Mrs. Pollifax and the Second Thief

 

Mrs. Pollifax and the Second Thief / Dorothy Gilman
read by Barbara Rosenblatt
Blackstone Audio, c1993.

Another trip for Mrs. Pollifax! Her latest assignment is to take some photos at a small funeral in Virginia, then deliver them to her old friend Farrell in Sicily. He has specifically asked for her and Cyrus, but as usual Cyrus is busy with something else and Mrs. P goes alone (I do find it amusing how Gilman regularly gets rid of Cyrus, after introducing him in Book 5). 

Nothing that Mrs. Pollifax does ever turns out as easy as promised. Here, she is met in Sicily by Kate, a young woman also from the CIA but who is on holiday and just doing a favour. But their trip to meet Farrell turns into a car chase, rescue and retreat to a safe house of sorts - Kate's aunt's country house where she is staying. This aunt turns out to be almost as mysterious as the men searching for Farrell. 

This book was a bit slow for me, with most of it taking place within one house. There is some adventure beyond its walls, and an unlikely romance for Farrell too, but overall it's not as dramatic or eventful as some of the others. The plot can be a touch thin at times. 

However, it is always enjoyable to see Mrs. P and Farrell back together, and the main element that is tying this story together is a suspected assassin who they put behind bars some books ago, who Farrell is sure he has seen in Sicily. The resolution of that is a little amusing but definitely suitable for an Emily Pollifax story. This one was just okay for me, but there was still that layer of social commentary that made it worth reading. 

Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish

 

Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish / Dorothy Gilman
read by Barbara Rosenblatt
Recorded Books, 2011, c1990.

I haven't been writing too much this month, but I have been reading -- I need to catch up on some reviews, so I'll start with a series I've been obsessively listening to, the Mrs. Pollifax series.

In Book 9 of this fun series, I was transported to a hot and dangerous trek across Morocco. Mrs. Pollifax has been asked to deliver some important documents to an agent in Morocco, where an underground network of informants may be at risk. But when she arrives, she doesn't like this agent; there is something off she doesn't quite trust. So she tells him that she has memorized all the info and destroyed the documents for safety -- so she will have to come along on his journey to check up on their secret allies. He is not happy. 

Her instincts prove correct, when he is not what he seems to be, and her karate is about to come into play again. But then someone else appears, and the story moves forward with a different vibe. It was a bit of a different storyline, just Mrs. Pollifax and one other character at a time, essentially, on a long and lonely road trip. There is, as always, information about the country she's in and some history/sociology about the inhabitants, always thrown in as part of what she needs to know for her job but illuminating for the reader at the same time. 

This was quite a good one that I found appealing, with a strong setting and interesting set-up. I do like this series! 

House of Many Ways

House of Many Ways / Diana Wynne Jones 
NY: Greenwillow, 2009, c2008.
338 p.

This is book three in the Howl's Moving Castle trilogy, but it was written quite a few years after the first two and honestly didn't need Sophie or Howl in it at all. It could easily have been written without them, with no huge loss to the storyline. This is definitely even less connected to their world than book two was! 

Still, I liked this. There were lots of neat ideas in it, and the main character, Charmain Baker, was interesting to me as a bookish, stubborn girl. As the story opens, she is being sent off to keep house for her Great-Uncle William while he is away. There's nobody else to do it, so Charmain heads off to the very odd home of her great uncle, who is also known as the Royal Wizard Norland. 

This house has doors that open to different places, secret passages, magical water and food and so forth, and as Charmain finds out, also an apprentice, Peter, who just shows up at the door one morning expecting the Royal Wizard.  

Charmain gets involved (long story) with the King and his daughter, who are searching for something called the Elfgift, which will save their kingdom. The King is sifting through books in the royal library, and as Charmain is very good with books, she begins to assist him. These scenes in the dim, creaky library are wonderful, quiet and reeking of research. I enjoyed them! 

Howl's crew gets involved when the Princess calls in Sophie, now a feared sorceress, to help them in their search. Of course, where Sophie is, Howl and Calcifer and her child are not far behind. 

I liked this one, I thought the titular House was appealing, the villian (an insect like creature called the Lubbock) was suitably creepy, the plot was pretty good and Charmain was interesting. It felt a bit too farcical in some parts for me, as chaos is not my favourite plot device. But overall it was an enjoyable read. The creative set-up and the sneaky conspiracy that took a while to figure out were entertaining. I'm glad to have read all three titles in this trilogy now, although I'd probably only reread Howl's Moving Castle. 

