Novels Now

Death on the River by John Wilson

Pages: 193
Ages: 15+
First Published: Oct.1, 2009
Publisher: Orca Books

Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

I pull back the thin blanket and swing my legs over the edge of the bed.

Acquired: Received a review copy through LibraryThing’s Early Review Program.

Reason for Reading: John Wilson is a Canadian author whom I have read a few books of and enjoyed. I also enjoy reading Civil War historical fiction.

This is a dark, merciless book which shows one side of war, its heinous toll on life, the bloody injured victims and those people whose characters will let them take advantage of the less fortunate in any situation. The story is that of a just turned 18 year-old, Jake Clay, who joins the Union Army because his brother whom he looked up to was killed in the war. Fresh in uniform he is involved in a battle in which he is taken POW and sent to the Confederate prison camp at Andersonville, one of the worst in history. Thus the story goes on to tell the tale of the prison inmates and daily life, through the eyes of young Jake, as he is taken under wing of an immoral Billy Sharp who knows how to survive at any cost.

A page-turning story and almost too horrible to believe it is based on truth. The author pulls no punches and there are many brutal, disturbing scenes. Though the author does write them in a stark matter-of-fact way without becoming needlessly gruesome in the details. They are true to life and there is one scene in particular that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. Jake is a realistic character and one who not only suffers physically but also suffers with his morals and that he cannot always remain humane in an inhumane world.

Certainly a unique Civil War story for teens, told through the eyes of a POW. The publisher’s recommended age is 12+, however I don’t agree with that. I think the book is more appropriate for older teens. Along with all the violence I’ve mentioned, the protagonist is 18 years old, and the language includes continuous use of the sh- word, along with every conceivable rendition of taking the Lord’s name in vain I ever thought possible. For older teens and grown-ups who like to read YA, I heartily recommend the book for an eye-opening look into a nasty piece of US history.

Vanishing Girl by Shane Peacock
The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His 3rd Case

Pages: 307 pages
Ages: 10+
First Published: Oct. 13, 2009
Publisher: Tundra Books
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

Irene Doyle gasps.

Acquired: Borrowed a copy through Inter-Library Loan.

Reason for Reading: Next in the series.

This third entry into the series is not as dark or scary as the previous two and there are no dead bodies this time either but this mystery involving kidnapping and robbery is very clever and full of twists. Irene is back on the scene after an absence in the last book and is a welcome return. All the regular characters, including the new Mr. Bell, are also assembled and while of course there are some new characters involved in the plot the character development is all saved for the regulars.

A spoilt rich girl just home from three years in India, daughter of a Lord in politics, in kidnapped. A few months go by without a single word or trace of her then suddenly an anonymous tip tells of her location and she is rescued but the culprits have escaped. The family retires to the country to relax and immediately their home in the city is robbed, not just robbed but almost totally emptied of its contents and days later the daughter is caught again. Sherlock has been on the case from the beginning and has clues that have sent him the wrong direction. But not only does he have to solve this crime for his own pride before the police, there is also a little boy’s life at stake that Irene is desperate to save and finding the missing girl is crucial.

Another page-turning, exciting mystery that I’ve come to expect from Shane Peacock. Peacock gives a nod to Holmesian fans by naming the missing girl’s family the Rathbone’s. Holmes character as a boy is really developing in this book towards the man we eventually will come to know. Up to and including this point he has been searching for cases to solve to show up Inspector Lestrade and prove himself to the police and the world that he is a genius detective. I haven’t liked this aspect of the young Holmes as it runs contrary to the adult Holmes’ confident arrogance. In this book young Sherlock comes to a realization about this aspect of his behaviour and changes. His relationship with the young Lestrade is also explored in this novel much further than it has been so far and we see the inklings of their future relationship. Malefactor has been a wild card up to this point and his true character is finally revealed in this book as well.

