Morality for Beautiful Girls ( I still love me some Alexander McCall Smith)

I was at a friend’s cottage this past weekend and we had a fabulous time! Luckily, in between outdoor adventures, trivial pursuit ( with just the cards, not the whole game ), beer, s’mores and chatting, there was time to read Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith In this sweet installment of the always-pleasing No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Mma Ramotswe has quite a bit on her plate --- even for a traditionally-built woman.

Her fiancé, the excellent Mr.J.L.B. Matekoni is suffering from the signs of depression, a Government Official believes that his sister-in-law is trying to poison his brother and bills are piling up at the agency—with few too cases to counter them. Not to mention, J.L.B. Matekoni is unavailable to work in his condition and while he hides out at the orphan farm to recuperate and take some medication, Mma Makutse ( her prickly, be-spectacled and utterly delightful secretary) finds herself the manager of Twolkeng Speedy Motors. It is a sumptuous book. Mma Ramotswe is so jolly and delightful she’s Prozac! You just feel giddy reading about her and how innately good she is.

This particular installment delves into the backstory of her adopted orphans, Puso and Motholeli and gave a bleak glimpse into the hardships African children undergo upon the death of parents. McCall Smith speaks very starkly about J.L.B’s depression and we, as well as Mma Ramotswe, not only sympathize but no what is at stake for someone so well respected to be under the cloud of such a condition. Mma Ramotswe goes undercover to a farm near her home village of Mochudi and we see, for the first time, how the legacy of her father has rippled through the local community.

I really enjoyed this book and its subtle wisdom. What a great tonic these stories are! While Mma Ramotswe is out of Gabarone, Mma Makutsi is approached by Two Shots Poulani: one of Botswana’s lead Beauty Contest orchestrators ( according to McCall Smith, beauty pageants are quite popular in Bostwana and they always jump at a chance to crown a pretty girl). Sponsors are concerned that the women parading in the pageants do not have the moral integrity needed to provide a good example to spectators. Thus, Mma Makutsi ( who, face it!, has always found women in short skirts and heels problematic due to her own dwindling self worth) has no trouble writing off girls who aren’t nearly worthy enough of the title of Miss Beauty and Integrity. When she finds a beautiful, rural girl who not only embodies the humble spirit needed of a girl of integrity but wants to attend the Botswana Secretarial College, Mma Makutsi finds herself rooting for a beauty contest contestant. All in all a charmingly wonderful story.

The Piano Teacher by Janice Lee

I recently joined a book club with some work colleagues.

I had been a previous book club in university but that turned quickly into “book club”: an excuse to get together at the pub and drink red wine and conveniently forget to read the book. Besides, one co-bookclubber wanted to read She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb and as it wasn't 1999 and as we are no longer in high school, we cannot make excuses for that kind of thing, booksnob that we are.

So…..

This book club is meeting for the first time at a favourite haunt in the Annex on Wednesday Night and I have high hopes. Why? Because we read a book that has a lot of points for discussion.

The Piano Teacher with its startling cover, comparison to Michael Ondaatje and caption that “Sometimes the end of a Love Affair is really just the beginning” gives the impression of an exotic, perhaps tortured love story set in the orient, with colour and lovemaking and regret and loss.

It brought to mind the Painted Veil ( that gorgeously-spun book by W. Somerset Maugham) on first contact.

Reading it, however, left me with quite a different impression.

This is not a mysterious beach read. This is not the enigmatic Memoirs of A Geisha: what with its romanticized world of the mystic orient and its slowly unfurling love-story.

Instead, it is a troubled, troubled story about lust, greed, power and corruption: set against the canvas of Japanese occupied Hong Kong in the early 1940s.

Flipping to and fro from 1950s Hong Kong and the viewpoint of the English Piano Teacher,Claire Pendleton, to the wartime experiences of her love, Will Truesdale: a Britishmen helplessly in love with a Eurasian goddess, the socialite Trudy Liaing.

Will and Trudy’s wartime experience vibrates well into the next decade and, readers surmise, into generations thereafter.

This is a wonderfully written book with sparse, taught prose and a real “feel” for the time and place. Lee has done her research and her words just breathe the essence and place she is writing about.

A sometimes-problematic approach, Lee’s descent into war-time Hong Kong and back to the early 1950s runs very smoothly.

A mystery involving the famed and fictional “Crown Collection” ( an abundance of wealth the Japanese long to capture from British occupants) is the centre of many different, tragic lives.

The story’s thesis is not so much about love experienced and lost rather the lengths people will go to sustain propensity, status and wealth. Lee’s descriptions of the foreign English internment camps erected by the Japanese invaders were harrowing and sad. Indeed, I knew very little about this slice of the war before reading about it in the book.

The main problem ( and its hard to say problem because this may well be Lee’s intention ) is how unlikeable all of the characters are. I had trouble identifying with the exotic and sexualized Trudy, the proud and stiflingly honourable Will, and especially the social-climbing Claire: who pilfers trinkets and scarves from her employers when she arrives to teach daily piano lessons.

Perhaps I had trouble identifying with the characters because I refused to see what drastic measures and actions they took in relation to myself. It is hard to imagine how one would act and what lengths they would go to in order to survive during a war-occupied regime. Lee’s characters often cross the line between mere survival and survival-with-something-to-gain and it was this dark and deeply upsetting perimeter that mostly affected me.

There is a wealth of discussion strewn through the book and it will make a fabulous book club pick for any group! The edition I have comes complete with a book club guide but anyone reading the book will find points popping up straight of the page.

Readers of Wayson Choy, Lisa See and Ondaantje will not be disappointed!

Rachel and Courtney talk a whole lot of "Jack!"( we're a tad loquacious).

disclaimer: I ain't so savvy with the accents on the computer, y'all. So, when we type "Ate's" name --- I want you to know that it doesn't read "Ate" ( as in I ate some carrots whilst watching the World Cup); rather, "TAY" as in parTAY (with carrots while watching the World Cup)! savvy? second, this little book dialogue contains some spoiler-ish content ( but not enough to keep you from wanting to run out and buy the book, methinks)

'Member when Courtney and I discussed Georgette Heyer and it changed your lives? well, we're back! together! la la la !

Rachel:Courtney read the Blooding of Jack Absolute. I have been trying to get Courtney to read TBoJA since, umm, since 200--- when did it come out again?

