's Cove...and Josh is there too. Everyone seems to know them, except they're not Brynn and Josh; they're Sloan, the sweetheart of Carson's Cove, and Fletch, the town's bad boy. And to get home, they have to make Brynn's wish come true by ensuring Sloan and Spencer, the hometown heartthrob, end up together at last. But as they spend more time together, Brynn and Josh realize that Carson's Cove might not be as perfect as seen on television...especially when they start developing feelings for each other in a plot twist no one has expected. Will they stick to the script, or will real love change the story forever?"

I mean, who hasn't wanted to disappear into their favorite TV show. I'd be in Star Hollow in a second!

Repeat After Me by Jessica Warman
Published by: Entangled Publishing
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"She's about to have a serious temporal tantrum.

In retrospect, I probably should have passed on the ceviche.

It was already a weird Friday. My class is stuck on an eerily remote island for our senior trip, I'm pretty sure Mr. D ("call me Max") is hiding something from us, my ex-best friend turned nemesis keeps stealing my candy, and tonight's plan for my boyfriend and me to finally lose our virginity to each other is going hellishly.

I mean, ceviche is delicious, don't get me wrong. But a dish made from a supposedly immortal octopus should really come with a warning label.

Caution: consuming a telepathic sea creature of unknown origin may result in immortality, no consequences to any actions, and getting stuck in a time loop for all of eternity.

Now every morning I wake up, and it's the same Friday all over again. Same annoying classmates. Same island suspended in time by an evil oyster farmer with a God complex. Same outrageous candy theft. The only person I can count on to keep me from losing my grip on this new reality is Louis, my best friend who knows me better than anyone else in this world.

This should be a cephalopod-induced nightmare but somehow - in some ridiculous way - I feel like I'm experiencing the extraordinary, the gift of endless opportunities to get things right. But when I wake up every morning and it's Friday again, sometimes it feels more like a never-ending prison sentence.

They say some things are worse than death...

...guess I'm about to find out."

See, if you just avoid sea food you don't end up in your own private hellish Groundhog Day!

Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker
Published by: Tordotcom
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 176 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"On the set of a kitschy reality TV show, staged scares transform into unnerving reality in this spooky ghost story from multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Sarah Pinsker.

"Don't talk to day about what we do at night."

When aimless twenty-something Mara lands a job as the night-shift production assistant on her cousin's ghost hunting/home makeover reality TV show Haunt Sweet Home, she quickly determines her new role will require a healthy attitude toward duplicity. But as she hides fog machines in the woods and improvises scares to spook new homeowners, a series of unnerving incidents on set and a creepy new coworker force Mara to confront whether the person she's truly been deceiving and hiding from all along - is herself.

Eerie and empathetic, Haunt Sweet Home is a multifaceted, supernatural exploration of finding your own way into adulthood, and into yourself."

It's always unnerving when the uncanny becomes reality.

Waiting for Christmas by Lynn Austin
Published by: Tyndale Fiction
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this hope-filled Gilded Age Christmas novella from bestselling author Lynn Austin, the year is 1901 and the hustle and bustle of the holidays is descending on New York's Fifth Avenue.

For the first time in her privileged life, Adelaide Forsythe won't be swept up in it. She couldn't be happier about the prospect of a quieter Christmas. That's not to say her transition from Miss to Mrs. has been without challenge. Though she doesn't regret marrying for love instead of wealth, she can barely light the hearth or cook more than burnt toast. She feels woefully unprepared to run her own household.

Then, on the first Sunday of Advent, winter winds bring change through two unlikely means: a young orphan boy, hiding near Adelaide's front steps, and a seasoned housekeeper who seems too good to be true.

The boy, Jack, claims he isn't an orphan at all and is desperate to reunite his family. Adelaide and her husband Howard work tirelessly to solve the riddle of Jack's story, while Adelaide's new endeavors open her eyes to a world beyond her past experience - and all the challenge and possibility it holds. As Christmas approaches, small glimmers of wonder light the way toward the answers Adaleide seeks and the most miraculous gift of all."

If you aren't already compiling your Christmas reading, then you're not a fan of Christmas. But if you are, add this to you list.

Two Spinsters and a Corpse by Eve Tarrington
Published by: Tenacious Teacup Press
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Paperback, 242 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Two Regency era spinsters, one quiet and one quarrelsome, try to catch a killer before Christmas in this new historical mystery series.

Miss Judith St Clair is a frugal and pious young woman. When her father accepts a lucrative new position as the rector of a parish in Derbyshire just before Christmas, she is dismayed that she and all her siblings must move to this cold and inhospitable country while still in mourning for their mother. What's worse, her father's patrons are the rich and imposing Haddingtons, a family recently settled at Wycliff Castle.

Miss Louisa-Margaretta Haddington, after years of dismissing every possible suitor, is in love. But her parents, who will not consent to the match, have removed her and her reputation from harm by buying an enormous estate in Derbyshire. Louisa-Margaretta is determined to avoid everyone, but when she and the rector's daughter both take refuge in the library to avoid dancing with gentlemen at a ball, they are unwitting witnesses to a murder.

Though each young woman despises the other, they know they will need each other's help if they are to find the killer and save their families. With Judith's quiet intelligence and Louisa-Margaretta's fiery and flirtatious nature, they set out to solve the puzzle. But when one of them has a brush with death disguised as a hunting accident, they realise that they must be quick, or they shall risk running out of time."

Another book for the Christmas list, and my favorite kind, because there's a murder!

The Monstrous Kind by Lydia Gregovic
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"An atmospheric, haunting, romantasy inspired by Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, set in Regency era England about two sisters fighting to hold on to their manor while deadly monsters prowl along its perimeters - perfect for fans of House of Salt and Sorrows and Anatomy: A Love Story.

