Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott

Title: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy
Author: Karen Abbott
Genre: Nonfiction


Synopsis: The unique stories of Belle Boyd, Emma Edmundson, Rose Greenhow, and Elizbeth Van Lew and how each played important roles to support their causes during the American Civil War.

My Thoughts

When I received this book as a gift I thought it was historical fiction. In the note at the beginning of the book, however, Abbott makes it clear that this is a work of nonfiction, stating, "Anything that appears between quotation marks comes from a book, diary, letter, or transcript[...]" and when I read that I started to worry that this might be more technical than I had bargained for. What I found was a well researched and wonderfully written work of nonfiction highlighting the risks that these four women took to support their cause during the war. 
The book is written in 5 parts, one for each year of the war and an epilogue. Each chapter follows one of the women through the events that she participated in throughout that year, often leaving little cliffhangers at the end of the chapter. Both the Union and Confederate causes are represented, two of the women supporting one side, two on the other. Photographs of each woman and other prominent figures of the Civil War are scattered throughout as well. In addition, the 13-page bibliography gave some inspiration for other works I might like to read in the future! 
I have read a work of historical fiction about Elizabeth Van Lew, The Spymistress by Jennifer Chiaverini (a seriously awesome book), but I had never heard of the other three women. Abbott uses her research to turn facts about little-known participants in the Civil War into an engrossing story of women who wanted to do more than knit and darn for their cause.


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Breaking the Foals by Maximilian Hawker

Title: Breaking the Foals
Author: Maximilian Hawker
Genre: Fiction


Synopsis: A retelling of the Troy myth as it might have happened before it was sensationalized in an epic poem. 

My Thoughts

 First, it was a nice touch to call each chapter a 'Tablet.' Those kinds of things add a bit of charm to the story. I also thought the cover of the book was perfectly simple and effective.
I was super interested to see how the author would take the much-told story of Troy and turn it into something more down to earth and believable.
I was impressed with how some of the more incredible portions of the story, like the Trojan horse and the stealing of a queen, became a simple part of Hektor's transformation from a dutiful son into a compassionate father. 
The highlighting of women's roles in the war and the disparity of wealth in the community gave more depth to the story than just a war fought by men over a beautiful woman. 
A few of the characters and their relationships with Hektor could have been a bit more fleshed out, like Ura and Washa, and the passing of time was sometimes difficult to follow but overall it was an intriguing novel to read.

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I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for a review.

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Title: Crazy Rich Asians
Author: Kevin Kwan
Genre: Fiction


Synopsis: New Yorker, Rachel Chu, is invited by her boyfriend of two years, Nick Young, to be his date to his best friend's wedding in Singapore. What he doesn't tell her is how wealthy and judgy his family can be. Learning more about Nick's family causes Rachel to question if she really knows the man she has been living with at all.

My Thoughts

I decided to read this one because of its crazy popularity. I figured it was going to be a superficial Cinderella type love story, but set in Asia. I was so excited to be wrong. Not only is this novel funny, but it really dives into complex family dynamics showing that enormous wealth does not make life perfect. The author explores the mother-child relationship, relationships between in-laws, and also marriage in an extremely traditional and wealthy family. The reader gets the "money can't buy happiness" theme, but it is not at all preachy. I felt especially drawn to the storyline following the character Astrid. Everyone who knows her thinks her life is perfect; perfect clothes, son, husband, and she never has to worry about money. Instead, we find an incredibly complex woman dealing with her own issues.
While some of the storyline is predictable, there are plenty of surprises to keep the reader on their toes. I particularly enjoyed the footnotes which defined Mandarin and Cantonese colloquial phrases in literal terms, but also with added humor, related them to similar English colloquialisms. The footnotes also provided context for schools, businesses, and groups of people, again with delightfully funny asides added in. As you know by now, I love when I can enjoy a great story but also learn something about history or culture along the way. 

I highly recommend this novel to anyone who is interested in modern Asian culture, stories about family, or who is looking for a good laugh.
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The Winter Station by Jody Shields

Title: The Winter Station
Author: Jody Shields
Genre: Historical Fiction


Synopsis: It's 1910 in a Russian occupied town in the Manchuria region of China. An aristocratic Russian doctor who, unlike many other Russians in the town, has great respect for the Chinese culture, starts to notice mysterious unreported deaths of Chinese people. It starts with two bodies abandoned at the train station and slowly starts to grow. Government officials want to ignore these deaths, but the Baron will not let this go uninvestigated.

My Thoughts

From the back cover, I thought that this would be presented as a mystery with lots of suspense. Unfortunately, the first few chapters come across more like, "oh dead people, the government won't care because they aren't Russians. Oh, more dead people, let's send in more doctors to investigate. Oh, its a plague." And then the rest of the book documents the horrors of the plague and how the doctors can't agree on treatment or mode of transmission, the incredible number of deaths, and people trying to avoid quarantine. When it finally gets interesting and the reader is invested, it just ends with the Baron trying to help one of his colleagues to leave the town. Talk about anticlimactic. 
It is based on a diary kept by the Baron, who is the main character, so that is interesting. It is also a part of history that was buried because it was embarrassing to the Russian government how poorly it was handled. But, in the end, it seems like the author tried to take a diary and make it fiction, but didn't add enough meat to make it the truly enthralling mystery it could have been.

