The Last Runaway, by Tracy Chevalier

The Last Runaway 
Tracy Chevalier 
Dutton Adult (2013),  
Hardcover ISBN 0525952993 
320 pages 
$26.95/$28.50CAN








Tracy Chevalier is a familiar author to me.  Girl With a Pearl Earring still stands out as one of my favorite historical fiction selections. The Last Runaway takes place prior to the American Civil War in the border state of Ohio. Honor Bright left her homeland of England to travel with her sister Grace to America.  Shortly after their arrival Grace dies leaving Honor in a tenuous position regarding her future. Honor Bright is a Quaker and  holds dear the tenets of her religion. She values honesty and abhors slavery.  She marries Jack Haymaker, a dairy farmer and moves in with him, along with his sister and mother. Honor finds herself in a perfect position to help runaways who travel along the Underground Railroad. The Haymaker family pretend not to notice Honor's small contributions of assistance until one day they forbid her to continue. Honor Bright is forced to make difficult decisions that cause great internal conflict and reflection.

The character of Honor Bright is eerily familiar as if this writer were in her shoes in a previous life. Belle, a milliner is spunky and frank and her friendship with Honor is genuine. More than once she manages to surprise Honor with her prowess with a shotgun.  The importance of quilting and hatting in America, women's roles, Quakers and The Underground Railroad, particularly the ramifications of the Fugitive Slave Act in Ohio provided Chevalier with background to write this beautiful and inspiring novel. An author's note of interest Ms. Chevalier learned to quilt in order to write The Last Runaway.  I’m sure a gratifying perk she had not anticipated. 

Disclosure: A copy of this book was received as an ARC from the publisher. This review is my candid and unbiased opinion. 


© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2012].  




 
 

The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan..Countdown to Release

 

My endorsement....

Cathy Marie is the author of When the Falls Stood Still, a remarkably memorable and haunting novel that still resonates with me today. Now The Painted Girls will be released in the US on 1/10/13.  It was released this week in Canada. Preorder your copy. 
A definite choice to fulfill your holiday wish lists with those newly acquired gift certificates. :)

The Painted Girls-Press Release

A heartrending, gripping novel set in belle époque Paris and inspired by the real-life model for Degas’s Little Dancer Aged 14 and by the era's most famous criminal trials. Following their father’s sudden death, the Van Goethem sisters find their lives upended. Without his wages, and with the small amount their laundress mother earns disappearing into the absinthe bottle, eviction seems imminent. With few options for work, Marie is dispatched to the Paris Opéra, where she will be trained to enter the famous Ballet and meet Edgar Degas. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds employment—and the love of a dangerous young man—as an extra in a stage adaptation of Émile Zola’s Naturalist masterpiece L’Assommoir. Set at a moment of profound artistic, cultural, and societal change,The Painted Girls is a tale of two remarkable sisters rendered uniquely vulnerable to the darker impulses of “civilized society.” Learn more.

Cathy's Home Page







© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2012]. 

Destiny, Rewritten, by Kathyrn Fitzmaurice

So excited to share this trailer about the book Destiny Rewritten by one of my favorite children's authors.... Kathyrn Fitzmaurice. The book is due out in March, so keep an eye out for it.  Visit her homepage at: http://kathrynfitzmaurice.com/books/

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2012]. 

 

Honoring Sandy Hook's Angels

 

 

Honoring Sandy Hook's Angels

    

Healing thoughts for Newtown

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2012]. 

Stitch Red, A Season to Knit Red

Get Involved and Help Fight Heart Disease

Happy Halloween Season

Egreetings - Eerie Night

Smile it is a Sunday Rain

Review: THE RENT COLLECTOR, by Camron Wright

THE RENT COLLECTOR
Camron Wright
Shadow Mountain
First edition (August 27, 2012)
HC, 304 pp, 
$22.99,978-1609071226.

 




Sang Ly, a twenty-nine year old young mother, her husband Ki Lim and son, Nisay live on the top of a large mountain in Cambodia.  Rather than pristine rolling landscapes and crystal clean running streams, they are surrounded by piles of noxious and dangerous garbage. They live at the very bottom of Maslow’s Hierarchy.  The place is called Stung Meanchey, and this is their home, a shelter that consists of a couple of poles and a canvas roof.  Within are the bare essentials for survival.  Each day is spent with one goal in mind, to make enough money to eat a dinner.  Hopefully, with luck they will earn enough at the end of the month to pay rent to The Rent Collector,  a merciless, stone hearted drunk.  They call her the cow, but her name is Sopeap Sin. Nisay is a very sick child and all attempts to treat his chronic diarrhea fail. His belly is large and Sang Ly fears for his life.  One day when Sopeap arrives for the monthly rent, Sang Ly witnesses her sobbing after she discovers a torn children’s picture book in Nisay’s hands. Later, Sang Ly is sure that Sopeap must know how to read. How is it possible, that this wretched woman, also amid such poverty is able to read?  Sang Ly is determined to save her son and she now knows that there is a way.