 

Castle in the Air

Castle in the Air / Diana Wynne Jones 
NY: Greenwillow, 2008, c1990.
383 p.

This is book two in the loosely connected Howl books by Diana Wynne Jones. It is not a sequel exactly; Howl and Sophie show up in this one, even if you don't know it immediately, but the main action follows other characters. 

It begins in the Howl universe, but south of the land of Ingary. We meet Abdullah, a carpet seller in the Rashpuht bazaar. He's young, not that successful, and spends a lot of time dreaming of being a hero. One day, a stranger sells him a magic carpet -- and the adventures begin. 

He meets the Sultan's daughter, Princess Flower-in-the-Night, but she is stolen by an evil Djinn before Abdullah can do anything. He heads off in pursuit on his magic carpet, meeting a rather disreputable companion along the way, a rough character who turns out to dote on cats and whose skills as a thief are particularly useful. They discover that there is a castle in the air where many kidnapped princesses are being held, and the scenes in the castle (Howl's Moving Castle, stolen by the Djinn) are my favourite part of this book, funny and full of fabulous women. The princesses range from small children to mature women, but they are all interesting and clever. 

Calcifer, Sophie, and Howl (and their small infant) all turn out to be important to the story, and have been woven into the tale more than first appears. This was funny and charming, with many disguised identities and misdirections. The power of constancy and true love is highlighted as well, with many delightful pairings showing up. 

It is over 30 years old so there are a few things that might not have been included today, but overall, it was a fun read with a satisfying happy ending. 

 

Mrs. Pollifax and the Golden Triangle

Mrs. Pollifax and the Golden Triangle / Dorothy Gilman
read by Barbara Rosenblat
Maryland: Recorded Books, 2005, c1988.

In this book, Mrs. Pollifax gets back on the horse after her traumatic experiences in Hong Kong and takes a commission from the CIA to go to Thailand. There is supposed to be a quick drop of documents for her to pick up from an informant, pass on to the CIA, and then she and Cyrus can have a holiday together in Thailand. 

But this is a Mrs. Pollifax book, so you know she is going to get involved in the heart of the issues instead of just being a courier! In this one she really gets embedded in field work; on the morning that she is supposed to casually walk down an alley and find the exchange location, she instead finds a dead body. And as she rushes back out of the alley, she sees Cyrus (who'd stayed on the street watching out) being bundled into a truck by two strangers. He's been kidnapped, who knows why. 

Mrs. Pollifax is resourceful, especially when Cyrus is endangered, so she finds someone to drive another truck and follow the kidnappers. This all happens very quickly. But then the "car chase", so to speak, is endless -- they drive into the hills, they are followed by young men on motorcycles (when Mrs. Pollifax's karate skills again come in useful), and they spot the kidnapper's van drawn up on the side of the road, empty. Luckily for Mrs. P, her driver is more than he looks and they head off into the dangerous forest, tracking Cyrus' kidnappers. There is a lot of chance and coincidence in this one, and at times it feels a little dreamy -- especially when Mrs. Pollifax and her companions come across a hidden monastery in the forest, with only a few devotees and a holy man, who isn't from Thailand. 

The conclusion of this one involves drugs, CIA side quests, and the irrepressible Mrs. Pollifax rescuing her husband, her informant, and another CIA agent (unknown to them both). It was good, lots of interesting connections made for Mrs. P in the third of the "Asia" trilogy of this series. Looking forward to the next volume, in which she heads to Morocco. 

Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha

Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha / Dorothy Gilman
read by Barbara Rosenblat
Ashland, OR: Recorded Books, 2011, c1985.

This volume of the Mrs. Pollifax series carries on shortly after the events of her last adventure. In this one she is asked to go to Hong Kong, make contact with a CIA asset to check on his being alive and well, and then come home. Does the trip turn out this simply? Of course not! 

She gets involved with the situation, going to the home of one of the suspicious characters and befriending the housekeep to get as much gossip as she can. She is given a lovely statue of a Buddha in the small shop she enters to try to find this asset -- mainly to get her out of there, but it turns out it's a rather important statue, leading to someone searching her room at night while she is supposedly sleeping (but she's not, really) and eventually to her kidnapping by the baddies. 

At this point the story takes a darker turn. She and a couple of others have been kidnapped and they are being held in a warehouse of sorts by the villains. They are an international group of random men, all part of an anarchist terrorist cell. They've been involved in this by someone in Hong Kong who wants to see the "rightful" ruler of China restored. This all goes back to the upheavals of Chinese history and politics, and the British rule of Hong Kong, and the fears of it reverting to China. This was written in the 80s so this was something yet to happen, although within in a little more than a decade after the story was set. In any case, the bad guys are taking this very seriously. 