Courtney: This one came out in 2005. First Jack book came out in 2003.

Rachel: So, when Court texted me saying she was reading some Jack. I thought: count me in! This stuff is FUUUN! ---plus, it takes me back to my university student years. Court, you might have to get us through the first part of the novel because I have not read it in FOREVER! Readers, I just picked up my copy and read from the chapter called “Ate” onward --- ‘cause that’s where all the best stuff is. So, Court, maybe you want to tell us about the first three quarters of the book: like, with Jack and Craster and an annoying female character ( or two ) and Plains of Abraham and Stuff ( to put it eloquently). What was your initial impression of our friend Jack( other than the fact that he looks like Jack Davenport)?

Courtney:Well! Prologue starts when he’s about … 7 I think? Anyway, we meet Jack as who is constantly beat and bullied by his uncle, and his older (by a year) cousin Craster. (And so, the first parallel between Jack and Craster: both were born out of wedlock, and so are considered bastards – except apparently Jack isn’t really a bastard, but we don’t learn that until later on.) Jack’s uncle dies, Craster is annoying (not in a good way), Jack’s parents show up, and whisk the two of them off to London, where they will both be attending (different) boarding schools. And you can’t help but feeling both annoyed with and protective of Jack. He’s a dumb boy who eggs things on, but these people who are supposed to be his protectors (read: his uncle) is a complete tyrant to him. Not cool! Fast forward however many years into the future when Jack is 16 (I think?). He and his friends have formed a society of “Mohoks” (sp?), which they’ve fashioned after the REAL Mohawks of Canada. (Woah, foreshadowing!) Jack gets into a duel with his cousin Craster (the kind of duels where pistols are shot, obviously), and then in order to save the family name and to escape the police etc etc, he gets into the British army, and is shipped off to Canada. (w00t w00t!) Which is where the fun begins. Oh, right, and before he is shipped off to Canada, he has relations with many women. One, he is in love with – a delicate, precious, goddess of a thing, who is rather annoying. One, taught him the art of making love – the mistress of another dude that Jack manages to serious piss off, and seriously the female should’ve known this would eventually happen. And I think there is one other, but I don’t know. Anyway, these parts were really boring. Because, seriously? Must ALL awesome adventure novels have the hero get into some kind of romantic encounter? BAH. It just detracts from the adventure story itself.

Rachel:Humphreys is not the only culprit here. I am looking at you, Bernard Cornwell and you Ian Fleming and you every- other- author -of -adventure- fiction -that -features -some -sort -of- “strong” -heroine ---is it to entice women to read “guy” books? pfft!I think girls want battles and bromance in their adventure novels. You need not cater to us. If we want our girly stuff, we can traipse over to Austen.

Courtney: Rachel, I know that you started when Ate shows up, but I have a sneaking suspicion that you’ll want to say something about the Plains of Abraham, so why don’t you continue tangentially on with how awesome and underrated Canadian history is?

Rachel: Really? I thought you would never ask!

THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM as retold by Rachel

-->the Battle of the Plains of Abraham was the pivotal battle in the SEVEN YEARS WAR ( don't ask me how long that war ran for ;) )--

-->It was fought by the British Army and the French army on the plains just outside the fortress of Quebec City.

-->it was the result of a three month siege on Quebec by the British and basically the action went down in an hour---Gen. James Wolfe led the British; Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm led the French

--> WOLFE AND MONTCALM ( is grade eight history coming back to you now? ) were mortally wounded during the Battle and people painted their deaths. ( Apparently Montcalm said something poignant on his deathbed like " I am glad" or " I am glad of it" or summat like that)

-->the Battle basically was the last straw and the last hold that the French had in any power/ ownership of Canadian land---within four years of the Plains of Abraham show-down, all of France's possessions in this area of North America were ceded to the British.

-->Jack was there!

Courtney:Ha! Brilliant! So yes, Jack fights in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, which was totally awesome because it’s a huge part of Canadian history (even if it only lasted like 15 minutes and a lot of Canadians don’t even know what it is when mentioned) and it made it seem so much more real than when reading history book entries about it. Because you care about the characters, and so it means more to you (not that it shouldn’t mean a lot, but there’s a lot of disconnect due to how many years ago it was)! This is how history should be taught! Anyway! Blah blah blah after that, Jack’s a slave, meets Ate, they don’t get along, then they escape together and then! This is where the fun stuff starts. Because the two of them spend ONE WHOLE WINTER in a cave with JUST THE TWO OF THEM and a dead bear (that they killed to get meat and other stuff and that was really the best part of the whole book). And do you know what keeps them occupied all winter and makes them the bestest of friends? --HAMLET. Because the Bard has a way of making enemies into friends, yo.

Rachel:Seriously. So, one of the things that Courtney and I wanted to address in ye olde Jack Absolute is the theatricality. First off, we should mention that Jack Absolute is not just a figment of the author’s imagination. Instead, he is a character featured in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Rivals (1775): a play I had to read in university—around the time I met “our” Jack. From the start, theatricality is embedded in the stories. There is something so wonderful about Ate mounting a tree stub and quoting the "To Be or Not To Be" soliloquy in his native language. Hamlet, for Jack and Ate, is an equalizer. We learn it is something that Jack can “trade” for Ate’s inherent wilderness skill and it obliterates language and cultural barrier for the two of them. In essence, Jack and Ate communicate through Hamlet: Jack teaching English to Ate all the while and Ate translating Hamlet ( as best possible ) into his own Iroquois language. I would have to say, Court, that it is one of the more brilliant literary turns in contemporary fiction. The chapter focusing on their re-hashing of Hamlet as the sleepy, cold winter drips past them is utterly unique, surprising and a type of meta-fiction I can sink my teeth into. Moreover, it provides a delightful contrast: the crude Canadian wilderness somehow made eloquent by a British and “cultured” play. A unifying force that binds their two starkly different worlds together. But, enough about Hamlet ( which, we will learn, is a recurring motif in the trilogy -- I say trilogy ‘cause where in bloody hell is the fourth book?), how about THE BEAR?

