LEGACY OF LOVE (Joanna Trollope writing as Caroline Harvey))

A couple of weeks ago I was setting up an "endangered books" display in our library.  Unfortunately, we are running out of room and have many wonderful novels that are not being read and will need to be removed from our collection to make room for new fiction that is more in-demand.  No offense to prolific writers like James Patterson and Danielle Steel, but it makes me sad to see several shelves each devoted to popular but mediocre novels by authors who have, in some respects, become money-making machines,. while some breathtakingly beautiful literature, like Legacy of Love, is consigned to the book sale.

Harvey's novel is really three novellas.  The first, set in the 1840's, is about two British sisters, Charlotte and Emily.  Charlotte, a strikingly beautiful redhead, craves adventure and longs to escape from her mundane village life with her sister and widowed mother.  Opportunity presents itself in the form of wealthy soldier Captain Hugh Connell, who falls in love with the wild, impetuous beauty.  Charlotte agrees to marry Hugh, who is being posted to Afghanistan, and it is decided that Emily will accompany them as chaperone since there is no time to marry before their scheduled departure date. Their trip to Afghanistan takes one year and includes uonths traveling by boat, through Egypt and India, and finally through the Kyber Pass to Kabul and many of the locales so familiar to us today because of our current conflicts in the middle east.  Written from Emily's point of view, Charlotte's story transports the reader into life in a British outpost in a hostile country and allows us to observe Charlotte's growing love for legendary adventurer Alexander Bewick.

Years later, in 1905, we are introduced to Alexandra Abbott, Charlotte's grandaughter.  Trapped in a frustrating exisitence in Scotland with her embittered mother and understanding, tolerant father, Alexandra is invited by her great Aunt Emily, now a childless 84-year-old widow, to visit her at her home in Cornwall.  Emily introduces Alexandra to a more genteel way of life and allows her to explore her own interests and friendships.  When a prominent local artist, the reclusive Michael Swinton, paints Alexandra, his career is revitalized and she suddenly becomes an object of great interest in the small community.  When Aunt Emily dies Alexandra realizes that she has no desire to return to Scotland and her crippled mother's negative attitude.

The third and last part of the novel features Alexandra's daughter, Cara.  At the outbreak of World War II, 18-year-old Cara, who is a little spoiled and self-involved,  is determined to join the war effort and serve her country along with her brothers, friends, and former classmates.  Instead, she is forced by circumstances to remain at home in Cornwall, where she struggles to find her direction in life while laboring on the family farm to provide much needed food for the country.  Humiliated by her role in the war effort and feeling bored and unfulfilled, Cara falls in love with childhood friend Alan Langley and looks forward to his return from the war.  Naturally, fate intervenes, and Cara is forced to grow up, finding her own calling in the process.

I'm sorry for all of the boring plot description when I should be finding incredible adjectives to describe this novel.  I just finished it and can't get it out of my mind.  I would highly recommend it to any historical fiction buff.  My only complain is that I wish Trollope/Harvey had written 3 full length books so I could still be reading them!

DEATH IN A STRANGE COUNTRY (Donna Leon)

I wish that Comissario Guido Brunetti and Louise Penney's Inspector Armond Gamache could meet.  I think they would be best friends and make a formidable crime-solving team! 

When a body of Sgt. Michael Foster, an American solider stationed in in nearby Vicenza, is found floating in one of Venice's canals, the official verdict is that he was killed during a random mugging.  Brunetti's obtrusive, social-climbing boss, Patti, is content with the finding and orders Guido to drop the case, but Brunetti doesn't feel that things add up and he surreptitiously continues the investigation without Patti's knowledge.  Additional murders, cocaine, and additional skullduggery, all seemingly tied in somehow with local poilice and the American military, come to light as Brunetti obediently investigates an art theft.  This one is a winner!

THE MIDWIFE (Jennifer Worth)

The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times is on of those books that stays with you for a while.  Worth writes about her midwife training in the east end of London in the mid-1950's with such detail and candor that it almost takes your breath away.  Now I think I need to watch the BBC series based on the book!   The horrible bombed out buildings, lack of sanitation, large families living in tiny apartments, sometimes unheated and without running water, human trafficking, the miracle of birth witnessed over and over again, and the profound poverty - all are brought vividly to life here with humor and empathy.  It astounds me that people were living this way when I was born, and probably still are in many places, and I am grateful to Jennifer Worth for telling us her story.  Mixing personal anecdotes with detailed descriptions of many of the births and illnesses that she encountered as a nurse and midwife, Worth has produced a richly faceted and inspirational memoir.