Wicked Lady?

 So much has been written and broadcast about the Tudors that Henry VIII’s courtiers seem stars in their own right.  We know their acts and allegiances, their loves and lies, their foibles and (often terrible) fates. Yet one lesser-known figure often lurks near the centre of court machinations while remaining beyond the spotlight.  She is Jane Rochford, the focus of Philippa Gregory’s latest novel ‘The Boleyn Traitor’.

True Crimes

Hallie Rubenhold is an unfortunate historian.  Every book she starts researching seems to take her in unexpected directions, and her latest study of the story of a murder is no exception.

'The Woman Novelist and Other Stories' by Diana Gardner

I love a short story and admire anyone who can craft a successful one.  Thanks to publishers like Persephone Books and the British Library, it's becoming ever easier to find and enjoy works that would otherwise be lost to history.  Persephone has published quite a few short story collections, and I have recently finished 'The Woman Novelist and Other Stories' by Diana Gardner.

'Broken Light' by Joanne Harris

As long term readers of this blog know, I'm a sucker for an interesting premise. So when I heard 'Broken Light' by Joanne Harris described as what would've happened if Stephen King's Carrie had gained her supernatural powers with the menopause instead of at puberty, I instantly wanted to find out more.

'Yinka, Where's Your Huzband?' by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

As a book blogger, I'm fortunate enough to get sent both books and sample chapters from time to time.  One of these was 'Yinka, Where's Your Huzband?', and I remembered enjoying it enough to seek it out when it was finally published earlier this year.

Great Expectations

'Expectation' by Anna Hope (Transworld, 2019)

A few years ago, I read Anna Hope's 'Wake', a thoughtful novel set in the aftermath of the First World War and structured around the return of the Unknown Warrior.  This was followed by 'The Ballroom', also set in the early 20th century.  In the forthcoming 'Expectation', Hope arrives in the 21st century with a story of three modern women and the challenges faced when dreams don't become reality.

London, 2004: Hannah, Cate and Lissa are best friends, housemates with their whole lives ahead of them and high hopes for successful careers, fulfilling relationships and ongoing friendship.  But ten years on, they are not where they expected to be.  Despite their best efforts, things have not gone to plan - in work, in marriage or in motherhood.  As the gap between their twenty-something aspirations and the thirty-something reality dawns, they struggle to reconcile the two.  Faced with an overwhelming desire to salvage something of their youthful hopes and dreams, each acts desperately in a last ditch attempt to find the satisfaction they crave.  As obsession, lust and regret take hold, can their friendship survive its greatest test?

They Were Only Prostitutes, Weren't They?

'The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper' by Hallie Rubenhold (Doubleday, 2019)

Ask anyone about the 'Jack the Ripper' murder victims, and most people will tell you that they were prostitutes.  It's everywhere, from the BBC to Wikipedia.  Even Hallie Rubenhold, an author noted for books on the history of women and sex, expected to use the infamous crimes as a gateway into the story of Victorian prostitution.  There was just one problem.  Her research showed little evidence that three of the five victims were sex workers.  Thus the world lost an account of the historical sex trade, but gained an unexpected book about women, history and prejudice - 'The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper'.

A Crowning Achievement

Firstly, an apology.  I meant to have published this blog post by now, but unfortunately I caught one of the many bugs going around at the moment, so I've been out of action for a while.  Hope you can forgive me and that this was worth the wait!

Late last year, the lovely people at Bantam Press kindly sent me a copy of 'The Shogun's Queen', the latest novel in the Shogun Quartet by Lesley Downer, a story of women, politics and change in 19th century Japan.

'The Shogun's Queen'
by Lesley Downer
(Bantam Press, 2016)

Growing up in rural Japan, the daughter of a minor Samurai nobleman, Okatsu, learns to be bold, clever and headstrong at a time when girls should be meek, polite and obedient, much to the despair of her mother.  But, unknown to Okatsu, the qualities that make her different from other women will also set her on a unique path that will make her a vital player in a complex game of politics and power.  Her feudal lord, Shimazu Nariakira, Prince of Satsuma and second in power only to the Shogun himself, plans to make her central to a plot to bring about much needed change in a country that is struggling to find its place in the modern world.  As ships arrive from Holland and America, bringing traders who demand more and more from the ancient and very private culture, Okatsu finds she must sacrifice the life she knew in order to ensure the survival of the country she loves...

