The Silver Witch
by Paula Brackston
Bewitching prose and an ethereal duality of setting slipped through time (3/30/2015)
Tilda hugs her life close to a beguiling lake, of which entices her innate fear of water to plunder back inside the folds of her conscience; succumbing her to fits of anxiety. Her life is jarred by the sudden exit of her beloved, taken by force in a most tragic method; setting her hours a bit off-kilter to her natural rhythm. The closeness of her tucked away cottage to the water, breathes a bit of new possibilities into her heart, yet her mind is keenly attached to her grief.
Little bits of disturbances are shifting forward into Tilda's waking hours, wherein she is being given little insights of forethought on behalf of what her truer gift might be outside of her pursuit of clay and kiln. As her sensory awakening starts to quicken, time continues to shift and slide into her own world whilst it arches backwards to provide a bit of a window of explanation on her behalf. A story told half in the modern era and half within a time of uncertainty where loyalty and first sight were equally measured as tools a ruler must attach his trust upon.
Seren by far has the harder route to take, as she's already wholly full-on into her life's work and path, whereas Tilda has stepped outside of her time; opening her up to a new dimension where she forsakes what her eyes see and her heart can sense. Seren is a wizened owl, trusting her own instincts even if she is uncertain if those during her time will accept the scope of what her kind can contribute. Tilda is the unexpected heroine you love to curl up inside a novel to discover, for she is both innocent and astute in observation; seeking knowledge out of chaos, whilst setting herself free to find meaning where others only see a foggy mist.
Book Browse First Impressions Programme: I received a complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review on Book Browse from the publisher Thomas Dunne Books (an imprint of St. Martin's Press. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
First Frost
by Sarah Addison Allen
A serendipitously intuitive family (12/4/2014)
It is not often I find myself curled into a sequel of a previous novel (in this case "Garden Spells") wherein I find the writer has softened her writing voice and style. I found her previous work abrasively full of angst and bluntly wound through dialogue and narrative which felt oppressive. Inside "First Frost", I can happily express a soft stirring of serendipitous intuition endowed to a family (the Waverleys) who live in small towne North Carolina wherein their gifts are given freely to those who are in need of them. This is a story where an open mind towards opening a door of what is imaginatively possible is necessary to embrace the central heart of the novel's message.
Bay is the narrator of the story, as there is a 10 year gap between when we first met her and where this half of her life starts to unfold. She's a keenly observant teenager, clued in to being aware of how things fit together even when others are not as willing to accept how the pieces go together. Part coming-of age and part magical realism, where there is a slight suspension of reality in how it is regularly perceived knits this heart-warming tale into your heart. You cannot help but ponder the deeper layers of what Allen is attempting to convey. Even the old house and the fabled apple tree have been given a breath of life most innate objects are not given the freedom to having.
It is a step inside the lines between where fate and faith intercept with human intuition, and how far we sometimes have to travel along our path in life to understand the full scope of who we are and where we are meant to fulfill our niche. A foothold of the undertone of the story is spilt out of the lyrical prose fused with the hidden meanings oft gone unnoticed whilst life ebbs forward and away from our sight. The mysteries of who we are at birth and who we become defined as we mature into adulthood isn't a straight line nor is it a finite designation; the beauty is how we allow ourselves to stay in motion, seeking ourselves in the quiet moments and acknowledging the path whilst appreciating the journey.
I personally did not want this story to end, as you become so caught up in the moment of being with the Waverley's -- you find yourself being pulled into their orbit without wanting to return to your own. Unlike "Garden Spells", this sequel is unputdownable!
The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America's First Subway
by Doug Most
An Age of Daring to Believe in the Impossible (1/17/2014)
I am quite amazed at the living histories of the industrial age! Especially in consideration of those I haven't yet heard of; nor known of the men in which I previously had become familiar! For instance, I've heard quite a heap about Edison recently this past year which made me half cringe, as oh! Not such a nice fellow in regards to patents & inventor rights of his colleagues and nemesis's alike! Yet, who knew he was a drifter from Ohio and embarked on a quest to define both his own worth and to sort out what his true calling might actually be? He 'accidentally' discovered he was an inventor because he liked to 'tinker' and put things back together! Fascinating how Scientific American not only had humble upstart roots, but how interconnected the magazine & inventors like Edison became infamous in the mid to late 1800s!! No wonder Steampunkers find this era of emerging America in history the impetus of inspiration for their stories! It all but demands for fiction to pick up where man left off!
