The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton

Kate Morton has been on my reading list every year since I discovered her, in 2013 - when I read The Forgotten Garden. Those were the days before spreadsheets tallied all the books I'd read, and certainly before book reviews on my blog. "...be warned, it is a long girly indulgence!" I gushed on my Goodreads review. Yes (sigh) - with the exclamation mark.

And look how pretty this one is. And it's long, but that didn't scare me. I'm used to that from Ms. Morton.

So, it's fair to say that I'm a fan. And also that I was predisposed to love this. 

The Clockmaker's Daughter is about so many people, so many stories, so many memories from Birchwood Manor that it's difficult to keep track. It starts off in present time with Elodie Winslow, a young archivist, who comes across some interesting sketches in a sketchbook in a satchel, with links to that house, etched in her own memories from stories told by her late mother. She visits Great Uncle Tip, who clearly knows more than he's telling. However, there is also a link to the Magenta Brotherhood - a group of artists centered around Edward Radcliffe, who took a summer at Birchwood Manor in 1862 where there was a death and a disappearance of the Radcliffe Blue - a diamond pendant.       


It took me about 200 pages to start getting into it. So many stories, none of which really grabbed me. When Ada Lovegrove - a little girl growing up with her Shashi in India arrived at Birchwood Manor, I started being interested. 

And then it wasn't difficult. There is so much atmosphere in Kate Morton's novels. Magical, nostalgic transportational writing that immerses you in a place, which is where you want to live while you read. Happily, this was present in this book. Beautiful prose, wonderful scenery, settings steeped in history and loveliness.

I struggled to keep track of who was who and what they were doing - I had to check back a few times, and I couldn't work out if it was my memory, or maybe that I didn't care all that much - I suspect the latter.

A complicated, ultimately satisfying plot, but it could have done with a good edit - there was just too much to keep track of, and some story elements that were unnecessary.

A ramble in an English country manor and its grounds that took longer than it should have. Pleasant and slightly diverting, but difficult to be passionate about - it was just too long.

3 stars

ISBN: 9781451649390

You may also enjoy The Lake House by Kate Morton.

More books.

Ten of the Best #141

Hello all you people - it's been quite a week. So much stuff to share - all of which you shared first with me. Thank you, it's been fun catching up.


James recaps the US elections...click one of the best Zapiros ever for the highlights.

Iceland releases an ad that is banned, so they remove it. But you can access it on Youtube. Gosh I wonder how many views it'll get now?

Friday Books - A Spark of Light

Welcome to BookBeginnings and Friday56 - where we share books on Fridays. It's a great way to start the weekend.

Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader.

 Here's the beginning of the book I'm featuring today.

Jodi Picoult tackles abortion, abortion laws, pro-life and pro-choice views and even patriarchy and gun violence in this book, by focussing on a shooting at a women's reproductive health clinic in Mississippi. It's inspired me to read so much more about the subject - although I know these have always been hotly debated by many, I had no idea how different abortion laws were in different countries, nor how they had evolved over the decades.

At Freda's Voice, you'll find the Friday56, where the excerpt comes from page 56 or 56% in your Kindle.

Here's page 56 of A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult .

What has been especially interesting is how much the abortion debate has been entered into by men, who although they cannot bear children, and while a number of women find themselves thinking this way (of an abortion) because men have walked away from parental responsibilities, somehow it is acceptable for them to make decisions on behalf of those same women, and over time we women have robbed them of moral agency in this issue.

On a more trivial note - which cover? Mine looks like the first, but I'm leaning towards preferring the second - the colours are so pretty.

I have done a review, for those of you who're interested to read further.

What are you reading this weekend? I'd love to visit your blog and check it out.

Emma by Jane Austen

So many people and things about this production of Emma endeared it to me before I even started it. Reviewers I trust awarded it lots of stars, the vocal cast are highly rated, and the story is one of my all time favourites. 

I started on a car trip (as one does) and was instantly captivated by Emma Thompson's narration. She is delightfully quirky, without seeming to try too hard, and this sets the tone for the other voices - all perfectly cast, and pitch-perfect. You can sense the personal enjoyment they experienced, as well as the fact that they respect each others' talent and support it.

Emma Woodhouse, the young lady that Jane Austen created - "a heroine whom no one but myself will much like" turned out to be very well loved by many. In the first sentence, she introduces the title character as "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich." She also has a penchant for meddling - or matchmaking, as she calls it, and thinks she is very good at it. She lives alone with her father, who is way too indulgent, and she cares for him. Mr Knightley, her one friend who is always painfully honest with her, doesn't fail to point out the errors of her meddling manners, and as she fails to match Harriet with Mr Elton, herself with Frank, Jane with Mr Dixon, he has a lot to work on.

