Stone’s Fall by Iain Pears

“The church of St Germain des Pres, at the start of what was supposed to be spring, was a miserable place, made worse by the drabness of a city still in a state of shock, worse still by the little coffin in front of the altar which was my reason for being there, worse again by the aches and pains of my body as I kneeled.”

I tried to resist “Stone’s Fall“. Such a big book – 590 pages – I really didn’t have the time, or the space on my library ticket. And I hadn’t been that taken by “An Instance of The Fingerpost“, my only previous encounter with Iain Pears.

But Jackie had written such a glowing report that I just had to pick it up and take a closer look. I opened the pages, read those words and was immediately hooked. Home it came!

I am so glad that it did.

The central question is simple: How and why did the wealthy and powerful industrialist John Stone come to fall to his death from the window of his London home? The answer is anything but.

First there is a prologue, set in Paris in 1953. Two men meet after a funeral. It is short and simple but it sets the tone beautifully and provides a firm basis that will hold together what is to come.

And then the story travels back in time: to London in 1909, to Paris in 1890 and finally to Venice in 1967.

In 1909 John Stone is dead, in 1890 he features in another man’s story, and in 1867 he tells his own story. Three engaging and distinctive narrators.

Stories told backwards rarely work for me, but this one did. The plotting is so well executed, with all of the twists and turns rooted in the history of the characters.

What wonderful characters! Wonderfully observed and utterly intriguing. Settings too, vividly evoked. This is definitely one of those books where you can hear the voices and see the scenes in your head.

There is much going on: financial, industrial and political intrigue; mysteries and investigations; and a striking love story. It all works together beautifully.

And all of this in lovely, cool, clear prose.

For most of its pages “Stone’s Fall” is a story for the intellect, but at key points the emotions were perfectly pitched, and they hit hard.

The story was long and involved, but it held on to me right up to a startling conclusion that shifted my perceptions and made me rethink many elements of what had come before.

Am impressive achievement.

 

Library Loot

I love libraries. Most important are the books of course. But there are other things too. Like library steps. I love steering them to the right shelves, climbing up to find treasures tucked away and then sitting down on top to read. One day I will have a set of my own!

I mention that because this weeks Library Loot is all old books, two of them found when I took trips up the library steps.

Here they are:

From the bottom up:

London War Notes 1939 to 1945 by Mollie Panter-Downes

“For six years Mollie Panter-Downes covered the war from London for the New Yorker.”

I headed straight up the library steps when I saw the name Mollie Panter-Downes on a title that I hadn’t come across before.   She wrtes wonderfully, and just glancing through I can see that this book is packed with wonderful details, and that it is going to be so informative.

Night Thoughts of a Country Landlady, edited by Edith Olivier

“She was not well off, but she had never thought of taking in paying guests, and only a European war could have driven her to such a revolution.”

I spotted this when I was at the top of the steps with  Mollie Panter-Downes! I fell in love with Edith Olivier’s “The Love-Child” last year, was charmed by her autobiography this year and, now I have found this little book, whick looks equally wonderful.

Away From The Bombs by Ricky Clitheroe

“Evacuee! What did it mean to a small boy and thousands more like him who were ordered away from their homes and families 50 years ago?”

I fell in love with Terence Frisby’s “Kisses on a Postcard”, a memoir of life as an evacuee in Cornwall a while ago, and when I was talking to somebody about it in the library he warmly recommended this little book from the Cornish section. A memoir of a boy evacuated to a place that is so familiar to me – my father’s home town of Newlyn.

Emmeline by Charlotte Smith

“Charlotte Smith’s first novel created a sensation on its appearance in 1788. Among its earliest readers was Jane Austen, who drew on the character of Emmeline when she created Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey.”

Doesn’t that sound wonderful? I’ve been meaning to order this one up from reserve fiction for a while. I’m particularly glad I did now i see that Emmeline hasn’t been out since 1999. Poor girl!

A wonderful set of books!

Apart from the books, what do you like best about libraries?

And what did you find in the library this week?

See more Library Loot here.

 

Teaser Tuesdays

Just quote a couple of spoiler-free sentences from the book you’re reading to tempt other readers.

Here is mine:-

“Fleur was the name hazardously bestowed at birth, as always in these cases before they know what you are going to turn out like. Not that I looked too bad, it was only that Fleur wasn’t the right name, and yet it was mine, as are the names of those melancholy Joys, those timid Victors, the inglorious Glorias and the materialistic Angelas one is bound to meet in the course of a long life of change and infiltration; and I once met a Lancelot who, I assure you, had nothing to do with chivalry.”