Vanishing Girl is a satisfying read for followers of the series as we get another clever, exciting mystery, set in an accurate historical portrayal this time concentrating on the contrast between life of a child in a poor orphanage and life as a neglected but spoilt rich girl. We also come to a major point in all the major characters’ development that will affect their behaviour now in future volumes. I have book 4 in my line-up and am looking forward to it.

The children mingled with the adults, and spoke and were spoken to. Children in these families, at the end of the nineteenth century, were different from children before or after. They were neither dolls nor miniature adults. They were not hidden away in nurseries, but present at family meals, where their developing characters were taken seriously and rationally discussed, over supper or during long country walks. And yet, at the same time, the children in this world had their own separate, largely independent lives, as children. – from The Children’s Book, page 31 -

The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt is a huge, sprawling multi-family saga set in Britain at the end of the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century. Olive Wellwood, a children’s author, lives with her husband Humphrey and their seven children (ages zero to 13 years) at Todefright – a huge mansion whose grounds edge the forest. Olive writes each child their own story – fairy tales which have no end.

They were like segmented worms, with hooks and eyes to fit onto the next moving and coiling section. Every closure of plot had to contain a new beginning. There were tributary plots, that joined the mainstream again, further on, further in. Olive plundered the children’s stories sometimes, for publishable situations, or people, or settings, but everyone understood that the magic persisted because it was hidden, because it was a shared secret. – from The Children’s Book, page 89 -

The stories Olive writes parallel reality. The secrets she alludes to also exist outside of the books, lurking in the dark corners of Todefright waiting to be discovered.

There are several other families which comprise Byatt’s ambitious novel. Benedict Fludd, a barely sane potter, hides his perverse fantasies about his two daughters, while Fludd’s wife escapes reality by sinking into a drug induced state of complacency. Humphrey’s brother Basil and German wife Katharina are raising the beautiful Griselda and rebel Charles (ages 11 and 14). Prosper Cain, a museum owner and widow, also has two children – the independent minded Julian (age 15) and conflicted Florence (age 12). Finally, there is Phillip who is found wandering in the basement of Cain’s museum and is taken in by Benedict Fludd when he realizes that Phillip is a budding artist (later, Phillip’s sister Elsie joins the cast).

Despite the sheer number of characters introduced, Byatt does an admirable job at developing them – giving them distinct personalities, strengths and weaknesses. I did stop reading early on in order to create a character chart, but found that by the time I got 100 pages into the novel, I no longer needed to refer to it. Later I found this terrific list of characters on Wikipedia.

Byatt uses the historical and political backdrop of the Women’s Suffrage movement in England, Socialism and the inside workings of the Fabian Society, and the build up to WWI to frame her novel which begins in 1895 and ends just after WWI in 1919. Byatt skillfully shows the transition from the Victorian Age to the Edwardian age.

It was a new time, not a young time. Skittishly, it cast off the moral anguish and human responsibility of the Victorian sages Lytton Strachey was preparing to mock. The rich acquired motor cars and telephones, chauffeurs and switchboard operators. The poor were a menacing phantom, to be helped charitably, or exterminated expeditiously. The sun shone, the summers broiled and were brilliant. The land, in places, was running with honey, cream, fruit fools, beer, champagne. – from The Children’s Book, page 431 -

During this time, the reader follows the lives of the children as they grow into young adults, make mistakes, search for their identities, go off to fight in the trenches, and begin their own families. Olive’s eldest children (Tom and Dorothy) take center stage as characters from the Wellwood family. Tom is Olive’s favorite child and is stuck in Olive’s fantastical world of boys without shadows and underground tunnels – he roves the woods and lives in a dreamworld. Dorothy wishes to be someone more than someone’s wife and sets her sights on becoming a doctor. One of my favorite Wellwood characters is Hedda, whose spunk and determination eventually leads her to becoming a Suffragette. The reader also comes to know Julian Cain well…a boy who early on recognizes he prefers the company of men to that of women and is not afraid to acknowledge his sexuality. I especially felt myself drawn to Imogen – the eldest Fludd daughter – who manages to escape her wretched father and make a life for herself.

