I combined September and October because ... well, I only finished one book in September. There were a few reasons for that but the main reason was that I was working on a book I started in August and I found it very hard going. But, instead of just DNF'ing it, I wanted to finish it because I like the time period it was set in. The problem was that when I would put it down I never wanted to pick it up again. And I guess I felt guilty starting something else. And there was a lot of good television I wanted to watch. And ... well, enough excuses. By October I stopped feeling guilty leaving it and started reading other things.
- Jamie MacGillivray: The Renegade's Journey by John Sayles. I think the word "Journey" is an appropriate word for the title. This is the book I had a hard time finishing. This is the last of my "Scotland" books that I started in August. You may remember that the main character of the first Scotland book I read, The Bookseller of Inverness, was also named MacGillivray and he had survived the Battle of Culloden and transportation to the colonies, only to return to his home town of Inverness. The MacGillivray in this novel has a similar journey without returning to Scotland. But this novel goes into much greater detail about the horror of the Battle of Culloden and its aftermath, the horror of being imprisoned in London for treason, the horror of being transported across the ocean, the horror of being attacked by privateers, the horror of being enslaved on a plantation in Georgia, the horror of being captured by native Americans - and that's only the first half of the novel. With so much horror I kept putting it down and reading other things. In the end it took me almost 2 months to finish it. It was good enough that I wanted to finish it but at the same time I kept wanting to leave it. When Jamie is finally captured by Indians and becomes involved in the beginning of the French and Indian War (and another main character ends up in Quebec) it began to move faster for me because French North America is a particular interest of mine (and there was less horror). But in the end, I can't really recommend this book. I truthfully think it would make a good mini-series. Detail can be captured on film with a shot that lasts a few seconds. In a novel, the detail takes pages (and pages and pages and pages).
- The Fraud: A Novel by Zadie Smith. This is the only book I finished in September. I love Zadie Smith's writing and although this is the first historical novel she has written I ended up loving it as much as the other works of hers that I have read. The novel opens with a home catastrophe brought on by the weight of too many books in the library/study which causes many books to crash through the floor to the room below. I was a little nervous when it turned out that it was a history of the Battle of Culloden that turned out to be the straw that broke the camel's back (Culloden again!). And the main character, the widow Eliza Touchet, is also Scottish. But this is not a Scottish novel. Eliza is the housekeeper for her deceased husband's cousin, a one-time best selling author who is in his declining years. Both of them are people who really lived but are not much remembered today (in fact, not much at all is known about Eliza). Set in the 19th century in the times of Dickens, the main "fraud" in this novel involves a real life incident where a man claimed to be the long lost heir to a great fortune. The main witness for the fraudster was an elderly, formerly enslaved Jamaican man who is also a character in this novel. The legal proceedings around this are always in the background as the main characters, and all of London, follow the trial avidly. Those of the lower classes see this as a populist cause and echoes of our own times are all over this part of the plot. But there are other "frauds" that are ongoing in the novel. I enjoyed the many layers of this novel and recommend it as well as Zadie Smith's other novels (all of which are set in modern times).
- The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman (A Thursday Murder Club Novel). The next installment of the Thursday Murder Club, this episode features our elderly main characters investigating the death of a local antiques dealer whom they knew. As usual it is delightful and I think he captures these elderly detectives beautifully. But a warning - if you had or have a loved one with Alzheimers you may find parts of this book very difficult. VERY difficult. I did not expect to find myself crying my eyes out in the middle of a cozy murder mystery.
- The Accidental Detectorist: Uncovering an Underground Obsession by Nigel Richardson. When the pandemic stopped all travel, a travel writer decided to learn about metal detecting. He could travel through British history. Richardson takes you through his journey, buying equipment, learning the how's and where's of the hobby and the joys of finding things. As someone who was always interested in archaeology, this seems like the perfect hobby and while reading I briefly considered taking it up. But, then I realized that while America has been inhabited many thousands of years, the only metal objects I would find would be a few hundred years old at most.
- The Umbrella by A. M. Stuart. This novella is a prequel to the Harriet Gordon mystery series which is set in southeast Asia in the early 1900's. In the series we know that Harriet, a widow, had been arrested in London as part of the demonstrations for Women's Suffrage and that she had been force fed. This novella is that story. I liked it because it filled in some of Harriet's background, although as with many novellas there wasn't much to it.
- Terror in Topaz by A. M. Stuart. This is the fourth book in the Harriet Gordon mystery series. In this novel, Harriet and her brother travel to Kuala Lumpur (in present day Malaysia) because her brother has a job offer. While there, a murder (of course) takes place and Harriet is in the midst of it. I mainly read these mysteries because they have a good sense of place - I find myself googling pictures of places a lot when reading. As mysteries they are fine but are not my favorites.
