Shrines of Gaiety

Set in London in the 1926, Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson is largely the story of Nellie Coker and her family who own a group of night clubs in London. Nellie has just been released from prison and she returns home to discover that the nightclubs are under threat from men who want to either take over the business or close her down. Nellie finds that there are also issues within her family that need attention.

Another thread of the novel deals with the life of a young girl, Freda, who comes to London with her friend Florence to seek fame and fortune in the theatre. Meanwhile Chief Inspector Frobisher is investigating the disappearance of young girls who turn up drowned in the Thames. He enlists former librarian Gwendolen Keller to assist him by working undercover to discover what is happening.

As many of the population of London try to forget the effects of the recent war by attending clubs, consuming large quantites of alcohol and drugs and gambling it is obvious that there is a crime wave in the city and some members of the police force are major players in this crime wave.

The author provides the reader with a large number of characters with which to engage and I found that it took quite some time to fully follow what was happening. The storyline is further confused when sometimes the author provides information relevant to the plot then in the next chapter or two provides other information that occurred earlier disrupting the unveiling of the plot. However, when I eventually worked out how the author was telling the story I enjoyed reading the book.

The Long Game

Last week I turned on the radio and heard the last part of an interview conducted by David Astle with Australian author, Simon Rowell. They were talking about a new series of crime books set in Victoria. The first in the series is The Long Game, published in 2021.

Detective Sergeant Zoe Mayer has returned to the homicide squad in Melbourne after extended leave. She brings Harry with her, her service dog. The reader gradually learns about the reasons for Zoe's long absence. Immediately when she returns to work, Zoe attends the murder of Ray Carlson, a surfer living at Portsea. All the evidence, plus an anonymous phone call, point to the person responsible for the crime but Zoe suspects that they have the wrong person. When she learns about two similar cases that also occurred in February during the previous two years she sets out to investigate the links between the deaths of the three men. Zoe soon discovers that her life is also in danger.

Most of the action occurs on the Mornington Peninsula and in Melbourne. Reading about places that you know in books adds another dimension to the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this first book about Zoe Mayer and her team and look forward to reading Wild Card, the next book in the series.

Dawnlands

Dawnlands is the third book in the Fairmile Series by Philippa Gregory. The time period in the novel covers 1685-1688 when James II was King of England and Ireland. In Scotland he was known as James VII. He was the last of the Stuart kings. There were those who wanted the king to restore the power of the Roman Catholic church in England while others wanted the country to remain protestant.

Ned Ferryman returns to England from America to join the protestant armies opposed to the king. As he is leaving he notices a native lad who he knew when he was in the area known as Dawnlands. The lad is about to board a slave ship so Ned purchases him to take to England where he will be free.When he realises that his new purchase is actually a girl he names her Rowan allowing her to keep her true identity hidden during the voyage.

Back in England Alinor and Alys are now running a profitable business as owners of a wharf and storage sheds where goods from overseas can be stored before being sold. The two women have been foster mothers to Matthew, the son of Livia - a woman who always seems to cause chaos in other people's lives. She has been summoned to the palace as a lady-in-waiting for the new queen and soon greatly extends her power and influence in the life at court and the lives of other people who have the misfortune to know her.

In these tumultuous times with the threat of rebellion against the king ever present, Livia manages to persuade the queen to grant her son the manor at Foulmire and surrounding lands, allowing Alinor the opportunity to return to the area where she grew up. This land was the setting of the two previous books. This, of course, allows Livia the opportunity to use the largesse from the queen to further manipulate Alinor's family.

When the uprising against the king fails Ned and Johnny find themselves in Barbados - an island thriving on sugar and slavery. Along with religious intolerance, slavery is one of the themes in this work of fiction set against a historical background.

The Happiest Man on Earth

In 2020 Eddie Jaku (Abraham Salomon Jakubowicz) wrote his memoir, The Happiest Man on Earth. Born in Leipzig in 1920, his family were proud Germans, although his father was originally an immigrant from Poland. They were also Jewish. All that changed when Hitler and his followers came to power in 1933. 

