Review of THE NOVICE OF HOLLOWAY HALL by Wayne Johnston (New Release)

4 Stars 

I’ve read and loved many of Wayne Johnston’s novels so I was pleased to receive a copy of his latest. It did not disappoint.

This family drama is set in St. John’s, Newfoundland, over the course of a week in September of 1947. Twenty-eight-year-old Vivvy Holloway is of small stature because she hasn’t grown since she was five years old. After eight years in a convent, she returns to her family home, Holloway Hall, the largest private dwelling in Newfoundland. Vivvy is the youngest in a formidable family which has ten cleric brothers.

Freda, Vivvy’s only sister, is in charge of the family estate and fortune. She is the sole occupant of Holloway Hall, except for Ivan Bradford, a five-year-old boy she brought back from the Congo where she once worked as a missionary doctor. Vivvy is tasked with caring for Ivan since Freda works such long hours. The two sisters clash because of Freda’s domineering personality but it’s her increasingly erratic behaviour that is disconcerting and has Vivvy worrying about Ivan’s safety. The arrival of all the Holloway brothers inspires people to come forward and begin the unearthing of long-buried family secrets which threaten the reputation and fate of the entire Holloway clan.

Vivvy is a memorable character. Something happened on her first day of school that changed her life forever. She hides her face behind a veil, a different colour and fabric for each day of the week. It is her acerbic wit that I loved, though it certainly does not endear her to her siblings who think of her as “an insufferable, subversive, heretical nuisance.” Vivvy herself acknowledges being “nonconforming, acerbic, ironic, voluble.” She makes observations like small-town rumours traveling “faster than the speed of spite” and describes her brothers’ reactions to Freda being made the sole heir: “If Freda had been wearing a ring, they might have all lined up to kiss it, but they had to settle for her backside.” Few people escape her jabs; when looking at a portrait of her mother, Vivvy comments that “she wasn’t as cheerful as that scowl might make you think. When it came to persuasiveness, she had a higher success rate than a thumbscrew.”

Another character who is memorable is Smack though he never actually appears in the novel. He is Ivan’s older friend who says things he has heard from his parents. Ivan then repeats Smack’s comments in conversations with Vivvy. When Maynard, a cardinal and Vivvy’s oldest brother, is coming for a visit, Ivan says, “’Smack said Maynard’s not here to see the sights . . . He’s seen both of them. Too late in the year for icebergs, and thank God for that. The Basilica, a.k.a. Small Potatoes Chapel. Once you’ve seen Signal Hill. And once is once too often for Cape Spear . . . So why is the Cardinal here? To say Mass. Bring out a big crowd. Cheer them up. Rub the Anglicans’ noses in it. . . . But local boy makes good only goes so far. Something must be off the rails. Enter Cardinal Cavalry.’”

The novel’s pace is slow at the beginning, but my interest was maintained by hints about past events. What happened that resulted in Vivvy’s hiding her face? Then there are strange behaviours which leave the reader questioning: Why did Freda bring Ivan home but refuse to adopt him or even have him baptized?

The book emphasizes the control that the wealthy and the Catholic Church had over society in Newfoundland. The wealth and status of the Holloway family has allowed them to hide shameful truths, and it is suggested that the Church does so as well. Knowing about the sexual abuse eventually uncovered at the Mount Cashel Boys’ Home, the references to the Christian Brothers left me feeling unsettled. Often the Holloways and the church work together for their own purposes; in neither case is their concern the welfare of the poor.

As a former English literature teacher, I really enjoyed the literary allusions; the writings of Oscar Wilde, Emily Dickinson, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Mary Shelley, and many others are mentioned. I love that my knowledge of vocabulary was challenged: I had to check on the definitions of words like enisled, chthonic, and borborygmi. And then there’s the wordplay. When Ivan has chicken pot pie for dinner, Vivvy jokes that if they went by their respective ages, she should have “’pterodactyl pot pie. Or why not a pteroanapest pot pie? Poor Anna. She’s the most ignored of all the pests. How about Budapest pot pie. Ivan is so Hungary.’”

This book is a mix of drama, mystery and comedy and a great read.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Review of THE LOST BOOK OF ELIZABETH BARTON by Jennifer N. Brown (New Release)

 3.5 Stars

This historical fiction/suspense novel has a dual timeline.