It doesn’t tell you too much about the book – which is wonderful – but I just had to share those particular sentences.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB

This all comes courtesy of Loitering With Intent by Muriel Spark

 

The Frozen Deep by Wilkie Collins

I was thrilled to discover The Classics Circuit.

What a wonderful idea!

And I was even happier to discover that Wilkie Collins, definitely one of my very favourite authors, would be the subject of the first tour.

But what to read?

The Arctic called to me. I have one sublime story of an Arctic expedition (The Solitude of Thomas Cave by Georgina Harding) already this year and I have another (Cold Earth by Sarah Moss) on my library pile. So when I noticed that Collins had written a novella set around an Arctic expedition more than a century before those two I knew that reading it had to be a high priority.

It’s a lesser known work, but it definitely has a place in literary history.

The Frozen Deep first saw life as a stage play in 1857. The two main protagonists were played by Collins himself and Charles Dickens. Imagine that! And it was when she was cast in the Manchester production that Ellen Ternan first met Charles Dickens.

Seventeen years later Wilkie Collins adapted his play for reading on an American tour, and it was subsequently serialised and then published in book form.

It is easy to see The Frozen Deep’s theatrical roots, but the conversion to novella form has worked well. Scenes are beautifully painted, and it is very easy to conjure up images in your head. There in much dialogue, and it is easy to hear voices in your head too. And the style, the twists and turns, and the compulsion to turn the page are unmistakably Collins.

But what of the story? Well, I’d like to hark back to its theatrical roots, and so I present a drama in three acts.

(There will be spoilers. I read a lovely little edition courtesy of the Hesperus Press, but you can read the Frozen Deep online here.)

Act 1

The curtain opens at a ball, celebrating an expedition to find the Northwest Passage which will set out the following day. Among the guests are Lucy Crayford, whose husband is a  lieutenant on the voyage, and her young friend Clara Burnham. Clara agrees to marry Frank Aldersley when he returns from the expedition. But she is trouble? Why? Because Clara knows that by here silence she has allowed another man, Richard Wardour, to believe that they have an understanding. And Wardour, it seems, has just returned from another voyage, learned that he has a rival, and signed up for the same expedition to seek revenge….

The curtain falls.

 Act 2

The curtain rises on a very different scene. Two years have passed and the expedition’s ships  are trapped in the Arctic ice. Many of the men are weak or dying. Wardour has just learned the identity of his rival, and is still set on vengeance. The officers cast lots to decide the composition of a search party to bring help from the nearest settlement and, though Crayford tries to stop it, both Aldersley and Wardour join the party. Those two become separated from the main party and Wardour contemplates leaving his weaker rival to die on the ice…

The curtain falls.

Act 3

The curtain rises on an English drawing room. News has arrived some of the crew have been rescued. Crayford is safe , but both Aldersley and Wardour are listed  as missing.  Clarafears that her fiance dying by his rival’s hand. Lucy sets out for Canada to meet her rescued husband, accompanied a distressed Clara.

The scene shifts toa boat-house on the Newfoundland shore. The Crayfords are happily reunited. Then a lone figure appears. Wardour. He is weak and delirious and seem not to understand questions abot Aldersley’s fate. He leaves the hut, only to reappear carrying aldersley, frail but very much alive in his arms. Wardour collapses and dies, having sacrificed his own life for Clara’s happiness.

The curtain falls for the last time.

The Frozen Deep is  a dramatic and compelling tale.

It can’t, of course, have the depth of characterisation or plot intricacies of the novels. I would have loved though to know a little more about Lucy, and could have happily done without the accounts of her second sight that really weren’t needed to forward the plot. And Wardour had so much unexplored potential. And just what happened betweeen him and Aldersley on the ice? A potentially wonderful scene lost.

But there is much to enjoy. A fine entertainment!

 

A Man in the Zoo by David Garnett

Earlier this year I fell in love with David Garnett’s Lady Into Fox. I had been strong-minded and not bought a copy but ordered it up from the library. But after reading I knew that I had to have a copy – and to track down the author’s other work. So I was thrilled to uncover a tatty volume in a bargain box. Not just Lady Into Fox, but a new and unknown novella too – A Man in the Zoo.

I was a little worried though. Two novellas with animal themes pairs together. Might the second be just a reworking or a retread. I should have had more faith. There are common reference points, but A Man in the Zoo is an altogether different tale.

The story opens with a young couple – John Cromartie and Josephine Lackett – visiting the zoo. Sadly they have fallen out. Josephine’s parents do not approve of John. He wants them to be married regardless, but she is reluctant to fall out with her family.

