The Dream Stitcher

The Dream Stitcher / Deborah Gaal
Anchor House Press, c2018
295 p.

This was a random discovery for me, via my library, and a great find. It's a novel that moves between the USA in 2008, and WWII Poland, following a family line of women. It starts out rather fantastical, and has elements of magic throughout, particularly in regards to embroidery. But it also has realistic historical content and strong characters.

Goldye is the titular Dream Stitcher: in Poland she discovers an uncanny skill at embroidery early on (readers will know why). She's taken in by Kaminski Fabrics, and stitches magical wedding dresses for Christian brides. When the Germans come, Mr. Kaminski claims her as an Aryan niece from France, and Goldye changes her name to Anna to survive. But she is still in love with her Jewish resistance fighter, and uses her magical embroidery to fight in her own way. She's so good that a German officer takes interest in her, and requires her to accompany him to France to interpret the mystical imagery of the Bayeux Tapestry, which the Nazis are convinced tells of their victory. 

In 2008, we meet Maude, recently widowed and in financial straits. She has to take her mother out of the home she's been in, too expensive to continue it. When she moves her mother Bea home, she brings along a large recreation of the Bayeux Tapestry that the nurses say she stitched while there, even though Maude has never known her mother to sew anything at all. Maude's pregnant daughter also moves home, and they try to understand the family secrets that start leaking out, especially due to the large tapestry Maude has hung in the living room. 

I thought this was a fascinating read. It melds history, fantasy, mystery and some thriller-y bits too. Plus there is a lot about the magical power to stitch reality that Goldye holds, and what it can and can't accomplish. There are a couple of troubling scenes of sexual violence, during the war, readers should be aware. It can be hard to read, but it's all disturbingly real. The historical elements are strong and the WWII sections are compelling. 

When we hit the contemporary chapters, it is fascinating to feel the difference in narrative tone. Maude is flippant and childish at times, and the writing reflects this. It's like the whole story turns into Maude's story with a minute adjustment to tone. I thought it was really interesting! Maude's story slowly begins to link into Goldye's but what I thought was coming was not what was finally revealed. What a great build up to the conclusion, it surprised me. 

This was an unusual read, unexpected and memorable. I'm still thinking about it. The embroidery was a key part to the book, and makes me want to go see the Bayeux Tapestry - it's in England starting this fall, at the British Museum, for the first time in nearly 1000 years. That would be fascinating. 

But the characters and the creative storytelling are also fresh and engaging here. I am so glad I stumbled across this book. 

(first published at Following The Thread)

 

Linnets and Valerians

Linnets & Valerians / Elizabeth Goudge
Boston, MA: David Godine Publishers, 2015, c1964.
256 p.

I've been having a hard time reading and an even harder time sitting down to review lately. So I decided that I should read something delightful from a favourite author, one of her children's book that I hadn't yet read. This was the right choice! 

Linnets & Valerians is the story of the four Linnet children, Nan, Robert, Timothy and Betsy. They are sent to live with their grandmother when their father is assigned a post overseas -- their mother being, of course in these kinds of books, long dead. Their grandmother is strict and they are unhappy at the beginning of the book, as they are all being punished for rowdy behaviour by being locked away in solitary. They decide to escape and run away. 

And so they do, walking to another village until in exhaustion they climb into a pony trap, which then sets off, the pony heading home, while they eat all the groceries in the back. I can see why Grandma locked them up! 

Fortunately for them, the pony belongs to their Uncle Ambrose, a grumpy minister and scholar, who takes them in. Life there is much freer, even if they must be educated by Uncle Ambrose. 

But instead of just larks and hijinks for the rest of the book, the story turns darker. There is a witch in town, old Emma Cobley, who has cursed the local rich family - their son disappeared at age 8 on the hills, the husband is long missing overseas, the wife is a recluse at their estate. The Linnet children stumble into this and they do resolve it, as expected, but the story is dark, with witchcraft, magical bees, owls, and more. The children remain resolutely stout and English amidst this swirling magic, except for maybe a little bit of Nan is brought into it. As the oldest she is responsible for them and she also finds a little book of spells in Uncle Ambrose's house (the vicarage, where the rich recluse used to live as the old vicar's daughter long ago). 

But despite the odd balance of this book I loved it and would have loved it when I was a young reader as well. It was published in 1964, when these themes of English witches were everywhere -- Mary Stewart's Thornyhold, Alexander Key's Escape to Witch Mountain, or any of Ruth Chew's lighter witchy stories, for example. And this kind of dark magic against the (Christian) light is a theme in some of Goudge's other writing, in different ways but present. 

The only part I wasn't keen on was Nan's character arc - I could see her resolution coming and didn't like it, and then it happened and I still didn't like it! But this was a fun, relaxing read that I really enjoyed on a steamy summer day. 

The Photograph

The Photograph / Kat Karpenko
Pennsauken Township, NJ: BookBaby, c2020.
226 p.

I discovered this one online via my library; it's a story that was spurred by a family photo belonging to the author. It was a photo of her grandparents' full family, just before they left Ukraine for Canada in in 1928.

Karpenko has taken that photo, and some family stories, and created a novel that is deeply affecting. It's 1928, and the Karpenko family of Ukraine is feeling the looming pressure of the Stalinist government and its agricultural policies. Collectivization is going on, and any successful farmer is being branded an enemy of the state - their land and equipment should belong to the collective. Nicholai Karpenko sees no future except for more repression and state theft; he decides that his family should escape the Soviet Union and go to Canada. This is harder than it first seems, requiring some tricky planning for an escape. 