One timeline is the mid-16th century. Elizabeth Barton is executed after issuing warnings, based on prophetic visions, that King Henry VIII would die if he had his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled and he married Anne Boleyn. The focus of her story is how men used Elizabeth, an illiterate servant, for their purposes; she was influenced to fabricate prophecies to save England from the rise of Lutheran reformers.

The other timeline is 2023. Alison Sage, an American medieval literature scholar, has uncovered a Barton manuscript; that discovery earns her an invitation to an exclusive academic retreat in England near the priory where Elizabeth once lived. Slowly it becomes clear that some of the attendees are less interested in academic discussion than in pursuing a secret agenda.

Elizabeth Barton was a historical figure. She became known as the Holy Maid of Kent after, beginning in 1525, she claimed to have vivid visions and to have received divine revelations that predicted events.  Her reputation spread and she even met Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas More, and Henry VIII. The novel suggests that she was manipulated by powerful men who saw her as a new weapon in their war against the Protestants. When her prophecies were less in keeping with the king’s interests, she was arrested and forced, by Thomas Cromwell, to confess that she had fabricated her revelations.

In the present, Alison is also manipulated by others. There are people at the conference who have a hidden agenda, which I find is spotlighted early on. These conference members want to use Alison’s knowledge of Elizabeth Barton to fulfill their goal.

I enjoyed the first two-thirds of the novel. Then there’s a murder which changes the focus of the book. It’s at this point that I started to lose interest. Certainly there are hints early on that all is not as it seems: people have furtive conversations or speak overly loudly, exchange surreptitious glances or stare too closely at Alison, and behave suspiciously. Some of these clues are rather too obvious, I think. At the end, I wondered whether the murder is necessary when a search based on the uncovered clues would provide sufficient suspense.

I had problems with the characterization of Alison. She is well-educated and so intelligent, but she is so slow to put together the pieces of the puzzle. A possible hiding place is so obvious about two-thirds through the novel when it is made obvious how a prioress would be addressed. She is also naive; from someone who would be expected to be capable of critical analysis, she seems too credulous. Things happen that clearly suggest ulterior intentions, yet she hesitates to question people’s motives. The entire Calista incident should certainly have raised more concerns for Alison. Given her age, she is not some starry-eyed young ingénue, so surely she should be questioning a man’s desire to rekindle their relationship.

Some of Elizabeth’s story is given in too much detail. It’s obvious from the beginning that everyone is using her, but the author feels it necessary to keep showing this manipulation. The prologue indicates what happens to her. It also hints at a predicament Alison will face, though suspense is lessened because the use of her as a first-person narrator means she will overcome.

This novel is entertaining though uneven in quality. Personally, it inspired me to do some more research into Elizabeth Barton.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Review of WHITE MOSS by Anna Nerkagi (New Release)

 3.5 Stars

This novel, written in Russian and first published 30 years ago, is now available in English.

I had never heard of the Nenets, Indigenous people living in Siberia in the Russian Arctic. This book focuses on these reindeer-herding nomads.

Alyoshka is 26 years old when he reluctantly agrees to be married, though he pines for Ilne who left the community years earlier for life in the city. He struggles between tradition and duty and his personal desires. Alyoshka’s mother worries about her son’s unwillingness to follow age-old customs which emphasize the importance of marriage and family. Petko, Ilne’s father, is grieving the loss of his wife and suffers loneliness since his daughter has abandoned him. An old man, he contemplates his role in the community during his remaining years and his death.

The time period is unclear but there are references to the Soviet Union so obviously it is set pre-1991. What is clear is that it is a period of transition in the lives of the Nenets. Their traditional lifestyle is facing opposition. For instance, the government removes children from their families and takes them to boarding schools where Indigenous languages and native culture are banned. Other Soviet-era interference is also mentioned in terms of the corrupting influences of money and alcohol. The Soviet administrators who are to assist the Nenets know nothing about them: “These strangers resembled heads sewn on foreign bodies with rotten threads, and sewn on the wrong way besides, back of the head pointing forward, eyes backward.”

This is a slow-paced, quiet, reflective novel. There is little action; the focus is on characters’ internal struggles. I appreciated that Alyoshka, Petko, and Alyoshka’s mother all achieve some insight and peace.

I enjoyed learning about the culture of the Nenets. Their lives are very much shaped by reindeer herding: “the reindeer was the root of the life of the Nenets, its soul” and “reindeer were not money but brothers in this life – untiring, sacred brothers in destiny and in grief.” They have a great respect for the land and its resources since “all living things share the same fate.” The men hunt for food but do not take more than necessary: “hunting is not murder and not a game of hide-and-seek with the beast and with one’s own conscience, but a struggle. An honest struggle of equals.”