Merrick Darling's life as daughter of the Manor Lord of Sussex is better than most. Unlike the commoners, she is immune to the toxic fog that encroached on England generations earlier. She will never become a Phantom - one of the monstrous creatures that stalk her province's borders - and as long as the fires burn to hold them back, her safety is ensured. She wants for nothing, yet she will never inherit her family's Manor. She must marry smartly or live at the kindness of her elder sister, Essie.

Everything is turned on its head, though, when Merrick's father dies suddenly. Torn from her New London society life of ball gowns and parties, Merrick must travel back to her childhood home, the Darling estate of Norland House, and what she finds there is bewildering. Once strong and capable, Essie is withdrawn and frightened - and with good cause. A recent string of attacks along the province's borders has turned their formerly bucolic countryside into a terrifying and unpredictable landscape. The fog is closing in and the fires aren't holding, which makes Merrick and Essie vulnerable in more ways than one. Because the Phantoms are far from the only monsters in Merrick's world, and the other eleven Manor Lords are always watching for weakness.

Revealing her and her sister's current state to the rest of the Manors is out of the question, but when Essie goes missing, it's clear that Merrick needs help. Only, who can she trust when everyone seems to be scheming, and when all she holds true feels like it's slipping right out of her grasp?"

Oh, a new twist on my favorite genre, Regency Magic!

Constancy by Tilly Wallace
Published by: Tilly Wallace
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Kindle, 376 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Dragons love longest, even when hope is gone...

As a young woman, Moire Tobin fell hopelessly in love with a brave, loyal, and handsome young naval officer. Nothing, not even her family, could persuade her to spurn the young man. But fate had other ideas. Even when Oliver broke off their engagement, her tattered heart refused to stop loving. Every beat carried with it the promise of hope.

Eight years later, Captain Oliver Hartford returns to the quiet corner of rural Wyldefen. Having amassed a fortune, he is determined to find a wife. Any one would do, so long as it's not Moire - the quiet, intelligent, and kind woman who still haunts his dreams and who is the sole reason he was returned to Wyldefen (if only he would admit it).

Fate, it seems, has had a change of heart and has decided to throw the couple together. This could be their second chance at love. Dragons might prove the salve that eases old wounds, or they might be the irrevocable wedge that forever drives them apart...

A second chance fantasy romance inspired by Jane Austen's Persuasion...but with more dragons."

Jane Austen! Dragons! You know what that means? REGENCY MAGIC!

Elusive by Genevieve Cogman
Published by: Tor UK
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Revolutionary France is full of blood and bite, as vampires plot for power. Featuring Genevieve Cogman's trademark wit and fast-paced plotting, Elusive is the second book in the Sunday Times bestselling Scarlet Revolution trilogy.

Eleanor, once a lowly English maid, is now a member of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, know for their daring deeds and rescuing aristocrat vampires from the guillotine.

Eleanor and the League are investigating the disappearance of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, the notorious French statesman and diplomat. But they soon uncover two vampire parties feuding for power, and learn that Talleyrand's disappearance is part of a bigger, more dangerous scheme - one that threatens to throw France into bloody chaos...

Perfect for fans of The Invisible Library series, Kim Newman and Gail Carriger, Elusive is the thrilling follow-up to Scarlet, a witty and inventive retelling of the beloved tale of the Scarlet Pimpernel."

And Regency Magic adjacent! 

Mythos by Stephen Fry
Published by: Chronicle Books
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 512 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Stephen Fry's beloved retelling of the Greek myths, now presented in a deluxe edition with stunning original illustrations.

Rediscover the thrills, grandeur, and unabashed fun of these timeless tales, from the majestic heights of Mount Olympus to the eerie depths of the Underworld and from Eros and Psyche's against-all-odds romance to Prometheus's gift of fire to mankind. Fry draws out the humor and pathos in each story and reveals its deep resonance with our own lives without losing any of its original wonder. Featuring vibrant artwork throughout, this collectible volume comes complete with a textured cover and dyed page edges. Explore the captivating world of monsters and gods, of magic and mayhem, with a brilliant storyteller as your guide.

BELOVED AUTHOR: Stephen Fry is an icon whose signature wit and mellifluous style make this retelling utterly unique. Readers love hearing his interpretations, whether they are familiar with the original Greek myths or not.

COLLECTIBLE EDITION: Fry's series of retellings - Mythos, Heroes, and Troy - are international bestsellers. Now, fans can complete their collection and revisit the beloved first book with this gorgeous, illustrated edition.

GIFT FOR MYTHOLOGY FANS: With a sleek contemporary design and full-color original artwork throughout, this deluxe volume makes a superb present for anyone interested in mythology, Greek history, or the classics.

Perfect for

• Fans of Stephen Fry and the Mythos series who want a complete collection
• Mythology and history buffs
• Collectors of illustrated classics
• Gift-givers looking for a deluxe holiday present for a classics lover
• Fans of Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology, Madeline Miller's Circe and Song of Achilles, and Edith Hamilton's Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes."

