The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes

"Never had there been a more confiding or trusting gentleman than the lodger, and yet in some ways he was so secret, so—so peculiar. She thought of the bag—that bag which had rumbled about so queerly in the chiffonnier. Something seemed to tell her that tonight the lodger had taken that bag out with him. And then she thrust away the thought of the bag ... Of course, the lodger was eccentric, otherwise he wouldn't be their lodger at all—he would be living in quite a different sort of way with some of his relations, or with a friend in his own class"

The Lodger (1913) by Marie Belloc Lowndes has been on my TBR list for some time.  It's a short novel based on the Jack The Ripper murders.  The setting is East London, the 1880's and when the novel begins we are introduced to a middle aged couple, Mr. and Mrs Bunting. A few years back they bought a home hoping they could attract paying guests.  But business has fallen off and the couple has become so poor that Mr. Bunting has given up buying his morning paper.  

And then a mysterious gentleman by the name of Mr. Sleuth arrives. He needs a place to stay and is willing to pay the Buntings generous rent for a few of the empty upstairs rooms which he requires for his privacy. The Buntings are thrilled and Mr. Sleuth becomes their lodger. 

Meanwhile Mr. Bunting can once again buy his morning paper and he becomes interested, like all of London, in reading about the Avenger murders.  Young women are being murdered in the East End. The police know it's the same killer because he leaves a note by their bodies: "The Avenger".  

Mrs Bunting doesn't want to hear about such gory stuff.  Instead she is delighted with Mr. Sleuth.  He is a gentleman, very generous and he gives the Buntings no trouble at all.  And so if he has a peculiar habit of walking outdoors late at night and coming back at 3:00 AM Mrs Bunting isn't concerned until things begin to add up. Mrs Bunting keeps her growing suspicion about the lodger to herself, not informing her husband.  And there is also Daisy, Mr. Buntings' daughter from his first marriage and Joe Chandler, a young police detective.  

The Lodger held my interest but when it comes to mysteries and suspense novels I have read better.  But others over at Amazon have rated The Lodger 4 and 5 stars and this book has the historical significance of being the first novel to be published based on the Jack The Ripper murders.  So you might want to give The Lodger a try.

I wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

The Nether World by George Gissing

"Well, look here. Supposin' he died an' left most to her; an' then supposin' she was to go off; would Jo have all her tin?

Course he would.

Clem mused, eating her lower lip. 'But supposin' Jo was to go off first, after the old bloke? Should I have all he left?'

I think so, but I'm not sure.' '

You think so? And then should I have all hers? If she had a accident, you know."

George Gissing is one of my favorite writers and The Nether World (1889) is the third novel of his which I have now read and it did not disappoint.  But if you are new to Gissing I would begin with The Odd Women or New Grubb Street. The Nether World is a great book and it will be on my best books of 2024 list but it is depressing. Even the title gives you a clue, the setting being a very poor part of late 19th century London and the lives and the struggles of the people who live there.

And at the core of The Nether World is an inheritance.  An elderly gentleman, Michael Snowden, returns to London a wealthy man.  One of his sons passed away and left Michael a fortune in his will.  But Michael's attitude towards money is not what you would expect.  It doesn't mean much to him.  Michael is more interested in using the money to help the poor in the little time he has left in his life. 

Michael also has a granddaughter Jane who he has never met.  Jane is the daughter of his other son, Joseph Snowden, and Joseph is a disreputable character abandoning his young daughter Jane to the care of Mrs Peckover and her daughter Clem who abuse poor Jane and treat her as a servant.  Michael returning to London is able to rescue Jane and has plans to leave her the bulk of his fortune in the hope that she will use it to help the poor.

Joseph Snowden gets wind of this and promptly returns to London to reconnect with his daughter Jane but she is a young woman now and has plans to marry Sidney Kirkwood who is a good man and loves her.  Joseph cannot let this happen since Jane and Sidney are set to inherit all of his father's money.

In addition to the Snowdens we have the Hewett family. Their struggles involve a separate storyline which is no less fascinating.  And for me the most tragic character in The Nether World is Clara Hewett.  She is young, attractive and ambitious.  Raised in a very poor family she runs away at age 17 with the hope of becoming a famous actress.  

And Clara has talent and beauty.  But halfway through this novel after landing the leading role in a play a jealous rival does something so vicious to Clara that it shocked me and this does seem to be a theme that runs through The Nether World.  Poverty with no hope for the future ends up in tragedy for some of the characters in this book. Others turn to criminality and cruelty and a few like Jane Snowden and Sidney Kirkwood are able to keep their humanity and kindness.  But SPOILER ALERT no one gets a happy ending. 

