The Summer of the Barshinskeys by Diane Pearson

1902 was the summer when the Barshinskey family came to their small English village and forever changed the Willoughbys. The Willoughbys might be servants, but they are at the top of their social class and the Barshinskeys are at the very lowest rung, little better than tinkers with the children filthy and barefoot.

Mr. Barshinkey is Russian, and while a crude, coarse man with a fondness for drink, he has a way about him that charms – and the Willoughbys are no exception (well, maybe Mrs. Willoughby is immune). The Barshinskey family is scattered by death and violence, and two of the children stay behind and in touch with the Willoughbys and they begin their adult lives as tensions in Europe are ready to explode into war.

Edwin Willoughby has a new life and good job in London, until he catches sight of Galina, the oldest Barshinskey daughter, and it’s not long before she seduces him into her world of theatre and rich lovers. Galina is a master of yanking Edwin’s chain (well, I could use a coarser word, but you know what I mean), and he follows her and her wealthy lover to Petersburg and things go from bad to worse and he’s soon trapped in a world gone mad and not just himself in need of saving.

He didn’t answer. He felt sick and ashamed. Men were dying all over the world, fighting for their countries, and he was wasting his life trying to save this selfish, thoughtless, totally useless piece of humanity.

Personally, I’d have dumped the witch and high tailed it out of there, but lust love conquers all, eh? While some of the plot description might make it sound like this is an action-packed type of novel, it is anything but. The bulk of the story takes place in the countryside, and involves those of the lower classes. No Lords and Ladies to be found here, so if that’s your cuppa tea this book probably won’t suit. That said, the writing is excellent and I especially liked Sophie’s voice in the first third – you really do feel like you are seeing the world from her eleven year old POV and not an adult writer forcing it on you. The latter part of the book is written in third person and you’ll get not only Edwin’s story in Russia, but that of the younger Barshinkey daughter as she joins the Quaker relief effort in Russia and hopes of finding Edwin and bringing him home. A good solid read for me, and one I’d recommend for those interested in the period.

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Seattle Green by Jane Adams

Tags

Seattle, William Boeing

What a lucky find, and one I would have missed but for the fact that the sales clerk pulled the wrong book, had to go back for the right one and I was perusing the closest shelf (travel) and found this little gem in the wrong place…

Seattle Green is a multi-generational tale of three women, beginning in 1866 and ends in 1962. When she turns fifteen, Maddy finds herself receiving some very unwelcome attention from her step-father, and with her mother’s health failing she doesn’t have many options and signs on as a Mercer Bride, a group of women recruited by Asa Mercer to sail to Seattle as brides.

Sound rather similar to a certain television show in the 70’s?

Bobby Sherman *fans self*

What he wanted was for her to look after the boy, and keep the house, and cook his meals, and warm his bed at night, and for all that he supposed she looked fit enough.”

Maddy weds widower Abel Blanchard, but realizes too late she’s married the wrong brother. Duty calls and she makes the best of it and she and Abel build a dynasty of land and wealth for future generations, despite the increasingly heated disputes with his younger brother over his prime piece of land called Caleb’s Bluff (West Seattle).

Maddy’s youngest daughter Catherine is the next to stand guard over Caleb’s Bluff, which does cause a wee bit of tension with her brothers who are bent on development and greater wealth. The Blanchard fortunes have their ups and downs along with the city as the impacts of the labor strikes, the threat of communism, World War I and the Great Depression forces change to the financial climate. Catherine’s daughter Natalie is the focus of the latter third, as the Second World War rages and the city’s financial landscape is changed once again – aviation. Natalie fights for her dream to be a photojournalist, but can she come home again and take up the battle to keep Caleb’s Bluff unspoiled?

I know I’m not doing the story justice with this recap, but I really don’t want to ruin it by saying more. Probably my only real complaint is that it wasn’t longer, at only 300 pages there wasn’t room for as much character development as I like to see in a book. As much as this is a story about three strong-willed women, it is also about the land and the city and how it changes and grows – I especially loved the last part where we saw through Natalie’s eyes how much it had changed after a long absence. As a lifelong resident of Seattle, I absolutely adored the historical references and characters and working them with the fictional Blanchard family, names that most residents now know as major streets through the downtown core. Nice to see Mr. Boeing and the airplane industry worked into this as well, about the only one missing was John W. Nordstrom and his shoe store at 4th and Pike, and of course the story ends much too soon to bring Mr. Gates into the storyline. Used copies are very reasonable at the moment, and I heartily recommend this for those interested in Seattle history.

