The Comfort of Ghosts

August 24, 2024 / Book Girl / Leave a comment

The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear

The final, nostalgic, Maisie Dobbs mystery is set in England after World War II. The first book was set over 30 years earlier when Maisie was a young teen, beginning work as a maid, then going on to be a nurse in World War I. Now Maisie is married to an American, has a daughter and an Alsatian dog, and works as a psychologist and investigator. Her current case has ties to her youth, and is connected to four teens she finds squatting in a vacant mansion along with a very ill soldier who’s just returned to England from east Asia.

Priscilla, while facing some challenges, is still Maisie’s best friend, and Maisie’s father, stepmother, and former mother-in-law all live nearby. Many connected strands of plot and Maisie’s past need to be untangled, and both Maisie and her long-time coworker Billy have need of advice. I found this to be a very satisfying read. A friend commented that there are too many coincidences in this mystery, and I agree. It feels like the author wanted to connect as many of her characters as she could within the covers of this final book. The first book is titled Maisie Dobbs.

Brenda

A Daughter of Fair Verona

August 20, 2024 / Book Girl / Leave a comment

A Daughter of Fair Verona by Christina Dodd

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this historical rom com, set 20 years after the events of Romeo & Juliet. In this version, Romeo and Juliet have a different ending, and are raising a family in Verona. Oldest child Rosaline is almost 20 and still unmarried. She’s had a few fiancés, but has matched them with other young ladies. Then Duke Stephano, widowed multiple times, encounters Rosie and wants to marry her, even without a dowry. Rosie is enamored of fair Lysander, who climbs into the Montague compound with a special ladder, and they have a few humorous encounters. Then there’s the scarred Prince Escalus, who’s raising his young sister, Princess Isabelle. Rosie’s whole family likes Isabelle, and she enjoys their lively and boisterous household, with loving parents. Many women are attracted to Romeo, but he only has eyes for his Juliet, who is pregnant, again. Romeo still has a temper, as does Rosie.

Rosie spends time at the apothecary shop run by Friar Laurence, escorted by her formidable Nurse. They all go to the scene when a young man is poisoned, and later find another apothecary dead. Rosie is soon suspected of murder and needs to clear her name lest she be sent to a nunnery, so she investigates. The investigation makes this novel a mystery, but it’s mostly a family story set in Verona with some romance and quite a lot of humor. I enjoyed the setting and the characters, and look forward to a planned sequel. The recipe for Juliet’s fruit and nut bread is available on the author’s website, here.

Brenda

The Lost Story

August 17, 2024 / Book Girl / Leave a comment

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

This portal fantasy novel was inspired by C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, but Shanandoah does not feel like Narnia to me. Shanandoah is a magical land that can only be reached through the Red Crow Forest in West Virginia.

Emilie is grieving for her adoptive mother then learns that she has a half-sister, Shannon, who went missing in the Red Crow Forest many years ago. Two teen boys, Jeremy and Rafe, also went missing in the forest but were found several months later. Both adults now, Rafe has no memories of these months while Jeremy searches for missing women and children.

Emilie, Jeremy, and Rafe go into the forest, and predictably, end up in Shanandoah. While delightfully magical, it’s also filled with grave dangers. Rafe learns that he put his memories into a book before leaving Shanandoah, and doesn’t remember that he and Jeremy were in love. Emilie has always found music magical. She talks a lot, especially when she’s nervous, and has a pet rat named Fritz (which I thought was sweet, as I had a pet rat named Rosemary when I was a girl). They find Emilie’s sister, who’s welcoming to everyone, even Fritz.

Shanandoah is not very much like West Virginia, and Emilie never wants to leave. But Rafe’s Mom will miss him if he stays. In this resemblance to Narnia, Rafe and Jeremy learn that if they leave, they can never return to Shanandoah, or at least not unless the storyteller (and narrator) can write them back in a sequel. An engaging and compelling read, but not a cozy fantasy. I also enjoyed the author’s earlier novel, The Wishing Game.

