Trumpets Sound No More

Trumpets sound no more / Jon Redfern

Toronto: Rendezvous Crime, c2007.

248 p.

I read this mystery novel with great enjoyment. It is set in 1840 London, England, the week before Christmas, and circles around the world of the theatre. A perfect choice for me: seasonal and Victorian at the same time.

This is Redfern's second mystery novel -- his first was a contemporary story, but in this one all of his interests in Victorian theatre and in crime come together to create a complex story with shades of Dickens about it.

There's been a murder of a young and fashionable theatre manager, discovered on Saturday the 19th of December. Inspector Owen Endersby is given six days, only until Christmas Eve, to find out who the culprit was. Fortunately, Inspector Endersby is very resourceful, and he and his wife are already theatre fans and have some connections in that world -- which comes in useful. Endersby, like many Dickensian characters, deals with all levels of society, from actresses and coster girls to the wealthy and important patrons of the theatre and of the newly formed London Police force. Even without modern forensic methods like fingerprinting or blood analysis, he relies on a scientific, evidence based investigation, rather than simply arresting the most convenient suspect to make his superiors happy.

I liked the character of Endersby and his wife; they gave a very solid centre to the book. But Redfern doesn't shy away from presenting the members of the large cast as complex characters who have secret failings, from drug use to blackmail and usury. It was an entertaining mystery with a puzzling but not baffling line of clues -- I did guess 'who did it' but only a few pages before it was revealed. The setting really shines; Victorian London in all its glory and squalor comes to life in many small details. And the aspects of theatre life were especially interesting for me - I will recommend this to my actor friends. There are some minor characters who were particularly memorable, mainly the young actresses (and one young man) who are trying to make a living by going on the stage. Their lives are bleak but they live for the moments they can participate in the illusion of the theatre.

I am not sure if Redfern intends to write another book featuring this Inspector, but his character is deep and complicated enough to carry a series, if so. I hope I'll find out that another one is being written, but I don't know if it could match this marvellous combination of my favourite era and my favourite holiday, mixed in with the magic of the theatre. This one is well worth reading.

Jon Redfern was born and raised in Alberta. He has been a free-lance journalist for both the Toronto Star and The Globe & Mail, a story editor for the CBC and a children’s playwright. Jon’s first novel, The Boy Must Die, won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Crime Novel in Canada for 2002. Since then, Jon has been researching and writing, teaching English as a professor at Centennial College in Toronto, serving for two years as the active Vice President, Toronto Chapter, of the Crime Writers of Canada, and traveling to Siena, Havana, and Madrid to attend conferences and continue research on up-coming writing projects. Jon lives in Toronto and in Waterton Lakes, Alberta.

The Woman in White

The Woman in White / Wilkie Collins

Markham, ON: Penguin Canada, 1984, c1859-60.

648 p.

Yes, I freely admit, I hadn't read this book until just this fall! I love Wilkie Collins -- I've read many of his other works (Armadale is my favourite) but somehow I just hadn't gotten around to reading this specific one, the book that Collins himself preferred, so much so that he asked for "Author of The Woman in White" to be inscribed on his tombstone.

It was so worth it. I loved it. One of the things I really enjoy about Collins is his awareness of and focus on women's status in Victorian society. The Woman in White deals with the way in which women are reliant on men's money and men's wishes, both as a dependent daughter / niece / other female relative and even more so as a wife.

There are a few women who are vital in this story: Anne Catherick, the original 'woman in white' and Laura Fairlie and her half-sister Marian Halcombe. Ann is a mysterious wraith who first appears to Walter Hartwright when he is walking to London one night, and is the key to the entire mystery as the book goes along. Laura, who looks very much like Anne, ends up being married to Sir Percival Glyde on her dying father's wishes even though her personal preferences lead her more in the direction of Walter. And Marian is a fearless, staunch supporter of both Laura and Walter. Once Laura (a respectable heiress) becomes Lady Glyde, a new character is introduced to their lives... a shady Italian friend of Percival's, Count Fosco.

All these characters spin around each other in complex webs of deceit and desires. Marian's powerful personality is a more than a match for the excessively charismatic yet chilling Fosco. Laura herself is a little bland, but as the love interest I suppose she wasn't allowed to be too ornery or individualistic. The story is told in a series of discrete narratives -- Walter's experience, Marian's diary, letters and affidavits from varied bit players, and so on. This plethora of perspectives makes the story multifaceted and utterly absorbing. It remains an exciting thriller even today; and the treatment of the women involved and the lengths they have to go to in order to survive will make you livid.