Not only that, but he can't convince any of his brothers or sisters to join them. In the end, it's only Nicholai, his wife Juliana and their three children who make their way to Canada, with a stop in Budapest to find the connections they need to leave Europe. The book is loosely arranged in three sections, starting with this emigration storyline. 

It then follows the rest of the family who stayed in Ukraine, over the years of 1929-1931, and then we experience the Holodomor, the terror-famine orchestrated by Stalin, over the years 1932-1933. These sections are historically accurate, and so quite horrific. The famine was severe, with millions of Ukrainians dying of starvation, a situation created by Stalin's policies - excessive grain quotas, restriction of movement of Ukrainian farmers, and genocidal intent. The book doesn't hide the truth, and we have characters suffering and dying. However, the book is written for school age readers, so the narrative style doesn't go into graphic descriptions. But it is clear what is happening. 

The terrible events are counterpointed by the love that this family has for one another, and the ways they try to help each other. Their survival is not assured but they keep on. And the connection with Canada in the end gives a longer view. 

This is hard-hitting but also a family story. It's well done, with a lack of overdone sentimentality, just a dose of reality. But the characters and their relationships make this a compelling read, one that brings forgotten history to life.  

To find out more about this book, you can watch Kat Karpenko's interview with HREC (Holodomor Research and Education Consortium). 

Philipovna, Daughter of Sorrow

 

Philipovna, Daughter of Sorrow / Valentina Gal
Gananoque, ON: MiroLand, c2019.
285 p.

Yesterday was Holodomor Memorial Day, as I shared in my last post. This was a manufactured famine, created by Stalin with genocidal intent. But it's still not widely known, and often denied. So I thought I would share a few novels which I've read, dealing with this event. 

I'm starting with this fictionalized memoir which was based on the author's mother's stories. And it is very powerful. It's told from the viewpoint of Vera Philipovna, a young orphan who is sent to live with her Aunt Xena's family in another small village in Ukraine. But this is the early 30s, and Stalin's famine-genocide is about to begin. 

The story covers three years of Philipovna's life, and they are hard and tragic. Most of her family dies of starvation; she is sent away to an orphanage in a town in hopes that she will survive there - in the end she is one of the few members of her family to live past the famine. But life in the orphanage is no treat. There is horrific abuse and mistreatment of both children and the women caring for them.  

This book is both hard and easy to read. Hard because of the content: there is such clear description of violence and cruelty of all kinds, all based in experiences of Ukrainians like the author's mother. Easy because the writing is fluid and clear, and in its simplicity it holds so much power.

But the book also shares details of Ukrainian culture and daily life at the time, and this is also so valuable. We see the family structures and the habits, routines, rituals, customs and traditions which Ukrainians are trying to hold on to and hide from the abusive state and its figureheads. The evocation of life before this tragedy is strong and memorable. Philipovna is lucky enough to be taken in by a loving Aunt & Uncle, and cousins too. Their life together was warm and connected, if not for the political events coming to disrupt everything about life and community. 

There is so much loss and grief here, however. It's a memorial to all those who weren't as lucky as Gal's mother and who didn't make it out of Ukraine. Gal is a Canadian writer who was encouraged to write this after taking a creative writing class, and I'm grateful that she did. It's moving, unforgettable, and rings with truth. 

The Empusium

 

The Empusium / Olga Tokarczuk
trans. from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
New York : Riverhead Books, c2024.
300 p.

Here is Tokarczuk's response to Mann's The Magic Mountain. It takes elements of his book and transforms it into a feminist horror story, of sorts. 

Mieczysław Wojnicz is a young man going to Gorbersdorf, a sanitorium/resort in the Silesian mountains. It's supposed to be a healthy atmosphere, perfect for quick healing of the tubercular. But it's so popular that there is no room in the main building, rather, Mieczysław finds himself in a guesthouse along with two old men and another young resident, Thilo, whom he befriends. They have a gruff local as their landlord, alongside a skulking servant - the only woman in the mix was the landlord's wife but she dies very shortly after Mieczysław  arrives, a situation which haunts him. 

There are many other haunting elements within this story: strange scratchings from the attic, hallucinatory mushrooms growing all around, an intermittent narrative shift to voices that can see all and drift through floors and walls, and the local legends of women who fled their homes years ago and now live mad in the woods devouring young men in season. Also the Tuntschi - reclining female figures built from twigs and leaves and moss in the woods, for the pleasures of itinerant (male) workers. 

Along with the feelings of dread, we have feelings of boredom and lack of focus among the residents; the atmosphere makes it hard for them to concentrate or really grasp the passing of time. We hear their daily routines, their meals, their petty politics and griping, as well as some of the internal struggles that Mieczysław is having. Why won't he undress for his doctor? And why does every discussion or argument between guesthouse residents end up denigrating women? Tokarczuk takes words and arguments directly from many of the "great minds" of literature, who she lists in the end, to cobble together these statements about women never being enough. 

But this fixation on dualism is upended both in discussions between Mieczysław & his doctor ("the vision of the world as black and white is a false and destructive vision") and by Mieczysław's nature itself. The ending is a breath of fresh air, the healing kind that Mieczysław  went to Gorbersdorf to find in the first place.

Like some of her other works, this one is a bit fragmentary and requires the reader to be comfortable with not knowing exactly what's going on at all times. But although it can feel slow in parts, it's worth the journey. 

