Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule by Jennifer Chiaverini

Title: Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule
Author: Jennifer Chiaverini
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis: This story follows Julia Dent Grant and her slave/lady's maid, Jule, from the time they are children through the many eventful years of their lives.  Julia's courtship with Ulysses Grant, their marriage, and the birth of their children are just the beginning of a life that seems to never settle down for the Grant family. With the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln and the outbreak of the American Civil War, the Grants work to find time together as Ulysses goes off to fight for a cause his family has long believed in, the abolition of slavery. As an abolitionist's wife from a slave-owning Missouri family, can Julia let go of her roots and fight for the freedom of her beloved Jule? 

My Thoughts

This is the fourth novel I have read by Jennifer Chiaverini (Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, The Spymistress, and Mrs. Lincoln's Rival) and it did not disappoint. I do not have official reviews on the first two listed, but you should seriously consider reading them both. The Spymistress is still my favorite of the four, but all of them are great Civil War novels from female perspectives. I particularly enjoy the fact that all of the novels take place at the same period of time but in different parts of the United States and from the perspective of the President's wife, a Union supporter living in Richmond, a woman trying to get her politician father elected as the next president, and the wife of a military man. The women all make at least brief appearances in all four novels as they cross paths. It is so well done.
 Following the life of Julia Dent Grant and Ulysses S. Grant gave an interesting insight into what life was like for them before and after the Civil War, in addition to the efforts they made to see one another during wartime. 
It is also fascinating that while her husband was fighting for and leading the Union forces that Julia continued to have a slave, Jule, as her lady's maid. Because Jule was owned by Julia's father and Missouri wasn't a confederate state, Jule had to remain a slave even after the Emancipation Proclamation gave freedom to the slaves in rebel territories. Both Julia and Jule have conflicting feelings about what granting slaves freedom would mean for each of them.

I am always impressed when an author can keep the reader engaged in a story in which one already knows the outcome. When Julia felt worried about Ulysses at war, I felt worried even though I know he survives to become the President of the United States (spoiler alert! but not really!) When he dies at the end I had tears rolling down my cheeks, even though I know he is dead. Literally, no one depicted in the novel is still alive today, but somehow Chiaverini gives her characters such depth that you are emotionally involved to the very end. I haven't even begun to touch on all of the interesting and important themes that run throughout this novel. I highly recommend it!

If you are interested in the perspective of wives of officers of the Civil War, Southern raised Union supporters, the emancipation of slaves in the United States,  recently freed women using their talents to thrive on their own, or just a good love story, then this book is for you.


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A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams

Title: A Certain Age
Author: Beatriz Williams
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery

Synopsis: New York City in the 1920's is a place where old and new are in constant competition. Theresa Marshall is finding this out as she has an affair with a man 20 years her junior, Octavian Rofrano. The problem is that she has fallen in love with him.
Confident that he has eyes for no one but her, Theresa asks Octavian to do a favor for her 39-year-old brother, act as his cavalier to propose to young Sophie Fortescue. Suddenly, Sophie realizes that maybe an older man is not for her after all, leading to an intense and uncomfortable love triangle. All the while, Octavian knows a secret that can change everything.

My Thoughts

When I read the back cover I thought that I would be reading a novel about an older woman and a younger man having an affair in the roaring 20's and her worrying about losing him to a woman his own age. This is a main component of the novel, but it is also so much more.
The novel begins with an article written by a reporter who is describing a courtroom scene. The reader doesn't know the characters yet but gets a small taste of what is to come. The novel then alternates between following Theresa, a 40-something wife of a wealthy businessman and Sophie, a 19-year-old woman whose father has new money from his many patents. 
Theresa's chapters are written from her first-person perspective. Sophie's chapters are from a third person perspective.  After hearing from both of these women for a few chapters, one almost forgets about the trial from the beginning until another article by the same reporter is snuck in between chapters. Suddenly, the trial is more relatable, the reader knows the characters, but still not why they are part of this trial.
The story kept getting more involved revealing not only the love triangle discussed on the back cover but also encompassing what a father will do for the love of his children, a murder mystery, a convenient marriage for money & power; young love, an estranged marriage that happened overseas; and soldiers lost, wounded, and emotionally scared after WWI. It really has it all.
This is an interesting story that is different enough to be intriguing and keep the reader guessing but also familiar enough that the reader can relate.