Exasperated, John compares his situation with the caged animals they are viewing. And decides to join them as an exhibit.

Yes, really!  David Garnett has the wonderful talent of making such an absurd idea seem entirely possible.

John’s proposal is accepted by the Zoo’s Board, and he packs his bags and takes up residence in a new cage in the Ape-house. Visitors are intrigued, and flock to see the new exhibit. Occupants of neighbouring cages are first curious, then accepting, but sometimes jealous of the interest that John excites.

At first  Josephine reacts with horror and refuses to even contemplate visiting the zoo, but eventually she is drawn there and reacts with concern and then interest.

So what happens in the end? That would be telling! The tale has many twists and turns in its 115 pages on the way to before reaching a conclusion that is entirely right.

A Man in the Zoo is, on the surface a simple fable. But there is much more than that below the surface, and so much insight into the human condition and how human society works. That sounds a little heavy, but trust me, the book is anything but.

David Garnett’s knack of making the unbelievable seem entirely possible means that the story works from start to finish.  His prose is clear, simple and so very readable. His storytelling is just perfect.

I have a couple more of his novellas on the shelf, and I am looking forward to them all the more now.

And just one more thing. My copy of A Man in the Zoo came complete with a newspaper cutting that a previous owner must have tucked away. It suggests there was a proposal that Charlie Chaplin make a film of A Man in the Zoo. I’m so sorry that it came to nothing – it could have been quite wonderful!

 

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

Some books stay with you. They make you pause, think and smile whenever they come into your mind. For me, this is definitely one of those books.

It is simple, gentle and character-driven, and it is also moving because it has so much insight into the human condition.

The Housekeeper is a single mother with a ten-year old son. She has a great deal of experience and she knows that she is good at her job, but when she is sent to work for The Professor, a virtuoso mathematician, she is worried.

Why? Well the Professor has been through nine housekeepers before her. And after an accident seventeen years ago the Professor’s short term memory lasts just eighty minutes.

How do you live with something like that? Well, the Professor lives a quiet, solitary life. And he pins notes to his suit. To remind him of the limitations of his memory and the details of his life.

Every morning the Professor meets The Housekeeper for the first time. Yet, a true friendship grows between them.

The Professor infects both the Housekeeper and her son, who he nicknames Root, on account of his flat haircut’s resemblance to a square root sign, with his deep love of the beauty of numbers and mathematics.

And they bond over a shared love of baseball.

I don’t think it matters though is you don’t love numbers or if you don’t love baseball. I love the former but know absolutely nothing about the latter. What is important is the love that the Housekeeper, the Professor and Root have for them and the bond between them that that shared love helps to grow.

But in time it is inevitable that change must come.

The Housekeeper and the Professor is a quite lovely history of a friendship.

Characters, themes and a gently developing plot are perfectly blended.

The writing is clear and beautiful. What need to be said is said, but there is also space to realise and appreciate what is not said. The translator has clearly done a wonderful job.

Much has been written about this book, and much more could and probably will be written. But I am moved less to write than to smile and remember happily as I think of The Housekeeper and The Professor.

Definitely a book to cherish.

Translated by Stephen Snyder

 

Crimson Rooms by Katharine McMahon

I nearly didn’t pick up The Crimson Rooms when I spotted it in the library. I knew that I had two of Katharine McMahon’s books, unread, on my shelves at home already. But it was a shiny new copy and the cover was beautiful, so I ficked it up to see what it was about. And I was quickly intrigued by the subject matter.

The year is 1924 and Evelyn Gifford is one of Britain’s first woman lawyers. It hasn’t been easy. She has met with much prejudice, but she has finally secured a job with Daniel Breen a lawyer prepared to cock a snook at the establishment.

Evelyn is an engaging character, and you cannot help being drawn into her story and willing her on.

She lives at home with her mother, aunt, and grandmother. A family left rudderless by the death of Evelyn’s brother James in the Great War.

Family life is disrupted when the doorbell rings late one night and a woman appears, claiming to have mothered James’s child. Evelyn believes her – the child bears a striking resemblance to James – but she is troubled. What does Meredith want? Why didn’t she make herself known before? And how will this change things?

Eventually Evelyn gets some answers, but they are not easy to accept.

Merdith is an extraordinary character with a remarkable, and moving, tale to tell. I could have happily spent an entire book with her.

Meanwhile, Evelyn has landed her most interesting legal cases to date

The first is that of Leah Marchant, a single mother who gave up her children when she couldn’t cope. Now she wants them back, but the authorities aren’t ready to hand them over.

Leah believes it is because she has a woman representing her – and Evelyn wonders if that might be true.

