A wonderfully "noirish" medieval noir

Westerson, Jeri
Serpent in the Thorns
Minotaur Books, New York, 2009
276 pp.
ISBN 978-0-312-53498-1

Jeri Westerson has done it again! When I read kVeil of Lies, I was impressed. Ms. Westerson writes very well. But some people didn't think Veil of Lies was"noirish" enough, or at least, being set in the Middle Ages, couldn't possibly be a "noir" type novel.


This, of course, is a matter of opinion. To me, "noir" can be set in any time period as long as the person has been "cast outside" in some way. The hero, Crispin Guest, certainly has, though he also most certainly has people on his side, including his (sort of) servant, a boy named Jack, and John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster. The only trouble is, the king isn't on his side, because Guest supposedly did a Very Bad Thing(you'll have to read the books to find out what the Very Bad Thing was; I'm not giving this away).


Unfortunately, Crispin Guest is also in a Very Bad Position, though he has friends on various sides, and needs them. And, if anything, he needs friends more than ever in Serpent in the Thorns; in this book, it at least looks like everyone is betraying him, even though he knows, or thinks he knows, who kille a French envoy(he turns out to be wrong on this, but that was due to the fact that the person who came to him in the first place. . . . well, never mind. Again, you'll just have to read the book to find out more.


Westerson does several things I wish I could do, but don't quite seem to be able to manage. First, she writes with "economy". Her novels aren't all that long, but they're very satisfying, and because she is writing a series, she can explore Crispin Guest and his times in more depth than I think a lot of "short" books do. The second thing, which I may get better at over time, she conjures up a "flavor" of fourteenth-century London in a way that is rare, even for people absolutely steeped in the history and culture of some past time.


This, I think, is truly a gift, and Ms. Westerson writes so well, it's a pleasure to read her offerings, and for this reason, I am looking forward to her next Crispin Guest novel with anticipation. She hints that it might be "a little different". I don't know. I'll just have to wait and see.


If there is any flaw in this book, I think it is a minor one -- at the beginnning, it was a little hard to get into, for some reason I can't really articulate. I have no idea why. Perhaps I just had too much on my mind at th e time. However, I got past this rather quickly, and after that, Jeri Westerson's wonderful story simply took over.

Anne G

A book review, this time. . . .

Szechtman, Joan

a novel about Richard III in This Time

Bassett Books LLc

Milford CT

343 PP.

ISBN 113: 978-0-9824493-0-1

 

At one time, I got very, very interested in fifteenth century England, the Wars of the Roses in general, and Richard III in particular.  I even considered writing something about that misunderstood monarch, but first, Sharon Kay Penman beat me to it, and second, even before she beat me to it, I couldn't figure out how to write about him.  However, knowing something about the period was, in a circuitous way, an influence on my own writing career, such as it has been.  I didn't end up writing about Richard III, but as I've said elsewhere, earlier, I always wanted to write a novel set in medieval England.  Just knowing others had done this, helped propel me toward that goal, though I am writing about an entirely different period, and my work is quite frankly what I call "romantic science fiction."  I can't think of anything else to call it.

 

Having said all this, I would like to introduce Joan Szechtman's This Time to the reading public.  It is, in my opinion, an extraordinary book.  She claims it isn't "really" science fiction, but I know my science fiction/s-f-/sci-fi well enough to know that this novel fits quite comfortably into that genre.  It isn't so common nowadays, to write about someone from a past era, who somehow stumbles into the present, and I've never heard of anybody before Ms. Szechtman who has tackled Richard III in this way.  But she has done  an excellent job, which is one reason I think this is a very promising first novel, which is often not the case. 

 

Her premise is that by means of a sort of time machine that acts very quickly, Richard is brought back from his last battle at Bosworth Field, still alive, and someone else's body is substituted for his.  Thus, 500 years of legend making begins.  He finds himself in, of all places, Portland, Oregon. 

 

The bulk of the story(and this confirms my opinion that the book is a kind of science fiction), concerns his adjustment to "modern times".  Without going into detail(I don't want to give too much away), I found the manner of his adjustments both very human and very touching, and at the same time, very funny, both from his point of view, and from the point of view of those who are trying to help him adjust.  This was one of the strongest parts of the book, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about how he goes about adjusting. 

 

I also think Ms. Szechtman has extrapolated a lot from what is known of the real Richard, both in terms of his history, and his actual personality, and created a credible story from these extrapolations.  This shines through quite well, though some readers may feel he adjusts to his new environment awfully quickly, for someone who has been brought forward 500 years.  Just one example:  how would Richard III, or anyone else from the fifteenth century, deal with the continual bombardment of information available to people living now, through the media and the Internet?  I don't know.  But Ms. Szechtman has him handling this change  almost effortlessly, within a few weeks or months.  This is not meant as a criticism, though some readers might find this difficult to swallow.

 

That said, Joan Szechtman has written a fascinating book, and she plans two more on Richard's adventures and adjustments, to follow in 2010 and 2011.  I am looking forward to these.  I also think anyone interested in historical figures, science fiction and/or historical fiction, will find this a very good read, regardless of whatever they think about Richard III. 

