Tag: historical fiction

The Last Dance Of The Debutante

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

It’s no surprise, well at least it shouldn’t be, I have a fondness for British books. Or books with British settings. Historical British books. British etiquette and customs. So, Julia Kelly’s latest historical fiction novel The Last Dance of the Debutante was a must read.

Kelly’s last few novels focused on World War Two. With The Last Dance of the Debutante, it’s 1957 and the last London season with the debutantes being presented to the Queen (Elizabeth II) is fast approaching. Basically, it’s peak Claire Foy in The Crown time. True confession: The Crown isn’t my thing but oh well.

Quiet, bookish Lily Nicholls comes from an excellent family.  She lives with her widowed mother in reduced circumstances, with Lily’s terrifying paternal grandmother paying for her school and expecting an iron grip on deciding her future. A bit first season Gilmore Girls with less coffee and a mother who rarely socializes and doesn’t sound like a Preston Sturges 1930s leading lady on Pixi Stix.

Then Grandmother Nicholls decides Lily is going to be one of these final debutantes, Lily’s education and her mother’s retreat from the world be damned.

Now since Lily is pretty, smart and can make her own clothes look like something from couture, I was never too worried about her future and was pretty sure she Would Prevail and Find Her Path and Her Tribe.

Does she?

Please read the book.

Of course, what truly grabbed my attention wasn’t the round of parties and just how exhausting being a debutante is. I’ve read my Nancy Mitford. Being a debutante is like being in beauty pageants only the stakes are a husband (preferably rich, titled and the right social class) versus a fur coat and a scholarship. There’s a lot of sacrifice behind the pretty dresses and wide smiles. There are  secrets lurking in the Nicholls household and Lily’s Mummy aka Josephine is a tightly coiled bundle of nerves.

If you want to make Lily’s mummy Josephine jump faster than me at work deep in a project when a coworker comes over to my desk to ask a question? Say “Joanna” and a simmering rage plus terror comes to the surface.

Who is Joanna? Joanna, Lily’s much older sister has committed some grave social sin and her banishment from the family unit is complete right down to her name never being spoken. She’s the shadow haunting everything.

And bit of a side tangent on Mummy Josephine please? She is a such a bitter person she draws your attention. The bitter and coldness radiate off the page. I half want to smack Josephine while not wanting to incur her wrath. And I am talking about a book with a beautiful yet poisonous fellow debutante everyone half loves half fears, a found family tribe of debutantes who will never be Debutante of the Year but are The Girl Squad Who Has Your Back Bestie and a flock of potential suitors.

I try very hard not to reveal spoilers but there is a plot twist I had about 75% figured out before Lily was even presented at Court (Elizabeth II not “Oh crap I have jury duty” court) except for one person. And a second plot twist is quickly handled with much more good character of spirit than I could summon in that situation. I do admit I wish there had been more time devoted to that second plot twist because the ramifications could have been awesome in a glorious peak 1980s soap opera plot line. But Julia Kelly’s heroines are much better people than me even with their flaws. And unlike me, Julia Kelly can really write excellent historical fiction.

So TLDR. Did I enjoy The Last Dance of the Debutante? Yes. Will I ever watch The Crown, nope. And am I waiting not so patiently for Julia Kelly’s next book? Hard YES!

Yours Cheerfully

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

I might have read Dear Mrs. Bird in one huge binge, including having the book propped on the kitchen counter while making a can of medium green peas for the spouse’s dinner. And the next day once I was free of the office, hop in the car and make a beeline for my local library to pick the sequel Yours Cheerfully. Of I did! Did you expect me to pick up Crime and Punishment and write a scholarly tome? Nope not at all. I mean I have read Crime and Punishment but my days wandering around a lovely New England university campus are almost thirty years in the past.

Emmy and the Dear Mrs. Bird gang are back. Well, pretty much everyone except Mrs. Bird who I imagine is billeting evacuees on unsuspecting souls and driving the vicar’s wife into slipping into the butler’s pantry at the vicarage to guzzle a bottle of parsnip wine before the W.I. meeting. Yes, I might want to cut back on the Lady Grey tea and coming up with truly dreadful Nancy Mitford meets Angela Thirkell mashups. In my defense I have read a lot of British fiction from World War II. All those books must slip out of the brain pan somewhere. 

But back to Emmy and friends. Mrs. Bird is gone. The Women’s Friend is still considered old fashioned by most people but it’s still there. And the advice page is thriving. The Ministry of Information wants to use the women’s press to promote women as war workers and of course Emmy has a plan. And shoots off her mouth.

