The Thirteenth Tale

The Thirteenth Tale

By Diane Setterfield

“There is something about words.  In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner.  Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts.  Inside you they work their magic.” (p. 8)

Margaret Lea is a bookseller and to her, reading is like breathing or eating; it’s essential to sustain life.  When she is commissioned to write the biography of famous novelist Vida Winter, she wonders why.  Vida has led her followers astray for years, recounting any number of fanciful tales as the story of her life.  All have proven to be false, until now. 

Vida is the quintessential storyteller; like Margaret, she lives and breathes stories. Born into a strange, almost outcast family, Vida is raised in a large house called Angelfield on the English moors. 

Vida’s story begins with siblings Charlie and Isabelle.  Disliked by his father, Charlie is a broken soul who cannot abide the way Isabelle is doted on.  He attempts to take his revenge on her, but shockingly, Isabelle proves as aggressive as her brother and the two form an unnatural bond. 

The next generation at Angelfield, Emmeline and Adeline, are twins who, as children, can only communicate in twin language.  Adeline, like her predecessors, is prone to physical violence which she forces on the submissive Emmeline.

Initially it is unclear where Vida fits in.  As Vida Winter is a pen name, the truth of her parentage unfolds over time.  Indeed the bizarre and somewhat sinister lifestyle at Angelfield involves many other characters and eventually culminates in a mysterious fire that leaves the house in ruins.

Margaret, as biographer, listens to Vida’s unbelievable tale and verifies her facts.  The darkness of the English moors seems to permeate her thoughts as her own family secrets haunt her.  Vida’s story brings Margaret face to face with her own demons, which she must eventually acknowledge.

The Thirteenth Tale is a gothic novel full of windswept landscapes, stormy nights, skeletons in the closet, family betrayals and life-long secrets.  If there was ever a book to read as the rain rages outside, this is it.  Put on some flannels, wrap up in a blanket, and settle into a riveting story, or what Vida Winter would call “[t]he soothing, rocking safety of a lie.” (p.5)

The Summer Before the War

The Summer Before the War

By Helen Simonson

The Summer Before the War is a slow burning story of the inhabitants of Rye, England at the outbreak of World War I.  Despite the threat of war, in typical British style, the inhabitants of Rye keep calm and carry on.  Focusing on the everyday lives of civilians, The Summer Before the War follows a cast of diverse characters as they juggle their everyday lives with the knowledge that death is just around the corner.

These interesting characters all center on Agatha, a formidable matriarch in the small town of Rye. She has much more immediate concerns than war, like the reputation of a young Latin teacher she has taken under her wing. Beatrice Nash, penniless and alone, is ready to live out the rest of her life in spinsterhood as a Latin professor. With Agatha’s help, she settles into her new job while war threatens to draw away her young students. 

War looms greater still when Belgian refugees are brought to Rye for safety. The reception of refugees was eerily reminiscent of recent refugee crises.  While some people are very open to hosting, there is some hostility among the townsfolk.  Hostility or no, the traumas suffered by the refugees brought a new understanding of the war to Rye. As such, Agatha’s two nephews, a poet and a surgeon, start to feel the call to duty. 

This book definitely grew on me. It starts rather slowly, setting up all the characters and the dynamics of the town; however, by the second half I was desperate to read the next chapter (and the next, and the next!).  Strong female leads, a touch of romance, and British resilience are all on full display, making for an enjoyable and informative read just in time for Remembrance Day. 

Fans of Downton Abbey will enjoy The Summer before the War for its wide range of characters from different social classes. Both stories delve into how the Great War affected civilian lives in small town Britain, one focusing on before the war, the other focusing on after it!

Our Homesick Songs

Our Homesick Songs

  By Emma Hooper

The Connors live in Big Running, Newfoundland where, for generations, people have lived by the ebb and flow of the cod fishery.  The sea is their lifeblood.  Emma Hooper masterfully depicts the culture of small town Newfoundland in Our Homesick Songs.