During Mrs. Pollifax's lengthy kidnapping, she engages in her usual efforts to talk to the others. This time only one of her fellow captives has any feeling for her. Another tries to sabotage the communications that the terrorists are using, and in a shocking turn is shot for it. This leads to the feeling of darker elements of the story, and a stronger sense of danger. Mrs. Pollifax herself endures torture as they try to get information out of her. And her salvation comes from the ideas of two amateurs at the other end, who've joined the American agents trying to find her. 

I found this one politically astute, relevant, and very thrillerish. I loved the descriptions of Hong Kong, of some of the eccentric characters who Mrs. Pollifax befriends, and the relationships between old and new agents. It was a strong book in the series, with lots of intrigue and mystery. I really liked it, it felt well plotted and engaging.  

Winter Solstice

 

Winter Solstice / Rosamunde Pilcher 
NY: Thomas Dunne, c2000.
454 p.

I just finished this one, read over the winter holidays. The book features a lot of snow and storms over the solstice week in Scotland -- I read it during a particularly bad winter storm here, just after Christmas week. It felt quite apropos! 

This one was published in 2000 -- I didn't read it then, in fact, I haven't read any of Pilcher's books before. It was a fun thematic read but it is a bit dated now. There are some plot points that stood out to me like a sore thumb -- the way that hetero relationships seem to be the cause and endpoint of every character's story, the way that Elfrida, one of the main characters, is continually cooking and cleaning for her new partner (and no-one even remarks on it), the way that a 14 yr old girl is taken under the wing of an 18 yr old male neighbour and everyone is fine with it - even if it does turn out to be innocent it's a bit odd now. And so much booze! 

Despite these slightly jarring elements of a book that's not really very old, I did like this one. It was warm and expansive and had lots of good bits. It starts out as a bit of a downer; Elfrida, a self-described washed up actress, moves to the country. She makes new friends of her neighbours Gloria and Oscar; things happen and she leaves the south of England with Oscar to go stay in an Estate House he half owns in Scotland. Another storyline: 14 yr old Lucy is a awkward addition to a home where nobody really wants her. Her Aunt Carrie comes home from the continent after a disappointment in love, to find her sister (Lucy's mother) wanting to spend Christmas in Florida, their own mother swanning off to Bournemouth, and nobody to look after Lucy at all. Carrie calls up her distant cousin Elfrida to see if she and Lucy can come to them. This adds much more of a Christmas vibe to Elfrida's season. 

And into that household of odd souls comes Sam, a businessman sent to Scotland to revitalize an old woolen mill. He gets snowed in, following a series of events, landing at the Estate House -- and he has more connections to the household than first realized.  

The story is replete with holiday parties, upstanding locals, the nearby vicar and his family, Christmas cooking and decorating and present giving, small dramas, love and relationships, and lots of house talk. The Estate House, another small cottage on the former estate grounds, descriptions of the rooms, the decor, the coziness or lack of, the proportions etc. Even the local church is described. Just the kind of old-fashioned saga that is good reading for snowed-in cozy days.  

Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station

 

Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station
read by Barbara Rosenblat
Ashland, OR: Recorded Books, 1990, c1983.

Mrs. Pollifax takes us to a China that was still difficult to visit in 1983, in this story of her assignment to infiltrate a tourist group and contact a Chinese informer, who will give her a vital piece of information that she will then pass on to the "real" agent on the tour. But thankfully for that agent, Mrs. Pollifax is part of this tour, since things go awry and require her inimitable assistance. 

With a mixed group, including two young women who are of great interest to all the middle aged men on the tour, Mrs. Pollifax must try to figure out who her fellow agent is, find a way to leave the tour long enough to find her contact, and then she can wash her hands of events and just continue with the rest of the tour. But one thing that was stressed to her; if anything at all went wrong, she was to get herself and the tour group out of China as quickly as possible. 

With great perspicacity, she does her part. Her habit of talking to and befriending locals and tourists alike serves her well here. And when things do go very unexpectedly south -- when they aren't the only foreign agents in town -- both her karate lessons and her stubbornness help out immensely. 

There were some iffy elements to this one; Mrs. P and her fellow agent dress up as Chinese peasants to do one part of their job, which includes some offensive references to eyes. And as if anyone would believe Mrs. Pollifax was Chinese. But there are also sympathetic Chinese characters and some understanding of the cost of dissent in a Communist country, including a work camp. And the bumbling tourists and their Western attitudes are contrasted with their guides and the people they meet in their various stops, including Kazakh horsemen of the steppes. I liked this one and learned a fair bit, but there sure was a lot of coincidence in the plot here. Still, another interesting tale from Dorothy Gilman! 