On Sunday Morning She Gathered Herbs

On Sunday Morning She Gathered Herbs / Olha Kobylianska
trans. from the Ukrainian by Mary Skrypnyk
TO: CIUS Press, 2001, c1909.
179 p.

This book is an older Ukrainian classic that I've been meaning to read for a while now. I first read some of Kobylianska's work in a collection of women's writing by Language Lanterns Press, But the Lord is Silent. 

She has a specific style that reflects her period; a bit flowery, a bit mannered. In this book, she takes a folksong and fleshes out its bare lyrics into a full novel. The folksong is about a young man who loves two women; out of jealously one poisons him. But out of a couple of verses, she creates a dense novel with a dark sense of inevitability to it. 

As it is based on this kind of source material, the story does get a bit melodramatic at times; perhaps that's also the influence of the German romanticism of the late 1800s/early 1900s that she knew so well. She grew up in the far west of current Ukraine, and was schooled in German, writing many of her early works in German, until she became part of the women's movement in Ukraine and consciously switched over to writing in Ukrainian. (short bio here if you're interested) I feel like some of the literary trends of the era reveal themselves in this book. 

The book tackles social conventions and sexual mores, mostly as they affect women. The story opens as a woman is cast out of her gypsy community for giving birth to a 'white' child. The violence of the opening sets the tone of toxic masculinity that reverberates through the book, with other men also beating or threatening women or expecting them to take whatever the man wants to do. 

It also brings up issues of personal desires as opposed to community responsibilities. Mavra, the woman from the opening, had an infant son who was taken from her and adopted by a rich landowner who didn't know his background. This boy, Hryts, grows up to form the love triangle foretold in the folksong, having a sweet girl from his village that he intends to marry until he comes across the dark Tetiana, daughter of the woman who took Mavra in all those years ago. Drama!! 

I didn't think much of his wooing - on first spying Tetiana in a mountain meadow he threatens to hit her or force his attentions on her if she doesn't talk to him. Oh boy, what a catch. But Tetiana falls for him, hiding their meetings from her mother, and eventually loses her grasp on reality when she realizes that Hryts is marrying another woman and has just been toying with her. 

I did find this a quick read, even if it's a bit dense. The drama keeps it moving. And the content about Carpathian customs, households, and landscapes was really interesting. There is a description of young girls and the romantic traditions for Kupala Night, which are fascinating.

There are a few flaws, in a book that is from 1909 you have to expect some bits that are unpalatable to today's reader. The biggest invention that Kobylianska added to the folksong to make a novel is the gypsy background for Hryts, and it is a bit over the top. But definitely of its time. 

Still, I actually really liked this and found it had a lot of psychological insight and a focus on women's lives in a constrained society. And the writing was poetic, a bit elaborate at times, but enjoyable nonetheless. Great read for a classic! 

The Lark

 

The Lark / E. Nesbit
London: Dean Street Books, 2017, c1922.
267 p.

For a book that's now over 100 years old, this feels fresh and engaging in so many ways. I enjoyed reading this, although on reflection, it feels a little like two separate books combined. 

It's 1919 and Jane and Lucilla are just leaving school, to go live with their trustee in a country cottage -- only to find that he has mismanaged their funds and done a bunk. They have a small cottage to live in and a bit of money, but realize they will have to make money for themselves somehow. They begin by selling flowers from their garden to passersby on the road - this is a success and they need to find a bigger and better flower garden to supply themselves from. 

There is a big house down the road, long empty but with a large garden, and somehow they manage to finagle a room there to use as their flower shop. Jane and Lucilla do seem to fall into luck most times. Jane has more gumption and as their precarious business starts, she's the one who bracingly says: 

Life is a lark — all the parts of it, I mean, that are generally treated seriously: money, and worries about money, and not being sure what’s going to happen. Looked at rightly, all that’s an adventure, a lark. As long as you have enough to eat and to wear and a roof to sleep under, the whole thing’s a lark. Life is a lark for us, and we must treat it as such.

They need a steadier source of income, however, and end up fixing up the big house and taking in paying guests, some of whom disappear without paying. This is where it feels like another story is beginning. Their circumstances have changed a lot since the beginning of the story, there are now young men involved and they've somewhat magically been allowed the use of this big house for their needs by running into the owner's handsome nephew, John Rochester, and they can afford a couple of servants as well. Jane's young man was foreshadowed in the beginning, in an opening chapter 4 years prior to their leaving school. While Lucilla's was a bit sudden and silly in my opinion! 

In any case, this was a funny and charming tale. I'm always interested in stories where someone has to start a business to survive, especially when it's the unexpected combination of two young women on their own. There are practical issues for them to deal with as well as the lighter ones of romance, and they get up to some mischief as well. Entertaining characters, not what you'd expect, and a beautiful country setting. I enjoyed this one. 

Latchkey Ladies

 

Latchkey Ladies / Marjorie Grant 
Malvern, UK: Handheld Press, 2022, c1921.
302 p.

This was the first novel of Canadian writer Marjorie Grant, but it's based in England, focusing on the "latchkey ladies" of wartime. I'm very glad it was republished by Handheld Press, as that's how I heard of it. 

The story follows four main characters, Latchkey Ladies all. This means that they are living in London in small flats, working for their livings, dependent on their latchkeys - no home ownership, no family or spouse. Sometimes sharing flats though, as they move around the city looking for a liveable spot. 

