Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler

       Published in 2020, 178 pages paperback.  I  found this gem at a local book sale and read it in August.  Here end of year with a stack of books I've read and not blogged.  I am trying to get busy before year end.  This was a delightful book, packed with details about ordinary type characters who might not be given a second thought.  It is touching and  a good story as Anne Tyler usually writes. The back cover summarizes this well, so I include that here.  A review from Oprah magazine said, "..realism has been so pervasive a style that it is easy to forget it is a style.  One of its flawless practitioners is Anne Tyler.."  The book has touches of humor along with the heart stirring  feelings it creates for the reader.  

The book begins, "You have to wonder what goes through the mind of a man like Micah Mortimer.  He lives alone; he keeps to himself; his routine is etched in stone. At 7:15 every morning you see him out on his run.  Along about 10 or 10:30 he slaps the magnetic TECH HERMIT sign onto the roof of his Kia.  The times he leaves on his calls will vary but not a day seems to go by without several clients requiring his services."  It could lead a reader, unfamiliar with Anne Tyler to think this might be a boring book.  But her gift is in the ordinary.  

Page 26 reveals how the book got it's title. " When Micah went on his runs he never wore his glasses.  He hated to feel them bobbing up and down on his nose, which was why.  He hated how they grew steamy when he sweated.  This was unfortunate, because in the past few years his distance vision had noticeably worsened.  Not that he was going blind or anything it was just that her was getting old, as his optometrist so tactlessly put it.  At night the lane markers on the streets were all but invisible and just last week he had whacked a black spider that turned out to be a tangle of sewing thread.  On the homeward stretch this morning, he made his usual mistake of imagining for a second that a certain fire hydrant, faded to the pinkish color of an aged clay flowerpot, was a child or a very short grown up...."  Perhaps because I too have needed glasses and identify with the symptoms I found this amusing.  But this is just one example of the author's ability to detail the ordinary and evoke identification, humor, an oh yes from the reader.  

A boy, a young man, Brink Adams shows up at his stoop and pursues his introduction.  He is the son of a college friend, Lorna Bartell, now a lawyer but not someone with whom Micah has kept any contact.  Brink needs a place to stay, which surprises Micah who  takes him in.    

Some people get into trouble by talking too much, not so with Micah, his words are few and sometimes his silence in under appreciate nor is his humor.  Cass his kind of "girlfriend" is leaving his apartment and he tries to humor her,  Pg 49, "Aw now, he said teasing her.  "Why do that when you've got a car of your own you can live in?    But this didn't make her smile.  She just closed the door behind her and left him standing alone in the kitchen.....He ought to fetch Brink some sheets he supposed.  Then he would relocate to his bedroom. Ordinarily he hung out on his couch and played solitaire on his phone in the evenings but not tonight.  Not with an audience, so to speak.  That was the trouble with houseguests, they took over a person's space.  They seeped into all the corners."  

All's well that ends well    Page 148,   A 5 ***** read

  

Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich

 

Read this in September, a quick entertaining read  published in 2013, 295 pages.  Another in the adventures of Stephanie Blum bounty hunter.   

Inside flap

 Set in Trenton, NJ, all the characters from previous novels of this series remain--Vinnie the Bail bondsman for whom Steph works; Lula, her sidekick assistant with the best mouth around; Joe. Morelli, detective and Steph's fiancé kind of, Bella Morelli's old world grandmother who despises Steph and specializes in giving Steph the evil eye;  Steph's grandma Mazur who has a prominent role in this one;  Steph's Mom who takes to the ironing board to wear off frustration from her unmarried daughter; and Ranger, Steph's protector, close friend and  sometimes heartthrob.  I do not know off hand how many of these I have read but I always enjoy them.  There is a combination of humor, mystery and intrigue presented in a light hearted way for fun reading. 

The story opens as Lula and Steph are on a night stake out  after Salvatore Sunucchi aka Uncle Sunny, local mobster protected by his grandma and adored through the community for his generosity.  Lula is as ever attracted to some knock off handbags from a local source, Jimmy.  They have seen a giraffe, whom Lula will name Kevin, seriously a giraffe running the back streets of Trenton.  As the action moves along Stephanie is becoming frustrated with her life, broke  or always living on the edge always she decides to give up bounty hunting.  She even tries a stint at learning to Butcher at her ever suffering Mom's suggestion with the local butcher.  That is not a good experience.  But she needs the final amount that she can be paid from Vinnie for bringing Uncle Sunny in.  By the end of the novel she has given up and returns to bounty hunter.,  Steph partners with Ranger to go to the senior center and bingo games to catch a killer.  Three elderly widows have been killed, strangled with venetian blind cord, and dumped into dumpsters.  Grandma Mazur at the end will be with Uncle Sunny who turns out to the be creepy killer.  Steph saves her grandma from the fate of the other 3 women.  