Whilst emerged into "The Race Underground", I felt as though I was a time traveler who had stepped right into the footsteps of history as it was being lived! The idea of concession towards a goal not befit the age was not a plausible outcome for New York & Boston. Resolute in their determined grit and belief that a train system could thrive underneath the surface of both cities was paramount in their independent and conjoined success therein! Despite the hurdles and adversities which befell the project towards completion, its the tenacity and sheer will of believing in the impossible which endeared me to the triumph ending of which we all might have taken for granted prior to having learnt the history behind the rails!
The vibrancy of an era bent towards inventing what was not yet conceived nor readily accepted possible is what prompted me to pick up this book! Seeing the interconnected threads of rail systems which stretched far outside our own borders is what kept me on the edge of my seat wondering how the feat would eclipse any expectation I had whilst I first turned the page!
The Spirit Keeper
by K. B. Laugheed
A Ruminative Tome of Introspective Freedom (9/25/2013)
The inertia of reality that besots you as soon as you enter into the world of The Spirit Keeper, is quite a hard bullet to bite, because before you can wrap your eyes and heart around what your visually aware of, you are inched into the story! I credit this to the author, as Laugheed endeavors you to jump straight out of your comfort zone, wholly free-falling into a brutal, raw, and untamed section of the American Frontier in the mid-1700s and take a quest towards unraveling the complexities of building a new life in a foreign land. The thematic that are entrenched in the story parlay an exposition on language, translation, and sense of being. She readily elevates our awareness that our words can draw an impact that is not always aware to us, but like the life paths we are walking, we are not always in charge of their meaning or purpose of use.
The beauty of the outside world envelopes you from the jump start, as the open wilderness is the footing for setting this story outside the reach of our known world. Even for those of us who are akin to the natural environment and the inhabitants therein, there is still so much of that world that is readily just outside our scope, outside our understanding. The Native Americans who are on the forefront of the story, evoke a cultural education into accepting stark differences of living, as much as embracing traditions that hold merit (such as the menstrual huts for women).
The art of story-telling plays a center part of The Spirit Keeper's heart, but it's the transformative power of understanding the words that are imparted throughout the story, that turn everything into a new light once the conclusion arrives. What the reader first mistook as a course of events, was truly a resounding precognitive journey that guided two characters forward into a future they would not have been strong enough to embrace otherwise. It's the redemptive nature of grasping a hold of the essence of those who pass forward and away from our living world that is truly the most remarkable arc of the story! For we all have the ability to be a keeper of a spirit whose touched us deeply and left us remorseful for their presence! We only need the strength to transcend our perception and view our experiences from a different angle to see how the threads stitch together the pattern of our living tapestry!
My own discerning discomfort was having this novel end on a cliffhanger, which nearly wrecked my enjoyment of the reading! I felt short-changed and disappointed, as I had embarked on this journey with the wholeness of my heart and as fearful as I was with the brutality of certain imagery, I was holding onto the Hope of what was yet to come and what I hoped would be! Prior to turning in my review, I wanted to visit the author's website to see if I could unearth a bit more of the story; whereupon I was given the Hope I sought, and my spirit smiled, knowing all was for naught!
Letters from Skye
by Jessica Brockmole
Journey to Skye: slip into Elspeth's shoes, one letter at a time. (7/3/2013)
Elspeth is a Highlander Scot endowed to reside on the enchanted Isle of Skye, which sparks an intuitive creative voice inside her soul as a young girl. She learned to channel this gift by etching her observations and heartfelt wisdom into droplets of visceral poetry. Inasmuch as igniting a young man half a world away to discover something he had not felt was lost and conveyed his gratitude by penning her a letter. A letter he never expected her to reply too and thus began their entwined story. Of a woman entrapped by fear of the sea by which she couldn't allow herself to experience the world beyond Skye and of a boy struggling to become a man on the threshold of war.
