A Work in Progress

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is one of my favorite short stories.  It's only one story of a larger collection found in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories or, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.  According to the introduction, "Washington Irving is believed by many to have created the genre of short story in America, mixing superstition and history, the European tradition of fairy tales and folktales, and local Indian legends.  The often humorous and ironic tone in these stories, which is the familiar form of legend, is woven into a tapestry with the very real corporeal world."   Irving's story is wonderfully descriptive and atmospheric.  The perfect story to read when there is a chill in the air, fallen leaves beneath your feet and Halloween just around the corner.  I'm glad that I saved it for last in my short story reads for Carl's RIP Challenge, as today is just the perfect day--overcast, cool, and leaves swirling about.   I'm only too happy to be snuggled up under a blanket reading about poor Ichabod Crane and his misadventures.

Although I don't recollect ever having read the story when I was young (have since read it as an adult however several years ago), it is one of those fables that seems to be told to every school child at some point in their education.  The story is set in a Dutch settlement in New York state called Sleepy Hollow. Surely everyone has heard of the Headless Horseman who lost his head to a cannonball in the Revolutionary War and haunts Sleepy Hollow?  Priggish school master, Ichabod Crane, teaches the school children in this tiny glen, where ghost stories and tall tales are ubiquitous. 

"Another of his sources of fearful pleasure was, to pass long winter evenings with the old Dutch wives, as they sat spinning by the fire, with a row of apples roasting and spluttering along the hearth, and listen to their marvellous tales of ghosts and goblins, and haunted fields, and haunted brooks, and haunted bridges, and haunted houses, and particularly of the headless horseman, or galloping Hessian of the Hollow, as they sometimes called him."

He falls for the lovely Katrina Van Tassel, a wealthy farmer's daughter.  I wasn't sure which attracted him more--Katrina's beauty, or the bounteous farm she would inherit (his stomach seemed to know no depths).  His rival for her affections, Brom Bones, is "the hero of the country round, which rang with his feats of strength and hardihood".  When Ichabod disappears near the bridge to the Old Dutch Church after a dance at Van Tassel's farm, where the Headless Horseman is known to make his nightly run, it's uncertain just who he met.  The morning after only Ichabod's horse, Gunpowder, is found without its bridle and the remains of a smashed pumpkin on the road at the entrance to the bridge.

I found the descriptions of Ichabod highly amusing.  For those who have read Don Quixote you might see a few things in common between Ichabod and the famous knight.  Here he is contemplating how to woo the fair Katrina. 

"From the moment Ichabod laid his eyes upon these regions of delight, the peace of his mind was at an end, and his only study was how to gain the affections of the peerless daughter of Van Tassel. In this enterprise, however, he had more real difficulties than generally fell to the lot of a knight-errant of yore, who seldom had anything but giants, enchanters, fiery dragons, and such like easily conquered adversaries, to contend with and had to make his way merely through gates of iron and brass, and walls of adamant to the castle keep, where the lady of his heart was confined; all which he achieved as easily as a man would carve his way to the centre of a Christmas pie; and then the lady gave him her hand as a matter of course. Ichabod, on the contrary, had to win his way to the heart of a country coquette, beset with a labyrinth of whims and caprices, which were forever presenting new difficulties and impediments; and he had to encounter a host of fearful adversaries of real flesh and blood, the numerous rustic admirers, who beset every portal to her heart, keeping a watchful and angry eye upon each other, but ready to fly out in the common cause against any new competitor."

This is an absolutely wonderful short story.  It sounds as though it is an imaginative creation based on a few local occurrences, and I read that "it is among the earliest American fiction still read today".  You can read the story online here.   And click on over to Book Snob as Rachel recently visited Sleepy Hollow and has shared photos of the sleepy little town.  You can just imagine the peace being broken on a crisp, dark night as a galloping black horse rockets down the road--head in hand.

Other stories read for the RIP Challenge: Miriam by Truman Capote, Sophy Mason Comes Back by E.M. Delafield, Sloane Square by Pamela Hansford Johnson, Voices in the Coal Bin by Mary Higgins Clark and Computer Séance by Ruth Rendell, Reality or Delusion by Mrs. Henry Wood, and The Lady's Maid's Bell by Edith Wharton, Doctor Hood by Stephen Gallagher, and The Tower by Marghanita Laski.  I also read Agatha Christie's Endless Night but will write about it sometime later this week.  Many thanks to Carl for once again arranging the RIP Challenge.