If you are interested in the roaring 20's, women fighting to make their own decisions, mysteries, or love stories this book is for you! 


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Last Stop in Brooklyn by Lawrence H. Levy

Title: Last Stop in Brooklyn: A Mary Handley Mystery
Author: Lawrence H. Levy
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery

Synopsis: Private investigator, Mary Handley is looking for a serial killer in 1894 Coney Island, a Jack the Ripper copycat. If she can catch this killer then a wrongly accused man may go free.

My Thoughts

This is the third Mary Handley Mystery and the first that I have read. While reading the other two may provide context, I find that this one stands alone quite well.
Mary is a witty and intelligent woman who wants to be respected as a private detective. Her personality is fun and she is willing to admit when she makes a mistake early on in the story. The mystery she is working to solve is interesting and intricate, at some points I feel there are too many characters contributing to the story that are unnecessary. I am not usually one to complain about too many characters or storylines (I really enjoyed reading the Game of Thrones series) but I really expect that each character should serve a real purpose.
If you are looking for a quick and fun mystery with some historical figures and places then this book is for you! 


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I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Glory Over Everything by Kathleen Grissom

Title: Glory Over Everything
Author: Kathleen Grissom
Genre: Fiction

Synopsis: James Burton, formerly Jaimie Pyke, is living in Philidelphia in 1830. He is the owner of a silversmith shop and a home, he is popular with women, and he has a secret that could take it all away. 'Passing' as a white man, James is actually a runaway slave who escaped at 13. When he impregnates a married aristocrat who is unhappy in her marriage and his young servant, Pan, gets stolen by slave catchers, his secret is more dangerous than ever. James travels to find Pan and receive some help from Sukey, an enslaved woman, who tries to get them to the underground railroad. 

 My Thoughts

This novel follows characters from Grissom's first novel, The Kitchen House. Glory Over Everything stands on its own, so it is not necessary to read the author's other novel first, but The Kitchen House is so devastatingly well done I really recommend that you do. I read it before I began this blog, so I have not officially reviewed it.
I was so excited to see this book on the shelf during my last trip to the bookstore. It has the honesty about the horrors of slavery that, like in The Kitchen House, the author does not shy away from or sugar coat. This novel also offers a perspective of a young man who was raised as a white boy and finds out his mother was a slave on the plantation. Then he is taken in by a family in Philidelphia and he has to keep the secret that he has African heritage from the people he loves. The inner conflict he suffers about his identity and having to 'pass for white' in order to keep everything he has worked for is a type of a runaway slave story that I had not encountered before.
The author also chooses to tell the story from different character's points of view by chapter. The reader gets to hear from James, Pan, the Burtons, Caroline, Sukey, and Pan's father. Having multiple perspectives on a story can really help the reader relate to the characters on a deeper level. 
This was a great book to read! 

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Artemis by Andy Weir

Title: Artemis
Author: Andy Weir
Genre: Science Fiction

Synopsis: Jasmine Bashara is a young woman trying to make her way as a porter/smuggler in the first Lunar settlement, Artemis. Barely scraping by, everyone she knows is telling her she has wasted her talents and can do so much more with life. When a shady billionaire customer offers Jazz a dangerous and illegal job along with a hefty payment to match, she jumps at the offer. After beginning stage one of her brilliant plan, Jazz realizes she is in over her head and will have to call in her friends and estranged father to help save the city.