. 5 ***** rating for an enjoyable tale as always.   I am never disappointed when I find these at book sales and want a quick read. 

Ending pages of Takedown Twenty

   

The Modigliani Scandal by Ken Follett

Front cover

I read this in March .  It is the most different novel by Ken Follett and one I knew nothing about previously although it was first published in 1976, this paperback edition was published in 2019 and has an introductory letter by the author.  Usually he writes sagas that span generations and eras, this is a specific time and place and is a great story, intrigue, bordering on mystery about art. 

 If I were to use one word to describe it, Twisty would be as close as I could get.  In only 279 pages Follett tells an amazing fast paced story about a lost or forged art masterpieces and the treachery of the world of collectors of these gems. 

First page of novel

 Set in Europe it begins in Paris innocently enough, where 25 year old Dee Sleigh  a primary character, recent graduate  of art academy and college with a degree  in Art History. is taking the summer off before she decides what to do with her life.  She is in Paris with Mike, her boyfriend through whom she learns about an old man in his 90's who  was  a friend to several old master painters/  artists before WWI. 

Back Cover

 At his  place she sees a sketch, a drawing with the faded signature Modigliani.  Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France.   The old man had a massive art collection but no longer.  He tells her about  Modigliani's drug habits and how artwork was lost in a fire.  But he also tells her that  he had given some to someone in Italy.    Long ago.  Mike has flown back to London  to handle business for a couple of days.  Dee is elated and  decides to go to Italy and pursue the artwork.  Without Mike there and no one to tell of her  potential find, she jots a postcard off to her Uncle Charles telling him of what she hopes to discover.    So the chase begins.  It is a tale that will come close to disaster for Dee a couple times.  Tracking the artwork and determining forgeries or not is elusive.  Page 90  compares it "like chasing canned peaches."  Now that is different!  

Fast paced,  I could not put this book down, wondering what next.  I give it 5 *****   I include the Introduction below  written by the author in 1985 and his  letter from 2019  for the updated republication of the novel.  

In the Introduction, page 1, the author notes that he doesn't "believe everything in life is blind chance.   We do not control our lives..........the truth is complicated.  Mechanisms beyond our control and sometimes beyond our understanding determine a person's fate, yet the choices he makes have consequences."   His update in 2019  "Nostalgia Isn't What it Used to Be"  describes the books "people love and remember for years.....usually good in every way, plot, character, prose, imagery, everything."  That fully describes every Ken Follett book I have read and this one is no exception.  

Intro page 1

  

Intro page 2

Author update 2019 page 1

Author update 2019 page 2

As I stated above another 5 *****

Crowning Design by Leila Meacham

Read this in May, a delightful story with twists by a renowned women's novel writers, Leila Meacham.  Ever since I was introduced to and read her "Roses"  back when every so often I like to read one of her books.  I have gifted her books to many women over the years and all have enjoyed her writing.  This paperback edition, published in 2017, 202 pages  was new to me and did not disappoint for nice reading.  

It opens with a reprint of a letter written in the late 1980's from Leila to her readers, captioned "A Letter to My Friends, Fans, Readers of My Later-In-Life Novels and Newcomers."  She explains that she wanted to tell an interesting story and that she writes about what she does not know and then learns from research.  That has been a successful technique for her, my opinion.  

It is the story of Deborah Standridge a prominent architect in Denver, CO.  Although she was/is a true southern Belle from Georgia she relocated to Denver after her  cum laude college graduation, broke off her engagement and wedding to Roger Lawson a most eligible southern bachelor to the dismay of his mother, her parents and others.  Roger dies in an auto accident and his mother blames Deborah.  She is the only child of elderly parents, Isabelle and Ben who have doted on her and provided her with the best.  The novel opens at the magnificent yet over the top engagement party hosted by Estelle Lawson, Roger's mother. 

Page 1 Crowning Design

Out of sheer curiosity, Deborah accepts an invitation of the Randall Hayden firm to fly to Denver for an interview with his prestigious firm and there decides to break off the engagement and accept the offer to relocate to Denver.  This fully devastates her parents who are in their 70's . Then the tortuous phone call from Estelle that Roger is dead and she will forever blame Deborah.

Dan Parker a prestigious businessman wants Deborah to design the building for his firm to locate to Denver from Phoenix.  And the story takes off.  The founder of the firm, Randall is fond of Deborah and treats her almost like the daughter he never had.  His trusted secretary, Bea has likewise taken to Deborah.  The problem with the building that Dan Parker wants is that two very small businesses, owned by neighborhood friends of Deborah's will be  put out of business, Josie's Bar  and Fred's Paper Shack.  

It sounds easy going until strange things begin to happen and Deborah's home is broken into.  By this time she is  casually dating Dan.  And the story goes on with strange unexpected twists but ends like the fantasy of an adult fairytale.  I  give this 4 **** because it was delightful to read, not very deep, but enjoyable and entertaining and I will gift it along now that I finally posted here.  

Crowning Design   Back Cover

 

Sly Fox by Judge Jeanine Pirro

 

I am so far behind posting here books I have read, a stacxk is waiting to be posted.  Starting with the one I just finished reading,  Sly Fox by Judge Jeanine Pirro.  Published in 2012 but I recently acquired it at a book sale, First Edition too.  I am a fan of Judge Jeanine on Fox so I was intrigued that she had authored a crime novel.  After reading this, I think she should stick to Fox TV shows.  I admire her wit and tenacity on the talk shows so I expected more in a novel.  Perhaps because this is her first I expected too much.

The novel is mediocre reading and was a disappointment to me.  I sighed all through the 288 pages but was determined to  read it through.   The story is OK, with a focus on domestic violence and  schemes and corruption amongst law enforcement agencies especially at the  federal levels.  Not sure how much is auto biographical about Judge herself, including the mother of the main Character, Dani Fox of Lebanese descent. Perhaps that is a tribute to her own mother.   The more  tedious parts were the overly detailed and abundant explanations of the legal system, the professions, attitudes of defense attorneys, the court rooms, trials, and even explanations of the acronyms used for example in the Federal Witness Protection Program. 

However the ending is a clincher and leaves the door open for subsequent novels about Dani Fox.  I do not believe there are any and I will pass if there are. Below are the cover flaps which detail the story.   I only give this 3 *** maybe that is too generous but it was readable. It will be donated back to the  book sale efforts at our local library, first edition regardless.

 

Back cover with photo of the author Judge Jeanine Pirro.

Make Me by Lee Child

 

 Published in 2016, I started to read this on New Years day this year, but just now posting the review., months later,  April 24.    With the amazing success of the new Reacher movies on Amazon Prime I have been kicking myself for not keeping all the other editions which I have read and many of which were first edition hard covers.  So  finally I will keep the few that are remaining.  These books have become impossible to find at book sales locally too.  This was a used  one, paperback, 494 pages, it has been on my self to read for  about a year. On page 1, included below, there is a mention of use of drones.  Since the initial publication, in 2015 hardback, I did not think drones were as familiar back then, but maybe that is just me or not recalling correctly.  

 

Page 1  Make Me

 By page 3 we know it is nearly the end of summer and Reacher has just gotten off a train in front of grain elevators.  He is the only passenger to get off in this agricultural bump in the road, Mother's Rest.  When he saw it on a map he thought the name was interesting for a railroad stop and  wondered what had happened  likely long ago to give it this name.  He is intrigued by a worried woman., Michelle Chang,  a former FBI, now a private investigator looking   for  her missing partner. 

. Reacher has no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there, and there’s something about Chang . . . so he teams up with her and starts to ask around. He thinks: How bad can this thing be? But before long he’s plunged into a desperate race through LA, Chicago, Phoenix, and San Francisco, and through the hidden parts of the internet, up against thugs and assassins every step of the way—right back to where he started, in Mother’s Rest, where he must confront the worst nightmare he could imagine.    Walking away would have been easier. But as always, Reacher’s rule is: If you want me to stop, you’re going to have to make me. 

This novel is filled with many Reacherisms, sayings one that I particularly noticed here repeatedly was "Hope for the best,  plan for the worst."

As every other Reacher novel this was a 5 **** read.  At the back of the novel is a short story featuring Reacher and Neagley, "Small Wars." 

Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris

 "Sold on a Monday was inspired by a photograph in a 1948 newspaper of four children sitting by a sign which read 4 children for sale. "  I read this historical fiction novel in September 2021 but set it aside to post here.  It has been a best seller but I waited to get it at the book sale.    A heart wrenching tale about life back in the Depression era told through  a young rookie reporter Ellis Reed. 