Letters are at their very core intimately raw in their conveyance of our innermost thoughts and emotions. We can spilt onto a page by word and context a connection that goes deeper than the superficial, fully absent of pretense and rightly an instinctive pause to reveal our truest of selves. You become lost in their exchanges to the brink that each time slip between the World Wars loses its mirth and all that is left is the anticipation of what news the next letter shall bring! You're caught in a vortex of uncertainty living through each painful revelation and consolation between Elspeth and David.
And, yet this is a story that involves Margaret, the daughter of Elspeth who never knew her origins nor understood her mother as a woman. She too, is on a collision course with destiny that is half stitched in the past and half propelled forward by future events. Your heart aches and bleeds with Elspeth as she becomes fraught with despair and the anguish of the unknown. The churning of the tides ebbs and flows during the second half of the novel, but it's not foreshadowed to reveal the ending which washes away the dried tears and leaves the reader a smile upon her lips!
The House Girl
by Tara Conklin
Art Redeems the Soul (12/5/2012)
Josephine Bell is the catalyst that launches an inquiry into the historical past, to unearth the mystery of what happened to the artist who fashioned the artwork that survived time. Her story is not unlike others in her class and station, in the late 1800's. A slave bound to her Master's wife, as a house girl confined to their land and their rules. A life that would have gone unnoticed until an unsuspecting lawyer (Lina) in the 21st century (early 2000's) is giving the task to unearth data on a case that would give back redemption to those who have all but been erased by modern history. This isn't just a story that evokes the tragedy of those enslaved in the South, but rather a silver lining of Hope… that their lives took on greater meaning and purpose when their lives started to intersect with others. It's through this intersection where the ripples of small kindnesses and hours of bravery, began to change the lives of others. I found that inside the secondary characters held within the House Girl, the simplest of truths to step forward. Peace with Self. Strength in Resolve. Determined Self Reliance. And the hope of freedom. Oppression comes in different forms, as even those who live free are not always free to do what their hearts desire.
I believe this would make an excellent addition to an Art History class or a Civil Rights class which focuses on slavery in the South. The tone of the book is uplifting, shattering past the blights of misery to yield a lens into how strong women can be in the moments that count the most.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: A Novel
by Rachel Joyce
A Pilgrimage to Discover Harold (7/31/2012)
If anyone were to pitch the idea, that by walking in excess of 600 miles would give the hope to an ailing friend in Hospice, how many of us would have the raw courage to follow through on our initial plan? This is the pivotal question that plagues Harold as he embarks on a journey that takes him not only to his destination but into the realms of memory that have isolated himself from the outside world. Whilst he walks, he consoles his emotions and re-evaluates his position in life, and the choices he's made along the way. He's on a quest not only in an attempt to make a difference to someone he cares about but in many ways, he's taking a larger step towards self acceptance. With each step he takes, he's discovering Harold. And, I think that's the greater truth hidden inside this novel, that at some point in each of our lives, we have to flip the mirror back onto ourselves and see the 'true image' that reflects back.
I was overcome by emotion within the ending four chapters, as I was blindsided by certain key revelations that come to the reader in the closing of the novel. I recommend any reader to prepare for the unknown as this novel pacts quite the punch across emotional lines. I enjoyed watching Harold's wife Maureen take her own journey as he took his on the road. Its their shared journey through time that will resonate with you long after you put the book down.
A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar: A Novel
by Suzanne Joinson
Intimately real and hauntingly shocking. (6/2/2012)
Vulgar and blunt, yet achingly rhymatic in a harmonious prose that seeps into your conscienceness. The text challenges your preconceptions of the literary world but dares you to connect to the stark harshness of the locale. A foreign world that blinks through your mind, flirting with your imagination, such as a film reel spun out of control. The brutal observations are written in such a lush descriptive narrative that words congeal together nearly at too fast of a pace. There is a disconnection in dichotomy between the lives of the protagonists and the interplay of the native land.
Five women, four of the past, one of the present, set off on a journey that none of them signed up to partake in. They are cast into an impossible sequence of circumstances that lead three of them to a journey towards personal enlightenment. It is these women who stand out to the unsuspecting reader as the main voices of the evolving story: Evangeline, Ai-Lien, and Frieda. You become a purveyor of their thoughts and emotions as one might discover whilst digging through a personal diary. Intimately real and hauntingly shocking. Their fragility and frailties split open and raw on the printed page.
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