As you can see these three books are very old – having been owned by my mother. And it was a trip down memory lane reading them at the start of this year. All by Frances Parkinson Keyes, they were best-sellers in their heyday.
If Ever I Cease To Love ****
They are all set in New Orleans and you get a great sense of that society in the late nineteenth century. Post civil war but former slaves have just transferred to employee status on the big plantations. This is the first in a series of two. It was Mum’s favourite. I’d never read it and enjoyed it. She was the wife of a US Senator and she mixes a family saga, the sugar cane business, local colour – the Carnival in particular and high society – as well as a bit of politics Huey Long gets a mention). You’re immersed in the lives and society of these people. There’s a love affair thwarted by family / societal expectations. That reverberates down the generations. I enjoyed it enormously.
The River Road ***
This is the one I’d read and loved when I was about fourteen. I remembered lots of it except I’d made a mistake about the hero who I thought was named Felix. I contemplated calling Patrick that purely based on this book. But his name was Fabian! He was the kind hearted, clever but outsiderish lawyer – a mere cousin in the hierarchy of the plantation owning family. But, of course, secretly in love with the wayward daughter. And a heart of gold, taking care of the old and infirm, down on their uppers characters. He’s invariably described as a cripple, lame, twisted etc. wouldn’t be able to do that now! But it makes him sympathetic. The descriptions of life on the river are wonderful – the fear of levees failing, floods, riverboat trips, entertaining on the banks etc. You are there! Various ups and downs ensue. Babies, betrayals, reconciliations. It’s here you get a bit about the business of sugar cane. This is a generation along from the first one and so our protagonists are more enlightened. Sort of! Anyway I loved it.
Dinner at Antoines ****
I’d not heard of this or read it but it was one of her most popular novels and Mum obviously had. It’s a murder mystery and I liked it a lot. This time she mixes in some Central American intrigue. Antoine’s is or was a real restaurant in New Orleans. She didn’t originate in that part of the world but ended up living there when her husband died. There’s a museum dedicated to her there; it was damaged by Hurricane Katrina but has presumably been repaired. She didn’t come from Louisiana but is famous for depicting that place and its society.
The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins ****
More books from my teenage years. I was awarded this book in Form Three (1968) for coming 9th in class. As Mum has, proudly I assumed noted inside. It has only just dawned on me that every year I was awarded the last prize given out – always a book. Perhaps the nuns were telling me something – most likely work harder!
Anyway I enjoyed it then and enjoyed it all over again. It has been called the first detective novel and it has all the tropes of those that came after – Conan Doyle, Christie et all. There’s the dopey policeman, false evidence and so forth. Shades of Empire with an Indian back story – four urbane Indian characters provide exotica (and reminded me of one of Sherlock’s exploits). Heroes, heroines, shady characters and your Everyman narrator. Tension builds to a satisfying conclusion. Collins was an enlightened fellow on matters of women, race and class. I enjoyed reading about him as well in the prefaces to both these books and ultimately on Wikipedia.
The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins ****
I don’t know whether I’ve read this before, thought not but now think I may have. Bits were familiar. But not all of it. Either way it’s terrific. Makes me wonder whether I should read more Charles Dickens. I’ve not read much – only A Tale of Two Cities and that only because of the Dirk Bogarde film! This races along without too much in the way of extraneous description of landscapes or characters. Which is what I expect from Victorian novels.All very gothic. Tension builds, you care about what happens. The endings a tiny bit pat.
The Laughing Cavalier, Baroness Orczy ****
Another from my past. My book was a very old second hand one even then – in the 1960s. I was disappointed I couldn’t find it. Current edition of the same is marketed as the first in the Scarlet Pimpernel series – I’m sure it was a stand alone before the Pimpernel series was started – not that I’ve read any of them. I loved this all over again and remembered a lot of it. Especially a wonderful sequence describing our hero’s epic ice skate along frozen river/canal to save the heroine. So evocative of night skies, winds, snow and ice. I remembered it from my first reading. But I’d mis-remembered and somewhat romanticised the finale. Still good but not quite so ethereal as in my imagination. A great read.
Next – a couple of P.G. Wodehouse books to cheer me up!
Joy In The Morning and The Code of the Woosters ***
These are silly but fun. Good reads for one convalescing from chemotherapy, not able to concentrate too hard and feeling sorry for herself!
The Speckled People, Hugo Hamilton ****
I’ve had this on my iPad kindle for ages. Couldn’t remember on what recommendation. But it’s terrific. A great companion piece to the Finton O’Toole history of Ireland. Mad pro Irish Independence father. German mother. The kids were indeed speckled – not allowed to speak English at home, called Nazis by their peers because of the German heritage. Bullied every which way. All told from the child’s viewpoint. Mother a gentle soul but not able to stand up to the mad father. Amazing the boy became a successful writer. Terrific book.
Trieste and The Meaning of Nowhere, Jan Morris **
I picked this up at our little community library. I haven’t read any Jan Morris so was interested in that but mostly I’m interested in Trieste because of James Joyce’s presence there. So I’ve read quite a few books about the place which has a fascinating history. This is not the best. Interesting enough and nicely observed but only if you’re invested in the place.