Really, there is no need for me to describe the plot or the progress of the story. It is enough of a classic that most people likely have a vague idea of the outlines of the plot, and telling any more detail would ruin the thrill of the reading experience. What I want to share is simply that while long and involved, this is a great book with a sensational plot that will keep you turning pages, while also being full of social commentary and great characters. It's a classic that still has power to move us, to make us consider the plight of others and view our world differently.

Definitely recommended...an enjoyable, lengthy read, perfect for the holidays when you have more time available to read and are in the Victorian mood.

Middlemarch

Middlemarch / George Eliot
Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin English Library, 1974, c1871-2.
908 p.

Nymeth of Things Mean A Lot set up a Middlemarch readalong for this summer, which made me happy, as it was just the push I needed to finally get to Middlemarch, a book I've meant to read for ages. Her post is up, and what a post it is -- lengthy, thoughtful and thorough, as usual.

While I am afraid I didn't love this book as much as many readers seem to, it was still a great read. It was revealing of its time, with many quotable bits, and some wonderful characters (more minor characters like Caleb Garth turned out to be my favourites). However, I found Dorothea and her idealism a bit tiresome, and as she is the focus of the book, the one we're following through a difficult growing-up situation, it probably would have been better to feel some sympathy for her rather than mostly exasperation. Oh well, I could still appreciate her and all the denizens of the small town of Middlemarch.

It's a story of youth, ideals, marriages, social position, compromises and mistakes, as well as a few sort-of happy endings. Dorothea marries Mr. Casaubon, her elderly scholar husband whom she desires to idolize, but she is sadly disillusioned of this hope after marriage. Her sister Celia marries Sir James Chettam, a local worthy whom Dorothea judged too dull, but who is revealed to have a rather noble character as a brother-in-law. Tertius Lydgate, the new doctor in town, falls for the prettiest girl and marries far too young, causing all sorts of strife between the newlyweds. Working class Mary Garth wants to marry the young gentleman Fred Vincy but he has no prospects at the moment of the story's beginning. And so on. Eliot is a genius at revealing human quirks in one or two simple phrases. She catches all the shadings of social position and the restrictions that class and gender placed on the movement of all these characters' lives.

I found the beginning slow going -- it took me a while to get into the rhythm and the intricacies of the story. Once I felt like I had a grasp of who was who in Middlemarch -- names, family connections, and less obvious social standings -- it was easier to sink into the book. Eliot published the book in the 1870s, but it was set in earlier years, right around 1830, which was a time of upheaval and reform in England. Dorothea gets interested in and involved with ideas of reform right along with the men in the story (I did find that a fascinating element of the story; while it is unusual for the women of Middlemarch, Dorothea is not a pariah because of her interest). But this makes the story a historical one of sorts -- a look at a certain time from a slight remove. Eliot has had time to consider the meaning of actions and events and create a story from them which points out her interests. One such interest is in the role each person plays in creating a society, and how this society then hinders and shapes each life. The story is full of moments that could be expanded upon, and since there are so many characters, and so many pages, you could probably go on for hours about just one thread of the story.

The more I think about it and try to write about it, the more I realize how extraordinary the construction of the book is. It's the first Eliot I've read, and I think I'll go on and read more of her work. While the story may not seem as exciting or full of vigour as Dickens or Wilkie Collins -- no eccentrics or lost heirs or crazy women in white floating about -- it is a complex look at provincial society in a time of change. I can only say that reading it will repay you for the time you have to invest in it. Try looking at others' views of their reading experience at the Middlemarch Readalong wrap-up post. Then decide if it is time to read it yourself!

Coming up in my next post: a small selection of some of my favourites of the many, many quotable bits of this marvellously written book.

Challenge List the First

Here are my Challenge lists for the Challenges I am going to undertake in 2010, not forgetting the ongoing Canadian Book Challenge which is still underway, of course. I'm a big one for creating book pools rather than strict lists - don't want to feel that my reading is a prescribed chore, and this way I just have more to choose from!


Science Book Challenge -- it's as easy as pi! (love the slogan)
(3 books)

One of my favourite challenges, for 2010 I have a number of science books around the house which I really want to get to. I had all these on my list for last year, but ended up reading three totally different titles. So I'll try again with these three:


Mauve / Simon Garfield
The story of William Perkin, a young inventor in the mid 1800s who discovered how to make dyes from coal tar, accidentally. He was really searching for a way to create artificial quinine.

The Arcanum / Janet Gleeson
About the Western discovery of how to make porcelain

Empire of the Stars / Arthur I. Miller
One of my favourite topics: astrophysics and how discoveries are made or affected by the personalities involved, with all their human failings.

I'd also like to get my hands on a biography recently voted top science book of 09 by physicsworld.com, the story of Paul Dirac. It's entitled The Strangest Man, written by Graham Farmelo. (there is also a lecture available by Farmelo on this topic) This era of physics is one of my favourite scientific subjects to read about, so will have to locate a copy of this one. All I know about Dirac presently is what I learned from one of my favourite nonfiction reads of last year, Gino Segre's Faust in Copenhagen.

