The Lions of Fifth Avenue

When I read that The Lions of Fifth Avenue (#937) was set in the New York Public Library's main branch on Fifth Avenue, and that the plot involved rare book thefts eighty years apart which may be connected, I really looked forward to reading Fiona Davis' novel.  Despite that fact that this book was chosen as a Good Morning America Book Club selection, I have to admit to being disappointed.

The sections set in 1913 are about a family of four who live in a seven room apartment located inside the library.  (It really does exist.)  Jack Lyons is the library's Superintendent and is busy writing the Great American Novel.  Meanwhile, his wife Laura yearns to attend the newly-opened Columbia School of Journalism so she, too, can have a career she is passionate about.  Son Harry and daughter Pearl tend to get lost in the shuffle as their mother discovers herself, the Bohemian world of the Village and the true love of her life, Amelia Potter.  But not all is well at the Library, where a book thief is finding his way into a locked cage holding the rare books.  The Lyons are under suspicion...

Fast forward to 1993, when Sadie Donovan, granddaughter of the now famous Laura Lyons, a prominent feminist essayist, is an assistant curator of the Berg Collection of rare Books at the New York Public Library.  The Berg Collection is about to host a major exhibition of books and artifacts in their possession  when things earmarked for the exhibit begin to go missing.   Somehow, Sadie has never found the occasion to mention to her boss that she is related to Laura Lyons, and with the taint of book thefts attached to the Lyons name, now does not seem to be a good time to bring it up.

I did think the ending was telegraphed well in advance, and I was impatient for Sadie to finally catch on to what was happening.  I hardly think that Laura's discovery that she was a lesbian made her into a "New Woman", or that the discovery of her affair eighty years later would produce such a shockwave as the novel implies.  But what I think really annoyed me about this book was the scorn Sadie pours on the tourists who come to visit the New York Public Library.  It is, according to the descriptions here, well worth seeing, yet Sadie makes plain in her attitude that they are not welcome in her library (with the possible exception of an hour or two alternate Wednesdays and Fridays by appointment).  Frankly, I find that insulting.  I'm sure Ms. Davis is happy when your local library buys her novels and lends them out to us, the great unwashed.  She really ought to be encouraging people to use the myriad of resources available at your local library, and when the occasion arises, to visit the great libraries of the world.  

If you really want to read something worthwhile, check out Christina Baker Kline's excellent novel The Exiles.  (See my post of 10/25/20.)

The Exiles

 Christina Baker Kline has done it again with her latest novel, The Exiles (#936).  She's illuminated the lives of female convicts sentenced in the early nineteenth century to transportation to Tasmania for the most trivial of crimes.  She's interwoven the story of an aboriginal girl essentially kidnapped from her family on even more remote Flinders Island on the whim of the Governor's wife.  It makes for a fascinating and disheartening read.  If you're looking for a fairy tale ending to these women's lives, this is not your book, but you'll be very glad read it.

Evangeline Stokes is a young and naïve governess seduced by the son of the family where she is employed.  All alone in the world, she makes an easy target, and is falsely accused of theft while the son is conveniently away.  She is sentenced to fourteen years in Tasmania.  On the converted slave ship used for transporting convicts, she meets Hazel, a teen midwife convicted of stealing a silver spoon, and Olive, a cellmate from Newgate Prison in London.  Not all the prisoners survive the hazardous voyage.  Once in Tasmania, they face a life of servitude until they can earn their ticket of release.

Meanwhile, Mathinna is facing her own trials as the puppet on display as one of Lady Franklin's native curiosities.  She is the sole aboriginal left on Tasmania after the British campaign of extermination.  She may speak English and French, and dress as a European, but she will never, ever fit in with her dark skin and curly hair.  What will happen to her when the Franklins tire of her?

All three of the main characters, Evangeline, Hazel and Mathinna, are so relatable it is easy to be caught up in their joys and woes.  It was hard to put this book down once I started reading.

In the Author's Notes, Ms. Kline mentions that her fascination with Australia began when her father, a history professor, gave her a copy of Robert Hughes 1986 book The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding.  My husband and I read it too before we visited Australia a decade ago, and it sealed our interest in this amazing continent as well.  Although we visited the Port Arthur prison site on Tasmania (a grim place indeed!) when we were there, the Australians were only just beginning to publicly acknowledge and talk about the role the convict transportation system played in their country's development.  The Cascades Women's Prison in Hobart which features in the lives of The Exiles had not yet been opened.  Well, that just gives me another reason to want to go back and revisit this beautiful place.  Highly recommended!