At the turn of the century, the young were about to be adults, or some of them were, and the elders looked at the young, with their fresh skins and new graces and awkwardnesses with a mixture of tenderness, fear and desire. The young desired to be free of the adults, and at the same time were prepared to resent any hint that the adults might desire to be free of them. – from The Children’s Book, page 252 -

Interspersed throughout the novel are snatches of Olives stories which provide insight into the background of the characters…and the secrets. It seems every character has a secret: infidelity, sexual identity, incest, and political aspirations. As each secret is uncovered, another aspect of the characters is revealed – a bit like peeling off the layers of an onion.

In case you have not already figured it out, I loved this book. I loved its density. I loved the character development. I loved Byatt’s gorgeous use of language and the care she took in getting the historical details correct. I especially enjoyed the fairy tales and the theme of not growing up which weaves through the story (Byatt references Peter Pan in this novel and the idea of staying child-like forever is played out in the book). I found the historical background on the Women’s Suffrage movement in England to be fascinating…and yes, Byatt’s female characters are immersed in the drama and conflict of that time.

“It is a terrible thing to be a woman. You are told people like to look at you – as though you have a duty to be the object of … the object of … And then, afterwards, if you are rejected, if what you … thought you were worth …is after all not wanted … you are nothing.” – from The Children’s Book, page 357 -

They were troubled, as intelligent girls at the time were troubled, by the question of whether their need for knowledge and work in the world would in some sense denature them. Women worked, they knew, as milliners and typewriters, housekeepers and skivvies. They worked because they had no means, or were not pretty or rich enough to attract a man. - from The Children’s Book, page 358 -

This novel is so intricate and far-reaching, it is hard to do it justice in a review. This was my first experience with Byatt’s writing and it has made me eager to read more of her work. But, if you just read one novel this year, let it be The Children’s Book…a wholly satisfying and enjoyable read from start to finish.

Highly recommended.

Thomas Cromwell is now a little over forty years old. he is a man of strong build, not tall. Various expressions are available to his face, and one is readable: an expression of stifled amusement. His hair is dark, heavy and waving, and his small eyes, which are of very strong sight, light up in conversation: so the Spanish ambassador will tell us, quite soon. It is said he knows by heart the entire New Testament in Latin, and so as a servant of the cardinal is apt – ready with a text if abbots flounder. His speech is low and rapid, his manner assured; he is at home in courtroom or waterfront, bishop’s palace or inn yard. he can draft a contract, train a falcon, draw a map, stop a street fight, furnish a house and fix a jury. He will quote you a nice point in the old authors, from Plato to Plautus and back again. He knows new poetry, and can say it in Italian. He works all hours, first up and last to bed. He makes money and he spends it. He will take a bet on anything. - from Wolf Hall, page 25 -

Hilary Mantel’s sprawling, Booker Prize winning novel Wolf Hall is set in England during the sixteenth century. Narrated by Thomas Cromwell, it is an intimate look into the life of King Henry VIII and the cast of historical figures who surrounded him. More importantly, it is an examination of the clash between the Roman Catholic Church and the royalty – a battle of wills and politics that turned deadly for many as King Henry sought to divorce Catherine of Aragon (who could not give him a male heir) and marry Anne Boleyn.

Since Christ did not induce his followers into earthly power, how can it be maintained that the princes of today derive their power from the Pope? In fact, all priests are subjects, as Christ left them. It is for the prince to govern the bodies of his citizens, to say who is married and who can marry, who is bastard and who legitimate. – from Wolf Hall, page 435 -

This tumultuous time in history was defined by the struggle between Catholic power and Protestant will; a time when players could change sides in an instant and the charge of treason meant certain death. The Protestant Reformation, headed by Martin Luther, plays a large part in Wolf Hall and leaves one to wonder which side Cromwell was really on. It is a complex and complicated history into which Mantel drops her characters. Readers who lack adequate knowledge about English history in the 1500’s  may find themselves lost in a sea of details and characters (many who share the same first name); and find themselves struggling to get through this densely written tome.