I have not gotten into the last couple of books that I have read. Let's hope my next read, Crazy Rich Asians, will live up to the hype! As always, I will keep you posted.

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The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota

Title: The Year of the Runaways 
Author: Sunjeev Sahota
Genre: Fiction


Synopsis: Three young Indian men leave India each fleeing different circumstances but all in search of the same things; work, honor, and a better life for their families. They all end up immigrating to Sheffield, England where they believe work to be plentiful, but unfortunately, jobs are scarce and their living conditions are abysmal. A young woman leaves home to do what she believes is right even though it brings dishonor to her family. Will these four runaways be able to survive this year? 

My Thoughts

When I saw this on the shelf at the library I picked it up because it seemed like a topic that is so important right now. What is life like for immigrants just trying to get by in a new country? This novel is set in 2003 and I had to actively keep reminding myself as I read about the conditions and horrible treatment of these young people that this is a modern novel. It is easier to justify or rationalize this type of treatment when it is about people immigrating in the 19th and early 20th centuries by thinking “times were different then, they didn’t have sanitary conditions, people were fighting for a place to live and work, of course so many people were treated badly and many of them died.” But it is much harder to swallow when it is set less than 20 years ago and conditions seem to be no better for immigrants than they were 100 years ago. 
The story is anxiety-inducing because I just wanted everything to be okay, for each character to get through the day alive. Sometimes I would just keep reading until I came to a point where one of them was out of immediate danger before I could put it down and go to sleep. 
There are parts of the story where there is some humor and small victories, so it is not completely depressing. What I liked most is that it was just honest. People trying to make the best of their circumstances, trying for a new start.

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Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiverini

Title: Enchantress of Numbers
Author: Jennifer Chiaverini
Genre: Historical Fiction


Other books that I have read by this author:
Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker: A Novel, The Spymistress: A Novel, Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule, Fates and Traitors, Mrs. Lincoln's Rival

Synopsis: Having a famous father and the scandal of a public separation of her parents have led to an unconventional life for Augusta Ada Byron. Doing what she felt right, Ada's mother fills her time with math and science, telling the governesses to never encourage Ada to use her imagination, lest she becomes like her unstable father. Ada is only allowed to hear or read Lord Byron's poetry when in her mother's company, and even then only rarely. As time goes on Ada learns that she can use math and science in conjunction with her imagination to create things beyond imagination.

My Thoughts


This is the first novel by this author that is not set in the United States during the American Civil War. Each of them had a moment where characters from the other novels crossed paths, which was cool to see different perspectives of the same events. Enchantress of Numbers started off by giving the story of the marriage of Lord Byron and Annabella Milbanke and the birth of their daughter. It was very unsettling and a bit depressing how poorly Annabella was treated. After that, the description of Ada's young life was a bit slow and repetitive. I'm not sure if that was the intention to emphasize the redundant, sheltered life Ada lived. It also progressed very slowly and while the time span was given at the beginning of each chapter, the passing of time was hard to follow, especially when she was very young.
By the time the story picked up I was more than halfway through the book and felt that her adult life and accomplishments were not as fully fleshed out and more of the story should have been devoted to that time in her life. When I realized there were only a few pages left I was disappointed. I really liked that some of the minor characters Ada also became quite famous, like Charles Dickens. I also enjoyed that each chapter title was inspired from a line written by Lord Byron.
Overall, this was not my favorite novel by this author but interesting to learn about this little-known person in history.


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Confessions of Young Nero by Margaret George

Title: Confessions of Young Nero
Author: Margaret George
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis: Lucius has royal blood but is not first in line to become emperor. After the emperor dies, Lucius's mother, Agrippina, is returned from exile and comes to claim him from his aunt, who was raising him. It is Agrippina's singular goal to put Lucius on the throne. This novel follows Lucius from his young life and early years as Emperor Nero to the burning of Rome. 

My Thoughts

My first thought when reading this book was that the passage of time was not chronicled well. Since it was told from Nero's perspective looking back on his life, the scenes where he was a very small child were told in a voice that made him seem much older. Then it would say something like "so many years have passed," but he was still only like 7. I found it very difficult to follow.
The mother-son relationship in this novel is super complicated and goes to a weird place that may make some readers uncomfortable. George's goal was the show a softer, more human side of Emperor Nero which I think she accomplished. I liked reading this novel, but I never felt super excited to read more and know what was going to happen next. Honestly, I enjoyed reading the acknowledgments at the end more than the story. I felt that more of the history was provided and the author's purpose was expressly stated, helping me to understand why she needed to tell this story. Apparently, there will be a second book to complete this story and I might be interested in reading it, just to see if the story picks up at all.



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