Mrs. Pollifax on Safari

Mrs. Pollifax on Safari / Dorothy Gilman
read by Barbara Rosenblat
Ashland, OR: Blackstone Publishing, 1992, c1976.

 

Continuing my run of the Mrs. Pollifax series, I've made it to book five. In Mrs. Pollifax on Safari, we find Emily heading to Zambia, assigned to join a safari and take photos of all the others in the group. Carstairs just needs photos so they can try to figure out the identity of a political assassin who has eluded all the intelligence agencies. They think he'll be on this safari to meet his next contact - so no theatrics, just photos to share with the CIA when she returns. But of course things quickly get much more complicated and Mrs. Pollifax finds herself in the centre of a few different imbroglios. 

On the safari, she needs to be suspicious of everyone. Who knows who the assassin really is? But she meets Cyrus, a retired judge and fellow American, who is travelling with his adult daughter. Surely he can't be her target -- thankfully so, as they begin to develop an affinity during the days that follow. 

The set-up, a closed group of suspects that Emily has to carefully examine, gives great opportunity for character development and description. I greatly enjoyed that part and also the descriptions of the Zambian countryside. The Mrs. Pollifax stories are like travelogues and that is one of the delights of them for me. 

The characters in this story are all quite intriguing, ranging from quite ordinary to eccentric to boorish to completely delusional. There are some chilling parts of this story, as Mrs. Pollifax finds herself in darker circumstances than expected. And some startling turns in the story too, to keep you on your toes.

Once again I listened to the audio version read by the delightful Barbara Rosenblat. She rarely makes a misstep but in this one, one of the characters, a doctor from a charity hospital elsewhere in Zambia, is originally Canadian. And I don't know why she gave him an accent but it made me laugh out loud when it started. It had the weirdest tinge of both Maritimes and Mike from Canmore. 

But a good read and the enjoyable return of a character from the first volume in this series made it extra fun. I'm really liking this whole series so far. 

Not At Home

Not At Home / Doris Langley Moore
London: Dean Street Press, 2020, c1948.
300 p.

It's Dean Street December, and I'm pleased to be sharing another read from the Furrowed Middlebrow imprint. I love these books and have found many enjoyable ones over the past few years. I first read Moore's All Done By Kindness last year, and found it a fun read. This one has similarities but it's a bit more focused on one woman and one house. 

Elinor MacFarren is a middle-aged spinster, botanical writer, and collector of prints and objets d’art, but she is finding that post WWII she is finding it hard to afford her home and her collections. After some thought, she decides that she will rent part of her home out, to a congenial person. She will move her bedroom to her study, and give up her parlour to the use of a renter. The spare room will be shared by either's guests. She's planning to be very careful about it, and gets a recommendation from a friend who runs an antique shop. Mrs. Antonia Bankes, an American, wants a home since her husband will be coming back from his war duties and she doesn't want them to live in a hotel. After gushing, sincere promises about what a good, quiet and reliable tenant she will be, Elinor accepts. And that's the beginning of her trials. 

Antonia Bankes is a horror. She says whatever she needs to in the moment to avoid conflict or accountability, but never means a word of it. Elinor begins to learn to her chagrin, that her beautiful objets are being misused, damaged and lost, while Antonia encroaches further and further into her home. There are always giddy friends staying with her, using the spare room, and making a mess for the one servant to deal with, until she finally has enough and leaves. 

When Antonia's husband shows up, he's a decent fellow and Elinor warms to him. And when he's there, Antonia seems to settle down a little. But then they drop the bombshell - they have two children they want to bring over from America and establish in the spare room. This leads Elinor to lengths of subterfuge and trickery she never thought she'd be capable of, as she angles to get rid of the Bankes. With her rival in botanical collecting as an unexpected ally, and her flamboyant nephew who is involved in the movies to help out (along with his amusing lady friend, who's all in) she finagles a few things into going her way. And despite the long war on her own turf, she eventually triumphs. 

This was entertaining, in a way, but also a stressful read, as Elinor is invaded in her own home, essentially. Antonia is immensely selfish and self-absorbed and poor Elinor's manners and ideas of social norms restrict her from fighting back until far too much time has passed. It was an interesting range of characters, all who shed light on the post-war realities of London from different angles. From older Brits like Elinor, to Americans, to young things like her nephew's lady friend, there are many perspectives and portrayals. I found that part satisfying. But I certainly would have liked to see Antonia tossed out on her ear much earlier! 