Courtney:Okay. So. The bear is really THE BEST moment in the whole book. I mean, here you are reading about how these two guys who hate each other are going to need to hunt deer all winter, and there’s all this snow, and they just have to SURVIVE… and then next moment, Jack is being chased down by a bear, and Ate is close on the bear’s trail. It’s like a scene out of a cartoon! And what makes this moment even better is how pivotal it is in the Jack and Ate relationship – this is the moment that Ate first calls Jack “Jack” (as opposed to “white boy”). And you can tell that it’s that type of moment where a friendship and brotherhood is born! And you know, it always seems to be those bigger moments when their friendship deepens – like when the guy who had enslaved the two of them come back into their lives for the first time, and Jack thinks that Ate is dead. Or when the two of them decide to take revenge on the men who had made their lives miserable (the guy who had enslaved them, and Jack’s cousin Craster).

Rachel: ALSO, we have to have a moment for when Jack speaks Iroquois in iambic pentameter. It is just such a delicious touch. Also, how EXCITED Ate is to fight in a battle. And their attempt to coerce the other into joining each other’s sphere: Jack wants to show Ate the world of Hamlet, Ate wants to show Jack the world of his school Mohock society. I am tickled to the gills.

Courtney:Yes! There are so many delicious bromance moments in this book! (And bromance is so much more awesome than romance!) So now you just have to let me know which is the next of the books that I should read, and I’ll be ready to hunt that one down!

Rachel: 'cept I can't remember what chronological order they go in. Anyone know?

Court, you and I should talk about books more often. We are just so dem'nd good at it.

(finis)

Movie Review: The Trotksy

I support Canadian film! Well, erm, I TRY to support Canadian film: I cannot stomach the idea of the new Paul Gross western.

The Trotsky (a T.I.F.F. favourite)is set in contemporary Montreal. It features Jay Baruchel --- who will have my heart forevermore after voicing Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon and Colm Feore --- who has always had my heart but has it even moreso since his turn as Cyrano in the Stratford Production of Cyrano de Bergerac last summer.

17 year old Leon Bronstein believes he is the reincarnation of the infamous Russian Revolutionary and once taken from his carefully-cloistered private school and placed in a run-of-the-mill public system he takes the term student “union” literally and plans to overthrow the Government. Here, the government is the tyrannical Mr. Berkhoff, played villainously by Feore.

I thought this film was fabulous. It was funny and clever and featured Baruchel in another empowering teenage role. Leon is not your average young man and his scheme border on manic. But, as his enemy, the head of the schoolboard attests, he is a brilliant young man. Baruchel is endearing as a vulnerable and confused teenager who experiences finding himself and his purpose by reimagining an intense part of liberal history.

As much as the coincidental circumstances in Leon’s life align with Trotsky’s (including an impassioned affair with an older law student named Alexandra), much of Leon’s experiences are created and crafted by an ingenious teenager who sees himself as having a greater part than his world allots.

The climactic scene in the film, where Leon stages a voluntary coup ( led by students dressed as the eponymous creatures from Orwell’s “Animal Farm” ) is surprisingly thrilling and tense. Leon’s a bit of a nutbar, but you want him to succeed. Sort of like the hero in a Gordon Korman novel… which leads me to surmise:

All-in-all, this film was cleverly written, utterly Canadian and immediately called to mind a plot from a Gordon Korman novel.

Now we just need to cast Jay Baruchel as the reincarnation of Boots in the MacDonald Hall series.

(also, Canadians, there is an amazingly giggly scene in which Baruchel's character is featured on E!Talk Daily with that annoyingly side-burned Ben Mulroney!....nice little inside Canadian joke)

Two Rachel Thumbs Up.

Author Field Trip: the Arthur Slade edition

So, last month Courtney, Kat and I headed out to Chapters Brampton ( read: the middle of nowhere ) to meet Arthur Slade who was in town ( all the way from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) promoting the excellent novel, The Dark Deeps, book II in the incredibly amazing, breathtaking, action packed, brimming with verisimilitude, mindblowing, earth-shattering, Jules Verne meets Victor Hugo at tea with Sherlock Holmes with Robert Louis Stevenson serving scones HUNCHBACK ASSIGNMENTS series.

Slade remains my favourite YA author in the WORLD ( o.k. tied with Catherine Webb) and the only author ( with the exception of LM Montgomery via séance) I would trek to Brampton to see.

Courtney trekked from Cambridge and Kat and I trekked from Toronto. (Kat and I had the better end of the deal because we had a massive Ziploc full of JellyBellys)


Once there, we got to meet Arthur Slade and get books signed and stuff! Of course, we are ten years ( okay, MORE than ten years ) older than his usual demographic but WHO CARES! ??

I was also two or three times taller than all of the kids in front of me in line ( the curse of being an adult who loves kids’ books). Yes, we did let the children go first. It’s all about the children, don’t y’know.


MOMENTS: One little girl ( of the B.O.O.K.E.D series ) who was introducing Ye olde Slade mentioned that “Modo satisfies all my reading needs”. I promptly died of cuteness.

Ye olde Slade rambled about a book on submarines from a bargain bin ( he gets geeked out about stuff, apparently--- ).

It was a night of nerdy wonderfulness and quite well documented in LIVE TWEETS in REAL TIME by my friend, Kat. RELIVE THE MAGIC FOR YOURSELVES, reader-friends


· At Chapters in Brampton, fangirling over @arthurslade ! :) 6:46 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: I don’t appreciate being called a “fangirl”, I prefer the term: learned book enthusiast)
· @rachkmc just asked @arthurslade a question. @moonsoar and I are amused! 6:46 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: I did ask A.Slade a question: I wanted to know where he got his delicious character names)
· "Modo rhymes with Frodo." - @arthurslade 6:47 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE:not only is A. Slade a brilliant, Governor-General’s award-winning author, he apparently knows how to rhyme)
· Cheap books are not cheap, they're bargains! A la @arthurslade 6:51 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Apparently, A. Slade is also savvy with synonyms)
· @arthurslade totally just HOPPED down the stairs! Amazing! :) 6:52 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: It was basically a breakneck-paced action film by this point. Like, someone get Bruckheimer on the phone. STAT.)
· @moonsoar just blanked on her question to @arthurslade . @rachkmc and I are amused! 6:54 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Courtney did rally. Besides, we were all speechless in the presence of brilliance: the kind of brilliance that talks about Star Wars ad nauseum)
· @arthurslade just hopped again! Best author move ever! via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: in summation, A. Slade is quite the animated author… either that or he thinks he’s a rabbit and his treadmill desk is keeping him in tip-top shape)
· @arthurslade 's fave character is #DarthVader ! Hot dog! ;) via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: see? I mentioned the Star Wars thing, did I not?)
· Ppl are getting their books signed by @arthurslade now. @rachkmc , @moonsoar & i will wait until it shrinks 2 almost nothing. We r patient. via Echofon
·
· Okay, we're in line. I wish I had my TP copy of Megiddo's Shadow for @arthurslade to sign. Curse you Amazon!!! Will get #Hunchback1 signed. via Echofon
·
· Free Starbucks samples in line waiting for @arthurslade to sign our books! Score! via Echofon
·
· Almost our turn! Special salute @arthurslade ! via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: upon arriving, A. Slade gave his audience a special salute for coming. Kat returned the favour)



Then we all went home and had to become grown-ups again with careers and deadlines and early mornings.