Mantel writes her novel in the present tense – an interesting choice for historical fiction, but one which I think worked to her advantage. She also picks the perfect protagonist to drive her story. Cromwell is an interesting historical character. In Mantel’s book, he is richly imagined…a man who is is able to sidle up to the King of England and play one man against another in order to ensure his place in history, while at the same time is a loving family man who grieves so much for his wife and two young children (who die from illness), that he never re-married. The stark contrast between empathetic father and manipulative, driven lawyer helps define the internal conflict of the novel.

It’s beautiful, he says, not wanting to spoil his pleasure. But next time, he thinks, take me with you. His hand skims the surface, rich and soft. The flaw in the weave hardly matters. A turkey carpet is not an oath. There are some people in this world who like everything squared up and precise, and there are those who will allow some drift at the margins. He is both these kinds of person. He would not allow, for example, a careless ambiguity in a lease, but instinct tells him that sometimes a contract need not be drawn too tight. – from Wolf Hall, page 187 -

But it is no use to justify yourself. It is no good to explain. It is weak to be anecdotal. It is wise to conceal the past even if there is nothing to conceal. A man’s power is in the half-light, in the half-seen movements of his hand and the unguessed-at expression of his face. It is the absence of facts that frightens people: the gap you open, into which they pour their fears, fantasies, desires. – from Wolf Hall, page 294 -

Another strength of Wolf Hall was Mantel’s sardonic sense of humor which comes through in pithy dialogue between the characters. Cromwell’s observations of Anne are priceless…and Mantel reveals the ridiculousness of some of the royalty, as well as the Church.

Despite this and her excellent characterization, Mantel chooses to use an ambiguous pronoun. Her use of “he” (to identify the narrator) instead of “I” consistently confused me. I often found myself going back to re-read a passage in order to understand who was now speaking or acting. Often the “he” in the sentence did not match the subject which made it all the more confusing. Mantel’s disregard for this grammatical “rule” took away from the story for me. I found myself often setting the book aside in frustration. I could not completely immerse myself in Cromwell’s complex world. I felt as though I were reading a book, rather than falling into a story.

I wanted to love this book. Passages where Mantel let her gifts as a writer shine, left me feeling that this book should have read better. I should have flown through it in record time, exclaiming at the scope of what I had read. Instead, I found myself relieved to have finally finished the book after nearly three weeks of slogging through its pages.

Many readers are raving about Wolf Hall…I suspect most of them had a good understanding of English medieval history and so could sort through the ambiguity of Mantel’s prose. Sadly, I am not one of them. Although I admire Mantel’s writing ability, I have to admit, I really did not enjoy this book. Mantel is apparently going to be publishing a sequel to Wolf Hall. I think I will skip it.

Some might like this book.

Irredeemable by Mark Waid
Afterward by Grant Morrison
Volume 1

Pages: 128
Ages: 15+
First Published: Oct. 2009
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

SARAH!

Reason for Reading: The publisher’s plot synopsis grabbed me right away.

Comments: One day The Plutonium, a very powerful superhero turns evil and becomes the world’s greatest super villain. He belonged to a group of superheroes, yet none of them came close to Plutonium’s powers. Now The Plutonium is hunting them all down and killing them and their alter ego families. He has destroyed cities and is a heartless, ruthless killer. The story focuses on his remaining teammates as they try to piece together information about the man inside the costume, what made him turn, and how can they stop him, all while staying on the run as he tries to hunt them down.