The joy of reading Moore's books lies in her observations of characters and their interactions. She understands people very well and creates some fascinating studies. All while developing a good story. There are some parts in the book which are very much of their time, like casual references to "red Indians" and some animal cruelty, which are slight asides but do colour it. Still, a pretty good read, although I think I liked All Done By Kindness just a little more. 

The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club / Amy Tan
NY: Penguin, 2006, c1989.
288 p.

I first read this years ago, when it was new, and saw the film as well. I recently picked it up again and reread it, and found that it was still a compelling read. I'd forgotten a lot about it, but this time around I got more nuance in the mother-daughter relationships, and could understand both sides of all the stories. It's beautifully written, with some memorable characters, and I just love the polyphonic storytelling, where the core of the story is circled by so many voices. 

The story looks at four women who have immigrated from China, who meet regularly at a Mah Jong game. They each have daughters. Each of these characters tell their stories in sixteen short chapters; it's bookended with the voice of the character June Mei. The themes range from the mothers' experiences in China as children themselves, the experiences of first and second generation immigrants and the drive to keep one's culture, and the mother-daughter relationship overall. These three things all meld in this book, each affecting the other; you can't separate them. 

The stories aren't balanced, in the sense that we get a lot more information about some characters than others, and the character voices can be hard to keep apart. But this was Tan's first book, and she was ambitious with this structure - while it isn't perfect, I did find that the overlapping stories and relationships resonated and created a fuller picture than if just one character was narrating. This was groundbreaking when it was published, with a story of Asian immigrants becoming a best-seller and hitting the mainstream. There are many more stories to choose from now, but I still feel a fondness for this one. It digs into the female experience in a way that was fresh at the time of publication, and still valuable to read now. 

If you haven't read it, I think it is worth exploring - it's a classic that is still studied widely and I think there are good reasons for that. It still engaged me on this reread. 

 

The Lightning Bottles

 

The Lightning Bottles / Marisa Stapley 
TO: Simon & Schuster Canada, c2024.
294 p.

This has a little bit of mystery/suspense to it but it's really more about relationships, fame, trust and music. It's a Canadian novel but takes place mainly in the US and Germany - and a bit of the rest of Europe as well. 

Jane Pyre grows up stifled in small town Ontario. She wants to be a musician, a star, and finds a 'soulmate' on an online forum. Elijah Hart lives in Seattle and is there at the beginnings of the grunge movement. When Jane finally decides to leave home (still a teenager), she makes her way to Elijah. His bandmates see her as a bit of a Yoko Ono, but she and Elijah are magic together -- their songs (well, Jane's songs, really) shoot them into the stratosphere. But despite their soul connection, Jane can't keep fame from affecting Elijah in all the worst ways. He starts using, he's unreliable, and eventually he disappears. The fan base turns on Jane, blaming her, of course. 

Much later, Jane retreats to a tiny remote town in Germany. But next door lives Hen, a teenager and superfan of the Lightning Bottles, who recognizes Jane. Hen is convinced that Elijah has been leaving coded messages for Jane through street art across Europe, and somehow convinces Jane to check it out with her. And then the two of them go on a road trip across Germany, France and Iceland to find Elijah, if it is indeed him leaving obscure signs. 

This is a really entertaining read. There are some dark themes, and some sadness and exhaustion that permeates the pages, but it kept me reading. The look at 90s music, the cost of fame, misogyny in the music world, the world of street art, and the drive toward musical life especially in Jane -- it's all intriguing and slots together really smoothly. With this tough, hard world, I would have loved to see Jane more powerful and less forgiving overall. But it's a perfect rock n roll story if you're in the mood for something both nostalgic and edgy. There is a lot to think about, including the ending, and it made for a satisfying read. 

The Lake of Dead Languages

 

The Lake of Dead Languages / Carol Goodman
NY: Ballantine, c2002.
390 p.

This is one I first read many years ago; it started my habit of reading all of Goodman's books as soon as they were released. But since I've been in a bit of a mystery/thriller mood, I decided to reread it. I still liked it a lot - all those elements, gothic storyline, academia, murders, secrets and silence that show up in most of Goodman's subsequent books start here. It's a first novel, though, so not as strong as the following ones, for me. 

Jane Hudson has returned to the girls school she graduated from twenty years earlier; she's now the Latin teacher. She is newly single and has a young daughter, so thinks that this change may give them their own new beginning. But Jane is forgetting that her last year at the school was fraught with terrible things; three suicides and Jane left behind to go on with her life without her friends. And now that she is back, secrets are threatening to burst out of the past and disrupt her longing for a peaceful, ordinary routine. 