Csardas by Diane Pearson

Portions of this review will discuss events that are historical fact. I have made every effort not to mention the fates of specific characters in relation to those historical events.

Csardas begins in 1914 and focuses around the lives of the two Ferenc sisters, Eva and Amalia (Malie), daughters of a Hungarian aristocrat and a wealthy Jewish banker, who expect little more out of life but parties with dashing young men to court them. Self-centered Eva is determined to snare the wealthy Felix Kaldy, but his mother is having none of it (a Bogozy is not good enough for a Kaldy). As for Malie, she meets young officer Karoly Vilaghy and both are head over heels in love, but her father forbids the match with someone of lower social standing (they are Bogozys after all). Malie defies her father and insists she’ll marry Karoly, but war happens…

The story continues through the aftermath of WWI and the country trying to regain what it lost, the oncoming threat of Germany and Adolf Hitler, the German invasion of Hungary, and trying to rebuild a life and land after the decimation of war.

You think, because people must be fed, we should throw away our consciences?”…”Conscience is the privilege of those who are not hungry.”

I highly recommend this novel for those interested in Hungary and its history, but be warned, war is not pretty and while there aren’t graphic battlefield scenes there are some serious topics covered and this might not suit for every reader. The jacket blurb does make this sound like a romance novel revolving around a pair of star-crossed lovers, but it’s anything but that. What you will get is a story of a family and how their lives are affected by war and politics. You will get an up close look at the lifestyle and customs of their tightly woven society, from the wealthy and privileged to the peasants born and bred to accept their lot in life. Until the Soviets come that is…

As for the title of the book? According to Wik Csárdás is a traditional Hungarian Folk dance and you can spend all day on You Tube listening to different variations. So far this one is my favorite,

Leave it to Victor Borge’s to put his own spin on it and make us laugh 🙂

The Summer Day is Done by R.T. Stevens

From the book jacket:

“Grand Duchesses are not destined to share their lives with untitled Englishmen. Glorious summer days do not last forever. The memories, however, do linger.”

At the core this is a very simple story, that of John Kirby who has spent the last few years exploring Russia and its culture (he’s really a spy for the British government). John’s travels bring him to the Crimea as a guest of Princess Aleka Petrovna. The Imperial family is in residence at Livadia Palace and give a ball in honor of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna’s birthday and John gets an invite. John makes a big splash with the royal family and he’s soon like one of the family, playing tennis with the Tsar and romping in the gardens with the children. Olga and John share an instant chemistry, and those feelings continue to grow, although they know it is a love that cannot be.

They had inherited autocracy, they were imprisoned by their heritage and governed by the edicts of their ancestors. On this summer day it did not seem important.

Russia is soon caught up in a war they are ill prepared for, and the country is ripe for revolution and John finds himself in the thick of it and no matter what path life sends him on, he always seems to land right in the lap of the royal family and Olga. I won’t say more, but I assume most of you know the fate of the Romanovs and that is where the book ends, although it does finish on a somewhat positive note with one of my favorite characters in the book (no, I’m not telling). I found this a good solid read, and I thought the method of using a character like John to give us an inside look at the Romanovs a good one, just be warned that that inside look was seen through a very rose-colored set of glasses. The Tsar and his family were such good, kind, loving, wonderful, beautiful people who hadn’t a clue that people could actually disagree with them, let alone kick them out for another form of government…Recommended for those who must read all things Romanov. Out of print, but I was able to obtain a copy via Inter-library Loan.

Family Money by Doris Shannon

“Elizabeth, know your place. Poor relatives can’t afford the luxuries of price or anger. Be meek, bend your head, say thank you, take what they offer.”

New York City, 1914. Elizabeth Meredith should have had it all, but her father was more interested in the arts than running the family shipping business and got himself disinherited. Years later with her parents dead, Elizabeth takes the lowly position of housekeeper so she can still take care of the Meredith family home and give it the loving attention she feels it deserves. The treatment she receives is as miserable as her pay, but when cousin William brings home a very young and beautiful new bride things start looking up – Judith seems like nothing more than a fairy godmother. Or does Judith have an ulterior motive for buttering up poor cousin Elizabeth? Yes she does, but that big ole’ betrayal just might come with a hefty price tag as there’s no messing around with poor cousin Elizabeth and her goal in life of getting back some of that family money for herself.