The Candy House, Jennifer Egan ****
I really didn’t expect to like this at all but I did. I read A Visit To The Goon Squad ages ago and sort of liked it, then I heard Jennifer speak at the Wheeler centre and read it again and liked it more. I was very taken with how she imagines the near future in this novel. There is some linking back to characters in the Goon Squad but it’s not critical to have read the earlier work. The future here with its imagined merging of technology and AI was quite persuasive. Unusual for me to like this semi sci-fi stuff.
Beyond Words: A Year With Kenneth Cook, Jacqueline Kent **
A beautifully presented little hardback from our community library – I’m a sucker for same! A sweet little memoir that conjures up a place – Sydney – and time – 1990s – and a literary world. Cook wrote Look Back In Anger and is not known for much else although he wrote lots more according to this. Kent is / was an editor. There’s a big age difference. There story is nicely told.
After Story, Larissa Behrendt ***
I liked this a lot. An Indigenous woman takes her mother on a literary tour of England. In alternate chapters you get their back story growing up, living in regional Australia alongside potted histories of the classic English authors – Austin, Woolf, Hardy, the Brontes etc. interspersed with bits about the touring party. A good introduction to some of ‘the Greats’ which didn’t tell me much I didn’t know – but nicely encapsulated. I really liked the domestic story – heartwarming.
Rilke. The Last Inward Man, Lesley Chamberlain *****
I’ve been interested in Rilke since seeing a wonderful film in which one of his poems from The Hours featured. Can’t remember the name of the film – it was years ago. So I have had his poetry for ages and dipped into it occasionally.
A review led me to this book which I was going to read in Berlin – took it with me but hadn’t enough time or opportunity to get do do. It required, and repaid, concentration. I enjoyed it very much. It’s not a comprehensive biography and as a reviewer said it very much glosses over shortcomings in Rilke’s character – of which there were many. It concentrates on his determination to be an artist. And on his own terms – and out of fashion with the times. Hence the inward man. Helped me understand the poetry. And took me to the Elegies.
The Dueno Elegies, Rilke trans. Alison Croggon **** / Vita & Edward Sackville-West
I had the Croggon version already, having been alerted to its publication via Twitter last year. I liked extracts from the Sackville-West version contained in the Chamberlain book so I bought that as well. Both are beautifully presented books. It is interesting to compare the translations. The Sackville-West is a bit flowery and the Croggon more down to earth. I’m undecided about which I prefer.
The Suitcase: Six Attempts to Cross a Border, Frances Stoner Saunders ***
This was on one of ‘the best books of the year’ lists that come around – I can’t remember which year, but I finally got it from the library this year. I enjoyed it although the narrative is familiar. A trove of family lore discovered – what secrets will it reveal about the trials and tribulations of parents, grandparents and sundry other family members. I was interested in this one because the family in question was from – eventually- Romania. I’ve read lots about that little known place since encountering Patrick Leigh Fermor’s writing and the Mikloss Banffy. Lots of history here – pre and post World War I, the end of the Astro-Hungarian Empire, communism, fascism, Second World War, partisans, sabotage, the English – which is where the family ended up. Well written interesting story. I was a bit disappointed with how the suitcase ended up.
Sherman’s Wife, Julia Camoys Stoner **
This was an outcome of the suitcase book. It’s about the author’s English grandmother. Started out as a bit of a hoot – English Catholic aristocracy in all their pro-fascist (there’s a Spanish connection), anti-Semitic, Royalist, snobbish pretensions. But the story gets darker and darker. I took it all at face value and in the end skim read in the hope that the witchy protagonist would get her come uppance. Which seems not to happen. She was still alive and hectoring Tory politicians in Thatcher’s day. Linda sought out facts and concludes it’s not an accurate portrayal. A very sobering read nevertheless.
Why Shoot a Butler, Georgette Heyer **
Another good one for a self pitying convalescent! The first of Georgette’s detective story that I’ve read. And probably the only one. I worked out early on what the two suspicious characters were up to and the identity of the killer. Which is very unusual for me. But an enjoyable romp – a bit of romance thrown in.
Only, Caroline Baum ****
I enjoyed this a lot. Very nicely written in short chapters that describe incidents from her childhood onwards that illustrate the family environment and characters. Not a linear memoir. The title references her status as an only child and the pressure she felt as a result comes through loud and clear. Her parents are remarkable in their own right – father an Austrian Jew who came to England on the Kindertransports before WWII. A prescient father. Mother a Frenchwoman with her own traumatic past. The family is well off. Father a bit of a tyrant. They have interesting friends especially when the mother takes in Russian emigrés. A very easy and interesting read.
All The Dogs Of My Life, Elizabeth von Armin ***
I enjoyed this very much. Suspect you get more out of it if you book know her story. There are lots of arch allusions to what was happening in her life – after which she breaks off to say ‘but this is not an autobiography’ or ‘I’m not writing about bad/sad/grim things’. I liked the references to the suitor who became her second husband who she calls the Voice of Doom. Bertrand Russell’s brother who gave her an incredible amount of grief. You get much more out of it knowing the background. Knowing that story you can understand her preferring dogs to husbands. And so many dogs – she ended up owning fourteen that she describes here. I liked how she described their characters – all come alive as separate creatures. They were mostly big ones, not lapdogs. Elizabeth is a vivacious personality. Beautifully written.
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