I thoroughly enjoyed the scenes portrayed in the village of Highbury - it was reminiscent of the radio serials I used to listen to as a child with our family's domestic helper every day during the school holidays. I loved the drama, the music, the sound effects, and it is such a good way of bringing a story to life while still including the reader's imagination in the process. There were a few instances where the background clinking and tick-tocking of the grandfather's clock were more annoying then enhancing, but they were minor irritations.

4 stars

More books.

Goat's Cheese and Mushroom 'Risotto'

Another U-Cook special

Goat's Cheese and Mushroom 'Risotto'

2 Onions

3 Cloves garlic

200g peas

20ml dried thyme

200g spinach

200ml yoghurt

40g green leaves (rocket is good)

35ml vegetable stock

500g mixed mushrooms

100g goat's cheese

130ml white wine

400ml red quinoa

Method

Boil the kettle, peel and grate garlic, finely dice onion and place your stock in a bowl and add 1100ml of boiling water and stir. Rinse and drain quinoa.

Place a deep saucepan (that has a lid) over a medium heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil and some butter. Saute onion for 5 minutes. Add garlic, half the thyme and salt and pepper. Fry for 2 minutes. Add wine and simmer for 2 minutes.

Add quinoa and stock to saucepan. Simmer for 25 minutes, stirring frequently. Adjust water content if necessary (add if it boils away, and increase heat if there is any liquid left over).

Roughly slice mushrooms. Fry them in a pan with olive oil and remaining thyme for 8 minutes. Season with salt and set aside.

Rinse and drain green leaves, season and toss in olive oil.

Add goat's cheese and yoghurt to risotto (leaving some cheese for garnish). Stir. Add peas and spinach and pop lid on to aid wilting. Add mushrooms and stir to combine. 

Dish up risotto, add cheese and dress with greens.

You may also enjoy Gnocchi Parmigiana

A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult tackles abortion, abortion laws, pro-life and pro-choice views and even patriarchy and gun violence in this book, by focussing on a shooting at a women's reproductive health clinic in Mississippi. In the style to which we have become accustomed, she illustrates how “Laws are black and white. The lives of women are a thousand shades of gray.” 

Told in hourly segments, moving backwards through time (which was an interesting device, but I'm not sure it served the story, except for the author to show off a bit - that she can tell a story like this and keep the reader's attention is quite a feat in itself), we meet Wren and her aunt, Wren's father, who is part of the police presence outside and the one communicating with the killer - George Goddard. There's also Louie, the pro-life doctor who also wants women to have safe abortion treatment and care, Izzie, the nurse, and the pro-life protester - all trapped inside. Then there was the parallel story of Beth, which I found disjointed and a bit thrown in for effect.

“Coal, with time and heat and pressure, will always become a diamond. But if you were freezing to death, which would you consider the gem?” 

The juxtaposition of pro-life anger with a gun in the hands of the killer was fascinating - 

“this was indeed some crazy world, where the waiting period to get an abortion was longer than the waiting period to get a gun.” 

You'll have your thoughts challenged in this one, no matter which side of the debate(s) you find yourselves upon. And you'll also enjoy the journey. 

“We are all drowning slowly in the tide of our opinions, oblivious that we are taking on water every time we open our mouths.” 

I especially loved the author's notes, which showed how much research goes into a book like this, and how to transform black and white markings on a white surface into an impassioned plea for humanity, morality and more agency for women in the choices they make, especially when those choices will affect the rest of their lives.

4 stars.

ISBN: 9781444788136

You may also enjoy Jodi Picoult's Small Great Things. Or what about Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate?

More books....

Take it easy

Good morning all you bright sparks - up early to exercise. I'm done with my walk, and it was a good one today. And I'm wondering what music I feel like today?

And it struck me - at this busy frenetic time of year what we all need.

To take it easy. If you're running well, do it. Enjoy every second. If you're walking, take in the sights, the sounds, the smells, the feels. The one thing we don't need more of today is stress or any kind of pressure. And our exercise should be a respite from the busy-ness not adding to our woes. 

And if while you're doing this, you get a surge of energy, and you want to kill the last few kilometres, or you take a deep breath, and decide to walk another block, I say go for it. But do it because you can, and you want to, not because you're making yourself, or pushing on through the pain to get to another horrid and harsh goal. 

So today's tune? Well here're the lyrics - do you remember it? 

Relax, take it easy

For there is nothing that we can do

Relax, take it easy

Blame it on me or blame it on you

It's from 2007, believe it or not - here's Mika, with the music video. 

Enjoy your workout, your Monday, your week. 

Last week's motivation - Girls like us.

Some more.

Ten of the Best #140

What an interesting week it's been. As seen on all your social media posts. 

Did you all see the rain and flooding in Venice? Here's a BBC report and an entertaining video showing how in this particular restaurant, the show must go on.

In other news, James Delaney and Thulani Nkomo, who started the project to revive The Wilds in Jozi have been recognised for their work.

The stories told by Neanderthal teeth...I loved this one.

Friday Books - Transcription by Kate Atkinson

Welcome to BookBeginnings and Friday56 - where we share books on Fridays. It's a great way to start the weekend.

Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader.

 Here's the beginning of the book I'm featuring today.

This is one I've just put down, finished - I loved it. Juliet Armstrong works for the BBC in the 1950s on  Children's Hour, but ten years ago, she was a spy in London in WWII - transcribing conversations on her trusty typewriter. 

At Freda's Voice, you'll find the Friday56, where the excerpt comes from page 56 or 56% in your Kindle.

Here's page 56 of Transcription by Kate Atkinson.

I wanted to give you a feel for how the transcriptions were written in the book - so I took a picture (I'm not the world's best photographer - forgive all the shadows). It shows the transcription by Juliet of the conversation between the spy and the unwitting informers.

I have done a review, for those of you who're interested to read further.

What are you reading this weekend? I'd love to visit your blog and check it out.

Book Club Books #4 2018

Is it time? It should be, the beginning of a new month. It must be time (or nearly) for book club. So if you're here, you may be wondering what to read before the end of the year. I have some ideas...

This is the page where you'll find a short recommendation.  Click on the cover for my full review, if you'd like more details. 

Happy shopping and even happier reading. I'm enjoying reliving them all.

Kate Atkinson's latest, Transcription is a treat. Less time traveling and more spy/adventure/intrigue. Featuring Juliet Armstrong in London in 1940, the MI5, typewriters and listening devices, a dog, umbrellas, tea and raincoats - it's all so well set up. Ten years later, and Juliet is at the BBC, but the story is still not over. I loved it.

The Killing Lessons was one of the best thrillers I read this year. I loved this one too. The opening scene is a shooting in a home on the edge of a forest. This is where ten year old Nell runs, not knowing if she is escaping or facing more danger. The action is intense and relentless, and the tension mounts, with the police valiantly following every clue. 

If you're a Sharon Bolton fan, like me - The Craftsman is different to her others. So much so, that she changed her publisher for this one. It's darker (I know - hardly seems possible, right?) and more personal. Sharon grew up in Lancashire, and on the legend (true story) of the Pendle witch trials. She uses that inspiration to full effect in this clever story of Florence Lovelace returning with her son to the funeral of a murderer. Only the mystery - that she helped solve all those years ago, may not be over yet.

I thoroughly enjoyed Val McDermid's latest Karen Pirie thriller. There's a body in peat - well-preserved, some highland games, a highlander and ties to spies from the war. Whilst investigating, Karen must also deal with a new boss who seems out to get her, and the boss's boy, who has definitely been sent to keep tabs on Karen.

The Burning Chambers starts a new series for Kate Mosse, and it opens in Franschhoek - the Cape sun beating on the gravestones and a woman remembering. The rest of the story is all in France though - Minou Joubert, of Île de la Cité who helps run her father's bookshop travels to the refuge of her aunt in Toulouse, where violence between the Protestants and Catholics erupts. She can't escape her history, however, and I suspect the books to come may bring her to the Cape where her story may continue.

If you loved Beartown, you'll love this - and you have probably got it already,and are in no need of my recommendation. Us Against You continues the ongoing drama-saga of a small town dependent on the ice hockey played at the ice rink to survive. Nearly all the boys (and girls) are back, loving and fighting, working and playing. A new coach will stir things up a lot, and maybe they won't lose more to their rivals in Hed - the next town over. I loved it.

Karin Slaughter is another of my favourites, and Pieces of Her did not disappoint. There's a violent scene at a mall, and Andy notices her mom, Laura react in a way that is initially believable, yet upon reflection totally surprising and unexpected. But now, both must keep running to stay alive, and as Andy works out why, she realises Laura has been holding out. A lot. It's a great story, tense and action-packed. 

Did all my favourite authors publish recently? In time for festive season, I suppose. Joe O'Loughlin is one of my all-time best characters too. Here he discovers that Dad, who is lying in a hospital bed after being viciously attacked has a lady visiting him who neither Joe nor his sisters nor his mother have met. Turns out she may be "The Other Wife". And then there's also the small matter of who attacked Dad to figure out...

The last two are next to my bed - I've finished A Spark of Light, but the review's not up yet - tomorrow perhaps. And The Clockmaker's Daughter which I've read exactly one paragraph of. You'll want to read both of these before I do my next round of recommendations, which'll probably only be in the new year. I'll link the reviews when I've done them. The covers link to the Goodreads blurbs for now.

A Spark of Light tackles the issue of abortion and women's rights by telling the story of a shooting at an abortion clinic. In true Jodi style, she takes both points of view and explores them thoroughly and exhaustively and tells the story backwards in time, which makes for an interesting read.

And as far as The Clockmaker's Daughter is concerned, there isn't a Kate Morton that I haven't enjoyed yet, so I'm taking my chances and recommending this straight away.

Enjoy your book club - don't forget to talk about the books, people.

Book Club Books #1 2018

Book Club Books #2 2018

Book Club Books #3 2018