I’ll not spoil by going further, but this was a lot of fun and there were some wickedly funny moments along with the sad ones (oh, that use of the hatpin on the condoms in hopes of an unexpected pregnancy). Elizabeth is very much one of those do what needs to be done kind of characters, so there are times you may not exactly agree with her actions, but I sure did enjoy waiting to see what she’d pull off next. The characters were well-developed (even the secondary ones – loved Aunt Van), and it was very interesting watching Elizabeth’s changing relationship with cousin William from that of mutual hatred to eventual respect and maybe even a bit of family fondness? No worries, there’s still William’s nasty nasty son Alan to deal with if he ever ends up in charge of the family business…

“Tough, Elizabeth thought, but one cannot afford mink and an oak coffin on the same day.”

Don’t mess with cousin Elizabeth, whatever you do. Just don’t.

 4/5 stars.

The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

Tags

Mount Everest

SPOILER WARNING. Those who have not yet read to the end of book #2, The Winter Rose, might find this review slightly spoilerish.

The Wild Rose begins about eight years after the close of The Winter Rose. Seamie Finnegan is now a famous explorer and the pride all of England. Willa Alden, on the other hand, still carries a lot of emotional baggage from her climbing accident on Mount Kilimanjaro, and when not drowning her sorrow and misery in alcohol and drugs, she lives by and climbs the *foothills* surrounding Mt. Everest. Just when Seamie thinks he can put Willa behind him and move on with life, Willa’s father passes away and she returns to England for the funeral…

So as not to spoil, I’m not going to reveal anything else that happens in the book.

This is another big ole’ fat soap opera in the same style as the first two, cliff hanging chapters and all. I really liked the way Donnelly brings back characters from the earlier novels, plus she gives them an actual story instead of a quick nod and fade to black like you see in other series (although I would have like more of Fiona and Charlie after…). I also appreciate the way Donnelly brings social issues and prejudices into her stories and involves her characters in them, you can see that these are issues she cares a great deal about. That said, I do have a few quibbles.

One of the greatest aspects of the first two books were the strong female characters. No matter what adversities and crappy things life dealt them, Fiona and India always picked themselves back up, dusted themselves off and got on with life. Not so with Willa. She’s self-destructive, pouty and some times just gawd-awful miserable, and she spreads that sunshine to everyone around her. Yes, I know it sucks she lost a limb, but Joe’s in a wheelchair and gets on with life quite nicely thankyouverymuch. Willa would have been more sympathetic (and interesting), if the woe-is-me attitude was dropped and we see her carving out a new life dealing positively with her handicap.

As for the handicap itself? Willa has a prosthetic leg in lieu of the one she lost after her climbing injury at the end of book two. Unfortunately, there are times when that limb virtually disappears from the storyline for lengthy periods of time. While I don’t want to be clubbed over the head with constant reminders of her artificial limb, I’d have preferred seeing more of the day-to-day impact it has on her. Does she take it off when she showers? Goes to sleep? What about when making love, and why is it when we do get *the big love scene*, is there no discussion/mention of it between the pair? Seriously, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to imagine Willa being a bit sensitive about her partner’s first look at it in the *flesh*, nor that her partner could reassure she’s beautiful to him as she is. Why doesn’t she worry about damage to it whilst hiking those dangerous slopes around Mt. Everest? After arresting a dangerous fall, all that’s mentioned are a couple of broken fingernails??!!

I did enjoy this a lot, but just not as much as the first two books (which I loved to bits) and I’m knocking off a half star for the quibbles listed above. Fans will definitely lap this up like kittens with cream and I do recommend it, but I just wanted a little bit more. 3.5/5 stars.

FTC disclosure, I obtained a copy of this book from Net Galley.

The Circling Years by Janice Young Brooks

The Thornes have a very long history in the Ozark Mountains, from the small cottage down the hill to the huge rambling estate they built and named Thornehill. Grace thinks she’s made the perfect marriage to older Jack Thorne, until she feels neglected during their grand trip to England and lets German armament king Frederich Von Holdt sweep her off her feet for a night of passion. Grace and Jack mend their differences, but that little indiscretion has consequences on subsequent generations, as does the roll in the hay her son takes with the gardener’s daughter, leaving two cuckoos in the Thorne nest. When Jack dies, Grace gains control of everything, and her indomitable spirit holds the family together through the trials of WWI and the Great Depression when she turns Thornehill into a hotel that at first caters to a most unexpected clientele (lol).