PFFFT!

The Miracle at Speedy Motors and Christianity in Alexander McCall Smith

I recently reviewed one installment in a series I quite enjoy: The Miracle at Speedy Motors the ninth book of Alexander McCall Smith's engaging tales of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

Grounded in morality and arbitration, I find these books have a steady and solid background, develop character and force the reader to note the good in everyone. Human character, relationships and goodness are at the heart of the novels. More still, they transport the reader to beautiful Bostwana: a bountiful and fruitful land where suffering is paired with grace and etiquette.

While formatting my review of the book at my other book blog, I stumbled upon this article in the Church Times which likens McCall Smith to the gospel. Precious Ramotswe, argues the writer, emblemizes the empathy we find in the Apostle Paul.

Feel free to read that article here

Read my quick and snappy review of The Miracle at Speedy Motors here

and track down Alexander McCall Smith: a prolific contemporary writer ( to say the least) here

A review! Another Alexander McCall Smith Review!

First, a REVIEW:

The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith.

I cannot say that I have read Smith’s No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series in order---- nor have I sped through the series one after another. I read them now and then. Usually if I am in the mood or if I happen to stumble upon a copy at a used bookstore.

I find this is one series you can read out of order. Though the characters and plotlines continue throughout, the sparse, happy prose moves in such a way that you can catch up. You will easily clutch Smith’s sweet wisdom in the same way that the traditionally-built Mma Ramotswe clutches a cup of her beloved bush tea.

As is usually the case in the series, The Miracle at Speedy Motors opens in a slow, languid, yawn of a fashion with beautiful Africa spread as a canvas and the colourful characters of Mma Ramotswe, Grace Makutsi and JLB Matekoni ( now, like old ,tried friends) inching along the coloured backdrop like figures on a felt Sunday School board.

Yes, there is a mystery--- this one involving a woman and her family. Yet, like the best detective fiction ( and by “best” I mean the stories I hanker toward most often ), it is not so much the problem or its solution rather the characters and how they intertwine with the problem that keeps me dappling in the genre.

There are two major subplots to this absolutely charming novel: Mma Makutsi and her fiancé have found a suitable and comfortable bed for their upcoming life together but strange happenstances find Mma Makutsi’s bed ruined by an onslaught of rain. JLB Matekoni has met a doctor who he believes can heal the spinal injury of his adopted daughter Motholeli.

The scenes in which Rra Matekoni expresses his assured hope in Motholeli’s certain miracle are so touching you just want to sit and deliciously sniff at how sweet and warm and wonderful these characters and their world are.

DOORS OPEN ON MY GORGEOUS CITY

DOORS OPEN TORONTO is this weekend.

I live in the best city in the world: rich in history and tradition and I am SUPER STOKED that once a year the city's most historic buildings fling open their doors to welcome in the fresh spring air and hundreds of eager visitors ---for FREE.

I have been to DOORS OPEN in other Canadian Cities --like Ottawa ( I think it is a fabulous ritual and everyone should adopt something similar to inspire engagement with home and surrounding and a sense of pride ) but never EVER have I been in Toronto during Doors Open here.

Luckily, being the obsessed Torontonian I am, I have spent hundreds of hours rambling throughout some of the city's best neighbourhoods ( Cabbagetown; Liberty Village; Roncesvalles; Swansea (where LM Montgomery lived in Journey's End during the last years of her life); Bloor West Village and the Distillery District ( the largest collection of Victorian Era Architecture in Canada, if not North America and you've seen it in the film Cinderella Man where it was shot).

It is nice, however, to go back to some great haunts and peek at them again.

I intend to visit the following sites this weekend:

Elgin Theatre

the Mackenzie House

The FlatIron Building

The Campbell House

Thomas Fisher Rare Library Collection at Robarts, U of T

Royal Canadian Military Institute

Chapel of St. James the Less

Casa Loma

Toronto is full of diverse literary stories. From world-famous authors visiting our city ( Twain and Dickens descended upon Toronto) to stories of our own best and brightest ( think Morley Callaghan working alongside Ernest Hemingway at the Toronto Daily Star ), Toronto is world-class.

If you want to learn more about my city's literary connections, read Greg Gatenby's excellent map of all things Literary Toronto in Toronto: A Literary Guide

St. James, Corktown and the St.Lawrence sections of the city are widely represented in Victorian-Era Toronto in Maureen Jennings' bestselling Murdoch Mysteries

I hope you have something similar in your town or city. If not, map out a historic or literary walk of your own!

I often pick a neighbourhood or popular walk, research popular buildings and then try to track them down--- take lots of photos--- drink lots of water and walk for miles. I'll even stop and try a pint at a pub I may never have stumbled upon before.

Next month I leave for a grand vacation in Austria and Switzerland. For now, I am more than happy to be a tourist ( yet again ) in my own town.

In which I am famous ( again)

Greetings,

I am SO THRILLED because I got another chance to fulfill my life's destiny.

Sadly(?), it seems my life's destiny is to tell (make) people read the Blue Castle.


So, our fabulous book-blogging friend Aarti KINDLY allowed me to take up space on her snazzy blog by RAMBLING about The Blue Castle.


I had PREVIOUSLY usurped space at said blog to RAMBLE about Irene Adler.


Aha! Feel so famous!


ET VOILA.....