The story flashes between the past and Jane's present, slowly building up a clearer picture of what happened back then, and why it might be resurfacing now. I like this technique and found it gave lots of chances to create suspense. Jane herself is a bit meh as a character this time around and that ending! It's so melodramatic! I recall being a bit sceptical of it the first time and it was definitely OTT on rereading ;) 

As a debut novel, though, it's well done, entertaining and atmospheric, which is why I became a fan and have read all of her work since. I'm not sure it was as good this time around as my memories of first reading it over twenty years ago, but that so often happens with an old favourite. And now that I've read so many of her other books I guess the comparisons can change perceptions of a story. Still, I think it's a good read, if you haven't read her yet, you'll probably want to go back to it once you get hooked on her more recent titles!

A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax

 

A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax / Dorothy Gilman
read by Barbara Rosenblat
Ashland, OR: Blackstone Publishing, 1991, c1973.

As I mentioned in yesterday's review, I've been loving the Mrs. Pollifax series. I had to continue my streak by listening to the next book in the series. This fourth volume has Mrs. Pollifax staying put in one place: a health spa in Switzerland. This is quite a different situation than the wide ranging travels of her first three adventures. It also feels a bit more fanciful, with the inclusion of an imaginary country as the centre of a conspiracy. 

Mrs. Pollifax is once again sent out for an 'easy job' which becomes much more complex. She meets an intriguing cast of characters, none of whom are who they first seem. Being trusting and friendly, she makes many connections, one of them with a young boy who is there with his recuperating grandmother and is very lonely. This boy is also clever and resourceful, which comes in very handy later on. 

I loved the way that the closed room feel of this one allows for some deep character development. And there are some anxious bits mixed in with the humour and lightheartedness, as usual for this series. Mrs. Pollifax finds a gory dead body near the beginning, and later is kidnapped by the villains along with her young friend; they end up (through many twists) touring a castle nearby, in which Mrs. P uses her new karate skills and the two of them evade capture for hours. 

The finale is a bit nail biting, and the moment that saves them is hilariously unlikely but perfect. And once again Mrs. P encounters a helicopter in the closing pages of a story. 

I enjoyed this one greatly, finding the characters memorable, and the outlandishly mustache twirling villains entertaining - I feel that she could let herself go a bit since she'd created an imaginary country and so didn't have to be so careful or exact. Loads of fun, and I definitely recommend the audiobook series as the reader is so good. This is proving to be my series of the year ;) 

The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax

The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax / Dorothy Gilman
NY: Doubleday, c1971. 
240 p.

I've also been reading quite a few mysteries and suspense books in the last while, so will move to some reviews of this reading streak. Beginning with another in a series I've discovered fairly recently but am loving. This is book 3 in the Mrs. Pollifax series, and I was lucky enough to find a copy of this original hardcover at the thrift store just when I needed it :) So of course I read it quickly. 

In this episode, Mrs. Pollifax is asked to courier some passports to Bulgaria, where she will have to deliver them to an operative who needs to get some political targets out of the country. Easy peasy! But is it? No, it never is when Mrs. Pollifax is on the job. And this time, she is carrying some contraband, totally unknown to her until the end. 

She realizes that she (and her backup man) are being watched, and dangerous things begin to happen. Luckily for Mrs. Pollifax, she makes connections wherever she goes and they always turn out to her benefit. 

This one was frenetic and really enjoyable! Mrs. Pollifax meets some men in an underground cell, and spurs them to action. They travel to a distant cave where she almost meets her own end, and then back in the city, she leads a siege on one of the most impregnable prisons imaginable, to rescue a young American student who is being held as part of a larger plan. This part was both thrilling and hilarious, a common blend for these stories. 

Mrs. Pollifax uses her common sense and her appearance of innocuous innocence to once again foil plans that she wasn't even supposed to be mixed in with. But with experience she is getting tougher, as well. This book is unexpectedly lovely in parts, too; Mrs. P has a conversation with Tsanko, her contact for the passports, while they are waiting in the darkness before their siege. It is about love, and peace, and human connection, and it's thoughtful and moving. 

I thought this was a strong addition to the series so far, and look forward to more. 

Howl's Moving Castle

 

Howl's Moving Castle / Diana Wynne Jones
NY: Harper Trophy, 2001, c1986.
329 p.

I recently read this for the first time, as part of the Literary Sewing Circle I run on my sewing blog. I can't believe I missed this as a young reader - I would have really loved it. But I enjoyed reading it now and digging into it for all the Literary Sewing Circle posts! 