Grace has two grandchildren, Sonny and Laura, but Laura is her favorite and she’s just as spirited, intelligent and independent as grandmother. Laura soon finds herself swept up by the charm and charisma of a man who feels he’s destined for the White House. OK, so it’s also his domineering mother and uncle with their hopes set on the White House, and they’ll go to any lengths to achieve it. Laura soon finds out that her marriage isn’t quite the bed of roses she hoped for, but WWII happens and her husband is off to be a war hero and further his chances in the political arena. While hubby’s away, Laura puts Thornehill’s many rooms to good use and turns it into a convalescent home for returning soldiers. And one of those returning soldiers is a man from her past she thought she’d put out her mind for good…

Can she give up that ticket to the White House for true love in rural Arkansas? I’m not telling – read it for yourself.  Not the greatest book ever and certainly not JYB’s best, but still an entertaining read for those who like the multi-generational type of family stories.  You can pretty much guess where much of the story twists are going, but it was still fun watching them, especially that final well deserved comeuppance that you-know-who got. About time. 3.5/5 stars.

The Gathering Wolves by Elizabeth Darrell

Tags

Red Army, russian revolution, White movement

This bit of history is too hard to put into my own words, so I will let the author’s notes do it for me;

“The Russian Revolution and the subsequent Civil War were history dramas that drastically changed the European political map. But there is a little-known aspect of the great Russian upheaval that is as bizarre, exciting, and tragic as any other.

From early 1918 until October 1919, the arctic forests of North Russia were occupied by troops of an astonishing variety of nationality and purpose. Starting as a revival of the war on the Eastern Front when the Russians made a separate peace with Germany in the midst of the Great War of 1914-1918, the struggle took on an unexpected and complex nature when the Armistice was signed in November 1918. Former enemies became friends, old allies became hostile.

In those forests through the dark frozen winter and short summer of perpetual daylight were British, French, Italians, Czechs, Canadians, Americans, Finns, Karelians-and Russians, of course. Red Russian, White Russians, partisans, counter-revolutionaries, starving peasants, political refugees, released convicts, mercenaries-all fighting for the future of Russia and all with different aims.”

British engineer Paul Anderson takes command of a remote Russian station with orders to repair the damaged bridge and keep the railroad lines clear for allied forces. Bitter over the Russian’s withdrawal from war in 1917, Paul is none too thrilled to team with Colonel Alexander Swarovsky and the two form an uneasy alliance that is sorely tested when it’s apparent there is a traitor among their group. Is it one of the British soldiers, or is there a secret Bolshevik in Swarovsky’s troop of peasant soldiers? And what of the Red army soldiers bent on killing them all?

“Throughout this beautiful land of pines and lakes the wolves were gathering-but it was not the grey ones that would drive him away.”

Further complicating things are the colonel’s wife Irina and sister Olga. Unstable Olga is hot for Paul, but Paul only has eyes for Irina and she feels the same. Into this mix comes the unexpected appearance of  Swarovsky’s former mistress Lyudmilla Zapalova, Imperial ballerina trying to high-tail it out of Russia. Eventually, the allies pull out and Paul faces his greatest challenge, getting them all out safely from their remote outpost and to a port where ships are waiting to take him (and perhaps Irina?) back to England – not an easy task with the onset of an unforgiving Russian winter.

“Now the little engine was expected to make a four-day journey up and down dangerous inclines, across unstable bridges, round treacherous bends, and through forest under attack from biting cold.”

This book started off quite slow for me and I almost bailed a couple of times. A lot of details of building the railroad bridge were a bit tedious and I really didn’t warm up to Paul and Irina as a couple until the very end (sniff). That said, the flight to safety on the rickety railroad was some seriously riveting stuff and Darrell really keeps you on pins and needles wondering if every one will make it out alive.  Three stars for the first half and four for the latter, rounded out to 3.5.

FTC? Library loot.

Crown Sable by Janice Young Brooks

New York, early 1900’s. Polish immigrants Irene Kossock and her brother Teo arrive from Poland (the rest of the family to come later) and she’s promptly dumped into the *care* of the Spry family while her brother leaves for parts unknown. The Sprys find ample use for Irene’s skill with a needle and despite their neglect she blossoms into a beautiful woman – and one who catches the eye of fellow immigrant and scholar Peter Garrick. The two eventually marry happily, but Irene has an unquenchable desire to better their lot in life and jumps at the chance offered by furrier Jacques Neptune who admires her skill at design and needlework. Jacques takes her under his wing and teaches her the ropes, and at the same time builds an image of Irene more suitable to the place in society he plans for her – but at what cost to her marriage? Is all that prestige and power more important than that handsome husband and hearth and children?