This is from the author's website and succinctly summarizes the story...'The sign is a last resort. It sits on a farmhouse porch in 1931, but could be found anywhere in an era of breadlines, bank runs, and broken dreams. It could have been written by any mother facing impossible choices.  or struggling reporter Ellis Reed, the gut-wrenching scene evokes memories of his family's dark past. He snaps a photograph of the children, not meant for publication. But when it leads to his big break, the consequences are more devastating than he ever imagined.  At the paper, Lillian Palmer is haunted by her role in all that happened. She is far too familiar with the heartbreak of children deemed unwanted. As the bonds of motherhood are tested, she and Ellis must decide how much they are willing to risk to mend a fractured family.   Inspired by an actual newspaper photograph that stunned the nation, Sold on a Monday is a powerful novel of love, redemption, and the unexpected paths that bring us home. "  https://www.kristinamcmorris.com/sold-on-a-monday

This is the original photo that inspired the novel. 
 It was in a Chicago newspaper in August 1948.  

Back cover of novel

This was a tale we  hear about, the times when people were forced to make awful decisions,  We might wonder how could they, yet hunger and  severe need force the situation.  I gave this book about 4 ****  It was haunting and yet a subject recently appearing in other novels.  I wish my now passed on relatives were around to tell me  similar tales, what they experienced growing up without anything. Rough times what would we  who are so accustomed to prosperity do? 

Here are the first 2 pages of chapter 1  actually pages 5 & 6 . Because of the length of time since I read this I cannot comment  more.

 

  

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

 

   I might be one of the last to read Where the Crawdads Sing,     a best seller published in 2018,, 368 pages and then more notes from the author.  I have so many books to read off my shelf from sales that I seldom buy new fiction but this is one I recently purchased.  Being a widow alone so much of the time I really related to this story about Kya, a young girl., abandoned who survives all alone in a North Carolina coastal marsh.  In the prologue the author explains that a marsh is not a swamp.  I  appreciated that because I do know the difference but many wouldn't.  After I read about the author's background I understood why she has introduced the story this way. I  copied the prologue first page below. 

in her letter to readers at the end of the book, author, Delia Owens shares "..we may long to be in a group, but we can find  unbelievable strength deep inside to survive, even thrive, when we are alone." While I do not long to be in a group, and find most big groups tedious, I have a group through my church, but I would like to have companionship, a widow's lament.  So I related to Kya although her circumstances as a young girl are very different.  

Reviews and excerpts abound online about this book, so I will not repost those here.  I did struggle along keeping interested through the middle of the book, but staying with the tale paid off.  It picks up and the story turns and twists.  It is part mystery, part love story, part nature, human nature, part courtroom drama, and above all affirmation that in spite of all, amidst human indifference and sometimes human cruelty, life goes on.   In the author's conversation with the readers at the end of the book she explains that "isolation affects human behavior."  "Instinctual behaviors born from isolation allow Kya to survive and protect herself.  But more....confidence she gains from self reliance permits her to soar with personal achievements beyond what she could imagine...."  Although fiction, but based on nature, a10 year old abandoned girl survives showing us  "what can we be when we have to be."  

In brief, they live in the marsh, poor family, the father is abusive and the mother leaves, abandoning the children, escaping...the siblings leave one by one and this leaves Kya with the father who stays until she is 10 and then leaves as well.  The only ones who truly show her kindness and care are old  Jumpin' and his wife Mabel, who are  blacks that  run an old bait shop and live rough lives as well. Mabel provides clothes for her but Kya determines to trade them smoked fish.   Tate is a local boy who teaches her to read but he ultimately leaves for college and Kya is alone again.  Ultimately she takes up with Chase Andrews, the young man about town and there the twist begins.  When Chase is found murdered and the sheriff is stumped but determined to find the killer  "the Marsh Girl" becomes the suspect and finally they arrest Kya.  The murder trial is suspenseful.  Meantime one brother, Jodie has returned for periodic visits, he has been in the Army and is now stationed at Ft Benning, GA.  Tghe mystery continues and not to spoil it but Kya triumphs , found not guilty and returns to her marsh.  But this time Tate soon follows, he is a biologist and employed by the University lab.  Kya becomes a published author about the marsh and is able to finally have electricity and running water  and renovate her shack.  She keeps the old woodstove though, just in case Ma returns.  Meantime, Ma, has passed away and Jodie  has  to share that news with her.  Ultimately Tate stays with Kya until the end.  

I give this 4 1/2 stars ****   the half because I did struggle to stay with the story as I mentioned.   

