Love in the Time of Cholera

Synopsis: 'It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.' Fifty-one years, nine months and four days have passed since Fermina Daza rebuffed hopeless romantic Florentino Arizo's impassioned advances and married Dr. Juvenal Urbino instead. During that half century, Florentino has fallen into the arms of many delighted women, but has loved none but Fermina. Having sworn his eternal love to her, he lives for the day when he can court her again. When Fermina's husband is killed trying to retrieve his pet parrot from a mango tree, Florentino seizes his chance to declare his enduring love. But can young love find new life in the twilight of their lives?

Review: This was my second Gabriel García Márquez book and though I didn't enjoy it quite as much as One Hundred Years of Solitude I still liked it a lot. The story takes place in the Caribbean so it was the perfect sun lounger read.

When Florentino Ariza delivers a telegram to the house of Lorenzo Daza and spots his daughter reading in the sewing room, he falls hopelessly and irretrievably in love with her. Fermina Daza is busy teaching her Aunt Escolástica to read and she casually glances up as Florentino passes the window, that casual glance is 'the beginning of a cataclysm of love that still had not ended half a century later.' Florentino set's out to learn all he can about the Daza family, and he turns into somewhat of a stalker. Very early in the morning he sit's in a nearby park, pretending to read a book of verses as he watches Fermina stroll by on her way to school or church or just out for a leisurely walk with her aunt. 'Little by little he idealized her, endowing her with improbable virtues and imaginary sentiments, and after two weeks he thought of nothing else but her.'

He decides to send her a note, or at least that's his original intention. But the note turns into a letter which itself turns into a dictionary of compliments, sixty pages written on both sides, inspired by books he has learned by heart because he has read them so often whilst waiting for her to stroll by in the park. Thankfully he has the good sense to ask his mother's advice and she, understanding his heart but realising that the girl will probably run for the hills if she receives this tome of a billet-doux, persuades him not to send it and instead advises that he subtly let Fermina know of his interest and try to gain the approval of her aunt. All this is quite unnecessary though for Fermina would need to be extremely dense not to have noticed Florentino lurking about in the park, and she's not, she's very astute and so is her aunt and they have not only noticed him but are expecting a letter at any moment.

Thankfully when Florentino does give Fermina the long looked for missive, he has shortened it quite considerably to half a page. In it he has promised, what he believes to be essential, his perfect fidelity and everlasting love. They soon begin a clandestine exchange of letters, leaving them in secret hidden places and behaving in the most ridiculously besotted way (or hopelessly romantic depending on your viewpoint) with Florentino eating roses until he is sick because they remind him of her, going without sleep and inscribing verses onto camellia petals with the point of a pin and Fermina sending him butterfly wings, bird feathers and a square centimetre of St Peter Claver's habit. After two years of this, Florentino eventually sends perhaps his shortest letter of all, one paragraph asking for Fermina's hand in marriage. They have hardly ever spoken to each other in person, their love affair has all taken place on paper. Fermina needs time to think it over but she eventually, with a bit of encouragement from her aunt who is a hopeless romantic, writes 'very well, I will marry you if you promise not to make me eat eggplant'.

Unfortunately, Fermina's father Lorenzo (Fermina is motherless as Florentino is fatherless) begins to suspect that something is up, he finds packets of love letters spanning three years hidden in the false bottom of Fermina's trunk. He's not happy, he has financial difficulties and has been fostering great plans to marry Fermina off advantageously. He packs off poor Aunt Escolástica, has words with Florentino and takes himself and Fermina off on an 'extended journey of forgetting.' The clandestine correspondence continues but when Fermina returns home and accidentally see's Florentino for the first time in ages, she realises that she's been mistaken, the ferocious and all encompassing love she has felt for him seems to be entirely notional. She feel's nothing for him now but pity. She returns all his letters and love tokens and asks that he return all of hers too. Florentino is heartbroken, he doesn't see her alone again for fifty-one years, nine months and four days when, on her first night as a widow, he returns to her and repeats his vow of eternal fidelity and love.

Now, I don't know what your idea of eternal fidelity is but mine is certainly not the same as Florentino's for although he keeps Fermina on her pedestal he is anything but constant during their fifty odd years of separation. Fermina soon after marries Dr Juvenal Urbino, a doctor committed to ridding the country of cholera, and Florentino begins his journey and exploration of purely physical love. This book could have only been written by a man, because all male fantasy's are played out here. Florentino is not handsome, or particularly prepossessing in any way but for some reason women are mad with lust for him. He spends an inordinate amount of time falling from one bed to another. The women wait in their houses naked or in various stages of undress, deceiving their husbands and lovers, hot blooded and practically attacking him in the manner of women who have been sex starved for a very long time. It's fairly racy stuff but not graphically described, it's almost as if he's bemused that all this love is coming his way (and frankly so was I). One of his conquests is a fourteen year old girl which made me feel more than a bit uncomfortable, especially as he is by now seventy and her guardian.

When Fermina's husband dies (this happens quite early in the novel, the story being told in flashback). Florentina is hoping for another chance, he begins to woo her for a second time with letters and visits. Is it possible that Fermina will accept his love this time.?

It doesn't have all the glorious magical realism of One Hundred Years of Solitude but it still has all the beautiful dreamy prose and wit.

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Audiobook)

Synopsis: Heralded as an instant classic of fantasy literature, Maguire has written a wonderfully imaginative retelling of The Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witch's point of view. More than just a fairy tale for adults, Wicked is a meditation on the nature of good and evil. Elphaba is born with green skin, a precocious mind, and a talent for magic. An outcast throughout her childhood in Munchkinland, she finally begins to feel as though she fits in when she enters the University in the Emerald City. While she hones her skills, she discovers that Oz isn't the Utopia it seems. She sets out to protect its unwanted creatures, becoming known as the Wicked Witch along the way. Narrator John McDonough draws you in to Maguire's magical world of witches and talking animals, making it possible to believe in a land somewhere over the rainbow.

