MAILBOX MONDAY/IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Mailbox Monday for June being hosted by Dolce Bellezza

Books which I have this week are

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A young girl growing up in the care of her cousin whilst her father works on a top secret project. Set in the 1940s.

Set in Hitler's era the heart breaking choices that parents throughout the centuries have made to protect their children.

Set in 1917 in rural Ireland, the divide is coming between the rich and the poor and life is going to change for all. A family story.

A hit and run driver kills nine year old Betty and turns her family's life upside down. Coping with grief and loss and the strange ways of a troubled mind.

Loved The Crown so I grabbed this one!

Looking for The London Train came across this one. It is very often like this because the latest is never available when I want to read them but then I get on to a lesser known book. Equally enjoyable. 

Hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Right now I am a quarter way through Flora and am behind on all the reviews which will have to wait till I get back home!

MY NOTORIOUS LIFE BY MADAME X by KATE MANNING

Set in 19th century New York we have Axie Muldoon desperately poor, two siblings younger to her, father dead, mother helpless and alone and Axie determined to do the very best she can for her family. From the very beginning when she was such a young child, you know that Axie is going to be someone. This is not a person you can keep down.

Axie through various twists and turns ends up as a very experienced midwife in conservative New York. As a midwife her services are valued but also as someone who will help women with contraception and abortion. Axie believes in what she does and understands the plight of the women who come to her. Some of them have had five or six living children, a couple of miscarriages and only want to live to make sure their children will have the care of a mother. They are desperate and it is to Axie they turn to.

The fact that Axie becomes very wealthy in turn is a key to turning the men of the city against her and especially the doctors who feel that she is not qualified to do what she is doing. Envy is their main problem and this is fuelled by the sanctimonious feelings of a few who feel that what Axie is doing is not right. 

How Axie confronts society, whilst continuing to help women in need, and how she escapes the threat of jail always hovering over her (after one experience in jail) is beautifully told. In language which is down to earth and what Axie knew when she was growing up it becomes even more descriptive as she does not have airs and graces and remains true to her roots and her original background. 

The book also gives you very clearly the picture of the status of women at the time. Actually literally no status at all. There were no rights for women and particularly for wives it seems a very tough time to live in.  As usual I am surprised by the degree of poverty in America and more than the poverty, the fact that a lot of wealthy Americans seemed to ignore this fact. That is always hard to even imagine. Wealthy people (all over the world) seem to live quite comfortably with poverty by their side, most of them closing their eyes and ears to this and time has not improved this.

Also very descriptive of midwifery, contraceptive and pharmaceutical practices and methods of this era - made for fascinating reading.

Another excellent read.

LOST LUGGAGE BY JORDI PUNTI

Another book I heard on the bloggers grapevine courtesy of Cornflower Books. This was a bit of Houdini mystery. Now you see it and now you don't and after some time all the pieces came together beautifully.

Christof, Christofe, Christopher and Christofol - four sons, one father four different mothers in four different countries. Four sons and mothers who saw their father very little and then someone who disappeared from their lives. 

Strange how four sons, divided by language, culture and distance band together to find their father now deemed a missing person. How four of them very amicably go through page after page of their father's very interesting past to uncover why and what made him tick, what made him behave the way he did. The man was not a confidence trickster, not an intrinsically bad person but the upheaval in the lives of four women and four sons is a good story.

This is the last week of my stay in Melbourne. Going back to the last few months of trying to organise a wedding with the bride in Melbourne, the bridegroom in Ghana and the wedding in Colombo. There have been a few hiccups on the way. Hopefully everything will be smooth sailing from now on.

DEATH IN SUMMER by WILLIAM TREVOR

One of those sad stories which are rather mournful. Starting with a funeral. 