October 29: Reading Notes

I had planned to post about Agatha Christie's Endless Night today, but as I only finished it last night I'll wait and write about it properly next week.  I will only say: tricky, tricky Agatha.  I read it for Carl's RIP Challenge.  I had hoped to also finish Wilkie Collins's No Name as well, but I ran into a few snags.  Happily I am back on track and trying to read a bit daily but obviously won't manage to finish by Halloween this Sunday.  Still, all in all I think I did pretty well for the challenge--one novel read and a short story every Sunday.  I plan on wrapping things up this weekend with Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", a story I read several years ago and have wanted to read again. 

I had hit a lull in No Name, which made it easy to set it aside for something else, but the story is getting juicy once again.  I think I've mentioned it is a story about illegitimacy.  When Magdalen and Norah lose their parents within weeks of each other, their fortune is willed away due to an oversight.  Already a few mysteries have been revealed in the story in Wilkie Collins's inimitable way.  Independent-minded Magdalen is determined to set wrongs right and has left the protection of her older sister and governess.  There's this wonderfully maddening character called Captain Wragge, who I am somewhat confused by.  He is in some way related to the Vanstones, but mostly he is a rogue and swindler.  He is helping Magdalen insomuch as he is helping himself.  If she once again comes into her money, than so does he.  He'll bribe, lie and manipulate to reach his goal and he'll happily betray Magdalen along the way.  But if you've read Wilkie Collins, you'll know his heroines are made of tougher stuff and I have faith in Magdalen that she'll look after herself just fine!

This weekend discussion begins on May Sarton's The Small Room, a book I enjoyed immensely.  The novel has an academic setting and relates the story of a teacher's first year at an all-women's college when she is confronted with a brilliant student who is caught plagiarizing a paper.  You'd think it would be fairly cut and dry, but Sarton gives you much to think about and a variety of perspectives.  I'll also be writing about that (and hope I can do it justice), but my post will be a little tardy as I try to squeeze everything in this weekend.  I have several books to write about and I am very slow when it comes to writing about just one (instead of the nice and breezy way I do in posts like this). 

On the top of  my reading pile right now is Carolyn Hougan's The Romeo Flag, as it is an ILL book that needs to be returned in about a week.  It's longish but easy reading.  I'm venturing into the espionage genre, something I've wanted to do for a long time now.   This is probably as good a place to start as any, though I have a growing pile of books to choose from.  The Romeo Flag was published in the 1980s, but has since been reissued by Felony and Mayhem Press (they are also reissuing Margery Allingham's Albert Campion mysteries that I am slowly collecting and reading).  It feels very much a product of its time--the protagonist goes to aerobics classes and has a daughter suffering from anorexia and bulimia.  The politics of the day is all Carter and Reagan, Iran and Iraq and arms dealing.  Now I know all these topics are just as pertinent (well, except talk of current political administrations), but it just feels very 80s.  Someone is going to pull on a pair of leg warmers at any moment.  The story moves quickly from one perspective to the next and the cast of characters seems to be growing.  What happens is a trunk belonging to the protagonist's parents was sent from Shanghai to America via Britain and is only arriving some forty years later.  Inside the trunk are diaries from the war period, a priceless Fabergé egg and family photographs.  Nicola ward is going to get caught up in the CIA's investigation of Russian spies--there are moles and double agents and dead bodies popping up and at the heart of things are the contents of her trunk which may just prove deadly.  All great fun and adventure.

I've been wanting to read some diaries and this week decided I would start reading Anaïs Nin's diaries from start to finish, which is from roughly 1914-1977!  I had thought I should read Virginia Woolf (and I will at some point), who is a well known diarist, but she is such a formidable woman, somehow Anaïs Nin just seems more approachable to me at the moment.  My library has most of the set, which runs into about eleven volumes between the early diaries and her more adult diaries.  I know that she edited and rewrote her diaries and portrayed a particular persona to the world, and that's okay, I still want to read them.  Her early diaries, from what I've read, were printed more or less as is, with no tinkering to them.  She's only about twelve when they start.  The thing is I always want to read before I go to bed, but almost always I am too tired to read a full chapter of a book.  Diaries are the perfect format.  A few short entries before bed--perfect reading.  This will be a long term sort of read, so we'll see how I get on with them.  I've always been fascinated by her, and now I'll get to learn more.