Review: I loved it!! I had two concerns at the beginning, one was that it was read by a man and I wasn't sure how well that would work, and two I have never read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz or any of it's sequels, my only point of reference was the film and for the first couple of chapters I found it hard to shake the image of Margaret Hamilton's cackling Wicked Witch of the West from my mind. The reading turned out to be a triumph, there's something about John McDonough's voice that suits fantasy novels perfectly, and despite the fact that he had more female voices to do than male, he was marvellous. I got so swept up with the story that it only took a few chapters to rid myself of Margaret's image, she returned again near the end as Elphaba grew into her reputation but that was ok, it seemed fitting.

It's such an entertaining story, I absolutely loved all the descriptions of Oz, it's characters, places, politics, religions and social history etc. It is every bit as real as Middle Earth. Elphaba Thropp, or Elphie as we learn to call her (amongst a hundred other names) was unfortunately born green. It may have worked for Kermit and Shrek but, coupled with some rather vicious looking teeth and a bit of a surly disposition, it didn't work for Elphie. Her parents are unnerved by her (and this leads them to summon my favourite character, the glorious Nanny) and the local children are inclined to taunt her.

My favourite part of the book was probably Elphaba's time at Shiz University. She has grown into a clever young woman with strong views and beliefs, especially concerning animal welfare. In Oz there are talking thinking animals, as well as the ordinary kind. One such is Doctor Dillamond, a sentient goat who is a professor at Shiz. Elphie learns from Doctor Dillamand that the Wizard of Oz (a despotic usurper now ruling Oz) is trying to discriminate against and oppress the sentient Animals and this makes her angry. Probably because of her early experiences, she is initially quite withdrawn and doesn't make friends easily. Her fellow pupils regard her as a bit of an oddity and you feel she may be destined to always be a loner but gradually she becomes part of a small group of close friends. Amongst this circle of friends is Galinda, or Glinda the Good Witch of the North as we now know her. Galinda is not at first inclined to give Elphie a chance but Elphie's cleverness intrigues her and they form a strong friendship. At Shiz we are also introduced to the headmistress, the sinister Madame Morrible and her odious wind-up servant Grommetik and we learn more about Elphie's sister Nessarose (or the Wicked Witch of the East). Much to their parent's relief Nessarose is not green, she is beautiful, but life has sent her a different trial, she was born without any arms.

After University, Elphie continues with her political activities, working underground and becoming somewhat distanced and isolated from her friends and family and it's here that things start to deteriorate. Fighting for the causes she believes in and finding love when she is least expecting it, Elphie becomes happy and contented for a time but tragedy is just around the corner (isn't it always?!) and her happiness is replaced by bitterness and resentment. Angered by all the injustices, jealous of what she see's as her father's preference for Nessa, fearful of the Wizard's growing power and all that that will mean for the Munchkinlanders and Oz, furious at Dorothy for squishing Nessarose and incensed by Glinda's gift to Dorothy of those enchanted shoes (I'm totally with her there, I could forgive anything but to be promised shoes and then see them on the feet of another ... it's more than flesh and blood can stand,) Elphaba starts to lose her reason. She becomes increasing unhinged and starts making rash decisions, one of which involves capturing Dorothy, who she believes intends to kill her. So much time has been spent getting to know Elphaba that even now, as she grows more and more wicked, you always feel that there is a way back for her, a way in which her better judgement will lead her back to the right path.

Rather ridiculously I was hoping for a different outcome, although in hindsight that would have been preposterous. I knew that bucket of water was coming but somehow I was still thinking it could be avoided. It was fascinating to see the story played out from Elphaba's perspective rather than Dorothy's though. It's funny also how you no longer see it as a victory over evil when Elphaba dies, instead you feel sad that it's come to this. The book is quite graphic in parts which may shock readers of the original classic but it didn't feel inappropriate or gratuitous. It's very funny in places, Elphie and Nanny in particular have a very dry and sarcastic wit. And quite sad and poignant too, especially the story of Liir, who may or may not be Elphie's son.

Totally entertaining, I've just noticed that there's a sequel, so I must read L. Frank Baum's original book and then hopefully move on to it.

Scottsboro: A Novel

Synopsis: Alabama, 1931. A posse stops a freight train and arrests nine black youths. Their crime: fighting with white boys. Then two white girls emerge from another freight car, and within seconds the cry of rape goes up. One of the girls sticks to her story. The other changes her tune, again and again. A young journalist, whose only connection to the incident is her overheated social conscience, fights to save the nine youths from the electric chair, redeem the girl who repents her lie, and make amends for her own past. Stirring racism, sexism, and anti-Semitism into an explosive brew, "Scottsboro" is a novel of a shocking injustice that reverberated around the world. 'A fine novel ...Anyone who wants to appreciate the scale of the miracle that a black man has been elected president of the United States should sit down with "Scottsboro"' - Lionel Shriver.

'Even after all these years, the injustice still stuns. Innocent boys sentenced to die, not for a crime they did not commit, but for a crime that never occurred.'

Review: Though this is a fictionalised account of the Scottsboro trials, it reads very much like a factual one. It's a gripping but uncomfortable read.
Our main narrator is Alice Whittier, a female journalist who becomes involved in the case. Her character was the only one that seemed too obviously fictional to me which was a shame. For one thing I couldn't believe, given the circumstances, that she would be able to gain so much access to the convicted boys. But it did enable the writer to make some valid points about women's rights, or the lack of them, in 1930 and she was a likeable enough character.

Our other narrator is Ruby Bates, one of the two white women on the freight train. Ruby and her friend Victoria are prostitutes on their way home from Chattanooga where they've been trying to earn a little money. A fight breaks out between the white and black youths on the train, a fight that started with a 'white foot on a black hand.' The white youths jump or fall off the train but by the time the train reaches the next station - Scottsboro - an angry posse of white men are waiting for it, some with shotguns. Ruby and Victoria know they are in trouble if they are found on this train with the men. They try to run and hide but when discovered Victoria whispers to Ruby 'you tell it like I tell it' and she proceeds to say that she was raped by the black youths on the train. Ruby, who is used to going along with everything Victoria says, and who is terrified besides, deliberates a bit but ultimately corroborates the story.