Early Riser

 Hibernation, anyone?  That's the basic subject of Jasper Fforde's 2018 Sci-Fi novel, Early Riser (#935).  As winter approaches in Wales, most residents are preparing to chow down to prepare themselves for the coming winter's sleep, when their bodies will consume those calories to keep their bodies going until Springrise.  For most people to do this safely, however, there are dedicated folks who watch over those tucked away in their Dormitorias, making sure the power and heat remain operational, and that any dangers from Villians, Wintervolk, Womads and the like are kept far away from the defenseless sleepers.

Enter our unlikely hero, Charlie Worthing.  It's his first year as a Winter Consul, yet he's never seen a Winter before.  Nor is he likely to survive his novice year to see another.  The mortality rate for newbies in the Winter Consul is extremely high.  

Charlie and his mentor set off for Sector Twelve to explore disturbing rumors of a viral dream.  The sleepers in their charge aren't supposed to be having any dreams, thanks to HiberTech's revolutionary drug Morphenox.  So why are people dreaming about blue Buicks and oak trees and hands?  What is Charlie to do when he starts dreaming about blue Buicks?  The first and most important step is to stay alive until he can figure out what's going on in the bleak midwinter...

I thought this book was a little slow to start off, but once it picked up speed, it didn't stop.  There are some excellent villains in the book, not just the British ex-aristocrats with their penchant for stamp-collecting and mayhem, but the creatures who may or may not exist out in the impenetrable snow, and HiberTech, the tech giant gone rogue with its colorful cast of characters.  There's a love story which can't possibly end well, and there's always the question of Charlie's continued survival.  It's different and hugely entertaining.

Highly recommended.

The Third Nero

 Somehow I managed to miss The Third Nero (#934) in Lindsey Davis' Flavia Albia mystery series, so it was nice to fill in the gap.

Flavia Albia has just married her aedile husband at a well-attended family wedding.  On the procession to the newlyweds' new home disaster strikes - literally.  Three of the guests are killed by a lightning bolt which skips across and hits Tiberius Manlius Faustus.  Carried home, the wedding night and subsequent entertainments by the married couple will not be happening.  Not that there aren't callers at Flavia's new home.  A spymaster from the palace shows up that evening to recruit her to question the widows of two executed governors.  What do they know of their husbands' political dabblings with a new pretender to Dormitian's throne posing as Nero?  He's the third one to show up in the Empire.  It's clear to some in the inner circles of intelligence at the palace that one of them must be supporting this latest incarnation.  Can Flavia figure out who that might be before Dormitian returns from campaigning abroad to Rome?

Well, it's money and with husband Tiberius in a precarious state of health, it wouldn't be a bad idea to earn some money while she can.  Besides, Flavia isn't given much choice in the matter.  What she turns up is rogue spies, love affairs gone wrong, a Parthian involvement and servant troubles (her own!).  It's an intriguing mix of political intrigue and domestic drama and, as always, Davis' trademark humor.

The Constant Rabbit

 Oh, how I've missed Jasper Fforde's biting and literary satire!  His latest, The Constant Rabbit (#933) does not disappoint.  When a mysterious Event in England and elsewhere suddenly produces anthropomorphized rabbits, the nation is at first astonished, but as time goes on, the rabbits are absorbed into British culture, but never truly accepted by most humans.  In fact, there is a growing backlash against rabbits led by right-wing politicians replete with restrictive policies enforced by foxes and weasels.

Enter Peter Knox, employee of ;government-run RabCot, whose job it is to identify specific rabbits (Honestly, they all look alike!) suspected of illegal activities.  This, of course, is mostly bollocks, as rabbits tend to be very law-abiding.  Back in his university days though, Peter had a crush on the beautiful Constance Rabbit, but she was bounced from the school on a pretext and he hasn't seen her since.  Much to his surprise, she moves in next door with her current husband and two teenagers in the tiny hamlet of Much Hemlock, much to the consternation of the neighbors.  And then things get really interesting... 

What doesn't Fforde savagely satirize here?  He goes after racism, immigration, NIMBY, right-wing politicians, religion, bureaucracy -  you name it, he gets his jabs in effectively.  Yes, you can (and probably should) read a book like White Fragility which soberly lay out some of these issues, but it's so much more fun to read The Constant Rabbit which make these points with humor that sticks.  There was a reason Jesus preached in parables!  People remember the lessons taught there and here.  You go, Jasper Fforde!

What the Dead Leave Behind

I've been meaning to read Rosemary Simpson's debut novel What the Dead Leave Behind (#932) for quite some time.  Set in New York City during the Great Blizzard of 1888, it seemed the perfect antidote to the never-ending heat of a Florida summer.