Eddie's father decided that Eddie would make a good engineer but he was unable to study in Leipzig as it was known that his family was Jewish. His father therefore had identity papers forged providing Eddie with a new start as Walter Schleif and allowing him to attend the Jeter und Shearer mechanical engineering college in Tuttlingen. He studied there for five years and in 1938 graduated as the top apprentice of the year from the school.

Eddie missed his parents and decided to visit them on their twentieth wedding anniversary. He arrived to discover the house was empty. The family was hiding as they had been warned that trouble was brewing for local Jews. Eddie woke in the morning to discover that his family home was invaded by ten Nazis who dragged him from the bed and beat him. This invasion of Jewish homes plus attacks on Jewish people became known as Kristallnacht. Eddie and other survivors were taken to Buchenwald, a concentration camp. This was the beginning of Eddie's endurance during the next seven years. 

Throughout the book Eddie addresses the reader as his friend as he recalls his frightening and powerful story. Eddie was luckier than some for, as a trained mechanical engineer, his skills were required by the Germans for the war effort. However his treatment by many of the Germans was horrific.

This is a story of survival. For Eddie it is also a story about the importance of friendship, love, hope and family, the importance of laughter and of education plus the determination to never give up no matter how hard the situation may be. 

After the war Eddie returned to Belgium which had earlier rejected him as he was a German, even though he had stressed that he was being persecuted as a Jew. He was granted work because of his skills but had to reapply every six months to stay in the country. Eventually he and his wife and child were able to travel to Australia where they lived and worked for seventy years.

For many years Eddie refused to talk to family members about his life during the war but eventually agreed to talk to small, and then larger, groups of people. In 1972 twenty holocaust survivors met in Sydney. Ten years later the group became the Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, and eventually the Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants. The Sydney Jewish Museum was established allowing people to tell their stories.

Not all survivors can come to terms with the atrocities committed against the Jews during the Second World War. But on page 173 Eddie stresses that "I have been lucky enough and had enough love and friendship in my life that I have been able to release the anger I felt towards them (the Nazis). It does no good to hold on to anger. Anger leads to fear, which leads to hate, which leads to death."

Eddie's story is a positive story that we can all learn from. He concluded his talks with this advice:

"May you always have lots of love to share,

Lots of good health to spare,

And lots of good friends who care."

In conclusion he writes in his book: "Please every day, remember to be happy, and to make others happy too. Make yourself a friend to the world. Do this for your new friend, Eddie."

Eddie Jaku died on 12 October, 2021, aged 101.

Remembering Eddie Jaku

The Happiest Man on Earth: 99 year old man Holocaust survivor shares his story - Youtube 

Remembering Eddie Jaku: The Happiest Man on Earth - The Project 

Remembering Eddie Jaku: Holocaust survivor - The Drum

Elizabeth Macarthur's Letters

John Macarthur has long been considered a leading figure in early Sydney colonial history however recently attention has been directed towards his wife, Elizabeth, highlighting her role in the partnership.

In the novel, A Room Made of Leaves, Kate Grenville used Elizabeth as the major character. Another recent book featuring Elizabeth is Elizabeth & Elizabeth by Sue Williams - a novel based on the lives of Elizabeth Macarthur and Elizabeth Macquarie in the colony, especially their roles as wives of two powerful men. 

When researching records for A Room Made of Leaves, Kate Grenville came across a selection of letters that Elizabeth Macarthur had written to her family in England about her life in New South Wales. An edited selection of the letters is included in the book, Elizabeth Macarthur's Letters, along with brief analysis by the editor explaining what was happening when the letters were written.

This compilation not only shows an aspect of the life and relationship between Elizabeth and John but more importantly, for those of us interested in this period of history, adds context to what was happening in the colony at the time.

It has long been known, by observing reports of his actions, that John Macarthur was often a ruthless and conflicted man, however the correspondence shows John's mental deterioration, including behaviour towards his family, towards the  end of his life. It is perhaps fortunate for the colony that Elizabeth was there to keep the family together and to oversee the running of the family properties when her husband was absent.

Year of Wonders

In 1665 the plague invaded England, particularly London. The people living in the small village of Eyam in Derbyshire were not particularly concerned until a case was discovered in their village. Cloth that had been brought to the village from London was affected with fleas carrying the plague.