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Barbara Hambly, Genevieve Cogman, Jessica Warman, Kate Atkinson, Kate Robb, Lydia Gregovic, Lynn Austin, Sarah Pinsker, Seishi Yokomizo, Shawntelle Madison, Stephen Fry, Syou Ishida, Tiffany Reisz, Tilly Wallace

Last year I decided to watch a whole lot of old BBC miniseries that I had been meaning to get to with the loose theme that they all related to Edward VII. I watched Edward the King, because, Edward obviously! I watched two shows about Edward's mistresses, Lillie and The Duchess of Duke Street. Then I went more generic with The Edwardians and Berkeley Square bringing the viewings to a close. Berkeley Square was the only series I had actually seen before but now I can proudly say I've seen them all! As Patrick Stewart said, "I've seen everything." What's interesting about Lillie is that Francesca Annis played the character of Lillie Langtry in Edward the King and was so popular they made a whole series about the infamous mistress to the king and the famous actress she became from childhood to death, and the death was probably not meant to be hilarious, but she was picking fights in bars where you paid men to dance with you, so, that's on her. If the series had one fault it was that they didn't bring Timothy West back to play Edward, but I forgive them because I got to see a bitty baby Rupert Giles as Lillie's older brother in his second ever role! But while Francesca Annis, in my mind, didn't make that much an impression in Edward the King to warrant her own series there is one actor in her series that deserved their own. Lillie fell into the artistic community of the time where she quickly became it's star. She hung out with the likes of Millais and Whistler, her presence inspiring them. But the one historical figure she formed the strongest relationship with was Oscar Wilde. Now I am a huge fan of Oscar Wilde, I even wrote a lengthy paper on him for a class on writing for the threatre in undergrad, so I take my interpretations of Oscar VERY seriously. Stephen Fry is probably most famous to my generation for portraying the author, but no offense to Stephen, Peter Egan just blew me away. Peter Egan is still a stalwart British actor keeping his hand in the game, he was on this past season of The Spanish Princess AND he was on Downton Abbey. But forever more to me he is the only portrayal of Oscar Wilde I will ever think about. The pathos, the feeling, the tragedy, I don't know if I have ever, in my entire life, seen a better performance in ANYTHING! While I wish he had gotten a series of his own, Oscar's life is fully seen through the lens of Lillie's life. I'm just greedy because I want more.       

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Downton Abbey, Edward VII, Edwardian, Fifty Years a Masterpiece, Francesca Annis, Lillie, Lillie Langtry, Oscar Wilde, Peter Egan, Rupert Giles, Stephen Fry, The Duchess of Duke Street, Timothy West

Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie are gateway drugs to the best of British comedy. For me it all started with Peter's Friends, which is technically not a comedy, but Fry and Laurie also go beyond the bounds of the comedic label, so I think that's a good starting off point. From there I found The Young Ones, Filthy Rich and Catflap, Blackadder, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and, of course, Jeeves and Wooster. To this day they are to me everything that is great and good about British acting and television. I will listen to or watch anything that they are in, but it's when they are working together that they reach new heights. Jeeves and Wooster was actually made concurrently with A Bit of Fry and Laurie and I think that them working together at all times made the relationship between Bertie and Jeeves that much more real. What's more, their personalities kind of fit their characters so much so that at times I might wonder if Stephen Fry is wandering around Hugh Laurie's house tidying it up and putting things to rights. Stephen Fry's fussy side comes out while Hugh Laurie's goofy side with a large dollop of musicality come to the fore. Jeeves and Wooster is pure fun comfort viewing, it has the beautiful country houses, troubles that aren't too troubling, and there's the fact that you'll see all your favorite British actors playing minor rolls which were constantly being recast, usually to delightful results. I mean four different actresses playing Aunt Dahlia kind of lends itself to the idea that Bertie has a never-ending stream of interfering aunts. But series two was when the show found it's stride. Series one they rouged Laurie's checks so much he looked like a comical vaudeville drunk. But in series two Simon Langton took over as director! Not only did he direct the seminal Pride and Prejudice adaptation, the one with Colin Firth, but episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs, The Duchess of Duke Street, Love for Lydia, Rebecca with Jeremy Brett, Poirot, Rosemary and Thyme, Foyle's War, and Midsomer Murders! Plus series two happens to have my most watched episode of Jeeves and Wooster. How is it I've seen "Chuffy" what seems like a million times? Perhaps because it's the episode where Jeeves quits... Heaven forfend! Don't worry, it all works out! It always does in the England that never was of P.G. Wodehouse.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Blackadder, Colin Firth, Fifty Years a Masterpiece, Hugh Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, P.G. Wodehouse, Peter's Friends, Pride and Prejudice, Simon Langton, Stephen Fry, Upstairs Downstairs

The House Guest by Mark Edwards
Published by: Thomas and Mercer
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Paperback, 302 Pages
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The official patter:
"A perfect summer. A perfect stranger. A perfect nightmare.

When British twenty-somethings Ruth and Adam are offered the chance to spend the summer housesitting in New York, they can't say no. Young, in love and on the cusp of professional success, they feel as if luck is finally on their side.

So the moment that Eden turns up on the doorstep, drenched from a summer storm, it seems only right to share a bit of that good fortune. Beautiful and charismatic, Eden claims to be a friend of the homeowners, who told her she could stay whenever she was in New York.

They know you're not supposed to talk to strangers - let alone invite them into your home - but after all, Eden's only a stranger until they get to know her.

As suspicions creep in that Eden may not be who she claims to be, they begin to wonder if they've made a terrible mistake...

The House Guest is the chilling new psychological thriller from the three million copy bestselling author of Here to Stay and Follow You Home."

Just the mere thought of a house guest right now makes me shudder! 

The Grim Reader by Kate Carlisle
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
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The official patter:
"San Francisco book-restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright was hoping for a fun, relaxing weekend at a local book fair, but a murderer made other plans in the latest in this New York Times bestselling series.

Brooklyn and her new hunky husband, Derek, are excited to be guests at Dharma’s first annual Book Festival. The entire town is involved and Brooklyn’s mom Rebecca is taking charge. In addition to all of her other event related duties, she’s got Brooklyn doing rare book appraisals and is also staging Little Women, the musical to delight the festival goers. If that wasn’t enough, she and Meg - Derek’s mom - will have a booth where they read palms and tarot cards.