 My Thoughts

This is the second novel I have read/reviewed by Andy Weir (The Martian). I was excited to have recieved it as a gift for Christmas! As I expected, it is filled with good, factual science along with some really interesting science fiction. The ways that the Lunar city is built to allow life, the moral code that creates civilization, and the factory that produces aluminum and the oxygen needed for Artemis by smelting are all really well thought out.
I find it interesting when a male author chooses to write a story from the first person perspective of a female protagonist. Weir clearly wants to make it known that Jazz is an independent, head-strong, takes-no-crap-from-anyone kind of woman. I totally respect that. Unfortunately, I think he overdoes it by trying to shock the reader with her constant foul language and redundant references to casual sex. I'm not saying that female characters cannot use expletives and such, just that the author was trying too hard to make his protagonist 'a tough lady.' Strong female characters can be written without having to be incredibly crass.Toward the end, at the climax of the plot, Weir is too busy actually telling the story and Jazz is allowed to show that she is a strong character though actions and not her words. 
I really liked the way that the author gave the reader insight into Jazz's past. She has an email pen-pal who lives on Earth. They start emailing as a school assignment when they are probably pre-teens and continue their relationship into the present. Overall, I think this novel is pretty entertaining and worth reading.

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Victoria by Daisy Goodwin

Title: Victoria
Author: Daisy Goodwin
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis: The story of 18-year-old Alexandrina Victoria ascending to the throne to become Queen Victoria of England. This novel follows Victoria as she learns how to be a queen after living a sheltered life with her mother and her mother's advisor John Conroy. When she leans heavily on the helpful and handsome Lord Melbourne, her prime minister, for guidance everyone says it is time Victoria find a suitable husband.

 My Thoughts

As soon as this hit the shelves I was dying to read it. I love the British Royal Family and have read exhaustively about the Windsors, Tudors, and Plantagenets, but I was so excited to read about Victoria, a monarch I have read little about. I was unwilling to pay for a hardcover copy and ended up getting a paperback copy as a Christmas gift. 
I must admit that while I was waiting for the paperback version, I watched the Masterpiece Classic television show by the same name. It was written by the same author as she wrote this novel. I highly recommend both.
 I would suggest reading the book first, which covers the first four episodes of the series. The novel provides much more detail and helps the reader understand exactly how the characters are related or their job in the palace, the motives of Victoria's various uncles and her mother, the mistakes Victoria makes and why they make her unpopular with her people at first, and her relationship with Lord Melbourne and her cousin Albert.  The series is filled with beautiful costumes and also has a side story about the Queen's dresser, Skerret, that is not included in the novel.
This is the third novel I have read by Goodwin (The American Heiress, Fortune Hunter) and I have enjoyed all three. Her descriptions allow the reader to create a clear mental picture without overexplaining or going into exhaustive detail. She also writes strong, independent female protagonists who are relatable even decades after they lived. 

If you love British royal history, coming of age stories, or women working to overcome discrimination, this book is for you. 

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The Cavendon Luck by Barbara Taylor Bradford

Title: The Cavendon Luck
Author: Barbara Taylor Bradford
Genre: Fiction

Synopsis: The third book in a series of four following the esteemed Ingham and Swann families of Cavendon as they manage life on the estate and in London just prior to and during World War II. Each member of the family is given a section of the book focused on their life at the time.

 My Thoughts

The first few pages of this book really made me consider not finishing it. The sentences were short when they could have easily been complex. The author over-explained what was happening in the scene to the point of redundancy. Then, of course, it starts with the cheesiest of love scenes. (Multiple more follow throughout, bleh) I hate not finishing a book, so I muddled through the first two chapters.
I can forgive the fact that the characters were seemingly underdeveloped at first because I did not realize that this novel is the third in a series of four. That being said, it is not necessary to read the previous books to understand this one, but it would be helpful.
Once it gets going, the story is actually engaging and the writing improves. There is one storyline that is engaging about getting a Jewish family out of Berlin before war breaks out. Honestly, if the book had ended after Part I, I would have been content. Unfortunately, Part II is completely unnecessary to the main plot of the novel. It seems that in an attempt to discuss every member of the Ingham and Swann families the author loses focus of the story she is trying to tell. Maybe if Part II had been a separate novel about the family during WWII then it could have been better developed. (spoiler alert!) Disappointingly, it just quickly covers the years of the war wounding a son at war, bringing another baby to a complete family, and killing off a beloved aunt.
I don't think I will be seeking out any of the other books in the series.
Positives:
The relationship between the sisters/sisters-in-law is interesting.
The women have interesting places in society for the time.
Part I overall is engaging (minus the initial two chapters)


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