by Penelope Farmer,
William and Charlotte Rayner, 1992
(first published in 1969 by Chatto and Windus)
The setting opens in late 1940s England. 12-year-old Charlotte Makepeace has been sent to boarding school, where nothing is familiar and she knows no one. Even so, when Charlotte wakes up that first morning, she is sure that there hadn't been a cedar tree outside the bedroom window, though there is one there now. And the girls in her room aren't the same girls who laid down in the beds next to her the night before.
Charlotte soon discovers that, by some mystery, she has exchanged places with a girl named Clare, who spent time in the same school in 1918, near the end of World War I. Charlotte and Clare continue to switch back and forth until one day they become stuck in the wrong time period. Will Charlotte ever be Charlotte again? Will she ever make it back to her own generation? And what will happen if she doesn't? Get hold of the book to find out the answers to these questions.
A great read. Originally intended for children, the book can easily be enjoyed by teens and adults alike, especially if they don't mind an "older" style of writing. Just one caveat - there's a seance scene that could be disturbing to some readers.
Showing posts with label historical fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label historical fiction. Show all posts
Friday, February 18, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
The Help
by Kathryn Stockett
GP Putnam & Sons, 2009
The Help tells the story of Jacksonville, Mississippi in the early 1960s. Three white women - Hilly, Elizabeth, and Skeeter, friends since elementary school - brought up by their mothers to treat colored maids as inferior, though "the help" do everything to simplify their lives, including raising their children. Hilly is the trend-setter, the rule-follower, the enforcer. Elizabeth is the oppressed, in many ways an unwilling wife and mother, who nonetheless toes the line. Skeeter is the nontraditional one who puts education and career first, although she longs to be loved by a man just for who she is. It is Skeeter who rebels against "the way things are."
Aibelene is Elizabeth's maid. Minny initially works for Hilly's mother, Miss Walker, until Hilly puts her mother in a nursing home, and makes it impossible for Minny to be hired by another white family in town. Skeeter, a budding journalist who answers the Dear Myrna housekeeping letters for the local paper, starts meeting with Aibelene so she can keep her job, but longs to write something more meaningful. One day she hits upon a theme - why not interview the help to get their perspective on what it's like working for white families?
At first her request falls on deaf ears - why would a white woman be interested in their stories? and anyway, it's too dangerous. Blacks are being beaten without provocation, and whites who support integration suffer their own consequences. Eventually, though, a couple of the maids agree, and Skeeter starts penning their tales.
This is an incredible read. The characters are fully drawn, complex individuals. The plot is thick with tension, peppered with comic relief at the appropriate intervals. I could not put the book down. I went to bed and woke up thinking about the characters and what was to become of them, hoping that their secretive meetings would not be found out. The book would translate well on the big screen, and I fully expect it will be made into a movie before too long.
Read this - it's the book that has everyone talking.
GP Putnam & Sons, 2009
The Help tells the story of Jacksonville, Mississippi in the early 1960s. Three white women - Hilly, Elizabeth, and Skeeter, friends since elementary school - brought up by their mothers to treat colored maids as inferior, though "the help" do everything to simplify their lives, including raising their children. Hilly is the trend-setter, the rule-follower, the enforcer. Elizabeth is the oppressed, in many ways an unwilling wife and mother, who nonetheless toes the line. Skeeter is the nontraditional one who puts education and career first, although she longs to be loved by a man just for who she is. It is Skeeter who rebels against "the way things are."
Aibelene is Elizabeth's maid. Minny initially works for Hilly's mother, Miss Walker, until Hilly puts her mother in a nursing home, and makes it impossible for Minny to be hired by another white family in town. Skeeter, a budding journalist who answers the Dear Myrna housekeeping letters for the local paper, starts meeting with Aibelene so she can keep her job, but longs to write something more meaningful. One day she hits upon a theme - why not interview the help to get their perspective on what it's like working for white families?