Read With Reverent Hands --just read the whole series, it is better than Jelly Bellys ( which is NOT a meme, people, but a bona fide, brilliant series by one of the bookishphere's best blogs) and my GUEST POST:


( I feel so famous! )




The Blue Castle

How to Train Your Dragon Movie Review

How to Train Your Dragon ( loosely based on a series of novels for children by Cressida Cowell ) is one of the most clever and engaging films I have seen in ages. The story arch: brilliant, wordplay: brilliant, Hiccup’s sophisticated outsider view of his Viking world: brilliant; the message of the story; brilliant I haven’t been overly impressed with Hollywood in the past couple of years, so I was delighted to discover this.

The film is surprisingly empowering: Hiccup, the burly Viking chief’s son, is the scrawniest Viking in his clan. Apprenticed to the local blacksmith, Gobber the Belch, Hiccup is more than resourceful, but his physiognomy and disposition hinder him from excelling at the most prized Viking trade: killing the dragons that plague the morose village of Berk. The dragons are pests: they fly in, scoop up the sheep, set things on fire and fly out again. The Viking chief, aptly called Stoick the Vast, and many of the brawniest of the clan’s teenagers have no trouble fist fighting the large reptiles.

Hiccup, however, is clumsy and kept from dragon training and forced to stay in the forge and belch out weapons to help his kinsmen defeat the monsters. Stealing a catapult one fateful eve, Hiccup downs a Night Fury: the most dangerously elusive dragon of all. Called a hybrid of lightning and death, Hiccup knows that proof of the dragon’s demise would win him the regard of his father and his townspeople. On finding the dragon alive, however, and looking straight into his cat-like eye, Hiccup is unable to perform the task and thus begins what is the most charming and giddy and wonderful plot I have seen unravel before me in a long time. The movement and curiosity of Hiccup’s new dragon friend ( named Toothless for his ability to reign in his large teeth) as well as his facial expressions make me want a dragon as a pet.

Kids will be delighted! In fact, in my audience, many audibly were! Hiccup becomes an unlikely hero merely by challenging the norm of his Viking society and characteristics. Moreover, it is Hiccup’s lack of physical strength and his brains and compassion ( and not, as is customary, what he calls his “raw vikingness” that ultimately saves the day). A lesson on ignorance and prejudice is indeed blatent here. But, so is a lesson on actions and consequences. Not everything ties up neatly and Hiccup has a large price to pay for standing up for what he knows is right. This may sound odd ( seeing as we are talking about a film centered on a boy and his dragon) but this film had an emotional resonance that stayed with me a long time.

I am sick of kids’ flicks wherein heroism is drawn by some supernatural or fantastical power ( Yawn, Harry Potter, Twilight and the lot). Hiccup is smart, mortal, resourceful, self-deprecating and very, very perceptive and funny. I guarantee any one who has ever felt that their giftings were different than the rest of their clan, so to speak, will find ultimate validation here. Also, there are some FANTASTIC lines including the following: “Trolls exist. They steal your socks. But only the left ones. What is with that?” Adorable.

Sixteen Brides by Stephanie Grace Whitson

rating: ***
publisher: Bethany House

Fans of Deanne Gist and Janette Oke will rejoice!

I really enjoyed Sixteen Brides. Like the Victorian novels I so greatly love, it had several strands of stories all taking place at the same time. Some subplots captivated me more than others; as did some characters and their plight for a happy ending.

Sixteen widows are deposited in Plum Grove, Nebraska. Each following Hamilton Drake's promise of land and freedom. Unbeknownst to them, Drake has marketed them as potential brides and their arrival sparks the interest of many bachelor settlers.

The toughest of the lot break with Drake and decide to forge their own path and destiny. Together in a sort of planned commune, they learn the hardships of uncharted territory and each work relentlessly at their new concept of home.

I really enjoyed the varying strengths of each women and the vital characteristics each embodied. Those seemingly feminine ( like the southern belle Caroline) had hidden reserves of strength; while the tenacious medical woman of the crew, Hettie, had a tender and heartbreaking past.


I must admit it was a little jumbled at the beginning as Whitson tried to set up each individual character; but as soon as I was lost in the story each thread was seen with more clarity.

My favourite story involved the stalwart widow Ruth ( as many recall my favourite Biblical character shares the same name ) and Lucas: a thick-skinned cowboy who is not what he seems. Their smart and sassy banter was one of the highlights of the novel.... as was Ruth's relationship with her teenage son.


A very breezy spring read with some interesting historical context and some literate moments involving a burly settler and a woman who never thought she would be find true love beyond her own faults and shortcomings.

My thanks to Bethany House for the review copy.


Visit Stephanie Grace Whitson at her website

Order Sixteen Brides at amazon

The Dark Deeps

Hey blogiverse!

New Arthur Slade out super soon! ( how lucky are we seeing as Hunchback was just released in September!... not even a year! )

.....and it's called The Dark Deeps ( How Jules Verne-y is that? )

Yah. Neat-o.

What's even neater is that you can BROWSE INSIDE IT!!! A SNEAK PEEK thanks to our friends at Harper Collins.

Expect a review as soon as I get my hands on a shiny copy.

So, to summarize:

a.) go pre-order The Dark Deeps ( and while you're at it buy out Slade's backlist)

b.) go see How To Train Your Dragon (o.k. slightly unrelated but my favourite movie by far this year)

An Absence So Great by Jane Kirkpatrick

rating: ***

publisher: WaterBrook

An Absence So Great by Jane Kirkpatrick continues where the excellent A Flickering Light left off. Small-town girl Jessie has honed her photography skills thanks to preparatory apprentice work at the Bauer Studio. In possession of her own camera and fleeing the budding mutual attraction she shares with the very married FJ Bauer, Jessie strives to carve her own path in a society where women’s professional roles are limited.

I really enjoyed the unique premise of the story--- especially in the canon of Christian Historical fiction. Rarely is the romance pursued a forbidden one bordering on an extramarital affair--- a heartbreakingly valid one, here, at that. The story also resonates truth: with striking verisimilitude ( we can thank the source, Kirkpatrick’s feisty great grandmother, for this page turner).

As featured in the first book, photographs and Jessie’s comments on their light and technique and also their back-story help transplant the reader into Jessie’s world.

While Jessie is a flawed character ( refreshingly and believably so), I rooted for her as she endured the prejudices of the era: including one section of the novel when Jessie has trouble securing a bank loan for her own studio because of her sex and the rather harsh treatment given her by FJ’s wife as well as her sternly religious mother.

A real story well-drawn and expertly told, I was pleased to read another erudite addition of Kirkpatrick’s ever-growing bibliography of excellent fiction.