Brenda

The Spellshop

August 13, 2024August 12, 2024 / Book Girl / Leave a comment

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

If cozy fantasy is your jam, you’re sure to enjoy this book. Lots of jam is made and consumed in this novel, mostly raspberry jam. Librarian Kiela and her assistant Caz flee Alyssium during a rebellion when fire reaches the library. They take five crates of spellbooks down the lift to a sailboat and head for the islands.

Caz is an enchanted spider plant with great penmanship. Kiela sails to a remote island where she was born, and finds that her parents’ clifftop cottage is still vacant. Introverted Kiela soon meets baker Bryn and her friendly neighbor Larran, who tends the merhorses who help the local fishermen. There are also mermaids, winged cats, a harpist with four arms, and a cactus. Kiela has blue skin, blue hair, and magenta freckles. This is lovely cottagecore, but with lots of drama, including some suspicious islanders, dangerous storms, an imperial inspector, and the uncertainty of trying new spells. Kiela and Caz would love to stay in her cottage, now with multi-colored custom shelves for the jam and spellbooks thanks to Larran, but can they? This is a compelling and entertaining read. Readalikes include Shanna Swendson’s Tea and Empathy or Bread and Burglary in her Tales of Rydding Village series.

Brenda

Welcome to Glorious Tuga

August 10, 2024 / Book Girl / Leave a comment

Welcome to Glorious Tuga by Francesca Segal

The fictional south Atlantic island of Tuga de Oro is inaccessible to ships for several months every year. Island Open Day is a cause for celebration, as it brings ships with long waited cargo, FFA (folk from away) and returning Tugans. Seasick Charlotte Walker arrives at Island Close, which is celebrated with fireworks. Charlotte is a young vet who is spending a year on Tuga to study gold coin tortoises. Tugan Dr. Dan Zekri is returning so his Uncle Saul can retire. At the same time, a mother leaves the island for a job and an 11-year-old is headed to boarding school. The family connections are a bit bewildering at first to Charlotte (the reader has a list of characters and how they’re related), but she gets a warmer welcome than Dr. Dan, especially when she is willing to use her veterinary skills as well as research the tortoises. Next comes Katie, a physiotherapist who’s more in love with island life than her Tugan sweetheart. Secrets, dramas, history, and the gorgeous island itself are all part of the storyline. This is a vivid, compelling read that is hard to put down.

Brenda

The Editor

August 6, 2024August 4, 2024 / Book Girl / Leave a comment

The Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America by Sara B. Franklin

Editor Judith Jones lived to be 93 and didn’t retire from Knop until she was 85. She edited many, many books and enjoyed many lunches with her authors. A couple of years in Paris as a young adult just after World War II inspired a love of food, cooking, and travel. Judith joined Knopf when it was rare for a woman to work in publishing as anything other than a secretary. When she became an editor, she worked very long hours, and became known as a passionate editor with a firm but delicate touch. She specialized in editing literary fiction, poetry, and food writing.

She married Dick Jones and they lived in New York City and Vermont. Dogs, swimming, music, poetry, and books filled their days. Infertility was a lifelong grief, though two stepchildren and later two older foster children expanded their family. Julia Child, Claudia Roden, Edna Lewis, and James Beard were some of the authors she worked with on bestselling cookbooks. The changing tastes in America for food and cookbooks is a major theme in this book. Also, quite a lot about being an underpaid woman in publishing, as well as growing old gracefully. Quite an interesting read, especially for foodies or avid cooks.

Brenda

The Husbands

August 2, 2024 / Book Girl / Leave a comment

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

Londoner Lauren is a little drunk after Elena’s hen party, and is very startled to find a strange man on the stair landing of her duplex. The man turns out to be her husband, Michael. Her flat looks a bit different than she remembers and the fridge is stocked with grapefruit water. Neighbor Toby knows Michael, but Lauren is single. She fakes a cold and Michael sleeps in the spare room. When he goes up to the attic to replace a light bulb, a different husband comes down. Lauren’s attic seems to have a supply of husbands! This is a completely ridiculous plot, but makes for a fun, compelling summer read.