At first her request falls on deaf ears - why would a white woman be interested in their stories? and anyway, it's too dangerous. Blacks are being beaten without provocation, and whites who support integration suffer their own consequences. Eventually, though, a couple of the maids agree, and Skeeter starts penning their tales.
This is an incredible read. The characters are fully drawn, complex individuals. The plot is thick with tension, peppered with comic relief at the appropriate intervals. I could not put the book down. I went to bed and woke up thinking about the characters and what was to become of them, hoping that their secretive meetings would not be found out. The book would translate well on the big screen, and I fully expect it will be made into a movie before too long.
Read this - it's the book that has everyone talking.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
She Walks in Beauty
by Siri Mitchell,
Bethany House, 2010
It's been a while since I've read any historical fiction, perhaps even longer since I've read any historical romance. What a beautiful reintroduction to the genre. Mitchell's writing - fluid, authentic to the period, creating vivid images - is as true a treat as any I've enjoyed.
Set in the Victoria era when debuts were fashionable, our heroine, Miss Clara Carter, is seventeen years old, her debut a year away. That's good, because she's not looking forward to it at all. She has a bright mind, an excellent tutor, and hopes to study medicine at Vassar College. Alas and alack, the man her father and aunt (her mother is dead) have their sights set on, returns earlier than expected from his European tour, and Clara's debut is moved up to the current season.
Franklin DeVries is a handsome and charming man, the heir to the DeVries fortune. As a result, he is very popular with the ladies, though it is Clara's best friend, Lizzie, who is her chief rival to win his affections. But when Clara meets and gets to know Franklin's brother, Harry, she is no longer confident that it's Franklin's affections she wants. Still, she wants to please her elders, and to get back for them the money they feel was stolen by the DeVries family.
To sway the odds, Clara's father, a physician whose methods are questionable, puts pressure on a respected journalist. Clara is feted in one newspaper, but mocked by reports in The Tattler. As the debut season progresses, Clara wonders why it appears that someone is out to get her, why her father seems to have detractors, and whether she can find happiness in a society so beset by competition and show. Is there no more meaning to life than the bondage of class?
Mitchell creates an excellent picture of the Victorian era, highlighting the dark side of society life (especially for women), as well as the situation of the poor in New York City. Clara is a likeable character with whom the reader strongly identifies, and the plot, though happily resolved at the end (as all good romances are), will pull at your heartstrings (as all good romances do).
Bethany House, 2010
It's been a while since I've read any historical fiction, perhaps even longer since I've read any historical romance. What a beautiful reintroduction to the genre. Mitchell's writing - fluid, authentic to the period, creating vivid images - is as true a treat as any I've enjoyed.
Set in the Victoria era when debuts were fashionable, our heroine, Miss Clara Carter, is seventeen years old, her debut a year away. That's good, because she's not looking forward to it at all. She has a bright mind, an excellent tutor, and hopes to study medicine at Vassar College. Alas and alack, the man her father and aunt (her mother is dead) have their sights set on, returns earlier than expected from his European tour, and Clara's debut is moved up to the current season.
Franklin DeVries is a handsome and charming man, the heir to the DeVries fortune. As a result, he is very popular with the ladies, though it is Clara's best friend, Lizzie, who is her chief rival to win his affections. But when Clara meets and gets to know Franklin's brother, Harry, she is no longer confident that it's Franklin's affections she wants. Still, she wants to please her elders, and to get back for them the money they feel was stolen by the DeVries family.
To sway the odds, Clara's father, a physician whose methods are questionable, puts pressure on a respected journalist. Clara is feted in one newspaper, but mocked by reports in The Tattler. As the debut season progresses, Clara wonders why it appears that someone is out to get her, why her father seems to have detractors, and whether she can find happiness in a society so beset by competition and show. Is there no more meaning to life than the bondage of class?
Mitchell creates an excellent picture of the Victorian era, highlighting the dark side of society life (especially for women), as well as the situation of the poor in New York City. Clara is a likeable character with whom the reader strongly identifies, and the plot, though happily resolved at the end (as all good romances are), will pull at your heartstrings (as all good romances do).
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