There Are Rivers In The Sky

How to describe Elif Shafak's newest book There Are Rivers In The Sky (#1,306)?  It's about water, specifically two rivers, the Thames and the Tigris.  It's about characters spread across time and the world from Ninevah in ancient Mesopotamia to modern day London.  And it's about the oldest recorded epic in the world Gilgamesh.  Their stories are so cleverly intertwined and disparate yet they flow together in the end.  No matter how harrowing, you want to keep reading to see what happens next as the narrative jumps from one time period to another, and back again.

What possible connections could a modern day hydrologist living on a houseboat on the Thames, a poor Yazidi girl caught in the web of the ISIS uprising, a boy born on the bank of the Thames in Victorian London and the all-powerful Assyrian king of Nineveh have?  That's the tale that's spun here.

I know it sent me to search for more background information on the places Ms. Shafak writes about.  Isn't that the object of a book?  To make you think and explore for yourself things that have piqued your interest?  There Are Rivers In The Sky succeeds admirably.  Highly recommended.

A Dress of Violet Taffeta

I can't afford it, and I wouldn't want to wear it, but I do love looking at and reading about couture fashion.  Tessa Arlen's novel based on the life of Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon A Dress of Violet Taffeta (#1,305) fits the bill admirably.  Abandoned by a cheating husband, Lucy Wallace decides to divorce him rather than allow him access to her home and bed in the future, should he choose to come back.  She turns to her passion, dress designing, to keep her small family fed and clothed.  

She succeeds in her ambition, slowly rising to rival the premiere French fashion houses of the day when the Crown Prince's mistress shows off Lucy's designs to perfection to the Marlborough Set in London.  Since everyone wants to wear a Lucile, Ltd. dress, it also places her in the orbit of Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon, a Scottish baronet and her future husband.  A trip to New York to oversee her new American design studio puts Lucy onboard the Titantic.  Although both she and her husband survive the ordeal, their relationship is never the same.

It's a fascinating story with luscious descriptions of her designs which helped revolutionize women's attire in the Belle Epoque.  The Victoria & Albert Museum in London mounted an exhibit of Lucile, Ltd.'s designs with a lavish catalog which you can purchase online if you are lucky enough to find a copy.  

I loved the name chosen for this novel and stumbled upon a real-life story brought to vivid life in these pages.  If you are a clothes hound this may be the ideal read for you, too. 

The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp

If you're looking for a dark, twisty murder mystery, The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp (#1,304) by Leonie Swann could be your ticket.  Set in the small English village of Duck's End, Sunset Hall's occupants are isolated by the rest of the community.  There's something off about the elderly people who live there by their own rules.  So when there's a series of murders in the village, all committed by the same antique gun, the villagers aren't exactly jumping in to help find out "whodunit".

When Agnes Sharp and her companions at Sunset Hall set out to find out who is responsible (and who might be next!) they are forced to confront some of the truths of their own pasts.  With the help of a feisty tortoise named Hettie, and a visiting grandchild (not allowed under Sunset Hall's covenant!) Agnes and her friends uncover secrets about the big house across the road and the glossy retirement community across town.  Now, if only they can remember what they learned long enough to let the authorities know!

Not your usual murder mystery!  It's translated from the German by Amy Bojang, so maybe that's why it doesn't quite follow the usual English murder mystery tropes.  Enjoyable.

Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt's Ancient Temples from Destruction

 I wish I had read Lynne Olson's biography Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeaologist Who Saved Egypt's Ancient Temples from Destruction (#1,303) before I went to Egypt and before I read Fiona Davis's The Stolen Queen.  Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt led such an amazing life I can't believe I never heard of her before having this book recommended by the Egyptologist leading my tour.  If you've read Fiona Davis's book, you'll realize how much of Christiane's life experiences were incorporated into her character of Charlotte Cross.

Christiane Desroches was educated at the Louvre, taught in their school, helped rescue priceless Egyptian antiquities from the Nazis during the war, and came back to an empty museum to join the Resistance.  Although she was a curator at the Louvre, Desroches's real love was her Egyptian field work.  She participated in digs all along the Nile.  As a woman, most Western Egyptologists treated her as a pariah, suitable only for sketching or labeling the artifacts, not doing the actual digging.  They also did not care for the fact that she treated the Egyptian laborers who actually did the work as members of the team, learning to speak Arabic to better communicate with them, and treating their injuries and illnesses.  Many of the actual finds that she made were appropriated in scholarly works by her male colleagues.

But because she was trusted by the Egyptians themselves, when the political climate changed after World War II, she was invited back to consult as the work to uncover Egypt's past was given over to the Egyptians themselves.  When the decision was made to build a huge dam at Aswan to control the flooding of the Nile, it was Christiane who rang the alarm bells about the potential loss of unique cultural sites to the flood waters of the dam.  Persuading the newly formed UNESCO to bring together an international coalition to relocate the temples at Abu Simbel and Philae, among others, was her brainchild.  It's an amazing story.

 I enjoyed looking at the photographs of people and places included in the text, but I must admit I did find a couple of omissions puzzling.  Christiane was married, and had a son, but no pictures of either appear in the text.  She apparently did not want to talk about either of the men in her life.  There always have to be some mysteries in life!