I have to be honest and say that I didn't take to Okatsu - or Princess Atsu as she's more frequently called in the book - straight away, but it wasn't really her fault.  The trouble is that headstrong, fiery yet beautiful female characters seem a bit of cliche and there's part of me that wants to hear about the ugly people!  But I was determined to stick with her and I'm glad that I did.  This is a story of perspectives (particular of insiders and outsiders) and as Downer takes us with Atsu on her journey to the Women's Palace, we see her vulnerabilities as well as her strengths.  I felt for her as she struggled with the demands of Lord Nariakira, etiquette and her own desires, finding excuses as well as untapped sources of strength as she matures into the queen of the title.  By the end of the novel, she was a person, not a cliche and I was sorry to leave her.

I've said before that I prefer historical stories of political intrigue over romance, and 'The Shogun's Queen' stuck the right chord for me.  There was enough emotion to make Atsu relatable and human and enough plotting and competing motivations to keep it interesting.  It read like the best books by Philippa Gregory and I feel that fans of Gregory would very much enjoy 'The Shogun's Queen'.

While Gregory's work is firmly rooted in her excellent knowledge of English history, Downer's superlative knowledge of Japanese culture gives 'The Shogun's Queen' wonderful depth and texture.  Once again she performs the perfect balancing act, giving us enough information so we can inhabit Atsu's world but without overwhelming the reader and distracting from the story being told.  The beautiful fabrics, ever changing landscapes, labyrinthine buildings, formalised speech, delicate foodstuffs - all combine to give us a three dimensional world that's easy to slip in to.

'The Shogun's Queen' features an interesting cast of characters, but once we're secluded in the Women's Palace, it's the Lady Dowager Honju-in, the Shogun's mother, who dominates.  Talk about the mother-in-law from Hell!  Representing an unsustainable desire to resist change and using every devious trick she's got to keep her power and influence, Lady Honju-in is a fantastic villain, the perfect contrast to the naive and uncertain Atsu.

I'd thoroughly recommend this book to any fans of historical fiction looking for something set outside of the UK.  To be honest, I'm a bit sick of stories about the Tudors, so this was perfect for me - the same high quality, but telling me about a time and a place I knew little about.  Downer skilfully crafts Atsu's story, wearing her knowledge lightly and offering a new perspective on a fascinating culture.  I'm really looking forward to reading other books in the series.

Now, what next...!

The Princess Tried

As you may have gathered by now, it's really unusual for me to finish a book in less than a day.  One work that has managed to fall into this elite category, though, is 'Little Tales of Misogyny' by Patricia Highsmith, author of 'Carol' (AKA 'The Price of Salt') and 'The Talented Mr Ripley'.

Published in the early 1970s, 'Little Tales of Misogyny' is a collection of (very) short stories, each exploring a particular female stereotype prevalent at the time.  We meet manipulative coquettes, perpetual mothers, unfaithful wives, disposable sex objects and innocent-looking psychopaths.  They can be passive, compliant or silent, principled, vocal or bossy.  With calm cruelty and dark humour, Highsmith takes the tracks onto which females can be tied, then follows them to apparently inevitable endings.

This book is a very interesting exploration of the female identities that women might choose, or feel expected, to fulfil.  It's the sort of book that would have fascinated me as a teenager, negotiating what sort of woman I wanted to be in a world of conflicting instincts, expectations and media messages.

'Little Tales of Misogyny' is essentially a collection of adult fairy tales, controversial because of the way they reduce their subjects to black-and-white stereotypes fixated on an acceptable female role and invoke murder and rape in cold, matter-of-fact ways, as though they are the inevitable results of being a certain type of girl/woman.  There are times when I was wondering whether the author actually hated women and this was her way of ridiculing and punishing them and their follies.  In the end, however, I finished the book feeling that it was more a frustrated cry to draw attention to the ridiculous way women can behave and be treated by men, each other and themselves.  