Congratulations to Jane Kirkpatrick for her Christy nomination for the first book in the series. Read my review of A Flickering Light here

Thanks to WaterBrook for the review copy!

She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell

rating: ***1/2

publisher: Bethany House

She Walks in Beauty is another superior offering from one of the most gifted writers in the Christian historical vein.

First off, I must apologize for the lack of posting. I have been traveling for work the entirety of the past month and jaunting from coast to coast in my beautiful country of Canada for appointments is exhilerating but also exhausting. Nonetheless, I have been reading a tonne!

The book begins as Clara's over-bearing aunt fires her governess and true confidante smashing all Clara's hopes of attending Vassar College by instead arranging for the societal education befitting a young woman on the heels of her debut. Clara is primed and primmed and petted to capture the spotlight of New York's gilded circles and secure a wealthy husband.

The wealthy husband her family chooses is the heir to the De Vries fortune, a past enemy that Clara is used as a pawn to capture--- to right past wrongs and restore the family fortune once lost.

In a manipulative and gaudy game of tainted money and secrets, dipping into the garish hovels of Mulberry Street and waltzing with the likes of the Vanderbilts become the thread that pieces together Clara's world.

As per usual, Mitchell perfectly captures the historical climate and her research is impeccable. Like A Constant Heart and Love's Pursuit before it, a particular era of fashion is explored to emblemize the societal restrictions placed on women and as a particularly resonant symbol of female repression. Here, the corset is seen as a torturous contraption for female suffering. Indeed, some of Mitchell's accurate descriptions of its effect on women---be it through female "hysteria" or more gruesomely violent physical effects will leave readers cringing.

Mitchell, here, does not play with mutiple narration in the same way as her previous two historicals. Rather dual voices counter Clara's first person narrative: the societal newspaper praising the merits of lavish debutantes in an elite column and the Tattler: a sort of 19th Century tabloid. Both provide an interesting counterbalance to Clara's perspective and offer an enlightening and time-specific lens.

Mitchell's evangelism is again subdued. The great theme of sacrifice and undconditional love in Love's Pursuit is replaced by the message of Christianity through hymns: referred to as Clara's mother's "theology." A personal passion of mine, I was delighted that so many stanzas were interwoven throughout the story.

While I applaud Mitchell's ability to appeal to a secular readership with a subtle gospel, I found this an almost cloaked representation of Christian fiction: working more as a good, moral tale rather than an explicit gospel message. As such, I found it lacked the emotional punch of Lynn Austin's novels or even Love's Pursuit.

Nonetheless, Mitchell is a brilliant writer and this story, as always, is excessively readable.

I cannot wait to read more of her work!

Many thanks to Bethany House for the review copy

[ on a slightly more superficial note, I adored the romantic lead in the story and a certain scene involving a rare and valued copy of Byron and a pressed bunch of pansies... read for yourself!]

Blogging for Books: Here Burns my Candle

Remember Liz Curtis Higgs’ last series that made us fall in love with Scotland ( for some of us, it just deepened our love for Scotland ) while aligning critical historical events with sweeping Biblical undercurrents and themes? Remember that?

Well, I was ECSTATIC to hear that Higgs was going to be taking pen to reimagine my absolute favourite story in the Bible during the time of Bonny Prince Charlie and Jacobite Rebellion.

Here Burns My Candle tells the first half of the story of Ruth.

I have loved the Book of Ruth since childhood. A self-proclaimed hopeless romantic, I find it the most romantic love story in the whole of scripture. Moreoever, above its sweet love story and message of sacrifice and loyalty, it imminently ties into the lineage of Christ and elicits the powerful truth that the Bible and all of its events divine connect like the pieces of an intricate puzzle.

So, needless to say, I was delighted and anxiously awaited this book for a long time. Because it tells the first half of the Ruth story ( the next will be available in 2011--- how can I wait?), we don’t quite get to the most romantic part of the Ruth story ( the Ruth-Boaz relationship). Instead, we are given a compelling history of the Dowager Lady Marjory and her integral relationship with her daughter in law, Lady Elisabeth. Though political tensions are taut and Marjory and Elisabeth’s differing views on crucial points strains their relationship, the stems of the loyalty and consistency; the “whither thou goest” from the Biblical story is sternly asserted through commonalities of faith.

As is the case with Higgs’ previous foray into 18th Century Scotland, I was off-turned by the dialect: choppy and distracting and integrated at odd times throughout the novel, it felt almost “cut and paste” in its hindrance to a fluid narrative.

Elisabeth sometimes seems too perfect and Donald is somewhat unnecessarily flawed; but their relationship and human foils are indeed believable.

I especially enjoyed learning more about Marjorie, her past and how her inability of letting go shapes and defines so much of her personality.


I eagerly await the next installment.


Thanks ever so much to WaterBrook for the review copy.


Explore the story of Ruth in a myriad of way:

Through non-fiction The Gospel of Ruth: Loving God Enough to Break the Rules by Carolyn Curtis James ( I found this remarkably empowering and historically erudite)

Through fiction: Unshaken by Francine Rivers ( my favourite in the Lineage of Grace sequence) ; Ruth of Moab by Author Wright; The Garden of Ruth by Eva Etzioni-Halevy
[ there are numerous re-tellings of Ruth out there; quick searches in your library or through internet searches will help]


And, oh yeah, read the Book in the Bible online: Ruth

Hear No Evil by Matthew Paul Turner

rating: ***

publisher: WaterBrook Press

Hear No Evil: My Story of Innocence, Music and the Holy Ghost by Matthew Paul Turner is one of the most enjoyable non-fiction books I have ever read by a Christian writer. Perhaps because I so related to some of the threads in the story.

While Matthew was raised Fundamental Baptist, I was raised Pentecostal and ( though younger than Matthew) believe we crossed through the same generation of Christian music: Amy Grant, DC Talk, Sandy Patti, Petra and, of course, Michael W. Smith.

I also grew up in a household where secular music was forbidden. I could not buy the latest New Kids on the Block or Tiffany CD and NewsBoys and DC Talk were seen as suitable replacements so that we didn’t “feel the void”, as it were.

My first concert was when DC Talk opened for Michael W. Smith at Massey Hall here in Toronto.

What I enjoy about Turner’s overtly truthful style is that it casts a very knowing, satirical and whimsical look at some of the sheer absurdities of Christian culture, without being negative.