'That's when I reckoned me and Victoria were saved. Nothing brings white folks together, no matter if they're nose-in-the-air church ladies, fresh-with-their-hands mill bosses, or plain old linthead trash, faster than a coloured boy, a piece of rope, and a tree'.

The boys are convicted of rape and sentenced to death and we follow them through the trials and retrials. Ruby seems to regret the lies she told and sets about trying to help clear the boys names. In a way Ruby's life is as blighted as the Scottsboro boys. Although briefly feted, she soon has to return to a life of poverty and rejection. Nearly every decision she makes is motivated by money, it's hard to like her because it seems that she will sell her soul for a few dollars, but then few of us have to live as she did and cope with the daily grind of poverty.

The injustice of what happened to the 'Scottsboro boys' is overwhelming. It seems that all along the process they were let down, not only by the corrupt and rascist judicial system but also by the very people who set out to help free them. Lawyers became famous, plays were put on, books were written and money was made but those black youths, one of whom was only thirteen when convicted, lost their freedom, their dignity and their hope of a decent future. Some of the actions of the Communist Party of America and the other organisations, who were supporting the boys and campaigning for their release, seemed, at times, questionable and self motivated.

The case was said to have inspired Harper Lee to write To Kill a Mockingbird, although I think she refuted it and mentioned a lesser known case. There are strong similarities though between the cases of the Scottsboro boys and the fictional Tom Robinson, the same sense of futility and racial injustice.

The point made by Lionel Shriver in the synopsis is a relevant one. I can't imagine that any of the Scottsboro boys would have believed that one day, in the not too distant future, a black man would become president of the United States. Living, as they did daily, with the state sanctioned oppression towards black people and with still some years before the birth of the civil rights movement, that would've seemed an impossible dream to them.

The book made me feel quite angry, it wasn't a comfortable read. I couldn't quite get my head around how the boys were convicted when so much evidence seemed to contradict the allegations. But then, the objective was to send eight of the nine black youths to the electric chair so truth didn't come into it. I'm glad I read it, I wont easily forget it.

Shilton Gardens Open

It was a much sunnier day today and so we decided to visit Shilton village as their gardens were open to the public. Shilton is only a couple of miles up the road from us and being only a few miles from Burford is quite Cotswolds in feel. There is honey coloured stone everywhere and lots of dry stone walls and streams.

I love visiting these ordinary gardens even more than the public one's (although there wasn't much that was ordinary about these gardens), there's nothing like permissible nosiness. I only wish they could have 'National Bookshelf Schemes' where you could just wander in people's houses and rummage amongst their books, with their blessing of course.

Not everyone opens their garden, but you usually get a map and in any case there is a sign on each gate if the garden is open. If you live in the area, it's always a good way of finding out what grows well in the soil or what plant's look good together. As usual I came home with more plant ideas to put on the wishlist (opium and oriental poppies for a start.) Most of the gardens were enormous, I could fit mine fifty times over in them. There were lot's of orchards, knot gardens and veggie patches that were straight out of 'Country Life', as well as some inspired borders. One garden had a teddy bears picnic going on in their orchard.


Although we stopped for tea and cake yesterday, and really that should have been our quota exceeded for at least another week, we felt we had to make another refreshment stop. Firstly it was so hot outside that we needed a rest and some sustenance, and secondly they had gone to so much effort, proper tea in bone china cups and lot's of homemade cakes, that we felt it would be rude not to partake. There were gorgeous little touches like bunting and garden flower posies on each table.

There really are few things you can do on a sunny Sunday afternoon that are nicer than this. I saw so many beautiful gardens and sat on so many gorgeous benches thinking how lovely it must be to live in such tranquil surroundings (it cost's nothing to dream, mentally I had myself curled up with a book in practically everyone's orchard). One of the things I saw, that was markedly different from the last time I looked around these gardens, was an increase in wild gardens and meadows, so that was encouraging. Lot's of bird feeders, tables and nesting boxes too.




A perfect sunny Sunday in the country, we came back green with envy as we always do, but inspired also. A garden doesn't have to be big to be beautiful after all.

Waterperry Gardens - Oxford

It was a little colder than expected today, but as we had already decided to go to Waterperry Gardens, we weren't going to let a small thing like the British weather put us off. There's an excellent teashop there anyhow so it's better to go when it's cooler, you can kid yourself then that you're only stopping off to warm up, when you know it's actually the date and walnut that's beckoning. In the event it wasn't the date and walnut, it was the lime and coconut - a combination I hadn't tried before, but like all their cakes it was yummy. Algie had some Bakewell tart and that was equally scrumptious. They have around 8 acres of garden featuring some gorgeous herbaceous borders, rose gardens, apple and pear orchards, meadows and a riverside walk. There are lot's of benches and vistas (though after the tea and cake you really should keep on the move), some shops and a nursery. There's also a little amphitheatre where they occasionally put on plays and concerts and an art barn featuring contemporary arts and crafts.

I fell in love with some gorgeous floral pictures by Deborah Poole, I didn't realise at first that they were made of felt. They are quite pricey but perhaps, if I'm very good I may, one of these fine days, find myself owning one. I certainly made big eyes at them anyway.

Most of the photo's we took were of the plant's, we hope to be moving soon and so are looking for inspiration for our new pocket sized garden. We can never hope to make it as grand as this, but maybe we can do something 'in the style of'. Anyhow, verbascums, roses, geraniums, alliums, salvias, astrantias and iris's all feature on the wishlist now. Algie has suddenly acquired a fondness for white flowers, there was some beautiful white love-in-a-mist which they have used at Waterperry to fill in the gaps so I must try and track those down. I'm also really fond of those little sink gardens with houseleeks in, they fascinate me. I've got some already in a little terracotta bowl but I'd love to have a bigger collection, I saw a feature once whereby someone had lifted a few paving slabs and filled the gap with houseleeks, I quite fancy doing that too.

Anyway it was a beautiful, if a bit cold, day. Hopefully we can go again when it's warmer and take a picnic, it really is worth repeated visits just to see how the borders change with the seasons.

Waterperry Gardens

Wolf Hall (Audiobook)

Synopsis: Tudor England. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is charged with securing his divorce. Into this atmosphere of distrust comes Thomas Cromwell - a man as ruthlessly ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages.