One last note.  Last weekend I watched a movie that scared me silly.  This week I have on the agenda a Doris Day movie!  You can't get much more frothy than that.  Her movies are pure comfort, and I need something a little less visual (well, in a spooky way) and more fun and light!

Have a great Halloween weekend everyone.

Thinking About Emma Bovary (Part One)

I suspect that a good number of readers who are participating in the readalong that Frances organized for Flaubert's Madame Bovary might well be posting about the third and final part of the book this week.  Much as expected I am trailing along behind, reading at a leisurely pace, and am just now finishing part one.  I don't mind and am enjoying basking in Flaubert's beautifully descriptive prose and it brings to the fore just how good books can be and what heights an author can achieve. 

When I read Madame Bovary a few years back I was very sympathetic towards Emma, despite her many shortcomings.  What do you do when you discover the life you wanted to have, hoped to have, turns out to be unsatisfactory?  Surely that is a question that many of us must ask and the dissatisfaction Emma feels is palpable.  It ripples through the pages.  She's practically given away by her father, being of little use to him on his farm and Charles is a reasonably successful doctor--all in all not a bad catch.  How many options were open to a young woman of middle class of that period?  Educated in a convent and exposed to romantic novels by a spinster who would spend time there, her world is formed by images of "English ladies with blond curls" riding in carriages through the park or "dreaming on sofas beside an unopened letter".  She envisions palm trees, or perhaps tigers, or  maybe even Roman ruins.  Life set against an exotic or at least romanticized backdrop.  And she ends up with an unambitious, though kind-hearted, country doctor.  He means well, but he can't compete.  To him Emma is all dainty elegance and to her Charles is a bit of a bumpkin.  

Imagining is one thing, but then being exposed to the real thing only fuels her discontent.  Emma thrives when she and Charles are invited to a party at a nearby château--yet again another happy patient of Charles's, much like Emma's father, rewards him with some special gift.  Mingling with the gentry is what Emma has dreamed of and she shines at it--a social success. 

"The night was dark.  A few drops of rain were falling.  She breathed in the damp wind, which cooled her eyelids.  The music of the dance was still humming in her ears, and she made an effort to stay awake in order to prolong the illusion of this luxurious life that she would soon have to leave behind."

"The first light of dawn appeared.  She looked at the windows of the château for a long time, trying to guess which were the rooms of all those people she had observed the night before.  She would have liked to know what their lives were like, to enter into them, to become a part of them."

But she doesn't become a part of them.  She and Charles leave in the morning and return to their normal and unexciting lives.  Charles has his work and Emma has?  She has her fantasies.  Her subscriptions to Parisian magazines.  The running of her small household.  There's nothing worse than being unhappy in your situation.  Life can feel oppressive and you feel as though you wish you could walk out of your skin you're so restless.  Contentment is not an easy thing to achieve and if you've felt the unbearable weight of unhappiness pressing down...well, taking that next step away from your real (maybe empty) life might not be so surprising.  Perhaps what Emma will do is not admirable, but it is certainly human. 

So the stage has been set and now Emma is faced with the rest of her life, as well as the anticipation of a child.   Onwards to part two.

A Kind of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth

Jenn Ashworth's A Kind of Intimacy is absolutely brilliant.  It is easily one of the best books I've read all year.  I've already mentioned it in passing, and once I explain what the story is about you might well raise an eyebrow over my choice, but Ashworth knows how to tell a cracking good story.  You can gage my enthusiasm for it by recalling how it usurped Wilkie Collins's place in my reading queue.  Ashworth is compared to Ruth Rendell on the cover, which in my eyes is a heavy selling point.  In this case she deserves all the kudos and comparisons she gets.  Not only does Ashworth write in the same vein as Rendell with her razor sharp psychological insights but her story is really well written and tautly plotted.  She moves around in time seamlessly, and trust me, by the time you've finished reading it's like a "pop" between the eyes.

I don't often feel quite the gamut of emotions about a character as I did reading A Kind of Intimacy.  Annie Fairhurst is the narrator and she shares, very intimately you might say, the events of her recent and earlier past.  By turns I felt sympathy, pity, amusement, anger, mistrust, fear and even shock by her behavior.  As Annie tells her story you can't help but listen even though it is a little painful, and eventually you become so caught up in it all that you have to keep turning pages (with the odd titter, blush, and even unblinking wide eyes) until the dramatic end.