As with traditional fairy tales, I'd like to think that they represent something historic and long gone, that many of these stereotypes no longer exist in the 21st century, made irrelevant by increased opportunities and better education for women.  But it is often easier to slip into the role that's expected of you rather than push for something else and not every girl is fortunate to grow up in an affluent country which recognises the importance of equality and fulfillment for all its citizens.

Overall, I think 'Little Tales of Misogyny' is an interesting read for anyone interested in feminism and women's roles and aspirations.  While it isn't the usual taut suspense thriller that Highsmith is famous for, it does feature her sharp character portraits and dark edge.  An interesting and thought provoking read indeed.

Riding Along on the Crest of Fourth Wave

Feminism is cool.  After what seems like decades of confinement to university campuses, niche publications and the WI, it's bursting through to mainstream culture in a tidal wave.  Feminism is surfacing on TV, in cinemas, in popular books, in mainstream magazines... it's even on t-shirts!  It feels like its being talked about and owned by young women in a way not seen for 30 years and people from all walks of life are taking an interest.

'A Book for Her
(And Him if He Can Read)'
by Bridget Christie
(Century, 2015)

One of those people is stand up comedian Bridget Christie.  Prince Charming and I have read Ms. Christie's book, 'A Book for Her (and Him if He can Read)', so in this post you're getting two for the price of one.  You lucky people!

'A Book for Her' is part career-memoir and part personal journey.  In it, Ms Christie talks about how an unfortunate bookseller farting in a shop's Women's Studies section set her off on a journey which leads to her becoming the go-to 'feminist comedian'.  The whole journey seems to have surprised her as much as anything else.  She begins with a feeling that she needs to know more, but the event puts a wind in her sails that leads her to use her comedic writing and performing talents to bring some of the very harrowing key issues in modern feminism to the fore.

Prince Charming was a bit worried about reading 'A Book for Her (And Him if He Can Read)'.  "'Thank goodness for this book's subtitle.  Before I read it, I made sure I went away and dug out my old Peter and Jane books to learn to read.  I worked really hard and made sure I could read before tackling Ms Christie's book, although some of the long words still eluded me and I had to ask Eileen what they meant."

Well, that's what dictionaries are for, isn't it? Fortunately, I'd already learned to read, although I was finding it hard to work out which book I was supposed to read, being a woman and all that.  That's probably why I ended up with so many, I was looking for one which told me it was the one for me, you know, made it REALLY obvious.  If only more of them were pink with pictures of women on, it would make the whole process an awful lot easier and I wouldn't get so swept up in Waterstones.

Once he'd got to grips with all the words and reading malarkey, I found I had to put up with Prince Charming laughing quite a lot at this book.  As he puts it "Overall, I enjoyed the book. It was funny and thought provoking."  Goodness, he's right!  It is both funny and thought provoking, getting steadily more powerful as Christie finds her feet and begins talking about the issues she feels strongest about, in particular Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).  As she learned more, so did I, which made this a worthwhile, if disjointed, read.

I've read a number of books about feminist issues.  They've varied from factual essay-style texts or to passionate and well-informed, well, rants.  'A Book for Her' is different because it's about a relatively ordinary woman working out what feminism means to her and deciding for herself why it's important.  She says that she's not well informed about it at the start, but she has curiosity and a thirst for knowledge, which lead her to a cause and a desire to use the skills she has to change the world.

The book does feel dubiously structured, however, much like a sandcastle as the tide comes in.  It's almost as if Christie just started writing, without any sort of plan, and it's not until about half way through, as she starts talking about her career to date and transformation into a 'feminist comedian', that she seems to find her feet.  From then on, it's very readable and interesting.  Before that, it's funny, but rather meandering and doesn't really push you to keep reading.