Heiress Prudence MacKenzie waits in vain for her fiance to arrive at her home with the final legal papers related to their impending marriage.  When instead his body is discovered the next day on a park bench, it is assumed that Charles Linwood was accidentally killed by a falling branch.  Prudence's father was a prominent attorney and judge; his will tied all her legal and financial affairs up contingent on her wedding to Charles taking place within ninety days of his death.  Now her greedy stepmother has total control of both Prudence's fortune and her life.  Charles was never the love of her life, but he was her ticket out of being under her stepmother's thumb.  When his childhood friend arrives in New York to attend the funeral, Charles' father confides in him that his son's death might not have been accidental at all.  Geoffrey Hunter is perfectly positioned to investigate with his law degree and Pinkerton background if only he can speak to the grieving fiancee...

On the whole, I found this mystery to be interesting, but Prudence's character vacillated between almost succumbing to a laudanum addiction to dull her grief and the clear-headed rationality and knowledge of the law her judge/father taught her growing up.  She's eager to join up with Geoffrey's investigation, but somehow she keeps failing to mention the attempts made on her life, and the suspicious deaths around her.  It did seem to drag on a bit with some of her eye-roll inducing decisions, but that's probably just me.

Oh, and did I mention that I found the cover art ridiculous?  Superimposed photos of a dark brunette (when Prudence is repeatedly described as almost blonde) standing out in the snow of what we must assume is a snow-covered New York City park wearing a fur-trimmed velvet jacket, lace summer gloves and twirling a summer parasol.  Turn to the back cover to get a more realistic idea of what New York looked like in the aftermath of that awful 1888 snow storm.

Summer Hours At the Robbers Library

 I only made it ten pages into Summer Hours At the Robbers Library (#931) before I knew that Sue Halpern's novel was not for me.  I rarely reject a book this fast, but it was the right thing to do for me since I didn't like the characters or the few actions they took in the course of the pages I actually did read.  Too many other books waiting to be read to waste my time here.  I did like the cover, though!

The Library of Legends

 Janie Chang's The Library of Legends (#930) was an interesting blend of historical fiction and fantasy inspired by the author's own father's student experiences in pre World War II China.  As the students and professors evacuate Chinese universities before the Japanese arrive, taking with them books and scrolls important to preserving Chinese culture, the celestial gods and spirits guarding the woods, trees, rivers and cities are warned to leave China as well for their heavenly home before the Palace Gates close forever.

Binding the two stories together is the (fictitious) Legend about the Willow Star and the Prince.  Willow Star chooses to live her immortal life watching over the Prince in his many incarnations, while never being able to recapture their love.  Willow in this life is known as Sparrow Chen, servant to the wealthy Liu family.  She accompanies Shaoming (the Prince) to college in Nanking, but few mortals are aware that she is any more than a servant.  Hu Lian is a second year scholarship student at Nanking with secrets of her own.  Both leave Nanking behind along with a group of more than one hundred students, professors and laborers to make the thousand mile trek to safety in Chengtu.  With them they take the Library of Legends, charged with its safe concealment during the war.  Spies and murder pursue them as the Nationalists and Communists clash with each other and the Japanese.

The course of true love never does run smoothly; it's the obstacles put in the couple's way that make the story interesting.  You might even learn a few things along the way.

Anxious People

 Anxious People (#929) might be my favorite Fredrik Backman book so far. (See my posts of 12/9/16, 1/4/17 & 12/24/18.)  It's a wonder to me how he manages to combine humor with such a delicate and poignant attention to the human condition, and leave us wanting more.

The anxious people of the book's title are eight hostages of a bank robber who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, so you might initially think the novel is going to be a thriller, but as the story gradually unfolds, it's much more about relationships and what drives people to act the way they do.  Just one bad decision can send a life careening off the rails...

Most of all, I think it's about love, or the lack of it.  It's what motivates the characters in the story.  It's easy to see ourselves reflected in many of the actors here; the bank robber who bungles the job, the father and son police officers assigned to the hostage situation, the old woman waiting for her husband to finish parking the car and come up to the apartment for sale, the couple expecting a baby, the potential apartment flippers and the woman who visits apartments so she can look down on the middle-class folk who can't afford a more exclusive address.  There's something of them in all of us, for better or for worse.

How Mr. Backman weaves the characters' lives together to create such a satisfying whole is magical.  I was sorry to reach the last page of this story, I enjoyed it so much.  Highly recommended.