Thaddeus (even his name sounds old) is much older than his rather young wife Letitia who is killed in a random accident. Thaddeus is fond of his wife rather than in love with her and though her death has left him much richer than he ever was, he sort of misses her and is devoted to the baby. Unable to cope with such a young baby, he decides to hire a nanny and an advertisement for the post is put in the press and four applicants turn up.

No one is found suitable and the last is particularly inept.  Badly attired, with an obviously forged reference she is turned down but the matter does not end there. Pettie with her complicated background is besotted with Thaddeus, the house and what might have been and the obsessions of Pettie and her wild imaginations as to what could be are surreal, tense and frightening. 

The novel is mainly about human relationships and how the circumstances of our birth and upbringing could influence us and do, unless one is willing and strong enough to change not just our personalities and inherent characters (the bad bits I mean!) but is also willing to see that bad bits exist in us all and which with time we must try to get rid of. Everyone of course cannot and will not do this or even attempt to do so, or even acknowledge that bad bits exist!  The book typifies this. 

MAILBOX MONDAY/ IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Mailbox Monday being hosted for June by Dolce Bellezza.

This week in my Mailbox!

The book set in 19th century New York sets out the life of an Irish orphan. Read about this one on Cornflower Books.

Another blogger recommendation. I cannot remember whom!

Today is a public holiday being the Queen's Birthday. Nice and quiet and everyone still asleep but very chilly.

Hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Reading this one. Another Cornflower Books recommendation. Finding it very intriguing.

Have a good week.

ALYS ALWAYS by HARRIET LANE

I'd read about this book on several blogs over an year ago but I always come to the party late but I am ever so glad that I finally did come. This was a book which could not be put aside. I had to read right through and finish it one go. 

Frances is a very small cog in a small newspaper.  Returning after a visit seeing her parents she comes across an accident in a rural area, informs the relevant authorities and stays with the injured woman till help comes. The woman eventually dies in hospital. The family are very glad that their wife and mother did not die alone and that at the time she was injured she had someone with her though Frances never thought that the woman was so severely injured that she would pass away. 

This family wants to make contact with Frances, and Frances herself likes this very much as it would give her an entrée into a world that she would like very much to be a part of. Using this to her advantage Frances develops the relationship to another level - encouraging the daughter Poppy and befriending her, even enduring her snubs and patronizing attitude in order to get a step into this new world. The attraction which I did not realize till halfway through the book was Laurence, the widower here and Frances skilfully and methodically makes her way so that she becomes attractive to him and part of their life.

The ups and downs of this new relationship becomes the third part of this story and it is so skilfully told that you are constantly wanting to know what is going to become of Frances of Laurence, of Poppy, Teddy and everyone else who is involved. Calculative, cold blooded and manipulative and at the same time full of charm, Frances is a force to be reckoned with.

This is a debut novel - amazing and un putdownable!

THE FAMILY MAN by ELINOR LIPMAN

Henry is Denise's ex husband. Thalia is Denise's daughter but not Henry's. When Denise married Henry, he legally adopted Thalia but at the time of the divorce Denise forcibly and very acrimoniously swept Thalia away which was heartbreak for Henry who loved his daughter dearly.

Wind down twenty odd years and in a chance encounter Henry has the perfect opportunity to get Thalia back into his life and into his house (adjoining maisonette). Henry is blissful with the arrangements, so is Thalia as Henry is the most uninterfering father imaginable. Paternal worries but not overbearing. Kindness and generosity personified.

At 29 Thalia is still not settled either personal life wise or career wise. Without giving too much away Thalia embarks on a career which is fraught with frolic, misunderstandings and mayhem with Henry standing guard (also in a legal capacity as lawyer) and father so Thalia always has someone at her back.

The book is full of strong characters - Henry and Todd both gay, Denise the ex wife scatty and at the same time very focussed, Thalia the fun loving daughter, Lillian the Jewish mother who knows it all and is just waiting for Todd's announcement about his being gay! and is about relationships. Specifically a beautiful father-daughter one which is enviable.

A lovely fun read!