It opens in 1918, at the Mimosa Club, a kind of gathering spot for working girls and down on their luck older ladies too. Some of the young women, like Maquita, put the older women's teeth on edge, with her loud voice and laughter. But the old women do the same to the younger in turn, with their sour prissiness. Maquita is one of our focus characters, alongside Sophy, Anne and Petunia. Maquita is jolly, seeming to enjoy this life. Sophy is bland, so much so that even her own mother favours Anne. Anne Carey really is the favoured one, and the story really becomes her story. Petunia shows up a little later on, and she's beautiful but the gossip is that she is half Indian, which still matters to a lot of people. (Grant included; she seems to hold a lot of those class opinions). Anne provides the viewpoint to the story; she is working in a wartime office with Canadian soldiers and they are rough and not quite at the level of Englishmen, which is funny considering Grant is herself actually Canadian. The colonial viewpoint has been thoroughly absorbed!  

In any case, Anne hates her work but she has the level of privilege to just quit, without having another job lined up. Among her four friends, she has the most financial flexibility, but they all seem to have a lot more fun. She flounders a bit but then meets Philip Dampier, a writer (married with children) who has a bit of glamour for her. She is working for her aunt at a girl's school at this point, but spends time with Dampier when she can. And then she finds out she has let herself in for some trouble indeed. Fortunately she has another aunt who takes care of her at this juncture. 

The story is uneven in pacing and characterization - some people appear to shortly disappear completely, and storylines are given different emphasis at different times in the book. And Anne, for all that she's the main character, isn't very engaging. She's a bit selfish and spoiled in some ways. 

But this is still very worth reading for its description of life in just barely post WWI England. And it focuses on women, and the ways they scraped their livings if they weren't married. It looks at the details of life for the Latchkey Ladies themselves, or older spinsters and companions, or Anne's aunts, one of whom becomes a reclusive scholar and the other an active schoolteacher (albeit one who is openly in a loving female relationship). This relationship in particular was interesting; the two women are instructors at a girl's school, and the only thing they are mocked for by the students is their old-fashioned-ness and love of the classics, nothing more. But the book, while not using direct language, makes it clear that it's a long-term partnership. 

The story also delves into class, money, marriage, women's options, various occupations that single women could find, the attitudes of many men toward single working women, and much more. It takes on the daily experiences of post war England, written contemporaneously. It does fall into a bit of melodrama and romanticism, like many popular books written in this era, and definitely shows the edge of racism when talking about Petunia or even Anne's Irish landlady. But I was surprised at how candid it is about many so-called taboo subjects at that time. Really interesting read, I enjoyed it overall. 

Crocodile on the Sandbank

Crocodile on the Sandbank / Elizabeth Peters 
Ashland, OR: Blackstone Audio, 2077, c1975.
Narrated by Susan O'Malley

This is a classic, and it's another reread for me! I thought I'd surely written about this before now but it turns out I haven't. I recently listened to the audiobook and still enjoy this first volume of the lengthy and popular Amelia Peabody series. 

I think it's the best of the series, introducing us to Amelia Peabody, a bluestocking who inherits her father's estate (to her brothers' chagrin) and decides to travel to all the places she's always read about. She heads out to Europe, and in Italy rescues Evelyn, a delicate fellow Englishwoman who she discovers in a faint in a public place. 

Nobody can override Amelia when she makes a decision, and she chooses to engage this unknown woman as her companion for the rest of her travels, specifically on the next leg out to Egypt. And her befriending of Evelyn brings all sorts of complications and intrigue to their trip. Egypt also brings a meeting with the Emerson brothers, archeologists Walter and Radcliffe, who mirror Evelyn and Amelia and the story wraps up neatly with all of their various relationships, ready for the series to continue. 

This was written in 1975 so there are a few parts that wouldn't perhaps be included today. But it's set during the late Victorian period, 1890s, so the English/French/Arabic mix of Egyptology is definitely reflective of the history. Peters is a scholar of Egypt so those elements, of archeological detail, mummies, daily life, landscape etc are all thoroughly described and realistic. 

The storyline, the romance, the banter and the rest are more reminiscent of adventure novels of that late Victorian era. It's quite bonkers, really fun and the romantic elements are sweet at times and hilarious at others. I love Amelia's bullheaded nature that hides a warmer heart, and have enjoyed these Egypt set novels for a long time. There are a ton of books in this series but I find I reread the first five most often, and think those five could stand alone as a sufficient series. This one is a classic. 

 

The Silver Bone

The Silver Bone / Andrey Kurkov;
trans. from the Russian by Boris Dralyuk
NY: HarperVia, c2024.
288 p.

This is the first in a projected mystery series by well known Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkov. It features Samson Kolechko, a young man whose father is murdered in the street by soldiers during a time of unrest, and in the attack Samson loses an ear (which plays a role in the story later on).

It's set in 1919 Kyiv, when WWI had ended but Ukraine was a battleground of multiple factions vying for control. There are Red Army soldiers, insurgents, police and others all trying to rule. It's basically chaos. Two Red Army soldiers barge in and commandeer rooms in Samson's apartment -- it's quite large, as it had been their family home but his parents and sister are all dead now. In this way, Samson overhears some sketchy plans, reports them, gets drafted into the police force, meets a woman, solves a mystery involving a specially tailored suit and a silver bone, and sets the reader up for a series with more to come. 

I liked it; it is definitely recognizeable as Kurkov's writing, and it gives a vivid picture of a chaotic point in history. However, there were some choices that I was a little uncomfortable with, as when the characters refer to ongoing violence as the actions of "Petliura's men". I found mentioning only the Ukrainian faction a bit strange.