How many Annie's are out there in the world?  She's only looking for "a little gentleness"--just like humans need food and water so too do they need gentleness.  A fresh start is what Annie needs and after an unsatisfying foray into the realm of wife and mother-hood she's ready to move on to greener pastures.  She actually doesn't go far before she finds a nice house, a duplex with a garden, in a quiet suburban neighborhood filled with families and young professionals.  All in all a nice place to settle down and start anew and begin new friendships.   Annie's not going into her new life unarmed.  She brings with her a pile of tried and tested self help books and so is ready for any situation. 

"'When stressed or upset, take time out to pamper yourself as you'd imagine a lover would.  Self-care is the key to self-esteem, and an afternoon spent within the warm embrace of a bubble bath is never an afternoon wasted.  Let the hot water run and watch those negative feelings dissolve away in the steam!'"

"That is a quotation from the opening chapter of Loving Yourself, Loving Another: Self Esteem for the Independent Woman and I still know it off by heart.  Most of my favourite books have been written by professionals: the top experts in their fields.  Even when I was living through my blackest hours and doubted the efficacy of a new lipstick or a bottle of nail polish, I deferred to the judgement of university experts and made the purchase, trusting in the advice of someone who knew enough about the topic to make a living writing books about it."

With advice like that it's no wonder Annie's behavior is misguided to say the least.  I should mention a few things about Annie.  She's obese and not particularly good in social situations.  Her mother died when she was a young girl and her father was somewhat inept in the child rearing department particularly with a young girl with a weight problem.  Sensitivity is not his strong suit.  Annie struggled and did her best, but you know how sometimes children fall between the cracks.  It's no surprise she took up the first romantic offer to come her way in order to get out of her situation, but with a man so many years her senior it's also no wonder the marriage didn't succeed.  At the very beginning of the novel Annie drops hints that neither husband nor daughter will be joining her at her new residence.  The story Annie tells about her life tends to change depending on who she is talking to and what she wants out of them.  She can be untrustworthy, manipulative and even a little self-delusional.  As a matter of fact Annie believes her next door neighbor, who has shown her small kindnesses but also has a very pretty young live-in girlfriend, is secretly in love with her.  So Annie is willing to do what she must to make sure this new relationship gets off to a good start.

I don't like to give too much away as this is a story best allowed to unfurl before the reader's eyes.  Ashworth dangles many a tasty morsel in front of the reader of Annie's sordid past but always knows just when to give over the goods and when to wait just a little bit longer.  I was more intrigued than anything else when it came to a character like Annie, she's certainly one of the more interesting creations I've come across in a really long time.  As disturbing as the things she did were, I couldn't quite condemn her, as she never really realized that she was doing anything wrong.  Ashworth is a worthy heir to Ruth Rendell--lucky for us.  I couldn't (and didn't want) to put this one down!

Many thanks to Europa Editions for sending this one my way.  I'll definitely be watching for more by Jenn Ashworth.

A Tuesday Mishmash

I debated with myself whether or not to share this photo as I am sure I am going to appear more than a little bookishly obsessed.  I will admit it.  I am addicted to books.  I've already mentioned how little self-control I've had this year in terms of reading.  I think this stems in part from my book buying ban, which in turn has meant more library book borrowing.  Add that to a general wish to read everything I set my eyes on and, well, here we are. 

I've not actually started all these books (above photo are the books in the reading queue), and I am not likely to finish them all by the end of the year, but I'm going to do my best to try and read/finish as many of them as I can before the year comes to a close.  A few are books for readalongs, several are library books that I've requested through interlibrary loan (I always feel more pressure to finish those books that came from libraries outside of my state), one is an 'obligation' read, but mostly they are just books that I've picked up along the way because they sounded so good and I couldn't wait to read them.  A few will definitely be carried over to next year, a few more might end up back on my shelves and a number of these are actually partially or mostly read and I hope to finish them soon.  Perhaps I'll share another photo at the end of the year or beginning of the next and see how badly well I've done.

So, I guess this is my naughty bookish secret.  What's yours? 