This is a stunning story! It opens with a shocking sequence and the action never lets up. There are many layers to the story and this is truly a study in character. The Plutonium is presented as ultimate evil but as the reminiscences of the past Plutonium are brought forward we see the powerful superhero proud and good. We also see the little things and some larger things that happen in his life that aren’t so nice, things that can build up and lay heavy on a guy. The old superhero Plutonium becomes a character the reader can relate to and feel for and yet it is gut-wrenchingly unsettling to see the atrocities he is now capable of.

The book does contain a lot of violence, not the blood and gore type but more along the disturbing death kind. The book is definitely not for the young or the squeamish. Since I’m neither I’m eagerly awaiting Vol. 2 which will be out this Spring.

Matchless, A Christmas Story: An Illumination of Hans Christian Andersen’s Classic The Little Match Girl by Gregory Maguire

Pages: 112 pgs.
Ages: 10+
First Published: Oct. 27, 2009
Genre: fairy tale
Rating: 3.5/5

First sentence:

On an island so far north that it snowed from September to April, a boy named Frederick kept himself warm by keeping a secret.

Reason for Reading: I have several of the author’s books but haven’t read any as of yet plus The Little Match Girl is one of my favourite fairy tales.

Summary: The story of a young boy who lives with his widowed mother. They may be poor, but they have just enough to get by and that is enough for them. Their lives very briefly cross paths with a little match girl who dies in the night cold one evening. Then due to that crossed path they are brought together with her distraught family.

Comments: A bittersweet, little story that is really much more than a retelling of The Little Match Girl. Macguire uses Andersen’s tale as a starting point to expand upon and from which to create his own tale. Chapter 2 of the book does retell Andersen’s tale pretty much keeping to the original though he does make it clear that the little girl is hallucinating and it is her dead mother she sees at the end instead of her grandmother.

Set in the past, in a time of horse and buggies, there is a sentimental ambiance that floats throughout the story. One feels that things are not going to go particularly well and after the death of the little girl any small act of joy becomes poignant. Macguire shows how the small things in life can (and maybe should) mean so much. As in the original tale there is that heavy feeling in the heart but there are bright moments and humour added by Frederick’s mom. The fairy tale aspect comes into play when Frederick and his mom meet up with the little match girl’s widowed father and two other young daughters and there is a special magical ending on Christmas Eve. At the very ending I think the book went one page too long, for I had just finished reading the end and felt happy with a sweet ending when I turned the page and one more sentence was written that I just didn’t get. Perhaps it’s just me, but I couldn’t make sense of it, I turned back and re-read the second last page and for me that is where the story ends. A charming little story. Not for young children but more for adults and older children who don’t mind a bittersweet story.

the road to god knows … by Von Allan
Pages: 141 pgs.
Ages: 15+
First Published: Oct. 2009
Genre: YA, graphic novel, realistic fiction
Rating: 3.5/5

First sentence:

“Has it b-been only a few days..?”

Reason for Reading: A Cybils Award nominee.

Summary: I think the author’s own sub-title pretty much sums up the story: “an Original Graphic Novel about Hope, Friendship, Mental Illness, Schizophrenia, and a Young Teenage Girl Coping with Her Life and Coming of Age in a Broken but Loving Family”.

Comments: This is Canadian Von Allan’s first published book. It is an incredibly powerful story. Marie is a young teenager, 13 or 14, dealing with poverty, being teased at school, having only one friend (though a true best friend), parents who do not live together, and a mother who suffers from schizophrenia and keeps going into the hospital after breakdowns. Von Allen has captured this girl’s immense range of feelings and especially shows it in his detailed b/w drawings. While the speech lacks a certain natural flow, especially between the two girls, it does tell the story well. The mother’s love for her daughter comes through between her very different behaviours and there are two especially frightening scenes that shock the reader into seeing the full extent of this disease. It’s hard to put a suitable age range on the book; there is some foul language and a nude scene plus of course the intense subject matter thus I would say 15+ but the book could be read by mature 13+ or those from similar backgrounds. The language and nude scene are not gratuitous but integral to the story.