As for the story itself, Samson is an interesting character, a bit passive with a lot of the action just happening to him, but he does make an effort to consciously act, eventually. There is a bit of a fantastical element as well, as with some of Kurkov's other works -- in this, Samson's severed ear (which he keeps in a box) magically enables him to eavesdrop on anyone near it. This comes in handy at this point in history, especially once he begins working for the police. I also liked the parts involving the tailor and the unusual suit; the suit itself gives Samson a big clue as to who he is looking for. However, I thought the storyline was a bit farfetched and has no strong payoff in the end, but perhaps the series will improve. I'll read the next one when it's published, and then see if I will go on with it.

 

Red Harvest

Red Harvest / Michael Cherkas
New York : NBM Graphic Novels, ©2023
145 p.

This graphic novel is a vital introduction to the Holodomor for those who don't know anything about it. It's told by Mykola Kovalenko, an elderly man in Canada, the only known survivor of his family, who is looking at a family photo and finally telling his story to his own children and grandchildren. 

The Holodomor (Death by Hunger) happened in 1932-33 in Ukraine, when Stalin's policies of forced large-scale collectivization of individual farms and farmers across Ukraine led to mass starvation, deportations and murder. It weakened Ukraine, a prosperous and productive farming society, making it impossible to stand against Soviet invasion and land theft. There were millions dead in horrific ways, and is a generational trauma. 

This graphic novel presents the truth of this in a way that makes it comprehensible and not too overwhelming for the reader. There are representatives of each position in this story; a son-in-law who is a Bolshevik idealist despite the realities of what their ideals actually meant, punitive government officials, innocent children (Mykola's siblings, who all die from some element of the situation), rich farmers, traitors, and those who still found kindness within themselves despite conditions. 

It's powerful and disturbing. The artwork is simple, monotone colours and sketchy lines. The author & artist talked about his thought process coming to the decision on how to render the story, and that the stark lines were the most truthful way he could share this book. It does have an impact and I think it reflects the content well, supporting it, and not distracting from the facts. Cherkas is a Canadian of Ukrainian heritage, and has spent his whole life in the graphic design/art/cartoon field, and his skill really made this book something special. 

This is an important book to read if you are wondering about the past relationship between Ukraine and Russia and why Ukraine is so adamant about its sovereignty. It gives some context to a centuries old conflict. But it's not very pleasant reading; history is not always easy. 

If you're interested in learning more, True North Country Comics interviewed Cherkas on their podcast in 2023, and you can listen to it here. 

The Go-Between

The Go-Between / Jennifer Maruno
Leaside, ON: Red Deer Press, c2024.
184 p.

This middle grade novel, set in British Columbia in 1926, tackles racism, history, and family connections equally well. Sumi is the younger daughter of a Japanese family in Vancouver. She's curious, energetic and wants to be a journalist. Her older sister Yoshi wants to study dressmaking but has also just been asked to take on a summer job as a housemaid in remote Gibson's Landing.

Sumi offers to take the job so that Yoshi is free to study. It's not at all what she expected - she sleeps in a shed in the yard, and has to work hard all day long. But it's not all bad.

She finds a friend in the son of a local Japanese farming family, which helps manage her homesickness. Her personality is strong enough that she is able to withstand difficult moments, and to speak up when she feels she has to. She is helpful to the sickly mistress of the household, and earns respect for her work ethic eventually, even from the crabby housekeeper.

There are moments of crisis and drama -- a hurricane, a strike at the local cannery that she's secretly involved with, accusations of theft -- but as a middle grade novel nothing feels too dangerous, and Sumi comes through safe and sound. The issues of racism and classism were brought up naturally, in a way that younger readers can understand and feel.  

The writing is clear and the setting is vibrantly evoked. Sumi makes a great heroine, as she’s clever and determined. Her relationship with her family was a delight also, showing the strong ties that kept her going through this eventful summer. Based on the true story of Eiko Kitagawa Maruno, the author's mother-in-law, this book reveals an important part of Canadian history, in a very readable way.

Eight Strings

 

Eight Strings / Margaret DeRosia
TO: Simon & Schuster, c2023.
321 p.

In late 19th century Venice, Francesca is fleeing an arranged marriage, with the help of her grandfather. She dresses up like a man, becoming Franco, and runs to the Minerva marionette puppet theatre where she tries out for a job. Her grandfather was a puppeteer and has trained her, but the profession is only open to men. As Franco, he gets the most entry level job to prove himself, and as time goes on he grows in his puppeteering skills and in his life as a man. Franco is who Francesca was always meant to be; fortunately, he's also the way to hide from his family, and develop the life of his dreams. 

Franco works hard and earns the trust of the Minerva's owner, as well as the grudging respect of his coworkers. Those relationships cement his devotion to the theatre, until one day a friend from the distant past appears. Annella had grown up on the same street, and is now a companion to a wealthy woman who seems to have some influence at the Minerva. Annella recognizes Franco but keeps silent. They are thrown together through circumstance, and desire begins to bloom. 

But Franco has to figure out not only how to become a master puppeteer, but how to effectively hide from his father and brother, even while tracing the tangled threads of theatre politics and financing. As things begin to alter and shift at the Minerva, Franco and Annella have to find out who's pulling the strings, and where their own future lies. 

This was a fascinating historical read, evoking a vibrant, earthy Venice. From criminal rings and corporate spying, to art and puppetry, to the power of clothing and finding out who you really are, this story has it all. With a fantastic setting, unusual and gripping storyline, and some complex and intriguing characters, this was a thoroughly gripping read. Written by an LGBTQ+ author, it also has a compelling character arc for Francesca/Franco. The shift to being Franco is skillfully done, with the ring of truth and understanding of the nuances of this change. It was convincing and this is a character you are cheering for all along, wanting him to overcome all the hurdles and obstacles in the way of grand success. I really enjoyed the fresh historical setting and context -- and I do love a good story about puppets! 