Library Loot for the End of October

I really need a vacation.  Even a staycation would not be a bad thing if I could sleep in, read books and relax (and not think of all the leaves piling up in my back yard that I keep wishing away).  The long Thanksgiving weekend here is only a little over a month away, but the bad thing is as soon as that comes so do the rest of the holidays, none of which I've given much thought to and am not ready for.  Usually in the fall I start working my way through the pile of books on my nightstand and trying to finish what I have started (and not starting anything new), so I can begin the New Year fresh, but this year I seem to have thrown away any bit of self-control I might have in terms of books.  And here I am with yet another pile of library books--a couple I've already started and one or two I might just take back sooner than later.

I liked Gillian Galbraith's Dying of the Light enough to make me look for her first Alice Rice mystery, Blood in the Water, and I'm glad I did.  The questions I had are now being filled in and I am getting more of a sense of what Alice is really like.  I guess Scottish crime novels are my new thing as I also discovered Karen Campbell and have her first book, The Twilight Time, to try.  She's another 'new to me author', but her name came up when I was reading about Gillian Galbraith.  To round things out I have Ian Rankin's Let It Bleed, as so many people have suggested I try his books.  Rankin has so many books I wasn't sure where to start, but then I saw Judith and Katrina were reading Let It Bleed so decided I would join in as well.

Last week I finished reading Lynne Reid Banks's The L-Shaped Room, which I loved and will write about soon, and Penelope Mortimer's name came up as someone to read next, so now I have The Pumpkin Eater, which I see is being reissued by NYRB Classics next spring.  The description of the book reads in part, "Her sometimes savage style, her unerring ability to touch our guilts and fears, and her penetrating, perfectly controlled style were never more marvellously employed than in this superb book."

In my hot little hands I now have a copy of Emma Donoghue's Room, and behind me wait something like 115 other readers who also want it.  I was so excited about it when I was waiting for my turn, but now that I have it, my desire has disappeared.  I started reading, since this is not one that I'll be able to renew, and I think I'm just really not in the mood for a book narrated by a five year old boy.  I've heard wonderful things about the book, even from people who didn't think they'd like it.  So, now do I press on as this is my chance and otherwise I won't see a copy until next year sometime since the line seems to get longer and longer?  Or do I return it early and let the next person have a go at it?  Dilemmas!

And last but not least is yet another crime novel, and this time from Japan.  Villain by Shuichi Yoshida is an award winning novel about the murder of a young woman.  "From desolate seaside towns and lighthouses to love hotels and online chat rooms, Villain reveals the inner lives of men and women who all have something to hide.  Part police procedural, part gritty realism, Villain is a coolly seductive story of loneliness and alienation in the southernmost reaches of Japan."

So, do you see why I need some vacation time?   

The Tower by Marghanita Laski

Before I talk about the short story I read this weekend (actually another reread), I have to share with you a movie that I watched last night.  It fits in well with the RIP Challenge and an earlier discussion about scary stories (hard to achieve) vs. scary movies.   I've yet to come across any stories that have been really frightening, though I think I am contented with atmosphere and a good twist at the end.  Now movies are another thing entirely, and The Broken directed by Sean Ellis, literally scared the socks off me.  I am probably every horror film director's dream as I have a vivid imagination and any movie that provides just enough story and leaves it up to the viewer to fill in the rest, well I'm happy to provide the rest.  I came across this movie purely by chance.  If you're familiar with Netflix, when you add a movie to your queue a box pops up that gives more movie suggestions, and this was one of those suggestions.  I was messing about with my queue and this ended up at the top, but I had no real idea what it was about--other than a story of suspense.     

I won't give away the ending of the movie, but in order to talk about it, I will have to give away a little of the plot, so you might want to skip this paragraph and go to the next if you think you might watch it.  The Broken is a movie that doesn't give a concrete explanation of the events that occur and the ending is pretty ambivalent.  (Possible Spoilers).  This is a story of doppelgangers, which I find really fascinating, but I wouldn't want to meet a doppelganger like the ones in this movie.  On a busy London street a woman spots someone driving a car who is her absolute twin.  She follows this woman back to the woman's apartment and discovers a photo there of her and her father, but she has no recollection of it ever being taken and doesn't understand why it is in the woman's apartment.  Later when she is driving home she has a head on collision with another car and loses her memory.  She becomes confused and disoriented believing that the people around her aren't their real selves.  They look the same but don't act the same.  I should mention a scene at the beginning where Gina, the woman who spots her twin, is celebrating her father's retirement.  During the party a large mirror falls from the wall and shatters, and the guests joke about seven years bad luck.  The sort of luck they're going to have is worse than bad.  Shattered mirrors are a motif in this story and they are a precursor of bad things to come.  (End of spoilers).