The Nenets have a strong sense of community obligations. Alyoshka’s mother believes that the meaning of life is to live and to work honestly. Vanu, Petko’s friend, speaks of the laws of work and of kindness. The men bemoan the fact that children have forgotten “the law of their land: children feed fathers and mothers once they stand on their own feet” and have adopted “the foreign law: to take from the parent while he can still give.”

As so many societies, Nenets society is very patriarchal: “Only a man could be the master of the Great Life. For that, he was given strength and intelligence. And the woman was the mistress of the hearth . . . she had a duty to be near [the man].” I found it interesting that, other than Ilne who has abandoned life on the tundra, women are not named. Petko’s wife is only referred to as the Lamdo woman. Women hesitate to speak at gatherings; for instance, Alyoshka’s mother makes a request only “after the period of silence that befits a woman.” Women wait for the man to eat: “they would not touch the food, however hungry they were, until he ate the first bite.” On her wedding day, a bride sits “in the place where a Nenets woman sat only once in a lifetime. Beside the groom: not on the floor planks, where she would have her eternal place for all the days of her life.” To keep the tent warm, to look after her husband, is “the first commandment that a woman, a wife, a mother had to follow. This was her main job on earth.” There is an attempt to emphasize the importance of women, but, for me, it doesn’t lessen her secondary status and “the endless work of a woman.” Petko’s wife died so “Now there was no one to set the family tea table in the morning, no one to mend the boots, to start the fire. When a woman dies, she takes half of life with her . . . [and] takes away a part of your soul.” Unfortunately, what remains with me is a horrific scene where a woman is beaten with “a sturdy trace made of walrus hide,” described as “the age-old instrument of punishment.”

As befits the Nenets’ animistic worldview, the author uses lyrical prose replete with nature imagery. Metaphors and similes using trees, animals and birds abound: “His short, troubled sleep resembled the oblivion of a bird who had nested on an impregnable rock covered in a cold, murky fog” and “Khasawa looked like a ptarmigan plucked by a hawk” and “Their words, sharp like the calls of ravens who had spied a carcass, seemed like a violent argument” and “he felt that an empty space had formed near his heart or inside it, like in a bird’s nest when the last fledgling flies away, leaving only the down from its feathers.”

The author, born in the Polar Ural tundra, belongs to the Indigenous Nenets community. She was separated from her parents by the Soviet authorities and sent to a boarding school, but as a young woman she returned to the nomadic way of life. Obviously she is uniquely able to describe the lives and customs of her people and the challenges they face. White Moss reminds me of Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/2023/02/review-of-stolen-by-ann-helen.html) which is about the Sámi living in northern Sweden. I recommend both books to readers who enjoy learning about Indigenous cultures.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Review of GUILT by Keigo Higashino (New Release)

 3.5 Stars

I’ve read and enjoyed several of Higashino’s novels so I look forward to a new offering.

This one is set in 2017. Detective Godai of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department investigates the death of Kensuke Shiraishi, a lawyer. During the course of the investigation, Godai interviews Tatsuro Kuraki who has had limited contact with the victim but then confesses to his murder and to another one from 1984. In the latter case, another man was arrested and died in custody before the trial. With Tatsuro’s confession, the police consider the case closed, but neither his son Kazuma nor the victim’s daughter Mirei is convinced. Kazuma doubts his father is capable of murder and Mirei doubts the supposed motive. The two set out separately to determine the truth.

The pace in this 400-page novel is slow. Pieces of the puzzle slowly fall into place. There are times when there is needless repetition; for instance, characters often repeat information in conversations that the reader already knows. The plot is intricate so I appreciate the author’s not wanting to leave the reader in a state of confusion, but some of these exchanges could have been summarized.

At first, I found the slow pace frustrating and then I was amazed at how quickly the case is closed, only a quarter of the way through the novel. Thereafter, my interest lay in wondering why Tatsuro would lie and take responsibility for two murders, especially since the statute of limitations has expired for the murder from over 30 years in the past. I enjoyed when Kazuma and Mirei start to work together.

Higashino is known for complexity in his novels: convoluted plots, nuanced characters, and complex moral choices. In this novel, for instance, there are connections between two murders, and characters have conflicting motivations. The focus is on the psychological, multi-generational toll of crimes. One child worries about inheriting the blood of a killer from a parent. Tatsuro speaks of his overpowering sense of guilt, but there are many characters whose lives are shaped by guilt.

