Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance by Gyles Brandreth

With the invention of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created one of the single most recognizable detectives, and style of detecting, the world has ever known.  Numerous are the authors who have striven to emulate the great detective, and numerous also are the failures.  Happily, I feel that Gyles Brandreth in Oscar Wilde and a Death of no Importance accomplishes the feat quite well.  If you can imagine Holmes’ observations and deductions’ coupled with Wildes’ sly Irish wit, you begin to get an excellent picture of why this book is such a fun and engaging read.

Chronicled by his good friend Robert Sherard, Oscar Wilde brings his not inconsiderable intelligence and wit to the aid of a dead young actor whom no one else will believe was murdered.  After befriending his own private detective consultant, the then highly popular Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilde and Sherard begin the hunt for justice for young Billy Wood.  Chasing clues through Victorian London, with occasional stops for sumptuous cuisine and fine entertainment, Wilde seeks not only the killer, but also the proof needed to garner police involvement.  Inspired by these tragic events, Wilde also begins work on a new story – The Picture of Dorian Gray

Brandreth has his characters hopping from exclusive gentlemen’s clubs to theatrical shows to a seaside resort, with many other stops in between.  Through it all he paints a surprisingly vivid and realistic picture of Victorian London, and the inner workings of a real life group of friends.  I found it fascinating when I discovered that Doyle, Wilde, and Sherard truly were great friends during the 1890’s, and this led a wonderful sense of realism to an already well written work.  Luckily, the fun and excitement continues with Oscar Wilde and A Game Called Murder.  For anyone who enjoys historical fiction, detective fiction, or Victorian London, this novel is a definite must read.

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The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope

People who read a lot of Trollope tell me that The Eustace Diamonds is not one of his best. I really enjoyed it, though, so now I’m looking forward to exploring other books by this contemporary of Dickens.

Perhaps one of the problems others have with this book is that the heroine is not particularly likeable. Lizzie Eustace lies and schemes and manipulates in order to get what she wants. Mostly what she wants is to hang on to a diamond necklace her late husband gave to her. The lawyers say it’s a family heirloom and so she cannot keep it for herself. Lizzie insists it was a special gift from her husband and so it belongs to her. (She’s lying.) No one will yield.

Along the way, Lizzie almost becomes engaged to her cousin Frank, an attractive lawyer who needs her money, but who is in love with poor governess Lucy Morris. Then she does agree to marry Lord Fawn, who needs her money, but who refuses to follow through with the marriage unless Lizzie gives up the diamonds. Frank becomes engaged to Lucy, who is pure of heart and faithful to a fault, but he still feels himself drawn to Lizzie and to the way of life she could provide for him.

Yes, it’s a soap opera kind of book with a large cast of characters and long plot arcs involving love, marriage and money. There’s also a sly sense of humor at work so that I could sometimes hear echoes of Dickens and Austen. I liked it all, so much so that I didn’t want the book to end. I wanted to continue living in this world, watching to see what these people would do next.

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Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Do you like things that are both quiet and loud? Can you read a trashy tabloid and then enjoy an artfully produced historical documentary? Do you like the grey areas in life? If so, this book is for you.

Today’s scandals have nothing on Henry VIII and his henchman Thomas Cromwell.

Wolf Hall takes place from the point of view of Englishman, Thomas Cromwell.  Cromwell was the son of a drunken blacksmith who beat him on a regular basis. This abuse made Thomas very, very tough as he ran away from home at an early age. He became a soldier—for France! He married well into a family with a booming textile business and he made the business even more successful. He helped smuggle in English translations of the Bible. He was both the assistant to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and a heretic. From nothing, he became the right hand man of Henry VIII.

Based on the whims of Henry VIII (a very fickle king), Cromwell played with people as pawns in an elaborate game of chess. But were you to catch his eye near his estate of Austin Friars, he would take you in if you needed refuge. If he saw himself reflected in you, he would give you a hand and help you. He was capable of great cruelty or kindness.

I will tell you, this book is a challenging read. Everyone seems to be named Thomas, John, Henry, Harry, William, Mary or Anne. Sometimes it is difficult to know who is speaking. Generally I found that if it said “he said” it was usually Thomas Cromwell. Don’t be daunted by the family history charts and the cast of characters. This is helpful especially when characters are introduced and then not mentioned again for a while– and did I mention everyone seems to be named Thomas, John, Henry, Harry, William, Mary or Anne?