The Gondola Maker by Laura Morelli

 

A new to me author, recommended by DIL..This one was published in 2014, is a large paperback size,  285 pages.  Laura Morelli is apparently known for the intense research she puts into a subject and that is reflected in this novel and "Dedicated to those whose hearts propel their hands."  is the inscription.,  It begins in Venice in 1581 and as the title reflects about Gondolas.  

The main character is Luca Vianello, son working in his father's shop, an ancestry of gondola making family.  However a tragic accident results in a fire burning down the business and Luca flees fearing the wrath of his father.  The novel follows him as he struggles in a new life finally becoming the gondolier to an artist.  He discovers an old gondola there and asks permission to restore it which he does in his hours while not working.  Meantime in the gallery workshop of the  the artist Trevisan,  he notices a portrait in process by the artist  of a beautiful; young woman and becomes obsessed with her.  He learns she is Signorina Giuliana Zanchi and is smitten but knows she is far above him as a mere gondolier.  Surprisingly she contacts him and asks that he meet her clandestinely.  She asks for his help to take jewelry to a man at a party, she tells him he will know him, recognizable as a Jew immediately.  Luca does this and gives her every cent of the money he gets in return.  So begins the twist. Her family has fallen on hard times since her father's death and her mother will be entering a convent. She will either be married off to someone she does not chose or have to enter the convent herself.   She is trying to sell some of the jewelry secretly to raise money without her mother knowing and gets Luca to take other pieces to pawnbrokers on her behalf which he does willingly.  He dreams of taking her for a ride in the gondola he is restoring.  The tale continues and one day after restoring the old gondola which  was built long before  by his grandfather he meets  with her on the boat.  But someone is watching and reports this to a mean Councillor in the town who had eyes on Giuliana to add to his conquests of maidens, one night stands.  The Councilior has Luca arrested and thrown into prison where he is sure he will perish. He arranges to have the gondola burned. Luca feels he has been betrayed badly by Giuliana and cannot make sense of what happened. But one day he is released to an old friend from his neighborhood, the oar maker, Master Fumgalli is old and failing and had befriended Luca as a boy back home.  Fumgalli wishes him to take over his oar making business.  Luca receives a package from the Artist Tristan with oarlock from of the old  gondola and searches the convent for Giuliiana but learns she is not there.  The novel wraps up with his reuniting with his sister and brother  but not with his father.  As the novel concludes though, his father has cone to him and knocks on the door. The inevitable. 

A moving tale although parts seemed slow to me about the details of gondolas...Nevertheless the book is worth reading.  I give it almost 4 ****

It opens: "I chew on my lip while I wait to see my father's gondola catch fire.  Beneath the boat a pile of firewood is stacked so high that I find myself in the oss position of looking up at the underside of its black hull.  A meticulous servant or day laborer has split the logs and arranged them into neat stacks, then pressed dried brush into the spaces between the wood, with intention to start an impressive blaze.  The gondola has been lashed to the largest logs of the pyre, yet it remains skewed at an angle.  From my vantage point I cannot help but admire the craft's flowing lines, its elegant prow reaching to the sky as if to defy this injustice.   My father had nothing to do with te crime committed in this boat of course.  I feel certain that none of the onlookers has any idea that my father, our Republic's most renowned gondola maker and I, a young man barely worthy of note, crafted this gondola with our own hands.  Surely no one has noticed our catanella, the maple leaf emblem we care into the prow of each gondola that emerges from the Vianello workshop."  

Pg 15,  "of course this gondola burning isn't the first public humiliation that I have witnessed on this very spot in my life but I am certain that it will be the most memorable.  "

Pg. 285 conclusion"  My father stands on the other  side of the door now, lifting his right hand.  On either side of this  narrow barrier my father and I stand like reflected images.  Our hands are the same large knuckles, flat, smooth nails, his skin more lined, mine smoother but worn now from labor.  We are separated by the hardness of the oak planks, the hardness of life, the hardness in our hearts.  We are mirror images none the less.     I am so lost in my vision that when the knock comes, I doubt that it is real, but my heart which skips a beat confirms it.  I open my eyes and take a deep breath.  Gently I open the door."  

The Hard Way by Lee Child

 

Read in November 2021 but just now posting,  another of my favorite Jack Reacher novels; this was published in 2016, 477 pages.  It is the 10th novel about exArmy major, Jack Reacher now on his own and on the move, always.  This novel has multiple reference  about military attributes, skills that become ingrained in  military service, anecdotes and what makes a soldier a survivor. 

