Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Paris Time Capsule, by Ella Carey

In "Paris Time Capsule," Ella Carey tells the intriguing story of a Parisian flat that was sealed for 70 years.

In 1940, Isabelle de Florian locked the door to her flat on the Rue Blanche for the last time. Inside was a time capsule from France's glorious Belle Epoque era, 1871 to 1914. Virtually every surface was covered with the gifts her grandmother, Marthe de Florian, had received from wealthy, powerful male admirers when she was the pre-eminent Demimondaine (courtesan) of Paris society. When Isabelle dies in 2010 at the age of 91, her will mysteriously leaves the flat and its contents to Cat Jordan, an American photographer who is the granddaughter of Isabelle's closest friend, Virginia, an American who spent many years living with Isabelle and Marthe in the 1930s. Cat, however, had never heard her grandmother speak of Isabelle, and Isabelle's descendants know nothing of the flat. Why did Isabelle turn her back on the apartment? Why did she not leave it to her own family? Why did she leave it to Virginia's granddaughter when she never contacted Virginia after 1940? These are just a few of the questions that Carey answers as she meticulously unfolds the story.

The time capsule flat actually existed. It was unsealed in 2010, and it was indeed owned by Isobelle de Florian. The story Carey tells, however, is an intriguing and absorbing fictional tale told by a master storyteller who grabs the reader and does not let go. In her more recent, "The House by the Lake," Carey unfolds her inspired tale even further. I read each novel in one sitting apiece, and I am impatiently awaiting her next novel.

Print Length: 282 pages
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (May 26, 2015)
Publication Date: May 26, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

The House by the Lake, by Ella Carey

In "The House by the Lake," Ella Carey rolls out a story of a "schloss" or landed estate, in the former East Germany that was almost destroyed, first by the Nazis and then by the Soviet occupation, and that has been left to rot in a village that is also dying. In telling the story of this schloss, Carey focuses on 94 year old Max Albrecht and his granddaughter, Anna, living in 2010, San Francisco. After the story breaks about a time capsule flat in Paris, opened after 70 years of abandonment, Max asks Anna to do one favor for him. He has never spoken of his past, but he asks her to retrieve something for him hidden in the schloss, his family's ancestral home.

As Anna carries out her task, her family's past unfolds for her, one small morsel at a time. Anna learns that her grandfather had a connection to the time capsule flat, and that he fled the Nazis, and his family in 1940. Since he has always refused to discuss the past, she must figure out why he never went back to Germany and why he cut all ties with his family. Along the way, as Anna visits the cosmopolitan, reunified Berlin, and the struggling rural villages of the former DDR, she learns that "the past must be dealt with on its own terms."

This is not a history book, although there is history in it as Carey goes back and forth between the 1930s and 2010. It also is not a frothy romance, although there is romance. It is historical fiction, with some true history. It also tells a very intriguing, suspenseful story that will make you think.

(I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)
Print Length: 258 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1503934152
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (March 29, 2016)
Publication Date: March 29, 2016
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

The Goldfinch: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction), by Donna Tartt

This is a book that will haunt you in the best sense of that word. Ignore the snarky reviews that claim the book is defective because it has a young protagonist. So did "Catcher in the Rye," and several of Mark Twain's novels. Having a young protagonist does not make this book a "Harry Potter-style, children's book," as several of the book's most famous critics have asserted. The Goldfinch is a story of a young man who is lost emotionally and mentally after his mother is killed in a terrorist bombing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He survived, and events occurred during the bombing and its aftermath that unfold in the book. I loved this book, and I loved the flawed and wonderful characters that Donna Tartt brought to life, including the artist who painted the Goldfinch, and his vulnerable little bird. If you love to read good books, you will love this book

Print Length: 760 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (October 22, 2013)
Publication Date: October 22, 2013
Sold by: Hachette Book Group

The Cottage at the End of the Lane: A Foldout Dollhouse Story, By Elaine Mills

A charming, endearing book. Written as a children's book, but you will want to keep it for yourself.


Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; First Edition edition (August 9, 1994)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0517597039
ISBN-13: 978-0517597033
Product Dimensions: 0.5 x 8.5 x 10.5 inches

Picture Miss Seeton (A Miss Seeton Mystery Book 1), by Heron Carvic

"Picture Miss Seeton" was first published in 1968, but the setting is not the swinging England one associates with the 1960s. Instead, the interaction between the characters, as well as Carvic's description of village life, could easily be placed at any time in the 1950's. As one who enjoys to time travel while reading, I found this to be one of the book's greatest attractions.

On the eve of visiting her newly inherited cottage, in the (fictious) English coastal village of Plummergen, Miss Seeton stumbles upon a London murder in progress. She confronts the murderer by poking him with her umbrella. Thus, Miss Seeton becomes embroiled in her first murder mystery.

Her country cottage is everything it should be, including a cupboard under the stairs, a twisty staircase, and a quiet bedroom facing the rear garden. As all of her new village neighbors cluck, with "seed borne on the breath of a scandal," about Miss Seeton's very recent run-in with a murder in London, (which, of course, was in all of the newspapers), Miss Seeton tries to settle into what may become her permanent new home. Peace, however, is not what she finds. After befriending a young resident of the village, she approaches the police detective on "her" murder case, and innocently passes along information on another crime from her young friend. The detective is then sure that Miss Seeton has the soul of a crime solver and admonishes his aide de camp that until he can understand Miss Seeton, he will "get nowhere as a detective."

Although Miss Seeton appears to be a subtle parody of Miss Marple, the gentleness with which Carvic depicts her, combined with his obvious admiration for the toughness of his "old bird," belies any notion that he intended her to be the object of ridicule. This book is a great introduction to the Miss Seeton cozy mystery series. Those readers who like a good cozy mystery, with a touch of grit and a gallon of very funny humor, will be very glad it is back in print.


(I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)
Print Length: 209 pages
Publisher: Farrago; 3 edition (May 5, 2016)
Publication Date: May 5, 2016
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Miss Seeton Draws the Line (A Miss Seeton Mystery Book 2), By Heron Carvic

The year is sometime in the 1960s and Scotland Yard is stumped. There is a child murderer on the loose and the Yard has no clue as to who it is or why the children are being murdered. Detective Superintendent Delphick, known as "The Oracle," calls in Emily Seeton, ("MissEss"), a retired art instructor who helped him solve a series of murders in "Picture Miss Seeton," the first novel in this series.

MissEss, deeply concerned that she doesn't have much artistic talent, proves just the opposite as her intuitive, and probably psychic, abilities allow her to draw sketches for the Oracle that identify a child at risk, that crack the modus operandi of a series of Post Office robberies, and that identify two very nasty murderers. Along the way, MissEss's empathetic instincts also save an unjustly accused young man, and cause her to unknowingly place herself in great danger multiple times. MissEss, however, has a new friend who recognizes that MissEss and her umbrella ("brolly") are survivors. This friend, newly promoted, crime writer, Miss Mel Forby, proves, in many ways, to be as understatedly brilliant at her job as MissEss is at hers.

Heron Carvic clearly loved MissEss and took great joy in writing about her escapades with a dry, subtle wit that may have scorched the village busy bodies, but never disrespected his heroines. This is a five star novel written by a five star author. I highly recommend that you gobble up this series.


(I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)
Print Length: 212 pages
Publisher: Farrago; 3 edition (May 5, 2016)
Publication Date: May 5, 2016
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC