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Recent reading
Apr. 19th, 2024 09:20 pmI am at a meeting of the Swedish lichen society this weekend and having lots of fun: interesting lichens and great company! : D Wrote this on the train when I was without internet and am posting it now...
She Rises by Kate Worsley (2013)
Well, this is a hard one to talk about without spoilers! But to start with, it is a gorgeously written historical novel set in the mid-18th century, with mostly working-class characters. It jumps between two storylines: a young woman who starts out as a dairy maid and then becomes lady's maid to a sea captain's daughter, whom she falls in love with, and a young man who is pressed into the Navy. It does not flinch from difficult subjects: life on the Navy ship is cruel, not just the discipline, but also the group dynamics among the sailors (and content note for rape, too). I did not expect this book to have a happy ending, and in a way it doesn't, but it's happier than I thought it would get.
My Friend Monica by Jane Duncan (1960)
Third in the "My Friends" series. I read this a little apprehensively, given the summary where My Friend Monica is described as beginning as a wartime friend who then became a threat to Janet's marriage. I am not into jealous triangle dramas! But I needn't have worried. I mean, I wouldn't say the summary is inaccurate, but it's written in a way that totally worked for me, with the same delightful narrative voice as the first two books. And it's got such range! I mean, the same book contains hauntingly written suicidal ideation (because of paralysis after an injury) and comedic dialogue.
She Rises by Kate Worsley (2013)
Well, this is a hard one to talk about without spoilers! But to start with, it is a gorgeously written historical novel set in the mid-18th century, with mostly working-class characters. It jumps between two storylines: a young woman who starts out as a dairy maid and then becomes lady's maid to a sea captain's daughter, whom she falls in love with, and a young man who is pressed into the Navy. It does not flinch from difficult subjects: life on the Navy ship is cruel, not just the discipline, but also the group dynamics among the sailors (and content note for rape, too). I did not expect this book to have a happy ending, and in a way it doesn't, but it's happier than I thought it would get.
My Friend Monica by Jane Duncan (1960)
Third in the "My Friends" series. I read this a little apprehensively, given the summary where My Friend Monica is described as beginning as a wartime friend who then became a threat to Janet's marriage. I am not into jealous triangle dramas! But I needn't have worried. I mean, I wouldn't say the summary is inaccurate, but it's written in a way that totally worked for me, with the same delightful narrative voice as the first two books. And it's got such range! I mean, the same book contains hauntingly written suicidal ideation (because of paralysis after an injury) and comedic dialogue.