  It  opens with Reacher getting coffee, he  consumes vast amounts of this as any follower of these books knows.  On page 1, "Jack Reacher ordered espresso, double, no peel, no cube, foam cup, no china and before it arrived at his table he saw a man's life change forever.  Not that the waiter was slow.  Just that the move was slick.  So slick, Reacher had no idea what he was watching.  It was just an urban scene, repeated everywhere in the  world, a billion times a day. A guy unlocked a car and got in and drove away.  That was all.     But that was enough. "   So begins this saga about Edward Lane who pays $1 million ransom to get Kate, his wife,  back.  Lane runs an illegal mercenary, soldiers for hire operation.  But as happens in the twists involving Reacher not all is what it seems and then even then not what is said. But Reacher will be" On the trail of vicious kidnappers, Reacher learns the chilling secrets of his employer’s past . . . and of a horrific drama in the heart of a nasty little war. He knows that Edward Lane is hiding something. Something dirty. Something big. But Reacher also knows this: He’s already in way too deep to stop now. And if he has to do it the hard way, he will."  

Page 3, " The guy was medium height, not young, not old, too solid to be called wiry, too slight to be called heavy.  ...His mouth didn't move much as he talked.  But his eyes did.  The flicked left and right tirelessly.  ..Reacher had seen the same look in elite infantry veterans who had survived long jungle tours."    Pg 4, " You notice things...I notice things...We're two of a kind.  We're peas in a pod."   

Back Cover with photo of Lee Child

Page 168, "Where would a military mind want to be?, she asked.   Reacher recited, 'A Soldier knows that a satisfactory observation point provides an unobstructed view to the front and adequate security to the flanks and the rear.  He knows it provides protection from the elements and concealment of the observers.  He knows it offers a reasonable likelihood of undisturbed occupation for the full duration of the operation."

Page 212 reveals Reacher preference for specific shoes and describes them. "His shoes were benchmade by a company called Cheaney from Northhampton in England.  Smarter buys than Church's which were basically the same shoes but with a premium tag for the name.  The style that Reacher had chosen was called Tenterden, which was a brown semi brogue made of heavy pebbled leather.  Size 12.  The soioles were heavy composite items brought in from a company called Dainite.  Reacher hated leather soles.  They wore out too fast and stayed wet too long after rain.  Dainites were better.  Their heels were a five layer stuck an inch and a quarter thick.  The Cheaney leather welt, the Dainite welt, two slabs of hard Cheaney leather and a thick Dainite cap.  Each shoe on its own weighed more than two pounds.  "...Page 213..." He put his weight on his back foot and stared at the door and bounced like a high jumper going for a record.  Then he launched.  One pace, two.  He smashed his right heel into the door just above  the knob and wood splintered and dust filled the air and the door smashed open and he continued running without breaking stride. "

Another 5 *****

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

 

Published in 2009, A Reliable Wife was a recent  book sale find, a new author to me, fiction and the  story line was appealing.   It is a paperback, 261 npages to the novel, an interview with the author and a reading guide for group questions which I wish I had read as I went through this book.  I actually skimmed fast over parts because the story was not appealing to me.  The writing is good for this first novel, but the tale seemed to drag on longer than needed. 

 Apparently he was inspired to create this novel  back in 1973 after his first reading of "Wisconsin Death Trip" by Michael Lesy which Goolrick describes as brilliant, "a collage of words and photographs paint a haunting cinematic portrayal of a small town in Wisconsin at the diseased end of the 19th century."   So that became the setting for this novel, northern Wisconsin in the dreary winter1907.  The author has several phrases that are repeated at times through the book, one that is prominent and which concludes the story is " Such things happen."  

Page 1

The writing is good, sometimes poetic although as I stated above the story is dragged along and sometimes it seemed the author just wanted to prolong what would happen and could not find another way to build suspense other than unnecessary detail.  Perhaps because it is now the dead of a long cold winter here in Southeastern MN, across the Mississippi from WI I was tired enough of snow and cold temps and that might have contributed to my skimming parts of this book.  We learn about Ralph Truitt, 54 years old, the first and main character, a wealthy tycoon who has inherited vast business empires, a widower, perhaps respected but not liked by the locals.

Pg 4, " Nothing says hell has to be fire, thought Ralph Truitt standing in his sober clothes on the platform of the train station in the frozen middle of frozen nowhere.  Hell could be like this."

Pg 8, "You can live with hopelessness for only so long before you are in fact hopeless."  So he places an ad in a Chicago paper to advertise for a "relievable wife."  The novel opens as he awaits the arrival of the woman at the train station, the train is running late. Pg. 11, "In his pocket was the letter and in the letter was a picture of a plain woman whom he did not know, ordered like a pair of boots from Chicago, .."  