Brooklyn couldn’t be prouder of her mom’s do-it-all attitude so when a greedy local businessman who seems intent on destroying Dharma starts harassing Rebecca, Brooklyn is ready to take him down. Rebecca is able to hold her own with the nasty jerk until one of her fellow festival committee members is brutally murdered and the money for the festival seems to have vanished into thin air. Things get even more personal when one of Brooklyn’s nearest and dearest is nearly run down in cold blood. Brooklyn and Derek go into attack mode and the pressure is on to catch a spineless killer before they find themselves skipping the festival for a funeral."

This series is always on my list because books and San Francisco, through in the Little Women musical and I am so ready!

The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope by C.W. Grafton
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Is this lawyer digging his way to the truth, or digging his own grave?

Short, chubby, and awkward with members of the opposite sex, Gil Henry is the youngest partner in a small law firm, not a hard-boiled sleuth. So when an attractive young woman named Ruth McClure walks into his office and asks him to investigate the value of the stock she inherited from her father, he thinks nothing of it - until someone makes an attempt on his life.

Soon Gil is inadvertently embroiled in scandal, subterfuge, and murder. He's beaten, shot, and stabbed, as his colleagues and enemies try to stop him from seeing the case through to the end. Surrounded by adversaries, he teams up with Ruth and her secretive brother to find answers to the questions someone desperately wants to keep him from asking.

In this portrait of America on the eve of America's entry into World War II, C.W. Grafton - himself a lawyer and the father of prolific mystery writer Sue Grafton - pens an award-winning mystery that combines humor and the hard-boiled style and will keep readers guessing until its thrilling conclusion."

I LOVE that Poisoned Pen Press and the Library of Congress are doing this series, but more importantly, did you know that Sue Grafton's father wrote an award-winning mystery!?! Talent runs in that family, that's for sure!

Murder on a Mississippi Steamboat by Leighann Dobbs
Published by: Bookouture
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Paperback, 176 Pages
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The official patter:
"Nora elbowed her way up to the railing and looked down. The paddle wheel was making its last turn, dredging up a mass of turquoise chiffon made almost transparent by the water. A hand, its red lacquered fingernails a contrast to the pale white skin, stuck up from a bejeweled cuff...

A relaxing cruise down the Mississippi on the Miss Delta Belle steamboat turns to tragedy when celebrity Delilah Dove falls from the deck and is swallowed by the river faster than you can say 'man overboard '

It's touted as a tragic accident, but guests Miss Nora Marsh and her wily great-aunt Julia know a murder when they see one. Can they get justice for Delilah and crack the case without alerting the murderer to their suspicions?

As Nora and Julia hunt for clues it emerges that nearly everyone had a reason to want Delilah dead. And that's bad news for the two sleuths - who want to solve the case pronto, before Mississippi police chief and Aunt Julia's nemesis Artemis Leonard comes on board at the next port to launch the official investigation. She's not letting him get the credit if she can help it.

With multiple suspects and a series of mysterious thefts onboard - not to mention the distractingly handsome Max Lawton turning Nora's head - this is shaping up to be one tough case to crack. What started as a gentle river voyage is far from plain sailing.

A gripping and witty 1920s murder mystery from bestselling author Leighann Dobbs, perfect for fans of T E Kinsey and Lee Strauss."

I am ALL about the 1920s right now!

My Calamity Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadow
Published by: HarperTeen
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 544 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Hold on to your hats: The authors who brought you the New York Times bestseller My Plain Jane, which Booklist praised as “delightfully deadpan” (starred review) and Publishers Weekly called “a clever, romantic farce” (starred review), are back with another irreverent historical adventure.

Welcome to 1876 America, a place bursting with gunslingers, outlaws, and garou - better known as werewolves.

And where there are garou, there’re hunters: the one and only Calamity Jane, to be precise, along with her fellow stars of Wild Bill’s Traveling Show, Annie Oakley and Frank “the Pistol Prince” Butler.

After a garou hunt goes south and Jane finds a suspicious-like bite on her arm, she turns tail for Deadwood, where there’s talk of a garou cure. But rumors can be deceiving - meaning the gang better hightail it after her before they’re a day late and a Jane short.

In this perfect next read for fans of A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, bestselling authors Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi Ashton bring their signature spark to the side-splittin’, whopper-filled (but actually kind of factual?) tale of Calamity Jane."

Anyone else obsessed with Calamity Jane since they first watched Deadwood?

The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso
Published by: Orbit
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Paperback, 528 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"One woman will either save an entire continent or completely destroy it in a captivating epic fantasy bursting with intrigue and ambition, questioned loyalties, and broken magic.

"Guard the tower, ward the stone. Find your answers writ in bone. Keep your trust through wits or war - nothing must unseal the door."

Deep within Gloamingard Castle lies a black tower. Sealed by magic, it guards a dangerous secret that has been contained for thousands of years.

As Warden, Ryxander knows the warning passed down through generations: nothing must unreal the Door. But one impetuous decision will leave her with blood on her hands - and unleash a threat that could doom the world to fall to darkness."

Anyone else get actual goosebumps reading that rhyme?

Heroes by Stephen Fry
Published by: Chronicle Books
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this sequel to the bestselling Mythos, legendary author and actor Stephen Fry moves from the exploits of the Olympian gods to the deeds of mortal heroes.

Perseus. Jason. Atalanta. Theseus. Heracles. Rediscover the thrills, grandeur, and unabashed fun of the Greek myths. Whether recounting a tender love affair or a heroic triumph, Fry deftly finds resonance with our own modern minds and hearts.

Illustrated throughout with classical art inspired by the myths, this gorgeous volume invites you to explore a captivating world with a brilliant storyteller as your guide.

In Heroes, Fry draws out the humor and pathos in both tender love affairs and heroic battles, and reveals each myth's relevance for our own time."

Stephen Fry. That is all. 

