Marti's April Picks

Leaving Everything Most Loved by Jaqueline Winspear

Leaving Everything Most Loved is Jaqueline Winspear's new book about Maisie Dobbs. Maise is a detective of sorts using logic, questioning, and her knowledge of human nature to help find people or solve crimes. This is book number 10 in the series. As the title suggests this is the end of Maisie's present situation and opens a new chapter in her life. This means leaving her family, James (who also is leaving for Canada), Priscilla, Billy and all her friends. James has asked Maisie to marry him many times, but this time the marriage proposal comes with a time limit.

The case within the book focuses on the death of two Indian women. Maisie has been contacted by one of the brothers who wants her to find his sister's murdered. As Maisie starts to investigate another Indian woman, close to the deceased is also killed. As the case continues to be investigated, Maisie takes over a case of Billie's and is forced to consider the cases might be intertwined.

It is during this case that Maisie becomes interested in going to India. She feels that she needs to expand her horizons and that that expansion will help her find herself. James is off to Canada to help design airplanes for the next time England needs them.

I found the end of the book quite poignant. Her leaving struck a cord within me as I too am beginning a new phase of my life and leaving somethings most loved. As always, I want Maisie to be happy within her life instead of always searching for some intangible, but the story would not be about Maisie, if that was to happen. I am already waiting for the next book, as I am sure there will be another one. (I hope - mostly because if that was the end - it would really stink)

Murder at Rosamund Gate by Susanna Calkins

Murder at Rosamund Gate by Susanna Calkins is a debut novel. The setting of the book is in London during the seventeenth century. The lines of class, sex and religion were well drawn. A servant was always a servant. A woman was from weaker moral and intellectual levels. A Quaker was a derogatory name for the beginning of the Friend’s religious convictions. In the middle of all this is Lucy, the main character. She is a chambermaid at a house of a local magistrate. She is caught in her station and treated with some disregard as a girl servant. Lucy’s friend dies and her brother William is arrested for the murder. The story continues with twists and turns, including the plague, London burning and the search for the murderer.

The book felt authentic to me with the attitudes of the upper class. The courts were a different place than today. Hearsay, no collection of evidence and story telling often ruled the day with people being punished due to their station in life and lack of understanding of the law. I found the information about the “penny accounts” or broad sheets that were printed with the stories and ballads of the murders intriguing. The idea that justice was based on such “truths” surprised me.

I did find the book interesting and was pleasantly surprised by the ending. I enjoyed the story and the information presented. The characters were interesting and represented people from that time. I found the negativity with the lack of respect for girls who were servants difficult to accept. The negativity toward any religious differences also while appropriate to the time of the novel was also difficult to accept. (Although I guess it shouldn’t be based on current events.)

All in all, it was a good book.

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult’s new book, The Storyteller is a powerful story about memories and forgiveness. The book is layered with storylines that weave around each other like the Challah that Sage and Minka make during this story. The Storyteller is the story of the Holocaust as told in memories by two different characters (Minka and Josef) each a survivor in different ways. The main character, Sage who pieces the story together is also a survivor but in a different sense. Woven into the stories are the modern day stories of the characters and the ideal of forgiveness and retribution. At what point does a heinous crime allow a person to seek forgiveness and be forgiven. Can a heinous crime ever be forgiven? Who is to judge another’s crime? Do not we all carry in us the ability to be both good and bad? Once again Jodi Picoult brings us many questions without clear answers.

The main storyline is about an elderly man, Josef who asks Sage, a young woman from his grief group to help him die. Josef worked at a concentration camp during World War II. He helped run the camp and actively participated in (according to him) the mistreatment if not the annihilation of the Jew, Gypsy and other populations that were not “pure”. If this isn’t difficult enough, Sage’s grandmother is a survivor of the same concentration camp. Sage does not know her story, just the tattoos on the inside of her arm. The conflict between the two characters is a cerebral conflict of who gets to decide on forgiveness and are we ever really able to forgive others and ourselves.

The story at times is poignant and bitter. It allows us to see the daily struggles and guilt we put upon ourselves. The grief of survival can be seen from many angles, but so too is the grief of not dying when death is welcomed. As one character in The Storyteller says that perhaps we forgive others so that we can live with ourselves. To me, the story does not leave you with the heaviness of other stories about the Holocaust. It does leave you with the moral ambiguity of who among us should judge.

The Storyteller is another great read by a superb author. I enjoy reading Jodi Picoult’s books because of the variety of characters and opinions she develops in her plots. Her stories are always intricately detailed with little zings of surprises or twists. There is always something at or near the end that changes your whole view of the story and the so-called “facts.”

A Walk Across the Sun by Corbin Addison

A Walk Across the Sun is hands down one of the best books I have ever read. Corbin Addison has written a book full of such emotionality, faith and hope that I am finding it difficult to find the words to share this book. The main characters of Sita and Ahalya show grace under pressure even seemingly when all hope is irredeemable. A tsunami wiped out their home and their family. As they were walking toward a place to be safe – their life was changed forever. They were kidnapped and became victims of human trafficking. Luckily a man, Thomas Clarke – who had his own demons – becomes immersed in the story takes the lead searching for the girls to save them. Sita and Ahalya’s story is that of nightmares and horror. The strength and courage of the girls helped redeem the heaviness of the story. The story is a work of fiction, but Corbin Addison did the research to make the story sound so real.

The sex trade is a booming business around the world. Most of the victims are children between the ages of 12 and 17. They are beaten, raped, drugged, starved and trapped. Their life span once they are “sold” is two to four years before death. The demand continues as long as men are willing to pay for sex - sex with young girls. India, Cambodia, Kenya, Brazil, Jamaica, Thailand are all countries where many children are enticed, kidnapped and sold for sex. EVEN in the United States, this is an issue.

Let your voice cry out in horror at this slavery!