Prince Charming agreed. "I would though have preferred two books, one about Ms Christie's stand up shows as they all sounded interesting and one about the serious issues the book covers.  The two themes could have done with a book each as I felt the direction of the book got lost trying to do both."  That's a man speaking.  And I agree with him, so it must be right!

For me, this book had the strange effect of making me want to watch Christie's previous shows on DVD.  But, oddly, they're not available, as far as I can tell anyway.  I blame the patriarchy.

Overall, I felt that this was a good book for the cautious in that it's about a personal relationship with feminism, a thoughtful consideration of why the subject is important rather than an impassioned scream telling us it has to be.  I will always be grateful to it for the information it provides on FGM.  I'd heard the term before, but was shocked by what I read here.  And I bet this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Now that's feminism covered, we're off to read about monster trucks...

Hitting the Right Note

There's nothing worse for writer's block than staring at an empty page.  So I'm going to try and fill this one with a review of 'When I Met You' by Jemma Forte, which was sent to me by the lovely people at New Books Magazine.

'When I Met You' is the story of a turning point in the life of Marianne Baker.  She says she's happy, but the thirty-something still lives with her parents, has no love life to speak of and has been in the same job since leaving college.  Her one true joy is playing the violin, but that's just a hobby.  Rather than a building any sort of career, she works until she can afford to jet off to a far flung part of the globe, travelling until her cash runs out and she's forced back home to earn more.  Then one dark and stormy night during a sojourn home, her estranged father turns up without warning.  From that moment on, life for Marianne and her family is never going to be the same again.

The size of this book came as a bit of a surprised to me.  It's nearly 450 pages long in the paperback and blimey there's a lot going on!  At times it felt sprawling, with subplots shooting off in every direction and an extended cast of characters that was a little hard to keep track of at first.  It was as though the author had a whole bundle of ideas that had made her laugh, so she'd just shoehorned in as many as she could.  It shouldn't work, but to be honest I found I could forgive most of this book's eccentricities because they made me laugh too and, disparate as some of the ideas seemed, the author knitted them together well.  Sometimes it's just best to go with it and see what happens.

I liked Marianne and could identify with her eclectic family and friends, which made me want to spend time with them.  She could have annoyed me so easily - do I really want to hear about the self-inflicted directionlessness of someone pretty and talented? - but there was just enough humility and self doubt in there to make the reader root for Marianne without wanting to slap her.

Overall, this book asks you to suspend your disbelief and just go with the flow and I felt it was worth it.  It's silly and touching, made me laugh and made me cry, but generally left me feeling hopeful and positive.  Perhaps I'm just an irrepressible optimist.  Or maybe Ms Forte has just written a nice book about love, death and change.

Coming soon... Jon Ronson on public shaming in the internet age...

Shooting from the Hip

A few weeks ago, the lovely people at Blinding Books were kind enough to send me a copy of 'My Baby Shot Me Down', an anthology of poetry and prose by ten women writers.  Now, I know I shouldn't really stray from my list, but they asked so nicely.  And I love a good short story.

'My Baby Shot Me Down'
by Various Authors
(Blinding Books, 2014)

'My Baby Shot Me Down' features the work of Clarissa Angus, Katherine Black, Maggy van Eijk, Harriet Goodale, Deborah Hambrook, Claudine Lazar, Rachael Smart, Ruth Starling, Alison Wassell and Laura Wilkinson.  Some are award winners, but all could be described as up-and-coming writers.  The selected pieces range from the tragic to the poignant to the funny and capture the lives of women and girls of all ages.

OK, confession time.  I didn't read all of this book.  Now you've picked yourselves up off of the floor, here's why.  I've never really understood poetry and, despite the best efforts of my school teachers, find it a completely alien language that is impenetrable to me.  It's not the poet's fault at all and no reflection on the quality of the work in 'My Baby Shot Me Down', but after a couple of attempts I did skip all the poetry in this volume to focus on the work I could enjoy.