<sighs>

Yes, romance is there. But romance is just one part of the book. To be honest, I’m not here for the romance. I mean Mr. Guy Collins is very dishy and I’ve mentally cast Mr. Guy Collins as Colin Firth because why not? Also, Colin Firth looks lovely in period suits. And yes, the spouse is very aware of my crush on Colin Firth. But I prefer the let’s hunt for nylons and lipsticks vs let’s smooch Charles Collins.

The core of Yours Cheerfully for me is the very real plight of women on the home front. Emmy and her friends do their best to make changes, and yes I agree 100% with informative pamphlets but sitting on the couch in 2021 you realize not much has truly changed for women. A working mother is still pulled between providing financial security and nurturing her children. The world isn’t kind and childcare issues abound.

Please don’t read this and think Yours Cheerfully is a downer, going from a munitions factory to London and back again does give a different energy but even at the worst Emmy still has that unsinkable energy and makes the best changes she can in her power.

I might not adore Yours Cheerfully as much as Dear Mrs. Bird even if I’m thinking Mr. Guy Collins and Bunty will hook up, but several part of Yours Cheerfully did have me rummaging through my carefully stacked smaller books to find a treasure or two from the International War Museum and debating if I should get Make Do and Mend on Kindle since I can’t find my copy. And a book that can inspire further or related reading (hi there Henrietta’s War) is certain worth the read.

And if AJ Pearce writes another Emmy Lake Chronicles book? I’m putting it on a library hold once it hits the States even if Bunty doesn’t become Mrs. Guy Collins.

Band of Sisters

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

Ahhhh historical fiction. Not my favorite genre but I shove historical fiction titles in the library book bag on occasion. Now you think a person who studied history at university, has a BA in History, is a Phi Alpha Theta member and briefly considered graduate school, would love her some historical fiction. And also have a grasp of English grammar but I never claimed to be an English major now did I?

But back to historical fiction. A person would think I would be cramming all the historical fiction like setting a new world record for eating Lindt truffles. That person would be wrong.

I prefer actual history books and biographies and when I do read historical fiction it tends to be modern person finds documents/diaries of historical figure and then we get alternating chapters of modern person, historical person, modern person. And I end up getting bored to pieces by modern person and just wanting to read only the historical person unless it’s very well written.

And if your historical fiction is the secret life of very famous historical person, for example you’re the poor but gorgeous gal who has Prince Edward (later the Duke of Windsor)’s love child? Or you’re the noble but poor mistress of Henry VIII? I. AM. OUT.

I have opinions. Strong opinions. And my bar for historical fiction is set pretty damn high. Especially now as the vast age of fifty looms not too far in the horizon. Not even the brilliant Fay Weldon gets a pass. And Fay Weldon is a goddess who wrote the pilot episode of Upstairs, Downstairs.

Let’s jump to yesterday morning around 3 am. Normally I’m in a half-awake state, knowing I need to crawl from my warm bed and summon the strength to be functional enough to start my work day at 6 am. My life is most glamorous.

But it is a Saturday morning and I’ve just put Lauren Willig’s Band of Sisters down. Not to shove in the library return bag unfinished. And not to read after running errands. Down as in done and dusted. Finished. With thoughts. Perhaps barely literate but thoughts.

In a nutshell, Band of Sisters is the tale of gentle reared rich ladies going off to provide support and comfort in World War I France. Well, not everyone is rich (hi there working class Irish/Bohemian Kate) and they all attended Smith College.

Now for those unfamiliar, Smith College is one of the Seven Sisters, historically women’s colleges which are considered equivalent to the Ivy League. I was not clever enough for Smith College but that is a tale for another time.

Our heroines have left Smith College and are whipped into a fervor by a former professor who wants to send a unit of Smith women over to France to serve the French citizens. The plan is to provide aid, restoring villages and the inhabitants spirit without the burden of charity. Very lofty goals.

After all, anyone can join the Red Cross efforts, handing out donuts and cigarettes to Our Brave Boys. But it takes a strong person, A Smith College Girl, to be boots on the ground, down in the trenches, getting things done. Not afraid to muss her hair or get dirty. Nails will be broken.

Hmm…I’m sounding very gung ho and like I’ve meet that professor. Interesting.

Will the Smith College alumnae respond to the former professor’s siren call and find themselves in France? Yes because that’s the plot of the book.

Of course, there are tensions, secrets and deprivation galore. It’s World War I France once the Americans joined. Unlike many historical fiction books, Band of Sisters isn’t all dances with Our Brave Boys, Finding True Love While The Battle Rages Off Screen.