Review: Bliss! I loved every minute of it. A fascinating fictionalised account of the life of Thomas Cromwell, from his humble beginnings living in Putney as a blacksmith's son, to his position as Henry VIII's favourite right hand man. We join the story as Thomas is preparing to run away from his drunken and abusive father. He recounts the details of his fathers latest sadistic attack, and contrary to my preconceived ideas, it wasn't long before I was completely in sympathy with him and wishing him far away from Putney. I know Thomas Cromwell's history, I've read about it lots of times, but this account calls for you to throw those facts out of your head and rediscover him anew. It wasn't difficult, I wanted to like him (for the purposes of this story anyway). There are challenging times ahead, lots of instances where his behaviour is less than palatable, but the groundwork has been done by then, you're already predisposed in his favour. You refuse to believe that he is a bad man at heart, he is loyal to his friends and affectionate to his family. When his motives seem questionable later on, you find excuses for him (though, by the end of the book, he does push your loyalties to the limit.)

The book has a great cast of characters, none better. The great Tudor role call of Henry VIII, the Boleyn's, Catherine of Aragon, Mary Tudor, Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas More and Thomas Cranmer. The Boleyn's are described as backstabbing, manipulative control freaks. In contrast to Cromwell, and against the popular view, Thomas More's depiction is less than flattering. He is seen as tormentor and torturer. Cardinal Wolsey fairs better and I loved his relationship with Cromwell. Cromwell admires and loves the Cardinal but, and perhaps this is the first sign we see of his ambitious self interest, when the Cardinal fails to secure the looked for annulment between Katherine and Henry and is ousted from his position and summoned to the tower, Cromwell refuses to sink with him. He manoeuvres himself into a position of trust with Henry and the Boleyn's, and as Wolsey falls, he rises.

I was hoping against hope that the story was going to take us all the way to Cromwell's fall from grace and subsequent execution. Alas it didn't, we didn't even get as far as the demise of Anne Boleyn, though she was definitely on shaky ground as we left her (if only she had known about getting Henry to eat more sardines and wear looser boxer shorts, all, including her head, might not have been lost.) The title is a bit of a mystery, Wolf Hall .. the ancestral seat of the Seymour's ... is only mentioned fleetingly but what little is written about it is intriguing and it was obviously a place of great interest to Cromwell.

Although often criticised as unauthentic (good job, we'd never understand it if it was) I loved the dialogue. For instance, More's remark .. “lock Cromwell in a deep dungeon in the morning and when you come back that night he’ll be sitting on a plush cushion eating larks’ tongues, and all the gaolers will owe him money” and Cromwell's observations of the King when he is called to see him very early one morning (a frightening, bowel loosening experience for anyone) to explain away a bad dream of Henry's “The sable lining creeps down over his hands, as if he were a monster-king, growing his own fur.” .. fantastic. Also I didn't have any problems, as I know lot's of people have, with the lack of speech marks or overuse of pronoun's, probably because it was being read to me - perhaps reading it would have been a different experience (though I quake at the thought of 600 odd pages).

In the main I loved Simon Slater's reading, though his narration for Thomas's More and Cranmer were a little odd. Thomas More in particular sounded like a regular pantomime villain, but then Hilary's depiction of him rather suited that.

I loved it and could have listened all day (and sometimes did). I was busy with some stitching and the story just flew by.

The Undrowned Child

Synopsis: It's the beginning of the 20th century; the age of scientific progress. But for Venice the future looks bleak. A conference of scientists assembles to address the problems, among whose delegates are the parents of twelve-year-old Teodora. Within days of her arrival, she is subsumed into the secret life of Venice: a world in which salty-tongued mermaids run subversive printing presses, ghosts good and bad patrol the streets and librarians turn fluidly into cats. A battle against forces determined to destroy the city once and for all quickly ensues. Only Teo, the undrowned child who survived a tragic accident as a baby, can go 'between the linings' to subvert evil and restore order.

Review: This is a great adventure book for young adults and for the most part really enjoyable. It's 1899, Teodora lives in Naples with her adoptive parents, she's always wanted to go to Venice but her parents have been reluctant to take her (I know the feeling, I couldn't get my parents to take me anywhere more exotic than the Isle of Wight!) but then fate intervenes. Venice has been engulfed in a wave of strange and sinister events for months and the 'worlds greatest scientists' have been summoned there in order to try and get to the bottom of it. It's a stroke of luck for Teo that her parent's are amongst the worlds greatest scientists because let's face it, they could have been the worlds greatest estate agents. They try and fob her off with talk of leaving her behind, they mention schoolwork etc but it's to no avail, Teo is determined.

Venice is such a magical city that just to have the place described in all it's glory is entrancing, you can imagine all sorts of adventures happening there. It's everything that Teo has imagined and more, her favourite place is a dusty old bookshop and this is where all the excitement begins. She's rummaging around on the shelves, when a book falls and knocks her senseless. There are a few strange things about this book 1) It has no title 2) It has a pearly, fishy smell 3) It has a picture on the front of a girl, and she appears to wink at Teo 4) When examined in more detail later, the book has the following inscription on it's inside cover ...

'Welcome to Venice, Teodora-of-Sad-Memory. We have been waiting for you for a very long time'

... very odd!

The book, also known as 'The Key to the Secret City,' sets in motion a thrilling chain of events. To begin with Teo goes 'in between the linings' which means she is entirely invisible to adults. This of course sounds marvellous but in actuality is terrible, firstly she wasn't sure she was alive (until she found out that children could see her) and secondly her poor parents almost went out of their heads believing her to be missing for days and days. She soon meets her partner in crime Renzo .. or the 'Studious Son' as he is also also called. He dislikes and mistrusts her on sight, he knows (or believes) she is a Napoletana and therefore his deadly enemy. He doesn't think she should have the book, he thinks he should have it. They fight and argue but trials and troubles bring them closer together and by the end they are as thick as thieves. Also, amongst the 'goodies' are a bunch (I'm sure that's not the collective noun) of mermaids. Fairly conventional in looks, but fairly salty in language (having learnt a lot of it from sailor's). They say stuff like 'What a drivelswagger! Drags on like a sea cow's saliva!' and they eat curries. It's the mermaids that first call Teo the 'Undrowned Child' and this name relates back to an incident that happened in Venice some 11 years before .. something that we read about in the prologue and also in a verse that appears magically in the 'The Key to the Secret City' ...