I do absolutely love short stories and this book includes a number of memorable examples.  They range from the bitterly funny 'A Game to Play', about how to be an (im)perfect man, and 'The Great Escape', the tale of how institutional help can hinder, to the chilling 'The Whispering Wall' and 'Mr Brown'.  'Ashes' and 'Love and App-iness' made me laugh, while 'We'll Meet Again' and 'Tissue Atlas' made me cry. 'Buried' reminded me of summers long ago.  'Supermarket Secrets' made me realise how rare it is to read about ordinary women in more ordinary jobs rather than journalists, actors, lawyers and PRs.  

Overall, this book is great as a showcase for not-quite-discovered writing talent, demonstrating depth and breadth as well as bringing to the fore themes that women in particular can relate to.  Although some of the flash fiction felt a bit too short, the book is certainly thought provoking.  I suddenly realised after reading 'Supermarket Secrets' that I couldn't think of any other piece of fiction set in a supermarket, which is odd when you consider how many people work in them and how ubiquitous they are.  It also got me wondering about the way book genres work.  I know I read an awful lot of historical fiction and not nearly enough modern books, but am I imagining the disproportionate number of strong women in the former?  Only reading my 500-odd books will tell!

This anthology worked its magic enough for me to want to buy other work by these authors.  They are certainly names to watch and I would recommend 'My Baby Shot Me Down' to anyone keen to try something new.

Thin End of the Wedge

I've just finished another book!  That's three in one month and it's only March!  Yippee!

The latest book was 'The Real Me is Thin' by Arabella Weir.  I was aware of the comedy actress author in a I'm-sure-I've-seen-her-in-a-few-things sort of a way and hoped that this book would be a down-to-earth yet uplifting take on body image.  Unfortunately, it wasn't what I'd hoped for, although I feel that there is a great book in here trying to get out.

'The Real Me is Thin' is an autobiographical account of the author's difficult relationship with food and eating and where her attitudes came from.  Full of self-analysis, painful sounding memories and reflection, the book explores one woman's complex attitude to food, eating and body image, with a bit of feminism thrown in for good measure.

This could've been a fantastic book, but it feels a bit half-baked, if you'll pardon the pun.  If it had been written in conjunction with a therapist or psychologist, perhaps someone like Pamela Stephenson Connolly, and the author's experiences used as a case study, I think it would've had the potential to help both the author and anyone reading it who has similar complex feelings about food.  It sounds like Ms Weir has been through some absolutely horrific experiences, but the book offers no resolution, no hope, and I feel it's slightly depressing and a bit of a missed opportunity as a result.  I turned the last page and was left feeling pity and regret that although the author has fully reflected on the subject, she doesn't appear to be ready for the 'next step' of trying to deal with her issues.  It's one thing to say it's OK to be a normal size, but it's another to say it's OK to eat whole packets of biscuits in one sitting and admit to feeling bitter that you don't have a different attitude to eating.

If the book had been taken in this direction, been more a journey from biography, analysis and reflection to receiving professional help, looking to the future and hopefully attempting to change bad habits, it would have had a much better structure.  As it is, it's a bit hit and miss, as though the author sat down when she had a few spare minutes and just mused on paper/screen about the subject matter.  This gives it a nice, accessibly chatty style, but does lead to some less comprehensible sentences.  After the initial biographical elements are covered, the book seems to meander about a bit, I think because there is no target, no resolution.  There is no clear, overall, positive message, perhaps suggesting that this book was written too soon in the author's personal journey.

On the plus side, it's great to hear someone in the public eye speaking out about the body image issue.  The size and shape of the bodies we see in the media is ridiculously limited and we have to remember that these people are a minority and a minority with a particular lifestyle which means they can work to look like that.  The rest of us are a bit busy with jobs, kids and lives.

On the whole, I applaud the motivation behind this 'The Real Me is Thin', but would love to see it re-written with some input from a dietary or psychological professional to ground the personal experiences in a broader context.  This would hopefully help put things in perspective for readers and naturally lead to pointers on how to change your habits or, if necessary, to seek help.  As this book makes very clear, we are not alone and shouldn't be embarrassed by any unusual attitudes we've been brought up with.  Equally, though, we shouldn't just accept them if there is a better, healthier way.