The second is of Stephen Wheeler, an old acquaintance of Evelyn’s employer, charged with murdering his wife. Facts emerge that suggest he may be innocent, but he wont talk. Why?

The answertakes time and effort to uncover. It is profound, it is rooted in the Great War, and the end of this particular case brought me to tears.

And Evelyn’s life is further complicated by the fact she becomes involved with a fellow lawyer.

Some of the storylines don’t quite feel as if they belong together, but each holds sufficient interest to ensure that Crimson Rooms, as a whole, works.

The prejudice and unfair treatment that Evelyn receives is infuriating, but, sadly, utterly believable.

Katharine McMahon has chosen her themes well – many still resonate today – and the details are perfect.

A mother who doesn’t inderstand her daughter’s choices. A support network of professional women.The long shadow of war. This really is a book with a lot to say.

Lovely writing too, with the period, the settings and a wide range of characters beautifully created. A lovely piece of old fashioned storytelling.

The ending tied everything up nicely, but I’d love to know more and follow Evelyn – and Meredith – further into the future.

I’d definitely pick up a sequel – and Katharine McMahon‘s other books should be coming off the shelves before too long.

 

Library Loot

Have you ever had a visit to the library where you have found just one book and were so thrilled with it that you didn’t need to look at anything else? Well that’s what happened to me at the weekend.

What’s the book? Well here are two photographic clues – careful selections from my own shelves that may well give you the answer.

Yes it's a Persephone! One that I don't own! And a lovely new never been out of the library before copy!

A lot of books by Elizabeth Taylor? And one by Nicola Beauman?

Now I think it’s fair to say that if you haven’t worked it out byyet you probably aren’t going to.

So here, without further ado, is the star of the show.

The Other Elizabeth Taylor by Nicola Beauman

“This is the first biography of one of the outstanding English writers of the last century. Betty Coles became Elizabeth Taylor upon her marriage in 1936 when she was 23. Her first novel appeared in the same year, 1945, as the actress Elizabeth Taylor was appearing in National Velvet and began her ascent to stardom. Meanwhile, over the next thirty years, ‘the other Elizabeth Taylor’ lived and worked in Buckinghamshire and published eleven more novels and four volumes of short stories. Nicola Beauman’s biography draws on a wealth of hitherto undiscovered material, which includes the wartime letters Elizabeth Taylor wrote to her lover.”

While I love Elizabeth Taylor, Virago Modern Classics and Persephone Books, I did have some reservations about this biography. Might it be intrusive? Should I leave it until I finished reading all of the subject’s works? Maybe but the volume is so beautiful and the few pages I scanned were so lovely that I decided the time is definitely now. I should have not have doubted persephone –  I do have great faith in Nicola Beauman.

And just one more thing. The quotation on the inside of the front cover is from “A Wreath of Roses” – my favourite out of the works of Elizabeth Taylor that I have read so far. and a book in short supply. Do you think that might signal a reissue on the way? I do hope so!

What did you find at the lbrary this week?

See more Libray Loot here.

 

What’s in a Name Challenge: Complete!

This was a lovely challenge. Lots of time was spent happily browsing for titles to fit the categories.

And now I’ve read my 6 books for the 6 categories.

Here they are:

1. A book with a “profession” in its title

A Bookseller’s War by Anne and Heywood Hill

2. A book with a “time of day” in its title

The Swan in the Evening by Rosamond Lehmann

3. A book with a “relative” in its title

Brother Jacob by George Eliot

4. A book with a “body part” in its title

Every Eye by Isobel English

5. A book with a “building” in its title

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

6. A book with a “medical condition” in its title

Among The Mad by Jacqueline Winspear

Thank you to Annie for hosting!

 

Teaser Tuesdays / It’s Tuesday, where are you ?

I’m locked in the cool room! The door won’t move. How did that happen? I never forget to put the bolt up. Never! I must think. Who’s left in the house? Who will miss me? Who will hear me?

It’s Tuesday, where are you? is hosted by raidergirl3.

Just quote a couple of spoiler-free sentences the book you’re reading to tempt other readers.

Here is mine:-

“His moustache was thicker than ever, so stiff a fly could have strolled out to the end, like a prisoner walking the plank on a pirate ship. Except that flies can’t survive in a cold room and thirty below zero, and neither could the owner of the blond frozen moustache: Nestor Chaffino, chef and pastry cook, renowned for his masterful way with a chocolate fondant.”

It might sound as if I’ve giving away the plot, but I’m not really, because those are the first two sentences of the book!

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB

This all comes courtesy of The Last Resort by Carmen Posadas