Little Book of Kindness by Francesca Pirrone
Published by: Clavis
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 50 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"It's easy to be kind. Offer a smile. Say thank you. Lend a helping hand. You'll see that when you are kind, others are kind too."

We could all do with a little more kindness these days. 

I Left the House Today! by Cassandra Calin
Published by: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Publication Date: June 2nd, 2020
Format: Paperback, 144 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Hilarious and relatable comics about one young woman's life, relationships, and day-to-day humorous musings on why it's good to leave the house sometimes - and when it's better to stay home.

Cassandra Calin’s ability to document the hilarity of relatable everyday events in a series of webcomics has generated a huge following on social media. This beautifully illustrated compendium of first-person comics about the trials of the single life, school, stress, junk food, shaving, and maintaining a healthy self-image. Cassandra Calin's comics frequently highlight the humorous gap between expectations and reality, especially when it comes to appearance and how much she can accomplish in one day. This book is funny, lighthearted, introspective, and artistically stunning - the perfect gift for young women, recent graduates, and anyone who might need a little comedic incentive to leave the house today."

If you were able to leave the house today without losing it, I applaud you!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 1920s, C.W. Grafton, Calamity Jane, Cassandra Calin, Deadwood, Francesca Pirrone, Greek, Kate Carlisle, Leighann Dobbs, Library of Congress, Mark Edwards, Melissa Caruso, San Francisco, Stephen Fry, The House Guest

Blackadder Goes Forth
Starring: Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Hugh Laurie, Tim McInnerny, Stephen Fry, Stephen Frost, Gabrielle Glaister, Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Miranda Richardson, and Geoffrey Palmer
Release Date: September 28th, 1989 - November 2nd, 1989
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

When Edmund Blackadder decided on a career as a solider it was made when the most dangerous fighting he could expect to see was a native with a sharpened mango. He didn't expect the Germans and their war machine, no one did. He would never have signed up if it meant spending all his time in the mud with two dimwits praying that his baaahing mad General, Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett, KCB, doesn't decide for them to go over the top or pay for the death of his beloved pigeon, Speckled Jim. All Blackadder's time is spent trying to conceive of ways to get as far away from the front and the trenches as possible, though hopefully not by being removed and placed in front of a firing squad as the Flanders Pigeon Murderer. Blackadder is forever hindered by General Melchett's nefarious adjutant Captain Darling. Combine Darling's antipathy with Blackadders two disastrously dysfunctional "friends," Baldrick and Lieutenant George, and if they survive the war it will be a miracle. If only they could put on the best music hall showcase and decamp to London. Or perhaps a stay in hospital is needed. Then there's the flying corps. So many schemes, can one of them save them?

One Christmas my friend Sara gave me the first half of Blackadder the Third on VHS and we promptly sat down and watched all three episodes. I immediately had to have the second half of the season and over the years I have rewatched those tapes so many times that I wore them out. Sara grew up with a love of all things relating to British Comedy thanks to her older brother Paul. Once they became a part of my life my British Comedy horizons expanded. Paul was forever searching for the elusive Blackadder: The Cavalier Years. It just so happens that I was the one who found it on eBay. I remember as we watched the grainy bootleg tape Paul's disbelief that this young girl who was rapidly gaining in British Comedy knowledge had somehow beat him to the punch. It was an odd little tape made up of Comic Relief Sketches and a music video of Cliff Richard singing "Living Doll" with The Young Ones. But it also had one episode of Blackadder on there that I hadn't seen. I was very strapped for cash at the time and most of my money was going towards my Red Dwarf purchases so I hadn't yet gotten Blackadder Goes Forth. Figuring I knew enough about Blackadder I watched "Goodbyeee" and was just floored by the episode.

The episode is so poignant as I watched these characters die. Sure, we'd seen certain characters bite the big one before on previous seasons, but this was just so much more. This was the final goodbye. Blackadder Goes Forth was the final of four series and we had come to know and love these characters over many years and here they were leaving us forever. How could the writers give the perfect send off while also doing right by their creations? At the time when it was revealed that this final season was to be set during World War I it was criticized for being inappropriate. But I defy you to find any show that shows the horrors of the Great War so heartrendingly. When the show fades to black and white and then the field turns into a field of poppies, I dare anyone not to cry. It does justice to the war by showing how these characters we love reacted to it. It makes so much sense to end the show when the world forever changed. Each season was a different epoch, but I don't think anything quite got the point across to me that history was forever changed by the advent of World War I than a single episode of a rather silly British Comedy.

While people were initially concerned that this series would trivialize the war it not only forged a closer connection and understanding to the war with viewers but it continued the honorable tradition of using humor to shine a light on the truth. Yes, who would have thought that a show based on sarcastic put-downs and sex jokes would show the true horrors of the war? It's not like there was precedence? Oh wait says 'Allo 'Allo, Dad's Army, F Troop, Hogan's Heroes, M*A*S*H*, McHale's Navy and others. Comedy is, in my opinion, the best way to understand a situation but also to make it bearable. Humor is healing. Just as I said when I read Nancy Mitford's Nazis satire, Wigs on the Green, by taking something scary and laughing at it we take away it's power. We memorialize while putting the pain in it's place. But Blackadder Goes Forth does so much more. I remember when I first watched this last episode I couldn't believe that a show that had made me laugh so hard could also make me cry so much. Could make me really care about the Great War. For all those history books I read and even for my love of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles for some reason I never got the human element, it was all larger than life. It was the humor that revealed the humans.