Frankly? I loathe those historical fiction books. If you like those books. Glad you found something to read that brings you joy but I prefer a much heartier fare.

Band of Sisters is that heartier fare. There is some romance, but you never forget the trenches are mere miles away and the treat of Germans/the Boche is very nearby. The French countryside is both beautiful and destroyed right down to the people. Still alive but shells of themselves. And the Smith Girls aren’t immune. They are so very innocent in their mostly privileged bubbles it hurts yet shells of themselves. One character has such an obsidian hard shell you think she is just a snotty bitch but nope. Oh golly nope. Another character needs to have the very concept of a “Boche baby” explained.

At that point, yes, I gave a deep sigh, because honestly how did she think a very young French girl was impregnated with said baby. Thank heavens she learns a thing or two before the book ends because the last quarter of the book is brutal and merciless. The devastation, terror and exhaustion are so truthfully and beautifully written you are in the horde, barely awake and still pressing on because you can’t succumb.

After devouring Band of Sisters, I can say it’s a gripping read and even if you want to shake perhaps Maud until her teeth rattle (I will help you with that! Maud does my head in something awful), have one character teach a class on self-defense before sitting Emmie down for a reality check, it’s hard to put down. And read everything. Don’t skip the stuff everyone does.

 Seriously, READ THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS! Lauren Willig based her book on real Smith College women who were in the Somme. How could I not love a book by an author who stumbles and gobbles books like myself? Her fictional band of sisters Smith College alumnae are just as real and a force of nature as the Smith College alumnae I encountered as in my youth.

Would I recommend Band of Sisters? Most certainly!

The Operator

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

Life in a small town is like no other. Guaranteed someone knows your business, even the secrets you do not know. It doesn’t matter you live in a tiny English village straight off a biscuit tin, a New England mill town, a seaside hamlet or a Midwest town. And I am not immune to secrets and revelations so when I heard about a 2020 novel called The Operator? I was interested enough to take a screenshot and see if the local library carried it.

According to the author bio on the back flap of The Operator, this is Gretchen Berg’s debut novel. Seriously? Because unlike another debut novel I took a chance on earlier this spring I had absolutely no problem diving into tiny 1950s Wooster, Ohio even with the spouse braying at the antics of whatever Minecraft Let’s Play video he was watching. The first page sucks you in, you are right there with Vivian, wearing old winter boots on her way to work.

A 1950s woman…working? Weren’t all women housewives being supported by their husbands. Not exactly. Vivian’s work at the telephone company makes life nicer, paying for the things her husband’s salary cannot quite cover. And Vivian likes her work, she loves knowing the ins and outs of what is happening in her town and being a telephone operator is a great match. Until Vivian learns a secret about herself.

Giving away the secret takes away the fun of reading The Operator but let’s say Vivian doesn’t die, it’s a whopper with nesting boxes of whoppers. And Vivian is very relatable. She doesn’t curl up in a ball and give in even if some of her decisions are made from social pressure. She keeps on going and a bit at the end has me tearing up because that part of journey touches on something in my own mother’s life. Go Vivian go!

The Operator is a fine book club recommendation (I have book clubs on the brain at the moment having just joining a site wide book club at work) and between you, me and the World Wide Internet if the trade paperback edition has one of those book club suggested discussion questions I need to see “When did you realize CHARACTER NAME was THING I DIDN’T FIGURE OUT BECAUSE I AM THAT DIM” because I can’t be the only one this dim. Also The Operator would make nice Paramount Plus show because Vivian and her pluck remind me of Ginnifer Goodwin in Why Women Kill. Get cracking out that Paramount Plus.

I can give The Operator a firm Essie Hi Maintenance (Revlon’s Fire and Ice looks dreadful on me) thumbs up. Grab it from your book source, find a comfortable spot (I recommend not on the other side of the couch from your spouse) and spend a few hours with Vivian Dalton and the secrets of Wooster, Ohio.

Better Luck Next Time

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

If you asked me to list my favorite movies, the majority would be John Carpenter and James Cameron titles. And right next to Aliens is the superior aka the original film adaptation of Clare Boothe Luce’s The Women. There’s a 2008 remake? No there is NOT!

And the best scenes in The Women aren’t the beauty salon or the climax at the nightclub. Norma Shearer is a dull eyed automaton taking up space while Rosalind Russell buzzes around and Joan Crawford oozes bad girl from every pore. The very best scenes are set on a dude ranch where mostly rich ladies wait for their six weeks of Nevada residency to kick in order to get Reno-vated (aka divorced). Paulette Goddard’s Miriam Aarons is so luminous and leaps off the scene. She’s modern and not quite like the other cast. Beyond glorious especially when Rosalind Russell appears and things happen. I love me some Paulette Goddard.

