Fiction – Page 3 – Carol's Notebook

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

July 23, 2019August 1, 2019 by Carol8 Comments

Some authors manage to pack more atmosphere and tension and characters into less than 200 pages than others ever manage to, even in books twice as long. Lindsay has done just that in Picnic at Hanging Rock. Girls at a boarding school go out for a picnic, as the title states, at Hanging Rock. Hanging Rock is a former volcano in central Victoria, Australia. The setting plays a huge part in the story, casts its shadow over the whole book. Hanging Rock After lunch, four of the girls go climbing in the rocks, followed eventually by one of the teachers. One of the girls runs back to the picnic area in terror, but with no memory of what happened. The rest of the girls and the teacher are never seen again. The rest of the story tells us what happens after. The ripples from the disappearances fan out, bringing terrible endings for some people and happily ever afters for others. There are a...

The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt och Dag

April 12, 2019April 12, 2019 by Carol6 Comments

Wow! The Wolf and the Watchman is the most engrossing novel I've read in a while. I want to tell you that you should read it and you should, but only if you like historical mysteries and don't mind some gruesomeness and brutality. It is not for everyone; it's dark and disturbing and if it was a movie I would have had to cover my eyes. It's also brilliant and I loved it. Stockholm in 1793 seems a terrible place to live unless you're rich. Crime, sickness, poverty, filth, corruption, rape, and death. Against this backdrop, two men with little to lose are on the hunt for a killer. Mikel Cardell, a former soldier with no family, no friends, one arm, and little money, pulls the mutilated body of a young dead man out of the lake. Cecil Winge, dying of consumption, takes the case in his position as consulting detective for the Stockholm police. Winge and Cardell are both interesting...

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

January 30, 2019January 29, 2019 by Carol8 Comments

I knew I'd love The Three Musketeers. The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas is one of my favorite all-time books and this is even more mentioned/read/known. So, I was happy when the Classics Club Spin hit #1 and my challenge was then to read The Three Musketeers by the end of January. Dumas takes the historical events of France, 1625-27, and plays with them to bring us one of the best adventure stories ever. The beautiful Anne of Austria is Queen of France, but she is lukewarm, at best, toward her husband, XIII. Cardinal Richelieu, the true ruler of the country, has made advances towards her, but been rebuffed; he's eaten up by jealousy and spite, especially since he knows through his network of informers that Anne's heart in fact belongs to the handsome Lord Buckingham. These fictionalized historical figures are at the center of the story, it's their loves, desires, conquests and favors that everyone else's life revolves...

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

May 10, 2018May 10, 2018 by Carol6 Comments

https://twitter.com/carolsnotebook/status/992475284963233793 I don't usually notice who narrates the audiobooks I pick up, especially those from the library, so I didn't realize Ralph Cosham was the narrator of The Scarlet Pimpernel, until he said "Armand," and then I was like "oh, yeah." His narration here was as good as I remembered. He does a wonderful job with both the British and French characters. The Scarlet Pimpernel is just a fun adventure/romance story. The Scarlet Pimpernel is one of the first heroes with a secret identity, kind of like Batman. Sir Percy Blakeney is an English dandy, concerned with dressing well, being amusing, but not incredible bright. That's just a disguise he's cultivated to cover his secret identity as the Scarlet Pimpernel, the leader of a group of daring Englishmen who rescue French nobility headed toward the guillotine. But his wife doesn't know about his secret - and ends up putting him in grave danger. But I'm sure it's not spoiling anything to say that...

The Italian Party by Christina Lynch

March 9, 2018 by Carol11 Comments

There are so many secrets in The Italian Party, personal and professional. Scottie and her new husband, Michael, move to post-war Italy for Michael's job. He's opening a new Ford Tractor store in Siena. Except we learn quickly that it's just a cover, he's actually in the CIA, a fact he doesn't share with Scottie. We also learn one of Scottie's secrets early; she's pregnant and The baby is not Michael's, but those are just the tip of the iceberg. Secrets, both theirs and others', unfold throughout the story against the global backdrop of the "Communist Threat" and a citywide horse race that seems like the big event of the year. Scottie's teenage Italian tutor was supposed to be in the race, but he's disappeared. Scottie is determined to find. Scottie is interesting. She's beautiful, seems maybe not so bright, but she's fun and friendly. Truth is she's as smart, and sly, as any of them. She is definitely guided by...

Christmas Bliss by Mary Kay Andrews

January 9, 2018 by Carol9 Comments

Christmas Bliss was the last of my Christmas reads for the year. I have read two others in the series and really like Weezie and BeBe. This time around, Weezie's getting ready to marry her chef boyfriend, Daniel, but he's off in New York on a temporary gig at a very swanky restaurant. BeBe's pregnant and refuses to marry her live-in boyfriend Harry, but she also might still be married to one of her exes. It's complicated. It's a sweet story. There's not much conflict and the couple of "issues" that crop up are quickly resolved. Weezie and BeBe are great characters, fun, quirky, but I don't know that this would work as well as a stand-alone. It was nice to already know them and appreciate that they were getting their "happily ever afters." I would love to visit Savannah some time, which is Weezie and BeBe's hometown. Books like this just make it seem so charming. Weezie even makes it seem...