'Where's our Studious Son? Who's our Lost Daughter,
Our Undrowned Child plucked from the water,
Who shall save us from a Traitor's tortures?
That secret's hidden in the old Bone orchard.'

The main 'baddie' is Bajamonte Tiepolo or 'Il Traditore' as he is also known, a man who actually did live in Venice in the 1300's. He had tried to destroy the Republic of Venice and kill the Doge, but was unsuccessful. He was believed to have died in exile but the fictionalised account here says that he was captured, murdered and thrown into the lagoon. Unfortunately, he's not resting in peace, he want's revenge, and if his disembodied spirit can find his bones .. with a bit of help from some 'baddened magic' he'll be back to full strength. Of course it is Teo and Renzo's job to stop him and mayhem ensues.

Towards the end I found it all a bit hectic and there were too many similarities with other fantasy books for me to entirely believe in the plot. Baddies that made the air chill, maps with tiny moving footprints, an upturned turtle shell where the past could be viewed, Venetian treacle which was a kind of cure-all rather like Lucy's vial in Narnia and a baddie needing bones and a spell to become whole again. There were books in the bookshop that would have been right at home in Flourish and Blotts ...

'Smooth as a Weasel and Twice as Slippery' by Arnon Rodent

'Lagoon Creatures - Nice or Nasty?' by Professor Marin

'The Best Ways With Wayward Ghosts' by 'One Who Consorts with Them'

.... and a cat that transfigures into a lady. But then they may not have been original ideas when I read them in other books and in any case the book is not really aimed at me, perhaps age has made me cynical. It's certainly not a book that is just a re-hash of past stories though, there are lots of new ideas here and placing all the action in Venice makes it extra exciting, sharks swim down the canals, stone statues come to life and as the city falls under the grip of 'Il Traditore' it begins to revert back to the 1300's with the buildings crumbling and the paintwork falling off in great scabs revealing the stonework underneath.

A story that I'm sure most 9-12 year olds would love, especially girls or anyone that loves reading about Venice.

The Room of Lost Things

Synopsis: Under his railway arch in Loughborough Junction, South London, Robert Sutton is taking leave of a lifetime of hard work. His dry-cleaning shop lies at the heart of a lively community, a fixed point in a changing world. And, as he explains to his successor, young East Londoner Akeel, it is also the resting place for the contents of his customers' pockets - and for their secrets and lies. As he helps Akeel to make a new life out of his old one, Robert also hands on all he knows of his world: the dirty dip of the Thames; the parks, rare green oases in a desert of high-rises and decaying mansion blocks; and the varied lives that converge at the junction. Humming with life, packed tight with detail, The Room of Lost Things is a hymn of love to a great and overflowing city, and a profoundly human story that holds us in its grip from the first sentence until the last.

Review: A very readable warm story about Robert, who has owned a dry cleaning shop at Loughborough Junction, South London for years, and whose mother owned it before him. He has decided it's time to call it a day and sell the shop. He finally settles on selling to Akeel Khan, a young British Muslim from east London, but it's going to be a wrench. The place is full of memories and full of lost things, things that careless customers have left behind. Robert's mother Alice started a filing system for all these things years ago, a box full of keys, one full of shopping lists and one with best man speeches in etc etc, she never threw anything away .. bus tickets, lottery tickets, hankies, earrings, receipts, letters and so on (are people really that careless?, I'm sure I'll check my pockets from now on). But Alice is long dead and Robert has been steadily adding to this collection for years. Akeel will come and work with Robert for a while, so that Robert can show him the ropes and fill him in on all the secrets and tricks of the trade.

Robert's customers are a mish mash of people, he knows them all well, likes some and disapproves of others. There is Australian au pair Helen, her employers Claire and Andrew, Stefan a gay fitness instructor, social worker Marylin, poor confused Mrs Ryan .. one of Marylin's clients and Dean a family man with a shady past (and present). They pop into the shop with their various items of clothing, or walk past the shop and give a cheery wave to Robert, but then we stay with them and follow them home. Most of them have secrets or problems they are struggling with. These are quite Lilac Busish in feel ... little vignettes within the main story whereby we get to see behind the polite conversations in the dry cleaners.

There are sundry other characters too, Charlie and Dan are encamped on a sofa placed at right angles to the road (exactly 3.15 miles from the statue of Eros as the crow flies) drinking body warmed beer, the new owner of the halal meat and veg shop owner just across the street and a Rastafarian man named The Poet who journeys all day long on the 345 bus talking and singing his own compositions, sometimes singing a little Bob Marley, Sir Bob ... messenger of Jah. Some people smile at him, some move away. I'd like to think I'd be a smiler but I know I'd be one of the one's that would be uncomfortable with it. We learn a lot too about Alice, Robert's mother and Jean and Katie, Robert's ex wife and daughter.

I loved the relationship betwen Akeel and Robert, polite and formal to begin - Akeel a bit in awe of Robert and Robert not quite sure about how to behave around a Muslim - softening with familiarity into a quiet confidence, both men revealing their anxieties and fears for the future and Robert especially revealing secrets from his past. It was very touching in places, I loved how Robert gave Mrs Ryan an old uncollected overcoat, when she had come in to pick up her husband's coat, not remembering that he had died years ago. Everything about Mrs Ryan was affecting, the way she had to have her key and address tied into her handbag, the way she knew the cold wet white stuff that was falling outside her window but couldn't remember the name of it, the way that she got anxious and lost her way when out shopping and couldn't remember where she lived only remembering when she eventually saw her address label, the way she only remembered what she had gone out shopping for when she made herself a calming cup of tea and found there was no milk.

Enjoyable story but sad in places. It has an unusual ending in that one minute you have your heart in your mouth, the next she's given you a different, more happy version.