Between The Women and trying to tracking down a copy of Guestward Ho! a comic tale of a New Mexico dude ranch with Patrick Dennis as a co-author which has become a victim of the Deaccession Squad, of course I’m interested in a historical novel set in a 1930s dude ranch. A book with glowing reviews that might not be sappier than a New England maple syrup factory. I even made a special trip to the library to grab Julia Claiborne Johnson’s Better Luck Next Time from the New Fiction section after work.

And now for the basic plot. An retired doctor, Ward, is shown a picture by a young visitor and remembers his time working at a dude ranch, The Flying Leap. It’s a quirky little place, engineered to be the picture perfect dude ranch with lovely horses and ranch hands chosen as much for their resemblances to Hollywood leading men as their wrangling skills. Ward favors a young Clark Gable and Sam could give Gary Cooper a run for his money. Hubba hubba. Honestly the main reason for The Flying Leap is to be a soft place to land for wealthy women seeking quick divorces. Horses and riding are just a nice distraction.

Pity places like The Flying Leap don’t still exist, particularly when the spouse decides to be extremely chatty while I’m writing.

Back to Better Luck Next Time. The Flying Leap is welcoming new ladies for their six weeks in Nevada. We have the Zeppelin, an older woman of the world who still considers herself to be vibrant and attractive to the men folk. There’s a showgirl type who doesn’t seem very deep intellectually even though she is well traveled. And then we have our two heroines. The Mouse and the Doomed One. These are not their names but the moment they appeared on the page Emily (The Mouse) a meek San Francisco housewife and Nina (The Doomed One) a glamorous heiress with a pilot’s license and a string of husbands obtain brand spanking new names in my head.

And this is where my experience with Better Luck Next Time doesn’t match up with the vast majority of reviews I’ve seen. To my odd self, Better Luck Next Time is a nice read to crawl into bed with on a chilly night, something I can read in a few hours. A book that captures the imagination but doesn’t tax my brain and can be easily picked up and started again after the spouse comes into the bedroom. The fates of Emily and Nina aren’t a huge surprise. If would have been more surprising if Emily and Nina ran off with the dishy younger Ward and set up a triad. But that would be an entirely different novel indeed.

Better Luck Next Time is a perfectly fine book. If the book club at work was revived and I was allowed to suggest a title (which is another story to be told at another time), Better Luck Next Time would be a great choice. There’s something for everyone even cranky me. Learning Julia Claiborne Johnson’s own father worked at a dude ranch like The Flying Leap was interesting and the little tidbit one dude ranch did have a stagecoach to pick up their clients. The Zeppelin is delightful and I would love an entire book about her adventures in amour right up to her visit to The Flying Leap.

If you’re in the mood for a nice read? Grab Better Luck Next Time or better yet? Recommend it to your book club.

The Perfume Collector

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

I’m a sucker for well written historical novels and Kathleen Tessaro’s latest offering The Perfume Collector? Doesn’t disappoint and has me checking my Amazon gift card balance to see if there’s enough left to snap The Perfume Collector up before the Kindle Daily Deal ends at midnight.

Like Kathleen Tessaro’s previous historical novel (The Debutante), The Perfume Collector tells the tales of two women separated by a generation. In post World War II England, lovely Grace Munroe should be happy but her marriage is crumbling and her future feels as bleak as her empty womb. Her husband? Tom-catting about with a slinky society beauty who doesn’t realize married means “hands off”. One day, Grace receives a letter from a French lawyer about an inheritance and decides to throw off her suffocating life and go to Paris to find out what the letter means. After all, who does Grace even know in Paris? A generation earlier, an orphaned French teen-age girl begins to work at a posh hotel until one guest changes her life forever.

Now even the stuffed dragons and I figured out the plot twist about 20 pages in. Maybe because we read a lot of trashy and less well written books? Or have low minds? Who knows. (No, am I not going to tell you the plot twist. Pick up the darn book and figure it out yourself.) A lesser writer would handle the plot twist in a much more ham-fisted manner (coughcoughAnnoyingAuthorcoughcough). But how Kathleen Tessaro unveils the plot twist is delicate and intriguing and engages the reader. Finishing The Perfume Collector, you might (okay, once again I) wanted to race off to the best perfume counter you can find and discover a scent as enchanting as Madame Eva d’Orsey concocted. The only thing holding me back? This silly trifle called rent… <sighs>

So snap up The Perfume Collector, make a nice lovely hot cup of tea and settle in for a good read!