Even if you never plan to go to Egypt yourself, this is a fascinating life story of someone who seized every opportunity given to her. 

The Dead Guy Next Door

A rom-com murder mystery?  Somehow Lucy Stone makes it work in The Dead Guy Next Door (#1,302).  Riley Thorn has been reduced to living in a studio apartment in a converted mansion in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  She used to have a respectable job, a husband and her own mini-mansion.  But that all changed when her cheating husband's father managed to get her fired and owe her ex alimony!  And if that's not bad enough, she keeps having visions of her creepy neighbor next door being shot.  Riley tries warning him, and even notifies the police about what she can see coming.  Does anybody believe her?  Of course not, until he's shot and Riley goes after the killer, making her suspect number one.

Enter Nick Santiago, private detective.  He knows Riley didn't do it, but he's a chorus of one.  As she insists on being involved in the investigation, things go from bad to bizarre with her elderly neighbors stepping in to "assist".  And then Nick meets Riley's psychic family.  Could things get any weirder?

If this mystery doesn't get your mind off your own troubles, nothing will!  And, oh, by the way, there's a lot of sex in this book, so be prepared, but give it a try!  I'm looking forward to the further adventures of Riley and Nick.

A Novel Love Story

To quote Ashley Poston from her own book, A Novel Love Story (#1,301), "An utterly skippable read."  So I did.

The premise is promising: an avid romance fan on her way to a readers' retreat takes a turn into a valley where everything uncannily resembles a series of romance novels she is obsessed with.  She's literally in the middle of her favorite books.  Unfortunately, it failed to hold my attention, so I bailed.  My stack of to-be-reads is too big to spend more time on A Novel Love Story.

The Rom-Commers

Katherine Center's book is so well named: The Rom-Commers (#1,300).  It's a romance and it actually is funny!  Most authors seem to get the first part right, but not much the comedy element.  This book should be the poster child for the genre.

Emma Wheeler has had to suppress her dream of pursuing a career as a screen writer to become her father's full-time caretaker.  Not that she begrudges her role as she waits for her baby sister to finish her education and take over responsibilities.  So when her best friend from high school calls her from Hollywood with a fabulous opportunity to work with award-winning screen writer Charlie Yates, she jumps on the chance with the backing of her family.  When Emma arrives in LA, it rapidly becomes apparent that Logan hasn't exactly been upfront with either Emma or Charlie about his plan to have them co-write a rom-com script.  What could possibly go wrong?

Most rom-coms are enjoyable fluff if done well.  Read, and almost immediately forgotten.  What I really loved about this book was the surprising depth Ms. Center put into this story highlighting the roles of caretakers and the sacrifices they make on behalf of others, and those who suffer from chronic illnesses, both physical and mental.  The lows make the highs that much more precious.

If you're looking for the ideal rom-com, I'd say The Rom-Commers is it. (And Katherine Center even has two previous books made into rom-com movies on Netflix!  Wish I could see those!)

The Stolen Queen

It took me a bit to get into Fiona Davis' latest novel The Stolen Queen (#1,299).  The plot concerns the brazen theft of a popular Egyptian artifact, the Cerulean Queen, from the Metropolitan Museum in New York City in the midst of the annual Met Gala. 

We meet Charlotte Cross, associate curator of the Department of Egyptian Art, in charge of mounting the King Tut exhibit in a few weeks on its final American stop.  She has privately been researching her theory that Hathorkare, the subject of the Cerulean Queen sculpture, was more than a pretty face; she was a powerful pharaoh who ruled over and expanded the Egyptian empire.  Her reputation has been belittled by Egyptologists for years because of her sex.  Charlotte's research was mysteriously stolen that night as well as the statue.

Annie Jenkins is a nineteen-year-old who has just been given a rare opportunity to help Diana Vreeland with the Met's Costume Institute exhibit for the Met Gala.  Everything is going well until she unwittingly unleashes a disaster upon the night of the Gala.  Just like that, she's out of hope again.

How these woman form an unlikely alliance to solve the theft is the crux of the story. Annie has nothing to lose and nowhere to go, but feels an obligation to help Charlotte. Charlotte must overcome the tragedy of her past to return to an Egypt she vowed never to step foot in again.  Despite trying to shake Annie off her tail, Charlotte reluctantly finds she cannot do without Annie's help.  Together, they are strong.

As Ms. Davis says in her notes at the end of the book, Hathorkare is a thinly-veiled portrait of Hatshepsut, a rare female pharaoh.  The fictional Hathorkare's funerary temple which Charlotte and Annie visit in the novel, is real, as are the tombs described in the Valley of the Kings.  We did, in fact, just visit Hatshepsut's remains in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo.  

Ms. Davis also includes a list for further reading if this book piques your interest in all things Egyptian.  I would further recommend When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt by Kara Cooney.  It's much more to the point about female rulers and infinitely more readable than Egypt's Golden Couple: When Akhenaten and Nefertiti Were Gods on Earth by John and Colleen Darnell.

One small nit on Fiona Davis' research: you cannot see the Sahara Desert from the Valley of the Kings.  It begins much further south.  Go see for yourself!