Purple Hibiscus (Audiobook)

Synopsis: The limits of 15-year-old Kambili's world are defined by the high walls of her family estate and the dictates of her repressive and fanatically religious father. Her life is regulated by schedules: prayer, sleep, study, and more prayer. When Nigeria begins to fall apart during a military coup, Kambili's father, involved mysteriously in the political crisis, sends Kambili and her brother away to live with their aunt. In this house, full of energy and laughter, she discovers life and love - and a terrible, bruising secret deep within her family.

Review: Tyrannically religious fathers have become a bit of an unintentional theme in my reading matter lately, and I hated this one even more than I hated Nathan Price in The Poisonwood Bible, which I had thought was impossible.

Kambili is fifteen and she lives in Nigeria with her father Eugene, mother Beatrice and older brother Jaja. Kambili and Jaja are very studious, they are grade A students and always come top of the class. When Kambili learns she has come second in the end of term test she is frightened to take her report card home - and with good reason, her father doesn't accept second best. Eugene dishes out the 'it's for your own good' style of vindictive punishment on his children and wife with increasing regularity and severity and yet, as is often the case, he is a highly respected and revered man in the local community. He's generous with his wealth and politically active, he owns a newspaper which commits itself to telling the truth about the corruption in Nigeria and is an award winning human rights activist.

On their rare visits to see their grandfather Papa Nnukwu, Kambili and Jaja are only allowed to stay fifteen minutes. Eugene considers his own father a heathen because he has not yet converted to the Catholic faith. They are not allowed to eat or drink anything at his home. It put me in mind of Harriet Smith's visits to the Martins in Emma, the shortness and awkwardness of the visit makes it almost an insult. Their grandfather however, is always pleased to see them and tries to make them as welcome and at ease as he can.

Kambili is withdrawn, devout and serious. In spite of his strict regime she loves her father, he is severe and judgmental yet also loving and affectionate, especially after meting out punishment. She understands that everything he does is for the good of God, the family and community.

By some miracle Eugene's sister Ifeoma, manages to persuade him to let Kambili and Jaja come to stay with her and their cousins. Compared to Kambili, her cousins are quite poor and live in cramped conditions but they are noisy, happy and sociable. The visit turns out to be quite a revelation for them, initially they are sent to their aunt's with their study schedules neatly written out by their father. These schedules allow only half an hour each day to be spent socialising with their cousins and aunt. Thankfully, Aunt Ifeoma confiscates the schedules until the end of the trip (I found a knot growing in my stomach about this, I was as worried about the lack of study time and possible lower test placings as they were I think) and instead they are encouraged to read, watch TV, play cards, argue, cook and garden. At first the cousins regard Kambili as a bit of a snob, because she has known no other life she is not at first aware that she needs to help with cooking or chores etc, this isn't helped by her seriousness. However, eventually they begin to understand and love her.

Whilst they are staying at their aunt's, their grandfather Papa Nnukwu, is taken ill and their aunt goes to fetch him to bring him home to stay with her. This places Kambili and Jaja in a difficult situation, they are not supposed to spend this amount of time with their grandfather, or eat and drink with him. Kambili struggles with her conscience as she determines whether she should mention this to her father during their daily phone calls, in the end she doesn't (this gave me knots as well) she begins to love listening to Papa Nnukwu's stories and watching his little rituals. Another guest that frequents the house is the handsome priest Father Amadi, he takes a shine to Kambili (much to her cousins amusement) and does his best to draw her out, taking her to play sports and generally trying to make her participate more and laugh, before she knows it Kambili begins to fall in love with him.

But there are dark times ahead. Their father finds out about Papa Nnukuwu with terrifying results (he seemed to have a touch of the Mrs Danvers about him, magically appearing in or just outside the room, just as the characters are revealing or discussing something which they don't want him to know). Kambili is our narrator, and you really do feel for her. You long for her to just do something reckless but you fear for her at the same time. She is so painfully withdrawn and lives with such love for and dread of her papa that it is very affecting. You find yourself hoping against hope that Jaja, who has grown increasingly more resentful, will eventually snap and give his father back some of his own medicine.

The only thing I wasn't keen on was the narration (Lisette sounded far too middle aged and white to be a fifteen year old Nigerian girl) and the sound quality - too much heavy breathing and swallowing. I would much rather have read this particular book.

The Poisonwood Bible (Audiobook)

Synopsis: The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them all they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it - from garden seeds to Scripture - is calamitously transformed on African soil. This tale of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction, over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa, is set against history's most dramatic political parables. The Poisonwood Bible dances between the darkly comic human failings and inspiring poetic justices of our times. In a compelling exploration of religion, conscience, imperialist arrogance, and the many paths to redemption, Barbara Kingsolver has brought forth her most ambitious work ever.

Review: I really loved listening to this one, Dean Robertson's narration was just spot on .. even though she did not alter her voice much for each of the girls, she was totally convincing.

Nathan Price is an American baptist preacher who takes his wife, Orleanna, and his four daughters, Rachel, Adah, Leah and Ruth May to the Congo to try and convert the 'tribes of Ham'. Orleanna narrates the first chapter in the present day, she is back home in America, and you can tell that something terrible happened during her time in Africa, something she is struggling to come to terms with.

The book is then alternately narrated by Orleanna and the four girls. We are taken right back to their arrival in the fictional village of Kalinga in the Belgian Congo. Whatever their pre-conceived ideas were of life in the Congo, they soon find out that it is much worse than they have been supposing. Disease, sickness and poverty are widespread, and then there's also the stifling heat and mosquitoes. They are fairly stuck in their own ways and at first are reluctant to take advice from the villagers about cooking and planting etc ... they had actually brought Betty Crocker cake mixes with them which failed miserably ... but soon come to realise that their Georgia way of life was not going to work here.

Nathan Price is a hellfire and brimstone kind of preacher, he wants to claim the village of Kalinga for Jesus. He's a bully, he accepts no other opinions or viewpoints other than his own and rules over his family with a rod of iron. His particular brand of bible bashing is never going to win over any converts. He has no respect for the Congolese or their ancient beliefs, they are just souls to be saved and he is determined to do it. He's the sort of fanatical religious nutjob that Louis Theroux would want to film a documentary about.