But it's the asides, the throwaway jokes that shed a light on what World War I was really like. You might laugh at Baldrick saying he's grateful for the new trench ladders because they had kindling for the first time in months, or how rat is what is on the menu, cooked in a variety of fashions that are all eerily similar, or drinking coffee that is actually just mud, but the truth was the war was full of privations and attrition. We may think of it now as beautiful fields of poppies and heroic men and women who gave their lives, but it was mud and diseases these heroes faced. Plus, the humor used doesn't just aid in understanding the war but in understanding how the soldiers probably survived. If they couldn't think like Blackadder and use a little dark humor now and again how could they survive without all going wooble? Just look at the terrifying thought of the flying squadron? The 'Twenty Minuters.' Called such not because of the length of a mission but because that was the average life expectancy of a new pilot. While this might be stretching the truth a little, it's not by much. Remember, the planes they fought in were mostly made of canvas!

The show also tackles the problem of the "old boys club" that was the military at the time. World War I was the last war where rank was almost solely decided by social ranking. The upper classes taking on the more senior leadership roles, no matter how inept they were. I mean, how messed up was it that you could buy your commission? Pompous, childish, incompetent, and rather dim we see this "club" in the interactions between George and Melchett who speak in their own weird language at the top of the ladder. George is even given a "get out of jail free card" when Melchett offers him the chance to leave the trench before the big push. George though isn't just of the "old boys club" he also embodies the idealistic young men who joined up in a group thinking they'd all be home for Christmas. George is in fact the last one left of the tiddlywinking leapfroggers. When he talks about all the others he joined up with, and their ludicrous nicknames, you see the idealism that was the start of the war. The fact that George has been able to hang onto that throughout is something of a miracle. That he didn't turn into a cynic like Blackadder just goes to show that the war was made up of many good men, of all different kinds, that did what had to be done, even if it seemed contrary to just walk at the guns, they did it for liberty and their loss will be forever felt.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Fall of Poppies, Blackadder, Blackadder Goes Forth, British Comedy, Hugh Laurie, Nancy Mitford, Red Dwarf, Rowan Atkinson, Stephen Fry, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, VHS, Wigs on the Green, WWI

Courtship and Curses (Leland Sisters Book 3) by Marissa Doyle
Published by: Square Fish
Publication Date: August 7th, 2012
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Sophie spent years dreaming of what it would be like to have her first season in London. Needless to say her daydreams were nothing like the reality her life has become. When the illness came no one could have guessed the toll it would take on the Rosier family. Sophie lost her mother, her sister, and the assurance of two strong limbs holding her up. She is now crippled and must rely on a cane to support her. Therefore spending months in ballrooms unable to dance escorted by her aunts isn't exactly what she hoped for. That doesn't even take the rumors into account. The fact that the ton has somehow gotten it into it's collective consciousness that she is some kind of malformed freak that can't string two words together, let alone form a sentence, is galling. At least if they see her their misconceptions should be fixed, shouldn't they? But for all that Sophie has endured nothing has cut her to the quick more than the loss of her magic. The illness that ravaged her body also took away what was most precious and secret to her. What's worse is that she has no one to turn to. Her mother taught her in secret, and with her mother gone who can she trust?

Soon Sophie's lack of magic is a major worry. Her father, Lord Lansell, is almost the victim of a tragic accident. The almost had nothing to do with Sophie but with the dashing Lord Woodbridge. In fact Sophie only made matters worse. But soon another "accident" leads Sophie to a startling discovery, many members of the War Office have been "attacked" in these seemingly random ways. Could a French Spy be using magic in order to undermine the British war effort against Napoleon? If this is the case Sophie needs her magic back more then ever! But protecting her father isn't the only thing occupying her time. Lord Woodbridge won't leave her alone. Sure she could see herself prior to her deformity falling for such a man, but that was before. What could he see in her now? As for his cousin Parthenope and her parakeet Hester, they have quickly become Sophie's trusted allies. So why can she trust Parthenope but can't trust her feelings for Lord Woodbridge? It is all too confusing and she really needs her mother. But perhaps Sophie will realize that even with a cane she can stand on her own two feet and make a contribution to the world.

This is THE Regency Magic book you've been waiting for in Marissa Doyle's series. While the first two books were lovely, being set during the time of Victoria they weren't so much Regency and therefore had a different, if still magical, writing style. Courtship and Curses though is all Regency all the time! Tangentially relating to the previous Leland sisters book by following Pen and Persy's mother, Parthenope, and her first season, there's a moral formal, more Jane Austen air to the writing that some people might find too stylized but which I reveled in. There's just something magical about books set during the Regency, whether they contain magic or not. Personally I would never want to do "the season" and as for paying house calls everyday? Spare me now. It's a world that I wouldn't ever necessarily want to live in, yet somehow these books about bygone days of balls and manners just draw me in. Now I don't want you thinking I'm not a connoisseur of this style, because I am. It takes a special kind of author and story to whisk me away and Marissa Doyle did an admirable job of providing me with the cheapest kind of time travel around.

Being fully back in the Regency means that we get war and Wellington. I kid you not that Wellington is one of my favorite characters to be portrayed fictionally. He was such a symbol of the time and such a lightning rod for the war with France that I seriously just want him at every ball being boisterous and opinionated. Of course I always picture Wellington as Stephen Fry from Blackadder and that doesn't hurt. But Marissa Doyle doesn't just use Wellington as a signifier for the war with France or even for comedic purposes, she uses him to show the actual danger that the war represents and also as a sort of catalyst for Sophie to embrace herself and her magic. This entire volume actually serves to remind us of the dangers of life during wartime. In the previous volumes everything that occurred was building to one great and dangerous event that would change everything. Here there is constant peril for members of the War Office. Attack after attack after attack. It's not that it just ups the suspense, it's that you feel the danger more. This isn't your typical Jane Austen with balls and courting, with officers only entering to show off their lovely uniforms. I would say that Marissa Doyle captures more of what Thackeray did with Vanity Fair. The harsh reality versus the rose-tinted glasses.