The book really has no other plot than the day to day life of Marie coping to live with her mom and then being sent to stay with her dad when her mom is in the hospital. It’s a look at a severe reality. But all is not bad as Marie does have a wonderful, understanding friend and the book explores the role of even just one friendship in such a harsh life. The book does come to a very abrupt ending which is rather jarring but upon reflection one can see why it ends where it does. A worthy read.

The Taken by Inger Ash Wolfe
Hazel Micallef Mystery (Book 2)

Pages: 415pgs.
First Published: Oct. 27, 2009 (Canada), Jul. 15, 2010 (US)
Genre: mystery, crime
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

What always broke his heart was the way they dressed themselves.

Reason for Reading: Next in series.

Summary: Reports of a body found at the edge of a nearby lake have Detective Inspector Micallef and her sidekick DC Wingate investigating. What appears to be an apparent drowning is by no means a mere murder but only the beginning of a twisted game being played out by a psycho. The drowning seems familiar and is found detail for detail in the last issue of the local paper’s summer serial story. When the next installment is printed the police begin a frantic investigation to save the life of a kidnap victim before he is killed or not enough of him is left to be rescued.

Comments: This second book by Wolfe was even better than the first. A very unique murder mystery case unlike any I’ve read before kept me riveted to the book. The gruesome factor is enough to make the squeamish squirm and keep the interest of hardened thriller readers as myself. A well-paced story with a mystery that kept me guessing to the end and I really enjoyed the read. The book also focuses on Hazel’s personal life and progresses her character forward to a more likeable one than in The Calling, yet I still just do not find her someone I particularly like. I think there are also moments within the story when one must suspend reality a tad. I suppose that is inevitable with most crime thrillers, to a point, but this just stands out for me with a 62 year old woman taking on so much action. Ultimately, though, the plot is unique, the case is quirky and The Taken is a compelling read. I’ll be looking forward to seeing what case Hazel must solve in her next book.

The young Canadian, who could not have been more than fifteen, had hesitated too long. For a frozen moment, his feet had stopped moving on the floating logs in the basin above the river bend; he’d slipped entirely underwater before anyone could grab his outstretched hand. One of the loggers had reached for the youth’s long hair – the older man’s fingers groped around in the frigid water, which was thick, almost soupy, with sloughed-off slabs of bark. Then two logs collided hard on the would-be rescuer’s arm, breaking his wrist. The carpet of moving logs had completely closed over the young Canadian, who never surfaced; not even a hand or one of his boots broke out of the brown water. - from Last Night in Twisted River, page 1 -

Twelve year old Daniel lives with his father, Dominic Baciagalupo, in a logging camp along Twisted River in Coos County New Hampshire. Daniel’s father is the cook for the loggers and has been raising his son alone ever since the boy’s mother drowned in the cold, rushing waters of Twisted River. One fateful night, Daniel mistakes his father’s girlfriend Jane for a bear and accidentally kills her. Frightened that the town’s chief law enforcement officer (a drunk with a history of beating women) will not believe their story, Dominic and Daniel flee to Massachusetts and make their new lives in the heart of Boston’s North End. What follows is the story of not only Daniel and his father, but also the tale of Ketchum – a surly, big-hearted river driver with an independent streak who remains the duo’s friend for years.

Beginning in 1954 in New Hampshire, the novel spans more than fifty years (ending in 2005) and moves from Boston to Vermont to Iowa to Colorado and finally to Toronto. As with all Irving novels, the characters drive the narrative…and Last Night in Twisted River is full of memorable characters. My favorite is the gritty Ketchum whose libertarian politics and belief in street justice (not to mention his avoidance of technology except for his beloved fax machine) make him one of the more lovable and humorous characters of the sprawling novel.