Geraldine Brooks has set her novel, Years of Wonders, in Eyam during the years 1665 and 1666 when villagers were struggling to live in a world where they were cut off from the rest of the country until the plague subsided. Although the book is based on a true story, it is historical fiction and the author has created her own characters and events to tell her story.

Anna Frith, a widow with two sons, lives and works in the village - part of the time at the vicarage and part of the time at the big house. As the number of villagers affected with the plague increases, the decision is made to close the borders of the village placing the village in isolation from the rest of the country. This helped limit the spread of the diease in neighbouring areas but resulted in 260 deaths in the village over fourteen months. How the villagers coped with this situation is the focus of the novel.

The book is primarily about how different people cope and react in difficult and dangerous situations. It is about love and caring for others. It is also about fear and fanaticism. It is about the need to learn new ways to survive. Set in the seventeenth century the novel also looks at the struggle between religion and science to understand what was happening.

Years of Wonders was first published in 2002. The story of events in Eyam, historical and fictional, became all the more relevant with the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

Great Plague of 1665-1666 - National Archives

Why is Eyam significant? - Historic UK 

Eyam recalls lessons from 1665 - The Guardian 15 March 2020

The Secret World of Connie Starr

This family saga begins in Ballarat in 1934 when Connie Starr was born. Her mother knew from the start that Connie was different. Connie lived with her parents in a Baptist manse with her two step-brothers and one step-sister. Her father was a Baptist minister. By the time that Connie is five World War II has commenced and life in Ballarat changes for many families as some of the men go off to war and rationing is introduced in Australia. There are many challenges to be faced.

Connie spends much of her time in the lemon tree in the back garden. From the tree she can view, and usually hear, what is going on in the garden and in the church grounds next door. Connie knows many secrets. She also lives in her own world where she can see angels and demons and their battles.

The Secret World of Connie Satrr is a book about family relationships and the relationships between close neighbours in difficult times. Themes include the polio epidemic, the impact of war on the families remaining in Australia and the ability of people to turn their lives around when faced with challenging circumstances. It also provides a picture of life in Ballarat in the 1930s and 1940s.

Murder in Williamstown

Murder in Williamstown by Kerry Greenwood contains a number of mysteries needing to be resolved.

Phryne Fisher receives a number of threatening notes in her letterbox and enlists Tinker's assistance in finding the sender. 

Dot is very concerned that her fiance, Sergeant Hugh Collins, may be be losing interest in her. 

Phryne's daughters, Jane and Ruth, discover that someone has been fiddling the books when they undertake work experience at the Blind Institute. 

Then when Phryne visits a friend at Williamstown she discovers the body of a man on the beach and then several days laters witnesses the murder of another man. 

Admidst her busy social life, private investigator Phryne Fisher always has time to assist the police with their enquiries. Another amusing account of life and crime in Melbourne in 1929.

A World of Curiosities

Many years earlier Chief Inspector Armand Gamache had attended the murder of a young mother, Clotilde Arseault. Her children, Fiona 14 and Sam 10, had reported theat their mother was missing. Now the body was located in a nearby lake. It was while investigating this case that Armand first encountered Jean-Guy Beauvoir, a young policeman with a grudge against the world. To everyon'e surprise Armand decides to give him a chance and invites him to help with the case.

Return to the present and Armand with his wife is attending a graduation ceremony of engineering students. Fiona Clotilde is one of the graduates. Myrna's niece, Harriet has won a special award. The ceremony has additional significance as in 1989 fourteen female engineering students were murdered at the college. 

At the graduation ceremony Armand was disturbed to see that Sam was in the audience. What was more disturbing was that Sam was planning to visit Three Pines where his sister was currently staying.

Back in Three Pines Myrna was thinking of moving somewhere else to live as the present accommodation was too small, especially when Harriet came to stay. During a discussion it was mentioned that there was probably a second room blocked off from Myrna's bedroom. A letter written in the 1860s describing how he was asked to build such a wall is discovered. Myrna and her friends investigate and discover not just another room but a collection of curiosities that possibly have links to the distant, and not so distant, past.

Louise Penny in A World of Curiosities has written a powerful and often dark novel about psychopaths and how they gravely affect the lives of those around them. The book also deals with misogyny, hatred, love, treatment of women considered to be witches, the importance of items in archives belonging to everyday people as well as those belonging to the famous, and, of course, the importance of a loving and supportive community.