Episodic Memory

 

Episodic Memory / Liubov Holota
trans. from the Ukrainian by Stephen Komarnyckyj
Kalyna Language Press, 2015, c2008.
228 p.

I'm finishing off my #WITMonth with two 5-star reads. The first is this one, Episodic Memory. 

It's a slower paced read, and I read it in sections. It's a poetic and lyrical novel with dreamlike elements to its style and content. But it also deals with very non-lofty topics, like death, political repression, betrayal, poverty, and more. 

It is based in the village of Lyubymivka, a small settlement near Kryvyi Rih in Eastern Ukraine. Most of the books I've read from Ukraine are set in Kyiv or the Western part of the country, so this was a good addition to my reading. It's told by a woman who has returned to her village from her life in Kyiv, to sit a 40 day vigil for her mother who has just died. Her younger brother is there in the beginning, but is about to leave for South America to work as an engineer. This not uncommon flight is part of the story, as they have a conversation debating leaving or staying in your country - although most of the book is the woman's thoughts, memories and talk, not too much of anybody else's response. 

The title is explained early on, when she says that 'episodic memory' is the type that is personal and tied to one's life, while a deeper memory exists that is more of an historical or cultural memory -- but they are both tied together. And the way the narrative moves back and forth, showing the background to much of Ukraine's history and society, through her own memories, follows this distinction. The book examines memory itself, as much as this particular life.

We meet many of the inhabitants of this small village in her stories, as they were when she was a small child, and those who remain now. The communist days of the 50s (her childhood) are shown in many small  ways, and then the strange years of the 70s and 80s when things were still Soviet but changing -- both from rural to urban, and from communal to a bit more individual concerns. Also the continued presence of jealousy and informing on those, like our heroine, whom others felt were too self-contained, too intellectual. 

But the presence of the past is constant, both in the landscape of the Steppe, and the memories that arise from being in her mother's house. In once section, she picks up the quilt from her mother's bed, made up of pieces of clothing that had belonged to both her and her brother, along with a few pieces from their parents. This quilt becomes a memory prompt as she sees familiar pieces of fabric stitched in. I found this a realistic and visceral way of drawing out memory. 

It's beautifully told, in thoughtful and literary style. The only thing that threw me a little was the ending -- I'm not sure what the last few pages mean, or if there is something of more significance to them that I'm missing. Otherwise, I enjoyed the time I spent reading this. The way that the stories wrap around one another is so well done. Her own stories are told clearly, but in between we have some memories of others from the village, as well as her own forebears, and when these are being related, the text is italicized; I think it made the tales distinct. 

I would definitely reread this; there is so much to explore, a lot of depth to the writing and references to follow. Really wonderful. 

But... the Lord is Silent

But...The Lord is Silent / Olha Kobylianska &Yevheniya Yaroshynska
trans. from the Ukrainian by Roma Franko
Saskatoon: Language Lanterns, c1999.
470 p.

This is volume 3 in the Women's Voices in Ukrainian Literature series from Language Lanterns, and it's the last one that I'm reviewing -- all the others can be found in earlier reviews here on the blog. 

This volume has two contributors, Olha Kobylianska and Yevheniya Yaroshynska. The first one is better known, and the book is about 2/3 her work. She was from Bukovyna province in the west of Ukraine when it was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and as such she learned and wrote in German early in her career, eventually switching to Ukrainian. Her work feels very much like late 19th century European writing to me  - it's flowery, full of nature and high themes - although she is considered a great modernist. Many of her pieces included here are very short stories, some that are more like fragments, and they do show that particular historical moment well. She also includes a more psychological perspective in her stories that was not usual in older writings. I appreciated what she wrote and found a lot to think over. 

But I really enjoyed the last 8 stories in the volume, by Yevheniya Yaroshynska. She writes in a more down-to-earth manner, and talks about things like love and idealism and feminism. On the Banks of the Dniester was the longest piece in this section, really a novella at about 90 pages. I really enjoyed it; various young people, deception and star-crossed love, lots of talk about ideals in education etc that are a bit didactic but still interesting, and most unusually, a happy ending. I was waiting for the disaster but no, everything turned out well. In some of the other pieces, this is not the case, especially in the haunting In the Forest, which deals directly with war and insurgency.

Something that has stood out for me in all the volumes of this historical series is that the contents sometimes feel very contemporary, even after a century. The shifting territories, war, and so on. Things you don't want to be contemporary at all. In this book, the mentions of the cruelty of Russian soldiers sounds right up to date.

The translation here is smooth and almost unnoticeable in its clarity. Roma Franko did an excellent job with all of these volumes, the stories reading very naturally in English. I highly recommend this entire series if you are interested in women writing at the turn of the last century in Ukraine. There is so much to learn and you really get a feel for the intellectual milieu of the era -- so much interest in reclaiming culture, language and history, and in championing women's rights. It's hard to believe it was so long ago. 

Sweet Darusya

Sweet Darusya / Maria Matios
trans. from the Ukrainian by Michael Naydan & Olha Tytarenko
read by Allyson Voller
Old Saybrook, CT: Tantor Audio, 2022, c2003.