Another element of Higashino’s novels that I enjoy is the insights into Japanese culture. For instance, the ritual of exchanging business cards is highlighted. Of course, there’s also the food; Godai and an associate often met in cafes or restaurants and the food they order is mentioned. I also liked learning more about the Japanese judicial system, in particular the Victim Participation System.

I don’t consider this the best of Higashino’s novels, but I still recommend it, though with the caveat that readers must be fine with a slow pace.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Review of CATHERINE: A RETELLING OF WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Essie Fox

4 Stars 

I hesitated to read this book because I read and studied Wuthering Heights, albeit many years ago, and really did not like this tale of obsessive love and revenge. I didn’t like either Catherine or Heathcliff and was just impatient and annoyed with their histrionics. Essie Fox’s version I enjoyed so much more.

Emily Brontë’s novel is told from the perspectives of Nelly Dean, a servant, and Mr. Lockwood, a tenant at Thrushcross Grange. Fox’s version is narrated by Catherine. Eighteen years after her death she is freed to roam as a ghost. She speaks of her formative years, especially her childhood friendship with Heathcliff that evolves into an intense romantic love; her marriage to Edgar Linton; and the return of Heathcliff, his marriage to Isabella Linton and his jealousy and obsessive desire for revenge. She also recounts what happened after her death, especially as concerns her daughter Cathy, Linton Heathcliff, and Hareton Earnshaw.

This novel is faithful to the original so anyone familiar with Wuthering Heights will not be surprised with the major events. What is different is that Catherine is able to provide information about events of which Nelly is not cognizant. Both Nelly and Mr. Lockwood are observers and so limited in their knowledge; giving the more intimate perspective of a participant means that Catherine’s behaviour becomes more understandable. Though she remains the impulsive, obsessive and passionate character of Wuthering Heights and though I was still frustrated with some of her choices, I felt I understood her better because I was made aware of her motivations and, later, her regrets. What emerges is a more sympathetic portrait of Catherine.

I’m not always a fan of ghost narration, but it works in this case because of references to spirits in the original. The supernatural element is strong in the Gothic novel. Mr. Lockwood, during a visit at Wuthering Heights, has a strange dream about a weeping, unseen presence begging to be let into the house. And at the end of the book, shepherds and travelers at night claim to have seen Catherine and Heathcliff roaming the dark moors as they did many years earlier.

The author certainly creates the brooding, gloomy atmosphere of the original. There’s the isolated house, with its claustrophobic aura, surrounded by the wild, desolate moors often visited by wind and rain. The turbulent weather just adds an extra chill to one’s reading. I also appreciated the author’s use of language which evokes Brontë’s novel.

Of course there are also some plot additions. For example, Heathcliff’s life during his three-year absence is described; Brontë doesn’t ever explain how he returns so much more refined and so much wealthier. Many readers have speculated about Heathcliff’s background and Fox offers a clarification, though admittedly it relies on a theory suggested by others.

This book, though respectfully faithful to its source, provides a fresh perspective, including a redemptive twist. I found myself more engaged and feeling more sympathy for the characters. Perhaps the subtitle of the novel should use the word enrichment rather than retelling?

Review of SON OF NOBODY by Yann Martel (New Release)

 4 Stars

This is a very interesting read from the author best known for his Life of Pi.

Harlow Donne, a Canadian doctoral candidate studying Ancient Greek literature, leaves his wife Gail and his daughter Helen for a study year at Oxford University. From scraps of papyrus, he pieces together fragments of an unknown epic poem that he entitles The Psoad. This poem, about the Trojan War, differs in some ways from the version in The Iliad. What is most interesting is that Donne’s discovery presents the Trojan War from the point of view of Psoas, an ordinary foot soldier.

The novel has an interesting structure. Donne’s translation of this imagined Greek text is accompanied by commentary. Some of the annotations are academic in nature, clarifying, analyzing and interpreting the text. For instance, Donne notes differences between The Psoad and The Iliad and suggests parallels between The Iliad and the Bible as well as similarities between Psoas and Jesus. But there are also personal musings on his life with Gail and Helen.

Donne is not an especially likeable character. There is no doubt that he loves Helen, but he is academically ambitious and puts his studies before his family. After a tragedy, the extent of his self-centredness is emphasized. I noted that his academic notations tend be be precise and detailed whereas his personal reflections are much more general. There are several explanations for this but one is definitely that his focus is his scholarship; he himself admits that his “mind, strapped to the mast of a ship, was in the thrall of a Siren’s song.”