It's different in many ways from the Studio Ghibli movie version. Same basic outlines but the book focuses more on Sophie and questions of ageism, women's experiences, and so forth, while the movie really hones in on the anti-war messages. Different angles on the same story! 

I usually love stories featuring three sisters, and this is no exception. Sophie is the eldest, but this is a fairytale setup so she is convinced it's not worth trying to make her fortune since it will clearly be the youngest, Martha, who is able to do that. This lack of self-belief shapes her life strongly, especially in the beginning, and it's only when she is turned into an old woman by the Witch of the Waste and has to leave home and find a new life for herself that she really comes into her own. 

But her two sisters are not evil stepsisters either. They are all quite close to one another, and all play a role in the story. They show determination in finding the right path for themselves despite their mother's fumbled decisions at the start. 

There are many nods to fairy tale tropes here but also humour and sarcasm. Great mix. There is so much creativity shown in building the world of Ingary, and some fascinationg characters. Howl himself is complex, not a character I'd feel would be the hero of a story - and in some ways he's not at all, it's really Sophie. But he is interesting because he can be a bit of a self-centred, whiny jerk at times, while also showing great kindness and care at others. 

I found this a fun, engaging read with lots of neat little references to literary tropes and also to sewing and making -- after all, magic is a form of making, too. One of my favourite characters was the fire demon Calcifer, who responds at one point to a comment, "I don't think of myself as evil!". And he really isn't. There is heart to this imaginative story, and I loved it. 

A Stranger in my Grave

A Stranger in my Grave / Margaret Millar
NY: Soho, 2018, c1960.
354 p.

I have to parcel out Margaret Millar's books so I don't run through them too quickly! I only have a few left unread now. But this one was one I picked up recently, set in California like many of her stories, and focused on the psychological state of Daisy Harker, a young woman convinced that there was something important happening on a date that she sees on a tombstone in a dream, a tombstone with her name on it.

Daisy is a young married woman and her mother lives in a small house on their property, but is always in the house, picking at her as much as her husband does. They don't listen to her, tell her not to be hysterical, and seem to communicate more with each other than either does with Daisy. 

But this time Daisy isn't going to take it. She goes out on her own and finds a private detective to help her figure things out. Stevens Pinata is a mystery in his own right; raised as an orphan, he doesn't know his own real name or even ethnicity. He's a cipher. But he has ethics, and when Daisy asks him to help her find out what happened on Dec 2, 1955, the day that she thinks was the day of her death, he at first demurs - but then decides to help her. They spend time at the library, examining records and newspapers, which is quite a delight. But they also cause gossip, as this young white housewife is seen by older ladies walking down the street with a brown person. 

As always, Millar delves into the psychological elements of a story, the "why" that drives it. Daisy's father is a no-good drunk, who her mother had separated from years before. But Daisy still gets letters from him now and again, and this becomes part of the mystery. 

How all these characters, as well as the occupant of the real tomb, are connected, comes clearer to the reader page by page. The plot is convoluted, full of strange characters and odd behaviours and obsessions. Daisy is the linchpin to all of it, even if she doesn't know it, and her insistence on following the eerie guidance of her dream unravels it all.  

I thought it was fascinating, delving into this one woman's repressed memories as she fights against all social conditioning and the efforts of her husband and her own mother to keep her childish and innocent. Millar openly includes many issues: sexism, racism, alcoholism, even religion, and how they all twist people in different ways. This story depends heavily on the schisms around race and class, and doesn't pretty anything up. 

This was compelling reading, but a bit more complicated plotwise than some of her others I've read. There were a lot of angles going on. And the one false note for me was the unconvincing romance that becomes apparent in the last pages. But Daisy isn't going back to the way things were before, after shaking off her willful blindness through her investigations, that is one certainty that you can close this book with. It's a haunting drama with some powerful moments. 

The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax

 

The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax / Dorothy Gilman
read by Barbara Rosenblatt
Landover MD: Recorded Books, 2019, c1970.

After being introduced to this series by reading the first volume, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, I knew I had to search out more in the series. I found all the titles available through Hoopla, in audiobook format, read by the inimitable Barbara Rosenblatt (who also reads the Amelia Peabody series). Score! 

I immediately checked out the second volume, in which Mrs. Pollifax is sent on another courier mission, this time to Istanbul. And of course she gets far more involved than she should, as she encounters a series of disasters on her mission and must get creative. But that's what she does best. And this time, she is more prepared - she's been studying karate.