Their eldest daughter is Rachel, she's blonde, pretty and materialistic. All she can think about is herself and the life she's left behind. She could be attending dances or going on shopping trips to the mall to look at the latest fashions. Instead she is sweating, sweltering and eating inedible food, probably all to the detriment of her complexion, it fair makes her mad with rage! Her first words about the Congo are 'Man oh man, we are in for it now'. Like her father she has no respect for the villagers, she looks down on them but for different reasons. As soon as she is able (she's fifteen) she is hotfooting it back to the land of the free. She's a lot like Amy in 'Little Women' only Amy got more sensible as she got older, Rachel never does.

Next in line is fourteen year old Leah, and in a way she's probably the principle narrator of the book, the one we learn most from or perhaps I viewed it that way because she became my favourite. When we are first introduced to Leah she's a bit of a Daddy's girl, she has a kind of idealistic view of him and what he's trying to do and she fervently supports him. It's Leah's compassionate nature that mistakenly leads her to think that her father is doing all he can for the villagers. As time passes, and she observes her father more closely, she starts to question his behaviour and her admiration turns to disgust. She also becomes aware of the political situation between the Congo and the USA as the Congo heads towards independence, as far as she can make out, the truth doesn't reflect well on her homeland and those in office.

Adah is Leah's twin, but an accident at birth has left her with a physical disability, she's also mute. She's the reverse of her twin, where Leah is positive, Adah is negative and looks at life backwards. Adah's disability becomes less obvious in the Congo amongst the natives who have more than their fair share of mutilated limbs and disfigurements, where she would be stared at at home her disability is hardly noticed here. She loves words and wordplay, especially palindromes, she likes to repeat the line ... 'live was I ere I saw evil' (repeat it to us that is). She has a poetic way of thinking and her favourite author is Emily Dickinson.

Ruth May is the youngest, she is just five years old when they reach the Congo and is lively, confident and playful. She's the one that connects best with the local people, especially the children. Before long she has them all lined up playing 'Mother May I'. She's also the glue that holds the family together during those first few months in the Congo.

Because of what amounts to a confession in Orleanna's opening chapter, you know something bad is coming. The book feels like it's building towards some great calamity (if it was a film the cello's would be working overtime). At several points you think that calamity has arrived but no, somehow it's resolved or averted until you finally get to the part where the tragedy takes place. I found this hard to take in, I thought it might be another red herring but sadly it wasn't. The fall out from this tragedy is just as interesting as the build up, the family end up scattered and each has to come to terms, or not, in their own way.

I loved listening to it, Barbara Kingsolver has brought all the sights, smells, culture, nature, flora and fauna of life in the Congo alive. I thought all the characters were well fleshed out even Nathan, who never speaks to us directly. Within a very short space of time I knew him well enough to know I hated him! I loved the fact that each of the girls and Orleanna narrated in turn, you got to know them inside out. The one thing I wasn't keen on was, what I thought was overuse of Rachel's malapropisms, at one point they were coming thick and fast with every sentence. But for the most part they did make me laugh .. she talks about Moses coming down from 'Mount Cyanide' for instance.

Nathan was too indifferent to learn the Kikongo language properly, he didn't allow for their words to have multiple meanings or for different pronunciations. His biggest disaster, during a sermon, was when instead of saying 'Jesus is precious' he actually said 'Jesus is poisonous' .. hence the book title. Adah points this out to us, her love of language makes her fairly fluent in Kikongo, though non verbally. She looks upon her fathers efforts with amusement and disdain.

As always with audiobooks part of the enjoyment is hearing a great story narrated brilliantly. How I would have got on with it had I tried to read it (which I almost did because it came home from the library with me once but I ran out of time) I don't know, I hope I would still have got as much enjoyment from it.

Tatty

Synopsis: Hailed by the critics as a masterpiece, Tatty is a devastating, yet hilarious, depiction of a troubled Dublin family told through the lively, charismatic voice of a little girl. With brutal honesty, Tatty tells the story of her life with her beloved, feckless Dad, her tormented Mam, her five siblings and the booze that brings them down. This not just an entertaining tale, but also a heartbreaking account of a disturbed childhood that makes for compulsive reading.

Review: I loved this book from the start. The book is narrated by Tatty, a young Irish girl growing up in the 1960's. Tatty's 'voice' is absolutely convincing, she narrates the whole story so the reader is always with her, we know her innermost thoughts, her observations and all her little worries (which get larger). She has a lively, chatty, humorous style but for all that Tatty is incredibly lonely and fearful.

I grew so fond of her that it was painful to read about how isolated and sad she becomes. Tatty's real name is Caroline, her nickname comes from the phrase 'tell-tale-tattler' because she is always putting her foot in it and blurting out truths when the people around her would rather keep secrets. She's not malicious she just doesn't always know when to keep quiet.

'You get funny dinners in other people's kitchens. Dinners that don't taste the same as Mam's. It might be the same stuff, but they match it a different way on the plate. The woman who makes you your dinner might ask you your business. And even though Mam always warns her, "Don't be telling those noisy oulones all your business", sometimes she gets mixed up and forgets. And it's hard to know what you're allowed to tell or not, because one minute it's "tell the truth and shame the devil". The next minute it's: "Ah what did you have to go and tell them that for? I could kill you stone dead"

Her Aunties are the stuff of Bertie Woosters nightmares, Auntie Winnie is too handy with the sloppy slipper, Auntie Betty has a cane hanging behind the kitchen door that she's itching to use and Aunt June threatens to put mustard on her tongue.

Tatty has two older sisters, Jeannie and Deirdre, and three younger brothers, Luke, Brian and Michael. Jeannie is clever, domesticated and has lots of friends, Deirdre is mentally handicapped and suffers frequent fits, she's the 'special child' that 'Holy God sent to us because he loves us so much'. Her little brothers are all typical rough and tumble boys.