One of the harsh realities of war is prejudice. Of course this is something our heroine Sophie has had to face with her deformity. But during a war prejudice is pretty much universally shifted to the country that you are fighting, in this instance France. There are two prominent French characters in Courtship and Curses, Madame Carswell, the widow of Lord Lansell's oldest and dearest friend, and a confidant to Sophie, and the Comte de Carmouche-Ponthieux, a lost love of Sophie's Aunt Molly. Madame Carswell more than the Comte is the subject of much gossip, not just because she's French, but because she's a threat to those older women who want to get their claws into Lord Lansell. Sophie is wonderful in that she stands by her friends. She has known the evil glares of others and tries to protect those who protect her. Yet what I find most interesting is that in one of these two instances her trust actually isn't justified. Prejudices form for a reason, no matter how stupid, and while we should always fight it, sometimes, just sometimes the reason for them rears it's ugly head. And I like that Marissa Doyle doesn't make it so clear cut, because that isn't the way of the world. Not everyone we prejudge is deserving of exoneration, just as we should try to be less prejudiced. Life is full of these contradictions and to have both innocence and guilt shown goes to the heart of life's messiness. Plus, manipulating our prejudices does keep a story going.

Yet the heart of this book is Sophie. What really struck me about this book is that Sophie is a very different type of heroine. With her deformity she has a very different vantage point from anyone else. It's not just that she's more passive in society being relegated to the sidelines of the ballrooms and therefore sees more, it's that the way people viewed deformities during this time was so different that it would be so easy to think badly of yourself. Because deformities were thought to outwardly show an inner malignancy. That obviously Sophie's foot was because she had something very wrong with her, not that she was the victim of a serious illness she couldn't control, despite being a witch. Now most authors would use this set up to give us a "teaching moment" on what it means to be broken and to willingly accept our limitations, or how to overcome this, but thankfully that isn't what Marissa Doyle does at all. Instead we are shown Sophie's very real struggle and her inner turmoil that asks how can we be strong when we think ourselves crippled in mind or in body? Because it isn't the affliction it's the attitude that is important. So while we are "taught" that a positive attitude can overcome anything, we aren't "taught" it with a stick.

This goes even deeper when you look at the "good" and the "bad" people that surround Sophie. Being brought out in society by her Aunts, Sophie's Aunt Isobel is always telling her how lucky she'll be to get a second son with no prospects because of what she is. It's never about WHO she is, but WHAT. I can't help thinking about the analogy of being overweight. I was told my entire life that I was overweight. Looking back at pictures when I was younger I wasn't overweight in the least, yet I believed it. I believed it so much that I developed the mindset that this was something that would never change and therefore what I ate and how I took care of myself didn't matter and I did become overweight as a result. But I don't think that way anymore, or at least I try not to, and it's because of my friends. It's about surrounding yourself with good people, people who see who you are. People who boost you up and not drag you down. That is what Madame Carswell, Parthenope, and Lord Woodbridge do for Sophie. They make her realize that she is special. That she isn't defined by some outward feature that people can point at and laugh. That is why her magic returns. That and a stern talking to by Wellington. Sophie's magic is basically her self-esteem. She learns to love herself and therefore she is powerful. Now that is something we all need to remember!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Blackadder, Courtship and Curses, Deformity, France, Jane Austen, Leland Sisters, Magic, Marissa Doyle, Napoleon, Napoleonic War, Prejudice, Regency Magic, Self Esteem, Stephen Fry, Thackeray, Vanity Fair

Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
Published by: Back Bay Books
Publication Date: 1930
Format: Paperback, 322 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

"If you want to know why the Bright Young Things are remembered, here’s a large part of the answer. For all their essential silliness, they produced two great novelists, Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh, both of whom brilliantly chronicled that fleeting and self-reflective world. In Vile Bodies, we find all the excesses of the Bright Young People writ large.

There’s no better description of the Bright Young milieu than the one Waugh provides in Vile Bodies: “Masked parties, Savage parties, Victorian parties, Greek parties, Wild West parties, Russian parties, Circus parties, parties where one had to dress as somebody else, almost naked parties in St. John’s Wood, parties in flats and houses and shops and hotels and night clubs, in windmills and swimming baths….”

Waugh wrote as one who knew. He was a central member of the set. So, naturally, I couldn’t resist having him put in a cameo appearance in The Other Daughter…." - Lauren Willig

Adam Fenwick-Symes is returning from the continent having written his autobiography and remembering that he has a fiance back home in England, the lovely Nina Blount. On the channel crossing he is surrounded by an odd assortment of passengers, the oddest being the American, Mrs. Melrose Ape, who proselytizes with her "Angels." Sadly Adam's book is seized by customs as being unsavory and he therefore shows up at his publishers empty-handed and owing them a book or a return of his advance. He is able to do neither and re-signs with them under very onerous terms and calls Nina to say that they sadly cannot be married now. Nina insists they will eventually find a way and that that night's party is far more important and pressing at the moment. Adam's future goes from bright to bleak and back again in the blink of an eye. One day Nina's father gives him money to help the young couple, the next Adam realizes he was the butt of Colonel Blount's joke. Then Adam gets a job writing a gossip column with a steady paycheck, only to have Nina lose him the job because of a grave error in her judgement, which is always dictated by her "pains." They live a life that is penurious and luxurious all at once and if only the young couple could get married, but seeing as Nina is now engaged to Ginger Littlejohn, leaving Adam in the lurch, what is a bright young boy to do?