 

Finally, to further encourage readers, I invite you to read an excerpt from This Time. When I read it, it had me hooked.  And I preordered the novel.  I'm glad I did.

Anne G

Review: Nan Hawthorne, An Involuntary King

Hawthorne, Nan

An Involuntary King

Shield-Wall Books, Bothell WA, 629 pp.  2008

ISBN 978-1-4196-5669-9

 

An Involuntary King is an odd book. I don't mean this in the least unkindly.  By "odd", here, I mean that it doesn't fit easily into a category of books that many readers might be looking for. There is a reason for this:  Ms. Hawthorne frankly admits that it was generated by stories she and her friends told to each other during their teen years.  I remember doing this, mainly with science fiction, and the science fiction I tried to write was kind of "after the bomb" stuff.  I suppose it wasn't bad, and, had I developed it further, it might even have sold as science fiction.  There were several things against this, however, in my case.  First, I didn't really get much encouragement for anything I wrote(my mother, for example, wanted me to write "pretty"), there were few women writing science fiction at that time, and last but not least, I went to college and got "into" other things. 

 

Nan Hawthorne, on the other hand, retained an interest in her stories, and that was a good thing.  But before I go any further, I should warn the Gentle Reader:  This book is not for everyone.  Many readers of historical fiction, especially the kind who insist on "total accuracy" will not like the book.  Though it's set in a historical time and place, the names of the characters are recognizable as distinctly modern.  Again, this was Ms. Hawthorne's choice, and in this context, it works. There are also a large number of readers who think that the  concept of "alternative history" is way overdone.  I'm one of them. However, this doesn't mean that I never read "alternative histories"; it just means that most of them are not very good, and in this regard, Ms. Hawthorne's book is a definite exception. 

 

The book itself is set in eighth-century Anglo-Saxon England.  In this period, there were local kingdoms and shires, etc., but there wasn't an "England", let alone a "Great Britain" as we understand that part of the world today. So while there never was -- as far as anybody knows, a "Crislicland", or an "Affynshire", politically, the kingdoms and shires were often fluid enough so there could have been such places.  The story tells of a young man, Lawrence, who becomes king of Crislicland(which looks a lot like the northern part of Lincolnshire), due to the sudden death of his father. He is unprepared for this, and all sorts of complications, both emotional and political, ensue.  This makes for a long, complicated, yet  ultimately satisfying and believable story, and Nan Hawthorne has done an excellent job of putting all the complicated elements together in a way which should satisfy any reader who likes a good story, well-told, in any genre or hybrid of genres, that the storyteller chooses.  This book will probably make "history purist" readers cringe, and those who prefer "straight history" probably should go elsewhere.  But if you like a tale with lots of adventures, multilayered plots and plenty of action, An Involuntary King  is the book for you.  Ms. Hawthorne writes well, and it is an easy, and entertaining read.  Another plus: though the book doesn't exactly take place in "real" time, it certainly has a flavor of Anglo-Saxon England, and, to her credit, it is obvious that Ms. Hawthorne did her research well.  I should also add that she is writing a mystery series set in Anglo-Saxon Winchester, which I look forward to reading.  Based on what she has done so far, I don't think I will be disappointed, and I don't think anyone who reads this book will be disappointed, either.

Anne G

Music and mystery

 

Dunlap, Susanne

The Musician's Daughter

Bloomsbury, 2009, 322 pp

ISBN 1-59990-332-6

 

Franz Josef Haydn(1732-1809) is one of my favorite composers of all time.  I listen to a classical music station where his music is not infrequently played, and when it is, I often grow dreamy.  Therefore it was with great pleasure that some weeks ago, I discovered   this book in a local bookstore.  I dipped into it, fully intending to read it at a later time.  Then, as it turned out the author sometimes posts to an e-mail list I belong to, and I mentioned that her book had just come out, and as soon as I could, I was going to read it.  I then put in a request for it at the local library, and very soon, I had the book in my hands and began reading.

 

The book was worth the rather short wait.  Ms. Dunlap really seems to have a feel for eighteenth-century Vienna and its musical and social scene.  And I think a lot of the young audience it's aimed at, would readily identify with some of the themes she weaves throughout her book as well as learning a good deal -- there were some things I didn't even know -- about life for many people in that place and time, about what she calls standing up for what's right, being brave, and pursuing whatever dreams you have. 

 

These themes are wrapped around the mystery of Theresa Maria, named after the  Austrian empress Maria Theresa, and who was intended to live a life as much like the life of that lady as a musician's daughter in that day and age, could -- pious, respectful, a good housekeeper, having lots of children.  But that isn't what Theresa Maria really wants, and when her father turns up dead on Christmas Eve, when her mother is just about to have a baby, she wants to find out why her father turns up dead.  This gradually leads Theresa Maria into a complicated whirlpool of events, involving Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, Haydn's noble employer, "Papa" Haydn himself, some people belonging to what I call "despised groups"(in this case the Romany people or Gypsies), and discovering that an uncle she thought would be helpful, is anything but.  And she discovers that a nice young musician in Haydn's orchestra is much more than he seems, too, and that her father was the kind of person who stood up for what's right in the face of possible dire consequences.  So, for that matter, at least in this story, does Franz Josef Haydn. 