Last Night in Twisted River is classic John Irving story telling at its best. Filled with quirky characters and marked by Irving’s signature meandering style, the novel is big, lush and captivating. I have long been a John Irving fan and so I know that when I open one of his novels I must give myself up to the story and simply go along for the ride. No one tells a story quite like Irving, and in Last Night In Twisted River the story is about life with all its ups and downs, unexpected events, and relationships which surprise us. Wound through the pages of this novel is the idea of fate, chance happenings, and the idea that we cannot always map out our lives.

We don’t always have a choice how we get to know one another. Sometimes, people fall into our lives cleanly – as if out of the sky, or as if there were a direct flight from Heaven to Earth  the same sudden way we lose people, who once seemed they would always be part of our lives. – from Last Night in Twisted River, page 550 -

Last Night in Twisted River is also about fathers and sons – a common theme in Irving novels – and how parental relationships shape who we become. Daniel becomes a famous author, and Irving has a little fun with his readers by inserting a bit of himself into the character (who has a tendency to overuse semi-colons in his writing).

All that was true the cook thought. Somehow what struck him about Daniel’s fiction was that it was both autobiographical and not autobiographical at the same time. - from Last Night in Twisted River, page 230 -

Readers who love Irving’s early work (The World According to Garp, A Prayer For Owen Meany, and Hotel New Hampshire), and who were swept away by his controversial novels (The Cider House Rules and A Widow For One Year) will not be disappointed in his latest novel. In Last Night in Twisted River, Irving has brought together all his powers as a storyteller. Despite its length (more than 500 pages), I wanted the book to go on and on. When I turned the final page, I was not ready to say good-bye to the characters I had grown to love. For readers waiting for Irving’s next great novel, the wait is over.

Highly recommended.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
The Buckshaw Chronicles, Book 1

Pages: 292
First Published: April 2009
Genre: mystery, cozy, Gothic
Rating: 4.5/5

First sentence:

It was as black in the closet as old blood.

Reason for Reading: At first, the title grabbed me. Then I read the publisher’s summary and was very excited to read this mystery.
Comments: Flavia is an 11-year-old girl who lives in a run-down ancestral home in a tiny village in England with her Father, two sisters and a few servants. Flavia isn’t your ordinary 11yo, she has taken over an ancient chemistry studio in the house from a former ancestor and her whole world revolves around chemistry. Her speciality? Poisons. Early one morning Flavia stumbles upon a dead man lying in the cucumber patch and that is just the beginning of a series of events that Flvaia becomes involved in as she finds herself matching wits with the local Inspector who has her father under suspicion of the murder.

What an incredibly, deliciously, devilish mystery. This is like nothing I’ve read before. A pure joy to read. The characters were all entirely eccentric from the main protagonist down to the secondary and minor characters. The mystery is both what I would call a cozy and a Gothic mystery. It is a cozy in the sense that it is very Agatha Christie in presentation, lots of mental deduction going on and no gory details, plenty of suspects to choose from and each a nuisance in their own way. On the otherhand Bradley presents a very Gothic feel to his mystery with the old run down buildings and other old English settings, such as a school bell tower, Flavia’s macabre interest in poison and the equally devilishly (though not life-threatening) pranks that she and her sisters play on each other. Characters appear suddenly at windows and loom out of the fog. It really is just splendidly atmospheric writing but completely cozy for those who like their mysteries clean and intelligent rather than soaked in blood.

I only had one small problem and I can’t really say for sure whether it was the author or just myself. The novel’s narrator is an 11-year-old girl and I don’t think it was completely maintained throughout. I’m sure it is difficult to write an adult novel in a child’s voice and it is not something that one reads everyday. At times I often forgot it was a child telling the story until a word or phrase would bring it back to my mind; I also often forgot the narrator was a girl until she mentioned wearing a dress or such. This was something that irked me a little bit, but otherwise I am full of recommendations for this book. I think a wide variety of mystery fans are going to enjoy this book and there are already two further volumes in the series planned for future release! I think Flavia de Luce may just become a future British TV series as she is just that compelling; I’d love to see her come to life on the screen and can’t wait to read her next mystery!