In my family the works of Evelyn Waugh began and ended with Brideshead Revisited. Yes, he obviously wrote other books, but to my family, and in particular my father, it didn't matter. We had copious copies of the book on many shelves. We had the complete miniseries on VHS, and eventually on DVD. We even had Aloysius with a dainty hairbrush in one of the bedrooms. I never really thought much of Evelyn Waugh beyond Brideshead Revisited, and then Stephen Fry came along to correct me. When my friend Huyen moved back to Wisconsin from D.C. and into her own apartment the two of us would quite frequently have movie nights. We'd rent all the girly and period films that our other friends refused to watch during our weekly knitting night. And yes, we had a knitting club, The FEKS, The Fine Eyes Knitting Society; we sneaked in our love of Austen by making it sound like a swear from Father Ted. The two of us would troupe across the street to the Family Video and pick out the movie of the week. We learned valuable lessons from I Capture the Castle, mainly that Henry Thomas grew up attractive and it's really creepy watching Mr. Collins ask anyone to dance even when he isn't Mr. Collins. From De-Lovely we learned that Cole Porter became trapped in a wheelchair because of meeting boys in fields for a little extra-martial fun. Horses are dangerous, yo. And from Bright Young Things we learned that Stephen Fry could make a movie that was not in the least memorable.

Bright Young Things, the adaptation of Vile Bodies, might be one of the least memorable films I have ever watched. Considering that the film is chock-a-block with my most favorite of British actors from Michael "Seriously How Hot Was He in Far From the Madding Crowd" Sheen to David "10th Doctor" Tennant I am shocked I don't remember more. In fact my only lasting impression was that Richard E. Grant was in a single scene. Yep, that is the sum total of my recollections of this film, a lack of Richard E. Grant. Stephen Fry is a gifted writer, so therefore it puzzled me as to why this movie was so forgettable. Now, having read Vile Bodies, I can see the fault was not in the adaptation but in the source material. The main problem is there is no plot to the book. I know many people in my book club would site the same problem in Brideshead Revisited, but there the language and the evocation on memory balance any deficit in plot. Vile Bodies was the second novel Evelyn Waugh had ever written and his lack of experience shows. He wasn't even thirty yet and his experience of the world was closed to this vibrant, but cloistered, society. The book is nothing more then in-jokes, a 20s roman à clef, that leaves you with a feeling that you had to be there to appreciate the joke.

The aspect that most rang true to me and I think explains a lot about this cloistered culture is the appropriateness of the quote at the beginning of the book from Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. When you fall into the world of these Bright Young People you never quite know what's going on, there are parties with no rules, parties with costumes, parties where you come as other people, it's all rushing and talking and drinking, a headlong rush to just keep moving. Because if you don't keep moving you don't just stand still, you fall behind as Carroll logic would have it. So when you first pick up this book it's all unattributed dialogue and just words slamming against you and you're trying to fight it, you're trying to make this book work and fit in a traditional sense. But that's not what the culture was about, it was about being different and going with this new flow. When the characters all get in a car and head off to the races it somehow all clicks. The unattributed dialogue and the confusion works. You, like Alice, have fallen down the rabbit hole, if only you had realized it earlier you could have given up the struggle and just let it wash over you. Vile Bodies isn't written to make sense, it's written to capture this feeling, this moment in time. It's like you're at a party and only catch bits and pieces of conversation, but that's all you ever had the chance of catching. Grab what you can but keep moving forward in a headlong rush because this lost generation is all about the Alice mentality.   

But even in this confusing morass of gibberish that never had a chance in a million years of attaining the studied and superb insanity of Lewis Carroll you catch glimpses of Waugh's genius to come. The newspaper that Adam Fenwick-Symes occasionally works for is one of the successes of the novel. Waugh catches the humor inherent in the hypocrisy of people basically reporting on themselves, which should come as no surprise because it's actually a job Waugh had for a short while. Though he takes it further making it more commentary then the drivel that makes up the rest of the book. By having the columnists not even write on real people he gives us an insight into the shallowness of the times, both of the reading public and the Bright Young People themselves. The fake articles are hilarity and a bright spot in a rather plodding and dull book. Though by far my favorite character was Nina's father, Colonel Blount. With his inability to remember Adam, his love of films, and his gleefully putting out the Vicar he was the embryo of who would become one of Waugh's most memorable characters, Edward "Ned" Ryder, the father of Charles in Brideshead Revisited. Edward Ryder is one of the most well written and comedic of characters ever to be set in print, always bemoaning Cousin Melchior, and brought to amazing life by Sir John Gielgud. So if Vile Bodies had to be written just so we could one day have Brideshead Revisited, I guess it's an acceptable bargain.

Though I have to protest the "Angels!" Good god damn, seriously!?! I really don't quite know what to say about them, other then they really don't fit in this book. Were they there as some latent Waugh religiosity that would take over later in life? Because I don't feel like Waugh would have openly mocked Catholicism, so we're not laughing at them? Or are we? What's going on? Or is it a parody on Americans? Or hypocrites? I mean, the rest of the book all fits together, clashes of the young and the old, parodies of the language and lifestyle of the times and then some random Bible-thumpers. It kind of gives Vile Bodies a creepiness that isn't warranted by anything else in the book, well, maybe excepting the two rather precipitous deaths. And I really think if this had been stressed in the movie I would have remembered it. Yes, Waugh and religion go together, but they go together in his more mature, thoughtful work. This is supposed to be fun, right? So why bring in these weird religious figures? But I think my confusion isn't just me. Waugh, as the book went on, seemed to be unsure if his book was actually light and comedic. In the course of writing it he went through a divorce and the second half is decidedly darker culminating in a world war. Perhaps the angels are an outward manifestation of the crossroads Waugh had reached and where he was going to go. That or I'm just trying to justify a book that doesn't live up to what the author was capable of.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alice in Wonderland, Brideshead Revisited, Bright Young Things, David Tennant, Evelyn Waugh, I Capture the Castle, Jazzy July, Lauren Willig, Michael Sheen, Stephen Fry, The Other Daughter, Vile Bodies