Lauren is sure of a few things. She is friends with Toby and Elena. Her sister Natalie is married with two little kids. But when a new husband comes downstairs to the flat, there are changes, like the paint color, art work, or furniture in their flat. And sometimes other things are different. One husband is very cross; she has trouble getting him back in the attic. Jason is very nice, but her job has completely changed. Lauren learns to look at photos and messages on her phone to see if she likes her life, her job, and her relationships. Sometimes Lauren doesn’t like herself at all, and neither does the reader. Often, she calls off sick from work or buys things not in her budget, because everything will reset the next time. Then a couple of exes come back. Is Lauren the only one with an attic like that? I wondered why she doesn’t move away. Will she ever find what she’s looking for?

After a while, Lauren gets desperate and makes some very bad choices. But finally, she learns from her experiences and the ending is unexpected and dramatic. This book is hard to put down and would make a great movie, with lots of cameo parts for men. Try reading this novel and not talking about it; I certainly couldn’t. The author is from Australia and lives in London. A game designer, this is her first novel. I’m fascinated to see what she writes next.

Brenda

How to Age Disgracefully

July 29, 2024 / Book Girl / Leave a comment

How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley

I liked Pooley’s book The Authenticity Project and enjoyed a recent book discussion of Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting, so I was eager to read this British novel with an ensemble cast.

Daphne is turning 70 and rarely leaves her apartment. A dog named Maggie Thatcher needs a new home, or homes. Ziggy is a teen dad to toddler Kylie. Lydia, struggling with hot flashes at 54, starts a part-time job at a London community center, leading a new social club for seniors. Art, a bit actor is bored, and brings his photographer friend William along. Ruby knits and knits. When the community center needs expensive repairs, the local council considers selling the building to developers. The senior club and the daycare, along with a group of pregnant women and people in recovery all band together to try and save the building. There is an unusual joint nativity play, some clever yarn bombing, and Maggie Thatcher is entered into a competition on a TV show. The seniors also trail Lydia’s husband, deal with Ziggy’s local bully, and find lost family members, as well as uncover Daphne’s very big secret. This is a funny, moving, and entertaining read with bighearted and realistic middle-aged and older characters.

Brenda

Moon Shot

July 26, 2024July 25, 2024 / Book Girl / Leave a comment

Moon Shot: A NASA Astronaut’s Guide to Achieving the Impossible by Mike Massimino

This book is an excellent combination of memoir and motivational writing. Mike applied to be a NASA astronaut three times, and failed. The third time he was close, but his vision wasn’t quite good enough. He was prescribed eye exercises by an optometrist, and managed to get accepted. Then he found out he needed to pass a long-distance swim test and a lifesaving test, and Mike didn’t swim as well as his 3-year-old. When he became part of the Astronaut Candidate group in 1996, he learned that a large part of their training was about team work, so the stronger swimmers spent time giving tips to Mike and the other weak swimmers.

Massimino, a mechanical engineer nicknamed Mass, was on two space shuttle missions to repair the Hubble telescope. His first trip to space was on Columbia, 11 months before its terrible accident. Mike writes about being a CapCom, talking with the astronauts stranded on the International Space Station after the Columbia accident, checking on their families, and talking them through basic station maintenance, as if they were doing weekend chores back home. He learned from astronauts like Alan Bean, who flew to the moon in Apollo 12. Some of his lessons from NASA that can apply to anyone’s life include: be amazed, build trust, accept ideas from your whole team, go slow and don’t make your mistakes worse. Ask for help, and learn from your mistakes. There are funny scenes and dramatic moments, in a compelling read from from someone who clearly loved working for NASA. Mike later appeared as himself on The Big Bang Theory, and is now a professor and public speaker.

Brenda