Pages 2-3

Chapter 2 brings the 2nd primary character, Catherine Land.  It was interesting that she was traveling attired in finery, but removes all the nice clothing as she nears the destination  and tosses it out the train window.  She will arrive wearing a very plain homespun material dress and bringing with her similar shabby attire.  Page 5, "It was the middle that gave her pause.  This for all its forward momentum was the middle. The beginnings were sweet, the endings usually bitter, but the middles were only the tightrope you walked between the ono and the other.  No more than that."  She is 34 and was successful in responding to Truitt's ad.  Pg 21, "It was Ralph Truitt's .terse announcement, containing the promise of a beginning, not splendid perhaps, but new, that she had finally answered. 'I am a simple honest woman"  we will learn thru the novel this is not so.  And it was immediately questionable when she disposed of her traveling finery and went wearing shabby clothing to meet this man.  

The tale continues, briefly they meet at the train station and she admits the phot she had sent him was of her cousin, not of herself. 

Back cover

They are traveling to his home by carriage in the bad weather and there is an accident, Ralph is injured but she takes over the reins and they arrive at the mansion(?) where Mr. and Mrs. Larsen, Truitt's reliable overseer and housekeeper, hired help take over.  Ralph has to be cared for over some period of time and Catherine helps Mrs. Larsen because we learn she wants to become his wife and inherit his property and wealth when he dies.  Catherine has a blue vial of poison hidden in her suitcase but does not use it.  Mrs. Larsen is immediately suspicious of Catherine but after she  nurses  Truitt along becomes more accepting.  Finally he regains health and they are married.  She learns that his wife and daughter both died tragically and he was mean to his son, She learns the home where they have been staying is not the magnificent structure he'd built for his former wife, but moved out when she died, retreating to this smaller place.  He willingly buys her with anything she asks  Catherine still has not used the poison and Truitt tells her he wants to send her to St. Louis to retrieve his long errant estranged son, Andy.   He wants to bring him back to WI  to inherit the property and wealth. 

 This should have been a clue to me that something was not right, why would she agree so willingly if she had intended to kill Truitt by poison and inherit it herself.  But she goes to St. Louis where the private detectives  whom Truit has hired, identify the son now known as Tony Moretti, a piano player in a saloon as the estranged son.  They arrange a meeting where Tony denies any such relationship and avows that his parents are  from  and in Philadelphia, that he knows neither Truitt nor WI.

Catherine spends what seems as unreasonable long time in St Louis and corresponds with Truitt and finally says she thinks she can convince this Tony if she meets with him on her own, without the detectives along or observing.  This might have been another clue, but I was not following the reader questions and was becoming bored with the details of her activities in St Louise, reading at the library, etc.  Her meeting with /Tony alone reveals that she has known him before, and they begin or rather resume a torrid affair.  It is all familiar and her clothing is in his apartment.  She remains in St. Louis for some time cavorting and conspiring with Tony.  She searches again for her long lost sister, Alice but finally finds her in a beyond desolate circumstance.  Page 179, "Her sister couldn't be saved.  And she knew she couldn't kill Ralph Truitt." 

Catherine determines to dump Tony, return to Truitt and his wealth.  However Tony threatens l her and  vows to tell Truitt himself.  The plot has thickened and this has gone on for seems like forever, a great part of the novel. During this time apparently Truitt subsidized her willingly, which seems questionable now looking back. Pg. 180, "Not one word, Catherine.  You haven't earned the right to beg.  There's no freedom for you.  No place to go.  You ruin everything you touch."   She returns to Truitt and resumes her life with him with details of how she tried  but Tony could not be persuaded.  They move into the grand house, the palace and she is lavished with all things she wants and begins to restore the gardens. Truitt becomes mysteriously ill.  Mrs Larsen is still on duty watching. Catherine is. slowly poisoning him but eventually decides she cannot continue.  Page 224, "I can't do it to you.  you're all I've known.  All I will ever know and I can't do it.  I love  you so much it makes me ashamed when you look at me to have you see me.  But, there, take my hand.  It stops now."  .But Truitt says he wanted to die.  And then she promises that she will bring Tony, aka Andy aka Antonio home to him.  She telegrams Antonio to come at once.  Antonio does return but with continuing evil intentions.  Catherine is restoring Truitt to health and has discarded the poison.  Antonio is squandering money on women, drink, horses, etc.  Catherine is pregnant. 