When she's put into a new school Tatty finds it hard to make friends, in fact she doesn't make any and is unhappy. Her Dad keeps asking her if she has any new pals, she doesn't like to tell him the truth. She needs to make up some names, she can't use the girls name's in her class incase her Dad gets to talking to their Dads, the only thing she can think of is to use the names of the girls in her favourite books ...

"Well" she says, "there's Dinah and Lucy-Ann, Georgina .. we call her George. And Daisy, Carlotta, Bobby .. her real name's Roberta. Then there's Hilary, Belinda and let's see Marjorie and, and ... that's all". "My God", dad goes, "they're fancy names, I must say". "Oh", well the twins have plain names". "Twins as well, TWINS! Didn't I tell you you'd make pals' didn't I tell you? And twins, if you don't mind". "Yes, Pat and Isobel O'Sullivan". "Oh, that's very good indeed"

She's the apple of her Dad's eye and they're the best of friends, but even he is neglectful of her. Their close relationship is just another source of irritation to her Mam. Mam and Dad are always fighting, he spends most of his time in the pub or at the races and Mam is slowly drowning in booze and becoming swipey. The fights and arguments increase until there is no end or beginning to them, they're just continuous. Tatty lies on her bunk bed listening to them screeching insults and recriminations at one another, her head aching. Her desperation to have a friend leads Tatty to do something deceitful and as a consequence she is sent away from home to boarding school, but things take a turn for the better there, she likes the teachers, she progresses with her schoolwork and she makes some friends at last.

The book reminded me a lot of Roddy Doyle's writing, comedy and tragedy all skilfully blended. The story has such an authentic feel that you really could be reading someone's memoirs.

click here to continue review - possible spoilers

I was so saddened by the ending, there looked to be light at the end of the tunnel for Tatty but it really only highlighted her desperate situation. Any chance of happiness was snatched away from her and wrapped up as a blessing. I don't like happy ever after endings if they seem too convenient, but I hated to leave Tatty in that blank space to be perpetually lonely, scared and downtrodden. I wanted to know she had a bright future. All the same I loved it, I felt emotional about her, she got under my skin.

Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales

Synopsis: Once upon a time fairy tales weren't meant just for children, and neither is Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales. This stunning collection contains lyrical tales, bloody tales and hilariously funny and ripely bawdy stories from countries all around the world- from the Arctic to Asia - and no dippy princesses or soppy fairies. Instead, we have pretty maids and old crones; crafty women and bad girls; enchantresses and midwives; rascal aunts and odd sisters. This fabulous celebration of strong minds, low cunning, black arts and dirty tricks could only have been collected by the unique and much- missed Angela Carter.

Review: An exquisite collection of fairy tales for adults. This book brings together two collections of fairy tales that were edited by Angela, 'The Virago Book of Fairy Tales' and 'The Second Virago Book of Fairy Tales'. Sadly Angela died just before the second collection was ready though she worked on it right up to the end, collecting the stories and grouping them under her chosen headings. She wasn't able to write the new introduction though or finish the notes.

Her chosen headings are ..
1. Brave, Bold and Wilful
2. Clever Women, Resourceful Girls and Desperate Stratagems
3. Sillies
4. Good Girls and Where it Gets Them
5. Witches
6. Unhappy Families
7. Moral Tales
8. Strong Minds and Low Cunning
9. Up to Something - Black Arts and Dirty Tricks
10. Beautiful People
11. Mothers and Daughters
12. Married Women
13. Useful Stories
... and there is a collection of stories under each heading totalling 103 in all.

There are a lot of tales which are familiar although with slightly different characters, origins and outcomes. Different takes on the stories of 'Cinderella', 'Snow White/Rose Red', 'Red Riding Hood' etc (though 'Red Riding Hood' is one of the few stories printed here that is recognisable as the version we know), stories that have seeded themselves all around the world. They come from Europe, Scandinavia, the Carribean, USA, the Arctic, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Make no mistake these are not tales to be told to children, these are grimmer than grimm, and also fairly graphic and crude. Angela says in her introduction (from the first original Virago fairy tales book) that the removal of coarse expressions was a common nineteenth century pastime, and she believes this denaturised the tales.

The tales, almost without exception, feature women as the main protagonists.

'The stories in this book, with scarcely an exception, have their roots in the pre-industrialised past, and unreconstructed theories of human nature. In this world, milk comes from the cow, water from the well, and only the intervention of the supernatural can change the relations of women to men and, above all, of women to their own fertility. I don't offer these stories in a spirit of nostalgia; that past was hard, cruel and especially inimical to women, whatever desperate stratagems we employed to get a little bit of our own way. But I do offer them in a valedictory spirit, as a reminder of how wise, clever, perceptive, occasionally lyrical, eccentric, sometimes downright crazy our great grandmothers were, and their great grandmothers; and of the contributions to literature of Mother Goose and her goslings.'

Some of my favourites were 'Kate Crackernuts', a Scottish tale about a King and his two daughters, Kate and Anne. Kate was the Queen's daughter, she was less beautiful than Anne (the Queen's step-daughter) and the Queen, being rather jealous and resentful (aren't they always), tried her best to destroy this beauty. Kate on the other hand loved her sister, and did everything she could to thwart her mothers plans, rather successfully as it turned out. 'The Three Sillies' is a tale about a farmer, his wife, his daughter and a travelling gentleman who is courting the daughter. The gentleman (and they give him good cause) has reason to believe that these are the silliest three people he has ever met. He want's to continue on his journey but makes them a promise that if he can find three sillier people than them on his travels, he'll come back and marry the daughter. Luckily for the girl, the gentlemen soon stumbles across a whole raft of people that would make Mr Bean look sensible and he soon returns to ask for her hand. And despite it being the most bizarre thing I've ever read, I couldn't help smiling at 'Blubber Boy' an Inuit tale about a girl whose boyfriend had drowned in the sea. She was inconsolable but then carved his likeness out of blubber and rubbed it on her genitals whereby it came to life (don't try this at home!). Unfortunately a side effect of being made out of blubber is that, on very sunny days, you have a tendency to melt. Blubber boy does this and the girl is upset again but luckily blubber is plentiful where she comes from.

The stories are illustrated beautifully in black and white lino cut style by Angela's friend, illustrator, Corinna Sargood.