The London in this movie is not one that I am familiar with in my normal movie watching.  It's dark and dank, almost monochromatic, and devoid of crowds.  Every office and room, even hospitals seem to be only partially lit.  From the first scene, and certainly when you see Gina watching her twin drive by you feel nothing but menace.  Nearly the whole movie is shadowy and Gina is alone in this surreal place trying to understand the world around her.  Maybe what a ghost story needs is a scary soundtrack.  Music helps set the tone and mood, escalating when the action does.  For as frightening as I found this, there was not an excessive use of violence and only a very few very disturbing scenes to give away just what was happening when a mirror breaks.  I'm not even sure how much of the movie I actually saw as I had to turn my face away as the atmosphere would get so intense and creepy I couldn't bear to see what was happening.  I should have watched this in the middle of the afternoon rather than late at night when everyone else was in bed and asleep.  It was very nightmarish and I had to watch some documentary on Gothic cathedrals on PBS after in order to clear my mind of the images.  I don't watch many movies of this sort, so I can't say just how good it was, but if the goal was to give a good scare, well, they succeeded in freaking me out.  You can see the trailer here, but be prepared to be spooked.

As for stories, I decided to read one that I recall sent shivers down my spine the first time around.  A few years ago I read Marghanita Laski's The Victorian Chaise Longue.  It was creepy verging on the macabre in a "what if" sort of way, much like her ghost story, " The Tower".  This is another story set in Italy--this time in Florence.  The story begins:

"The road begins to rise in a series of gentle curves, passing through pleasing groves of olives and vines.  5 km. on the left is the fork for Florence.  To the right may be seen the Tower of Sacrifice (470 steps) built in 1535 by Niccolo di Ferramano; superstitious fear left the tower intact when, in 1549, the surrounding village was completely destroyed."

This is the description in Caroline's guide book.  She's recently moved to Italy to be with her husband, Neville, who works for the British Council.  Caroline had hoped to appease her husband by dutifully making the museum rounds so later she could concentrate on the shops, but he has a particular fascination with Italian art.  His position gives him entree into private art collections in Florence.  It is in one of these that Caroline sees a portrait of a lovely young woman who died very young, Giovanna di Ferramano.  Next to this portrait is an unnamed work of a sinister looking young man--it's assumed he is Giovanna's husband, Niccolo, about whom it's been whispered about whom it's been whispered that he dabbled in the dark arts.

While Caroline's husband is off to his meetings, Caroline visits places in her guide book.  It's her intention to not be an ordinary tourist.  She hopes to discover a unique Italian landmark that her husband has not yet found.  Di Ferramano's Tower seems just the ticket.  The Tower is barren, however.  She decides to undertake the long climb up all 470 steps to the top, but it is a harrowing experience.  I'm not going to share the twist but will only say the journey down those 470 steps seems endless to Caroline.  I really liked this story and recommend it.  While it is not overtly frightening, what is chilling is what you fill in with your mind.  There are just enough details given to give you a visual image, and it is creepier the more you think about it.

The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life

William Nicholson's The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life came along at just the right moment for me.  Although I suppose they are really very different sorts of authors, he reminds me a little of one of my favorites, Clare Chambers.  Both write smart, witty prose, both are wonderful storytellers and both deal in the unpredictability of contemporary relationships.  Nicholson's story revolves around the question of happiness.  What happens when a reasonably happily married woman of twenty years receives a letter from her first love asking to meet up again?  Has she made the right choices, and what would her life have been like in different circumstances?  I realize this sounds like a tired old plotline, but Nicholson does a commendable job of breathing new life into it.  The question of happiness is applied to a large cast of characters, whose lives cross and intersect and sometimes clash.  One small question, the question of happiness, takes on so many different meanings.