This is an amazing  story of challenges, determination, guilt, gratitude and forgiveness. Seriously, a book that is difficult to break away from. Sang Ly and Sopeap Sin discover through their love of storytelling lessons that will surprise everyone.  I will savor this book, the characters, the message and my personal thoughts about life’s perspective. THE RENT COLLECTOR is a passionately rare and memorable gift for all readers.

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2012].

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2012]. 
DISCLOSURE:  A free kindle version of this book was made available by Net Galley for review.

Wisteria Leigh
September 29, 2012

Review-The Second Empress: A Novel of Napoleon's Court

 

THE SECOND EMPRESS:A NOVEL OF NAPOLEON'S COURT
Michelle Moran
Crown Publishing
August 14, 2012
HC, 320 pp, $25.00, 
978-0307953032.



Having read all of Michelle Moran’s novels, the allure of The Second Empress, her latest historical fiction work about Napoleon’s Court was an irresistible pick from my TBR pile.  I chose wisely and for a few hours I became French with a bit of Austrian thrown in. Much has been written about the Bonaparte family including thousands of letters that the author notes she examined in order to shape her vision of Napoleon and other family members, Pauline, his sister, and Josephine his first wife.  She does not apologize for the harsh treatment and depiction of the lewd, often cruel and ever unpredictable tyrannical despot Napoleon Bonaparte.  Marie-Louise, the eighteen year old daughter of the king of Austria faced an impossible decision. A decision she felt gave her no choice but to leave Austria to marry Napoleon who was at age forty, desperate for an heir. After fourteen years, of marriage his first wife, Josephine, was still barren so when her infidelity was exposed,  he had her banished from court.  Marie-Louise had nothing to fear from Josephine, but Napoleon’s promiscuous narcissistic exceedingly beautiful sister Pauline had dreams of her own. She would like nothing better than to model a reign with her perverse brother, together an incestuous pair, who would rule an empire in the style of ancient Egypt. When Marie Louise gives birth, Pauline must alter her course, and her idiosyncratic behavior increases.  At the same time,  Napoleon’s Machiavellian personality is not satiated and his military compulsion to conquer all results in a bloody defeat. When the future of France turns bleak, Marie-Louise now given the position of regent of France by her husband, must make an audacious and clever decision.

The Second Empress will delight the most devoted of Moran’s fans with an engaging plot and glimpse of history during Napoleon’s time. This highly recommended novel is another distinctive and spicy portrayal of powerful women who were destined to change history.







© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2012].




DISCLOSURE: A copy of this book was sent at no charge to the reviewer for an unbiased candid review.

September 26, 2012

City of Women-A Personal Favorite of 2012

 

Personal Favorite 2012
FTC: ARC from HNR Magazine
Review will be in August Issue. 
Photo: Library Thing























© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2010].

The Virgin Cure, by Ami McKay- TLC Book Tour

 
THE VIRGIN CURE

Ami McKay

Harper Collins 

June 26, 2012, 

HC, 336pp,  

978-0061140327

$25.99.

\

Is it possible that men really believed that by taking the maiden head of a young woman he would be cured of a host of socially transmitted diseases, most importantly, the pox?  Ami McKay has created a heartfelt story a young girl named “Moth.” She was abandoned by her father, and at the age of twelve was sold by her mother to a wretched wealthy woman who abused her with sadistic pleasure. Moth breaks free but her theft of a bracelet will only last so far. The year is 1871 and McKay depicts the horrors of life on the streets for thousands of young children who stayed alive by any means possible. Moral principles succumbed to a need to survive through desperate illegal and illicit behavior.
Moth is soon befriended by a young girl who offers her a chance to get off the streets. She introduces Moth to Miss Everett, the madam of a brothel who caters to the whims of wealthy gentlemen.  They pay enormous sums to bed a young virgin. Miss Everett proudly and protectively cultivates the street girls to exude beauty and class.  The girls learn to enchant their dates with sensual tension that only furthers to increase negotiations. Moth meets Dr. Sadie, a female physician who takes care of the girls in residence.  Dr. Sadie questions young Moth’s age as her innocence is apparent beneath her bravado and intelligence. As Moth dreams of a better life, a life of independence and freedom to be herself she believes Miss Everett will provide a secure future. Dr. Sadie and Moth develop a friendship that allows her to see life outside the illusion of comfort provided by Miss Everett.

Ami McKay

Her story is easily imagined by Ami McKay’s captivating recreation of tenement life in New York.  In her author notes, she explains her motivation and research that led her to Moth Fenwick’s story. She tells her surprise at her discovery of the myth of what is called “the virgin cure.” Ami McKay’s shaping of Moth is a composite of so many young girls on the streets, homeless and doing whatever it takes to survive. Moth will be remembered for her courage and her strong voice of determination that covers up her frightened soul.  Moth walks the reader down the dirty social history of city life in the late 1800’s where countless of homeless children struggled to survive life on the streets with hard and desperate choices that often ended in tragedy.  A wonderful vivid enveloping historical fiction read.  Will no doubt present comparisons and reflection about children worldwide who struggle, fearful and alone to this day.  

Disclosure:  A copy of this book was provided by TLC Book Tours for an unbiased review.

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2012].