 

The writing is clear and simple, yet the story moves along swiftly enough so that neither adults who might read it, nor younger readers, will be left unsatisfied.  Ms. Dunlap has a talent for weaving facts about life in 18th century Austria(and more particularly Vienna), with her fictional story.  Historical "rivet counters" of  the kind I blogged about earlier, may not like this book; Ms. Dunlap frankly admits that the situations she described, though dealing with real personages such as Haydn, are invented, though, from what I've read about Haydn's life, could plausibly have happened.  Her portrayal of the future Emperor Joseph II, for example, was accurate in that he was a reformer of sorts, in his time.  And other details of the period seem realistic enough to me, though I am hardly an expert, since my "historical" focus is early medieval England, not 18th century Vienna.  And, as an added enticement -- for music lovers, anyway -- she has kindly added some recordings of Haydn's work, some of which I'm not very familiar with.  And last but not least, the very end of the book wraps everything up nicely, yet hints at a sequel.  If Ms. Dunlap does decide to write the sequel, I will gladly read it, as I look forward to more about Theresa Maria, determined, somehow, to pursue her muscianly dreams.

Anne G

Exotic writers?

This is the first in a series of periodic book reviews. I will be reviewing and commenting on any books that seem interesting, more or less "as the spirit moves me". Some will be "relevant" to what I'm writing, but writers should read a lot of things, so they may not be about science fiction or medieval history, or Neandertals. But if it looks interesting to me, I'll do my best to explain why.

Yesterday, I was browsing around in the local library, after running some errands. The main library in Seattle is always an interesting place --- the floor where they have the newest fiction and nonfiction, has essentially been designed to be a giant solarium. It's all glass, and even on the rainiest and most disheartening days(and Seattle has enough of these at this time of year), it feels full of light. it was here that I found a most interesting book called The Dowry Bride. The author is one Shobhan Bantwal, and this appears to be the only book she's written --- so far.
There are several things that are interesting about this book. The first is, that while the author is of East Indian heritage, she is writing a piece of "popular" fiction, which is quite unusual(as she points out in her Afterward)for an author of East Indian heritage. Another fascinating feature of the book is, that for non-Indian readers, it's a peek into a slice, if you will, of contemporary Indian life. And even more interesting, she wrote it as a (sort of) romance.

The premise may at first seem offputting: a young woman runs away from her husband and his family because they are plotting to tie her up and set her on fire so he can marry somebody else. The reason? Her parents are not rich, but they are trying to cough up dowry money in installments. This does not satisfy the mother-in-law, who is basically the villain of the piece, and quite an unpleasant one at that. Essentially, the woman's parents have themselves been deceived; they thought her husband's family was very well-off, but it turns out they are not only not as well-off as they said they were, but they are excessively "conservative"(in terms of contemporary India, at least), and basically pretty stultifying. But then, as Ms. Bantwal points out, these "dowry killings" are also a part of contemporary India, unfortunately.

When Megha, the young heroine, runs away, she manages to find her way to the very contemporary living quarters of her cousin-in-law, Kiran Rao, who is well-off, well-educated, and has a much more modern outlook. Furthermore, he has been in love with her from the moment he saw her --- at her wedding to her unsatisfactory husband.

Neither of them feel they can fulfill their desires; he has to try to keep her safe from her would-be assassins; she has feelings for him, but has been too "conservatively" brought up to act on them, but would like to. What each of them do about this situation, and how they change their outlook, forms the bulk of the book.

This is not a "typical" romance; there are parts of it that, from a "non-Indian" point of view seem quite odd. There is one scene where an old grandmother confesses to having been molested by an "untouchable" man, and the result was the villainous mother-in-law. But perhaps Ms. Bantwal wanted to show that this was a somewhat old fashioned attitude; in the same scene, she has Megha remark that an "untouchable" man came to their house to do heavy work, and was actually quite nice. Even Bollywood seems to have caught on to this, if some recent works I've heard about are anything to go by, but on the other hand, India is still India, and there's no question that some attitudes take longer --- in any culture --- to change, than others.

While this book is not great literature, and the manuscript could have used an editor in places, it is extremely entertaining. Better yet, it gives some insight into some aspects of India today. And that's a good thing. Many readers fall into ruts in their reading habits, but perhaps if Shobhan Bantwal keeps on writing(she says she's working on another book), and encourages other people of East Indian heritage to do the same, perhaps some of us mentally curious folk will learn more about this extremely old, rich, complex, yet forward-looking culture. For that matter, she should probably encourage people from all kinds of cultures to write about contemporary life for "popular" audiences. Our horizons need to be broadened periodically.
Anne G