Yes, crazy childhood memories of really awful music confronted me, but I didn’t feel my reverence toward my now-evolved Christianity waning in any way, fashion or form. If anything, I found this book inspiring and powerful. Turner has indeed undergone some severe moments of embarrassment and utter oddity----- a lot of them very universal to evangelical Christian homes in the 1980’s and 1990’s, Indeed, I nearly spewed my orange juice across the table when he mentioned his university music journalism class when he wondered aloud what the big deal with Bob Dylan was, having never heard him before.

I especially enjoyed a vignette with a raucous friend assuring Turner that the hottest girls were Pentecostal: as this was the denomination I grew up in, I found it extremely funny.

Then, of course, there were the rules placed and the glaring eyes cast--- on moments such as when Amy Grant’s “Heart in Motion” arrived and even though it featured a few Christian songs nearing the end tracks was more-or-less secular.

I remember members of my church congregation scoffing “Baby, Baby.” My parents, however, were a little more lenient on this score and I saw that Heart in Motion tour in concert as well.


It brought back a slew of memories: some good, some bad: the Dove Awards, Release Magazine, really bad styles---- the malleability of Christian artists to conform to whatever musical style is hip at the moment (i.e., DC Talk---from rap to grunge to alternative). It cast a knowing eye on some of the double standards of the music industry.

And, above all, it was written by an extremely articulate and knowing voice: at times funny and heartbreaking.

I LOVED this book: it was tight and taut and very readable. I loved its opening when Turner asserts he can spot a Christian rock artist from a mile away; I love Turner’s boyhood assertion that he will not only land a spot on Star Search but become the Christian Michael Jackson and I love the end when he is sitting in an Easter Service at a familiar church and begins speaking to a man turned away from his own church because he is a homosexual. What opens on a note of wise and telling, yet very real and very sardonic observation ends with a cadence of redemption.

I really loved this book.


I highly recommend reading it alongside Turner’s Churched: One Kid’s Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess

I also follow Matthew Paul Turner’s blog

And check out the Christian Culture Survival Guide

Blogging Through Foyle's War with Rachel and Jess and JEN: A Lesson In Murder

Friends! We have a new addition to our Foyle's War club. Meet JEN

By now, I think you know the drill:

So, Foyle's War isn't really a book ---- but who cares because it is written by Anthony Horowitz who is brilliant AND it gives you the same experience as reading a really thoughtful and complex novel because it is a fabulous and engaging character piece. Perhaps, I would say, some of the best writing in television. EVER.So, Jess and Jen I are coupling our insane infatuation with the show from a.) a fangirly, giddy standpoint b.) a reverence for wonderful writing, characters and mood and pulling them together in one conversation.We are both simultaneously watching from the beginning of the series and chatting afterward ( note: Jess and Jen live in Colorado and I live in Toronto )

And away we go....

Episode 3: A Lesson in Murder [a.k.a. as Hello David Tennant, we knew if we gave you enough time, you would show up]

Jess: First of all, let's take a moment to greet our guest stars. Hello, David Tennant and Sophia Myles! It's kind of funny that you're in the same episode of Foyle's War, even though you don't have any scenes together, since in a year or two you'll be in a Doctor Who episode together!


Jen: The conscientious objector's widow was absolutely lovely with how graciously she dealt with the trauma of losing her husband, knowing that there had been a severe injustice committed against him, and knowing that the cause she so deeply believed in was written off as irrelevant and cowardice. I thought she was wonderful. David Tennant, while always endearing was a little odd for me in this role...I subconsciously was waiting the entire time for him to randomly lick something. Don't ask me why.


Jess: I liked Milner's connection with Sophia Myles' character in this episode. I also like that, when Foyle announces he's arresting Sophia Myles' mother for the murder of her husband, she just nods and says, "Okay, let me pack a bag." Loved that.


What else happened in this episode? A conscientious objector was mistreated and hanged himself, Foyle used tricky interrogation tactics to get the policeman/guard responsible to confess, and we see Foyle discussing strategy and logistics with the Home Guard elite, (at least, I think it was the Home Guard) showing that on top of solving murders and whatnot, he's also one of the three or four guys in charge of Hastings' defense. Because he is awesome.


Rachel: What else? That adorable little boy who is sent out to the country for safety purposes and is subsequently killed. (Hello! Break your heart!) Well, it breaks Sam’s heart: we see her crying. Which is depressing because I don’t want ANYTHING to hurt our Sam. Also, cute connection between Sam and the little boy and, come to think of it, Sophia Myles and the little boy. Heartbreaking when the father returns and learns of his son’s death. HEARTBREAKING!


Jen: While the whole deception and arrogance on the bad guy front is always a reoccurring theme in crime based shows, I thoroughly enjoyed how this episode contrasted the "evil" of Mr. Gascoigne's plot line with the obvious innocence of the little boy constantly observing and taking notes and eventually being the Gascoigne family's undoing. I love that both Mr. & Mrs. thought of him as a useless pain while generally alluding to him being stupid and it was his cleverness that exposed and solved the whole plot line.




Rachel: Also, we get a flashback into the early life of our fair Foyle: apparently Rosalind Foyle and Christopher Foyle frequented the Italian restaurant Carlo and his son own and run. I love that Sam weasels her way into dinner with Foyle and they are both strongly warned about the lasagna. I am always interested to see how rations effected eating out.


Jess: I like seeing Foyle's life outside the police station.


Rachel: Then, Carlo’s son has a crush on Sam and it is adorable to watch Foyle watching the two of them. Also, Foyle ( and the audience) get to see Sam with her hair (literally) down for the first time--- when she goes to a dance with Tony. I really enjoyed that subplot of the story and the developing repartee between Foyle and Sam.


Jen: I love Sam and how willing she is to do whatever she can to support the people around her. She is so open and generous and just lovely. And I love that she's obsessed with food. I love a heroine-type gal that I can relate to.


Rachel: Milner was around in this episode, too, though not as much. Oh, and in the ongoing theme of “I HATE EVERY WOMAN THAT PAUL MILNER IS WITH THROUGHOUT THE SERIES: ESPECIALLY JANE MILNER”: Jane Milner leaves to stay with her sister because she is a rotten cow.