So pick up Wolf Hall, winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize and then halfway through be sure to request the sequel, Bringing Up the Bodies, which is, if you can believe it, even more acclaimed, winning the 2012 Man Book and the Costa Award for Best Novel and the Costa Award for Book of the Year! Once you get a glimpse into Mantel’s re-creation of English history you won’t be able to look away.

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Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D.James

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is 200 years old! To celebrate its bicentennial, try Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James, the well-written and long awaited sequel to Pride and Prejudice, published in 2011.

We find Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth living happily ever after and six years into their marriage, living on the beautiful estate at Pemberley. The couple has two sons to carry on the Darcy name, and Elizabeth’s beloved sister Jane lives nearby. The Bennett family has visited just a few times, which seems the perfect amount to the Darcys. Elizabeth’s beloved father comes more frequently though, to make use of Darcy’s extensive and peaceful library.

As the story opens, Elizabeth and her husband are preparing for their annual ball. Family is gathering at Pemberley, including Jane and her husband, Charles Bingley. The unexpected arrival of Elizabeth’s youngest sister, Lydia, sends the household into an uproar. Recall that Lydia is the wild child who famously eloped with the dastardly Wickham in Pride and Prejudice. And Lydia’s dramatic entry into the story has her screaming that Wickham has been murdered!

This was a false alarm. Wickham was not the murder victim, but because the death happened on Permberley’s grounds, Darcy becomes entangled in the investigation. The death, and Wickham’s possible involvement in the crime, threaten to disrupt the Darcy’s peaceful country life forever. While the story-line follows Darcy more than Elizabeth, all your favorite characters from Pride and Prejudice will make an appearance in this delightful and suspenseful novel.

Numerous writers have attempted to imitate, reinterpret, or continue Jane Austen’s stories. Most have failed, some very badly. P. D. James is the first that I feel has really gotten it right. The tone of Austen’s masterpiece comes through, and it is a pleasure to visit the Darcy family again. Fans of James series featuring Adam Dagliesh might be disappointed with the mystery in this novel, but James was not attempting to write one of her modern novels. This book is a gift for Austen fans.

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Inside the Victorian Home : a Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England by Judith Flanders

This book is delightful! It is one of those books you want to tell people about constantly but worry that they will roll their eyes after the sixth or seventh Victorian life fun fact. But it is packed with interesting tidbits at every turn of the page and you cannot help but be aghast at some of the details. I would give you some examples, but I really cannot spoil your fun and probably you would not believe me anyway.

Flanders wonderfully constructs the book around each room in the Victorian home. She describes the home in detail, the expectations set forth by Mrs. Panton and Mrs. Beeton (the Martha Stewarts of their time) and the reality. She illustrates with excerpts from literature of the time as well as letters and diary entries. The book describes mostly upper middle class Londoners but does occasionally discuss the serving class and the truly wealthy.

Flanders discusses the Victorian life by going past the physical aspects of the room but what actually went on in the room and how that was informed by Victorian society (or vice versa).  For example, the chapter on the Nursery discusses the Victorian view of children and parenthood. The chapter on the Dining Room includes information on Victorian cooking, or overcooking, as it were. The chapter on the Sick Room discusses the Victorian views on health, illness and death (including the various stages of mourning).

Okay, okay I cannot contain myself any longer! I will not give you any Victorian fun facts but I will let you know that these questions are answered in the pages of this awesome book:

-What common childhood ailment was actually a measurable cause of death for infants?

-What common home decoration was extremely toxic?

-How long was the recommended boiling time for macaroni? a>30 minutes b> up to 1 hour c>up to 1 hour and 45 minutes

So check it out! You will be amazed we are all still alive and you will wonder what our ancestors will think of our everyday life.
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The Princes in the Tower by Alison Weir

Historian Alison Weir has written many biographies of Medieval and Tudor era Royalty. Her books are eminently readable, and The Princes in the Tower is no different.  The disappearance of the Princes, Edward V and his brother, Richard, Duke of York, sons of Edward IV and nephews of Richard III, is one of the most enduring mysteries of our time.   The recent discovery of Richard III’s skeleton, lost for over 500 years, will doubtless generate much interest in this topic.