This is an historical novel by an author from Western Ukraine, who has written many award-winning books and also serves as a member of parliament. This book has received high praise, and has now been published in English both in hard copy and as an audiobook. I found the audiobook in my library, and I liked it, although I did find there were a couple of odd choices in the narration. Primarily that the narrator puts on an accent when the characters are speaking, which is a bit distracting. The characters are speaking their own language to one another, they're not speaking English, so why do they have a funny accent? I've found this habit in a couple of translated audiobooks, from different languages, and wish they would just read everything straight. We know they're speaking their own language, we don't need accents. 

Aside from that production note, this book was astounding to me. It's set in a small village on a river, across from a similar village on the other side, which is in a different country. This was fairly common as borders continually shifted; there's the old joke about a grandmother who lived in three different countries in her lifetime but never left her village. This is in the Carpathians, and the villages are populated by local Hutsuls. However, the villages are continually under the control of others, Romanians, Poles, Germans, Soviets, and they are all abusive - the villagers just want to live in peace but that's not their reality. And for the women in the story, peace is elusive at home as well as societally.

Sweet Darusya is our main character; she's called "Sweet" because she's not all there mentally. She's mute, and doesn't live like others do. We don't know at the beginning of the book whether this has always been the case, but as the story unspools we find out why. The book is set up in reverse chronological order; it starts in the 60s with Darusya herself, and moves back to the 40s as we learn more about her parents and their experiences. This allows the reader to look backwards as well, and see the links between trauma through the generations, and the behaviours it engenders.

It's not an easy story; the history that it covers is dark and violent, but what I found very striking is that some of it could be a report from the war today, even though it's taking place over the 1940s-60s. There are dark moments of terror when the occupying soldiers torture and kill villagers, and these moments are not skimmed over, so do be prepared for some horrific elements. 

The terrible things that seem to randomly happen to these villagers just keep coming. When we find out the full story of Darusya's affliction, it's a heartbreaking explanation. The book is a condemnation of war and how it destroys families and lives for nothing, and creates trauma that continues down the generations. If you want to understand some of the history behind the country, this is well worth reading.

If you read this rather than listen to it, you'll also find a lot of footnotes explaining the context of the story, with historical background. But it's been noted by a few readers that this translation is distracting for it's lack of smooth transition into English. Unfortunately I find this is usual for this translator, but the story is still very important and powerful, if you can overlook some clunky language. You will learn a lot about the past and the underpinning of what's happening today. 

The Villa in Italy

 

The Villa in Italy / Elizabeth Edmondson
London: HarperCollins, c2006.
426 p.

I picked this book off the shelves of my library, after discovering that this author is another pseudonym for the author also known as Elizabeth Pewsey (and Elizabeth Aston, and Gally Marchmont) who I recently discovered. And more on her later! 

This is the only copy of one of her books, under any name, in my library's collection. So I read it. I enjoyed it - it's set in the 50s, obviously mostly in Italy! A woman named Beatrice Malaspina has died and left legacies to four strangers, who are all summoned to the Villa Dante. The conditions for receiving their legacy is that all four will arrive at the Villa and stay there for 33 days together, looking for the codicil that will explain everything. 

We meet Delia, a British opera singer who is suffering from bronchitis which is obviously pretty detrimental to her career - she brings along her friend Jessica, who is eager to get out of London and the scandal of her separation from her war hero husband. 

They arrive first, but shortly after two other Brits arrive together, although by chance - they don't each other or Delia either. Marjorie is a prickly and private woman, a detective writer who comes from the lower classes and resents Delia and Jessica for their rich lady airs. She's suffering from writer's block, which is her burden. But she also senses more than what is obvious to the eye, and comes out with sudden insights that make the others a bit uncomfortable. 

George is the third person there; he's a quiet scientist who carries the heavy guilt of having worked on the development of the atom bomb during the war. While he's a man with a rigorous scientific mind, he also has another side, having been brought up in a Jesuit school.

And finally, days after all the Brits arrive, Lucius rolls up. He's an American, more casual and authoritative than they are, a banker in the family tradition although he'd rather be an artist. He also carries psychological burdens from his war experiences in Italy, which turn out to be more connected to the other people at the Villa Dante than he'd known. 

So you have all four of these troubled strangers gathering in a villa owned by someone none of them had ever met (to their knowledge), and a puzzle set for them to solve. But unlike a Christie novel, there's no murder and mayhem among the small group, rather, they start to build tentative friendships and confess their longings for their lives to one another. 

There's enough plot and development to keep the story moving -- uninvited and unwelcome guests at the end, a McCarthy-like goverment offical interrupting their idyll -- but the heart of the book lies with the characters. These four (plus the fifth wheel, Jessica) are all very different but their unhappinesses are rather the same. 

There are interesting twists and the conclusion is not the easy one - there is no Noah's Ark style pairing off of all concerned. I appreciated that there was more complexity to the storyline in this way, and the story left me with a satisfied feeling. Lots about music and art in this story, as seems to be common in this author's work, and questions of responsibility and human feeling, as well as various family struggles. Really great summer read, with a little more heft than a beach read but also a lovely Italian setting to relax into as a holiday of sorts. Quite enjoyable & I wouldn't hesitate to read another by this author. 

The London Séance Society

 

The London Séance Society / Sarah Penner
TO: Park Row, c2023
329 p.

I picked this up because of the description; Victorian England, a medium involved in a mystery, a secret society...lots to intrigue a reader! But I wish I'd liked it more. In the end, I kept reading to find out what happened to the characters, but found the writing style and the plotting a bit weak. 