**updated**

Healing Spaces / Esther Sternberg

Mauve / Simon Garfield

***********************************************************************

Colourful Reading Challenge

This is going to be totally random, probably all books I read for other challenges or just pick up for fun. The Challenge is to read 9 books all with a different colour in the title throughout the year. I have my Science Book Challenge pick above, Mauve, and one I have TBR for the Canadian Book Challenge, Vera Lysenko's Yellow Boots, to begin.

Updates:

Yellow Boots / Vera Lysenko

Green Dolphin Country / Elizabeth Goudge

Mauve / Simon Garfield

The Woman in White / Wilkie Collins
***********************************************************************


What's in a Name 3

I've done this challenge for the last two years (though this year I didn't quite keep up!) I love its random selections. These are some of the ideas for titles to choose from - they may still change throughout the year! This year the categories are:

A book with a food in the title

Honey and Ashes / Janice Kulyk Keefer (memoir)
Plum Bun / Jesse Redmon Fauset
Daalder's Chocolates / Philibert Schogt
Read: The Spice Necklace / Ann Vanderhoof

A book with a body of water in the title

The Waves / Virginia Woolf
By the Lake / John McGahern
The Seduction of Water / Carol Goodman
Read: Cool Water / Dianne Warren

A book with a title (queen, president) in the title

Sir Charles Grandison / Richardson (also for Chunkster)
The Case of the General's Thumb / Andrey Kurkov
Mrs. Dalloway / Virginia Woolf
Read: Queen of Hearts / Martha Brooks

A book with a plant in the title

The Blue Flower / Penelope Fitzgerald
Read: The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag / Alan Bradley
The Betrayal of the Blood Lily / Lauren Willig

A book with a place name (city, country) in the title

Read: The Road to Lichfield / Penelope Lively
The Enchantress of Florence / Salman Rushdie
Return to Paris / Colette Rossant (nonfiction- food writing)

A book with a music term in the title

The Ballad and the Source / Rosamond Lehmann
Music of a life / Andrei Makine
Song beneath the ice / Joe Fiorito
Read: Trumpets Sound no More / Jon Redfern

***************************************************************************



Flashback Challenge

All about rereading. This one has different levels of reading to choose from, but I think I'll sign up at the Literati level, six or more books. This is because I want to follow their suggestion of rereading childhood, high school, and adult choices.

Childhood Selections: this year I want to reread the entire Anne series by L.M. Montgomery, since I just finished the new publication of the restored Blythes are Quoted.

High School level: There are a few books I may choose from -- I haven't reread To Kill a Mockingbird since high school and might like to try that. But there are non-school books I'd like to revisit, including Watership Down or maybe Elizabeth Goudge's Green Dolphin Street, of which I remember very little - I think I was too young when I first read it.

Adult choices: There are two books I'd particularly like to reread - Virginia Woolf's The Waves, and Gwethalyn Graham's Earth and High Heaven.

Updated: actually read

As for me and my house / Sinclair Ross

Green Dolphin Country / Elizabeth Goudge

Anne of Green Gables / LMMontgomery

****************************************************************************


Chunkster Challenge

This was the first challenge I ever participated in, and I think it is time to give it another go. I'm only going to sign up for the Chubby Chunkster level, which is three books over 450 pages in 2010. I may read more but am just starting with this. Some ideas for the books I'm going to read are:


Middlemarch / George Eliot (880 p) [read]

The Terror / Dan Simmons (765 p)

Sir Charles Grandison / Richardson (1159 p)

Gold Bug Variations / Richard Power s (635 p)

Celestial Harmonies / Peter Esterhazy (841 p)

Ursula, Under / Ingrid Hill (476 p)

Updated: Actually read:

Green Dolphin Country / Elizabeth Goudge (575 p.)

Gaudy Night / Dorothy Sayers (557 p.)

****************************************************************************



Our Mutual Read

I love the name of the Challenge, and its potential for spending lots of time with Victorian literature! I think I will sign up at



Level 2: 8 books, at least 4 written during 1837 - 1901. The other books may be Neo-Victorian or non-fiction

And here is my list which is only a starting point:

Middlemarch / George Eliot
[read]

The Woman in White / Wilkie Collins
[read]

The Way we live now / Anthony Trollope

Bleak House / Charles Dickens

News from Nowhere / William Morris

Sylvia's lovers / Elizabeth Gaskell

Two on a Tower / Thomas Hardy

Also read:
Trumpets Sound no More / Jon Redfern (NeoVictorian)