Antonio attacks Catherine in the conservatory but she fights back and stabs him with her scissors. Truitt  arrives and beats him, defending Catherine, .then follows him out into the snow.  Antonio goes onto the frozen pond,  the ice breaks and he drowns.  Now Truitt is inconsolable..  At some point after burying Antonio Catherine tells Ralp she is pregnant.  He had admitted to knowing about her and her previous relationship with Antonio.  But as the ending,  page  261, " "Well then.  You'd better come in the house.  She took one last look at the garden.  The air had turned suddenly cold an evening cod, without threat.  It was almost dark.  Things wait, she thought.  Not everything dies.  Living takes time.  And she walked toward the golden house and took his outstretched hand in her own..   Such things happen."   

I give this book 3 1/2 ***; perhaps if I'd followed along to the reader's guide discussion questions I might have been more interested.  But I felt it dragged along and yet I did appreciuate some of the writing.    

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Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates by Brian Kilmeade

 

This was a book sale find that sat on my to read shelf for some time.  Finally started it in December and finished in January, first  published in 2015 and this paperback edition in 2016; 221 pages including the Afterword and Acknowledgements Sections and pages of source notes follow.  Well written and might not have been a subject of initial interest to me, about the early days of US Navy and Marines as they established their significance thru this seldom mentioned war.  But I am more informed having read it and appreciate the research. I am a history buff but it has been ages since I read anything about this era and in particular the military issues of those days back to 1801 when the US was a fledgling nation. Reading this once again validated a view I've long had that knowledge of history gives a great perspective.  Many issues from then remain relevant today. 

The book opens July 1785 when the Barbary pirates attack and take prisoner the captain and sailors of the US Dauphin off the coast of Portugal.  America was at peace, or so it thought.  Pg 2., "Mercilessly, the pirates stripped O'Brien and his men of shoes, hats and handkerchiefs, leaving them unprotected from the burning sun during the  12 day voyage back to the North African coast.  On arrival in Algiers, the American captives were paraded through the streets as spectators jeered."  It is almost frightening to consider some of  these, such as the peril the Muslim renegades placed upon the world and its endurance today.  Pages 9-17 include the conversations, meetings, and correspondence between two old friends,  Thomas Jefferson who is serving as American minister to France and goes to London in March 1786 to meet with John Adams,  America's minister to Britain.  

Pg. 16 " He told Adams that justice, honor and the respect of Europe for the United States would be served by establishing a fleet in constant cruise in Barbary waters, policing and confronting ships  of the outlaw states as necessary...."   "Adams disagreed.  He believed that war against the Islamic  nations would be costly and possibly unwinnable......We out not to fight them at all unless We determine to fight them forever."  Prophetic.  

Pg 23, "The dismantling of the navy had suited President Washington perfectly.  Over and over again he said he favored a policy of strict neutrality in international affairs, a position he made explicit in his Neutrality Proclamation of 1795.  ...Washington wished to fight no more wars.  He desired neither a standing army nor a navy."  

The pirates would continue to plague American ships, take captives and their treacherous rulers beys, etc would demand ever escalating prices for the captives.  

Finally America under the presidency of Jefferson realizes it cannot continue to  pay and rely on the graces of the Islamic nations.  Communication is exceedingly slow across the oceans.  Pg 151 "More than four months passed before anyone in Washington knew anything about the fate of the USS Philadelphia.  Since the previous autumn of 1803, mail had accumulated in Malta, letters home from sailors, dispatches from Preble and consular correspondence remained unsent.  Only when Commander Preble stumbled upon a cache of mail in the charge of a former consul to the bashaw who spoke no English did four great stacks of long delayed correspondence begin their transatlantic journey in early February.   That meant President Jefferson learned of the grounding of the USS Philadelphia -- but not of its sacrificial fire --  on March 19, 1804.  It also meant that for the third winter in a row, despite Preble's good efforts, only ill tidings reached Washington from the Barbary Coast."  

Pgs 202-3 .     Describe Adams and Jefferson's "passing within hours of each other on the 50th birthday of the country to whose service the had dedicated their lives..."  "When it unfolded the Barbary War was no more than a ripple in the much larger waters of world politics.  ....Today the war's military legacy cannot be ignored.  It saw the emergence of the US Navy as a force to be reckoned with in foreign wars.  It saw the first fight in which US Navy gunfire worked in concert with United States land forces.  So great was the significance for the Marines that their hym refers "to the shores of Tripoli"....Most important here in the twenty first century the broader story--the great confrontation between the United Stats and militant Islamic states--has a new significance."  

A good solid 4 **** rating for this work.