And yet I still recommend The Nether World.  It's an excellent novel and George Gissing who is not as well known as he should be is such a talented and quintessential late Victorian author.  And I won't go into it here but George Gissing had a life that was a Victorian novel in itself.  The man knew his territory.

Publisher's Weekly Top 10 Books of 2024

I haven't posted in awhile because I am reading, and very much enjoying, The Nether World by George Gissing.  He's one of my favorite writers but the Nether World is a long book and so I hope to have something posted in a week.  

In the meantime I wanted to check in and Publisher's Weekly has listed their top books for 2004.  I was glad to see My Friends by Hisham Matar made the list.  I also must read James and Travelling On The Path of Joni Mitchell sounds interesting.  Here is the full Publisher's Weekly list of their top ten books for 2024:

All Fours by Miranda July

James by Percival Everett

The Book of Love by Kelly Link

By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle

The Heart That Fed: A Father, a Son, and the Long Shadow of War by Carl Sciacchitano

Herscht 07769 by László Krasznahorkai, trans. from the Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet

My Friends by Hisham Matar

Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell by Ann Powers

When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s by John Ganz.

As I look at this list I am so grateful to Libby which I discovered earlier this year.  It has really changed and improved my reading life.  So many titles are available through Libby.  It's a great service.

Hope everyone is having a great Autumn!

The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden

The Safekeep (2024) by Yael Van Der Wouden is one of six books short-listed for this year's Booker Award.  I have been on hold for this book since July and it was worth the wait.  The Safekeep is a haunting, sensual novel, beautiful prose and the fact that this is the author's debut is remarkable 

The Safekeep is set in Overijssel, a rural community in the Netherlands, and the year is 1961.  People in Overijssell don't talk about World War II as much anymore and the country has structurally rebuilt itself since the war years. 

 

And when the novel begins we are introduced to three siblings: Louis, Isabel and Hendrik.  They are in their late 20's Their mother has recently passed away.  Louis and Hendrik no longer live at home and have moved on with their lives.  But Isabel continues to live in the house they grew up in.

Isabel lives alone.  The only person she interacts with is the maid who comes in to cook and do housework.  Isabel is a recluse and she likes it that way.  She has no friends and prefers to tend to her garden.  And lately she has been counting her dishes and silverware to make sure the maid isn't stealing from her.  

And then Louis introduces Isabel and Hendrik to his latest girlfriend, Eva.  Louis tells them he is serious about Eva.  But Hendrick and Isabel have been here before wiith Louis who gets bored quickly with the women in his life.  But they agree to join Louis and Eva at a restaurant.  Isabel takes an immediate dislike to Eva and does not disguise that fact.  Eva is perky, cheerful, the exact opposite of Isabel. 

The dinner ends and Isabel goes back to her house where she is safe.  But then Louis meets with Isabel a few days later.  His job will require him to spend the summer travelling.  Can Eva, who Louis lives with, stay with Isabel?  Eva can' t stay at Louis' place because there is a third roommate who lIves with them, a man, and it wouldn't be appropriate.  Isabel's response is no:  

"It’s my house,” she said, and it was out and she knew she had misspoken, and Louis knew it as well, barely letting her finish the phrase to cut in with an “Is it, Isabel?” He took a step forward. “Yours?” Isabel’s heart gave a dull thud. She looked away. Uncle Karel had promised the house to Louis, should he ever want it. The unspoken caveat was: should he ever want it for a family of his own. Isabel never had reason to worry: ... They would allow her to stay here, her brothers. Her uncle. They had to, where else could she go?" 

Isabel has really no choice but to let Eva stay with her and when Eva moves in Isabel is rude and silent.  Despite this Eva is cheerful and friendly.  Isabel in comparison is keeping close tabs on her silverware and the other objects around the house sure that first the maid and now Eva are stealing her things.  And that is as far as I can go with this novel without giving too much away.  

After I finished The Safekeep I watched an interview with the author Yael Van Der Wouden.  She was partly inspired to write The Safekeep because of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.  And I think the connection is that in both novels a house plays a major role in the story.  Both homes, Manderley in Rebecca and Isabel's home in The Safekeep are haunted, haunted by the past. There are two significant plot twists in this novel.  One I anticipated but the second twist which comes later in the book I did not see coming and it is powerful.

