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When Henry Oades tells his wife, Meg, that they will be moving from London to New Zealand, she isn’t exactly thrilled about the prospect. In the late 19th century, a trip from London to New Zealand could be quite the harrowing experience, and New Zealand did not have many of the creature comforts of London. However, it was initially supposed to be only two years, so she agreed to take her son and daughter and go with him. Of course their trip was not only two years long, and their family grew while in New Zealand by twin girls. Then, one day, while Henry was at work, Meg, her children, their neighbor, and her son were set upon by Maori seeking revenge for the public punishment of one of their own.
When Henry returns to his house that night, he finds a woman’s body no longer recognizable. The neighbor’s carriage is at his house, so he has no idea whether the body belongs to her or to his dear Meg. Regardless, his wife and children are either dead or missing. After a long period of mourning, Henry finally gives his family up for dead and decides to move to Berkeley, California, where he will not be so haunted by the memories of his family. In Berkeley, Henry makes the acquaintance of a young girl left pregnant and widowed. After the birth of her child, he marries her for what is love on his part, and protection on her part. When Meg and her children show up one day on Henry and Nancy’s front porch, everything in all of their lives becomes infinitely more complicated – and they are indicted for bigamy.
This was a beautifully written book, based on real events. All Moran had to work with was a scant document, she had to fill in the majority of the action herself, and she did a superb job. The thing that particularly struck me was how sympathetically the characters were written. I really, really, really wanted to hate Nancy multiple times; for one thing she was essentially the other woman, although that was not her fault. Much more obnoxious was her immaturity, she did not truly seem to want to be either wife or mother. Since regaining her status as wife and mother was what Meg truly desired, it pained me to see Nancy in her place. However, every time I got myself good and worked up to hate Nancy, Moran would show me her frailty and humanity and I would find it impossible to feel anything but sympathy for the predicament she found herself in. I also appreciated that Moran presented the story of the Oades without moralizing, I have no idea whether she considered Nancy or Meg Henry’s true wife, or what she felt about their predicament.
Although there were perhaps a few elements of Nancy and Meg’s stories that could have been explored further, this was overall a completely lovely debut novel, a fresh and new work of historical fiction. I will definitely be looking for more from Moran in the future.
This review was done with a book received from the publisher via the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program.
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
***Caution: Contains Spoilers***
Oooookay, and now I’m back to the crying while listening. Not big gulping sobs, not even tears streaming down my face, but I definitely was teary eyed and a little choked up for, oh, like 10% of the book. Hedwig dying didn’t get me so much this time, because it all happens so fast Harry barely has time to reflect on it, but Fred! Tonks! Lupin! Harry himself (sort of, almost). And most gut-wrenching of all, Dobby.
Yes, I suppose people are right when they said that Rowling could have used an editor, that the book went on a bit long, but, honestly, I’m glad it did. I felt the same way when I was listening to the audio that I did when I read this book for the first time: I wanted to experience the denouement of the book, of the whole series, but I also didn’t want either of those things to end. How could there be no more Potter books coming from Rowling’s pen? How can I already be through all of the books with Dale’s narration? Now the only thing I have to look forward to from this franchise are the two movies that will make up the last book. Sad, sad, sad.
This review was done with a book borrowed from the library.
Alice’s Hirsh’s life has been turned upside down. Her husband has recently gone from beer gut lawyer named Alex to the svelte boyfriend of a big movie star who calls himself Xander, leaving Alice and her daughter Gabby in the lurch. Alice is basically completely in shock; she always assumed that once she got married and had kids, life would just sort of continue along – she never expected to lose her husband to superstar Rose Marin. Not only that, but Alice’s mother has a fairly advanced case of Alzheimer’s and is about to be kicked out of her not-exactly a nursing home home for cursing. Plus, Alex/Xander has always given their daughter Gabby whatever she wants, so Alice is stuck with being the bad guy to a princess-obsessed child on the verge of being a spoiled brat. Is Alice ever going to be able to pick up the pieces of her life and find her happily ever after?
I have to say, I had a great time reading this book. Alice was a really fantastic character. She is so hurt, and so damaged by what has happened to her, but she also experiences wonderful growth. There were a few things in the book that bothered me: the dropped thread of the Rose Maris-haters club and Trinity (Alice’s mother’s Filipino caregiver)’s inability to use correct pronouns but ability to give an out-of-character exposition about how Americans have and want too much. Even so, I found this book to be a thoroughly enjoyable experience, primarily because of how real Alice was.
“Pieces of Happily Ever After” is one of those books that is both fun and serious, empathetic and hilarious. I would definitely recommend it to fans of women’s fiction.
This is the first pick for the SheKnows.com book club, so we’d love to have some of you come and discuss it with us!
This review was done with a book received from Crystal at SheKnows.com. It is the February/March 2010 book for the SheKnows.com book club.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.
Oh, Georgette Heyer, who are these people you create who joke around when they are repeatedly having attempts made on their lives?
There is a fair amount of acrimony in the air at Silas Kane’s 60th birthday party. His business partners are begging him to assent to some sort of Australian ’scheme,’ the details of which are never fully laid out, but they aren’t really important anyway. Then there’s Rosemary Kane, who is possibly the most ridiculous woman in the history of literature – and what’s more, she knows it! Rosemary completely owns up to her selfishness and mercenary nature and doesn’t bother to hide the fact that she’s seriously considering leaving her well-off but not rich husband Clement for her handsome boy toy because she simply can’t be happy without a load of money. When Silas is found dead the next morning, the original conclusion is that his fall from the cliff was simply an accident, but when his heirs start dying, it becomes increasingly apparent that something more is going on, and that perhaps Silas’s death was no accident.
This is my second foray into Georgette Heyer’s mysteries. This one was a bit slower start – “Death in the Stocks” started with a dead body, so when “They Found Him Dead” started with Silas’s birthday party I found the first 20 pages or so slow going. I actually picked this book up once and put it back down, to pick it up again a few weeks later. Perhaps I just wasn’t in the right mood for it, though, because the second time I picked it up I fairly flew through it. Heyer’s characters are delightfully ridiculous, and most of them are completely insipid, but in a good way. I did appreciate that “They Found Him Dead” had characters that were actually sympathetic, as opposed to “Death in the Stocks.” However, I did again figure out whodunnit about half way through the book, and this time I even knew why the entire time, as opposed to last time when I was surprised by motive, but not culprit. Surprisingly, figuring out the ending really didn’t mitigate my enjoyment of the book.
All in all, I think Heyer mysteries and quite delightful, and I wouldn’t mind stocking up on them for fun, escapist reads.
This review was done with a book received from Danielle at Sourcebooks.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.
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Once back at their grass-tipi village, the boys would build their own fire and roast the meat while telling made-up stories of their bravery and their kills – kill-talks, the real warriors called such bragging – and often an older boy would hold the roasted and sizzling and dripping tongue on a stick, as high as he could hold it, and the younger boys would leap to bite off a piece. Those who could not leap high did not eat.
bermudaonion (Kathy)
Sandy
Beth F
Lisa
S. Krishna
The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran
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