Irene’s story takes plenty of twists and turns and ups and downs until it finally culminates at the end of WWI, as Irene must decide what is most important in life, husband and family or wealth and career. Despite what the cover might indicate, Irene is a very strong, forthright and faithful heroine, you aren’t going to find her hopping from man to man and bed to bed (well, there’s one lapse but I forgive her). She’s not a bitchy, power mad Alexis Carrington out to destroy everyone in her path, just a woman wanting more out of life for herself and her family. I really cared about Peter and Irene and was kept on pins and needles until the very end. I especially liked the added touch of the extended family invading them from Poland, especially mama Zophia (she did not want to give up her chickens ever).

There are a lot of details of the ins and outs of the fur trade and I’d warn those who are a bit too politically correct sensitive on the topic might want to stay away.  This is the third novel I’ve read by this author and they’ve all been solid four star reads, with strong female characters and despite what some of the covers might indicate the sex is very very tame. Her writing is solid and the characters and settings believable. There was a bit of exposition at the end, but I don’t see how she could have recounted the events of a war from another continent from where her MC was located at. 4/5 stars.

Emily by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

At fifteen, Emily Paget doesn’t have many options to look forward to in life. Her father is the disgraced and disinherited second son of an earl and lives off his sister’s charity. Emily is too well-born to take a career, yet too poor to attract a husband, although things start looking up when her Russian grandmother Natasha comes to England with the Russian Imperial court and takes a shine to Emily.

Shortly after Natasha’s departure, Emily receives a visit from the elderly Lady Hamilton (an old friend of the Kirovs) who swoops in like a fairy godmother and whisks her away to London and turns her into a proper young lady. While there, she and her friends become a wee bit too involved in the suffragette movement, but Emily eventually goes off to join her grandmother in St. Petersburg and just like Cinderella she marries her prince – but is he truly prince charming or was she deceived by Basil’s drop dead good looks? And what about Basil’s unhappily married brother-in-law Alexei Kirov? Are he and Emily destined to be soul mates? They sure do smoke off the pages at the first meeting……

First Basil then Alexei are off to serve in the Russian army and as the death toll at the Russian front rises to horrendous proportions, Emily is left in St. Petersburg desperately trying to hold what is left of the Alexei’s family together and alive. But the real terror begins when the Bolsheviks gain control of the government upon Lenin’s return to Russia.  Is her English passport enough to get her safely out of Russia? What of Alexei’s wife and children – children she loves as if they were her own?

While a bit slow at the start with Emily’s life in the English countryside and her social whirl whilst first in Russia, once the war broke out and the revolutionary fervor ran amok I had a hard time putting this one down. Lenin’s Bolsheviks with their strong-arm tactics were terrifying, as well as a nail-biting escape from St. Petersburg that made the last 200 pages darn near unputdownable.

I’ve never read much on Russia’s Revolution and the rise of communism, and it was fascinating *seeing* how it came about and I really enjoyed the drawing-room politics and debates between Alexei and his brother;

“And if one of your fanatical chums ever does succeed to the purple, whatever his title may be – tsar or president or chief co-ordinator of the people’s revolution-you can bet your last rouble that he will out-ceasar Caesar in the most spectacular way.”

“They only use the poor as their excuse for taking what someone else has. They say, ‘If only we were the ones with the power, we could make everything all right’, but you try asking them how they plan to do it! They haven’t an idea, any of them. They’re so interested in the process of taking power, they haven’t begun to think what they’d do with it.”

Although Anna, Fleur and Emily are billed as a trilogy, there is sufficient passage of time between books that they can be read independently of each other. You might be slightly spoiled as to who ended up with whom (Fleur sure surprised me!), but other than that read them as your mood/interests lead you. This trilogy has been a grand ride and I’m sorry it’s over and I have to move on and leave the Kirovs behind. Darn it. One minor nit to all three and a request to any publisher considering re-issuing these – please get an editor in there and fix the typos – while minor there are way too many of them. 4/5 stars.

****Minor spoiler ahead****

I know there are some readers who have issues with adultery in their books. To each his own, but if you are one of them this might not be the book  for you.

FTC –  yes I’m sure you are dying to know – interlibrary loan.