The Princes in the Tower is a fine introduction to the mystery of the Princes.  Weir provides detailed historical background, and then describes the untimely death of their father, Edward IV and the efforts of his unpopular Queen to hurriedly coronate her son and solidify the power of the Woodville faction.  Richard III soon disinherits his nephews and ascends to the throne.  The Princes subsequently vanish from history.  Richard’s controversial reign, his death and defeat at the hands of Henry Tudor, and subsequent rebellions by men pretending to be one of the Princes are also discussed in the book.

The major premise of The Princes in the Tower seems to be that not only was Richard III guilty of murdering the two Princes, but that this was a premeditated act and Richard plotted to usurp the throne from the moment of his brother’s death.   Weir apparently seeks to demonstrate that Richard III was fully the tyrant and cold-hearted monster that Shakespeare portrays.  Much evidence does point to Richard’s guilt.  Yet Weir seems to automatically dismiss any evidence to the contrary, which I find worrisome.  As someone sympathetic to Richard III yet realistic, I have no issue with ultimately laying the responsibility for the Princes’ deaths at his door.  After all, he was King.  But proving that he personally ordered or committed the murders is another matter, and we will probably never find a “smoking gun”.

Her attempts to show that Richard III deliberately intended to depose his nephews and seize the throne from the beginning are on even shakier ground.    Richard did not even know of his death until days afterwards, when Hastings informed him of the Woodville’s hurried attempts to shut him out and seize control of the government.  Weir is very selective in her use of sources, intimating that anything favorable to Richard was mere propaganda, while anything negative “must” be genuine.

Nevertheless, I highly recommend The Princes in the Tower for everyone interested in Richard III and the disappearance of the Princes.  I may not agree with all of Weir’s conclusions, but she is undoubtedly a fine writer and one of the key historians in this fascinating debate.

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Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

You can tell this is Austen’s first completed novel. Its characters and themes are not as well developed as those in later novels, and the ending is a little too tidy. But Northanger Abbey has a real freshness about it, and many Fans of Austen find that they enjoy this book more each time they read it.

The heroine, Catherine Morland, is a naïve and charming young woman who leaves her home in the country to visit the tourist town of Bath, England. There she becomes fast friends with Isabella Thorpe, another young woman who shares Catherine’s love of gothic novels such as The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe.  But Isabella is not as honest and loyal as she tries to appear. And her braggart brother John isn’t the dashing rake he so wants to appear to be. Catherine must figure this out for herself as she navigates the social circles in Bath.

In this effort she is aided by the truly charming Henry Tilney. At first, Henry teases Catherine and even condescends to her a little bit because of her lack of worldliness and her consequent gullibility and trusting nature. But Catherine is no fool, even if she is awfully young and inexperienced, and as the book progresses, Henry comes to appreciate her and to return the affection she so obviously feels for him.

Of course, there are complications. Henry’s father is a wealthy and proud man who insists that his son marry a woman with money of her own as well as high social status. But any Austen reader can tell you that everything is bound to work out all right. This is one of the reasons Jane Austen remains so popular after more than 200 years. Her books are like comfort food—something you can return to again and again knowing there will be no regrets.

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James Herriott’s Cat Stories

It is true, cats can be both fluffy and cute, but these creatures are also fierce, strong, lightning fast, and they have amazing survival skills and a toughness and tolerance for pain, starvation, and harsh weather conditions that few humans get anywhere near.

In other words, cats can be more like warrior-monks than decorative pillows for the bed. Also, they can be an author’s best friend.

A man who does cats justice is Alf Wight, the British veterinarian better known under his pen name, James Herriot.

Wight met his wife Joan in 1941, and “after years of listening to Alf relate the amusing tales of his days in the dales attending to animals, it was his wife that finally pushed him into putting pen to paper.” Wight bought a typewriter and each night, while watching television, he would type out a chapter. During one such session, he discovered his pen name: Birmingham City’s Jim Herriot – the footballer – caught the typing veterinarian’s attention, and from then on, he used the name James Herriot when his stories were published.

These tales can mainly be found in a series of books on veterinary life in the North Yorkshire farming community. In the U.S., his books were usually published in omnibus editions (All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Wise and Wonderful), but also as they were originally published in the U.K. (The Lord God Made Them All, and Every Living Thing). They are captivating books – filled with a wide range of emotions and events – and stories about cats can be found throughout Herriot’s veterinary writings. But readers who want to read about cats only can focus on the compilation James Herriot’s Cat Stories.

In Herriot’s days as a young veterinarian, these animal healers’ main focus was on the big farm animals that were the financial backbone of the farm. But Herriot was ahead of his time in a way, as he took a keen interest in smaller animals, such as cats and dogs, and this interest may have helped ensure his books a long shelf life. And it helps that Herriot is such a strong writer and storyteller. He is never overly sentimental but he is compassionate, and both the animals and humans are multifaceted and complex. And the cats, well, they may not always love him back – in fact, his suspicious behavior can be quite off-putting to them – but no matter: James Herriot loves them anyway, and his love for the creatures and the country is felt on every page.

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Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Do I really need to tell anyone about the plot of this famous classic? Is there a book lover alive who hasn’t heard about how middle-class Elizabeth Bennett meets rich Mr. Darcy, and how at first his pride and her prejudice create an instant dislike of each other? Is there anyone who hasn’t heard the famous first sentence, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”?

The larger question is, “Why do people still read and love Pride and Prejudice 200 years after its initial 1813 publication?” Perhaps it’s because there’s something for everyone in Austen’s novel. If you’re looking for humor, you will certainly find it in the characters of nervous Mrs. Bennett and pompous Mr. Collins. If it’s social commentary you’re after, then look no further than the character of Charlotte Lucas (one of my favorites), and Austen’s observations about the absolute necessity of marriage for genteel women. If it’s character development you crave, then Pride and Prejudice gives you Elizabeth Bennett, one of the most popular fictional characters ever created.

And of course, if you want a good love story, then Pride and Prejudice gives you the quintessential love story that introduced story and character elements that have become romantic clichés. You’ve got the spirited heroine and the brooding hero. They dislike each other at first, but gradually change their minds as they learn more about each other and themselves over the course of the novel. The hero undergoes the biggest change as he discovers the redemptive power of love.

What may be the most likely reason for Austen’s continued popularity and relevance is the realism of her novels. Austen was a great observer of people, and people haven’t changed in the last 200 years. Her characters are real people with real problems and failings. In her books we see ourselves.

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Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Shocking to its nineteenth century audience, Wuthering Heights is an unforgettable tale of passion, jealousy, and revenge centered on two families in the north of England. The Earnshaw home is named Wuthering Heights for its situation on a rocky mountaintop swept bare of all but the hardiest vegetation by the ceaseless wind, where stunted trees lean to one side, “as if craving alms of the sun.” The other family, the Lintons, live at Thrushcross Grange in a sheltered glen at the foot of the rocky heights.

The Earnshaws are as passionate, wild, and uncontrolled as the wind that “wuthers” over their mountain, whereas the Lintons are of a milder disposition, which seems almost insipid compared to the lusty Earnshaws.

The story begins with Mr. Earnshaw returning from a long journey, carrying a small, dark gypsy child he found wandering in the streets of Liverpool. Rather than leaving it to starve, he brought it home to his children, Hindley and Catherine, who are disconcerted by this turn of events. Hindley is jealous, hating the little interloper who has usurped his father’s love, but Catherine befriends Heathcliff, as he comes to be called, in defiance of her surly brother.

Even as she grows into her teens, Catherine would rather run wild on the moors with Heathcliff than act the part of a young lady, but her behavior changes once she becomes friends with the refined Lintons. Heathcliff, of unknown parentage and hardened by the constant mistreatment of Hindley, cannot partake of these new relationships.

When Edgar Linton proposes marriage, Catherine is forced to choose between the two sides of her character. With the mild Lintons she is “as harmless as gunpowder when no fire came near,” whereas Heathcliff is more like her but in many ways brings out her worst traits.

In his ruthless quest for revenge on those who have wronged him, Heathcliff tears apart the new life Catherine has constructed for herself. Does he ever feel remorse? At times he seems to be beyond the reach of redemption, yet the ending holds some surprises. There are also minor characters, such as the spunky housemaid Ellen Dean, who manipulate events for better or worse. Finally, there is the issue of the next generation, the progeny of these tumultuous relationships. Will they follow in their parents’ footsteps, or can they make peace with the ghosts of the past?

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