Parents Aidan and Martha can remember when fishing nets used to come up from the depths overflowing with fish, and when the village fishing boats were laden to the gills.  They also remember the first time a net came up only half full.  Now, it’s 1993 and all the fish are gone – completely.  The town of Big Running has been slowly depleted until only six houses are still occupied.

Desperate to maintain their deep connection to home, Aidan and Martha come up with a plan to take turns working out of town.  They go where everyone else does – to the oil patch in Alberta – convincing themselves that this family separation is their only hope.

But fourteen-year-old Cora and ten-year-old Finn feel each parent’s absence keenly.  Each comes up with their own plan to save the family.  Strong-headed Cora decides she must earn her own money in a way that will divide the family even further.  But Finn, steeped in the magic of Big Running, decides he has no other choice but to call the fish back, and devises an elaborate scheme to do so.

This part of the story is interspersed with tales from the past.  Hooper tells of Aidan and Martha in the 1970s as they meet and fall in love.  Life in Big Running at that time is full in every way.  There are plenty of people in town and still plenty of fish in the sea.  No one can imagine that their robust way of life can ever end.

Contrast this with the yearning and desperation of the Connors in 1993, as they cling to a lifestyle that is quickly disappearing.

Our Homesick Songs is filled with the mysticism, stories and music of Newfoundland.  Hooper’s writing is lyrical and poetic. But her biggest triumph is her depiction of a family that must make some very hard choices, but continues to love each other unconditionally.

Highly recommended!

Things Are Good Now

By: Djamila Ibrahim

Things are good now tells poignant and thought provoking stories of immigrants and refugees to Canada from East Africa and the Middle East.  From a female ex-freedom fighter struggling with her new reality of cleaning toilets and hospital sheets to a newly adopted young Ethiopian girl facing the horrors of her first Halloween in Canada, the characters portrayed all show the struggles faced by people trying not only to acclimatize in a new land, but also balance their intense longing for home. 

While this book is a collection of individual short stories, there is a thematic connection that ties everything together beautifully. No character reappears in another story, but you can feel a connection between each tale through the tone and experience of the characters. At times this tone is a bit dark; however, there is a lot of hope in the stories as well.

Many of the stories focused on immigrants and refugees from Ethiopia during the Ethiopian Civil War in the 1970s and 1980s. During this conflict, the traumas experienced by civilians, rebel groups, and military personnel alike aren’t easily forgotten when moving to a more peaceful place. Be it survivor’s guilt, or spending too long in circumstances of extreme stress, each character is faced with these hidden struggles while also trying to ‘fit in’ to their new home. 

Djamila Ibrahim is the perfect voice to share this experience. An immigrant from Addis Ababa, a former adviser for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and a masterful storyteller in her own right, Ibrahim brings forward the struggles one faces when trying to assimilate while also staying true to ones traditions, values, and upbringing.  

If you enjoy reading about the immigrant experience, this collection of short stories is a great read that hits close to home.

Sometimes I Lie

Sometimes I Lie

By Alice Feeney

 

Sometimes I Lie, by Alice Feeney is a psychological thriller, a genre that I rarely choose as I don’t like to sleep with the light on. However, I have recently delved into this type of book a little. Having survived The Girl on the Train, I thought I would try Feeney’s novel on the recommendation of a friend.  I did not end up checking under the bed or in the closet, but this story definitely got me thinking….thinking that I didn’t really know what to believe or who to trust.

Told from the point of view of our main character, Amber, she begins by telling us a little about herself:

My name is Amber Reynolds.
There are three things you should know about me:
1. I'm in a coma.
2. My Husband doesn't love me anymore.
3. Sometimes I lie.

Amber lies in hospital in a coma hearing all that goes on around her, but not being able to open her eyes or to speak. Through her listening she begins to piece together and remember what happened in the week leading up to her current state, and the reader is learning right along with her. The chapters alternate between Amber’s thoughts in her hospital room, the events of the week before and Amber’s childhood diaries. 

There are so many twists and turns as we read along, at one point I had to go back and read a piece again as I just couldn’t believe what I had read. 

I am sorry I can’t tell you anymore without giving away the plot, but you can easily find out for yourself (and I recommend you do) as it is a quick read and a cliffhanger all the way through.