This is more a story of ideas than actions, and events take place over the course of a mere six days in a small village in Sussex, but it's a surprisingly fast moving story with each character taking center stage in their turn--young and old alike.  Laura is married to Henry and they have two children, Carrie and Jack.  Laura was enamored of Nick Crocker when they met in college, maybe even more than enamored.  He completed her, and she was crushed when he asked for more space and left.  Carrie and Jack attend the local school along with Alice Dickinson.  Alan Strachen, an aspiring playwright, is Carrie and Alice's teacher.  His most recent creation has been turned down as not being suitable for a radio show, which devastates him.  He's perhaps a little too wrapped up in his work as he fails to see how Alice is being bullied.  A single mother, Liz Dickinson, caves in to the sexual charms of Alice's father (who she never married) even though she regrets it each and every time.  When Mrs. Dickinson's (that would be Liz's mother) dog, Perry, has a run in with a local farmer, which happened to be witnessed by Jack, it's the Reverend Salmon who offers comfort and compassion.  The fact that he has lost his faith doesn't seem to impair his ability to do his job one bit.

As you can see there are a number of different threads, and I think I even left a few out.  Nicholson very deftly weaves the lives of so many people together showing how one simple action by one may have a calamitous effect on another.  At one point Alan Strachen tells Liz Dickinson that "we're all unhappy" and his words resonate with her.  They resonate with me actually.  Each character is grappling with some problem, trying to find meaning in their world, happiness or contentment.  Although happiness is the major theme, there are also plenty of other ideas swirling about the story.  Nicholson very cleverly juxtaposes contemporary "gentrified country life" where the number of actual working farms has dwindled to the idea of Arcadia--a myth according to Nick whose research as a student was wrapped up in the idea.  And there is a wonderful scene where Laura and Henry, along with Laura's sister, husband and parents spend an evening on the green watching Le nozze di Figaro, which is nicely juxtaposed with the sexual escapades in the novel as well as the reworked play Alan Strachen asks Liz to read.  All through this Laura's story is told both past and present.  Nicholson tells each character's story with a distinct and different voice yet works them all together to fit like interlocking pieces of a puzzle.

The novel opens and closes with Laura, who by the way works as a cataloger and has the job of going through someone's library and ascertaining its worth (moments of sheer jealousy reading about it on my end), and her search for happiness.  Rather her question of whether she really is happy with her life as is, and did she make the right decision.  'What if' questions always fascinate me.  If you were madly in love with someone and they came back into your life, would you return to them?  Second chances!  I'll leave it up to you to read the book to discover what the answer is for Laura.

I really enjoyed this and see that William Nicholson has a new book out (so far only in the UK), All the Hopeful Lovers, which were I not on a book buying ban (well, at least in terms of using the credit card) I would not hesitate to purchase right now.  Instead I will watch patiently for its publication here in the US.  Definitely an author to watch! 

Onwards to Part Three!

Not part three of a book, I'm afraid, but part three of my Mystery Sampler.  I've just added the last stitches to part two of my Blackbird Design project, so I had to share.  This is the one I was picking out stitches from not too long ago.  I am very pleased with it as I think the stitches are all in the right places and it is ready to be sewn to part one.  The only thing that I've left out is my initials, which will go in the middle of the circular vine.  They will be stitched over one, but I was too lazy to do so right now and will worry about placing them just right later on.

And, voila, here are the first two parts next to each other.  I will at some point be sewing them together.  I've never done this sort of thing so I will wait until I am feeling brave.  Actually I think it won't be too bad, but it seems a little tedious.  It's hard to tell from my photos, but the linens are actually different colors.  Part one is stitched on a fabric called Korty's Blend, and part two on Irish Cream.  The one on the left is slightly more brown, and the linen on the right is lighter. 

And now I am all ready to start part three!  You can take a peek at the photo on the chart to see what I'll be stitching.  A house, more vines and yet more blackbirds and strawberries.  This section also calls for two specialty stitches--eyelets (which are stitches that pull the linen threads open to create a tiny hole), and smyrnas, which are a favorite of mine and very easy to do.  Eyelets, however, are one of my least favorite stitches, which another project also calls for.  I guess I'll be getting in some good practice in the next few weeks. 

Part three calls for a fabric called Iced Cappuccino.  The linens are all hand dyed and often use natural products like teas and coffees, so they often smell sort of yummy. The floss I am using is also hand dyed and I get to add a few new colors to my palette--Roasted Marshmallow, Basil and Caterpillar.  I only need to measure my linen and cut off the excess and I will be ready to start stitching--hopefully this weekend.   I'll be in the middle section of the design, so only two more to go after this part.  It would be nice to finish part three before the end of the year, but this might be overly optimistic.