I will be pleased if the Booker comittee chooses The Safekeep for this year's prize.  But regardless Yael van Der Wouden is an excellent writer to watch

Some Shorter Reviews

My plan this year is to read 60 books and I am getting there.  I have read 49 so far!  But I didn't get around to reviewing all 49 books and so I wanted to mention three which I read earlier in the year and really enjoyed.  I read these books months ago and so I can't give the detailed review I would like but here are a few of my thoughts:

The Civil War continues to be such a relevant historical event in American history.  And earlier this year I decided to check out Tony Horwitz's Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War (2011).  I was curious about the 19th century abolitionist John Brown. Who was he and what led him and 21 other men to the disastrous raid on the armory at Harper's Ferry, WV in 1859?  His fellow abolitionist Frederick Douglass warned Brown against the raid.  

But John Brown was a strict Calvinist who felt passionately that slavery was a sin against God.  He was right but the way he went about it was the problem.  It's a fascinating book and Tony Horwitz goes into John Brown's life, his family and the lives of the 21 men who joined him on the raid.  It's one of the best books I have read this year and I wish there were more books coming from Tony Horwitz but sadly he passed away in 2019.  But his books will live on and are so worth reading.

If you are interested in learning about The Florida Everglades and about South Florida, it's history and the eccentric characters who have lived here you need to check out: Swamp: The Everglades, Florida and The Politics of Paradise (2006) by Michael Grunwald. 

I found Swamp to be an interesting read that did not drag for me.  I would say though that it's a long book and needs to be listened to in audio.  That's how I read it and Michael Grunwald's writing and Adam Verner's narration are the perfect combination

"Ramona despaired. Nobody understood. She wanted to behave herself. Except when banging her heels on the bedroom wall, she had always wanted to behave herself. Why couldn’t people understand how she felt? She had only touched Susan’s hair in the first place because it was so beautiful, and the last time—well, Susan had been so bossy she deserved to have her hair pulled"

And for a change of pace I also read Ramona The Pest (1968) by Beverly Cleary this year. It's the second book in Cleary's Ramona series.  Last year I read the first book Beezus and Ramona. I liked it well enough but I finished it wondering why the Ramona series has attained such classic status.  And then this year it all became clear when I read Ramona The Pest which is excellent.

Ramona is now in kindergarten and she is learning that she can't have everything her own way.  But this is not a book where Ramona gets her comeuppance.  Instead she is learning how to interact with her teacher, her fellow students and she is still maintaining her curiosity and spunky spirit.  If you have never read Ramona you must and I advise beginning with Ramona The Pest.

Hope everyone is doing well and Happy Reading!

The Mapmaker's Daughter by Laurel Corona

"It’s a mapmaker’s job to leave people unsatisfied.” Papa’s spirit whispers as I feel him take his place next to Judah and Simona. “Look at what is not there. Don’t be distracted by what is.” Bartolomeu Dias has rounded the bottom of Africa now. If my father were alive, he would no longer have to draw a vague line to the south, nor guess at legends like islands of gold, but I don’t think that is what he means. “Look at the interiors, look at the faraway places. See how little we know?” - Laurel Corona, The Mapmaker's Daughter

The Mapmaker's Daughter by Laurel Corona is the sixth book I have read for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader and Baker.  It's a very well written and researched novel about a dark time in history, the Spanish Inquistion led by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain.  These two brutal leaders are determined that Spain will be an entirely Catholic country and they issue a decree that all Jews are to be expelled from Spain unless they convert.  

And when The Mapmaker's Daughter begins it is 1492 and we are introduced to Amalia Cresques.  She is 66 and has lived in Spain most of her life.  Jehuda Cresques her father was a talented mapmaker as was his father before him.  The family converted from Judiasm to Christianity before Amalia was born to avoid persecution..  But Amalia's mother always felt guilt about that and kept her faith behind closed doors.  This was dangerous because the authorities and the neighbors kept a watch on converts to Christianity and if you were caught observing the Sabbath or practicing any of the tenets of Judiasm you would be killed

And then in 1492 under the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella and the barbaric Torquemada they issue a decree all Jews living in Spain are to be expelled from the country leaving all of their possessions behind.  Amalia Cresques sits in her room waiting to leave Spain with her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  She wants to take her father's atlas with her which is a beautiful document and has so much meaning.  As Amalia ponders what to do she reflects on her life and we follow her journey.  Amalia is strong and very bright.  She is a translator and has seen alot in her 66 years and she shares what she has been through and learned with the reader.  

It was a terrible time and tragically the evil of antisemitism and a world divided by religion is still with us.  But Amalia is a character worth knowing, a courageous woman who like her mother is able to draw strength from her family and her Jewish faith.  It's a lesson for all of us.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. has an interesting topic this week: BOOKS ON MY FALL 2024 TO READ LIST.  And so I have chosen 10 books I hope to have read before the arrival of winter:

I hope everyone has a great Autumn and Happy Reading!