Fortunately I read this book during the January holidays as I just had to keep reading it. Although I did work out who the pychopath was that Armand and his team were looking for, I still had to find out how all the pieces fitted together. A character from earlier novels in this series, Amelia Choquet, also assists with the investigation. Definitely a good holiday read.

 December 6 - Memory and Remembrance

The Paston Treasure - Painting at Norfolk Museum

Nimblefoot

Johnny Day was known as The Pedestrian Child Wonder. He started taking part in walking races from around eight years of age and he is recorded as winning 101 races in Melbourne, Sydney and London by the age of ten. He was a small but seemingly tireless walker winning races against adults. As well as prize money, Johnny's father made money by taking bets on his son's races. When walking opportunities started disappearing, Johnny became a jockey and in 1870 won the Melbourne Cup on a horse named Nimblefoot. By this time Johnny was fourteen. This is the last we hear of Johnny Day.

Robert Drewe has taken what is known about Johnny and continued the story in the novel, Nimblefoot. He therefore mixes fact with fiction in the novel. He continues the early story of Johnny's life weaving snippits of historical facts with imagination to continue Johnny's story.

The action of the novel originally takes place in Ballarat and Melbourne and then in Western Australia. Lola Montez and Captain Standish are some of the historical characters receiving mentions as the story unfolds and the author provides glimpses of what trying to make a living in parts of southern Western Australia may have been like in the 1870s. All in all Robert Drewe provides a great yarn as Johnny tries to make a new life far away from people who are following him and probably want him dead.

Master Johnny Day, Australian Champion Pedestrian

He won the Melbourne Cup at 14 then vanished - Sydney Morning Herald 4 August 2022

Geraldine Brooks on Tim Winton

Geraldine Brooks has written this book on Tim Winton in the Writers on Writers series. She provides a short, 76 page analysis of Tim Winton's writing and why she likes his books. She explains why his books have been important for her, especially when she has been working away from Australia. 

Tim Winton's books have been published since 1982. He has won the Miles Franklin award four times (Shallows 1984, Cloudstreet 1992, Dirt Music 2002 and Breath 2009) and his book The Riders was short listed for the Booker Prize in 1995. He has also written books for children.

Tim Winton's novels are normally set in Western Australia and often have something to do with water or the sea. He sets out to write stories where the plot is important but also places emphasis on characters and the environment in which the book is set. Many of the incidents in his books are based on people he has known and / or events that he has experienced. Geraldine Brooks discusses some of the aspects of Tim Winton's life that have impacted on his writing.

Perhaps Tim Winton's most famous work is Cloudstreet which was later turned into a play and a television series. I started reading the novel many years ago but became frustrated with realistic down and out characters who when life appeared to be improving for them made even more mistakes. I only got half way through the novel. I think it is time that I gave it another try. I have enjoyed a number of Tim Winton's other novels including Breath, Dirt Music, Eyrie and The Shepherd's Hut.

The House of Fortune

The House of Fortune by Jessie Burton is the sequel to The Miniaturist. It is now 1705. Eighteen years has passed and Nella's niece, Thea, has just turned eighteen. Nella and Thea live with Otto, Thea's father in the family home in Amsterdam along with Cornelia, Thea's former nursemaid. The family fortune has all but disappeared and Nella decides that Thea needs to marry into a rich family. However Thea has already met Walter at the theatre she regularly visits and envisages her life with him.

Nella arranges for Thea to attend a ball where a potential husband for Thea may be found. There they meet a young lawyer named Jacob van Loos who is looking for a wife. At the same gathering Otto meets Caspar Witsen who has plans for growing pineapples in hothouses, if he can find a suitable place and obtain the required finance. 

Then one morning Thea discovers a small parcel addressed to her on the doorstep. It is a miniature figure of Walter. She later discovers other figures in a box in the attic where Nella has hidden them. Nella has been hoping that the miniaturist may return and help her but it is Thea who now receives the samll gifts including a tiny house and a pineapple. Thea keeps the items hidden from her family and they are reluctant to tell her of past events in the family story. The time comes for members of the family, not just Thea, to make decisions that will affect the whole family.