Emily Pollifax is being sent, as the only agent that CIA man Carstairs can think of who would not be suspect in the city of professional spies. And with her flowered hats and grandmotherly demeanor, he could be right. Her mission is to get information to a defecting Soviet spy to help her escape the many countries and agents pursuing her. Things don't go so smoothly as they were supposed to, though. 

Thankfully Mrs. Pollifax has great skill (and luck) and picking up random strangers who prove helpful to her in many ways. She encounters a young man early on, thanks to talking to a young woman on the plane over, who ends up having a very important van available when Mrs. Pollifax needs to go on the run. And they both encounter a criminal in the dark, in a graveyard, who joins them, but WhatTheHell! (long story). 

The story leaves Istanbul and ranges across Turkey, where they find help from various strangers including clever young people creating distractions, to a band of gypsies (this book was published in 1970, so they are called gypsies and somewhat stereotyped, but they are presented very sympathetically). In the final scene, Mrs. Pollifax has to take some extreme and very unexpected measures to get her spy to an airport -- and it is hilarious as well as exciting. Overall, there was great pacing, lots of gorgeous Turkish landscape and culture, engaging characters and thoughtful writing. I love how Gilman creates a balance between crime caper, spy thriller and cozy mystery; it works beautifully. And Barbara Rosenblatt's narration is just A1. Loved this one, and will be continuing with the series. 

We'll Prescribe You a Cat

 

We'll Prescribe You a Cat / Syou Ishida
trans. from the Japanese by E. Madison Shimoda
NY: Berkley, 2024, c2023.
297 p.

Another light read for this week. This is a book that could easily have been too twee; but as it turns out, it balances the cat tweeness with some real life difficulties that the characters are facing. And it's leavened with some light humour. I really enjoyed it!

It's five connected stories set in Kyoto, featuring different individuals who hear about an odd mental health clinic that is found down a narrow alleyway, with a doctor and nurse who prescribe cats. The patients are often taken aback when they have a cat handed to them, but the 10 day course of "treatment" usually does work wonders. Some of the characters bond and don't want to give their cats back; others feel ready to move forward in life which will include finding their own cat later on. 

The issues that the characters face include a young girl in the midst of school drama (and her rigid mother), a middle aged businessman feeling edged out at his workplace by an energetic new female supervisor, a young salesman facing a career crisis, a work focused designer with no bandwidth to recognize her own needs, and a geiko (Kyoto geisha) who is trying to get over her lost cat. 

I loved the setting - so often these books are set in Tokyo but this one really uses its location of Kyoto beautifully. I felt like I learned about the city and culture as well as the characters. The clinic itself is unusual; it's only there for people who really need it. And the secret of the nurse and doctor's presence is hinted at, becoming clear to the reader (and only the reader) by the end. Definitely leaving you set up for the next one! 

I thought this was a delight. Meaningful, not too sentimental, but light and uplifting as well. I really liked the unusual characters and the way the author drew out their dilemmas, everyday ones but so important to the person going through it. I felt that there was a clear love of both animals and people shown by this author's writing, and that the balance in each story was finely drawn. I'd definitely recommend this one when you need some Uplit! 

The Goldberg Variations

The Goldberg Variations / Nancy Huston
trans. from the French by Nancy Huston
Signature, c1981.
160 p.

I've read a number of Nancy Huston's books; this is one that she wrote first in French and translated into English herself; there are a few in her oeuvre that were written this way. 

It's organized around the structure of Bach's Goldberg Variations, 30 chapters focusing on the different characters, who are revealed through their thoughts as they listen to the piece of music. Each chapter is a monologue of sorts, with each person connected somehow to the performer.

The book begins and ends with Liliane Kulainn, the harpichordist giving a performance of the Goldberg Variations in her Paris apartment, to a select invited group.

All the people at this house concert are her ex-lovers, old friends or colleagues, or people who have come with them. As we enter each character's thoughts, there are revelations -- some specifically about Liliane but some with people's minds wandering, thinking about their own lives. 

As the focus changes between characters, the voices do too. Some of them are almost a different dialect, while others reveal class or regional differences. It's an interesting concept & it mostly works. It opens up space for many stories, and makes this a book you can read chapter by chapter without losing the plot.  That said, there isn't much of an actual plot, it's more of a character study. But one that keeps you reading. 

I did find that with so many characters, and all revealed through interior monologues, it was a slower paced read. Not a lot of emotional connection; but quite a bit of technical, stylistic flair. Maybe like the Goldberg Variations themselves, especially in the hands of Glenn Gould. I admired this novel, but it's probably not one I would read again.