A Tragic Love Affair at the end of the Gilded Age

 

Nora May French was a brilliant young poet. She yearned for recognition, but kept getting entangled with powerful men who wanted a lover more than a competitor. Carrie Sterling wanted a comfortable life as a wife. Her family was poor and her idea of a good match was someone with a stable bank account. She married George Sterling and from then on was caught up in his life which included alcohol and women.

George with Carrie’s help started the Carmel Writer’s Colony. This is where the trio met. George became infatuated with Nora and brought her to live with them in the area he was trying to people with poets and writers. This was a situation that was designed for tragedy when Nora took her own life dying in Carrie’s arms.

The author did a great deal of research to bring the story of these three people to life. She was particularly interested in Nora who was an acclaimed poet in her era, but was always overshadowed by the male poets and writers. Carrie was also a tragic figure looking for stability and being tied to a man who couldn’t give her the support she craved.

The book told a story about people I had never heard of and was interesting from that standpoint. However, I thought the author did too much invention when presenting the thoughts and feelings of the women. She wanted to make the point that women were beginning to have careers and be independent, but their lives and work were overshadowed by the men in their lives. It made the book somewhere between historical biography and historical fiction.

I received this book from Dutton for this review.

Mental Illness and Relationships in a World of Loneliness

 

In 2020, a year of loneliness, illness ,and lockdowns, Sabrina Behaim’s poems explore the month of July. Fighting the problems of mental illness, she has the additional burden of her mother’s diagnosis of an aortic aneurysm when she is far away and can only be reached by the phone. She also has the sorrow of the end of a relationship and the need to move past grief.

The poems are a testament to resilience. Even when things are dark, Sabrina finds delight in eating ice cream for dinner and singing loudly. It’s good to remember that in darkness there can be light and moments to remember.

I thought the poet did a good job making mental illness relate-able. We all face the same sort of problems and the loneliness of the lockdowns made it worse for everyone, but for someone struggling with mental illness it takes even more courage to find the bright spots.

The poems are formatted in different ways. Some are formatted in lines of different lengths to emphasize words and feelings, others are great blocks of text. I admit I prefer the ones that are formatted. Dense block of text are off-putting, but they do convey a message.

This is a book I think many of us can relate to after the trials of 2020. It’s good to have more freedom.

I received this book from Dutton for this review.

A Story of Tragedy and Recovery

 

On December 5^th, 2018, Drew Magary was having a great time. He’d just hosted a successful Deadspin Awards ceremony. He and his coworkers were headed for the Karoke bar to celebrate, but the night ended in near tragedy for Drew. He collapsed, hitting his head so hard on the cement floor he fractured his skull, but that wasn’t the only problem he had a massive brain hemorrhage.

To save his life the doctors put him in a drug induced coma for two weeks. When he woke he was alive, but he had to figure out who the new Drew was and learn to live with his disabilities. This is the story of the two years it took him to recover.

This is a very honest and at times heart-wrenching story. However, it is told with humor and self-deprecation that makes it enjoyable to read. It is also the story of his family and friends and how they supported him through his recovery. I was particularly impressed with his wife Sonia. Suddenly she had to cope with the children as well as a husband who suffered from mood swings and inexplicable rages, and she did it with grace and humanity. If I’m every faced with the problem I hope I do as well.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.

Turmoil in Scotland in the early 18th Century

 

In 1707, Scotland was in turmoil. The country was joined in an uneasy union with England. It was a time of religious strife with Protestants and Catholics at war with each other. France was also a player planning to send the Stuart heir back to Scotland to reclaim his kingdom.

In an attempt to sooth the Scots, Queen Anne provided funds to compensate the Scots for their part in the disastrous Darien scheme. Lily Aitcheson has had a difficult life. Her early upbringing was a series of different family where abuse was often present. During this time, she met Jaime Graeme, her best friend. He was killed during the Darien scheme and now she is trying to claim his compensation. The problem is that she cannot prove she was married to Jaime.

Adam Williamson and his friend Gilroy have been assigned to question her about her marriage and determine whether she is entitled to the compensation. The story revolves around the questioning with flashbacks to the late 17^th century where we learn about Lily’s early life. Clearly, Adam is fascinated by Lily, but he also has his duty.

The story is primarily told by Adam so the book details his early life as well as Lily’s. I thought both characters were well developed. The author did a good job of showing the tension between them. The book is rather slow with lots of detail about the political situation, but there are twists that keep the story interesting. It’s hard to guess the ending.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.

A Story of Hope and Family

 

Fearing that he will die under going and operation, Menachem calls his three young daughters, Cibi, Magda and Livi, together. He makes them promise to always protect each other and stay together. During WWII, the sisters find this a hard promise to keep.

Cibi and Livi are sent to one of the worst Nazi concentration camps, Auschwitz. Magda remains at home with their mother until they were also sent away. At the camp they were luckily reunited. Sticking together helped them all to survive and after the war, the sisters helped each other to establish new lives in Israel.

This book tells a tragic story of Jewish families uprooted and sent to the inhuman concentration camps. The books gives horrifying details of the terrible conditions faced by the girls in the camp including losing loved ones to the gas chambers.

Although much of the book is sad, it is also a story of courage and hope. I found reading the book very upsetting. It’s hard to imagine that people were so callous treating other human beings to such horrific conditions.

I thought the author did an excellent job with a very difficult subject. She didn’t minimize the horror of the concentration camps, but she was able to give her characters strong emotional support and hope from being together. This is a book well worth reading and I did like the ending.

I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.