An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

Mar 172011

An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear
Published by Picador, an imprint of Macmillan

My reviews of the first four books in the series: Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies, Messenger of Truth.

Whether the problem is summer or simply the increasingly dire economic depression, business is tough for Maisie. So tough that she is quite happy that her employee, Billy, will be off picking hops in Kent for a week with his family, because it relieves her from having to pay his salary when there is no work coming in. Coincidentally enough, when work does come in, in the form of James Compton, son of Maisie’s benefactor Lady Compton, Maisie finds herself heading for Kent as well. Compton’s company is interested in a brickworks, but is concerned about the small fires that occur in the town yearly, as well as the acts of petty vandalism. Eventually, the mystery traces back to what happened during the war, both in France and at home, as all of Maisie’s cases do.

This is probably my favorite Maisie Dobbs book so far, which is a relief since the fourth book, Messenger of Truth, was probably my least favorite. My love of this one is a combination of a couple factors. First was the exploration of community and how small towns dealt with losing most of their young men in the war, and what that left them in the aftermath. Secondly, we were able to explore more of Maisie’s past and her family history. It is revealed relatively early on in this book that Maisie’s grandmother was a gypsy, which accounts for her gift of something that is a little more than intuition. I was happy to finally have an explanation of that, because Maisie’s occasional near clairvoyance has always bothered me just a bit.

The most captivating and moving of the Maisie Dobbs book yet. Bring on book five! If you haven’t started this series yet, what are you waiting for?

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Personal copy.
* 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.

Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

Mar 072011

Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear
Published by Picador, an imprint of Macmillan

My reviews of the first three books in the series: Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies.

When Nick, an up-and-coming young artist, falls to his death while setting up a gallery for his much buzzed exhibition, the police are quick to rule it an accident and to rule his sister Georgiana, who believes that Nick was murdered, a meddlesome pain. Georgiana is not content to merely accept either of these rulings, however, and enlists the help of Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator, to prove that Nick’s death was no accident. In investigating the case, Maisie finds herself pulled into the world of art and wealthy art collectors, watching people spend obscene amounts of money on paintings while her assistant cannot even find the money to take his very sick little girl to the doctor. At the same time, Maisie finds herself pulling farther and farther away from her beau, Dr. Andrew Dene.

There has been a lot of upheaval in Maisie’s life over the course of the books three and four. First she breaks away from her mentor Maurice, then from her boyfriend Andrew. Both rifts are based partly in Maisie’s need to establish her own independence, but I cannot help but wonder if her new problems with Maurice contributed to her problems with Andrew, as he was a mentee of Maurice’s as well. Although at times all of this made me very frustrated on Maisie’s behalf, these difficulties about what it means to be an independent working woman in the 1930s help truly bring Winspear’s setting and characters to life.

This mystery was a little more obvious and less compelling than the others I have read so far, but the book was still very engaging overall, and we got a glimpse of Maisie actually acting as a therapist for some clients, which was surprising and will possibly offer some interesting plot points in the future. Considering this is the 4th book in this series I have read since the beginning of the year and I am still excited to read the next one, I am continuing to recommend this series.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound |Amazon*

Source: Personal copy.
* 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.

Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

Mar 012011

Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
Published by Picador, an imprint of Macmillan
Book 3 in the Maisie Dobbs series.

My reviews of the first two books in the series: Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather

One of the defining characteristics of Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs is the setting between World War I and World War II. In the first two books particularly, the Great War and its ramifications are hugely important to the story, crucial to the plot, even. Now, in Pardonable Lies, Maisie is forced to confront her time in France, in the war while trying to find out whether a lost aviator truly died in the war and trying to track down the true fate of the brother of her best friend, Priscilla.

More than ever in the past two books, Maisie is intensely vulnerable in Pardonable Lies. She has to face her demons head on, and has a crisis of confidence in some of the most foundational aspects of her life. At the same time, she is being challenged by Priscilla to become more her own person, defined not entirely by her work.

This is a good continuation to the series. I liked that Winspear changed the scenery by taking Maisie to France, it helped keep the series fresh. After three books, I still recommend the series.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound | Amazon*

Source: Personal copy.
* 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.

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

Jan 312011

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
Published by Penguin Books
Book 1 in the series

What do you get when you take one very bright housemaid in early 20th century England, educate her within an inch of her life, and give her some Sherlock Holmes-style training in solving crimes? Why Maisie Dobbs, of course!

Respectful and polite, Maisie is very much a product of her time. Winspear balances very well the line of having an independent heroine who is not overly modern. We begin the book with Maisie setting up shop with her own agency, but the majority of action in this first book in the series is actually comprised of backstory, ranging from the time she first began to work for Lady Rowan Compton, to her time at university, finally to her time as a nurse during World War I.

I must say, there was a bit too much backstory for me. I would have preferred to either start the series when Maisie was just 13 or 14 and gaining employment, or to have the backstory spread out over more books. Particularly because the backstory in which I was most interested – that of her apprenticeship with her mentor Maurice Blanche – was not covered in this book.

Still, Maisie was an engaging and charming character. I have every intention of continuing the series, I just hope that the next books have more action in Maisie’s present.

Buy this book from:
Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.*
Amazon.*

Source: library.
* 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.

The Gendarme by Mark Mustian – Book Review

Sep 022010

The Gendarme by Mark Mustian
Published by Amy Einhorn Books, an imprint of Penguin

The first thing that caught my attention about “The Gendarme” was the arresting cover. I found it very reminiscent of the National Geographic cover of the Afghan girl, if a slightly less intense gaze. When I read the jacket copy and saw that it was about Turkey and the Armenians in WWI, I was totally sold.

And, although, it was not at all what I expected, “The Gendarme” did not disappoint.

Emmet Cohn was born Ahmet Khan in Turkey at the end of the 19th century. Unfortunately, he does not remember much of anything before he woke up in a British hospital during World War I with severe head trauma. He made it to the United States due to the determination of his American nurse, whom he married. After a long life in which he considered himself American first and foremost, Emmet, 92 and recently diagnosed with a brain tumor, has become dreaming again of Turkey. Specifically, he is dreaming of being a gendarme – which is odd, because he is positive he was a Turkish solider, not a gendarme – who is taking a group of Armenians to Syria and is beguiled by an Armenian girl with two different colored eyes, Araxie.

I really enjoyed “The Gendarme,” the way it worked through memory, sins of the past, aging, sickness, duty, and repentance. The two storylines were worked together masterfully, particularly considering there was not always a visual cue of transition. One thing bled into another with ease and occasionally when the transition was overly quick, it was wonderfully evocative of exactly what Emmet must have been going through with his tumor and increasingly frequent lapses between waking and dreams. I adored the uncertainty – shared by Emmett himself – of whether or not we could trust him as a narrator, or whether him tumor and previous head trauma left him unreliable. There were times I felt that I shouldn’t buy the blossoming relationship between Emmett and Araxie, with all of the hardships between them, but Mustian wrote them so compellingly that I had a difficult time not believing their relationship, unlikely as it may have seemed.

In “The Gendarme,” Mustian blends history and the human spirit beautifully. Highly recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.*
Amazon.*

This review was done with a book received from BEA.
* 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.