Lenna is a young woman who is a bit sceptical about the spirit world. But her younger sister Evie has recently died, and so Lenna travels to Paris to study with famed spiritualist Vaudeline D’Allaire, who Evie had also worked with. There's more than a simple student-teacher relationship brewing between them, when Vaudeline is called back to London (all hush-hush) to hold a seance at the secret society that had been the reason she left England in the first place. 

The story is told from the perspectives of Lenna and of one of the Directors of the London Seance Society. The book flips between chapters from both views, so the reader knows a lot more about what's going on than the characters do. This sort of works, but she gives away the game pretty early on, so any suspense that might have been built falls a bit flat. There is action, and some good set pieces, and lots of angsty relational drama, but the villain is clear early on, and you know that they'll get their comeuppance by the end. 

I found this an interesting read but a bit underwhelming. Plot holes abound, the main one being what my husband likes to call The Poirot Conundrum -- ie, why did the villain call in the detective to begin with? The villain could have finished everyone off pretty early on if they weren't so obsessed with symbolism and making a statement before taking care of business. Still, as a melodramatic Victorian gothic with lots of mystery and atmosphere, this one was pretty good. Not that memorable after the fact, though.

A Dress of Violet Taffeta

A Dress of Violet Taffeta / Tessa Arlen
NY: Berkley, c2022.
335 p.

This novel is based on the life of Lady Duff Gordon, otherwise known as British fashion designer Lucille. I've always been interested in this figure, the sister of sensational writer Elinor Glyn, as they have a Canadian connection. Their mother was Canadian, and they both spent some childhood years living in Guelph with their maternal grandparents after their father died. When their mother remarried, they returned to England. 

In any case, this book focuses on Lucy at the moment that her first marriage is breaking down. Her husband James Wallace was a drunk and a philanderer, and he walked out on her and their daughter Esme. She, somewhat scandalously at the time, filed for divorce. But to support herself and her daughter, she started designing and selling dresses from their flat. 

This took off and she kept growing, with her finger on the pulse of fashion -- less restrictive clothing, less corsetry, lower necklines, and skimpy & silky underclothes. She was a hit. The book focuses quite a bit on the business side of things, describing the dresses and clients well. There is also an assistant who is important in the book, who is an amalgamation of two real people in Lucy's life. The character is interesting, so I was disappointed to learn she was a mashup of sorts. 

Lucy also meets a Scottish lord, Cosmo Duff Gordon, who she eventually marries. They end up travelling on the Titanic, and both survived, though they were accused of bribery afterward as the way they survived. They were completely cleared of the accusations in an inquiry, but Cosmo never got over the character assassination during the trial, and they separated a few years later, he retiring back to Scotland and Lucy spending much time in New York where she'd launched a shop. 

The book was mostly interesting, though it did drag on a bit. I enjoyed the descriptions of the fashions and the sewing, as well as the actual running of a business by a woman at this time. The problem with the book is one I often have with these kinds of stories: the reliance on real people as fictional characters. I don't mind real people showing up as side characters, or having a walk-through role. But when they are the main characters and their motives and personal thoughts are created by a fiction writer, it makes me uncomfortable. Where does truth end? It's not always clear what the author is basing their interpretation of a character on. And I found that in this book, the author tries very hard to create a great love affair between Lucy and Cosmo that I just don't think is based in real life. She focuses heavily on romance, perhaps because this book falls into that kind of genre. But I feel like Lucy would have been a much more self-focused, pragmatic person, as shown by the couple's eventual separation as well. 

In any case, I enjoyed the dressmaking parts, found the writing adequate, and was a little unsettled by the heavy use of real people as main characters. Despite the fact that Lady Duff Gordon had an eventful life, full of moments perfect for a novelist, I am not sure that in the end I wouldn't have just preferred a good biography. 

(this review first appeared at Following the Thread)

By Her Own Design

  

By Her Own Design / Piper Huguley
NY: William Morrow, c2022.
367 p.

This is a novel based on the life of Ann Lowe, a Black designer who sewed for high society; she's probably best known for Jacqueline Kennedy's wedding dress. However, 'best' known is still not widely known, and when author Piper Huguley discovered her story she decided to write a novel to spread her story. 

Huguley has written three earlier novels, all romance, and that shows in this book. The first half of the book, as Ann is growing up and experiencing her two marriages (she was first married at 12 years old), is rich and dense with detail and emotion. The genesis of her desire to be a designer, and the development of her sewing skills at the feet of her mother and grandmother, is all laid out, explaining Ann's devotion to her dreams of being an artist. The relationships between Ann and her mother, grandmother, and sister are deeply drawn, followed with the appeal of her two husbands and then her love for her only son -- all these elements are compelling reading. 

Once Ann has shaken off the relationships that are holding her back, though, and sets a course for her new life in New York, the story moves more quickly, skimming over a lot of the many storied years Ann spent running various shops and designing for a multitude of famous people. There are highlights of some of the most dramatic moments of her later life - the Kennedy wedding dress and a closely averted disaster, the loss of family members, a retrospective gala for her in her later years -- and each moment is certainly affecting. But the second half focuses less on her personal life than the beginning. 

Still, I really enjoyed this book. The writing brought this woman to life, and evokes an era in which her success was much more unlikely than otherwise. Huguley captures small things that really illuminate the wider world, and Ann is a great character to follow through the many changes across the 20th century. And even better, if you're intrigued, you can look into more about the real Ann Lowe and see some of her work after you've finished the novel. I think this is a great introduction to her life and story, and would recommend for any fashion lovers. 

(this review first appeared at Following The Thread)