I am contemplating working on a few small designs for Christmas--scary thought, but if I don't start now I won't finish in time.  And I have another chart that I have wanted to start, but I need to measure and cut the linen first.  I'm already looking forward to sharing my progress--are you getting tired of my Mystery Sampler yet?  At least there will be something new to look at soon!

Dying of the Light

I know you're not supposed to judge a book by the cover, but doesn't a good book design make you look in the first place?  You may read the blurb and decide against it, but at least you looked.  So it was the cover which drew me to Scottish author Gillian Galbraith's third  mystery novel featuring Detective Sargeant Alice Rice, Dying of the Light.  "Chilling realism" hails Edinburgh Evening News on the front cover.  And doesn't the photo just ooze gritty realism?  A nice, stark city street background--all shades of black and gray with just a splash of color in the woman's sweater, which is nicely coordinated with the color used for the author's name.  And I like how there is an entire figure (not just a headless body that seems so favored by publishers these days, but this is crime fiction not chick lit, so we're off the hook in that respect).  Her face is turned away from the camera and she's walking off the page, which creates an interesting balance and makes you wonder where she's going.  It's all nicely done, I thought.  I looked, and I bought!

I do occasionally pick up mysteries haphazardly without regard to what came first.  Sometimes I think it really doesn't matter, but I wonder if in this case a little more background would have made this a richer reading experience.   This is not to say I didn't enjoy the book, only I'm still curious to know more about Alice Rice and wondering how much was revealed early on and simply understood as fact by book three.   The series in set in Edinburgh and Alice has a flat in Broughton Place.  Honestly I don't feel that I know all that much about her, which is what I think is bothering me.  I'm not sure how old she is, though her height is remarked upon more than once along with her slender figure.  She has a boyfriend named Ian who is a painter and makes a few appearances in the novel.   She has a dog who is often looked after by a neighbor.  Another neighbor has Alzheimer's and Alice is often waylaid by her, and while she'd like to hurry up the stairs to avoid run-ins she's kind enough to stop and ask after her.

The novel opens with a prostitute losing a court case against a man who she thought was a friend, but who decided to partake of her services one night without her consent.  It would appear an almost impossible feat to win a rape case if you happen to be a prostitute.  Prostitution features heavily in this story.  Leith, Edinburgh is host to a red light district and unsavory activities continually seem to occur there, which anger the more 'respectable' residents of the neighborhood.  As a matter of fact a number of them band together to make the women's lives miserable who happen to be plying their trade.  It's a cold, bleak Edinburgh.  Even the women would prefer to be inside, so when they're splashed and have food thrown at them, are physically harassed, they're already feeling the weight of disapproval.  But life becomes downright dangerous when they start turning up murdered.  They're not interfered with, but they are stabbed and left in a position that mimics someone praying. 

Suspects abound.  The man who raped one of the women is one of several whose photograph appears on a leaflet of men who have beaten or otherwise harmed the women.  Emotions are running high with the group trying to push the women out of the area and put them out of business.  Would they go so far as to murder them?  Maybe not, as they lament the women, who have become scarce thanks to the murders, will only come back out of the woodwork when the murderer is caught.  Blood on two of the bodies leads DS Rice to an unlikely suspect.  I tend to get so wrapped up in the telling of the story, forgetting that the most likely killer is going to be someone already introduced that I'm a little surprised when the detective forms a theory that seems so plausible that it might be true and how did I miss the clues I wonder. 

I may feel a little hazy on just what Alice Rice is really like, but I did get a sense of what her work environment is like and the conditions under which she works.  How frightening would it be to stick your hand in the pocket of a dead woman who was not only a prostitute but drug user, and prick your finger on a needle?  Alice works mostly among men, though her DCI is a tough as nails woman who spends most of the book suffering from a nasty cold and with a foul mood in attendance. Galbraith also paints a realistic yet sympathetic portrait of the women who must walk the streets to make a living which mostly means providing for their children.  I liked the book enough to go back and find a library copy of Galbraith's first book, Blood in the Water, which I hope will give me more of a sense of what Alice is like.  I think the series definitely has potential and am curious to read more.  This is what has spurred my 'Edinburgh as a literary destination'  mode (or anywhere in Scotland really), so you may see more here as I find more authors writing about the place.  Unfortunately Gillian Galbraith's books are not published here in the US, so getting my hands on book three should be a challenge.  Until then, though, I have Alice's first story to enjoy.