A major theme is that “the past is never done with, that always there are parallels and returns and repetitions, always the song continues.” Donne argues that The Iliad, Gilgamesh, and the Bible are foundational stories with few verifiable facts: “distant, immediate, unverifiable, compelling, subjective.” He also mentions “a commonality between the story of Troy and the story of Jesus: the acquiescent sacrifice of an offspring without which neither story can proceed. In both, the future is begot by killing the future.”

This theme is further explored with suggestions of parallels between Psoas and Donne. Both leave their countries and families on a quest, both have difficulties adjusting to their new environments, both experience a madness of sorts, and both are visited by tragedy. I did find that the parallels are sometimes spotlighted in a heavy-handed fashion. For instance, Psoas’ conversation with Hades obviously points towards a major event in Donne’s life. Obviously, the book highlights universal human experiences and emotions. Both Psoas and Donne experience homesickness, love, loss, anger, regret, and grief. Both learn about the sacrifices and cost of ambition.

Another theme is ordinary people are not really different than those of high status. Commoners are also capable of strength and courage. The Iliad focuses on the feats of heroes but Donne argues that The Psoad is a “radical call for egalitarianism” because it shows Psoas, often described as the son of nobody, as also capable of acts that are deemed heroic. Both Donne, a nobody from an unknown university, and Psoas dare to challenge those in authority. Even Jesus was “an illiterate, impoverished tradesman from an oppressed minority.” And, on the other hand, regardless of status, people can be “hiding places for monsters.”

This is a thought-provoking novel that I really enjoyed. It is unique and creative in its exploration of how an ancient story can resonate in the present.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Review of THE MAID'S SECRET by Nita Prose

 2.5 Stars

Had this book not been chosen for book club, I would not have finished it. I found it insipid and overly sentimental and clichéd. I enjoyed the first book, The Maid, because Molly, the narrator and protagonist, offers an interesting neurodivergent perspective. In this novel, I found her less charming and really the focus is on Flora, Molly’s Gran, who is the maid in the title.

At an Antiques Roadshow-like event at the Regency Grand, Molly and her fiancé Juan Manuel learn that Gran’s ornamental egg is a Fabergé worth millions. Molly decides to sell it, but at the auction, it is stolen. The present-day chapters detail the search for the egg but these alternate with lengthy diary entries addressed to Molly in which Gran tells her life story and, indirectly, that of the Fabergé egg.

The book ends with Gran’s comments that “life is a fairy tale” and this story actually reads like one. Though marketed as a “spirited heist caper” and a “spellbinding whodunit,” it is not. The focus, as stated in the prologue, is love. Much of the book reads like a historical romance, and that is not a genre I enjoy. Since much of Gran’s story, especially her relationship with John Preston, is discussed in the earlier books in the series, there’s not much suspense either.

The characters are caricatures which had me rolling my eyes. Gran’s parents and the Braun family are just arrogant rich people; focused on money, they have only contempt for those not of their social class. They get away with robbery, rape and murder?! Servants like Margaret Mead and Uncle Willy, on the other hand, tend to be saintly and capable. We are expected to believe that a dishwasher works his way up to the position of pastry chef in a 5-star hotel?

I had several issues with the book. There are problems with setting. Gran is a teenager in the mid-20th century, but she and her family behave like characters from Downton Abbey. The curtseying seems anachronistic, as does the attitude towards girls’ education. The novel is vague about the country in which it is set, though references suggest a North American city; for instance, Molly and Juan Manuel live in an apartment, not a flat. So what’s with the references to manor houses and barons?

I have other questions. Gran didn’t recognize the egg when it made its way into her home? If she did, wouldn’t she have taken advantage of its value to ease their financial situation? Molly and Juan Manuel’s landlord makes an instant decision to convert the apartments to condos? Magnus Braun has decided to purchase Gray Investments but then tells Reginald Gray, “’you’ve got nothing I want’”? The police department needs Speedy’s help to set up proper surveillance? Angela is “accepted into the local police academy, prerequisites waived on account of ‘experience in the field’’? A reality show about antiques has rabid groupies who pursue Molly for autographs?

Dedicated fans of the series might enjoy the book, and it will certainly appeal to readers who like cozy, feel-good fiction. Unfortunately, I found it predictable and tedious, lacking the originality of the first book. I hope this is the last book in the series; if not, I will not be reading any further installments.