Jess: Milner's wife is AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL TO HIM. Ohhhh, that whole dinner scene in which she doesn't want to see his leg and how paperwork is all he can handle these days and she's just running off to Wales and abandoning him and I WANT TO PUNCH HER IN THE FACE. She's horrible.

Jen: Though it has already been stated quite well, I don't think it can be said enough: Jane Milner is evil. I have a difficult time restraining my language when talking about her. I may be calling her horrid names in my head...things that rhyme with 'bore' and 'hitch.'
And finally, because it must be said: FOYLE MAKES MY HEART SMILE.

**Rachel: OBLIGATORY ANDREW SENTENCE**

You all that this was the cat's meow? Wait 'til we get to Eagle Day: then we really knock your socks off!

in which I am EXCITED

Kids,

I am quite excited about a few books soon to be available:

First, Scout, Atticus and Boo by Mary McDonagh Murphy: view it here

Secondly, the wait is soon over ( thank goodness ) for the first Richard Jury novel in THREE whole years! Get that here

Thirdly, one of Christian fiction's absolute best, most erudite, glorious, talented, wonderful and sparkling writers, Siri Mitchell, has taken her penchant for exploring the theme of clothing and appearance in different time periods ( see the use of makeup in A Constant Heart and dresses in Puritan Massachusetts in Love's Pursuit) to take on the Victorian period in She Walks in Beauty. Buy that over here

And even though this keeps getting flitted around from date to date like a pesky hummingbird ( as is usually the case with Catherine Webb's delectable series), the wait, I should hope, is soon over before the first Horatio Lyle in two years. The Dream Thief, apparently ( this could change at any moment, bah humbug!) publishes in June.

Just a few of the many yummy books the horizon.

If you can wait 'til the Fall, there is a NEW LYNN AUSTIN ( I yipped about it at my Christian Fiction site last week )

Pre-order While We're Far Apart

And I think that is all I have to say.

Cheerio!

New Lynn Austin New Lynn Austin LA LA LA LA LA LA!

Well LOOKIE HERE!

October brings us this lovely book by our favourite Lynn Austin:

SYNOPSIS:

In an unassuming apartment building in Brooklyn, New York, three lives intersect as the reality of war invades each aspect of their lives. Young Esther is heartbroken when her father decides to enlist in the army shortly after the death of her mother. Penny Goodrich has been in love with Eddie Shaffer for as long as she can remember; now that Eddie's wife is dead, Penny feels she has been given a second chance and offers to care for his children in the hope that he will finally notice her and marry her after the war. And elderly Mr. Mendel, the landlord, waits for the war to end to hear what has happened to his son trapped in war-torn Hungary. But during the long, endless wait for victory overseas, life on the home front will go from bad to worse. Yet these characters will find themselves growing and changing in ways they never expected--and ultimately discovering truths about God's love...even when He is silent.

w00 h00!

Blogging Through Foyle's War with Rachel and Jess: The White Feather

So, Foyle's War isn't really a book ---- but who cares because it is written by Anthony Horowitz who is brilliant AND it gives you the same experience as reading a really thoughtful and complex novel because it is a fabulous and engaging character piece. Perhaps, I would say, some of the best writing in television. EVER. So, Jess and I are coupling our insane infatuation with the show from a.) a fangirly, giddy standpoint b.) a reverence for wonderful writing, characters and mood and pulling them together in one conversation.
We are both simultaneously watching from the beginning of the series and chatting afterward ( note: Jess lives in Colorado and I live in Toronto )

Episode 2: The White Feather

Rachel: I am always really impressed at how well all of the story lines interlock:

-Fierce hatred and traitor-ship ( is that a word?) with Guy Pearce and his blackshirt crowd clashing with the fierce patriotism of the Dunkirk fishing boat crew
-The “victimization” of Edith: the young girl bullied into cutting wires by her horrible mother ---vs. David ---an innocent victim of a battle he did not fight ( when he is shot by a German bullet across the channel)
-The clash of ideas: Stanley’s hatred of his parents and his reverse-Freudism and Milner exploring the Protocols of the Elders of Zion out of sheer desperation.


Jessica: Watching that one, I just couldn’t imagine how frightened you must be to do what Edith did – to cut telephone wires so that when the Germans arrived in a few days they hopefully wouldn’t throw you in a camp because your grandfather was Jewish.
And the fishing boats going to Dunkirk! Oh! It just makes me want to cry with how awesome those people were. I think I need a book or a documentary on it or something, because that has got to be one the most amazing wartime stories I’ve ever heard – hundreds of English fishing boats crossing the Channel to rescue British soldiers trapped at Dunkirk. OH.


I love Foyle’s confrontation with Milner, how Foyle never outright condemns Guy’s ideas but you can read the disgust all over him (again and again, this is what blows me away about Michael Kitchen – how you always know exactly how Foyle feels despite the fact that he never, ever says it). Milner’s quiet despair. He feels lost and confused and just wants someone to explain it to him. “I don’t understand what it was for.” And Foyle’s response to this: A gentle understanding. He doesn’t try to explain, knows he can’t – he just needs Milner to be on his team, 100%, and maybe that’s exactly what Milner needs—a team to be on. And what better team than Foyle’s team? NONE.


I think my favorite moment in that episode, though, is when Foyle is talking to Stanley after Stanley’s mother is killed. Stanley says he knew the chick from Whitehall came out of the room, because he smelled her. And Foyle’s eyebrows shoot all the way up into his hairline, and he’s like, “…smelled her?” It cracks me up just thinking about it.

Rachel:I also love when Sam and Foyle meet Milner’s wife for the first time. Also, Foyle’s face, resolute yet still moved, when Guy mentions Andrew getting shot down over the channel

Jessica:I like how Andrew is used in the episode even though he’s not in it. Guy tries to use Andrew to emotionally blackmail Foyle, which just makes him angry. But then the fact that Foyle has a son the same age as David is all that’s necessary for David’s father to know that Foyle completely understands what he’s going through—all the explanation necessary for Foyle to attend his funeral. Just as mentioning Andrew is the surest way for Guy to destroy any sympathy or understanding Foyle might have had for him, mentioning Andrew is all that’s needed to form a bond between Foyle and David’s father.

Rachel: This great big war finally reaching poor, unsusceptible Hastings. As it always does----
The moment we think that Hastings is “safe” ---all being on the edge of the front and not near enough to be affected, that is when the war enters: be it by bomb, or a bunch of ships scraping the casualties and wounded from the other side.